The right-hand door leads you through a series of mostly empty (except for the odd piece of ugly decorations) weird hexagonal chambers, until you find yourself in a small barren chamber.
Inside the room is a small pentagram inscribed on the floor with a human skull in the center. When you approach, it rises into midair and the eye sockets glow with a red flame. It then speaks: “I am the Oracle, possessor of all knowledge. Ask what you wish and you shall learn the answer you seek.”
"Yeah I'm not even bothering to tryy and see the evil here, does anyone have any questions before I split this thing in half?" Gregori asks shifting into an attack stance.
Artival whispers to the others, "You think it would have any idea what was in that room we passed up? If there is something evil in there, we need to go back and finish it off."
"Oh I don't know". "It looks pretty harmless just floating there asking questions". "Does anybody in our group notice what it is"?
Knowledge: Arcana
Spellcraft
Knowledge arcana
Knowledge religion
"It's not just an old talking skull?"
The Oracle of Rappan Athuk is renowned for being able to answer almost any question - for a price. You have no idea what else it can do but the mere fact that it has survived in this environment testifies to it being pretty resilient.
"The spirits often know things we do not but I have nothing to ask. Maybe we should come back if we come across something we want to know more about."
There are no other visible exits from this room, so if you're neither going to smite it or ask a question, you should go back to the first room and try either the left door or the one straight ahead.
{b]"OK!"[/b] The halfling turns around and marches into the previous room where she considers the remaining doors. She fishes for a coin in her coin purse. "Do we go right again, or flip a coin, or what?"
Ka'kara will do a quick search for secret doors in the skull room before leaving (feel free to make the roll if needed) and then picks the left door in the first room if she discovers nothing.
The left door leads to a short corridor with a door at the other end. That door opens into a room, which tells the story of a fierce battle. There are fragments of holy water flasks, blood spatterings, a broken
mace, used scroll paper and a dead body laid provisionally to rest with its arms crossed over its chest.
You hear a low growling coming from a passage at the other end of the room.
Artival detects magic to see if there is anything radiating in the room. He waits at the entrance while peering around the room, waiting for a more sturdy group member to lead the way toward the growl.
Ka'kara strides forward. "This is more like it. Here, kitty kitty! Lenna, can you provide a little light on the subject?"
The halfling squeezes forward enough to see the far passage and sends a glowing man-shape that way as far as her vision will allow.
"Ka'kara, those don't look like what you would use to fight a kitty. More like fighting dead things to me. Are you sure the body is really dead?"
Ka'kara looks down at the apparently-deceased. "Looks dead to me. Something growling sounds not-dead to me. Here, kitty kitty kitty."
"Sounds like whatever won this fight is still here." Gregori says fanning out to cover more of the room.
At the sound of the growl, Kem prepares a surprise (Bomb) for whatever lurks there.
Perception
"Maybe it's an undead Kitty?" Tika suggests
"Oh, you're right! That could be it!"
She looks to see if the dead man looks like he was mauled by an undead cat. A big one.
Well, he's had his throat ripped out by some sort of beast, so a big cat is entirely possible, undead or not.
Roylenna moves into the room now that a couple of the warriors have done so, pushing her man-light farther into the far tunnel when she gets a better angle and examining the deceased more closely.
Heal check
Ka'Kara taps her foot impatiently.
Lyria enters the room with the others, and notes quietly that some humanoid probably arranged the corpse's body after its death. She tries to remember if she knows anything about such a ritual in any familiar culture. Also, she examines the corpse more closely in order to get a hint about its time of death or any other interesting detail.
The corpse looks quite fresh, just a day or so, and seems like it was attacked by a large dog or wolf.
As you enter the room, you see a young blonde male cleric wearing the insignia of Iomedae, brandishing a mace at six werewolves in hybrid form that are locked behind bars in the back of the room, but the bars and lock look old and rusty and creak ominously as the werewolves shake them.
The cleric turns to you and sighs. "Thank Iomedae that you are here."
"Looks like you should thank her that you were able to back half a dozen foes into a cell by yourself after your friend was killed to me."
"What has happened here? How did you force them into that cage?". Artival had learned to not trust so easily, especially down here.
Kem eyes the stranger as the others talk to him.
Sense Motive
The barbarianess just grins and swings her great-blade experimentally, "Let them come." She then shakes her head sadly, "Such waste of rage...if only they learned to focus their anger..."
The priest wipes his brow. "It was a tough fight. It took almost all I had, and I had to summon help to handle them at all, and even then they killed Ansgar, my poor cohort. I haven't been able to raise him yet."
Gregori raises an eyebrow,staring at the young cleric, then the werewolves, but remaining silent.
Suddenly the world seems to spin before your eyes. Dazzling lights flash from all corners, blinding you. With a hiss and a roar, Gregori disappears. Across the room, he reappears right where the cleric was standing, in front of a huge demon, fully nine feet tall, with the head of a vulture, huge bat wings, talons like razors, and flames licking from his goat legs! The werewolves take the opportunity to break out of their confinement and turn towards you and attack, their forms mutating to that of a half jackal, half man.
Roll for initiative, and I'll get a map up as soon as I can.
Initiative
Init
Init
"Oh dear."
Initiative
Knowledge: Nature
Map is up, and the demon goes on 14, so Artival, Tika and Kem Het beat its initiative. The jackal-men go on 7.
Gregori:
Tika uses Inspire courage on the group before (+2 attack/damage) moving behind Ka'kara
24 Tika
21 Kem Het
18 Artival
14 Demon
14 Ka'kara
12 Gregori
07 Roylenna
07 Jackal-men
?? Lyria
Know. planes
Artival casts a spell, getting the demon andUp to five of his jackal men in the area, trying to overcome their resistance and limit their mobility.
DC 18 Will save
Caster check for SR
Seeing the arrayed Werewolfs, Kem retrieves, and applies his dose of Silversheen.
Artival manages to slow three of the jackalmen, but the demon is unaffected. It slashes at Gregori but seems to have trouble finding purchase.
Gregori:
Gregori, Ka'kara and Roylenna are up, then the jackalmen.
Roylenna casts Haste, catching as many party members as she can.
Drawing on the inner wealth of blazing divine fury granted by his goddess Gregori reaches out with his mind, calling to the sacred spirit tied to his sword, the chill dark metal blade shimmering with a golden light as the edgees seemed to glint with razor sharpness.
As he does so he focuses, healing power flowing into him, preparing him for the battle of his life.
Gregori shield comes up to deflect the demon's attacks, his sword swinging in a high arc, attempting to bite into the fiend's neck.
The barbarianess moves directly opposite Gregori to provide flank and slashes at the vulture-like thing and a jackle-man.
Ka'kara's sword bites into the demon. The non-slowed jackalweres gang up on Ka'kara and one hits for 5 points, while the others give Gregori a wide berth as they creep up on you. Their gaze makes you dizzy.
Your turn. The demon delays so you can all act.
Roylenna says calmly, "I think some are coming around from our left," as she steps behind Artival as she casts.
Artival fires off a magic missle at the closest jackal man.
Damage