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The door is untrapped and unlocked. The door leads into the second part of the citadel, known as the Inferno Heart. The red glow of lava dimly lights this vast room. Rivulets of molten rock thread the hall’s floor, fed by streams of lava flowing down the walls. Four enormous forges are spaced evenly around the room, with large hammers, bellows, anvils, and tanks of water dripping on the lava below. A circular ramp rises gently near the center of the room, looping above the lava channels before disappearing into the gloom above.
A single creature works the bellows and anvil: a one-eyed dwarf. He is finishing a spear point on the southern anvil.
The lava channels are only a foot wide, so they pose no real danger to Small or larger creatures. This area is actually slightly cooler than the other chambers in the Citadel thanks to its good ventilation.
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"I'm here for about two weeks now, Hafshi rescued me from slavery so I followed her to work in this citadel. I'm the smith. But working the whole day in this heat is exhausting. It feels worse than being a slave, I can tell you." the dwarf says. "My duty is to stop you here, but if you give me a good reasen I might not have seen anybody entering the building. Working with metal is very noisy."
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"It is pretty noisy in here, and your work appears exhausting. You are wise to let us pass," Evenstar says as she begins to do just that.
"You will be free to leave when we are done here. You wanted a good reason not to stop us? Here it is: we are not to be trifled with," she says as she strides toward the staircase in the middle of the room.
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"Well you can always come with us when we leave. Then you will be free to set off on your own and go where ever your heart wishes. We are headed to Absolom after and you are more than welcome. If you wish to join our society you will be paid for all of your fine work. Or you can strike off on your own." Sen says.
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The dwarf pretends that he doesn't hear anything.
This long, winding ramp ascends gently in loops through the Citadel. This was the final passage for pilgrims seeking service — or death — with Moloch, and was of enormous ceremonial importance to the cult.
The corridor’s walls are decorated with mosaics of a female pilgrim’s journey. Throughout these scenes, a small golden idol of Moloch perches on her shoulder.
The innermost loop is covered in a large mural that shows a devotee of Moloch abandoning her family to begin a pilgrimage to the Citadel, as well as her journey through the Qadiran desert, with sandstorms, steadfast refusal of water, and a heat-induced vision of Moloch.
The middle loop illustrates the passage through the hoodoo maze. The pilgrim encounters increasingly large fire creatures, but in each case she prostrates herself to them and is allowed to pass.
The outermost loop shows the final judgment of the pilgrim. The golden idol looms over the entire Lava Temple, reflected in every torch, lava pool, and smoke plume. Nevertheless, the murals depict the temple clearly enough.
The pilgrims performed rituals in front of the illustrations to show their respect to Moloch. [ooc]If you want to do any of the rituals, let me know ;)
At the top of the Pilgrim Passage sits an ornate spiral stair leading up. Four doors lead to other rooms. The murals here depict Malebolge, where the pilgrim has been reborn as a fiery warrior clad in black armor and standing in a paradise of water and palm trees (though hints of darker skies and fiery storms can be seen in the distance, reflecting the true nature of Malebolge).
Along the walls, choirs of fire creatures sing in celebration, and a frieze on the ceiling shows the golden idol of Moloch smiling over his hordes.
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Evenstar glowers at the murals.
"Seems like hot and thirsty work, following this cult," she says. "As for me, I'll stick to water and cooler weather, thanks. Do we think we should pretend to be cultists and bow and grovel and all that? I don't have any problem doing that if it gets us to the end without being burned to a crisp."
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Four doors along the outermost loop of the Pilgrim Passage lead to the residence halls of the old cult, which were spread through the many spires and minarets of the Inferno Heart. Each of these chambers constitutes the central hall of a tower with several more rooms, both above and below the entry points, along with bed chambers, guardrooms, a rude kitchen and dining hall, latrines, and storage closets. Nearly all are long abandoned, with the floors covered in a thick layer of desert sand, the simple furniture broken, food longsince desiccated or rotten, and no signs of life.
Only one of the many chambers contains anything interesting. The cultists have cleared this room of sand and set up three rough bunk beds and a simple shrine to Moloch.
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The beds look like used recently.
You walk upt the staircase and it opens onto a grand hall of polished obsidian and red marble. The walls are decorated with reliefs of a gleaming brass city, a massive sandstorm scouring a desert, and a horde of fire elementals descending on a city full of terrified humans. Rivers of slowly bubbling lava crisscross the floor, all streaming out of an elaborate altar at the far side of the room. Atop the altar sits a squat golden idol, 3 feet tall, of a bull-headed man, its arms raised and its hands holding a large thorned sword and a huge battleaxe.
The idol’s eyes glow a deep crimson. Lava flows impossibly fast out of the bull-headed idol’s open mouth and down its torso, fanning out from there into rivers on the floor. Behind the altar, an obsidian relief of geometric forms stretches from floor to ceiling. Smoky forms flit across the relief ’s surface, their fiery eyes staring out at the room.
In front of the altar stands a woman in red robes. She turns around when she hears you coming up the stairs. You can see the symbol of moloch around her neck.
Evenstar
Farg
Kavaki
Hafshi
Seinaru
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Kavaki moves and passes just below Evenstar to get directly under Hafski. (provokes AoO)
If enemy takes AoO...
Kavaki will try and reposition enemy just below Evenstar.
DC:14 reflex fail=2 rounds sickened, success=1 round
then attempts to trip with standard action...
if trip succeeds...
-4 enemy AC for prone, +sickened, +flat footed?
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Evenstar rushes forward and attacks the cleric of Moloch with her greatsword cutting a deep wound in her thigh. Kavaki follows Evenstar and provokes Hafshi so she takes her chance and attacks with her mace but misses.
Kavaki uses her movement to redirect her but she is able to resist Kavaki's unbalancing counter. Kavaki tries to trip the cleric but her weight sits low and she manages to stay on her feet. Farg tries to grab the cleric with his fangs, but she also manages to dodge this attack.
Hafshi, the cleric, continues to swing her mace at Kavaki and hits.
Evenstar
Farg
Kavaki
Hafshi -18 sickened 2R
Seinaru
Steam
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Evenstar gets angry and swings her greatsword again. She hits only Hafshi's cloak. Kavaki trips Hafshi but the stomp and the fist attacks miss. Farg uses his chance and attacks the cleric of Moloch with both claws and his fangs. All three attempts hit but Hafshi is still alive and conscious.
Hafshi can't move away so she starts to cast a spell devensively but the spell fizzles and has no effect.
Evenstar
Farg
Kavaki
Hafshi -49 sickened 1R, no attack 1R, prone
Seinaru
Steam
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Atop the altar sits a squat golden idol, 3 feet tall, of a bull-headed man, lava is flowing from its mouth over its torso to the floor creating the lava streams in this room. The idol’s eyes glow a deep crimson.
The smoky forms near the obsidian relief behind the altar watched the combat with obvious interest, each of you feel the obsidian relief pulling at you mentally, suggesting that you throw yourself into the lava and urging another to help open the portal further by sacrificing your friends.