Sabinus stands silently in the rear, his right hand twitching from a combination of anxiety and adrenaline.
"An honest imp? Perhaps..."
Lucon scratches his head, giving the creature a quizzical look. "Wh... what he said."
"I wouldn't rule it out." Ava says, glancing at Enko "Not down here."
She retrieves the gemstones, staring up at the creature, quite reluctant to actually hand them over. She bites her lip, as if trying to overcome some great inner struggle. It was a gamble. Secrets could be well worth the cost... But then again, they could be completely useless.
"What sort of secrets?" the dwarf asks, completely ignoring the ominous-sounding promise to 'make them sane.'
The imp just gives them them sad and pitying looks, "You do not even remember Livia's name. Clearly very very insane now. Yes. Very clear. But fear not! Just hand over the payment you worked so hard to get, and you will be less insane. Livia promises this." She looks to Ava, "Secrets you must know of course! Your poor little insane mind is trying to trick me. HAHARAA!!" the laugh at the end comes out more a screech and her eyes quickly flick to each of you.
As far as Enko can tell, she wants to heal you of your insanity and tell you secrets.
"I'll pass just the same, thanks." Caladius' scowl deepens as he regards the obviously crazed imp.
"We have no need of the payment---but we have no need of the cure. What secrets can you tell us? Tell us, and we will deliver the payment."
Livia turns pouty, some drool falling slowly through pursed lips, "No payment. No Sanity and no secrets. Hmmph!" and crosses her ankles and eyes. She flies upward towards the rafters of the room where she apparently was before.
"Imp! Did you help that devil who had this earlier," Caladius gestures to the halberd slung over his left shoulder, "regain his sanity?"
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Little one. Speak plainly. Tell us your secrets. These baubles are meaningless to us. [ooc]Diplomacy
The Viscount fears not the small devil. His experience with conjuring and controlling them gives him some advantage here. He'll hand the gems over, if the group will pass them to him.
Shall we? he asks his fellows.
The imp looks down at Caladius like he had a third horn growing from his forehead, "Who, Szasmir? That loon's been crazy for about a decade or two. Just got too upset after Dargentu locked him up, poor Szasmir thought he was doing the mayor a favor! Poor little Szasmir..." the imp trails off in a kind of hazed introspection, staring off into space.
When Corneleous hands the precious stones over, Livia's face lights up happily, "At last! Someone has come to his crazy senses!" she takes one gem of each type, brushing all the rest back into Corneleous's hands. Swallowing each of the four stones, she grins happily at you. "You are now healed! Well done! Isn’t it better to be sane? Now, I understand you might have forgotten some important things while you were crazy. I can help! I can help six times, in fact! Ask me six questions! I can get the answers!"
"She... ate them." Caladius throws up his hands in frustration at the imps behavior and strange dietary habits. "I'm beginning to understand why that fool mayor keeps this place under lock and key like he does."
Enko turns to Corneleous. "You are the best equipped to the querying of infernal spirits," he says quietly. "I think the primary question is, where is the Crux, and the secondary questions are, how is it guarded and how it can be opened. What else should we ask?"
He glances at Caladius. "Based on what we ate at the banquet, I'm not that surprised at a mineral dessert. It might provide some necessary roughage."
Caladius smirks at Enko's recollection of the banquet, then nods toward Ava. The bemused expression on his face suggests he's waiting for the truth to settle on the dwarf: that she just witnessed precious gems casually eaten like a handful of peanuts.
"I agree. Questioning one like this creature seems a delicate task for which Cornelous is well suited. And I think Enko has the right idea about the direction of the questioning."
Ava's eye twitches slightly as the imp gobbles down the gemstones, but says nothing. She carefully stows the rest away, still stunned. She had been expecting many things... but that was not one of them.
"You just..." her voice trails off.
A light chuckle escapes Caladius' lips as he watches Ava quickly secure the remaining gemstones. Shaking his head, he crosses his arms and leans up against a wall, lifting a foot and resting the sole against the wall as well. His eyes shift to Cornelous and he raises his eyebrows as if to say "Well?"
"What is the safest way to return from the cruz to those doors we saw before?" Enko shakes his head. "Although, there may be other ways to leave here."
Caladius shrugs as the group starts to brainstorm questions for Livia, "She's an imp. It's not like we can trust her answers anyway, right?"
"I think we probably want to be prepared to ask something along the lines of 'How do we open the container the crux is held within and/or the portal the crux is behind.' At least, it might be necessary to ask something like that if your 'guards and challenges' question doesn't get the information we need. Otherwise, I think the questions seem good."
Aside with the party: What is the safest and most direct route to find the crux?
What enemies and challenges guard the crux?
What do we need to do to collapse the knot behind us?
What dangers and powers does the crux posses?
Livia adopts a thoughtful pose, stroking her chin as if stroking a beard, then quickly casts a spell.
Seeming to speak with herself for a bit, more mumbles than anything, she finally brightens and turns back to you. "Head out that door," pointing west "back through the changing door rooms, and you'll come into the hallway with those three doors you found." she nods to include Enko in the answer, as it relates directly to his question. "As for guards of the crux, there's three. Ugly stinkers too. The Outcast -he's a mean one so watch out for him. Bite your head off as soon as look at you! But if he dies before you, be sure to check the floor, heard there's some goodies in there. About the knot collapsing, no need to worry about that, the red-haired lady was already in here, working on it. If you gently try to open the Crux incorrectly you'll get burned -a lot. If you force it open you get burned more -a lot. It's power? It holds stuff." She looks around happily, "Is it all coming back to you now? One more question!"
"Cornelous, maybe you should ask about that strange knot of chains we passed by earlier. Of everything down here, that unnerved me the most so far."
Looking at the Cornelous, Sabinus states quietly, "Unless I'm missing something, Livia hasn't answered your first question -- where the Crux is? Isn't she just sending us back somewhere we've been before? I think you should insist she answer your first question without it counting as another question."
Livia smacks her forehead, "The skinny one is right! So many questions. When you face the room with the three doors, turn left and there's the door! Still one question left."
"May the flow of fate reward your kindness," says Enko to the imp, completely unaware of any possible infernal subterfuge or hidden motivation on the part of the creature.
Ava is somewhat relieved - This was good information, but the Viscount's mention of a tiefling triggers something in her. There was one question she had to ask. She should ask the method of opening the Crux. She should ask about the old pathfinder lodge. There are so many things she should ask. But there's only one thing she wants to know. She can't help it. Selfish. Greedy. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Ava looks the imp in the eyes, ignoring her comrades completely. "Where can I find the tiefling Liesel?"
Hmmm. Maybe I should have asked if Palaveen was my brother. Caladius shrugs as he leans against the wall.
Livia has another conversation with herself, showing surprise at several points and the conversation going longer than you'd expect. Smiling she looks up at the hopeful Ava and answers, "Westcrown! You nearly had her, with the tiefling Band, and she was at the Mayors house too. The red haired wrench, as the fat one calls her, apparently knows Liesel quite well. You should ask her if you want more details." She claps her hands loudly, quite pleased with herself, "It's been such fun helping, and if you start feeling ill again, please do come visit. Farewell!" and claps her hands again, this time disappearing from view.
"Thank Shelyn, I was beginning to think we'd never make it back..." Lucon says, the sparkle returning to his eyes. He clutches his holy symbol and smiles. "Don't worry, Rebecca, we'll be home in time for dinner... But after that feast I don't expect I'll ever want to eat again.."
Oblivious to any discomfort or embarrassment on Ava's part, Sabinus asks, "Who's Liesel? I don't remember her name coming up back at the Torchbearers hideout."
Caladius shrugs at Lucon's mutterings, "Your appetite'll return eventually, Lucon." Looking to Cornelous, he then asks, "So are we done now? Let's go get that crux and get out of here."
Enko looks to Ava, his eyes full of compassion. "We will find her, Ava." He does not mention that there is no possibility of asking the red-haired tiefling anything, unless they find a way to commune with the infernal planes where she is no doubt dead or tortured beyond rational thought.
Again oblivious to Ava's distress, Sabinus continues, "Oh, I guess you all knew Liesel before I joined up with the group. Is the 'red haired wench' one of the women at the party? I hope he's not referring to the tiefling 'my' devil took away. Won't be so easy to question her."
Enko draws Sabinus aside and speaks quietly.
"Do you recall Pavaleen, leader of the Bastards of Erebus, mentioning a Liesel? She worked with the Bastards at some point and then disappeared. She was Ava's only--she was Ava's friend." He gives Sabinus a look to signify give the subject some care.
Sabinus fails to really get Enko's point, and states at regular volume, "I guess that does ring a bell. I didn't realize it was important. I'm sure we'll all be happy to help find her." Sabinus then appears to drop the issue, as he checks and re-checks and secures his pockets and bags, a somewhat compulsive ritual the others have noticed Sabinus perform many times before and far more than called for.
Ava remains stone-faced, staring down at her hand and she slowly opens and closes it. She gives Enko little more than a nod of recognition.
"One thing at a time." Ava says. "Let's get this done - for Westcrown. I've waited 30 years to find her, but the city has been hostage by the shadows far longer."
She straightens up, looking dead ahead. "Let's get this Crux."
Turning away from the three exits, as instructed by Livia, you come to the only unexplored door in this entire Knot. Taking a brief moment to check for traps and finding none, you push into the room.
You find yourselves at the top of a wooden stairway, its risers carpeted in fine silk and its banisters carved of darkwood, descends into a lake of bubbling filth and olive-green sludge in this cavern. At the far side of the cavern, three natural stone steps rise up from the slime to a chamber of worked stone, its floor stained and slathered with strings of dried ooze and mounds of filth. Two alcoves to either side of this part of the chamber hold stone chests.
While no foes appear to the Tieflings eyes, he does notice the filthy sludge looks decidedly unhealthy and the strong aroma rising to your elevated positions (30' above on the stairs) practically promises upset stomachs for any and all who venture into the slimy murk.
Sabinus' senses are too overwhelmed by the filth for him to notice much else. Frustrated, he starts complaining, "You'd think that imp might have mentioned that there was a murky pool of filth in front of the crux. Did she give us any useful information at all? Three guards, don't force open the Crux... I guess she did say to check the floor, so maybe that will be helpful..." The last bits Sabinus half mumbles to himself, trying to remember what it is that the imp said.
"We need to cross that pool. Thoughts? I can jump across, but that will not help much," says the monk.
"If we don't think we'll need my levitate spell to return, I can levitate myself and possibly tie a rope on both ends for folks to use to cross over."
Considering a rope to cross the sludge, you can see the rope can easily be tied to the railing. On the far side, the only obvious objects the rope could be tied to are the two stone chests in the two alcoves.
"It looks possible, but what's the chance that I can tie up to one of those stone chests without triggering a trap or one of the guardians? I'll do it if we can't think of anything better, but I'm certainly open to other suggestions."
"Can you not do that... floating thing and take Ava with you?" the carpenter says, scratching his beard. "But I have faith in you my friend. Just think, the sooner we cross this gap the closer we are to our goal."