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(just in case I would know that)
I agree it is a danger. We can take them up now, if you guys prefer, but I can only teleport three of us back up there without a rest, so if we use that now, we are giving it up for later.
She goes over to the hole, looking up at the active spell surrounding it to see if she can tell what it does again.
(fail, but it is close if someone can aid--?)
|
Ilsa isn't quite sure what to do with her mind-controlled assassin, but eventually says "He's done a lot of bad things in his life. Perhaps he can do some good by going first. It's the least he can do after trying to kill us. Isn't that right, Mister Fiddles?"
The assassin nods his head in exaggerated fashion.
Malen busied himself trying to help with the complicated rigging system to get the assassins back to the top of the hole they had descended through, though he lacked the dexterity of most of his companions. He satisfied himself with keeping an eye on the unconscious assassins, as well, not above taking out his dagger and using the hilt to bash one back into oblivion if the situation called for it.
Later, when the talk turned to the use of Ilsa's dominated friend, the priest shrugged. It was a morally gray area, for sure, to use the man as bait for creatures or traps, but better him than any of the rest of them. Deep down, Malen was pretty sure the Shoanti would execute these interlopers anyway, so perhaps it wasn't worth worrying overly much about it.
--
"Climbing shouldn't be a problem Zamanda. I've got a grappling hook and plenty of rope." He hauls the fellows up after they're knocked out.
From what Zamanda knows of the Shoanti, which is surprisingly little at the moment, she doesn't think leaving the acropolis would constitute a failure. Giving up entirely, however, would be a failure.
Hunh. says Zamanda, stepping into the shaft. She begins to rise.
This automatically levitates you when you step into it.
Once at the top she steps in again, with feather fall ready because she is a little bit nervous, but she starts to slowly descend.
I didn't actually need to cast feather fall on you guys. This does it automatically. Amazing combination of spells here....
Bashiel steps into the levitation shaft with some anxiousness, but when it lifts him up to the upper level he just says "For this magic to still be working... whoever built this place a long time ago must have been an incredible mage. Or maybe the Shoanti restored this magic after they discovered this place?" He muses as he hefts the bodies back to the boneslayers.
---
Outside, he addresses the Boneslayers "We found these tshamek inside the Acropolis, when they ambushed us and attempted to kill us. I assume they weren't part of the intended trials, considering their allegiance to the Red Mantis. An individual named Cinnabar sent them to attack us. Is that name familiar to any of you?"
"As for the assassins, considering that they were tresspassing on one of your important sites, we decided it would be best for them to face Shoanti justice. Is that right? If so, we'll bring them wherever they need to be judged."
"In the mean time, we intend to complete our trial here. Would you be willing to guard them until then?"
---
Once back inside the acropolis, he returns to the bottom-most floor with Ilsa. "We continue then. See if we can find this mark... whatever it is."
With your discovery of how to easily go up and down the shaft, getting yourselves and the assassins back to the Shoanti is a relatively simple matter.
The Boneslayers are surprised to see you as you exit the acropolis, and even more surprised at your cargo. They listen to Bashiel’s explanation. At his mention of Cinnabar, they look at each other for a moment before shaking their heads.
The lead Boneslayer replies, “We do not know who this Cinnabar is. Thank you for bringing them to us. We will guard them while you complete the trial. Once you have completed what tasks you think are necessary, we can bring them to Flameford to face justice for what they have done.”
With the assassins left in Shoanti care, you reenter the acropolis, descend the shaft, and continue your investigation where you left off.
This wide corridor, composed of polished black granite, runs north to south. A blue stone disc sits on the floor to the south, with a glowing column of blue light rising up from the disc through a hole in the ceiling. To the north, a five-foot-wide circular opening in the wall opens into a smaller chamber. The ceiling here is only fifteen feet high.
Zamanda instinctively notices that a huge stone plug blocks a hidden hallway to the east from this passage. The plug appears to be quite long and blocks off access to whatever lies behind it, though a crack around it is clearly visible.
Malen smiled as Zamanda explained the contraption that would allow them easier access up and down. "A genius device, though perhaps building it all on the same level would have been wiser, if not more ambitious." The priest waited to be near the last to ascend, keeping an eye out for any other trouble before stepping in and slowly rising to ground level.
The Sklar-Quah had seemed to be reasonable people, but the cleric was still relieved when their escorts agreed to watch over the assassins without any fuss or reprimand. Ready to begin anew in their quest for the mysterious Mark, the priest followed the others back down, stepping off the edge and experiencing a bit of a heart-wrenching acceleration before the feather fall spell activated and slowed his descent.
Malen eyed the blue light ahead warily, keeping it in sight as Zamanda told them of the secret passage that was blocked. "Is there any way to remove the plug?"
Theoretically, yes. I mean, there are spells for shaping stone. I don't have one though. I do have a blink spell, so I can try to walk through the barrier to see what is on the other side, and then come back. Depending on how thick it is, and how lucky I am, that may or may not work, and if I materialize inside the rock, it will hurt, but there are failsafes in the spell... it won't kill me. Anyone have a better idea?
Kalem shook his head. ”None that I can think of.”
"Considering how magical this place has been so far, there could be some kind of magical switch for getting this stone plug to move. I'd take a look first down the hall. We can come back here if we can't find any other solutions." Bashiel mulls it over. "Though if you have more of those blinking spells, a quick attempt couldn't hurt."
"It seems strange that the doorways here are circular. Was this place only built for creatures that could fly?"
I also can teleport myself and a few others a limited distance, but walking might be better for going in, just because teleporting blind can be scary... and I only can cast each once anyway, so better if we don't risk anyone else getting stuck on the other side.
Having talked herself into it, Zamanda casts the spell and it starts to look like she is winking in and out of reality. She walks into the stone.
Zamanda takes a step through the stone plug and… finds herself still inside stone. She continues forward, her spell keeping her ethereal. Disconcertingly, her next couple steps find her still inside stone. It’s only after going twenty feet that she emerges into an open space.
A jumble of five crushed humanoid skeletons lie in the southeast corner of this chamber. Stone niches in the southern wall contain a few pieces of clutter among other valuable items.
Among a collection of exotic cups, bowls, and silverware worth 75 gp in all are a magical bottle, a magical decanter, a magical spoon, and two scrolls of the same kind, another two scrolls of the same kind, and yet another two scrolls of the same kind.
The treasure scattered among the skeletons consists of a crystal locket depicting a two-headed dove worth 325 gp, a pair of sapphire earrings worth 4,350 gp, and a bejeweled holy symbol of an unknown goddess worth 2,000 gp. Also found among the bones are three magic items, a dagger, cloak, and scabbard.
The holy symbol is that of the goddess Lissala, the nearly forgotten deity of runes and fate.
Zamanda calls out that she is okay, hoping the group can hear her through the crack.
She takes the time to gather up the magical items and treasure but doesn't attempt to identify anything yet. She wonders what could have crushed the skeletons in this room that looks completely isolated, but also doesn't want to wait to find out if whatever it was is somehow still here.
She then starts to walk back through the stone, back to her friends.
When she comes out, she describes what she saw (skeletons crushed in an isolated room), and then asks Ilsa to help her identify the magic items...
Or wait, maybe we should just get in and out. If whatever is down here could kill someone hidden behind 20 feet of rock, I'm not sure we want to meet it.
Bashiel looks with astonishment as Zamanda emerges from the stone laden down with all manner of treasure. When she describes what she found, he offers a prayer to Osiris for those lost. "It could be that they were once Shoanti attempting this trial. To be sealed in that chamber suggests that it was some kind of trap. One now sprung. They were certainly also quite heavily laden with treasure, which makes me think they were other travelers instead... maybe quite ancient ones."
He looks over the items, and in particular the extravagant holy symbol, with interest, though he has to leave the identification up to his allies.
Ilsa examines each of the items and is able to identify some of them.
Bottle of air
Unidentified Decanter
Unidentified Spoon
Scroll of Clairvoyance x2
Unidentified scroll x2
Unidentified scroll x2
+1 magical beast-bane dagger
Unidentified cloak
Unidentified scabbard
Bashiel isn’t familiar with the deity of the holy symbol, but he does know that most Shoanti do not worship deities, but generally venerate their ancestors. That said, there are exceptions, and Shoanti generally look favorably on more family or nature-oriented deities such as Erastil or Gozreh.
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Decanter of Endless Water
Sustaining Spoon
Unidentified scroll x2
Scroll of Dimension Door x2
Cloak of Resistance +3
Scabbard of Keen Edges
Okay... I think I can get these others. Still not sure about these scrolls though. Maybe we'll have to try them again later after we're out of here.
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”Good job! Don’t you just love it when the loot comes in like this? And useful too! Use some Prestidigitation on the gruel and we won’t go hungry again. Add in the fresh water and these are perfect survival tools.”
Bashiel looks over the scabbard after Zamanda explains its properties. "Whoever these explorers were, they were exceptionally well equipped, don't you think? They had all this gear to let them survive for a long time in an enclosed place. They also had scrolls they could have used to get out." He straps the scabbard to his belt. "And despite all those advantages, they died in there."
"That doesn't make sense. The skeletons were crushed but their gear is intact, so it wasn't an indiscriminate crushing either..."
He mulls it over. "I wonder what killed them then? Did they go in there and trigger some kind of magical disintegration? Or was it maybe something incorporeal that went after them... a ghost?" He slots his rapier in his new sheath and calls the command word to make the weapon keen before drawing it again.
"Ready to go northward?"
Bashiel doesn’t spot any traps ahead before Ilsa lets the tamed Mantis lead the way.
No traps trigger as you make your way north before turning to the east and entering another room.
The walls, ceiling, and floor of this chamber have been painted to resemble a starry sky, giving the illusion of walking through space. A ten-foot-diameter stone sphere floats five feet above the floor near the room’s southern wall. Three short metal rods protrude from the lower hemisphere, radiating outward like a tripod, only the rods rest on empty air rather than a solid surface. The sphere appears to have been carefully carved with tiny rivers, mountains, oceans, and forests.
If you cast Detect Magic on the globe, you find that it radiates strong divination magic.
The sphere appears to be a map of the ancient world, but certain aspects of it seem to be inaccurate. Varisia, for example, is mostly landlocked except for a narrow southern coastline. Other features are missing as well, such as the Inner Sea, while in some places islands or entire continents exist where none appear today. Further casting the globe’s accuracy into suspicion are the vast swaths of blank surface in some regions, where only vague outlines of continents and oceans appear.
Responding to Bashiel, Zamanda says
Yeah, I don't get it either, but whatever got them seems super dangerous, so not sure we should hang around here longer than we need to. Not saying that we aren't amazing and stuff, because we obviously are, but something that can do that... I don't know.
As they continue and upon seeing the globe, Zamanda becomes intrigued. She casts detect magic and examines the globe, both magically and non-magically.
This globe seems to be a depiction of the ancient world, but is very different from our modern understanding of the world. Not sure whether this is accurate and the world has changed so drastically, or whether (perhaps more likely), this was built on incomplete information and imaginations of the past.
The stars might indicate Desna worship, but no telling how old this is...
Zamanda realizes she is rambling because she is fascinated, and stops. Instead, she walks around the globe and taps on it a few times, trying to determine whether it is hollow / openable (imagining that what they are looking for might be inside), as well as examining the rods that are holding it up, to see if they are also magical, or whether they are resting on an invisible base, etc.
”Neat.” Kalem said, interested in the ramblings. ”This is great. Ancient ruin? Powerful magic? Dead adventurers? This all means that we are going to find really cool stuff down here. I hope other people have already looted the good stuff.”
"Very strange indeed. Maybe the globe only has the details that its makers knew in some ancient time before Earthfall?" Bashiel points at the rods extending from it "It seems like far too detailed and magical of a model to mar it with unneeded rods just to prop it up. I wonder if the rods are meant to identify places that were important." He crouches down to try to get a sense for geographically where the rods lie.
"Was this just an art piece? Or does it have some kind of purpose?"
Zamanda and Ilsa study the globe’s magic more closely. Originally, this magical device allowed users to seek out strange new creatures to attempt to call into the acropolis, but over the years, the magic of the globe has faltered. Today, it does little more than provide a strange series of visions to the user that, over prolonged exposure, can cause madness. Anyone who touches the globe and concentrates on the stars or sky is immediately teleported inside of the globe and placed into a state of suspended animation as his mind is cast out into the distance to see strange and alien worlds and float in the void between the stars.
Every minute a character remains inside the globe, he must succeed at a DC 15 Will save to avoid taking 1d4 points of Intelligence damage. A character can exit the globe at any time by concentrating on Golarion or any part of the world (including creatures that live on the planet). Once a character is reduced to 0 Intelligence, he is shunted out of the globe automatically.
Also, Zamanda and Ilsa are certain that the globe is somehow connected to the Thrallkeeper's mark, though they're not sure exactly how.
Bashiel studies the rods under the globe and doesn’t notice them pointing to anything in particular. At least two appear to be pointing to unmapped areas of the globe. If the paladin didn’t know better, he would guess the rods were somehow supporting the globe, though that doesn’t make much sense as they are also floating in the air.
Zamanda touches the globe and concentrates on the stars to see if going inside somehow triggers or offers them what they need, thinking she can probably hold off madness long enough to find out.
Not wanting to press her luck, she remains less than one minute, taking in the experience, but knowing that it is dangerous to remain. After 5 rounds (30 seconds) or so, she concentrates on Golarion and her friends (just in case it teleports you to wherever you concentrate, which she doesn't want to happen), and returns.
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Bashiel watches Zamanda vanish with a sudden wave of anxiousness. He wonders what he'd even be able to do if she didn't emerge. The sphere looked solid. If he cracked it open, would she be inside? Or would the magic do something strange to her?
Zamanda touches the globe and soon vanishes from sight. It’s as if she was never there to the rest of the group.
For Zamanda, she finds herself transported into darkness. But that darkness quickly changes into a kaleidoscope of colors, some of which look like distant star systems. She passes by planets, supernovas, strange creatures beyond description, and dozens of other seemingly impossible shapes and objects. Only her strength of will keeps her from going mad at the sights.
As Zamanda concentrates on Golarion, the planet appears before her in its present day form. Varisia, the Inner Sea, and the rest appear in their proper places. The minstrel’s surroundings fade to darkness once again as she focuses on her companions. The next moment, she’s back in the chamber with the rest of the group as if nothing had happened.
But something did happen. Zamanda is certain. She received what the group had come for. The Thrallkeeper’s Mark.
The Thrallkeeper’s Mark manifests on the palm of a character when he or she emerges from the globe. Each PC understands the ramifications of the mark and how to use it immediately, and can choose to gain the mark on her right or left palm. A character who takes the mark on her right palm gains the ability to use dismissal once per day as a spell-like ability, while a character who takes the mark on her left palm instead gains the ability to use summon monster V once per day as a spell-like ability. These spell-like abilities function at a caster level equal to the user’s total Hit Dice, and the save DC for dismissal is equal to 15 + the user’s Charisma modifier.
Regardless of which palm is chosen, the Thrallkeeper’s Mark grants a +4 luck bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting effects. The Thrallkeeper’s Mark lasts for only 1 week before its magic fades, and a character can receive the mark only once per year.
Zamanda reappears, still a little stunned by what had happened to her, but after recovering a little, she smiles.
We got it!
She holds up her left palm and shows everyone the Thrallkeeper's Mark manifested there.
We can explore more if you guys want to, but I suggest if we run into anything actually threatening, we run. Additionally, this mark only lasts for a week, and I'm not sure who needs to see it. If only our escorts, we're good, but if we need to show the Sklar Quah, we still have to return to see the truthspeaker and then go to Flameford.
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”Sounds good. We got some easy loot and the job is done. What’s not to love? And when we walk back I really want to hear all about what happened there.”
Zamanda tries to put her experience into words for Kalem, although some of the things that she saw... there just are not words, so the real sense of the experience probably doesn't come across.
”Well why the abyss not? If you can’t explain it, then I might as well see it.” Kalem said, following suit.
Ilsa she knew would be okay, but Kalem? She was a little worried, but she didn't want to undermine his confidence either, so what came out to both of them was sort of lame.
Err, good idea, but be careful. Remember to come back out again as soon as you can. If you stay in there too long, you'll go insane.
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Ilsa enters the globe not long after Zamanda returns. Much like Zamanda, Ilsa begins in darkness. But instead of the darkness giving way to stars and planets, it seems to the mesmerist as if the darkness itself comes to life. Writhing shapes slither at the edges of her vision and stars and planets flee before her. From her. She sees indescribable sights as did Zamanda, but most of them face away from her, trying desperately to get away.
It takes every ounce of Ilsa’s will to bring Golarion into focus. The planet itself seems to strain to be away from her, but is forced to stay still. As the mesmerist focuses on her friend, the shapes before her melt back into darkness and she emerges from the globe having obtained the Thrallkeeper’s Mark.
As for Kalem, he touches the globe and also finds himself in darkness. The black almost seems comforting to the bloodrager. The fleeting comfort of the darkness fades as stars and planets appear before him. Unspeakable horrors appear before Kalem and yet somehow he seems numb to most of it. The madness that gnaws at the edge of his mind is barely held at bay as he sees more and more bizarre sights.
When it is almost too late, Kalem finally focuses on Golarion and his companions. The comforting darkness returns and he soon finds himself out of the globe once again. The Thrallkeeper’s Mark is his.
Bashiel's relief is blatant and visible on his face when Zamanda reemerges. He rushes over and gives her a hug. "For a second there I thought we'd lost you to whatever that globe really is." When she explains what she saw inside, he's struck by awe. "Do you think that really showed you places beyond Golarion, or was it more of an artist's imaginings...?"
"Either way, you have the mark now, so we've done what we need to. Considering how quick we were, I'm wondering if we should continue exploring upstairs. There might be other useful things around the acropolis."
When Ilsa and Kalem also enter the sphere, he's similarly (though slightly less) anxious that it might choose to swallow them instead. He embraces each of them with relief as they emerge. Though when he sees the mark on each of their hands, he shakes his head. "We don't quite know what else the mark might do, so I'll avoid taking it myself."
He may also be a little intimidated by the powerful magic and Zamanda's story of her journey.
Zamanda returns the hug from Bash, and glad that both Ilsa and Kalem were able to return, she agrees with him that it is time to head upstairs. Still pleased about finishing the task and fascinated by the globe... wondering what it originally did, etc., she almost forgets to mention her concerns, but then she remembers in full force. The experience in the globe actually scares her more than she was before, just because it illustrates further the level of power involved in this place.
Sounds good, and this place is totally interesting. It would be cool to see more. But let's not take any chances, okay? We've solved this one, so if anything dangerous happens, let's not wait to get smashed like those skeletons. We should just run. Usually we can handle things, but, this place... that globe... that kind of power is not something we can fight.
She stops talking, unable to put the experience into words and express how dangerous she thinks this place has the potential to be. They've been safe so far, but she doesn't want to meet whatever is/was killing people.
Being a wanderer himself, even if Korvosa was home, the priest watched as all the others but Bashiel claimed the mark and spoke of their short adventure. When it seemed time to go, the cleric spoke, "I would like to enter the device, as well. It's more greed for the experience than the mark, I'm afraid, but I can't let such an opportunity slip by."
With that, Malen touched the globe, closing his eyes as he did so.
Should the priest emerge with the Mark upon his right hand, he smiled at the wonders he had seen, offering private thanks to Pharasma for allowing him to see such majestic sights before agreeing that they should return to their escorts and prove they had the Mark, as agreed.
Bashiel looks a little alarmed that Malen took the mark as well but is relieved if he comes out hale and hearty as well.
Assuming all goes well in getting back upstairs, Bashiel inspects the eastern door prior to opening it.