Bashiel stays still and out of direct sight, but ready to jump in if the Gray Maidens aren't buying the story.
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Zamanda speaks up in a lower voice, as close to Koriantu as she can get, but adding in a slightly raspy edge.
Ha ha...
Zamanda coughs and rubs her throat
...that's nothing compared to his friend. Laid out, probably take days to heal. Good hit!
She slaps Ilsa on the back.
Of course, I healed everyone up, mostly, but Kalathuro got me right in the throat. Going to take a few days for my voice to get back to normal. Ha ha. That's why I left him with a serious headache.
Anyway, sorry for the noise. Surprise training, so we couldn't warn anyone ahead. We were on the way downstairs to make sure no bloodsplatter made it over the balcony. That's just a rookie move, hitting someone hard enough that you have to clean up afterward. We need to have these trainings more often.
How are things down there? Anything you needed us for?
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The first guard holds the second one from the arm so she cannot draw the sword "Those rookies always getting too emotional on their training" the tone is that one of having fun despite you do not see her smile behind the helmet.
She then turns to the red mantis "Do not get it hard on you Kalathuro. It is just training" and pushes the other guard back.
The second guard growls behind the mask as she is forced to step back "Stop the noise. The Queen is dispatching with Vavana Dhatri in the Throne Room and you are not letting them talk"
As they retreat, the most perceptive of you can overhear their conversation before they do disappear through the west corridor to the throne room "I tell you, that one is behind some kind of compulsion. The way of talking and moving was not normal"
The other one answering "They are Red Mantis, better do not discuss their ways. The Queen needs them. Better do not comment anything of that. I do not want having to be one more second than needed among those investigating..."
With the Gray Maidens left, you are free again to decide your next steps.
Zamanda ignores the second guard after her outburst, but does respond to the polite guard, bowing slightly and saying much more formally
My apologies, we didn't mean to disturb the queen; we'll go tell everyone to be silent. That will be good practice for them too.
She then waits as they leave, before turning around to go "inform everyone to be silent."
_____
After coming back up, she tells everyone they need to be super quiet and then grins and says softly
This is fun. Okay, what's next?
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Once the Grey Maidens are well and truly gone, Bashiel comes out from behind the corner and taps the end of Serithial against the floor. "Now that was neatly done, both of you." He looks over his shoulder. "Not sure what else might be hidden around here, something that might serve as evidence. I say we give it a good once-over, check the area south of here, and then maybe head up to the attic."
"We've got that lost spirit, and I mean to settle it if we can. It might also have some insight into the castle that we don't yet have. Or even into the late king..."
Bashiel does a quick loop around the Red Mantis quarters, glancing into their hammocks in case any worthwhile evidence is sequestered within. Then he moves to the south-eastern door to take a peek at what lies that way.
Bashiel searches the hammocks and other stuff in the hall, but really, the group find nothing else of interest in here. He then steps out into what seems a large balcony.
This is the largest balcony in the fortress. Three of the keep’s catapults stand on here.
From this point, Bashiel can see a wooden bridge 30 feet over the ground of the balcony where he is standing. This suspended bridge connects two of the towers at the attic level.
You spot a red mantis hiding on the upper wooden bridge.
There are three doors in this balcony. The two doors going into the towers in the corners will open easily. If someone tries to open the one in the middle, you will find it firmly locked or jammed.
(fail)
Zamanda follows Bashiel up, and when she finds that the middle door is locked, she attempts to unlock it.
Bashiel heads out to cover Zamanda as she tries the middle door. He watches the suspended bridge, trying to visualize the layout of the upper floor. "That'd be the opposite of the way to that spirit... Hmm."
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”Have to say, it was surprising how easily the Red Mantis were taken by surprise.” Kalem said. ”They’re supposed to be assassins feared throughout the world, and yet this is twice now that they were slaughtered like common bandits. Seems like we lucked out on the Queen wasting her gold on a false reputation.”
Zamanda, still intent on her work, responds
I wouldn't say their reputation is false, Kalem. They are a very successful (though thoroughly evil) organization. Have you stopped to consider that you are just *that* good?
Zamanda finds the iron door is magically locked rather than using a conventional lock. But her combination of skill and arcane knowledge grants she is able to force the iron open.
Inside you find a completely empty room.
Magic irradiates from a spot in a corner of the ceiling.
You detect a conjuration (creation) aura in the spot.
You identify the effect on this place as a phase door.
You will likely need divination magic to discover the triggering condition to cross the ethereal tunnel, but it is likely something that identifies oneself as part of the group the creator wanted to access this place.
In the ceiling of this room you spot a strange unsubstantial tunnel that prolongs into the stone. Still, you cannot see through and trying to touch it only finds the cold stone.
Zamanda casts detect magic, trying to see if she can find anything similar to what they found in the card room downstairs.
She sees magic radiating out from a spot on the ceiling, so she uses her boots of levitation to get closer in order to examine the phenomenon.
Unfortunately, she just never took magical study that seriously. She can see the magic clearly, but has no idea what kind of spell it is or how it works.
She comes back down and tells Ilsa where she can see magic, hoping that she will be able to figure out what it does.
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Ilsa returns to the room with Zamanda, but her intuitive magic is even less able to determine what she's dealing with than the bard's.
"Sometimes I can tell if it's related to a mind, but I'm drawing a blank here."
When they find the empty room, she says "So what's our next step? Are we trying to clear out this level as long as we have the element of surprise, or should we try another surgical strike once we've rested?"
Bashiel frowns as he looks up. "No one else seeing that thing? I'm guessing its something magical from the way you're looking at it Zamanda? It looks kind of like something ethereal - like an ethereal tunnel maybe - that's part of the stone there." He reaches up with a polearm and taps it "Solid enough though. Seems strange."
"Maybe it'll make more sense from above."
To Ilsa, he answers "Next step is head upstairs, I think. My thought process is that there's not much left on this level we haven't inspected, there's some hints that they might be hiding something up there, and they probably don't have much in the way of guards either. So we should be relatively undiscovered."
The group is examining the ceiling and deciding how to go up when Kalem notices something in the south-eastern tower.
Some kind of invisible devil or demon pops out of invisibility casting a spell as he notices Kalem looking in his direction. A pebble of fire flies over towards you and once among you bursts with a blast of flames!
Bristling with terrible spines and a crown of deadly horns, this leering winged terror wields a whirling barbed chain made of adamantine.
You remember Sabina told you about a horned devil called Mavrokeras that she had never saw. But no one was able to identify what kind of devil that was.
Kalem opened his mouth to talk when he saw the demon. ”We should, wait-“ He was cut off when the world exploded into flame. From the fire he soared into the sky on black wings, his scythe at the ready.
Kalem avoids the fireball as good as he can, his infernal resistance further protecting him, but his greater false life already shoved by Koriantu before.
Dark wings protrude from Kalem as he enters a rage and swiftly flies up to the balcony charging and swinging hard with his scythe. The devil smiles as he was prepared for the approach and swings his spiked chain as Kalem goes past his 10' reach.
Kalem resists the stun and opens a long gash in the devil's chest, but the flames do nothing to him.
"This is forbidden space intruders" the devil swings his spiked chain at Kalem "I am glad to have some joy seeing your pain though"
The devil bites Kalem in the shoulder and manages a critical strike on his right leg.
Weathering the outsider’s attacks, Kalem let out a wordless battlecry as the flames on his scythe went from red to blue. Refusing to back down he met it blow for blow.
Out of nowhere, a tiny pebble of fire flies close, and Zamanda recognizes it and jumps out of the way so that she avoids at least some of the damage, drawing her bow and looking around for a target.
They obviously had caught someone's attention. She sees Kalem flying up to a balcony. There, a target. A devil?
She draws her bow and fires.
(gravity bow, acid, cold)
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Ilsa ventures closer to the demon, striding in fear-instilling confidence. She reaches out toward the creature with her mind, hoping to shake its resolve.
The target is shaken, and the first time each round the target takes damage (including the first round of the spell’s duration), it must succeed at another Will save or its fear level increases by one step (from shaken to frightened, and from frightened to panicked). If the target fails a saving throw against this effect while panicked, it is transfixed in terror and is helpless for the remainder of the spell’s duration. If the target succeeds at the initial Will save, it is shaken for 1 round but its fear level cannot be further increased by this spell’s effects during that round.
Kalem manages a couple strikes with his scythe, this time the cold seems to damage the devil. The tiefling notices the scythe does not deal as much damage as he expected.
Zamanda's arrow goes wide and just bounces against the balcony stone.
Despite the devil being too far away for her stare, as the devil is fighting in a balcony 30' over the heroes' balcony, Ilsa indeed pierces the devil's magical resistance and makes him tremble.
Despite being caught off guard, Bashiel's instincts lead him to sweep his cloak in a broad arc that keeps the burst of flames at bay. As his allies leap out in counterattack, he advances more slowly. He stows Serithial to free up a hand for casting a spell that grants flight.
Bashiel moves forward and prepares himself to fly.
Laori walks in the air climbing up towards Kalem "Hold there Kalem!!!" while casting a spell. Her hand is surrounded by a green miasma that she shots towards the devil.
The ray strikes plainly but he seems to resist the magical attack.
With a little less cocky smile on his face, the devil keeps swinging his chains at Kalem "I see your pain, let's play a bit more with that feeling... tell me, tell me how it feels"
But Kalem has recovered part of his equilibrium after setting foot in the upper balcony, and manages to avoid most of the attacks.
The devil roars a bit bothered by Kalem's resistance, which gives him a frightful presence.
A couple daggers flash out from the shadows of the suspended wooden bridge.
But they land far away from Kalem.
Looking in this direction, you finally spot the red mantis assassin lurking over the bridge, 15 feet over the balcony and 15 feet below the tower top where Kalem fights the devil.
At the other extreme of the balcony, to the west, you spot another red mantis jumping from the other wooden bridge there, and lurking in the shadows towards Zamanda's back.
Zamanda moves forward, trying to get a better shot, and shoots up at the devil again.
(gravity bow, acid, cold)
Weathering the blows, Kalem grinned a bloody smile. For once it was his own blood that he tasted. ”You’ve been a worthy opponent. I’m glad that we could have this duel.” He finished as he parried a blow and used the break in momentum to launch his own blistering attack. He knew that this was it. Either he won or he died, there was no room for error. The feeling was exhilarating. It had been a long time since he had felt so alive!
Zamanda suddenly springs forward and around the tower shooting an arrow that lodges in the devil's chest but dealing much less damage than expected as he resists the acid and coldness.
Kalem swings powerfully back at the devil. The first swing cuts heavily in the arm, the second one goes on the leg. It seems Kalem has it, he has it in his hands, but the last swing goes wide by just a couple inches.
That leaves the devil barely standing, and with Kalem at his mercy.
Ilsa is forced to move to have the assassin at range of her hypnotic stare, but once she does, the assassin cowers in fear!
Spotting the invisible Mantis, Bashiel fixes the assassin with a stare and says "An invisible one coming from the west!" Unable to reach Kalem in time to finish off the fiend threatening to kill him, Bashiel readies to intervene magically on the bloodrager's behalf. He draws Serithial once more and readies an attack if the Mantis enters his range.
Zamanda, whispering a word under her breath, tries to help Kalem snatch victory.
Mavrokeras is still smiling when Zamanda twists the odds of combat. Kalem's scythe slightly changes in trajectory cutting in half the devil who looks in horror as his body falls apart not understanding how that happened!
Laori reaches for Kalem healing some of his wounds.
Noticing Bashiel has discovered him, the red mantis assassin starts a prayer attack swinging his blade towards the paladin in a fascinating way.
The other red mantis just cowers over the wooden brige "No! Stop looking at me like that!"
Zamanda moves up to get a better shot at the mantis on the bridge.
(gravity bow, acid, cold)
Bashiel easily ignores the mantis prayer and, with Kalem safe, strides forward to try to take out the red mantis assassin. He aims for center of mass and delivers a swift strike.
Zamanda puts an arrow in the cowering assassin that further shouts in pain.
Bashiel sinks his blade on the red mantis belly ignoring his fascinating sword dance. The assassin looks back, badly injured.
Kalem frowned. Deep down he knew that but-for the aid of his companions the devil would have won. It was good to be alive, but it was bitter to be overmatched. But the fight was not yet over. Spreading his wings he flew over towards the assassin, to ensure that if the man left it would be in pieces.
Flying over the bridge Kalem slices on the cowering assassin leaving him mortally injured.
Ilsa does something heroic!
The assassin keeps cowering in the bridge.
The other one creates a veil of red mist that begins healing him, and attacks Bashiel before performing a step back.
The attacks pops him out of invisibility.
The assassin was mortally wounded, but he still put up a fight. Knowing that he couldn’t parry Kalem’s scythe, the assassin ducked, weaved and dodged…until he misread a feint and lunged in the right direction. The scythe made a clean hit, going right through the left arm and into the assassin’s chest. Kalem ripped it out, letting the pieces of assassin fall to the floor.
Zamanda sees that the mantis on the bridge is... not just dead, but something she will likely have to clean up after.
Turning, she sees another one (orange?), and taking one step back to the wall, she shoots twice.
(bonus vs Red Mantis)
(gravity bow, acid, cold, vs Red Mantis)
Kalem dismembers the cowering red mantis with a series of mighty scythe swings.
Ilsa stops Zamanda before she can kill poor Kalathuro. Then turns to the remaining assassin and kills him with a sap hit and her stare.
"Oh Kalem! Are you ok?!" Laori is quick to heal a bit all of your wounds casting mass cure light wounds.
Then she follows up healing Kalem.
You quickly collect the belongings of the horned demon, an +1 adamantine unholy spiked chain and a ring of invisibility.
potion of bull’s strength x2
alchemist’s fire x4
+1 leather armor x2
+1 sawtooth sabres x4
daggers x8
cloak of resistance +1 x2
70 pp
Thanks Laori.
Zamanda starts cleaning up, peeking into the big room to make sure no one has come upstairs, and then stashing the bodies (and the sliced off pieces of bodies) in the empty room that probably teleports you somewhere if you know how to use it, so they weren't in plain sight, and starts cleaning up all the blood. If someone came upstairs, well, she still looked like Koriantu, and she would try for another bluff.
”I am now.” He said, his disappointment at being unable to win on his own accord having faded upon seeing her. He decided that it was unimportant pride. What mattered was that they were alive and that they remain so.
Leaded by Zamanda, the group conceals the bodies the best possible in just a few minutes investment while Laori finishes healing up Kalem.
The elven smiles wide "It was actually an epic fight!! Was he that good at causing pain as he announced himself?!!" the cleric picks the adamantine chains examining the remains of flesh and checking the quality of the adamantine metal with interest "So where are we going now?"
Upstairs presumably, right? To find whatever was sealed off from below with stone shape? Is that what you were looking for Bash?
”Gods yes, it hurt.” Kalem said. ”Every touch made me want to do pass out.” He shuddered. ”To be honest, on a one-on-one it could very well have killed me. I was lucky to have all of you here.”
"Exactly Zamanda. With another of the castle's defenders down, that's one less we'll have to worry about later. Which leaves us with some breathing room to investigate upstairs. We can probably get up there from the main staircase." To the second half of her question, he adds "The lost spirit. Not sure if it was sealed there in stone, or if it was somewhere else, but we'll see once we get to it."
Bashiel stops to listen for any activity from the other side of the western door.
Zamanda follows Bash, looking over the balcony on the way to the stairs to check whether everything is calm, and to judge whether she needs another bluff. If anyone is down there, she waves (still looking like Koriantu).
(-2 if not a Korvosan)
As the group makes it upstairs, Zamanda gives a look below the inner balcony but sees no one. Once up, Bashiel opens the west door into the main area.
This airy, pillared area under the keep’s roof is almost empty. The excellent construction of the roof plating and of the dormer windows keeps the room dry.
Finding this place overtly empty, you start to open the doors around.
Half of this room is filled with pigeon cages, empty except for a thick layer of pigeon corpses lining the bottoms.
This attic contains only a sorghum broomstick, a couple of upturned empty kegs, and a pile of old mattresses infested with lice.
This long room is stacked full of wool bales. There are also a pair of floor looms; several castle spinning wheels with ivory finials; and racks of carders, extra bobbins and shuttles, warping boards, and other spinning and weaving equipment.
This room contains an emergency supply of grain (corn, wheat, rye, and so on) for the keep.
This room contains several kegs full of tar, wooden planks, metal roof plates, ceramic tiles, and other spare construction material.
A section of floor at the far end of the room has been torn away, leaving a gap that overlooks the main entrance. This relatively recent modification is what Sabina told you allowed the dragon Zarmangarof access to and from his lair.
This room is packed with old and dusty odds and ends from a century of the keep’s history. The clutter in the room includes old clothes, toys, tools, pieces of furniture, lamps, extra lumber, and broken tools.
The clutter in this room is heaped high against the northeastern door, hiding it completely from view.
Clearing the junk away from the door would take an hour of work.
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Ilsa folds her arms across her chest after they've explored the upper floor, still considering their best option.
"Well, that level is all the stuff most would never see, but I'm not sure it's helpful to us. I still think it might be wise to visit the dragon's lair before anyone searches it. It could have something useful for us, and I'd rather not have someone else take it. What do you think about trying that next?"
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"Pretty empty up here, and that's likely for the best." When the group gets to the junk storage room, he eyes the northern door. "That'd be the direction the cards suggested the spirit was. No coincidence that there's all this junk piled here to block anyone from spotting or reaching the north door."
He considers the mess "Might be easier to just to cut our way in. We've got several adamantine weapons that should make quick work of the stone."