(fail)
Zamanda explains her thoughts about the crystal tubing to her companions
Bashiel ignores the boggards' gear - Ileosa takes priority. He follows after Zamanda, but avoids going too deep into the water for now. Looking up at the small tubes entering the ceiling, he tries to see if there is anything visible from the floor above this one. Unfortunately, he isn't much help in analyzing the magical or historical merits of either the illusion or the tubes.
"We've got options, but they all involve taking another dip. I say we start from the southernmost passage first, then circle around. My guess is that there'll be some more rooms that link together."
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Kalem groaned. His boots were just dried. Walking around with sloshing steps was annoying. It was another reason to hate the Queen.
You look up but give the small size of the tubes and the fact there is no light coming from the upper level, you can see nothing else than darkness through the ceiling tube holes.
You follow Bashiel's indications through the southern room, then, the more damped eastern one around.
A soft, purplish light illuminates the northeastern part of this flooded chamber, where a large, square shaft opens in the ceiling.
The water in here is 15 feet deep at its deepest point. The ceiling and the shaft up are devoid of water.
This shaft leads up 35 feet to the upper floor. The walls of the shaft are very smooth—climbing them will be tricky.
The east corner of this chamber is fitted with a wooden platform that seems to float on the water’s surface. A few barrels sit on the platform.
The water level in this room is 35 feet deep in the deep end, leaving 15 feet of air above.
The platform contains three barrels of drinking water.
Wings formed on Kalem’s back as he lifted Laori and carried her up. After setting her down he proceeded to tie a rope so that the others would have an easier climb.
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Zamanda goes ahead and adds the barrels of drinking water to her portable hole storage after going to the trouble of climbing up on the wooden platform and opening them to look and see what they were. Maybe it would come in handy someday.
_____
When they return to the shaft to go up, Zamanda uses her Boots of Levitation to raise herself to an appropriate level, then steps over to solid ground.
If there isn't anything there to attack them when they get to the next level, Zamanda goes ahead and dries everyone off before they proceed. :)
Eyeing the vertical shaft, Bashiel decides that now is as good a time as any to invoke some of Osiris' blessings. He backs up for a moment to a drier room. Then, with the aid of a metamagic rod, he calls upon an angelic aspect and sprouts golden wings from his back. He flies over and up the shaft to join Kalem and Zamanda.
He whispers "We have to be getting close now... right?"
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Kalem lifts Laori up. The elf does not tell him she can air walk and enjoys the lift passing her arms around the new elf's neck.
Zamanda starts to levitate.
Bashiel invokes the gods and flies up with angelic wings.
Ilsa uses her slippers of spider climbing to reach the upper floor with the rest of the group.
The air in this large room is warm and pleasant. The floor, walls, and ceiling are tiled with polished, rose-colored marble slabs. Climbing from the floor to the ceiling above and weaving in and out of the walls are dozens of thin crystal tubes. One shaft drops away in the floor to the south, while a second shaft rises up through the ceiling to the north.
In the middle of the hall there is a crimson horror walking upon six long, thin legs waiting for you. Its face is neither that of a skull nor spider, but some horrid mix of the two.
While you are still flying over the pit, the creature casts a greater dispel magic among you before you can even mediate a word.
Bashiel's keen edge is dispelled.
Zamanda's levitate is dispelled and falls to the water below!
The horrific creature then casts quickened lesser confusion on Kalem.
This seems a more powerful version of a scarlet walker. A dangerous outsider gaze makes people bleed.
Shaking away the confusion, Kalem spread his wings and pounced upon the outsider. His scythe blazed with red, blue and golden flames. As he charged he swung it with his usual display of force and confidence.
Following after Kalem, Bashiel calls upon Osiris and flies up into close quarters with the beast and aims a single stab for what looks like the weakest part of its carapace. "In Osiris' name, be laid to rest, fiend."
(pass)
(fail)
Grasping at Kalem's rope and missing, she panics at falling and casts Feather Fall as a reflexive immediate action, even though she realizes as soon as she casts that she was only going to fall into the water, and would likely have been fine.
She hits the water more slowly than she would have though, thankful for less pain.
Ilsa activates her implanted trick and cracks through the creature's spell resistance, but it endures the enfeebling effects. The mesmerist's trick energies expire with the attempt.
Kalem pounces forward avoiding the claws of the creature. As he does so, his scythe cuts three times, but the unusual anatomy of the creature makes for him impossible to find a vital point. The cold damage seems to not affect it. Kalem's blood starts to crowd at his eyes.
Climbing on the wall, Ilsa shows her scary face, and the scarlet beast starts to shake by a terror never spot before, even in the deepest areas of Leng.
Bashiel moves in, the creature attempts to scrap him, but his force weapons deflect the attack. Bashiel then sinks his rapier in the deepest parts of the creature, finding a vital spot on its unusual anatomy. Bashiel's eyes also start to suffer from blood piling up.
Mortally wounded, the beast barely survives as Serithial recognizes him for serving the Queen.
Zamanda grasps herself to the wall and makes a mighty effort to maintain herself clinging in the wall, but finally starts to softly falling through the pit.
Laori casts shield of faith on herself.
The scarlet creature starts lashing at Kalem.
Only the tentacle finds its target crossing the elven's face and opening a deep gash that immediately starts to bleed.
The tentacle also injects some paralyzing substance.
Kalem paid the price for believing that he had scored a killing blow as a tentacle lashed his face. Shaking away the blood in his eyes he continued his assault, though his accuracy was certainly affected by his impeded vision.
Kalem keeps swinging his scythe to right and left while closing his eyes to avoid the blood flying towards the unnatural beast. Luckily, two of his strikes still land on the bloody thing that opens itself in a pool of blood!
Seeing the beast dead and Kalem suffering something in his eyes, Laori quickly approaches "Oh, Kalem, are you ok?"
"No surprise that Ileosa guards herself with horrors..." Bashiel advances past the creature, wary that there might be more coming. "Let's hope she doesn't have more of these particular pets."
Zamanda levitates back up to the top of the shaft and steps onto solid ground.
While Ilsa renews her spell anticipation trick, Bashiel advances himself, catching a glimpse of someone moving around the corner of the next rooms.
By when Zamanda makes foot up in the upper ground, four fallen angels with wings stained black, turn around the corners flying and searching for you with fury eyes "The Queen does not want you here meddlers" "She is disturbed by your presence" "The Queen send us to end you once and for all" "In the name of Sermignatto, we serve and you die!"
The blue one throws a rope at Bashiel that falls just over him. The rope coils around his chest and legs, menacing to entangle him.
Meanwhile the other black angel moves forward and throws her flaming trident at Bashiel.
The seasoned man raises his shield blocking the weapon, whose warmth he can feel in his face for a second, before it seems to animate and flies back returning to the thrower's hand!
Two more appear at the southern corridors, one raising her hands and blasting the back of the party (everyone but Bashiel) with a cold, cloying miasma of greasy darkness, an unholy blight.
The other one throws her trident at the most obvious target, Zamanda.
The trident stabs deep in Zamanda's chest, but luckily Korvosa's spirits protect her from the fire just while the trident flies back to the hands of the dark angel.
You do recognize these creatures as champions among the erinyes devils.
You know good weapons are required to bypass their damage reduction, they have spell resistance, and only electricity deals full damage to them.
(pass)
(fail)
Seeing fallen angels attacking her, Zamanda is a little spooked. This was everything she was trying not to be, not to become.
She hits a certain part of her bow making a bright chime, starting a song of courage in resisting evil, for herself just as much as anyone else, and turns to fire at Red.
(inspire, point blank)
(gravity bow, acid, electricity, sonic, inspire, point blank)
Sermignatto? Was that the thing we killed at the palace?
Bashiel side-steps the rope, deflects the trident that comes in with the force of a cannonball, and spares a glance back for the rest of the team. With the four of them together, he figures they can easily handle a few fallen angels. On his side, he flies toward the green foe. With a flourish, he stabs the blade toward her solar plexus. He aims to disable rather than inflict the maximum possible harm.
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Zamanda shrugs the worst of the unholy blight and counter attacks with two well placed arrows that stab deep on the red fury's chest, although causing less damage than what Zamanda expected.
Bashiel flies over one of the furies. The clash of angel-winged ones is resounding, with the paladin stabbing the black angel with Serithial deep in the chest. The holy weapon cuts through with ease, but the acid from Bashiel's gloves seem to do nothing to her.
Laori suffers a bit but resists the dark miasma, pointing at the one who produced with a single word "Destruction!"
The fallen angel survives, but is left considerably injured.
Kalem spread his white wings as he launched himself into the air against the faux angels. To the uninitiated, it would look like a civil war in heaven. Truth be told, it was anything but. Still, that did not take away from the violence of the situation, as Kalem's blade went to work clearing the air of the creatures.
Kalem's and Ilsa's false life absorb most of the unholy energies.
Without a line of charge, Kalem flies through the battlefield, turning around the northern corner and in the direction the rope came. Effectively, he finds another fury, and he opens a wide injury through her chest. The fire and cold of the attack does not seem to affect her, and she is out of range from Zamanda's Discordant Voice, but she suffers a bad wound nonetheless.
Ilsa's claws cut deep in the fury's left arm, not a vital point, but enough for her to castigate the fallen angel with her painful stare. Despite it resists part of the damage , the fury ends sickened, shaken and paralyzed by Ilsa's ghoulish claws.
The red fury charges over Zamanda, holding her trident with both hands "You killed the Lord?! You heretic one will pay for this!" but in her desire to cause the most damage, Zamanda has an easy job just avoiding the weapon.
The blue one rages on Kalem, striking two times on him, but his angelic form protects him from the fire of the trident at the least
On the other side, Bashiel faces much better his fury, blocking all the attacks with his shield.
In between each trident strike he deflects with his shield, Bashiel retaliates with quick stabs of his own. The fury seems sturdy enough to not be easily dazed, so he focuses on bringing it down as quickly as he can.
Just from feel, he notices that his weapon doesn't seem quite as keen as it usually is thanks to the sheath.
Zamanda's song takes on an aspect of laughter at having a fallen angel call HER a heretic.
She shoots again at Red.
(inspire, point blank)
(gravity bow, acid, electricity, sonic, inspire, point blank)
Kalem raised his scythe and swung in at the faux-angel's neck. The blow was almost true, and would have certainly decapitated it, if the outsider hadn't been as fast as it was. It got an attack in first, so while Kalem's attack still hit, it was not the immediate killing blow that it could have been. The elf winced in pain as he was wounded, but continued his attack, believing that the best defense was a good offense.
With her fury helpless, Ilsa makes an easy target of it, slashing her once an again in a ravenous frenzy! Her claws reverberate with discordant voice, but she does not deal as much damage as expected and the fury survives, yet still paralyzed. Despite her many wounds, she is immune to bleeding.
Bashiel strikes hard with Serithial, all of the attacks falling on the fallen angel with all its strength. The fury falls, unconscious but not dead, with the third attack, and Bashiel, shall he choose so, is able to kill her with his fourth attack.
Zamanda steps back and puts two more arrows through the fury. The creature partially resists the damage , but it is left mortally wounded.
Kalem strikes hard, once and twice, his scythe cutting good, despite the fire and cold does nothing. The fury is badly injured but survives the onslaught.
Laori casts inflict moderate wounds and steps forward touching the red fury. She breaks through the magical resistance, and black veins burst from in to outside. Not able to cope with it anymore, the deviless falls to the ground unconscious, but not dead.
The only non helpless fury keeps her attacks on Kalem "For the Queen until the end! Die elf!"
One lucky strike goes on Kalem's chest, but he manages to protect his vital organs.
The yellow one stares at Ilsa with eyes injected in bloody fear and rage, but she is unable to move.
With a grimace of pain, Kalem grunted "Just die already." Doing his best to ignore his wounds, he continued attacking, putting everything he had into the assault.
Through pain and forcing himself to the end of his might, Kalem sends the devil back to Hell with a full succession of raging strikes!
The paralyzed devil is no menace and Ilsa just cuts its head with a twin strike of her ghoulish claws in a coup de grace.
The room is back to silence.
It strikes your attention a pool of blood in the northeastern chamber.
A shaft at the north wall goes up to the upper level of the pyramid.
Bashiel swishes Serithial through the heart of the unconscious fury, then retracts the blade to clean it in one quick motion. He hopes the silence means the fight was brief enough to attract no further reinforcement, but braces himself for Ileosa's attention should that prove wrong.
He murmurs "Barring healing, we should keep moving. I can't imagine Ileosa isn't aware of us now."
Kalem made a ‘tsk’ sound as he poked one of his wounds. Seeing that it was mostly superficial he nodded. ”Right. She’ll certainly rush the ritual once she realizes how close we are. Let’s finish this.”
Zamanda says
I agree that she probably knows, but I don't think this is a ritual you can hurry... she would have done so already. She isn't the patient type. Let's check out the blood pool and the normal things. A few extra moments isn't going to change things... and honestly, it actually might help us if she sends more goons at us now, and we can fight them separately and not at the same time we are trying to fight her.
She loots the bodies methodically, then moves over to the pool of blood to examine it.
You find a +1 chainmail, a +1 flaming returning trident, a cloak of resistance +1 and a silk rope in each of Ileosa's furies.
Meanwhile Laori does tend to your wounds using her wand.
"Hum" the elf throws away the run out wand "I guess that is all"
Then, finishes healing Kalem with one of her own spells.
You then make a fast exploration of the rooms in the laterals.
The northwestern portion of this room is occupied by a wooden platform. Several wooden chairs—the armrests, legs, and back fitted with straps and buckles—sit on the platform. At the northeast end is an empty weapon rack.
The platform is 2 feet above the floor at the lowest edge.
The western portion of this room is occupied by an L-shaped wooden platform. All sorts of laboratory equipment and tools for crafting magical items lie haphazardly atop the platform.
Currently, Ileosa has a set of ring gates about halfway through the process of creation. Someone able to craft could pick up where Ileosa left off. The various magical components in the area, worth 10,000 gp in all, are all ready to be used for this project.
Three globes of fire hang suspended from the ceiling to illuminate this room with a soft, pleasant light. The southern portion of the floor is occupied by an L-shaped wooden platform. The platform is furnished with a double bed, fine carpets, an angular cupboard, and a chest of drawers. Atop the chest of drawers stands a crystal vase with fresh violets and lotus flowers. Next to the bed stands a beautiful harp with a matching stool.
The globes that light this chamber are crystal spheres containing continual flames. It does not seem Ileosa has spent much time here in recent days.
The cupboard and chest of drawers contain beautiful clothes and precious jewelry worth a total of 12,000 gp—Ileosa’s less favored attire. The harp on the platform is a magical harp that combines the powers of a harp of charming and pipes of sounding. The harp weighs 65 pounds and is worth 9,000 gp.
This chamber smells of blood. The eastern portion contains a large square basin, the rim of which is decorated with a convoluted bas-relief that resembles a jumble of snakes and slugs. Within the basin is a drop of three feet to the surface of a pool of what appears to be blood. Numerous thin crystalline tubes extend out of the wall above the basin, pass through its rim, and emerge along the inner rim, each one protruding like a tiny spigot over the pool below. A wooden platform to the southwest of the basin is cluttered with various alchemical supplies and surgical tools. A small iron stand sits on the platform—cradled in it is a dark blue gemstone the size of a child’s fist.
The basin radiates faint necromancy magic.
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Zamanda loads treasure into her portable hole as they go from room to room, but while they are ransacking the evil queen's bedroom, Zamanda starts to look uncomfortable, and she asks the men to step outside for a moment.
When they are gone, she quickly sheds her backpack and cape, and says to Ilsa and Laori
Something is wrong with my back. Please, help me get this armor off, fast.
With help, she gets out of her armor and the upper part of the 10,000 gold outfit that the Rod of Splendor had provided, and the other women witness angelic wings sprout from her back.
Zamanda, who didn't really know what was happening, but who actually looks relieved that it is just wings, and that they are white and angelic rather than ... otherwise, just sits on Ileosa's bed for a moment in shock, but then she finally says
Wow. That was... uh... a better change than I was expecting, and less painful than I thought it would be, but still...
She stretches and flaps them a little.
... I think they are permanent. I can't seem to, um, reabsorb them or control them being there or anything... although I can move them, and likely fly with them. ... I guess that change back at the palace kicked in some latent angelic blood or something. Uh... maybe... could you guys help me with some of this clothing that Ileosa left here? The Rod of Splendor only works once a day, and this form-fitting blouse obviously isn't going to work anymore. ... I think the armor will automatically adjust because it is magical, but the clothes probably won't. Awkward timing, sorry...
... It is a challenge to adjust any clothing for use with wings, especially the medium-sized clothing of Ileosa, but she has help, and limited prestidigitation and mending spells, so they are able to make a loose robe into something that works for now. She gets redressed and her armor back on, now with wing vents, and is happy just to be able to function again. :) She thanks the other women profusely, and then lets the men back in, showing them her new wings and apologizing for the brief personal emergency.
(When she redresses, she puts her backpack in the portable hole since it would be awkward to try to wear it, but she still wears the cape, which falls mostly between her wings, and she also makes sure she is wearing the Amulet of Natural Armor rather than her Necklace of Adaptation, but still keeps the latter in her pocket in case they have to go downstairs again.)
____
When they get to the blood repository Zamanda asks
Do you think this is all of the blood that she gathered from Korvosans, including us, or do you think she has people down on the first floor that we didn't explore fully, and she is piping it up here? I didn't see anything in the tubes down below, but there is no telling how all of this works. Can we... destroy it somehow? How do you get rid of blood? Let it drain away? Does it ... burn, or freeze, or anything?
Laori undresses Zamanda's armor helpfully "Oh wow! It seems defeating the fallen angels have finally triggered the best in your blood Zamanda!!! You are truly blessed!!!" the elf helps her dress on the Queen's attiring "Sure, let's do this!"
With good craft and magic, they are able to make the necessary adjustments in little time.
The ring gates are easily transportable.
When you arrive to the blood pool and start to discuss about it, the strange mass rises up into a semi-human form made of blood and speaks at you in Aklo, although the words resound clear in your heads through telepathy "Whom of you is the one known as Ilsa?"
The shape of the strange mass is the one you have seen in art that depicts the Runelord Sorshen.
This is an immortal ichor.
An immortal ichor is an intelligent mass of blood from a dead evil deity. Blessed with profane powers and the will to dominate other creatures, these oozes are a threat to all living things. The rare few that exist are banished underground or sealed away in chambers that block their magical abilities. Over time these seals break or erode, allowing a trickle of an ooze’s substance to escape and giving it a narrow aperture to exert its power through. Retaining vague memories of the god it was taken from, an immortal ichor uses its minions to find a body to possess, and either sets itself up as a godling or tries to find a way to revive its divine source.
|
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Ilsa's eyes go wide as Zamanda transforms before their eyes. She tries to help her, but it's clear she doesn't need help. She's being translated into some celestial being.
"You're--majestic!" she says, trying to squash any thoughts about the monster she herself had become. "Let's hope they work--you may need them."
When they enter the next room and the strange blood creature addresses them, Ilsa stares back at it with her deadly gaze.
"I am Ilsa," she responds without fear. "What do you want?"
Zamanda packs the unfinished ring gates and all of the supplies to finish them into her portable hole as well.
____
(fail)
Zamanda is worried when a blood monster asks for Ilsa by name, and draws her bow, wondering if it will do any good... was it actually just made of blood, or was there something in there you could actually hit?
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The blood figure points to the gemstone over the small iron stand and her voice resounds in your brain with telepathy Well then take the sapphire. That is your reward for the trouble you have caused to Ileosa.
Zamanda knows enough to notice this is like an ooze made of blood, and hence amorphous but certainly damageable.
Zamanda sees the gesture towards the sapphire, and wonders what the connection is with what Ilsa just said.
What trick... is the sapphire trapped? Should I shoot this thing?
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"Yeah, agreed. But are we going to waste time killing it?" Kalem asked, as if though it wasn't there. "We have more important things to do. Like comparing wings, shopping for new clothes for Zamanda, and regicide."
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When invited back to join the rest of the party (following Zamanda's transformation), Bashiel just grins behind his mask when taking in Zamanda's transformation. "If that isn't a sign we've got the backing of the gods in this, I don't know what is."
The suddenly chatty blood ooze has him gripping his weapon tightly. He's confident that the party can handle a malevolent glob of blood or two, but when that blood might be their own, he's not quite sure that striking down the monster is the best move. He ignores what it's saying when it becomes clear that it has little power to compel anyone. "Unless its able to leave that pool and chase us around, we might as well tackle that regicide first. Ex-regicide, in any case. She's no queen of Korvosa."
He shrugs to the blood creature.