"Good thinking, Zaphomil. It makes sense to secure an exit before we travel to far forward. Left it is, if no one else objects."
The hallway to the left was well lit, with colonnades lining both sides holding he arched ceiling in place. As with the columns in the previous area, these were all carved to form beautiful bodies, men and women, in various poses. Some were martial, but most were lewd. Some even lewd enough to make Harbug's green skin flush red.
The end of the hallway was open into darkness, and as you approached, the sound of running water grew stronger. The hallway opened onto a balcony overlooking a subterranean river flowing from left to right...eastwards, you think. The waters are dark, and about five feet below the balcony, while the walls and ceiling are a breath-taking array of earth tones, the natural stone polished and smooth from ages of running water.
Shabbezz admired the sculptures with scholarly interest, but the river caused her to frown.
"Hmm. I don't suppose anyone brought a boat with them. Otherwise this is effectively a dead end."
Zaph shrugs. "Well, I can reshape some of this stone. Not much use as a boat, of course, but maybe create some steps. Why don't we try the next passage?
"Well unless we really have to, I would rather not get wet. Come on, let us see what the other can offer."
Backtracking, you worked your way down the other hallway, which looked exactly like the first, except this one ended in an immense panel of reddish metal. The panel was nearly twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Dozens of scenes had been carved into individual one-foot-square frames. These scenes chronicle a beautiful woman engaged in a magical incantation involving some sort of winged creatures. The woman was, of course, Sorshen, and the winged creatures appeared to be succubi of various depictions.
Angelica takes all the imagery in with an appreciative eye, "It seems being a Runelord of Lust had a fair amount of privileges after my own heart." She winks at the boys with a smirk, in her usual playful way. She inspects this new find for anything either dangerous or useful.
"Unless there is a secret door here, I guess we are getting wet! I best get looking then I suppose."
Zaphomil assists in the search by casting detect magic and looking for magical auras on the panel.
Two heads are better than one. Shabbezz also casts detect magic on the panel and tries to see what she can glean from it.
Harbug catches up with the others after spending a minute or so looking down the corridor toward the coffin where Sorshen's body was found.
Zaphomil immediately gets a headache from the magical auras infusing the very surfaces of the chambers down here. There is so much magic involved, that picking out a single one is difficult. The very walls, glowing as they do, exude enough magical "light" to blot out any individual auras. Shabbezz, not one to sit idly by while someone else is investigating magical phenomena, kicks in her third sight and experiences the same feeling of overwhelm as the gnome.
With Jakscar's help, Angelica realizes that the red metal panel is actually a door of some sort, and each of the individual panels in it can be depressed. While there were no obvious signs of a trap, it seemed clear that pressing the wrong tile, or tiles if there were a combination, could trigger some kind of trap.
Unless the magic is actually doing him harm, Zaphomil pushes through the pain to study the door further, hoping to at least identify the prominent school of magic.
Then, rubbing his temple, he drops his arcane sight and begins looking for a clue about the door's solution.
Although the wave of magic she detects leaves her felling somewhat disoriented, Shabbezz tries to determine any more information from the door's properties with her skill in spellcraft.
Afterwards, she examines the door to see what she can glean from her knowledge of the arcane.
"Well then those of you with a magical streak, what do we reckon? Do we know how bad the wrong guesses will be or shall Angelica and I have a crack at it, safer that we don't know? Either way, it is better than getting wet!"
Angelica investigates the panel, "I wonder if this is like the box of critters Lady Heidmarch gave us to solve or the doors from the Crow. Maybe these panels are movable or can be rearranged when we press them." She looks at the thing to try and determine if there is some pattern or story that could be told or arranged based off the images.
Angelica took a deep breath and began examining the panels more closely, looking for signs that they could be moved or switched like previous puzzles you had come across. The magic that had kept this place from deteriorating over the millennia made it impossible to find wear patterns that might indicate the proper panels to push. Likewise, nothing seemed to stand out except one panel near the center-bottom of the door. That one showed the Runelord of Lust apparently binding a succubus into a rather memorable structure...the torch held up by the stature known today as the Lady's Light.
She looked at the others, then carefully pushed the panel. An audible click was heard by all as it engaged, then a glowing red script appeared at the top of the tile.
Ayandamahla is bound to the Light for all ages!
Then, with a shudder, the red metal door retracted slightly, then slid smoothly into the wall. Beyond was a sandy beach in an unlit cavern. The sound of flowing water was louder here, and you can see the edge of the water, moving left to right. Two small skiffs, each looking to hold no more than 3 or 4 people, are moored to stone posts.
Zaph translates the message aloud, then scratches his chin. "Bound for all ages, huh? I'm not so sure, given the busted-out hole we found a ways back."
He then makes sure his ioun torch is lit and spinning around his head before heading down to the docks. "Good work, Angelica! Let's see where this takes us!"
Angelica looks at the words curiously, "Does the name Ayandamahla mean anything to anyone? Whoever that is looks like they could be up in the light of this statue. If she's the succubus from the image, are we ready for that?"
"Probably not, but when did that ever stop us. Shall I take the left and you the right?"
Moving forward, Jakscar pokes his head through the doorway looking left.
"Ayandamahla..." Shabbezz mutters, letting the name roll around on her tongue. "Well, it certainly sounds like it could be the name of a succubus..."
No one has any knowledge of the name, though Shabbezz speculates that it sounds like the name of a succubus...maybe. As he went through the door, Jakscar looked about cautiously. Rumors that catfolk hated the water abounded in Varisia, but it wasn't true. Sure, no one liked unexpectedly getting wet, and fur took a long time to dry, but not nearly as long as wool and leather. It was just that grooming afterwards took a bit. That all explained why Jakscar was cautions of his footing as he got near the water's edge.
He could see that the sandy bottom fell away sharply, and could hear the sound of rushing water off to the east. To the left, he craned his head around the wall to see the balcony they had just left, about thirty feet away. To the right, towards the sound of the rushing water, he couldn't see anything but the cliffs and the river.
Harbug looks over at the small skiffs and frowns. "Who's riding with me? Not that I'm particularly good with boats." He walks over to one of the skiffs and takes a hold of the rope.
Angelica smirks, "The real question is, which direction are we taking these? Up river or down. I'm normally the one that likes to go against the grain, just to carve my own path, but when we're dealing with water it can be a little harder." She tries to peer down each direction as far as the beach will allow her to move and look, hoping to find any signs or clues to help the decision. "Maybe Whiskers and I in one boat can take the lead and try to scout first. The rest of you can go in the other boat."
"You have no shame Angelica, any excuse to get me alone! Do we have a rope? Perhaps we could tie off one boat and let it run downstream with Angelica and Zaph in, that way you can scout ahead, but if the current proves too strong we can all pull you back."
"I have a feeling that going downstream will eventually put us into the ocean as all rivers do -- assuming there is no ancient Thassilonian magics at play. I'm interested in going upstream, myself."
"I have to agree. The further we go downstream, the harder it's going to be to travel upstream if we decide to turn back. If we go upstream first, it will be much easier to turn around afterwards if we want to."
Angelica feigns exaggerated offense at Jakscar's tease, "Why Whiskers, I do believe you misinterpret my intentions. I was merely in mind for some warm furs to keep the chill away." She winks, but returns to the task at hand, "I always have rope. Every good woman should be prepared as such. I'm glad to hear that the lot of us are ready to buck the system and go against the flow. I knew I liked you guys." With that she quickly produces her coil of silk rope from her bag.
Zaphomil inspects the skiffs for signs of age. "I'm less concerned about rope, and more about paddles. And wondering if these skiffs are also Thassilonian relics or something more recent."
Harbug thought hard about succubi, realizing that other than rumor and legend, he really didn't know much about these creatures, other than they were supposedly beautiful demons with wings. He supposed that, like most demons, they were probably vulnerable to good-aligned weapons.
Drawing closer to the boats, you can see that each had a long pole nestled inside, probably used to scull the boat along by pushing against the ground. That suggested that the river wasn't all that deep, maybe 6-8 feet at its deepest point, judging by the poles' length. The boats didn't appear to be very old, but perhaps they were under the same enchantments that made the rest of this facility seem newly made.
You managed to get yourselves situated in the boats. It was a good thing that the boat with four people in it had both Shabbezz and Zaphomil, because anyone heavier would have had the boat riding dangerously low in the water.
Jakscar manned the pole in the lead boat, and Harbug followed behind, lagging by thirty feet or so. You quickly passed the balcony area where you first encountered the river, and followed the flowing water upstream. As you did, the sound of a cascade reached your ears, and it seemed that surely this level of water was being fed by a waterfall ahead. Carefully, Jakscar poled the skiff forward until Angelica's dark-accustomed eyes spotted the source of the sound.
A churning cascade of water poured from a circular hole in the wall ahead, about three feet across. A metal grate covered the hole, and glowing runes surround the hole's rim. On the south side of the watery tunnel, an oval platform protruded from the wall, forming a sort of balcony a foot above the river's surface. At the back of the alcove stood a twelve-foot tall stone statue of the beautiful woman, her arms raised to the air.
Angelica takes a long look at the platform before venturing to step out of the boat onto it. Once everything looks safe, she gingerly approaches the statue to look it over as well.
Shabbezz hangs back in the boat with the others while Angelica and Jackscar scouted ahead. She was not a strong swimmer, but at least her natural abilities allowed her to easily maintain a firm grip on the skiff.
Holding the boat steady against the current whilst Angelica gets off is tricky, but Jakscar is able to have a look around before also climbing out and hanging on to the boat.
"You be careful! Remember, the last bunch of statues weren't very friendly!" Zaph shouts out in warning.
Looking the statue over, Angelica sees the glint of blue gems in the eye sockets.
Angelica's eyes glint like those in the statue as she spots the potential value inherent in the things. She weighs whether the the value is worth the effort of digging them out or not.
From where she stands, some 6 feet or more from the tall statue's head, it is impossible to tell whether the stones are blue diamond or common sapphires.
Angelica attempts to find purchase enough to climb up the statue's tall form. If she can get a closer look at the gems, she will have a better estimation of their worth. Unfortunately, climbing the thing proves much more difficult than it looks, and she isn't even sure she can get to the eyes at all.
Back in the second boat, Shabbezz waits for news of what's ahead. Angelica and Jakscar appear to be examining something on the statue, but as they haven't called for assistance yet, she remains silent.
Angelica easily climbed the statue and was soon eye to eye with it. Of course, the "eyes" she was staring into were blue diamonds of the highest quality.
"Come on Angelica, much though I have a nice view from here, it is time we were moving on. Anything worthwhile up there?"
Angelica lets out a low whistle of appreciation, mostly lost under the sound of the waterfall, "Be right there. I just need to grab about the sweetest pair of diamonds I've ever seen. I just have to pop these babies out, then I'll be right back in the boat. Don't worry, I searched the place for any threats." Comfortable now that her nails are as sharp as any blade she's ever owned, she sets about trying to pull the things from out of their sockets using her nails. It's a little more precise than the tip of a knife. "Then again, I thought I had a good look at the statues at the top of the hole, the sarcophagus as well, and we know how those worked out." She mumbles quietly to herself.
Initiatives
Angelica
Harbug
Jakscar
Shabezz
Zaphomil
elementals
Delicately, Angelica pried first one stone out of the statue's eye socket, and then the other. The stones were beautiful, but what happened next was less so. Twin streams of water bubbled up from inside the statue, spilling onto the floor and running towards the river behind the burglar. The streams erupted into the turbulent forms of water elementals, which proceeded to attack the boats and people in them!
"Ahhh, shit!" She grumbles as she hops down off the statue, and rushes back to the boat. "Back to the beach, quickly, we need to be able to group up on solid ground!" She rushes back into the boat, urging Jakscar to lead them back to the beach they found the boats on, which should be easy given the current is now on their side.
"Easier said than done, Angelica!" Shabbezz cries out as the water churns around the elementals. "Harbug, you heard her! We're sitting ducks out here!"
Active Spell Effects: n/a
Bonded Object (Amulet): 1/1 spell left today
Wizard Spell-like Abilities (CL 5)
1/day Comprehend Languages, Identify
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 5):
3 (1/2+0/1) Fireball
2 (3/3+1/1) Flaming Sphere, Glitterdust, See Invisibility, Web
1 (4/4+1/1) Burning Hands, Detect Secret Doors, Grease, Mage Armor, Magic Missile
0 (4/4) Acid Splash, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Read Magic
"Going as fast as I can push it!" Harbug shoved the pole against the floor of the water as best as he could.
Hanging on to the prow of the boat as it bobs violently, Shabbezz blurts out what she can recall about their foes:
"They're elementals! They're going to be stronger when in contact with water! They're also resistant, but not immune to our weapons, have no need to eat, sleep, or breathe, and can't be poisoned or paralyzed!"