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Find Traps
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Gatherine sees Mugambi join her and bobbed about in bewilderment,then she excitedly wafted around his head to get his attention,drawing him over to the bat-winged statute and manipulating her gaseous form to outline the odd,out-of-place stone block beneath it.
Mugambi moves to inspect the stone block pointed by Gatherine.
You can see what she is referring to... the one block looks less grimy. It might just be a mundane hidden panel of a different material or it could be magicked secret compartment.
There is sleep room up here. Snake women's quarters I think. Going to toss rope. Mugambi secures a rope and tosses it downstairs.
Iolana grabs the rope.
"Good job Mugambi,let's see if we find something useful to leave this cursed pile of rocks."
"I...I cannot climb, l...let me s...stay down here with Gorba and Fleek.
We can guard this room, just I...in ca...ca...case."
Syndlara nods in agreement with Garborn. "I'll stay here as well. Can't imagine we all need to cram in there."
"Sounds crowded", Truk grunts.
Mugambi awaits for Iolana before checking the hidden catch.
You see a small chamber - shaped like a "+" plus sign - like a 10'x 5' alcove for each direction rather than a regular room.
The North Alcove is filled with fresh food - laid upon wide-bladed green leaves. Shellfish, fruit, and bread... There is also a bedroll with a small open suitcase filled with clothing sitting on top.
The West Alcove is filled with strips of hanging meat, cooking supplies, a small ornate chest, and more luggage from the Jenivere.
The South Alcove is empty - you can see the carvings clearly on the walls. They are panels of the bat-winged creature attacking various people... later there are many robed figures that follow her, and pray to her shrine.
The East Alcove contains another depiction of the bat-winged creature... her head protrudes from the wall with the same open-mouthed expression as in the chamber below.
Underneath the sculpted head on the wall, is a slightly less deteriorated block - slightly off-color... this is the hidden cache to which Mugambi is referring.
Garborn begins to try and piece together some of the information from the tomes, seeing as he is not alone to guard the exit anymore.
Each tome is devoted to unlocking the secrets of one cluster of carvings (such as in each of the alcoves in this chamber).
Among the notes there are mentions of rooms here. You soon determine this is known as the Temple of Blood.
There are several references to the Scriptorium. You have not seen a room yet which matches that designation.
The first tome to which you devote your full attention happens to be about the bat-winged statue itself... Yarzoth refers to her as "Zura".
Zura, whirlwind, and pedestal are referred to as the "Altar".
Though the altar is not the source of this island's power, it sustains that power by slowly "feeding" it the souls it consumes from those who die here, or in the reefs and rocks just off her shores.
It also lures the unquiet dead which help provide "sacrifices" on land.
As long as the altar exists, the centuries worth of dead tethered to the Shiv can never rest.
*** *** ***
And yes... smearing blood in the mouth of either Zura (the one here at the altar or the head above) will grant you an ethereal form until you arrive in front of the other.
As Garborn slowly engrosses himself in the reading of the tome, his emaciated frame slowly stops shaking, as the reading becomes almost a meditation for him, easing the neuroses and paranoia, if only temporarily.
"Scriptorium...we've not seen anything like it yet, but she would either have found it, or it may have been what she was looking for."
"The altar in here, Zura the statue acts like a candle to a moth, in this case, the moth is the souls of the dead.
As a soul is consumed, it is used to power this island, and to draw the unquiet dead here..."
Iolana turns back in her body once she has gone through the gap and has reached Mugambi.
"Nice way of traveling.Now, what have we here ?"
You see a small chamber - shaped like a "+" plus sign - like a 10'x 5' alcove for each direction rather than a regular room.
The North Alcove is filled with fresh food - laid upon wide-bladed green leaves. Shellfish, fruit, and bread... There is also a bedroll with a small open suitcase filled with clothing sitting on top.
The West Alcove is filled with strips of hanging meat, cooking supplies, a small ornate chest, and more luggage from the Jenivere.
The South Alcove is empty - you can see the carvings clearly on the walls. They are panels of the bat-winged creature attacking various people... later there are many robed figures that follow her, and pray to her shrine.
The East Alcove contains another depiction of the bat-winged creature... her head protrudes from the wall with the same open-mouthed expression as in the chamber below.
Underneath the sculpted head on the wall, is a slightly less deteriorated block - slightly off-color... this is the hidden cache to which Mugambi is referring.
Str 12/Dex 11/Con 13/Int 17/Wis 12/Cha 14
HP 25/27
AC (lamellar armor) [Tot 17] [Touch 12] [FF 15] (armor+4 dex+1 dodge+1 natural+1)
CMB:+4 (+3BaB +1strength)
CMD:15 (+3BaB +1strength +1dexterity +10)
Fortitude save +5 (+4base +1con)
Reflex save +2 (+1base +1dex)
Will save +5 (+4base +1wis)
BaB+3
Initiative+0
Perception +7
Caster level check +11
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(armor check pen. not included)
Climb +6 //Intimidate +7 //Knowledge Arcana +10 //Profession(Sailor) +5
Spellcraft +10 //Swim +7 //Sense Motive +4 //Survival +9
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Speed 30ft/9mtr
+1 Scimitar [att+5 dam1d6+2 18-20/x2 type S]
Shortbow [att+4 dam1d6 x3 60ft type P] 14 arrows
Prepared Spells :Level 0(cantrips):Daze(will DC13);Acid Splash(1d3 acid);Light;Detect Magic
Level 1:Shocking Grasp x2(4d6 elect)
Level 2:Web (reflex DC15);
Arcane Pool(1/2 magus level+int mod)[0]
Carrying 40lbs/light encumbrance/check penalty -1
There is no mortar or grout around the stone, and part of the carving on the surface curves like a small pull handle - like the "stone block" is a camouflaged drawer.
Gatherine begins to materialize.
It does radiate magic. Abjuration.
Mugambi helps open the hidden cache.
There is a minor explosive blast, and brief blinding flash as Iolana picks at the magicked stone.
There’s a hidden panel in the wall below the
carving of Zura that Yarzoth has discovered but knows is
trapped—she’s not yet had the nerve to risk opening the
panel since she nearly succumbed to a similar one back
in area V23. This trap is an ancient glyph of warding placed
ages ago by the high priest of Zura that curses those who
would rob the treasury by causing them to be marked by
Zura. Victims of this curse transform into deformed, batlike
parodies of their true forms—with fanged mouths
and twisted, bat-like ears, arms that look more like wings
but function well neither as arm nor wing, twisted legs
that end in malformed talons, and wracking pains as if by
a constant gnawing hunger that nothing seems to sate. Not
only does this curse deform the target (in theory, making
the target easy to recognize and thus punish), but it reduces
the victim’s Dexterity by 4 and his Charisma by 2. Note
that a curse is a tough effect for a 3rd-level character to be
hit with—if one of your PCs succumbs to this curse, you
could use a promise of its removal as leverage at the start
of the next adventure when the PCs are being wooed by
various factions for the knowledge they’ve discovered in
this temple. Yet the curse itself won’t kill a PC outright if he
succumbs, and since it occurs at the end of this adventure,
having to endure the curse for a short time should impact
actual game play relatively little.
Glyph of Warding CR 4
XP 1,200
Type magic; Perception DC 28; Disable Device 28
Effects
Trigger spell (opening the hidden panel); Reset none
Effect spell effect (bestow curse, CL 8th, –4 decrease to Dex
and –2 decrease to Cha, DC 17 Will save negates)
Ya allright ma?
"Yes, thanks for asking, but i feel an idiot, i should have known there was a magical trap."
In the hope the trap is gone, Iolana tries again to take the cache.
Iolana discovers two scrolls, a bowl of pearls, a candle, a thick stick of incense, and a card - like a playing card - with the image of a winged and antlered vicious wolf-thing.
the scrolls are divination and restoration. The pearls are not magic. Everything else is.
The other items of possible worth are within the small chest... about 100 gold, a small vial of diamond dust, and a wand which looks like a thin parsnip.
the scrolls are divination and restoration.
The candle is a Candle of Truth
The incense is Incense of Meditation
The card appears to be able to be used to conjure an illusion of the creature pictured. You are not quite able to determine the exact properties of it however.
After gathering up the items of worth and Yarzoth's notes for future research, you ready yourselves to explore the remainder of the Azlanti ruins. Once that is done, hopefully you can work toward getting off the island.
Mugambi searches the rest of the "upper floor" also looking for a way down.
The open-mouthed head of Zura which protrudes from the wall in the upper chamber, matches that of the one below - which turned you ethereal.
It is quite possible this head does the same thing.
Yay wanton destruction of property!!
Gathering what they found Mugambi uses the magic statue to meet the rest of the group below.
I think we should read snake sorcereress's diaries. It can tell what awaits in da rest of cave.
Iolana too gets back in the same way.
"I agree, some reading won't hurt after all of this fighting.Let's find a defensible room in case."
Look like we need to destroy da altar.
"How do we destroy it?" Syndlara asks.
"Such task usually requires a heavy crushing tool, like a two hand warhammer. I don't remember anyone of us owning one. Maybe Gatherine has some of her explosive tricks ?"
You see hairline fractures on the front of the statue... it still looks solid however.
The edge of the area affected with fractures is a near perfect line, where you had noticed it starting to "steam" with Mugambi's channeling of divine energy.
Syndlara narrows her eyes as she surveys the statue, then glances at Mugambi. "Maybe if you channel divine energy, Mugambi? It looks like there are fractures in the statue where I saw steam arising during our fight."
Mugambi draws his masterwork morningstar.
Lot ofa things me can do. The tribesman says smiling and smashes the statue a couple of times to test the mundane solution. If no cracks appear he follows it with a channel.