"That Numerian device, do you mind if I have that? My father would love a chance to examine it."
As they entered the taxidermy gallery, Maria grimaced at the display, agreeing with Sara and Zhi. She nodded when Zhi indicated one of the doors.
"Agreed, I'm also starting to think that these circles were drawn by someone with a very good instinctive grasp of mathematics. I feel like there's a pattern to them but I can't quite put my finger on it."
Melodie, thankfully, barely has time to jump before the undead wig is re-dead-ed, although she nearly drops Dignity's Barb in shock during the commotion.
She collects the raven for closer examination, although an initial scan reveals nothing much.
The taxidermied room causes Melodie to cringe. "Who would do something like this to those beautiful animals?" She asks, rhetorically. "Hunting is bad enough, but this is barbaric!"
"Unless they died of natural causes. I met one man who had his pet hound taxidermied after the poor thing fell ill and died, couldn't bear to be without him. I can appreciate the sentiment, even if the results freak me out."
Melodie does not detect any magic auras in the room full of taxidermied beasts.
Reluctantly, Sara walks around the room of stuffed animals, evaluating everything and looking for something small and valuable to whisk away.
After Sara spends a few moments searching through the room, the wolves animate. They rise on clicking mechanisms, their bodies straining to stand on two legs. During this movement, however, one of the wolves' hind legs collapses, while the fur on the other wolf's back splits open, rendering them both inert. Following this horrific display, the griffon's wings begin to beat, only for one wing to tear off entirely. Moments later, it rips off the front foot attaching it to its display and moves to attack!
"I really have a bad habit of stumbling into trouble, don't I?" she mutters, moving forward to slam it with her bat.
Now what?!
Zhi draws the rapier as she moves to take the other entrance to the trophy room.
"Eeww!" Melodie squeals as the taxidermied creatures confirm every reservation she has ever had about the craft. Quickly slotting a bolt into place she shoulder's Dignity's Barb and fires.
Zileska steps through the doorway and behind Sara, then taps Sara gently on the back with her holy symbol.
"Fortune favors the bold, and you have no shortage of boldness," she says to Sara.
Sara smashes the griffon with her club, knocking its head askew a bit. Still it comes, dead eyes staring blankly.
Melodie's bolt sails harmlessly past the griffon. As Zhi approaches down the hall, Zileska grants Sara a bit of Calistria's luck.
The griffon rears up to attack Sara, biting and swiping with its one remaining front talon. The talon rakes across her chest, tearing cloth and flesh.
Knowing she's not going to like what she sees when she opens the door, Zhi still opens the door and steps through.
Her eyes go wide at the sight of the animated stuffed griffon.
"What did you do this time!" she shouts out to Sara as she tries to decide how best to assault the moving nightmare.
"Boldness is just an accidental necessity, I assure you, but thank you all the same," she mutters to Zileska before the griffon destroys her pride and modesty.
Sara pauses to take in the fact that her corset and the panel of her dress were just ruined.
"Do you know," she lifts her bat above her head, "just how much money I spent on this outfit??"
Shrieking, she brings the club back down on the griffon, the rent paneling of her dress bending and breaking off her bodice.
When Zhi opens the door, Sara takes a few cautious steps backward and replies. "I realize that every fight we've been in has been my fault, but I don't mean to keep dragging us into these encounters, Zhi!"
Another construct, who sets up this many traps and other defences?
Maria dashed in after the others, her blade lashing out to take advantage of the damage it had already taken.
Why can I never get a clear shot? Lessons weren't this hard! Melodie reloads, again, and aims carefully - hoping that this time she'll be able to contribute.
Zileska taps Sara again with the tri-bladed holy symbol and says, "We need you to finish it!"
Imistos cringes in the doorway but keeps the light from the lantern shining into the room. The other nobles hide behind the display cases and watch the fight worriedly.
Maria dashes in and slashes at the griffon, but it staggers out of the way. Malphene comes up beside her and chops with her sword, tearing into the taxidermied beast's side. Sawdust and stuffing spills out from the tear she leaves behind. "This is not how I was expecting to spend my evening!" she cries.
Sara smashes the animated monster again before stepping away to the edge of the room. As Melodie's bolt whizzes past her target again, Zhi opens the door and prepares to join the fight. Zileska lays her hands on Sara to heal the wounded fighter.
The griffon whirls on Malphene and attacks with beak and talon. She screams as both attacks hit, blood dripping from the deep rents in her own dress. "Ugh! H-help!" she shouts, staggering in pain.
Zhi dodges in close and attacks the thing with her hanbo.
Reinvigorated, Sara rips a stuffed animal beside her off its stand and throws it at the griffon. "Thanks, doll," she offers to Zileska, moving forward once more.
Once more surprised by Trant's skill with a blade, Maria slashed at the griffon again, hoping to draw its attention away from the now-injured lady.
Zileska waves her holy symbol in a lazy circle and a soothing wave of tingling energy washes out from her to reinvigorate the allies.
Melodie, realising that she can't get a proper shot with all the crowding, approaches Malphene and touches her gently on the back.
Maria slashes the griffon, scoring a good hit. Malphene attacks again, but her injuries hamper her aim. She staggers away from the animated horror.
Sara rips the upper body of the wolf off the stand and hurls it at the griffon. It bashes the creature's head a few more inches askew, but still the thing stands. Zhi smashes it in a vulnerable spot, denting and twisting the wire frame within the hollow monster. As Zileska's healing energy soothes you slightly, Melodie moves up to touch Malphene. She starts at the sudden contact. "This is no time for gentle caresses! I need healing!" she groans.
The construct seems confused by everybody attacking it. It spins and bites at Zhi, its beak ripping a gash in her shoulder. Then it whirls back to claw at Maria, but the tiefling is able to dodge the attack.
Desperate to finish the flailing contruct, Zhi bashes frantically at any joint she can reach.
She's rewarded with a satisfying crunch as something important breaks.
"This is for all our cute outfits you overgrown chicken."
With that, Sara brings her club down once more over the beast's face.
Sara smashes the griffon with her club again, mangling its face beyond recognition. As it staggers about blindly, Mai cracks its leg joint so hard that the entire leg snaps off. Sliced and battered past the breaking point, the taxidermied beast collapses in a jumbled heap and lies still.
Malphene grunts and sags against the wall, breathing hard, blood staining her green dress. "Good riddance," she spits.
Sara moves over to Malphene. "Hey, you alright? You did great, let's get you patched up. Jowuan?" she calls out.
"Jowuan, this woman needs healing bad. Here's twenty gold for two castings, I believe that's standard rate, yes?" She leans in her ear and whispers, "and any chance you would be able to mend our dresses?"
She turns back to Malphene. "Thank you for your bravery and- oop," she looks down and blushes, making an effort to cover up, "sorry, I keep forgetting my dress and corset is broke, not used to having all this just hanging out."
"So what did you touch in here? What triggered it?" Zhi says, approaching Sara.
"What was so damned important that you couldn't leave it alone?"
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Sara rises and pulls her hands close to her side, trying to keep her anger in check. "I walked in the room. That's it. I walked in this gross, tacky room and put us all in danger and ruined my dress. I wanted to take a closer look, see if I could help, if I could find anything valuable for us, and I didn't touch a g#~@#*n thing! And then the wolves stood up and the griffon lunged at me.
"Do you think I'm doing this on purpose, Zhi? You think I want to watch everyone get hurt and die? I'm terrified of it. I want to get out of here same as you, safe and sound. All of us. We six brave souls and the five we're protecting, together, alive, unharmed."
She sniffs and wipes away a tear.
"Don't worry, I'm significantly less curious now. Wigs have evil things in them, taxidermy wants to eat you, I get it. I'm sorry."
"Sorry, I did not prepare a mending spell today," Jowuan whispers back as she accepts Sara's coins. She grasps the symbol of Abadar around her neck and lays hands on Malphene. Her hands glow as the tall woman's injuries fade away.
"Thank you, Sara. That was very kind of you. I will even overlook the fact that those coins probably came from my purse," Malphene says, but her tone is gentle, and her smile is genuine. She looks down when Sara does before blushing and quickly looking away. Her own torn dress has fared a little better--it seems the inside is lined with heavy, quilted cloth, giving her a modicum of protection.
When Sara and Zhi start shouting, Malphene comes to Sara's defense. "Go easy on her! This is not Sara's fault. Any one of us could have set that thing off. We just have to be more careful from now on." She puts a comforting hand on Sara's shoulder.
When Sara and Zhi start shouting, Malphene comes to Sara's defense. "Go easy on her! This is not Sara's fault. Any one of us could have set that thing off. We just have to be more careful from now on." She puts a comforting hand on Sara's shoulder.
Malphene coming to Sara's defense seems to fluster Zhi.
"She ... We can't ... That's what I ... "
She looks back and forth between Sara and Malphene.
"Aaahhh!!," she finally says with a grimace and balled fists.
Not having anything else to add to the argument, the small woman turns and moves back to the doorway.
"So are we checking out the door or not?" she says indicating the door inscribed with chalk circles.
Sara grabs the tall woman's hand on her shoulder, surprised. "Thank you, Malphene," she whispers back.
Following Zhi out of the room, she couldn't resist another snark about the circles. "Maybe it's another trap, those circles have been so devastating." She added more emphasis than needed, trying to be as obnoxious as possible.
"The ones on the door could be," Zhi responds, ignoring the obvious sarcasm. "We should have Melodie check it."
As she stows her hanbo, the young woman surreptitiously wipes her eyes.
After studying the chalk circles on the door for a few rounds, Melodie can confirm that they radiate a faint aura of enchantment magic.
As Melodie examines the door, Zhi watches her closely, seeming intent on determining how the woman can detect the enchantments.
Once she's done, Zhi examines the door as well. However, she resorts to methods tried and true for her.
Once the stuffed creature falls, Zileska puts her hands on her hips, purses her lips, and finally gives out a satisfied nod. "Well. That was definitely untoward."
She lazily brandishes her holy symbol once more. "Let's all get back into fighting trim."
"Now I can mend those garments, but again, it will take several minutes."
Zhi discovers the circles are the focus of a magical trap on the door. Fortunately, it looks like it would be easy to disrupt simply by erasing or marring the chalk scribbles.
As her wounds close, Zhi sighs in relief.
"Thanks, Zileska."
---
Once Zhi finishes her examination of the door, she reaches out and wipes her hand through the chalk.
She then turns to the others.
In a voice that carries no satisfaction, she says "The enchantment was set to trigger if the door was opened."
Melodie does her best to recover her crossbow bolts and to stay out of the way of the burgeoning friendship between Sara and Malphene. Zhi's frustration however seems to confuse the young woman and she cautiously approaches as Zhi scrubs away at the chalk markings.
"Are you ok Zhi?"
As Zileska offers to repair her corset and dress, Sara holds back tears. "Oh thank the gods, Zileska. Thank you, Zileska."
She goes on to ramble about how she's never had nice clothes before and how much she likes her dress and how much she'd hate just running around this dungeon with her t*#$ hanging out, lit by lantern light from below, so it's not even a flattering view and-
It's hard to catch a thread on her as she goes on and on.
As Zhi wipes the chalk clear, Sara nods her head in both directions as of yet unexplored.
"I know my curiosity has done little but punish us thus far, but it might be to our advantage to fully explore this place."
We can go in either of the other directions," Zhi responds to the tall woman. "But my gut says that there's something worth finding in here."
She gestures to the door with chalk smears on it.
"We just need to be cautious."
"Are you ok Zhi?"
Tears start to collect in her almond shaped eyes.
"And now she's acting like Dame Horseface is her best friend and ... "
She wipes her eyes and smiles.
"Sorry. Father would be very unhappy that I'm losing focus on the mission."
"Let's catch our breath, then, and I'll work on repairing these clothes before we move on," says Zileska. "After all, once we have rescued ourselves from peril, we can't emerge in a disheveled state. Sara, you're first! This will take some time; simply be patient and the magic will mend all ills. No more t#~% hanging out unless you want them to."
You wait several minutes to catch your breath while Zileska works on mending Sara's dress. Malphene declines the offer for now--"It will probably just get ripped up again before we get out of here. Just patch it up when the exit is in sight."
As you wait, you receive another message from Martella Lotheed. "Stavian's forces retreating, military is divided. Maxillar Pythareus seen moving with impunity through Stavian's assassins."
After ten minutes, Sara's clothes are in serviceable condition once more.
"Let's catch our breath, then, and I'll work on repairing these clothes before we move on," says Zileska. "After all, once we have rescued ourselves from peril, we can't emerge in a disheveled state. Sara, you're first! This will take some time; simply be patient and the magic will mend all ills. No more t$$* hanging out unless you want them to."
Sara continues rambling. "I like them hanging out, but I'd like to be in charge of when and where and in what company." Her eyes grow wide and she looks around embarrassed. "Not that this is the wrong company, it's simply not one I've chosen. Not that I-" she goes on like this for some time before her thoughts are interrupted by their patron.
"Pythareus," she hisses. "That slimy, smooth talking sinner." Sara actively thinks back a reply. No surprise about Pythareus, when we talked, he advocated for murder as a method of change. Please remain safe, both you and the Princess.
After the mending, she thanks Zileska and marches back into the hall.
"I vote we go right."
She gives the other woman a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder and a smile. "If there's anything I can do to help let me know."
"Ok, let's go that way," Zhi says indicating the eastern hallway.
The hall turns south and ends at a door. Zhi doesn't find any traps on it.
Thick wooden bookshelves jut out from the eastern and western walls. Bundles of paper, scroll tubes, and thick tomes cram these shelves nearly to bursting. Layers of dust coat some areas of the chamber, but others remain suspiciously clean. Books and papers crowd one of the worktables in the corners, smeared with ink. Two doors exit to the south.
Showing no interest in the books and scrolls, Zhi moves to the southeastern door and after checking it for traps, opens it.