"As soon as we find one, we'll get it to you, Malphene," Katria assures her. "This place is ... less safe than I suspect it was meant to be by its creators."
She looks around the area more, but is distracted by her concern about more oozes.
Most of the equipment here is too deteriorated to be of much use, but Katria does discover a single potion of cure moderate wounds one one of the tables.
"Well, this will be helpful," she says. "Is anyone hurt, or need it?"
Heading back down the hallway, the group enters the next unopened door , following its procedure that's already starting to become commonplace.
I think Lady Martella chose well when she chose us. We seem a disparate lot, but we're already falling into good habits of working together... I just hope it still matters if ... when! ... we escape from here.
Maya says to Katria as she points toward the shrine of Aroden with her longsword, "We should check out that place first. Whoever set this place up probably kept their fancy stuff inside there."
Maya walks into the shrine, looking around for anything that might be useful.
Three rows of pews stand before a stone altar. A human statue stands atop the altar, its face and right arm broken off and shattered on the floor around it. Two smaller statues of women--each wielding a sword and shield--stand in raised alcoves in the southeast and southwest corners.
As you search around the shrine, the spectral image of a man in regal robes appears before the altar! "Mortals! You stand in the presence of the great Arrow-dean!" A ghostly voice echoes through the shrine "Place your tribute in the offering box and receive my blessing!"
The image of the man does not look anything like the usual depictions of the Last Azlanti in art or sculpture.
"Arrow-dean?" Katria asks in bemusement. "Beyond the name, the figure doesn't look like the usual depictions of the Last Azlanti..."
"Those statues are his two former heralds, however. Iomedae, who ascended to true godhood in his place, and Arazni, who was killed but then sort of brought back to rule Geb."
She concentrates for a moment and casts heightened awareness on herself, the better to understand what's happening.
Maya rolls her eyes as the spectral image makes his proclamation.
The halfling looks around for the closest thing to an offering box. She then walks over and picks up a piece of the statue's shattered face and arm.
She tosses it into the box and says, "There. Have a tribute to what's left of your god."
"Such blasphemy! You have earned Arrow-dean's anger!" The spectral man disappears, then a few moments later, a cloud of golden particles falls down upon Maya, coating her and threatening to blind her!
"Now, present a proper tithe or face further wrath!" the voice demands.
With your heightened awareness, you spot a small humanoid figure lurking in the shadows amid the rafters 15 feet up.
Maya actually snickers once the golden particles have fully covered her.
She says to the spectral figure, "Thanks for the free glitter. Now I look way better than you or your god ever did."
"It's not funny! Arrow-dean's anger is serious business!" the voice insists.
Bernal walks over to the offering box, looking at it briefly before raising his head to face the god's shattered statue.
"Now excuse me, O great god; while I've never heard it in Ancient Azlanti before, I'm fairly certain it's pronounced Aroden, not Arrow-dean", he says with a sneer.
"I think I would know how to pronounce my own name! You gonna leave some coins or what?" the voice shoots back, seemingly growing frustrated
"You gonna leave some coins or what?" Katria repeats, in surprise.
This doesn't sound like any god I've ever imagined, she thinks.
She glances at Jowuan to see what the Abadarian makes of all of this. It seems crass even for one of her faith. Heck, it seems crass even for a follower of some of Norgorber's darker aspects.
She looks around to see if she can tell where the voice is coming from.
Maya shakes her head at the voice. "For a spectral image, then a spectral voice, you're quite cheeky. Do you think 'Arrow-dean' would approve of your behavior if he was still around?"
"I am Arrow-dean!" the voice insists. The ghostly man appears in the room again. "If you're not gonna pay the tithe, then scram! I got godly things to do."
"There's something in the rafters," Katria says to her companions, before calling out to the figure:
"We can see you, you know. Why don't you come here and we can talk? Are you the local divinity?"
Maya looks where Katria is looking and chimes in. "Yeah. We've dealt with quite enough surprises today. Spare us from more of your pitiful act and get down here."
A little monster dressed in priestly robes peers down at you from the rafters. He sneers, displaying a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Name's Viecar. I'm the high priest of this kingdom! You woke me up from my nap, you jerks! Not even polite enough to offer a proper tribute or nothing. Go away and let me go back to sleep!" He blows a raspberry at you.
Maya stares up at the little monster, considering the situation. They could just let it be. If it's been up there half as long as Maya suspects, it seems unlikely it'll be much of a problem going forward.
Still, perhaps they could get some useful information from the thing. Maya's had quite enough surprises already.
"Hello, Viecar. What would a proper tribute consist of? And, saying we did give you said tribute, what can you tell us about this place? Does anyone else live in this place besides yourself? And what dangers should we look out for?"
"Ain't you never paid tithe before? Gold! Gimme some coins, and maybe I'll think about answering your questions."
"Very well," Katria shrugs, depositing three gold coins in the offering box.
She's clearly not as concerned as Maya.
"Assurance, Viecar. That's what we need. Wouldn't your alternate personality... or something... Arrow-Dean want to help his parishioners? We just met you, you could scurry away after we pay you without answering a single question once you 'think about it'. Why should we believe you'll help us?"
"Because I love gold! Oh, that clink, clink, clink is music to my ears!" Viecar hops down from the rafters and snatches up the coins, slipping them into his pouch. "Three coins buys you three answers. About this place: it's underground. I came up a long time ago through a secret tunnel in the sewers, took a liking to it, decided to stay. Anybody else living here: sure enough! There's a rodent of unusual size who calls himself Dagio the Great. Annoying creature, obsessed with circles. I give him small tributes and he leaves me alone. Dangers: all sorts of traps and critters lurk about. I've been napping for a while though, so I don't know exactly what you might find. What year is it, by the way?"
Maya doesn't sense any deception from the creature.
"Rodents of unusual size?" Katria repeats. "I don't think they exist."
"Uh-uh. As my friend Jowuan suggests, if you're giving us an answer for a gold piece, I think we probably can only answer your question for a similar donation."
Maya shuts her mouth as Katria speaks. The halfling was about to blurt out the year without giving it a second thought. She finds herself smiling and nodding in agreement with Katria.
A clever noblewoman. Who knew such a thing could exist?
The bard concurs with Katria, "The lady's right. Pay up or no answer."
Maya whispers to her companions, "He's not lying about the rodent. That's apparently who's responsible for the circles. An intelligent rodent, perhaps? Might be worth talking to him, if we can find him."
Viecar shrugs. "Bah, I don't really care anyway. Oh, one more thing. If you wanna get out of here, there's a locked door in your way that needs two keys to open. I don't know where the second one is, but I got one of them here. I'll give it to you for 20 gold pieces!"
Maya purses her lips at Viecar. "How about 10 gold pieces and we won't tell anyone you're here? Katria already 'donated' 3 gold pieces, so that'll be 7 more and we'll call it even. What say you?"
"Okay, deal!" Viecar holds out his hand for the promised coins. Assuming Maya gives them to him, he slips them into his pouch, then digs around for a few moments before producing a small brass key. He tosses it to the halfling.
Maya tosses the coins to Viecar and is actually a bit surprised when the fey tosses her a brass key. Whether or not it would actually open anything is a question they'll have to resolve later.
Before leaving to investigate elsewhere, Maya asks Viecar, "Where exactly did you find this key?"
"It was lying around this chapel when I first got here."
Not finding any traps or detecting any magic, Maya opens the door. A fearsome winged beast with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion poses ferociously in the southeastern corner of this square room. Two wolves stand in similar poses in the northern corners, while an immense coiled serpent poises itself in the southwestern corner, ready to strike.
A moment's inspection reveals all of these beasts to be taxidermied. A small elephant stands in the center of the room, its head drooping far too low, and the top of its neck torn open. Thick cords of rope hoist avian creatures of every size along the ceiling, with an impressive eagle taking up the most space above. Doors exit to the north and west.
Katria looks around, impressed, though this is less interesting than some of the other rooms that were more about Taldor's history.
"Considering what's happened in here so far..." she murmurs, "maybe we should make sure it's safe."
She concentrates for a moment, looking for any indication of magic in the room. She'll inform the others of what she's seen, but with her natural curiosity not overwhelming her caution, lets Bernal or Doritan lead the way into this area.
Bernal instinctively draws his falcata when Maya opens the door, ready to order the others to retreat should things prove dire. He grins in relief when the beasts prove to be merely stuffed.
"Well well", he says, "This is one interesting collection. That being said, with all that we've been through down here thus far, I'd be surprised if none of those things pounces at us when we turn our backs, so stay on your toes."
Katria does not detect any magic auras in the room.
"Me neither, Bernal," Katria agrees, "but I don't sense any magic in there."
With Bernal and Katria vouching for the general safeness of the room, Maya steps inside and examines the elephant with the torn neck. Was that Dagio Viecar mentioned responsible for this damage? If not, they might have more than one danger to worry about.
It appears that the elephant's neck is torn due to many years of neglect. After Maya spends a few moments examining the elephant, however, the wolves in the room 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!
"Why am I not surprised?", Bernal growls under his breath. He steps forward to engage the monstrous mechanism, slashing at its stuffed hide while signalling the others to be careful.
,
,
"Excuse me, Katria. Can I get through?" Doritan steps through the door and moves around the griffon, trying to hack off another leg.
Katria moves into the room, swinging Dignity's Barb from her back and loading the crossbow as she hopes a shot will present itself if the others can't quickly handle the ... thing.
Bernal and Doritan both move in to attack the griffon, chopping at it with falcata and axe. Stuffing flies and wire breaks under their assault.
As Katria moves into the room and readies her crossbow, Elif staggers after her, struggling with prophetic visions.
"What is with this terrible place?" Malphene asks as she steps into the room. She hurls a dart at the griffon, but it goes high.
The animated griffon stares at you with blank, glassy eyes. It snaps at Maya with its beak, tearing at her shoulder. Then it swipes at Bernal with its intact talon, but the duelist dodges the attack.
HP 17/17; 5 nonlethal
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13, CMD 13
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +3
Inspiration (Knowledge/Linguistics/Spellcraft checks): 0/3
Mental Focus: 7; Abjuration [0/1]; Divination [2/2]; Enchantment [4/4]
Resonant powers (+1 Perception; +2 Charisma checks)
Spells/day: 1st [][][]
Effects:
Like Malphene, Katria aims high as she fires the crossbow to try to avoid hitting any of her companions.
"Something clearly went very wrong down here," Katria agrees. "Perhaps that's why it was almost completely forgotten."
She pauses for a moment.
"Or maybe it's a lesson about what happens when we forget our past... ?"
Maya shakes her head at Katria as she winces from the wound to her shoulder. "Save the philosophizing for after we've killed this thing."
The bard draws her longsword before swinging it at the griffon.
"Would it be considered killing? Is this thing even alive?", Bernal mutters between talon and blade.
,
Doritan chops at the construct's legs again, "It looks like it was animated by some form of magic. Calling this stuffed thing 'alive' is a bit of a stretch if you ask me."
Maya's blade fails to slice through the stuffed griffon, but the rest of you fare better. Bernal and Doritan chop pieces of its body off while Katria's crossbow bolt sinks into its torso. Elif moves to heal Maya while Malphene misses with another dart.
The taxidermied griffon focuses on Bernal, biting and clawing at him. It manages to hit both times, badly wounding the swashbuckler.
Doritan suddenly switches his angle of attack, cutting in from the left to try and sneak in a better blow.