Daud would to accept Zart's camaraderie but as the fetchling just goes on and on about "justice" and "lawful" it is plain to see his various eye twitches at the words. Raamanti clubbing the creature into unconsciousness doesn't seem to bother him one way or another. "If you're okay with killing one specific person because it is deemed 'lawful' I'd hate to see what else you'd be up to just because it was deemed 'lawful'."
Pyron will cast his cantrip on everyone again too.
Raamanti slams him hammer into the little man's skull, ensuring he will stay exactly where he is for quite some time. Hearing and seeing no problems with the small door, he opens it. Inside is another tiny passage, perhaps 15 feet in length, that ends in another door. The eidolon leads everyone to the door.
Reaching the end of the passageway, Raamanti examines the door and listens for sounds of activity beyond. Lastly, he slowly tries the handle to see if it is locked. If not, he will indicate 3-2-1-GO on his off-hand and then burst through. If it is locked, he will still attempt to do so, but with his shoulder playing an active part in unlocking the door.
Easily opening the door without putting his shoulder at risk, Raamanti looks upon a fairly large chamber. Rank with the stink of sweat and mud, this cavern contains four filthy straw pallets and a low table covered with dice and a miniature maze of carved clay.
Two more of the white-haired little men sit here, and Raamanti can barely make out a large rat running in the maze. One of the little men rolls a die, and when the result comes up he giggles. The other scowls as the little man picks up a pair of pliers and a hammer. The two are engrossed in their game and do not seem to realize they have company, even with the added presence of light.
"So do we attack or just shout 'you're all under arrest' and hope they give up?" Daud says flaty and nonchalant.
With halo on, Pyron's intimidate goes up against evil by +2. Get down to your knees! You are under arrest!
"I don't know what I was expecting..."
Rolling his eyes unseen beneath the shadows of his own face, Raamanti sighs at the absurdity of trying to arrest these foul creatures. Aware of his master's qualms about killing indiscriminately, he glances briefly back.
Killing helpless humanoids is one thing, but must we wait for them to surrender? Raamanti asks Zart telepathically, Can I simply just knock them unconscious?
With a nod from Zart, the eidolon strides into the room beyond the card players and strikes the far one from behind, just below the base of its skull.
He then looks to the other creature, and snarls in Aklo, "நீங்கள் என்ன காத்திருக்கிறார்கள்? பேய் கீழ்ப்படிய."
"Sorry about that," says Zart from the back, "But Raamanti and I thought it best not to allow them a chance to escape and warn of our approach."
Daud looks back and forth between Raamanti and Zart incredulously. "... You are a very weird half-shadow, quick to start a fight, but hesitant to kill."
"Killing cannot be undone," says Zart in reply, "But there is strategy to consider here. Any who do not consider themselves evil should be hesitant to kill. Should they attack us and die in the attempt, then I will shed no tears for them. Should they fall unconscious or otherwise become helpless, I would not propose slitting their throats. I'm not sure why this is hard to understand."
Daud lets out a dry chuckle. "Then I guess I'm evil."
I guess you are, too, thinks Zart, though wisely keeps silent on the matter, But I'm not sure what to do about it yet.
Raamanti quickly and boldly strides into the room, planting his hammer into the skull of one of the creatures with a solid THWACK before they even realize he is there. The struck little man drops like a sack of potatoes, and the other leaps to its feet as Pyron puts the creature under arrest.
As Zart gives the creature instructions in a language it actually understands, it starts to giggle rapidly, looking between the fetchling, the Pyron, and the eidolon, while rapidly chanting.
Seeing as how the lawbringers had the situation under control and any thoughts or words he had on the subject would simply lead to more bickering Daud elects to search the room while its conscious occupant is questioned.
Zart does his best to recall what manner of creatures these are, and what their general attitudes are.
"பச்சை குத்திக் கொண்ட Shoanti மனிதன் - - இந்த முடிவில் நாங்கள் உங்களுக்கு விடுதலை செய்வேன் தீய மந்திரவாதி, Rolth, அமைந்துள்ள, எங்கே அவர் வாங்கியது புதிய உடல் எஞ்சிய அங்கு நாம் தெரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும் அனைத்து ஆகிறது," says Zart, repeating the bargain he gave to this thing's brethren earlier, "இல்லையெனில், நீங்கள் Korvosan காவலர் இரக்கங்கள் ஒப்படைக்கப்பட வேண்டும்."
"All we need to know is where the necromancer, Rolth, is located and where the remainder of the new body he acquired - the Shoanti man with the tattoos - and at the end of this we will let you go free. Otherwise, you will be handed over to the tender mercies of the Korvosan guard."
Raamanti simply stands back, hammer at the ready, patiently waiting for his master to question the creature, but ready to strike should it decide to raise the alarm or run.
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Tolenn watches the drama between Zart and Daud over the first white haired creature intently, holding her tongue to allow them to resove their impasse.
She gives Zart a nod as his servant incapacitates the little man, "A passable solution, the creature is obviously oblivious to the harm its actions cause..."
On the approach to the two gaming creatures, she is looking intently into the room when Daud makes his statement about being evil.
Her head turns sharply to look at the troubled man, a frown marring her brow, a word or two on the tip of her lips...but she holds her tongue...now was not the place.
The little man licks his lips nervously, face dropping into a serious mask.
The man starts to laugh at this point. He seems to be very amused at what he said.
"He says Rolth isn't here, but I don't believe the wretch." says Zart turning to his companions, "We can always be lenient if it turns out to be true. He says the Shoanti's head is in the laboratory but isn't forthcoming about the location. We should be prepared to face off against something like a patchwork flesh golem. My memory on golems is hazy, but it is likely to be resistant both to our blows and magic. We'll need to hit it heavy and be prepared for a long battle. Try to avoid the face!"
With that, Zart nods to Raamanti.
Raamanti delivers an overhand chop with his hammer, deflecting it to the side at the last minute in an attempt to deliver a glancing blow against the cackling creature's skull.
With that, Raamanti silently turns and leads the way north, keeping an eye out for further trouble.
Pyron casts the cantrip on everyone again.
And yet another little person crumples unceremoniously to the floor at the end of Raamanti's hammer. The eidolon apparently never got talked to about bullying when he was growing up.
No objects of note, besides the little men's equipment (which matches the last one). There is a tiny tunnel that heads west, barely two feet wide and four feet tall. A small tunnel in an alcove to the northeast, and an exit to the north.
Raamanti moves to the northern section of the room, and quickly surmises that the northern exit will meet up with the tunnel that exited the crypt with the owlbear skeleton your group encountered when you first entered the complex.
Raamanti explores the other exits to the room to check that all roads do indeed lead back to the chamber they were in before (or nowhere).
Raamanti continues along the northern exit to the room, leading the group back to the room where the darkness originally was and out the door on the east, being wary of any activity or traps along the way.
Zart imbues everyone with protective magics before they move on, and then skulks back at the rear of the party.
With a glance and a nod of thanks at Zart, Tolenn hurries to catch up with the shadowy Raamanti before it stumbled upon the rumored golem...
Perception
Daud follows after Tolenn and Raamanti.
Finding that the passage does indeed link up to the entryway, Raamanti turns the group back to the chamber where the derro was drawing blood from a corpse, remembering an eastern exit from the room. An unsettling sight greets the group as they peer through the short corridor between their current room and the unexplored area. The walls of the 'new' room have been embedded with skulls, their jaws yawning as they scream a silent plea.
Raamanti steps cautiously into the room, Hammer drawn. His eyes glow slightly as Zart bonds senses and experiences what his eidolon does while hiding behind the crowd.
"FOLLOW CLOSELY BEHIND ME," he bellows ever so softly, "AND BE READY FOR ANYTHING... THIS ROLTH IS A SICK INDIVIDUAL."
As Raamanti enters the hall (and Zart follows with him, somewhat), Daud close behind, both of them spot an inconsistency with a couple of the skulls. They look too polished, and a bit of the lower mandible looks worn or melted away. This is quite obviously a trap of some sort.
"HOLD HERE," says the ever alert Eidolon, "THOSE SKULLS ARE TRAPPED IN SOME WAY. WE DON'T HAVE THE MEANS TO DISABLE THEM, SO I WILL SET THEM OFF. SINCE I CANNOT DIE, AT WORST MY MASTER CAN SUMMON ME AGAIN AND RESTORE ME. IT WON'T STOP IT FROM HURTING, THOUGH."
Raamanti will creep into the room, one 5-ft square at a time (5 ft per round). Each time he passes within reach of a smooth skull, he will smash it with his hammer.
"Thank you, my friend," says Zart, his voice a little despondent, "Your sacrifice is most noble. Try not to die. I would hate to send you back to the shadow plan during this time of need."
Daud will rush to grab the foolhardy Eidolon before he commences with the smashing. "As amusing as watching you blow yourself to shadowy bits might be did you ever stop to think that Necromancers might favor differant kinds of traps than those that go boom? You smash one and it might trap your soul, or eat it."
Raamanti shrugs free and continues on his way, "I HAD CONSIDERED THAT, BUT MY SOUL IS OWNED BY ANOTHER."
"Raamanti is quite safe, so to speak," says Zart assuringly, "As an eidolon, he does enjoy certain privileges. I can always dismiss him should he encounter any real danger. Thank you for your concern, though."
"That's a nice arrogance, to assume yourself greater and more cunning than every Necromancer that has come before."
"WE SPOTTED HIS TRAP, DIDN'T WE?" asks Raamanti, laying into the nearest skull with his hammer.
"A lot of traps are meant to be spotted, in order to hide worse things."
Pyron just follows along and recasts his cantrip before they go into a new room.
As Raamanti enters the room and starts to systematically destroy the skulls from a distance, he and Wednesday both notice a few of the skulls pulling loose from the walls. The disgusting things look like human-length centipedes, but with ribs for legs and a human skull for a head.
Initiative: Pyron, Zart, Things, Tolenn, Gaius, Wednesday, Raamanti
Being too far for the back to be of much use, and not wanting to expend another summon spell, Zart instead casts guidance on Gaius.
"Just imagine your goal, and this spell should help you to achieve it," promises Zart as he touches a moderately glowing hand to Gaius's shoulder.
Pyron hexes the closest thing that he sees and starts to cackle (-2 AC, will dc 11, 5 turns if fail, 2 turns if saved).
Zart reaches forward, casting a quick spell that will add a little zip to Gaius' zap.
Pyron moves into the room, cackling. You all find it quite disturbing. The thing Pyron looks at only finds it mildly disturbing, as though it will recover in 12 seconds instead of 30.
The thing that Pyron hexed slithers forward, its skeleton ribs clattering along the floor as it approaches Raamanti. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't seem to be coming for a handshake, as it tries to bite the eidolon! It doesn't seem too enthusiastic about it, though, perhaps knowing that eidolon does not taste like chicken.
Meanwhile, the other two things extend upwards to a height of about six feet. They both begin to shake weirdly, a hypnotic display that threatens to overwhelm your senses.
Initiative:
Round 1: Pyron, Zart, Things, Tolenn, Gaius, Wednesday (1), Raamanti(1)
Round 2: Pyron (1), Zart, Things, Tolenn, Gaius, Wednesday, Raamanti