Kardas's disruptive beam misses this time and the skeleton continues its onslaught heedless of the ruinous damage Set has done to it. It steps in after See's swing and it expertly smashes it's hatchets in on the Knight's shoulders. Instantly weaknesses crept up on him, robbing him of his strength and suddenly his sword and armour had become a burden!
<--- MISS
<--- MISS
Before anyone else could act, Zane's spiritual mace attacked. The skeleton was paying it no heed which was a mistake for it caved the undead's skull in, severing it's unlife instantly. The blackened bones clattered in a heap and began to crumble to dust.
Ishta finds there is indeed a hidden door here, but it's locked.
Zane sighed with relief as the enemy crumbled under the concerted effort of the group to bring it low. The spiritual weapon dissolved as he finished his chant, reaching out to touch Ser Armithia's shoulder. The Morninglord's power flowed into the paladin, restoring some of the strength the skeletal creature had sapped from the gold elf.
Azarra hears the sounds of battle fade, so she stops singing.
Everything good up there guys? Were you fighting the vampire again?
Ser Armithia's malady was partially cured by Zane's prayer which meant he was stronger than he had been but still wasn't quite back to normal,
Zane stepped towards Azarra and Ishta, nodding. "A minor setback, but the Morninglord and the strong arms of our fellows laid the poor fellow back to rest. Let's continue." The priest smiled faintly at the half-elf, but concern clouded his features. The vampiress had disappeared, and the strange orcish figure still lurked somewhere.
Ser Armithia takes point.
"Ser Armithia was badly hurt, though it seems Zane was able to patch most of it" Ishta replies. "The vampire escaped through that secret door over there" she adds, pointing at the door. "Can you open it, Azarra?" Ishta's words carry some concern and some hope at the same time.
"Ha! Can we capture her mist-form and bring her along like that?!" Knowing nothing about vampires other than fairy tales and folklore, Kardas has no idea how silly he might sound right now.
"She is a gas cloud right now and, as such, she's subject to all what a gas cloud would be" Ishta explains. "That means she can squeeze through narrow spaces, as we have just witnessed; she is subject to wind blasts and yes, she could be confined in an airtight box or room." While she talks, she throws constant looks at the door.
She keeps explaining a bit further, for the ones who weren't paying attention before. "While being in that state, she's not affected by anything harmful, though she must reach her coffin in a pair of hours or so, else she will be destructed." Ishta hopes the explanation will help them understand the urgency. "Once inside her coffin, she must rest and will slowly recover until she awakens again. I strongly believe her coffin is the one we found some rooms back, the one with her picture on a medallion. I think she knows that we know, so she's guiding us through perils until we either perish or she can makes us lose her. Therefore, if we do, we could always go back to the coffin room... unless she finds another method of being healed."
I can try. Azarra responds to Ishta. She squeezes past everyone and focuses on the lock.
Looks like it worked.
She smiles and opens the door for Ser.
Ser Armithia nods to Ishta for her concern. The knight readies to confront whatever may be behind the door...
Azarra springs the lock open with ease and a large section of the wall silently swings open inwards on well oiled hinges. Inside you find a small chamber with defiled tombs on either side. The center of the room is dominated by a summoning circle inscribed with what appears to be dried blood. In the very middle of the circle is a man-shaped creature which appears to be part statue and part metallic machine! The cloaked statue is male and regards you with mild interest as the door opens. In the distance a staircase leads upwards.
Least conspicuous of the inevitables, even in their natural form, kolyaruts are the size of tall humans, though they weigh far more because of their composition. Capable of using both invisibility and disguise self to pass completely unnoticed through humanoid lands, kolyaruts most frequently appear as cloaked warriors bearing finely crafted bastard swords, allowing others to chalk up any metallic noises to the clanking of hidden armor until the moment when they pull back their hoods and let their quarries look upon their mechanical faces, understanding only too late the nature of the mysterious strangers.
Perhaps because their missions can be the murkiest and most open to interpretation, kolyaruts are by far the most talkative of the inevitables, naturally possessing a courtly grace and an encyclopedic knowledge of social customs, which they use both to assist them in gathering information on their targets and in issuing challenges (or executing dignified sentences) on the battlefield. Though naturally as solitary as their kindred, kolyaruts are occasionally content to let members of other races tag along and assist them in achieving shared goals, though they have little problem abandoning or even exploiting these “comrades” if it brings them closer to fulfilling their mission.
Ser Armithia nods to the creature.
Pardon our intrusion; but, by chance, have you noticed a gaseous form pass this way?
He looks around.
Or a wicked looking orc fellow?
Not that she doesn't trust herself, but Ishta knows Azarra can be way more charming when she's at it, so she quietly whispers at her through the Message spell.
"This outsider usually enforces deals, I wonder which kind of deal it is enforcing or will enforce. It's not straight evil, and while it's confined in the circle I think we're safe, so we may want to ask..."
After listening to Ishta's explanation, Azarra speaks to the creature.
Powerful being, we know that your kind are usually dedicated to enforcing agreements. We wish to know what kind of bargain you seek to enforce in this place.
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Zane looked at the trapped creature warily, wanting to be going so they could finish destroying the vampiress but definitely respecting the inevitable's likely abilities to fight the party should it be able to or desire to do so. The priest stopped for the moment, impatiently waiting for the thing's response to Azarra's question.
The mechanical creature regarded Azarra for a long moment before replying. It's voice was an unearthly baritone, deep and powerful, "Many months ago by mortal reckoning I was summoned here by the Orc Warlock Draegor'thak. He offered information regarding the theft of powerful artifacts stolen from Mechanus purportedly hidden nearby on the prime material plane. In exchange he sought forbidden knowledge. If knowledge is forbidden it can not be divulged, we reached an impasse."
It turns to Set Armithia and answers his question, "Both went upstairs to the Laboratory."
The Paladin salutes the accommodating gentleman. He prepares to follow the directions, but says,
Would you care to be set free, good sir?
Azarra wonders if freeing the creature is a good idea, but doesn't attempt to argue Ser out of it. If the Paladin felt honorbound, she was unlikely to succeed, and truthfully they didn't know what would happen. She could only hope that the creature would pursue its purpose without causing any harm to the innocent people in the area, including themselves. She moved around the edge of the room towards the stairs.
The mechanoid studies See Armithia intently for a moment before asking, "Yes, I have many duties that have been neglected due to my incarceration. State your terms knight of Helm."
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Before Ser Armithia can make any offer, Ishta jumps in, unable to refrain herself.
"If it's not much asking, will your duties be in conflict with the well-being of the citizens of Phlan?"
Ser Armithia uses Helm's Sight on the fellow (Detect Evil).
He then looks to the group.
Azarra is frustrated that the vampire is getting away, but she knows she would never be able to do anything about it without the rest of the group, so she stops and turns around, and waits to see what will happen.
The mechanical man seems to know what Ser just did and appears to be amused. He answers Ishta in his rich otherworldly baritone, "Does that Orc count as a resident? If so I am afraid I find his dealings to be perfidious. He must be brought before the tribunal."
The Paladin nods in respect to the machine.
Tell us how to release you. We do have a vampire to catch. The orc we can assist you.
Quickly before Ser Armithia releases the outsider for free, which would be okay for her if they weren't in need of that much help in a dozen different things, Ishta speaks again.
"When the orc is captured, we'd like to have a face to face with him. I have some questions to be answered." She looks at her companions briefly, realizing her selfishness. "That is, if you don't want any other thing instead."
Azarra indicates that she doesn't want anything in this bargain.
The mechanical man replies at once, "Will five minutes with the prisoner be sufficient for your interrogation?"
"It will have to be" Ishta answers. "Ser Armithia, please. If you break the protective circle, you'll free the Outsider."
The mechanical man nods and turns his attention to See Armithia and waits to see what he does.
Zane's curiosity over the mechanical outsider battled with the current situation, but seeing as how the others had stopped and were parlaying with the thing, the priest thought it wise to wait with them. Although the vampiress was at a disadvantage, alone the undead might still overwhelm him. So Zane looked to Ser Armithia to see if he would mar the circle and free the outsider...it apparently had some business with the orcish fellow Ishta seemed to want to interrogate.
Ser Armithia nods. He walks over to break the circle.
Helm guard you!
The knight resumes his vampriss search.
There was no resistance as Ser Armithia's foot crossed the circle but the moment he broke it a literal wall of static electricity welled up as the powers behind the ward discharged. The air stank of ozone and miniature lightnings played along the knight's armour. Suddenly these vanished and the mechanical man surged towards the stairs, remarking "I must be quick, lest he escape."
For a being of his size and nature he was remarkably quiet and he vanished from sight before turning the corner. There was silence for maybe two dozen heartbeats before there was a startled orkish oath from above, followed by a scuffle. By the time you made it up there, the Inevitable had beaten the orc into submission. However even in defeat Draegor'thak struck an imposing figure, more muscular than Zane or Kardas, taller than Ser Armithia and with a wily cunning in his eyes which rested upon Ishta...
The room looks like it was once a vault, which has now been converted into a makeshift lab. There are various mouldy looking tomes, a table full of glassware - retorts, burners, mixing beakers along with several mortars and pestles. Along one wall is a collection of strange looking reagents in stoppered glass bottles, many under oil. Some of them appear to be body parts, from all sorts of creatures.
Ishta returns the orc's gaze with a serious face.
"You don't know what I offered. I'm willing to risk even the Inevitable having to deal with us because he can't take you alive, so you should better answer what I'm asking you. What did you do to me with your evil magics? What was, or is, your plan? And where's Cadorna's sister?"
"Heh, squirmy and false even in defeat.", Kardas scoffs. He might not understand a single word coming out of the orc's mouth, but Ishta's tone and mood tell Kardas all he needs to know.
Ser Armithia looks for where the vampire gas went...
The orc smiled enigmatically, before replying in it's filthy guttural language.
He crosses his arms with a smug look.
Where is the vampire?
Azarra looks closely for anything that could be hiding the Vampire's body... or her gaseous form.
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Azarra points to an urn in the northwest corner and a closet door on the western wall and tells Ser (and anyone else listening)
She's probably there or there.
Meanwhile, she goes over to a bench by the southern wall and takes a blue leather book off of it, placing it in her pack.
Ser Armithia scans the chamber with Detect Evil.
Zane stayed with Ser Armithia and Azarra as Kardas joined Ishta in examining what the Inevitable had done with their Orcish instigator. The priest cocked his head as the half-elf took the book, but went dutifully to the urn and gave it a quick once-over before peering inside it.
The urn contains what appear to be ancient and shriveled olives in brine. There's a nasty smell to them, you wouldn't want to eat any!
The inevitable notices the lull in questioning and asks, "Any further questions for the prisoner before I bring him to his trial?"
Azarra glances at Ishta to see if she is done.
When she sees that Zane didn't find the vampire in the urn, she casts Open on the closet door.
Trying to make some time for Azarra to check the closet, Ishta sustains the gaze of the necromancer.
"What kind of pact did you make with the Cadornas?"
Draegor'thak shrugged before replying in his gutteral tongue. As he finished speaking a grin formed on his lips, it seemed he relished this particular double cross.