Your trip to the Academy is quick and uneventful and the very efficient librarians and research assistants help you gather what you want with great speed. Before you depart, your mentor, Vortimax pulls you aside. "Nowzai, I encountered Everoth and the other Greenblade on their way out of town. Stocking up on supplies at the shop as it were. I understand they were part of a petrified collection? I know it's a long shot, but if by chance, you encounter a statue of a middle-aged Mwangi woman dressed like a soothsayer, could you try one of these?".
The old alchemist hands you two stone to flesh scrolls, "If it's here, she would answer to the name, Ma'puande."
Nowzai is able to return with ease to the party within an hour.
Once returned to the group, Nowzai will ask, "The door in the shaft first?"
"We are all down here already, perhaps we should just start down here"
"I think the shaft door will be the most difficult to coordinate, we should get it done first I think"
"Agreed. Let us see this thing through." Nowzai will use his slippers to ascend the shaft and, once everyone is in position, cast flesh to stone on the node.
Dalamus just shakes his head...."Everyone just wants to rush to their damn deaths."
Guess Dalamus will use his spider climb to go up there.
Nowzai opens the door with the flesh to stone spell and the party shimmies up and in before the door closes behind you.
The walls of this thirty-foot-high hall are carved with myriad bas-reliefs depicting various Underdark creatures and terrains. This hall also holds an impressive collection of monstrous statues, arranged in a semicircle and all very lifelike positioned around a statue of a Mwangi woman wearing the garb of a soothsayer in the middle. From west to east they are as follows: a smallish black dragon, a minotaur, a harpy, an otyugh, a rust monster, a kuo-toa, and some sort of fungi. To the north, a huge archway looms. Two paintings hang on the wall to either side of the arch. The western painting depicts what looks like Cauldron under a burning sky. The eastern painting depicts a beautiful but horrified blonde woman imprisoned in a metal cage that looks almost as if it were made of iron ribs and adamantine skulls. You recognize the woman as a painting of Celeste, the noble who sent you in search of Zenith Splintershield.
The door to the north has the third gemstone, an emerald, lit up green with a image of a boulder crumbling to nothing.
The door to the west has the second gemstone, an amethyst, lit up purple with the aghast face of a man, eyes open, mouth agape as if startled.
Epik wearily regards the statues. "Likely these are petrified beasts. With the exception of the Mwangi woman, none appear worthy of being restored to flesh."
He looks at Dalamus. "Check carefully for traps or hidden threats before we proceed."
Epik detects evil and carefully scans the room for danger.
Dalamus nods to Epik and begins looking around
Perception
Disable Device
After checking over the room, Dalamus will go inspect the picture of Celeste
Perception
Nowzai's eyes widen upon seeing the woman's statue. "Her name is Ma'puande. Vortimax mentioned her when I went to collect the scrolls. This will take but a moment." He takes out another scroll and reads the arcane phrase, releasing the Mwangi from her stony prison.
*
Nowzai inspects the gems and images by the two doors. "These keystones appear to indicate cause fear and disintegrate. I can only guess what lies beyond them, though I suspect the latter -- based on the power of the spell involved -- leads to our quarry."
...As the spell slips away, the woman is in mid-sceam: Boy!, run you fool! Something is in here with us!
Her eyes settle upon the nearest target and as she raises her Morningstar to attack, she begins to notice that her surroundings are completely foreign to her. She whispers This isn't right!? She looks around at you all and lifts her chin in defiance. What do you want? I am Ma'puande, tribal elder. You will lay down your weapons, and leave this Holy Place, or you will face the wraith of the spirits, and the wraith of my tribe! But even as she says those words, she seems to deflate a bit. this is not the ruins I was in a moment ago. Why have you brought me here?
Epik nods his respects to Ma'puande, "Greetings my lady, I am Epik, servant of Iomedae. It appears that you have been petrified. We fear that you were turned to stone by a beholder, as were these other creatures." He points to the other statues.
"We are here seeking to confront Lord Vhalantru and free the benighted city of Cauldron. What can you tell us of your last moments before you were petrified? Did you see the creature that did this?"
Petrified? Turned to Stone? Beholder?
Who the @#%! is this guy? Do I trust him?
Greetings Sir Epik, it appears I owe you a debit of gratitude for restoring me. But please, tell me what you've done with the young boy who was just here. Is he also in danger from this 'Beholder'? He is young and impulsive, and grieving for his master. I worry about him wandering these halls alone. He answers to Vortimax, (or 'Boy' I suppose) he is about 20 seasons old.
Nowzai winces. "Ma'puande, I understand your confusion, and you must realize that you have been in a state of stasis for quite some time. I know Vortimax, here is here in the city, and indeed it was he who asked me to look for you. We will take you to see him as soon as we neutralize the evil monster in this place."
She looks at the new speaker, Thank you for your kind words, however, I was speaking with your headman, Sir Epik. It is impolite to interrupt. she smiles but since you have spoken, continue, and explain how long have I been 'in statis', a heart beat ago, i was in some ancient ruins near my village, it is called Ngali. It is located where the Vanji River and Buunta Flow meet. Now I am here, She looks around, and sniffs the air. The spirits here are different, they speak to me just as before, but the voices are different. Where AM I?
Dalamus will look at her, and then continue on searching the room.
Epik frowns. You are in the city of Cauldron. You may follow us out of the mansion and we will help you return home. For now, please be wary - this place is full of danger."
Epik turns to Dalamus, "Is the room safe?"
She bows to Epik and the others and says Thank you, I can provide healing if anyone requires
Nowzai nods, deferring to the woman's authority, but also sensitive to her situation. "I cannot say precisely how long you have been imprisoned here. Vortimax will certainly know. It pains me to tell you this, for I can only imagine your distress, but it has been quite a few years."
I can only imagine what my family and friends have thought? I left this morning to help Vortimax rescue his missing Master. We discovered his body crushed beneath a stone block trap. We were about to bring the remains back to my village to see if his soul was willing to return to this world, when I heard a strange sound from behind us, I was shouting a warning to the boy, when to me, I appeared in this room with you. If what you say it true, my villagers must have been looking for me. Hopefully they have survived, I must speak to Vortimax soon to discover what happened. She nods to each of you. Thank you my rescuers, let me help you with your quest, so you can assist me with mine
Nowzai nods to Ma'puande, "We appreciate your assistance, but be forewarned. The creature that trapped you in stone and made a trophy of you and these others, it is our quarry, and it is most certainly dangerous."
"This place is the lair of an eye tyrant, a beholder, and a power player in whatever evil conspiracy is threatening the people of Cauldron."
"Hello Ma'puande, I am Sama'el, welcome back to the land of the living."
"The creature Nowzai speaks of is a beholder, , if you are able to blind in any sort of a way, that will be most helpful when we finally meet the creature"
Sam casts his usual spells including Shield and Pro Evil
Mirror Image -
Jenya will cast Bless of Fervor as Nowzai casts to open the door
Epik says a prayer to Iomedae and then casts divine favor as he draws his great sword.
Hmm, sadly I don't have the ability to blind anything with magic. But lead on. This creature must not be allowed to harm any other beings.
Dalamus inspects the paintings and finds nothing out of the ordinary, except the painting of Celeste is warm and smooth to the touch, like the flesh of a living creature.
Sam, Jenya and Epik cast preparatory spells.
Dalamus will look at the others "This one may also be trapped....It is warm and feels like skin"
The party apparently decides to completely ignore Dalamus and Nowzai casts his disintegrate spell, the green gem above flashing as the door rolls open to the side.
This is a fifty-footwide, fifty-foot-high hemispherical chamber with weird, abstract murals painted on the ceiling. Everburning torches in sconces brightly illuminate the room, revealing its contents. At the far end of the room is a large desk, heaped with books and scrolls. What looks like horribly deflated human body is draped over the desk’s chair. A bloated sphere with nine flailing eyestalks floats in the middle of the room, pale green fluid weeping from knobby, festering sores covering its body. It hovers above a twenty-foot-diameter symbol carved into the floor: a triangle inscribed within a circle, both inlaid with gold. At the three corners of the inscribed triangle, chained to the stone floor, are three figures wearing crude leather straitjackets fitted with black straps and iron buckles. They appear to be a human male, a half-orc male, and a gnome female. The figures are held in place by ankle and wrist manacles, their heavy chains looped around iron rings securely fastened to the floor. Suddenly, arcs of black lightning leap from their eyes and strike the beholder, causing its great bulk to heave and become even more distended for an instant. The three figures collapse into heaps of ash on the floor, leaving behind nothing but charred straightjackets and burnt buckles.
Epik smites evil on the beholder and actives the divine bond on his great sword.
"I do not understand the significance of this. Is it a prison for her, somehow, or just a disgusting trophy." Nowzai frowns and casts a divination to determine the nature of the magic.
*
"Be cautious," Nowzai warns in a hushed, strained voice. "I suspect this is not what it seems." Using his detect magic sight, he proceeds forward with the others.
Dalamus will cast Greater invisibility and move into the room along the perimeter
Hesitating for not a second the party leaps to attack the monstrosity, but you catch its attention.
The beholder turns to face you, as though aware of you for the first time. Pressed up against the convex pane of its enormous central eye, you can see the horribly fat visage of some demonic creature with a wide mouth full of sharp, triangular teeth. Suddenly, the beholder’s own mouth spreads wide, and slime pours from its gums onto the stone floor.
Nowzai's detect magic tells him there is magic in the room ahead.
*
Alakast, what am I looking at?
Nowzai cannot hide his reaction to the disgusting dead beholder and its demonic rider. He casts a summoning spell, making the ritual almost instantaneous with his metamagic rod, while also casting a sonic orb at the demon.
;
Sam will quickly cast a Glitter Dust, Extended with Fervor, on the Beholder
Will Save - DC 21 or be blinded Lasts 22 Rounds
He will move up out of line of sight and wait for his next turn
Dalamus casts his spell and moves ... and nothing happens. He remains visible. It is at this time that Nowzai notices he can no longer detect magic and Akalast does not reply to him.
"It cannot look at all of us if we split up," Nowzai says, rushing forward into the room and circling the eastern wall.
Dalamus will change directions and head the opposite way of Nowzai