Mara could sense that trying to reason with the survivors here wasn't going to work. She remembered how she had felt in the asylum, when shapeshifter had seemed to be everywhere. She decided against flying up to look over the barricade; they would probably just shoot at her.
She called out, "We're going down further to see if we can find Elder Lythiin. It's too soon to give up hope of finding him alive. We'll be back later."
"Yeah, can't blame 'em. These bloody cosmic horrors are confusing enough when we've been fightin' 'em a while. Imagine if you're just some normal bloke off the street."
Theophilus will bravely follow after Kat and Dervak....
Kat gets the sense that there is no convincing the guards and that if the party tried to force the issue it would result in violence.
You begin to explore the 3rd level of the Mysterium, the fog remains, the growling has ceased, leaving an eerie silence. You walk south.
Dervak comes to a halt.
"Kat? Theo? Mara? Where did you all go?"
He holds his falchion in hand and looks around warily.
Dervak hears his fellows back to the north a short distance. Heading back north a little ways reveals them looking around for you, they appear to be headed towards the east, not south like you agreed. Dervak notices he has a headache.
Mara was following behind Dervak, when she saw him suddenly turn to the west and disappear into the fog. "Dervak, where are you going? We should stick together!", she called after him, and listed for his reply.
Dervak assumes he has messed up somehow. He knows he isn't the smart one in this group.
"Something odd," he says to Mara, with no elaboration.
He falls back in behind Kat and follows her.
”Yeah best we stay together. Hells, might even wanna all hold onto a rope so we can keep track if it’s that easy to get separated in here.”
Theophilus seems to be hanging on by a thread. The nervous Hatter has seen a lot. Dervak behaving strangely may be putting him over the top....
This accursed fog — could it affecting our thinking? Mara cast a spell and checked whether the fog itself was magical.
She replied to Kat, "Holding a rope sounds like a good idea; who has one?"
Mara detects a strong magical aura all around her, she cannot decipher precise school of the magic or the specific effect.
If his Enlarge Person is close to wearing off, Dervak will use his last 1st-level slot to refresh it.
"Lead the way, Kat. If you see a door, let's check it out rather than sticking to the hallways."
Being a bit distract (mostly because of the certainty of pending death), the nervous Witch stares blankly at what Mara was doing. He seems to be pondering something; when the White Rabbit nudges him.
Theo mimics Mara's activities.
Big surprise! Guards and Wards all over the place! Oh, the humanity! The horror! We are all gonna diiiiieeee!
"So how's that help us, bruv? Something special we gotta look out for?"
Theo looks at Kat.
The short answer; nope!
The Mad Hatter then shrugs his shoulders.
The good news is that the caster need still be here somewhere. We could have missed dozens of concealed doors by now, also. This is worse than loosing your monocle in a vat of beer!
The White Rabbit solemnly nods his agreement.
Mara moved closer to Kat, so would be less likely to get lost. "We should move on, and all hold on to a rope if we can. Or we could all hold onto each other's shoulders in a long chain. In any case, Kat, I'm following you, so lead on."
"Let's keep on to the left then, eh. See where that takes us."
Kat takes her adamantine spear and drags it along the floor with a horrible scraping sound as she carves an arrow in the ground.
"This will show which direction we have tried, eh?"
Theo begins rummaging through his Pathfinder pack. He pulls out 50 feet of string and 50 feet of thread.
Never thought I would ever use these!
Using Kat's scientifically enhanced senses, marking your path with Kat's spear, and tying yourselves to each other with Theo's twine, you manage to explore this level's corridors with a degree of confidence. With only one or two mix ups you've discovered three of the four statues you need to delve further into the Mysterium.
Theo was correct that the doors of this level were covered with illusions but such tricks are beyond Kat's keen ears.
"Let's pick one of the doors and try it. I know we probably will need to rest soon, but we can clear one of these rooms first. Maybe find Elder Lythiin."
Theo frowns at the mystery of the lost doors. The Witch seems to be trying to think of a solution; when the White Rabbit shakes his trouser leg.
Looking down at the White Rabbit for a moment, Theo sadly shakes his head.
We would need--not one--but three turkeys. Where are we getting turkeys here?
The White Rabbit kicks the floor.
Mara considered the question of which door to check first, and picked one at random, "I dunno, how about the northwest door in the center?"
She checked the door for traps first, and then listened for noises beyond.
Dervak will follow Mara to the door and open it after she has checked it. He has his falchion in hand.
"Good with me, luv." Kat continues drawing her arrows on the ground as she follows the others.
Theo nods in agreement. He casts Guidance on Deravk, prior to him opening the door.
The shelves in this room hold thousands of handwritten journals and bound books. Glancing through the library you find it contains hours upon hours worth of automatic writing as well as transcripts of trances and drug-induced ecstasies. The writings cover thousands of subjects, and while some passages and pages make sense, most of it is useless garbage.
A single chest sits on the floor between two of the shelves. When Kat approaches the chest she hears a tiny rune on the surface of the lock.
Theophilus begins doing card tricks...
Mara looked through some of the written material and despaired, "It would take weeks to go through all this!"
Theo nods in agreement!
Exactly!
He sits down and he begins reading...
”Trap here. I’ve got it.” Kat kneels down and pulls out her tools so she can carefully undo the trap rune.
Kat manages to erase the rune rather easily. She finds a scroll of horrid wilting stored within a leather and scrimshaw bodkin case, and an everwake amulet on a cord of woven hair.
Mara figured it wasn't worth searching through the books right now. She went across to the northwest door and examined it for traps.
Five creatures populate this room, guarding the door is something that might be mistaken for a centaur if it wasn't for the metallic skin, golden clockwork wings sprouting from its back, and arms that end in barbed chains. Kat and Theo recognize the creature as a type of inevitable (lawful outsider), a Zelekhut. They are the executioners bound to follow the letter of the law. They are only vulnerable to chaotic energies.
Behind the centaur like thing is a lithe humanoid with glowing blue eyes. Her form shimmers and wavers temporarily breaking apart into motes of shimmering light. She stands next a trio of creatures that look like swirling crystalline dust, but on closer inspection they are a shifting mass of glowing mathematical symbols and equations. Kat and Theo know that all four are Axiomites, and they able to shift between the two forms. They are also a type of lawful outsider and vulnerable to chaotic energies.
The zelekhut wastes no time, swinging at Kat with its chain-arms. One wraps around her leg leaving a bleeding gash, to add a little insult a jolt of electricity is sent down its length singing Kat. It tries to pull Kat over but she manages to stay on her feet.
Always acts in surprise round, if surprised acts last
Theophilus frowns at the actions of these Lawfully built beings.
He begins by using Evil Eye Hex on the Zelekut.
Mara stepped away from the door, giving Dervak more room to engage. She concentrated, speeding up the flow of time for her friends.
"Not very friendly, are they?"
Dervak doesn't particularly know or care what the creature is. It attacked Kat, so he will destroy it.
If somebody told him he needed the power of Chaos to hurt these things... he would have some annoyance that just being who he is does not qualify as Chaotic enough.
Dervak Str-rages and attacks.
Theo tries to invade the mind of the outsider and finds that it is a labyrinth of twisting corners and dead-ends, he cannot plant his usual seeds of self-doubt and paranoia in fertile ground.
With screeching metal Dervak rends the zelekhut in three points, nearly cutting off one of the metal-centaur’s wings.
With exacting precision the axiomites act in unison unleashing a number of magical energies carefully crafted to hinder and control your group while bolstering themselves.
Dervak feels his muscles go rigid, but with some effort he’s able to break free of the enchantment. A half a second later a bolt of electricity arcs through Kat and Dervak. Finally a blue grid of energy explodes from near the center of the group.
Kat growls in frustration as she is hit and then shocked. ”Bloody inevitables! Sod off.”
She takes a step back and enters her fighting stance, focusing on studying her target. She throws out a single stab.
Kat's spear just barely nicks the door frame as she goes for the zelekhut. This throws off her thrust just enough that the spear only glances off its metallic skin harmlessly. It retaliates sending its chain arms into the door but they clatter to the ground finding no purchase among the party.
Theophilus seems deep in thought. Just ignore the drool and more than usually stun expression on his face.
Dervak will attack the Zelekhut once and close the door as a move action.
"We can't just sit here and let them hit us with spells!"
Mara moved behind Dervak and called out, "Daddy, coat them in sticky mud!"