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"Hey, don't go pointing those out!" Kal exclaims, looking genuinely horrified. "I hate to say it, but yeah. I think I need a night to recover - how about at that shrine? If this is a curse, do you think you can lift it?" He urges Veritas in the direction of the shrine, trying to keep his face relaxed. If he did have wrinkles, it was best not to make them worse.
The old temple would be an ideal place to rest until you are ready to proceed. Risking life and limb is part of our life, but we need not be foolhardy about it. Well, not overly so any way...my wife will kill me if I die. err...you know what I mean!
You make your way back to the renewed shrine and do a full examination on the Summoner and his Eidlon. Your results are disturbing. This is more than some natural disease. It is both disease and curse, meaning it will require both a Remove Disease and Bread Enchantment spell to remove the thing. Meanwhile, it is likely that the pair will continue to deteriorate, though the rate at which his will happen is hard to predict.
You make your way back to the renewed shrine and do a full examination on the Summoner and his Eidlon. Your results are disturbing. This is more than some natural disease. It is both disease and curse, meaning it will require both a Remove Disease and Bread Enchantment spell to remove the thing. Meanwhile, it is likely that the pair will continue to deteriorate, though the rate at which his will happen is hard to predict.
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Kal seems to take the news surprisingly well - or at least, does a decent job of bluffing. "Well, that's not so bad," he shrugs. "We leg it out of here and find someone who can get rid of it. Right?" He glances from Kiorec to Silas and bak again, worry beginning to creep into his face. "Right?" he asks again.
Silas smiles, a small frown etching his face but winking to him.
"Do either of you have a small amount of discretionary money? I have some contacts in the Pathfinder Society, at the Grand Lodge in Absalom. Unfortunately, I will need a little bit more money, or something to barter with in order to get the scroll that I need for the spell to break off the magical enchantment portion of the affliction. The other half, I have a dear friend that can help me with it."
I have a small amount, this venture interested me because, to be fair, I'm a little short on funds.
Silas nods to Kiorec. "We do have some of those items we just found. We can most likely barter them as well. Unfortunately, even though my spell tomes are rather extensive, I do not have the required spell to break the enchantment, though I do have a friend that I can call to help with medicating the disease."
Before the malady takes too bad a toll, Kal ports everyone to Absolom. The transition from silvery moonlight to glaring sun and from deadly silence to buzzing metropolis is jarring, but the disorientation soon passes.
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"Alright," the young summoner says shakily, working his way out of V's arms (to the displeasure of the protective eidolon ). "Silas, you probably know your way around Absalom better than I do. Any idea where we'd find the things we need?" He starts tallying up the value of his gear, just in case it was needed. The helm's nice, but when was the last time I really used it, anyway?
Silas can find his man easily enough and before long you are feeling right as rain.
You teleport back and enter the way you did before through the medusa gate and the stone sarcophagi (which have had their lits re-fitted some how). You make your way back to the teleportation circle and step onto it.
Your destination is dim and takes a moment to absorb. This great, domed chamber is home to hundreds of funerary urns of every description, housed in niches along the walls. The domed ceiling thirty feet above is decorated with images of Taldan aristocrats engaged in passionate debate, locked in duels, or poring over great tomes together. A carving of a medusa’s face decorates the floor in the room’s center, flanked to the sides by two trios of stone sarcophagi. An archway to the north opens into a large pillared hall.
The six sarcophagi in this room are ceremonial—they aren’t even hollow. Such is not the case for the urns displayed on the walls. These contain the cremated remains of favorite servants as evidenced by the varied last names.
You have arrived on a similar Madusa carving to the one you just triggered. However, an examination reveals several differences. Firstly, this one seems to work by some method other than simply standing on it. The symbols for 'contact' on the previous circle has been replaced with symbols for 'thought' and 'intent'. Secondly, there are four differences in the carving itself. There is a keyhole in the right eye, a starburst indentation in the left eye, a thin slot in the mouth, and an oval indentation in the chin.
Kiorec investigates the room with care.
Nothing out of the ordinary. No traps, no nothin. Well, maybe if you managed to extract the ceiling, but that's a little out of your scope right now.
Silas will look about the room, taking his time to examine things with detect magic to see if there are any auras in the room that need to be accounted for.
You rested in Absolom.
Besides the teleportation circle and accompanying wards, nothing pings as magic and nothing seems particularly useful.
Silas examines the wall. "Wait a minute..., didn't that efreeti say that we needed something like 4 keys? Look at this. I wonder if that dagger from the defiled pool would fit in here someplace?"
Silas takes a closer look at the intricate design to see where the dagger might fit best.
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"And didn't we have an actual key as well?" Kal wonders, rubbing his chin. Behind him, Veritas clears her throat, and he snaps his fingers. "Oh! Oh, of course." He digs around in his various pockets, muttering to himself, pulling out several odd items. A piece of string, a crumpled deck of playing cards, three green feathers, and a paper-wrapped packet of some unidentifiable kind of dried meat appear in his hands before vanishing again. After a minute or two of this, he rummages around in a pocket under one armpit, and with an exclamation of triumph, he procures the iron key from the lockbox. "Ha-ha! I knew it was around here somewhere!" he beams, looking entirely more pleased with himself than he has any right to be.
Silas thinks for a moment and nods. "From the looks of it, we are going to need the other two keys before we try to do anything. The symbols on this teleportation circle seem to indicate thought and intent have more to do with their activation, along with the keys than do simple contact with it. I suggest that we seek out the other keys first, and then plan on dealing with this. Unless there is other insight to be gleaned?"
The dagger and the knife fit easily into the slots that match their shape and click into place.
This massive hall hosts a vaulted ceiling fifty feet above,
supported by huge pillars of marble running down its center. The walls are lined with vaults, stacked in columns of eight, twenty feet high. Lavish murals occupy the thirty-foot stretch of wall above the vaults, depicting naval confrontations between Taldan and Qadiran ships to the east, and Taldan ships and what appear to be ghost ships to the west. The dominant ship in the painting appears in both battle scenes, its mainsail proudly flaunting the mocking medusa; a handsome figure clad in archaic captain’s uniform grips the rigging in one hand while he rallies his sailors by waving a falcata over his head. The man has thick white hair and a long beard divided into three braids.
A round after the you enter this room, a shimmering, ghostly figure drifts down from the western representation of the captain. He drifts down to float just a few inches above the ground
before the stairs, and addresses the you in a deep, commanding voice.
It is apparent that none of your assembly is of the blood, so I must conclude you are thieves. To avert my righteous vengeance and leave in peace, answer me these three questions. First, what was the name of my flagship? Second, how did my first darling wife die? And third, why is my eldest son’s body not here with us? All the information you need is within this chamber. I give you ten minutes
Silas sighs and starts to look around. He checks to see if he can find any pertinant information.
Um, right, riddles...the answer is in the room..
I'm gonna get hurt again today aren't I? And I just got the blood out of my shirt.
Working together, the party finds the answers well before time is up. His Flagship was the Harlot, his beloved wife died in childbirth with his son who died and was buried at sea.
The ghost sighs in satisfaction. One should be aware of their history. He says before fading into nothingness.
An inspection of this level reveals nothing of significant value, so you head down the stairs.
The sad vault you enter stands as testimony to the alarming mortality of Adellan offspring during the last thirty years of the House’s existence. A flight of stairs shrouded in fog leads up to the south, while opposite these stairs is a large stone door with the same Madusa carving as the first door you encountered.
While there are over two dozen small sarcophagi in this room, some hold more than a single occupant, as indicated on the lids. From the carved dates, it is obvious no occupant made it past the age of six—many were actually infants.
Silas blanches as they enter the next room. Sweet Mother of Mercy..., what happened here? How..., what could have caused so many children to be wontonly killed like this?
Silas takes to scanning the room as he has before, just checking to see if there is anything specially magical or perhaps out of place. His voice is very somber as he speaks. "I may not be a very religious man, but the Inheritor's grace upon all those that rest in this room. This is a tragedy that does not even begin to express itself in words."
This room saddens me.
So many little feet, gone..
I do not wish to disturb them.
Moving on, and the next room isn't much better. The ceiling of this room is fifteen feet high. Large arched niches fill the east and west walls; various bones are mortared into the niches in artfully arranged patterns, and each is packed with the jawless skulls of countless humans. Each skull has a name painted on its surface, along with dates of birth and death. A ragged hole in the ground to the northeast drops into what appears to be an even deeper cavern.
In the northwest corner of the room, a skull bearing the words “Thrasillus Daellum Adella, 4321–4418” still has its jawbone attached.
Removing the skull from its niche reveals that it has an exquisite oval ruby etched with the symbol of the cross-eyed medusa clenched between its teeth, radiating transmutation magic. This ruby is probably one of the items needed to activate the entrance teleportation circle.
Kiorec attempts to check out the jawed skull.
Hilarity and pain ensue!
The whole pile of bones destabilizes and cascades down on Kiorec. He is physically unhurt, but a deep foreboding has taken root in his gut.
The good news is the skull is easily accessed now!
Silas blinks, thinking for a moment. "Well you seem unhurt. Is there anything over there?"
Removing the skull from its niche reveals that it has an exquisite oval ruby etched with the symbol of the cross-eyed medusa clenched between its teeth, radiating transmutation magic. This ruby is probably one of the items needed to activate the entrance teleportation circle.