"Of course!" Sophy realizes, her face brightening. "The statue! Remember? The one Brock took the weapon off of after Erylium shattered his? Now that you brought up Thassilon, I remember; I read a book about the rulers of Thassilon once. Alaznist ruled a region called ... Bakrakhan?" She stumbles a little over the pronunciation, having only read the word and never heard it spoken. "The book said she was a raging arcane knight, and she fought against one of the other lords, Karzoug. She was said to be on the verge of forcing him to sue for peace, under humiliating terms. And she wielded an ancient ranseur of charred adamantine! You see? The statue out there that Brock took the ranseur from: that's Alaznist!" The excitement on her face turns to a look of wonder. "Could Erylium really have been around since the time of Thassilon? Or was the wizard in her memory simply trying to discover something about those long-ago times?"
"Wait a minute, I thought this demon was the one who kidnapped Ameiko. How could she know nothing about her?"
"I ... I don't know. She could have been down here for years, just waiting here in her shrine. Perhaps someone else tore down the wall in the basement of the Glassworks for his own reasons." She turns to the others. "The journal we found ... didn't it say something about using monsters to attack Sandpoint? I assume those are the creatures she called out of that pool."
Hmm. Well, we should still be thorough down here. Maybe there's a clue somewhere. Eponine will take 20 (giving her a 28) to start searching this room, including the tiny demon, taking anything that may be of value or a clue in their search and laying it between the pool and the exit.
"There's so many tunnels down here," Sophy says shyly, sitting down next to Kern, "that Ameiko could have been taken another way and bypassed this evil place entirely. You're hurt. I have Father Zantus's wand...." She struggles a moment and finally extricates the wand from where it seems to have buried its tips into the corners of her pack; she knows she put it on top of the vials of ink and not under them when she put it away.
Kern watches as some of his wounds close over. "Thanks Sophy," he says. "I feel a lot better now." He stands up. "Let's help Eponine. She's right. There could be a clue of some sort here."
You all scatter about the cathedral checking for any clues. Behind the other door is another closet filled with tarnished brass candle holders, and sort of collapsed contraption made of rusted gears and rotting wood.
The demon's only possessions are a tiny dagger, a miniature silver tiara, a tiny gown of black silk, and the holy symbol of Lamashtu made of obsidian.
Other than to two pools the room is empty.
Sophy frowns at the contraption. "What do you suppose that was?" she wonders, her mind still full of the torture devices Erylium remembered. She has no interest in touching any of the quasit's belongings, particularly the holy symbol, preferring to leave it all there to be cleansed of its evil aura by Father Zantus, should they ever make it back to the surface again to report back.
"All this, and no clues as to where Ameiko has been taken," Wren mutters dejectedly.
"There was another door, past the prison where we fought Erylium last time," Sophy reassures Wren. "She has to be down here somewhere ... but I don't know how far these tunnels go."
After the search is complete, Eponine scoop up the little demon's possessions (dagger, tiara, gown and holy symbol) and put them in her pouch.
Let's go check that other door beyond the prison. I think it is our best bet at this point. If we don't find anything there, we can head back up to the glassworks to see if we missed anything there.
Scanning over the gathered group, Eponine says You all did really well down here. Thank you for joining us, Kern and Belril. I'm not sure we would have made it without your prowess down here.
With that, if no one else has anything they want to do, Eponine will lead them back out and to the prison area, mindful of any traps Erylium might have set along the way. She'll go to where Sophy fled during the fight, leading everyone up to the door at the end of the corridor. When everyone is ready, she'll open the door.
Eponine leads the way, Brock next with Wren and Sophy right behind him while Victor brings up the rear. The tunnel is only about five feet wide forcing the group to travel single file. Wren's magical glowing spheres flow down the tunnel ahead of the elf in a lazy northeasterly direction, more north than east. After going about a hundred feet a second tunnel branches off to the right.
Eponine decides to keep going and bypasses the side passage and continues on for about another hundred and fifty feet. On her left a second passage splits of to the west while the main passage continues in it's north easterly direction. Each of you feel the eerie chill of underground creeping into your bones.
As the group turns and heads down the western passage they step over bricks scattered on the tunnel floor. The tunnel to the west must have been sealed up until recently. The passage continues on fifty feet then takes a sudden turn to the north and Eponine leads them approximately another hundred feet to where a cavern opens up on her right.
"Hold a moment, Miss Eponine. Before we leave, should we not make sure these tunnels are clear? As much as I am ready to be out of this hole, stack that with the amount of hate I have for these tunnels, I feel we should be absoultely positive nothing else is down here that can cause us even more grief. We are already down here, let us clear these tunnels out once and for all." He looks around at them all. "What say you all?"
Kern smiles and nods at Eponine's thanks. He then nods at Victor's suggestion. "Victor's right. We should make sure there's nothing left behind. What's this door beyond the prison you mention, Eponine?"
Everyone gathers and prepares the leave the cathedral, and Sophy makes sure to retrieve her glowing crossbow from the floor while Eponine collects the demons possessions.
Eponine leads the way back out of the cathedral and past the shrine, carefully stepping over the pile of zombie corpses. At the end of the hallway she turns north and you enter the room where a red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful but, at the same time, monstrously enraged human woman stands, her stony expression twisted in fury. The woman wears flowing robes, and her long hair is held back from her face by an intricate headdress of hooks and blades. In her left hand she carries a large book, the face of which is inscribed with a seven-pointed star. Her right hand once held a glittering metal and ivory ranseur that Brock took the last time you were here. With your abundant sources of light you see a hall that leads off to the east containing stairs that lead up into the darkness. To the west a hole in the wall leads back into the rough tunnels.
Eponine presses on to the north leading you onto the catwalk in the room containing the prison cells. Nearly two dozen cells that line the room’s perimeter. A rickety wooden platform overlooks the room, with two flights of stairs descending to the prison floor ten feet below. A five-foot-wide wooden walkway runs from the northern edge of the platform to a passageway to the east. With out waiting Eponine guides you all across the platform and down the eastern hallway to the chamber Sophy fled to the last time.
This room contains several ancient relics of what appear to be torture implements, although their function and style seem strange and archaic. In one corner sits a spherical cage with spikes protruding inward from its iron bars. In another stands what appears to be a star-shaped wooden frame, its surface studded with hooks. And in the center of the room is a long table covered with leather straps and a number of cranks that seem designed to rotate and swivel. To Sophy this seems all to familiar, it's as if she can still see the bodies and hear the gleeful cackling of Erylium.
There are two doors that lead from the room, one to the east and one to the south.
Eponine leads the way back out of the cathedral and past the shrine, carefully stepping over the pile of zombie corpses. At the end of the hallway she turns north and you enter the room where a red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful but, at the same time, monstrously enraged human woman stands, her stony expression twisted in fury. The woman wears flowing robes, and her long hair is held back from her face by an intricate headdress of hooks and blades. In her left hand she carries a large book, the face of which is inscribed with a seven-pointed star. Her right hand once held a glittering metal and ivory ranseur that Brock took the last time you were here. With your abundant sources of light you see a hall that leads off to the east containing stairs that lead up into the darkness. To the west a hole in the wall leads back into the rough tunnels.
"That's her," Sophy says softly, nodding at the statue. "Alaznist." She takes a moment to examine the statue, trying to determine how old it is, if it could possibly have been done from life when the Thassilonians still ruled the land.
Eponine presses on to the north leading you onto the catwalk in the room containing the prison cells. Nearly two dozen cells that line the room’s perimeter. A rickety wooden platform overlooks the room, with two flights of stairs descending to the prison floor ten feet below. A five-foot-wide wooden walkway runs from the northern edge of the platform to a passageway to the east.
"Look, Victor," Sophy says, stooping down and picking something up near the door they entered by. "It's your bow." She notices the crack in the wood. "Maybe we could get it fixed," she suggests, handing it back to him. She glances inquiringly at Kern, seeking his expertise as an armorer.
With out waiting Eponine guides you all across the platform and down the eastern hallway to the chamber Sophy fled to the last time.
This room contains several ancient relics of what appear to be torture implements, although their function and style seem strange and archaic. In one corner sits a spherical cage with spikes protruding inward from its iron bars. In another stands what appears to be a star-shaped wooden frame, its surface studded with hooks. And in the center of the room is a long table covered with leather straps and a number of cranks that seem designed to rotate and swivel. To Sophy this seems all to familiar, it's as if she can still see the bodies and hear the gleeful cackling of Erylium.
Sophy shudders. "She was here. Right in here under Sandpoint, torturing people. There was a woman there," she nods toward the spiked cage, "and a dead man on the floor there," she points toward the hooked frame, "and they brought in a man with a bag over his head to strap him to the table ... said his son would be spared if he told them about Alaznist." She shakes her head, bewildered. "How long ago could it have been?"
Sophy looks at the statue and can easily tell that it is very ancient.
"Look, Victor," Sophy says, stooping down and picking something up near the door they entered by. "It's your bow." She notices the crack in the wood. "Maybe we could get it fixed," she suggests, handing it back to him. She glances inquiringly at Kern, seeking his expertise as an armorer.
"Thank you, Miss Sophy." He says as he looks at the broke bow, shaking his head at the terrible shape it's in. "Although, I do not think it is worth fixing. I tend to shoot my friends more than I do my enemies with it." He deadpans as he stows the bow on his back.
"Look, Victor," Sophy says, stooping down and picking something up near the door they entered by. "It's your bow." She notices the crack in the wood. "Maybe we could get it fixed," she suggests, handing it back to him. She glances inquiringly at Kern, seeking his expertise as an armorer.
Kern shrugs. "It depends on the extent of the damage. It might just be easier to replace it."
When they enter the torture chamber, Kern's looks about, his face is a mixture of horror and fascination. "This is...ugh." He grimaces. "Guess we can't really expect more from a demon, though."
Victor turns to Belril, attempting to explain, "You see, my halfling friend, Sophy knows that these instruments of torture were being used to, well, torture people. Now, she knows this because, um, because she..." He stops as his face forms a questioning look. "Miss Sophy? How do you know all these such things? From books, maybe?"
Sophy looks at Victor quietly, not expecting to be believed as she tries to explain. "Erylium knew. She was here. And somehow, I ... stole the memory from her? I don't know how it's even possible, but ... all the strange things that have been happening to me lately." She shakes her head. "Father Zantus says it's a gift," she goes on, as if trying to convince herself. And the elf in the chapel, she remembers.
Victor smiles at Sophy as he then turns to the halfling, "You see, Belril? Sophy stole the demon's memories. Now we know. Was there anything else you might have a question about? I will assist you as best I can."
Sophy offers the halfling an apologetic smile. Victor and the girls have been with her from the beginning, and they hardly know what to think about her ... "gift"; she can only imagine what the newcomers to the group must think of her.
Sophy gives a startled little laugh at Belril's matter-of-fact response, more used to Wren's inquisitorial manner. "Yes, I suppose it could be," she replies. She makes sure a bolt is loaded into her glowing crossbow and waits for Eponine to open the door.
[ooc]I am back, just want to know which door you all wish to pass through first and if anyone wants to be in a different spot on the map when you do. I have a busy day at church tomorrow, so I probably won't get a chance to check it until late Sunday or early Monday. I will assume to the east if I don't hear other wise...and good role play while I was gone! That will be good for a few extra XP.[ooc]
Eponine pulls open the door to reveal a long staircase that drops down twenty five feet. The light reveals another chamber, but it is to dark to see all of it. She can see the floor is covered with scraps of wood and debris, and that there are at least three pits in the floor. Out of the darkness shuffles another anciently clad zombie, catching Eponine off guard. It charges up the stairs attacking the elf, slaming into her and forcing a grunt of pain. Another one shuffles around the corner.
Eponine's Initiative
Initiative
Eponine strikes back at the zombie, holding her place so it can't easily get past her.
To hit
Damage
Eponine easily cuts a hunk of dead flesh of the moaning creature.
Belril fires his stone past Eponine as she shifts after slashing the zombie. Another starts up the stairs as this one collapses from the halfling's strike and you can hear others moaning from the darkness like an eerie chorus.
"Set up a chokepointand at the door there and we can pick those off one at a time. They aren't smart enough to figure that out."
Kern stays where he is and readies an attack on the first zombie to come in reach (taking advantage of the 10 ft reach of his longspear).
"Victor, get to one side of the door, Eponine the other side," he says.
Sophy steps back out of the way of the warriors, carefully hanging her crossbow at her belt, and pulling out Father Zantus's wand, in case it is needed.