The consensus seems to be that the quasit, with all her tricks, is too dangerous a foe to try and hold. Grimly and efficiently, Rokan does what needs to be done-- drilling the small skull with one deadly arrow. The little demon twitches and moves no more, though her body remains on this plane.
Searching the little figure feels like doing some bizarre looting of a hideous doll, but you find a few things of interest: a black silk gown that might have been made for a human toddler, perhaps some nobleman's daughter.... currently rather blood spattered and with a few arrows in it, but you could clean it up, right?; a wee symbol of carved obsidian in the shape of the jackal-head Lamashtu cult; and a dagger too small for even a halfling to use well, though the wickedly sharp little blade appears to be made of cold iron and a cantrip reveals the presence of magic on the knife. There is also a thin silver 'crown' atop the dead quasit's head-- you're pretty sure it was originally crafted as an elegant bracelet for a human-sized wrist, and appropriated as a tiara by the self-styled sovereign.
Searching the rest of the high-vaulted room reveals little else of value, though something of concern, perhaps. The two tiny antechambers are nearly bare of anything important-- one holds piles of 'clothing', though a quick look reveals most of the once-fine garments are rotted to the point of brittleness, or destroyed by mold and rot. A small sparrow is tied loosely to a post by a thin, tarnished silver chain that looks to have been a necklace originally, with a little birdseed and water nearby. It chirps disconsolately as you enter.
The other antechamber contains nothing but small bones, many of which bear sharp little teeth marks, and look to have come from rabbits and rodents and the like.
However, at the end of the room, the orange pool from which the nameless horror arose continues to simmer. There's a palpable sense of wrongness when you come near to it, and you feel your tempers flickering up just by proximity to it. The small mistress of this pool may be dead, but the pool itself seems quite active.
Rokan takes a moment to recover whatever arrows he can.
As he searches, he can’t help but note the quasit’s clothes. ”Do those look old? Or has someone been giving this creature clothes and jewelry lately?” Then he shifts to looking at the antechamber with the bird, invoking the spirits to see if any arcane energies are involved.
Then his eyes are drawn inevitably to the strange, bubbling liquid. He points to it with his bow, ”This thing stokes my anger. Is that just me? And if not, what is it?”
Seraka retrieves her dagger in the fallout of the battle. Upon discovery of the bird, she immediately breaks her current task and heads towards it. She kneels down, staring at it.
"Well...how long have you been stuck down here, little bird?" Her voice's tone matches that of the disconsolate little creature.
She reaches for the chain, maintaining eye contact with the bird. "You want to get out of this horrible place, don't you?"
Neither the bird nor the other contents of the antechamber show as magical. The cloths the quasit was wearing seem in good condition... well... aside from the holes and blood from arrows and daggers... but it's hard to tell exactly how old they might be.
When Seraka cuts the little thrush free, it flies around a bit aimlessly, then flutters over to the corpse of the quasit and hops about it, chirping in seeming confusion and pecking for a few minutes at a hand. Eventually it seems to lose interest, and flies up towards the high ceiling, seeking an escape from the chamber.
"I wonder if it maybe it was a familiar spirit?" E muses aloud after observing the bird's behavior.
[ooc]Hey! I actually have a rank in it
Sonya watches the bird peck at the quasit's hand. "If that demon was caring for it - if you can even call it that - maybe we should find someone who will take care of it. I doubt it will do well on its own if it was living underground all this time."
Sonya paces restlessly around the pool, hand on the hilt of her sword, staring it down regardless of whether it has eyes or not.
Seraka walks over to the pool, her arms draped over her bardiche. She takes a glance at the pool's contents, but her focus mainly stays with the bird.
She calls out to the bird. "You want to come with us, Birdie?"
The bird doesn't answer Seraka's invitation, or Sonya'a words about it. It flutters away into the high ceiling and even those of you with darkvision lose track of the tiny, drab form against the roughness of the cavern's ceiling.
As for the pool... yes, it does 'agitate' as E says. Both E and Rokan seem to think it's some sort of... conjuration effect, to have created the first abomination you saw. It seems it might still be active in some way. Occasionally it bubbles in a sullen fashion.
"Conjuring magics," Rokan mutters, not taking his eyes from the roiling surface. "It's use could be many things, though it looked like the quasit used it to bring those demons forth." He shrugs, tearing his eyes away from the pool, "But if it is used for calling demons, why does it stoke my anger? A byproduct of the demons themselves?" He looks around, making his comments seem to apply to the entire structure they find themselves in, "Or a byproduct of whatever this whole place does?"
He moves away from the pool, back towards the door through which they entered, and settles down into a ready squat. "Maybe if we explore further."
He seems ready to do just that, when the team is finished here.
"I think Quink's admiration in the creators of this place is becoming increasingly misplaced - whether this demon was using it or not, this whole room looks like it was made with this thing in mind."
"Let's keep moving. We can think and walk at the same time."
While you all agree the pool feels disquieting and, yes, seems to stir sensations of anger, none of you are studied enough in magic to really be able to tell more of its function... or how to render it inert. The pool continues to roil slowly, shedding its tangerine-hued light over the room's arching walls.
The bird makes no response to Seraka's attempt to make friends; whether due to inclination or a lack of understanding, you couldn't say. It's quickly lost amid the rough shapes of the cavern's unfinished ceiling. Perhaps it has some other way out, but there's other things to worry about just now...
Like the rest of this complex. You double back past the creepy fountain, also still burbling away to itself, and approach the chamber where you think you saw a statue, earlier. Your memory is correct: there IS a statue here.
A layer of dust doesn't entirely conceal the remarkable workmanship on display. A red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful but, at the same time, monstrously enraged human woman stands in the middle of this room, 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 holds a glittering metal-and-ivory ranseur, not part of the same marble as the statue itself.
To the east, you can see a hallway that turns into stairs leading upwards; dead ahead of you to the north there is a shut doorway, and to your west, the wall has been broken away to connect to a natural cavern. Quick investigation reveals that cavern doubles back through to the way you came in by.
Seraka follows E's shrug with one of her own.
"I don't see the dichotomy. Makes sense to me. I've yet to see a woman who wasn't hotter when angry."
She clangs her fist against her armored chest. "This woman included, of course."
The book appears to be merely decorative, with only vague suggestions of text carved into the marble. While E is that close, however, he notices the ranseur could be removed from the statue.
Where to, brave adventurers? North to the door, or east to the stairs?
Sonya steps up to examine the statue and its weapon.
"I'd imagine your admiration is better suited for someone still alive, Seraka." She taps on the statue. "And not made of stone."
---
"If these stairs lead back up to the city, we need to know about it. There could be other places goblins are hiding."
The ranseur is neither magical nor evil, but it looks like it might fetch a pretty penny all the same. It's well-balanced in Sonya's hand, and of exquisite craftsmanship.
With the ranseur in hand, you decide to see what lurks up that stairwell... Sonya takes the lead, with Seraka just a pace or two behind.
There's a door at the top of the stairs, and the very faint sound of gurgling water beyond. E finds no traps on in it, and Sonya opens it to see a small circular room behind, with a beautifully carved stone fountain at the center of it, still operating in apparent perfect condition. This fountain at least doesn't have any foul stench like the other one did.
E, the second after the door opens, you hear a faint rustling in the room ahead that doesn't sound like water. Maybe it's something bad. Do you do anything, in the three seconds available to you in this surprising round?
Nobody else hears that little rustling noise in time... but a second later, you all hear a blood-curdling shriek, as a hideous winged skull flies into view and screams horrifically. The sound seems to penetrate into your very brains... locking up your muscles with immobility.
The monstrous head flies over the startled Sonya, into the hallway with you.
|
As E's muscles fail to listen to their brain, it chooses to dive inward and over-process the situation.
What in the hells was that? A winged skull? I can't move! Why can't I move? Do skulls eat things? Why would it, it's mostly bone?
I should talk to the Academy's instructors, I've used very little of what they taught me in this endeavour. Perhaps they need to introduce an educational plan for those who intend on adventuring. I suppose academics would need to return back from adventuring though... and I can't move!
Sonya pushes the heavy door into the room, peering into the room and it's burbling fountain. She gets as far as "The fountain? I hea-" before something zooms over her head with a deafening screech.
The paladi's limbs feel heavy as she forces herself around to see her friends locked into place, and the fluttering continue above her. She summons Abadar's hand to guide her axe and swings with as much might as she can spare.
Never mind that her comrades are stricken with unnatural paralysis: Sonya draws her axe and swings. Her blade bites deep, flaring with holy light in response to the creature's otherworldly nature. Black ichor drips down onto her face.
The thing is still alive, if badly hurt. Hissing and wriggling weakly, it tries to bite at the paralyzed Seraka... giving Sonya an opening.
This time, she just cuts the thing in half-- before its teeth can dig into Seraka's flesh. The severed bits flop down weakly to the ground, still twitching, but no longer a threat.
A few seconds later, the unnatural stiffness that is locking everyone else in place dissolves. Whew!
The room beyond is round, about fifteen feet across, and has a beautifully pristine fountain bubbling away, at odds with the disgusting mess on the ground. There is a door on the far side that is still shut.
Leaving the dead body of the skull-thing behind, the intrepid heroes test the other door and find it unlocked. More stairs proceed beyond, leading up eventually to a narrow spiral staircase that ascends vertically. However, no more than a dozen steps up it, you find that it is choked with rubble and debris, apparently the result of a cave-in or some other natural disaster. It doesn't look as if anything could dig through this wreckage in quick order, at least.
"Everyone okay?" Sonya calls out, making a face as she wipes a bit of ichor off her clothes and face from the airborne creature's sudden descent.
She looks longingly at the fountain, wishing she could wash off the black goo, but not trusting anything down here to be as it appears.
"We'll have to ask Mr. Quink if he has any idea where a staircase here might lead to - I'm sure he'd be very motivated to find more ways down here."
Quink probably would love to know of possible entrances down here!
Retracing your steps to the room with the statue, E gives a look over the northern door and pronounces no traps that he can see. Sonya takes the lead in opening it, and the door creaks open to reveal a large chamber.
It appears it was once a prison, as testified by the twenty 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.
In the second after the door is opened, you briefly hear two guttural voices conversing in a harsh tongue.
But the sounds abruptly terminate as your light source spills into the room. A second later, you hear the rasp of claws skittering across stone.
Seraka takes the vision of oncoming battle in-stride, immediately calling upon her divine favor in preparation for another melee.
"HEY GORUM. You know the deal."
Rokan swiftly strides in, head snapping left and then right, his gaze narrowing. "Two more of those... inhuman creatures," the Shoanti says tersely, and snaps an arrow off from his bow.
The archer gives a grim grunt of satisfaction as his arrow lands. But in the next few seconds, the enemy races up the staircase to reach him-- these two seem armed, with less artful copies of the same sort of weapon the statue was depicted holding. They snarl in their angry-sounding tongue as they lash out with their ranseurs.
The swings are wild rather than effective...
Rokan has been knocked unconscious one too many times to think he’s the right warrior to stand toe-to-toe in this fight. He dodges to his side, rolling to his feet as he tries to get out through the door and past his teammates.
Sonya shoulders her way in past the creatures, focusing on dodging their swipes with their ranseur, to make space for the others.
Seraka steps up into the space left by Sonya and grins at the closest creature.
"Hey. 'sup."
Clearly not expecting an answer, she swings her bardiche at him.
Rokan withdraws nimbly, while Sonya moves forward with a guarded stance to draw the enemy's attacks.
Both swings are fairly accurate-- one just clangs off Sonya's breastplate, but the other draws blood despite her precautions.
Seraka's bardiche connects with the bluish tinged creature, leaving a bigh gash but not quite destroying it. E hurries forward after Seraka's swing.
The creatures snarl in unison, drop their weapons, and set in at close range with teeth and claws, their rage seeming more focused on the Abadaran then on the blue-skinned Esegia.
The good news is that Sonya's defensive posture spares her some pain. The bad news is that some still gets past her guard.
Sonya lets out a wordless grunt as she gets slashed, clawed, and maimed, and staggers back towards the stairs.
Seraka moves to pass E.
"'scuse me."
She scoffs at the blue-tinged creature, her bardiche leaned against her shoulder so the blade almost taps the ceiling.
"Eight strikes between the two of you and you only wounded twice? Pitiful."
She suddenly chops down at the blue-tinged creature.
"Looks like I'm two-for-two."
Rokan, now safely behind the group’s heavy-hitters, reverses direction and follows them back towards the room. As the creatures come back into view, he nocks an arrow and lets it fly over E’s shoulder.
Seraka's bardiche easily hacks down one of the creatures in a spray of blood. A second later, Rokan sends another arrow into the reddish brute to join his first; the thing looks badly wounded, but that doesn't stop it closing with Seraka and trying to shred her with its teeth and claws. Its recessed eyes gleam with mad rage.
It's only a flesh wound.
Seraka steps back and nods approvingly at the bloodied scratch from the creature's claws.
"Hey, you actually drew blood with that cut! Good for you."
She swings over E's head, the blade cleaving through the creature then clattering against the wall by Sonya.
"Think I got more blood with mine, though."
Rokan re-quivers the arrow he was just about to nock, his dark eyes sweeping the room for remaining threats.
"Well done," he says to the team. Then his eyes narrow on the cells, "What is this place?"
The twisted bodies of the abominations lie still, with nary even really much in the way of clothing to try and loot, unless you're into ragged loincloths. The two ranseurs could be taken, however.
As for Rokan's question of what this room is-- a short glance around the room quickly suggestions nothing so much as a grim prison. The perimeter of the room is filled with small chambers no more than five feet to a side, with bars in front, and more than a few of those chambers are filled with skeletons, dead for so long that there is nothing but very brittle bone remaining-- bleached figures curled in corners, or with hands stretched through the bars in unanswered supplication. The cells are spartan, without even the barest comfort of a cot or blanket to soften their hard stone interiors.
The raised wooden walkway leads into a small room that contains a number of strange and deeply unpleasant-looking devices. 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. Along a wall hang dozens of cruel-looking metal tools-- hooks, needles, and other things whose appearances make your innards twinge a little just from trying to figure out what they might be for.
A door on the south wall and another door on the east wall await you, my poppets.
Seraka pauses momentarily to consider her wound, finally smiling and shrugging. She would rather save the healing spell for now.
She shakes her head at the scene below the walkway.
"Whoever built this place sure had that whole evil aesthetic down."
Sonya nods in agreement with Seraka, a deep frown on her face. "I had hoped that these monsters had moved in, but clearly the people who once lived here are not better then the current residents."
Rokan follows the group into the room, grunting his agreement at Sonya and Seraka's observations. He tries to give the newest room a closer inspection as he moves to each door in turn.
Then, following Sonya's glance at the southern door, the hunter moves to give a listen at each door.