When the plant finishes thrashing about, Vael releases his life links with the group. It takes a moment to gather everyone in close proximity, at which point he chants to the Spirits of Life for aid. Healing energy washes over the group.
He then renews his connection, pulls out a wand, and administers more healing to Ushyle and Hamilton.
"A curious habitat for a giant fly trap," Raen observes quietly. "This place was clearly built for giants." She surveys the room with her eye for magic.
Before the company advances, Raen touches her necklace to return some of her liberating magicks return and conjures magical defenses, employing her magic rod for enhanced durability.
Raen finds that one of the branches, somehow, radiates moderate conjuration and transmutation magic. Raen determines that it's a sapling rod!
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finding nothihng, WP heads to the puddle on the floor. After getting surprised by a plant of all things, he's making sure there isn't a killer frog or something in the water.
if it's safe he walks into the water and checks the door
WP listens for sounds coming from the door
He then checks for traps
If it's safe and locked:
If safe he opens the door
Whistle Pig finds the door safe and unlocked. He opens the door. The ceiling in this room remains whole, but dark mildew and splattered patterns of black mold cover all surfaces except the floor, which hides beneath a layer of stagnant brownish sludge.
The only objects of any note are a neat pile of six round stones with a rough, rindlike surface stacked in the northeast corner. Each stone is about 2 feet in diameter.
Ham rides over to WP and offers to trot over into the room.
The stone on the back wall is.... wrong.
Whistle Pig finds neither foe nor treachery. The only thing of note are the massive stones.
Recognizing that halfling eyes miss magical things, Vael moves in front of Whistle Pig and mumbles a low chant. His eyes turn solid black as he scans the room for any magical auras.
The rocks seem to exude a strong evocation aura.
Looks like these are geodes!
"Hrm... Strong magic. Evocation," Vael muses.
"You know that those rocks are geodes, right?" Tulia pipes in. "It's pretty obvious."
"Aye. And?"
"They'll be hollow."
The shaman pauses, thinking further. The familiar seems exasperated.
Doxon moves to the back wall and starts running his hand along it, as if searching for something.
Hey, Whistle Pig. Can you come here and take a look here. Somethings not right.
After his 4th attempt, Whistle Pig opens the geode with a distinct CRACK!
They're a brilliant light red on the inside.
There's something.... wrong with the magic here. It's... unstable, it's not.... uh ohh..... it's going to explode in a matter of seconds.
Raen frowns and casts detect magic to aid her understanding of the strange geode.
"Whatever it is, it's interesting," Tulia chirps.
Raen, frustrated, checks it out. In her frustration she gets a second opinion from Tulia, but alas it'...
The interior of the geode is unstable and it explodes with tremendous force.
EVERYONE takes (REF DC 20 for half.)
Fortunately the blast deforms some of the sludge, revealing a stone coffer. It's locked, unfortunately.
Doxon falls prone as he catches a glimpse of the fire out of the corner of his eye and is able to avoid the worst of the blast.
Doxon going prone catches Ushyle completely off guard, and the half-orc takes the full force of the flame blast. Crispy and smoldering, he glares at the halfling "trapfinder" for a moment before wryly observing I think you found the trap, with a slight smile.
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"yeah, I found it.." WP says slowly as picks himself off the floor and rubs his left shoulder that seemed to take the brunt of the blast. His mood brightens when he sees the coffer. "I hope this one doesn't blow up. Hey, Raen, Vael... is uhh, that thing magical too?"
He as he waits for an answer, he checks it for traps steering clear of the rest of the geodes.
Whistle Pig is pretty, pretty, pretty sure there are no traps on the coffer, though it is locked.
Vael and Tulia manage to avoid the worst it, but both are slightly singed.
"Oh no.." the shaman says, immediately severing his life link with the rest of the group before he can be drained. He rests a hand on holy symbol, and calls out to the Spirits of Life. A burst of positive healing energy flows over everyone.
... And again.
He then renews his links to the party, and finally uses a trick to find any magic on the coffer
Vael, after healing, discerns an aura of moderate conjuration coming from within the locked coffer.
It takes 3 tries, but Whistle Pig unlocks to the coffer to find.....
....a rugged leather sack about 4 feet by 6 feet in size?
Vael watches as no one seems interested in touching the sack, as bracing for another explosion. The shaman shrugs, picks up the bag, and opens it. He maintains his magical detecting as he does so.
Vael finds no other auras, but the nature of the bag is beyond him.
With Doxon's direction Whistle Pig finds the secret door latch and opens it!
This narrow corridor curves around the north end of the chapel, and is covered with dust that has apparently lain here undisturbed for centuries.
In here are another trio of the massive geodes, those these are abnormally warm to the touch.
Vael stands back, having learned his lesson with the other geodes. "Whistle Pig, do ye think it's safe? Or will they explode too?"
Raen's head still rings from the explosion, curtailing her cognition.
Keeping well back, Raen scans the trio of overly warm geodes.
Raen looks up, startled, at the halfling and slaps him straight across the face. "Take that back," she admonishes, the pang of real hurt lurking in her voice.
Vael is stunned by the spectacle, then bursts out laughing. When he recovers, he says, "Whistle Pig, me friend, ye truly dinna understand our wizard, do ye?"
"He meant nothing by it," Vael says to Raen, apologizing for the halfling. "He just sees thin's through a different lens be all. One I only barely ken."
"What a fool you would be to think that none of us would mourn your loss." The stung halfling perhaps misses the bead of water welling beneath Raen's eye. "You are mistaken."
So, to sum up:
...So Heroes of Trunau, what now?
Turning away, the Varisian fishes out a carefully rolled scroll and unfurls it over the bag, muttering an incantation as she does so.
Raen also regards the larger geodes with a wary eye.
Raen reads the aura about the bag. Indeed it is a Bag of Holding but she's never heard of one this size.
It's a Type V Giant Bag of Holding the bag weighs 100 lbs. but carries up to 2,500 lbs. and 450 cubic ft.
As for these geodes, there's something strange about them. They're clearly some kind of unique magic item designed for a specific purpose, but that purpose is beyond Raen's ken.
Seems likely they are some kind of siege weapon. Or... I know this is bonkers, but could they be dragon eggs?
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"siege weapon, maybe we can put a few of these in that neat bag and take them with us? I bet things will become clear when we go deeper into the valley."
WP slides up to Raen when other folks aren't looking and gives her a hug," I was just kidding you know. If I die, It will be defending my family and home. not from some silly rock bomb, thingie."
Put the geodes in the bag and let's get moving.
The party works as a team to get the geodes in the bag, though the bag still clocks in at 100 lb.
Once back on horseback it's not so bad. The party trots back to the intersection and heads.....