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Pip is visibly surprised at the reveal of Svetlana's Hellknight armor. "Well, I can see why you'd cover that up," is her comment on the topic. She isn't exactly disapproving, but does keep a bit of distance on the journey from that point on. As they break up that morning and spot Koor's walls along with what must be Zahra's camp, Pip approaches Mohok with a scroll of endure elements. "You've got a knack for nature magic, right?"
She makes sure her goggles are on properly and then approaches the camp. "What did you find, Garam? A map? That's come in useful for sure." Pip ducks into the pavilion without compulsion. "She's obviously in trouble, and we'd be wrong to ignore any clues that may have been here for the finding. Right?" She looks around, lets fickle fate guide her and then decides on a whim to check the crates.
Mohok heads into the tent to look for a trail head. Some things stick out immediately to the tracker. The incense has long burned to ash, the oil pots have burned dry, and a layer of desert sand dusts the surfaces of the desk and table. Mohok estimates that the area has been abandoned for about a month. Unfortunately, there seem to be no tracks to follow outside.
Svetlana also scans the tent. Thankfully no evil registers, but it's clear that there's a lot more searching to do in the cluttered tent.
The party makes short work of the tent, coming across a few clues that might help....
1. The magic scan produces 6 scrolls, which are easily identified: 2 each of scroll of arcane eye, a scroll of locate creature, and a scroll of restoration. The real find is the armor, which radiates magic and shows itself to be a adorned with Toragdan iconography blended with Qadiran motifs. Closer inspection of the armor reveals a depiction of a stern-looking priest forcing a marid into a lamp.
2. But what's REALLY interesting is the writing on the inside of the armor
3. Boom quickly discovers the writing holds a secret message.
4. Among the pots and plates on the makeshift kitchen in the tent’s northeast corner easily find a set of broken, rusted ingot molds. The relics have recently been sanded and deoxidized to reveal the insignia of what might be a smelting house.
5. Finally the half-orcs recover what looks like a journal
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Pip is impressed with what they've managed to recover. "Well, at least we know Zahra was properly prepared. Incidentally, those scrolls might also come in useful to use in finding her, won't they? and from her journal, we have a pretty good idea how far she was in her research. Something tell me we have to look out for that mist. Could it have been Moukadeem in gaseous form?"
She peeks at the armor. "Nice find, Boom. No idea what it means, but it might let us evade a trap at some point, or maybe solve something to gain entrance to the vault? The enchantment on it might also come in useful. Too bad it's too heavy for me, the breastplate. Anyone else?"
she finally checks up on Garam. "Any luck deciphering the map?"
The thought of searching an entire city for a single building is daunting, but thankfully there is only a small section in any condition to search.
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Does anyone mind if I take the scrolls? Garam asks. I already know locate creature and arcane eye but they may come in handy and I might be able to make the restoration work.
Having scoured the map he takes to the air. I bet I can find this smelting house from above! Hope I don't run into any Naga!
With that he zooms off over the city. He checks for any signs of passage in the streets as well as looking for symbols on the building matching those in the journal.
Not enough to use the spell to look for the Pathfinder.
Garam, however, has little issue finding a building with the Smelting House insignia.
After walking about on the clay roads you find a house with the markings from the cookware in the tent. Inside there is what used to be a secret door. It's now propped open to a stairwell down below Forgotten Koor.
The stairs travel for about 50', and the temperature steadily rises. By the time you get to the bottom of the stairs, it's very hot. You know you're onto something when you see that the stairs dump out in to a grand hall.
Black iron girds the lower half of this grand hall’s walls, while a vibrant mosaic covers the upper half. The mural depicts a greedy man risking his life for a golden trinket. On the hall’s east wall, an ornamental door seems incomplete; its center is devoid of decorations in a six-foot-diameter circle. Flanking this door are six additional cast iron doors, three on the north wall and three on the south.
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As we head down Garam will ask one of the rangers to employ his new wand on him. He will also open the small metal box at his belt and have them use it on a small, bright green scorpion. The two will appear to converse briefly before the scorpion returns to the box with an air of indignation, if a scorpion can be said to show emotions.
Before heading into the grand chamber Garam will also cast a couple of spells, employing a rod he draws from his backpack and then tries to activate a wand.
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Floating at the entrance to the Grand Hall Garam scans it for the presence of magic and also checks for any traps, these old ruins are often deadly to the unwary and he has no intention of dying on his first field mission in months.
Will you look at those murals, I wonder what they represent. Is the man an actual figure from history or an allegorical warning against greed? I hate that these missions never really leave us with enough time to properly study this stuff...
While there seem to be neither trap nor magical aura, the room is quite mysterious nonetheless. Closer inspection of the blank portion of the ornamental doors in the east wall reveals a circular recess that can hold six wedge-shaped mosaic pieces. Unfortunately these pieces are missing...
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Pip carefully follows down the stairs, noting the rising temperature. "We weren't wrong to prepare magic for this," she says refering to the magic Mohok cast on her. "Without Endure elements this would get quite uncomfortable, I suppose."
As they reach the grand hall, Pip against seems to pick her way by instinct, or more likely trusting in luck to lead her where she needs to go. "I think it's a warning, Garam," she says with reference to the mural. "I'm inclined to heed it so far. Depending on what we find, or course." The ornamental door also draws her attention. "I think you're on to something, Garam. If there's six pieces missing, and six cast iron doors here. That can't be coincidence. Maybe behind each of these doors is one piece of the key?"
She hovers back and forth as she thinks. "I wonder whether Zahra came this way. If she did, wouldn't this door be open? Or is this the back entry into the vault, that she wrote about? Could the riddle be involved? Six doors, and 'six is safe and sound'."
"Should we open one of these doors and find out?" Pip covers her eyes and spins a couple of turns with outstretch arm, lending on the middle door to the south. "That one?"
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I am pretty good at finding trouble, not so hot on getting past such awkwardness. Lets go for. he points at various doors, seemingly at random, this one! he says pointing to the first on the left.
He floats towards it, careful to avoid touching anything and inspects it closely to make sure it is safe before backing off and letting the more muscular members of the party open it up. He would open it out of sheer curiosity but he knows that sometimes upsets the more cautious, also he wouldn't want to deny Boom the chance to do so.
Garam makes his rounds, and after checking each door, asserts that there are no traps on any of the doors, nor are the doors locked.
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Outside the doors, Boom sits down with a loud plop. She tosses several vials onto the stone floor and sorts through them, each one clinking loudly and echoing off the walls. After a moment's tinkering, she imbibes a whole bunch at once -- resulting in immediately physiological change. Her skin brightens, her muscles stretch against the organ, and her eyes go a pitch blacker than before. At the same time, her skin begins oozing a rank, sticky substance that encourages the others to keep their distance.
"BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRP!!"
"I agree! That door looks ENTICING!" She tears it open with excitement.
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Mohok casts a spell to protect himself against the rising heat as they descend. Studying the doors they've found, he wonders aloud, "Does 'six is safe and sound' mean that the sixth door is safe and the fourth door is not? Or does it mean we should really fill in all the pieces of the pattern, and not just four of them?"
Unable to answer the question, he awaits the outcome of Boom's yanking on the door.
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Pip is slightly disappointed that the Boom and Garam won't trust her luck in picking out a door, but she quickly shrugs it off. Maybe that's part of the plan, them behind stubborn. She doesn't argue the choice either but, but sets up in the center of the room. "Could be, Mohok, but there's no real chance to tell. Also, the doors aren't numbered, so we have no way of knowing which one is supposed to be the sixth. Any is as good as the others..."
Curiosity unabated, Boom tears the door open. Beyond is a simple room, merely 10' to a side. There is a single clay shelf on the far wall, opposite the door. On it is a tile, a 60-degree wedge that measures 3 feet from base to tip. Forged from solid brass and adorned with Toragdan iconography...
Garam doesn't find any traps and picks up the wedge without incident.
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"Don't want to get hit by accident either," Mohok replies agreeably to Svetlana, "I was trying to line up on the door we're opening, but maybe something will come out of the big one if we get this wrong."
"Just what I was thinking, Garam," Mohok rumbles, "maybe they'll all be this easy, eh? How about we try Pip's door next?"
Indeed the party makes their way around the room. In each side room is a similar wedge. In all there are 6. You take each until you get to the door in the north east corner. This wedge is sitting on a magical trap.
As you walk through the room one of the tiny pieces of tile, in the shape of a perfect hexagon moves. As you walk by it sinks into the wall about 3 inches. Nothing else happens though...
Pip uses the esoteric techniques needed to undo traps of magic. Once done, the Fated is confident that the pillar of flame is disabled. She tests her work by grabbing the final wedge.
Meanwhile the rest of the party looks at the tony hexagonal hole, but can't make heads or tails of it.
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"Hmm, could this be a peephole, for someone to keep an eye on us?" Mohawk muses, his voice deep and slow like a river. "Could someone check it for magic?" He glances at Boom, ponders telling her not to stick a finger in the hole, then realizes there's no surer way to get her to do it than telling her not to. He clears his throat and says nothing.
Garam looks, and checks it for magical auras, but finds nothing of note. For now it remains a mystery.
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Pip proudly presents the sixth wedge as she's disabled the trap. "Ta-daa!" With Garam and Mohok she studies the tiny hole for a bit, but eventually tires of it. "Weird, but nothing we should worry about now, I think. We've got all six wedges now. The obvious thing to do would be to fit them all into the door over there. Seems a no-brainer, right? Who wants to have the honor?"