Caradeum sets to work and is able to unlock the magically secured cell door after a few seconds work.
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"Well, if there ever was a place to be confined, I most certainly would choose this one." Maximo says, having gotten a hookah righted and lit in the time it takes Caradeum to jimmy the door. Once it is open, his shoulders slump just a fraction as he blows out some smoke. "Well, I was hoping that would take a little longer. In any event, now that we have secured our freedom, perhaps we should we ring the bell and see who lives here? That would be the civilized thing to do."
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“Yeah, and then we can lop their heads off!”
Eadie walks over to check out the implement the Shelynite is using. “A black dragon once offered me a rollie cigarette in an Andoran sewer – it put me off smoking for life, Maximo. Though, I’m certainly no crusader. I would classify myself as ‘non’ rather than ‘anti.’”
The chopping chick re-examines the bell-contraption. “I still vote ‘no’ to pulling the rope, but of course I will back the majority decision.”
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"I don't think we ought to be pullin' the rope either." Chochok croaks. "We'll find whoever it'd call soon enough anyways. I'd rather be the one surprising them than them surprising us. 'Course, if Caradeum was right about alarm magics on that door then they might know we're here anyways." Chochok tips his head to the right and asks, "Should we check thataway first?"
As Eadie moves into the main part of the room and looks to the west, she sees another chamber.
This room’s most prominent feature is a tall statue of patinated bronze, cast in the image of a formidable woman.
Her torso and arms are human, but a serpentine coil takes the place of legs, while a seven-pointed rune sits where her head should be. Six feathered wings unfurl from her back, and her arms brandish a whip and quill crossed before her chest. She faces a pair of open bronze doors, through which a cracked set of stone stairs lead up. Between door and statue stands a dry marble font, the only other decoration in this chamber.
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Turg considers the smoke before exiting the previous room, but decides against having to share.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The room to the west has the status looking something like this
While you are looking at the status, most of you hear what sounds like someone tripping, cursing
and then quickly running down distant stairs to the east.
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♪♫ Do I lie like a lounge room lizard or maybe sing like a bird released? ♪♫
Eadie notices the weird statue as she walks to the south. She pats the adamantine blade at her hip.
“Do the runes match what we saw in the smoking room? Aroden was a dude so I assume it isn’t him …”
At Chochok’s remark, Eadie drops her pack and prepares to give chase. “Did the cursing sound like it came from a mortal? It would be nice to find out what they know about this place.”
Lore and Caradeum study the statue and runes for a moment.
15+ Lissala was a goddess mainly venerated in the ancient empire of Thassilon. Her portfolio included runes, fate, and the rewards of service. Her faith ended along with the empire, and the goddess herself is forgotten or gone.
20+ She was physically depicted as a woman with a serpentine lower body, six wings, and a sihedron rune where her head should be. Symbols associated with her worship are runes, quills, and whips.
25+ Worship of the goddess changed with the nature of the empire. Over time, rune magic grew darker, the glory of servitude gave way to self-flagellation, and the virtues once championed by her faithful became perverted into sin.
Meanwhile, Chochok and Eadie look towards the stairs to the east and the faint sound of steps echoing off the stone walls of a larger chamber.
The room to the east has a staircase to the south where the sounds originate.
This long, narrow hall has fallen into disuse, even compared to other chambers in these ruins. A thick layer of dust covers the floor, only broken by a trail leading from one staircase to another. Numerous narrow alcoves branch off of the main room, each the size of a small cupboard. The room is otherwise plain and unadorned.
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Well, bum. There goes the element of surprise … It’s like déjà vu– all over again!
“I don’t think we should risk splitting the party in this place.” Eadie calls to her sister. “I certainly won’t leave you behind, Lore.”
“What say we take some care searching ‘staircase central’ but keep an ear out for a welcoming committee?”
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lore nods. "Thanks Eadie, I appreciate that... sorry I'm so slow because of my short little legs."
"BY the way, that statue is of Lissala, but for the life of me, I can't recall more than her name... she must not be that important in the scheme of the pantheons, if we didn't study her in depth or anything." Lore shrugs, totally at a loss to recall more about Lissala.
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"Pfft, if you're worried about that, I could just conjure some Unicorns for us to ride, no big deal." Turg shrugs off the feat as nothing.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The group ponders whether to go east or west or have another puff in the smoking cell. The footsteps have fallen off into the distance, somewhere deeper into the complex. Silence ensues.
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Caradeum nods to Lore. "Yes, Lissala. Venerated by the Thassilonians as the goddess of runes, fate, and the rewards of service. Unfortunately, her worship became...twisted...dark...."
Cocking his head, he listens. "Shall er follow the footsteps?" He asks. "If you'd think it prudent, I could conjure a sphere of invisibility to cloak us."
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"Her issues certainly don't sound dark and twisted... it's a shame her worship came to that... I really should have learned more history when I was younger! Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge, Car. As for following the footsteps, it seems Cho is already doing so, I guess we should all try to keep up. But don't we all need to be close together for such a sphere to work? If so, let's catch up! Come on Eadie!" She does her best to try to catch up to the speedy Grippli.
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“Hmm … I wonder if ‘reward for service’ warped into ‘punishment for disservice?’”
Eadie Navhelan (religious scholar) continues. “It’s so easy for someone with an agenda to read whatever they like into religious dogma. I mean, can you believe some people think Abadar’s church is greedy and uncharitable?!? Unbelievable, right?”
“A cloaking device to improve our stealth sounds great, Caradeum!”
“Let's catch up! Come on Eadie!"
Eadie smiles. “Yes’M. Right behind you!”
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"Lissalan you say?" Maximo ponders the statue a moment. "You know, I once encountered a cult of Lissalans in the sewers of Magnimar... or was it a troupe of thespians? Hmmm."
He follows Chokchok and the group, but is clearly trying to remember the details of a time gone past rather then focus on the details of the present.
"What say you? Invisibility? Good then, that will give us the chance to make a preemptive offer for terms of surrender to any suspicious characters sneaking about."
Once the group is invisible, Maximo takes the lead, his holy senses peeled for the signs of evil.
As your invisible party of noise making invaders of personal space make your way to the next set of stairs, a few things happen.
At the bottom of the stairs there appears to be a room.
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Eadie activates her invisible wayfinder’s light function and clips it to her belt.
The warrior presses her index finger to her lips and points at Cara, Chochok, Lore and Maximo in turn.
Once she gets to Turg, Eadie’s right forefinger is pressed hard enough against her lips to turn them white, before her finger is stabbed no fewer than four times in the Summoner’s direction.
Once she has everyone’s attention, Eadie points at herself, holds a hand behind her ear and pretends to doff a hat from her head. She taps one of her real wands to her invisible hat, before reaching into the chapeau and pretending to pull something out of it. When Eadie ‘notices’ what she pulled out she looks scared.
She then points in the direction of the room the party is about to enter.
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Maximo observes Eadie's elaborate invisible miming with a multitude of expressions - agreement, bemusement, curiousity, and more than a little confusion. At the end of the performance he whispers a quiet question.
"My Lady, do you mean to say a magician has summoned a rabbit from their hat and left it to guard the way below? If it were an evil dire rabbit that would explain the foul presence I detect down there."
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I wonder if the Lissalan mummers have similar problems?
Eadie frowns and opens her mouth like she’s about to answer Maximo VERY frankly. Then she stops herself.
Hmm … perhaps I didn’t make myself as clear as I thought.
Eadie again points to herself and then places a hand behind her shell-like. However, this time she points at Turg and nods once, then at Lore and kinda *shrug-nods* and then at Caradeum and nods her head like she’s just been offered a Dame Grand Star served up on a platter of chocolate ice cream by Queen Ileosa.
The young Pathfinder then points at Chochok and shakes her head once. Maximo gets the same treatment. Finally she points at herself, where after she begins shaking her head like she’s trying to make it fly off her shoulders.
A little giddily, Eadie then points towards the room ahead.
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School illusion (glamer); Level bard 3, sorcerer/wizard 3
Components: V, S, M
Area 10-ft.-radius emanation around the creature
This spell functions like invisibility, except that this spell confers invisibility upon all creatures within 10 feet of the recipient at the time the spell is cast. The center centre of the effect is mobile with the recipient.
Those affected by this spell can see each other and themselves as if unaffected by the spell. Any affected creature moving out of the area becomes visible, but creatures moving into the area after the spell is cast do not become invisible. Affected creatures (other than the recipient) who attack negate the invisibility only for themselves. If the spell recipient attacks, the invisibility sphere ends.
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Maximo nods and nods and nods at Eadie. He then turns to Lore and whispers.
"I don't quite think I get it..."
With a carefree smile he retrieves a small flask at his belt and drinks from it, then steps to the forefront of the group.
"Helloooo down there! Care to engage in polite conversation or should we proceed directly to the smiting?!"
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"Oh, thank Abadar you said something, Maximo."
Eadie throws a little tanty. “I was SAYING I heard a spell-caster in the next room! You know … one of those guys that can pull a rabbit out of a hat!”
It’s not over yet … “What do Turg, Lore and Cara have in common? They’re spell casters! While the rest of us are primarily melee or ranged combatants.”
Uh, oh – there’s history! “Aunt Alex always said I wasn’t the best at charades … but I’m trying!” She’s more than a little defensive now. “Most of the party realized I was miming seeing a spider in the mines near Tar Kuata.”
Starting to get weepy … “But you guys didn’t have to pretend you couldn’t see me – that was just mean!” *sniff* *snivel* “And now I can’t find my hanky. I must have lost it at Lore’s party …” *sob*
Maximo calls down and Eadie responds.
For those looking down into the room, you see the following
Even faded by eons, this room’s decor suggests decadent, libertine usage. The chamber’s heart is filled by a five-foot deep marble indentation, apparently the remains of a once sumptuous public bath.
From the center of this pit rises a fifteen-foot-tall marble statue of a nude snake-torsoed woman bearing a giant, tarnished copper bowl above her head—clearly once a fountain for the pool. Bowl, statue, and bath are all dry. The walls are covered in faded erotic murals, and several gauze-curtained alcoves lead off the main room.
A wide arch leads out onto a western balcony, and northern and southern arches contain stairs leading up and down, respectively.
A man calls up from the room in a Taldan accent, oddly similar to Maximo's.
What is this? Guests? What a treat, please come down and we can exchange pleasantries.
After he says this, he mumbles some arcane words and there are now several versions of him flickering about.
The party stands atop the stairs and looking down you can see the man and his images. He does not act as though he has seen you, but has heard and seen the light(s).
15-Caradeum
14-Maximo
13-Chockok
7-Lore
7-Turg
4-Eadie
4--Man