Spectrum looks around the room for something to anchor it to, not trusting his ability to lift up a large man in armor.
"Spectrum, you and Chaise could surely pull Noro out easily enough!" Wyam calls out from the bit. "Or maybe find a ladder...?"
Not that Wyam could see it, but Spectrum nodded, conceding the point. He handed part of the rope to Chaise and the two of them helped Noro out of the pit.
Chaise dutifully heaves along with Spectrum.
"I think," he says, gasping for breath after they've pulled Noro out, "that this is enough exploration for today. Rest sounds very good right now."
|
Noro climbs out of the pit with the aid of the rope.
Once out Noro grabs to rope and she helps to anchor the rope for Wyam to get out as well.
Once everyone is clear of the pits Noro goes to the body of the mutated creature and gives it a swift kick a few times to releive her anger at it. she then rolls it into the pit her and Wyam were stuck in.
filthy animal
at chaise's suggestion great idea, and I could ushe a drink
Spectrum, wanting to examine the creature, tries to speak up but is too late. He sighs and hands the rope to Wyam, climbing down inside the pit.
"Hey Spectrum, you can probably get better light if you tie the rope around it and climb up, and I can haul it up after you," offers Wyam.
Examining the slightly flattened corpse, Spectrum finds that it was once a goblin, horribly mutated by some mysterious process.
On its corpse, he finds a few items. Upon scanning them for magical auras, he identifies a Belt of Strength +2, a +1 Longsword, a Masterwork Handaxe, and a silver dagger.
"No need." the elf says quietly. Four floating torch-heads spring up around Spectrum's head, casting an impressive amount of light up out of the pit. "This creature deserves to be buried."
Spectrum's magic-amplified acrobatics gets him out of the pit in short order. He hands a belt and a hand axe to Wyam, a silver dagger to Chaise, and replaces his own longsword with the one the goblin had been using, shifting his old one to his back.
"The belt will amplify your strength." he says to Wyam.
Wyam whistles at the amount of magical equipment the goblin had.
"My thanks, all, for the use of an artifice of such power! That said, I have a bad feeling about what could be down here given the effort someone went to, to have such a powerful guard here."
"Indeed. My arcane resources are quite depleted. I am loath to give whatever set up these defenses any additional time to work it's machinations against Sandpoint, but I worry that were we to engage the enemy, I would be of little value toward the assault."
"Ehhh, that's my fault for such a boneheaded maneuver and forcing you to expend your power needlessly," admits Wyam in self-reproach.
"A mistake that leads to new understanding is no mistake." Spectrum says with a shake of his head. "I am satisfied with our progress thus far."
While the others were speaking, Chaise investigated the room, attempting to find its purpose and the purpose of the many pits.
"So, we've agreed to return?" Chaise looks relieved.
After a few moments of pondering, Chaise concludes that the grim purpose of this place is to serve as a trap for the unwary, trap-doored kill-jars in the floor ready to swallow up the unprepared that they might be devoured at leisure by the zombies below.
"Chaise, Spectrum - what would you prefer? Don't you have to study or something to keep up your magical knowledge?"
Spectrum walks through the room, taking time to slowly freeze every zombie solid with Rays of Frost.
"I think I will manage. I am not willing to risk the consequences of giving the forces at work here additional time."
"I'm a bit tired, but I can also manage," Chaise says, joining Spectrum by zapping the zombies with Jolts of lightning. "Is anyone in need of healing? I can do so one or two more times before I run out of magic for healing."
"Alright, we continue. Now, where could whatever resident 'master' be...," Wyam declares, before wondering where to head next.
"The side passage here?" he asks, pointing to a narrow passage that led south.
Peering down said passage,
Wyam sees a stone passage much like the one at the other end of the room; there is an opening to the left, and a door at the end.
Close inspection reveals that the opening leads to a staircase, one that has been collapsed by an ancient stone avalanche; the way down is completely blocked.
The door is different from the rest you have previously encountered, made from a single, enormous sheet of plain grey metal. Wyam finds no traps.
The door is well-balanced and simple to open, despite its weight. It opens outwards towards you, revealing a most curious sight.
This strange room consists of a fifteen-foot-diameter sphere. Several objects float in the room, spinning lazily in space—a ragged book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven surrounded by a halo of floating and writhing maggots, and a twisted iron wand with a forked tip. Yet perhaps the most unnerving aspect of the room is the walls, for they are plated in sheets of strange red metal that ripple every once in a while with silent black electricity that seems to coalesce into strange runes or even words far too often for the effect to be chance.
Spectrum and anyone else who can read Thassilonian is able to read snatches of words here and there in the lightning-shapes, words having to do with anger, wrath, and a need for revenge, but never anything close to a full thought.
Chaise stays away from the insides of the room, cautious of the sight inside. It seems quite dangerous. From outside, he attempts to ascertain the nature of the room, casting Detect Magic after a cursory glance.
"Woah...," says Wyam, spooked by the eerie room. "I don't suppose we can come back later?" Plainly, he was reluctant to spend any time near this room of such bizarre import.
Chaise discovers that the room is encompassed by a permanent Levitate effect, doubtless what is keeping the objects airborne.
"Fascinating." Spectrum mused, eyeing the contraption. "Whatever is happening here, this is likely the heart of it."
It is difficult to figure out, but Spectrum eventually decides that this is a meditation chamber, judging by the object within and the levitation effect. As to the words sparkling along the walls, he has no idea.
"A meditation chamber, perhaps? That is my best guess. This place hardly seems conducive to clearing one's mind..."
"From the permanent levitation magic, someone did find it helpful for meditation." Chaise looks in contemplation at the room, weighing the risks. "I'm going in."
Chaise shrugs the shoulder Isme is on. The raven lifts off and flaps onto Spectrum's shoulder.
Chaise finds himself spinning through the air.
Spectrum detects some magic coming from the scroll.
Chaise seems to be comfortable spinning in the air. "This is actually quite fun."
Chaise reads through a book written in a dark and demonic language.
The scroll is of Burning Hands (CL3rd)
The bottle is of a local vintage, one brewed quite recently.
The raven is just a dead raven, covered with maggots.
"Yes, this is wine. Seems to be a local vintage, brewed recently. Maybe you recognize, it, Noro?" Chaise sends the bottle spinning gently towards Noro. "You might be interested in the scroll, Spectrum."
Spectrum opens his hand and the scroll drifts over to him.
"Ah. Burning Hands. I had not yet learned this spell." he says slipping it into his ever present book.
"Right, then. Are we done here?" Wyam asked plaintively.
Chaise finds the book full of graphic and bloody descriptions of monsters and what are probably instructions on how to kill them. He recognizes the tome as a holy book of Lamashtu.
"This seems to be a holy book of Lamashtu. If nothing else, it may contain instructions on how to kill certain monsters if one can read it."
Chaise glances at the disconcerting sight of the dead raven before addressing Wyam. "Yes, just about done, hold on." Chaise grabs the iron wand before attempting to leave the room to continue on.
"I understand that the Water of Lamashtu can have mutagenic effects, as well as a profound shift in mental stability. If the church of Lamashtu is involved in this situation, it may explain the existence of that strange goblin."
"That would be like trying to put out a fire with lamp oil."
Chaise identifies the wand as containing 28 charges of a 'Shocking Grasp' spell.
Chaise settles down in front of the group, holding the wand in hand. "Twenty eight charges of [i]Shocking Grasp[i], Spectrum," Chaise reports, twirling the iron wand in his fingers. "If you need combat spells, this might suffice."
"If we're continuing on, I suggest backtracking and going through this whole floor first before traversing the stairwell."
Spectrum raises an eyebrow appreciatively. "Indeed. This will do nicely."