It's closed. Magically locked it seems.
Yes, the trapdoors are there! as is the door to the last unexpored room of this level.
The trapdoors are not locked and lead down to the basement.
The last room seems to be an office of somekind. It contains a desk with a lot of notes on it.
From the notes you can deduct the following:
Bodriggan Wuthers was an orphan of unknown ancestry, found 20 years ago on the doorstep of the Pathfinder Lodge of Taldor’s capital, Oppara. He was raised in an orphanage, but the Taldan Pathfinders made it a point to look in on him from time to time, encouraging the boy’s curiosity and pushing him toward the life of the vagabond scholar. They got what they desired. When Wuthers turned 16, he left the orphanage behind and traveled to Absalom to join the Pathfinder Society. After a few years of training and following Venture-Captain Eliza Petulengro, Wuthers settled easily into his routine, traveling Avistan and Garund seeking greater glory for himself and the Society through treasure hunting. He quickly made a name for himself, battling through a host of demon-possessed apes in the Screaming Jungle at age 18 to recover the Garls Harp, an Azlanti musical instrument thought lost to time and memory. His tale of that find saw his first of many reports appear in the Pathfinder Chronicles and his fame as a Pathfinder was sewn into the fabric of the Society.
Unfortunately for Wuthers, that fame drew unwanted attention. A cleric of Zyphus, a Taldan named Fel Bustrani, saw in the young Pathfinder an opportunity for his own glory and for the glory of the Grim Harvestman. He contacted Wuthers a year ago and regaled him with an amazing story of a lost artifact of Zyphus, known as the Zyphus Stone, that was ritually sealed in an underground tomb by descendants of Lost Azlant when Oppara was nothing more than an indigenous fishing village on the River Porthmos. Bustrani told Wuthers that the stone was a “living artifact” designed to bring Zyphus’s faithful back to life if they died in service to their Grim god. In truth, the descendants of Lost Azlant who buried the stone knew the terrible powers it held, knew it could populate the world with zombies, but hid it hoping to later study its terrible power. They buried one of their own with the stone to see what would happen after prolonged exposure to its magic. The Azlanti never returned for the artifact, but the young man left behind was twisted into a horrible caricature of humanity—a rotting, disease-filled Zyphus zombie with the power to raise regular zombies by feeding on corpses.
Bustrani invited Wuthers to return to Taldor’s capital and help the cleric access the stone’s resting place, known as the Chamber of the Stone, which Bustrani recently located beneath Oppara’s famed House of the Immortal Son, an opera house that was once a temple to Aroden. Misleading Wuthers by posing as a cleric of Irori, the cult leader and the Pathfinder quietly gained access to the opera house’s cobweb-filled storage area and began digging, convincing the management of the Immortal Son that a find of this caliber beneath their theater would put nobles into seats for years to come. It took quite some time to dig through the bedrock beneath Oppara, but three months ago they finally punched through the last few inches and became the first living beings to gaze into the Chamber of the Stone in more than 6,000 years. The chamber’s only resident was the Azlanti that had been left behind, sprawled across a raised dais beside a huge block of stone in which had been carved the symbol of Zyphus: a heavy pick made of a femur, skull, and rib. Assuming the Azlanti was a preserved corpse, Wuthers approached the stone and immediately began sketching and documenting the find. Bustrani allowed the Pathfinder a few moments of glory, more to keep his attention averted than anything else, and then uttered the phrase the Grim Harvestman had revealed to him in a dream. The phrase, a garbled mishmash of various ancient tongues, brought the stone and the Azlanti zombie to life. When the chamber filled with green light and the zombie climbed to its feet, Wuthers knew he’d been betrayed. Before he could reach for a weapon, the cleric of Zyphus struck him down with the heavy pick he’d used to clear the chamber’s tunnels. He ordered the Zyphus zombie to feed, and in minutes Wuthers rose again as something terrible.
With the first phase of his mission complete, Fel Bustrani contacted his cult confederates hidden throughout Taldor and summoned them to him. Their time had come. Using the Zyphus zombie, the unwitting employees and actors of the House of the Immortal Son, and their Zyphus-granted zeal, they would spread unexpected death throughout Oppara, Taldor, and beyond. They would turn the world into zombies and dance in the glory of their all-powerful god.
Tapping into the artifact's mythic powers Fel Bustrani would create an impenetrable forcefield around the theatre and a dimensional lock on all the operagoers -a crop of fresh living souls to turn into the walking dead- inside. After the opera house would be reduced to Zyphus cult members and their zombie cohorts, the lock down would be lifted by Fel Bustrani. The zombie horde, mixed with the disease ridden Zyphus zombies, would then crash into Oppara and spread Zyphus’s will to all Taldor and beyond.
yeah, imma fix my gun now
Cause 112 damage in a single round isn't enough?
|
"Well that is horrific!", Targost says after reading the notes in the office.
"I guess we need to go to the basement and see if we can find this 'artefact' and turn it off...as well as defeat the cleric Fel Bustrani."
Targost heads over to the trap door and gets ready to open it once the rest of the party is ready.
|
"Indeed Targost. This story is terrible news. Such a shame to lose a promising Pathfinder to these crazed wretches. I am ready to head downstairs at any time."
Talwin activates his Wayfinder and pauses near a trapdoor with Targost.
-Posted with Wayfinder
You open one (or both) the trapdoors and descent to arrive in the basement. It's filled with boxes and crates. The air is cold and moist.
You hear chanting coming from the South!
Initiative
Muluk
Targost
Pokey
Talwin
Tywin & Graxus
Zyphus zombie
Ebon
Fel Bustrani
Targost stealths South and discovers some tunnels.
Glistening with water, the slick walls and floor of these tunnels were recently carved from the thick bedrock beneath Oppara. They are well lit by standing lamps.
Tywin finds a lot of cobwebs. Graxus notices nothing of interest.
You all wait for everyone to catch up at the start of the tunnels and are ready to move forward as a group again!
Muluk
Targost
Pokey
Talwin
Tywin & Graxus
Ebon
Zyphus zombie
Fel Bustrani
Ghosting everyone a further move to the junction...
Muluk
Targost
Pokey
Talwin
Tywin & Graxus
Ebon
Zyphus zombie
Fel Bustrani
|
|
Talwin is not very confident in his ability to choose the best route, but hesitantly moves down the passage to his right.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Talwin moves into the west tunnel.
Well lit by standing lamps, the tunnels stretch into an adjacent chamber, seemingly carved from the bedrock as well. However, the adjacent chamber is made of smooth walls, covered in strange glyphs, and also lit by the same standing lamps. At the center of that chamber stands a tall stone dais. In the middle of the dais is a huge boulder which, by all appearances, fell a great distance before crashing here. The boulder glows with an eerie green light.
An enormous zombie charges towards him, while a heavily armoured man looks down from the dias.
for
Talwin (standard action)
Muluk
Targost
Pokey
Tywin & Graxus
Ebon
Zyphus zombie
Fel Bustrani
As Muluk moves in to attack the zombie it takes a swing at the paladin!
Hits for
Muluk slashes the zombie and makes a tiny mark on it!
Talwin heals up!
Tywin again casts haste on his allies to speed them up while Garox moves past the zombie.
Targost
Pokey (Haste 4 rounds)
Ebon
Zyphus zombie
Fel Bustrani
Muluk
Talwin (Haste 4 rounds)
Tywin & Graxus (Haste 3 rounds)
NB: Fel Bustrani's outline appears blurred, shifting, and wavering.
Ghosting Ebon
Ebon moves, rages and attacks the zombie with his sword!
for
Ghosting Targost
Targost casts Gravity Bow and moves towards the combat
Pokey (Haste 4 rounds)
Zyphus zombie
Fel Bustrani
Muluk
Talwin (Haste 4 rounds)
Tywin & Graxus (Haste 3 rounds)
Targost
Ebon
Graxus rushes up the stairs and attacks the cleric
Misses
Fel Bustrani starts preaching:
"As is written in the Girm Harvestman's holy scripture, the arrival of this stone aeons ago caused thousands of species to go extinct. Now it will again be responsible for cleansing the world! Pharasma won't be able to claim these souls."
He then eyes Graxus. "And neither will you, foul devil!"
His hand starts glowing with a cold and black light.
Hits
and Graxus fades from this world.
Fel moves towards Pokey, drawing his heavy pick in the process.
The Zyphus zombie attacks Talwin
hits for
Muluk
Talwin (Haste 4 rounds)
Tywin (Haste 3 rounds)
Targost
Ebon
Pokey (Haste 3 rounds)
Zyphus zombie
Fel Bustrani