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The voice from beyond the door responds without hesitation, "I am an adventurer by the name Alarka, I was trapped here when a group of bandits attacked me and my friends! Yes, yes, I have a sceptre with me, if we provide you the spectre, will you help us? We've been stuck for days and are hungry, please save us."
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"Yes, yes, if it would help you open these doors, we would be happy to pass the sceptre to you. The camels are ours, and the Pathfinders? We are the only ones. Could the Pathfinders be the bandits that attacked us and left us for death?"
You don't believe her to be forthcoming in her situation, she clearly has hidden motivations.
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Kramac will stand by, waiting to see if the sceptre is produced. If it is, he will slot it in the last slot and await the mystery person. He'll activate Detect Alignment to see if they ping as evil.
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"No I am not alone, my friends are with me as I said. And as I said, we are just adventurers that were attacked! What else can we say?"
She starts the slide out another beautifully designed sceptre, this time made of sandalwood, but holds on to it tightly until she's sure you will come to her aid.
You see several, pairs of feet inside, and several bodies lying on the floor of the room. But can't make out much through the small slits under the door.
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Kramac and friends mean you no harm if you mean us no harm. We are here to explore these ruins and recover our lost Pathfinder companions. If, as you say, you have not encountered then, perhaps they are trapped in a different part of the complex. Let us speak face to face and share information.
Kramac believes them!
Assuming she releases the scepter, Kramac will slot it into the last spot and await the door opening. Just as a reminder, he has Detect Alignment up. I'm not terribly worried about any neutral or good alignments, but if any of them are evil I'd like to know.
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With the prospective of freedom, Alarka is more than willing to hand over the missing piece to the first puzzle. Another beautifully made sceptre, made of sandalwood and stuffed with simple garnets with a rectangular end. To no ones surprise it fits perfectly into place at the front altar. As Kramac places it in, the caverns shake violently causing it to rain sand as the doors slowly open.
Greeting you from the other side, is a woman, presumably Alarka whom you've been speaking to, and three other 'adventurers'. On the right side of the room. an unconscious woman lays, along with a pile of gear.
The chamber can be described as large, relative to what you've seen so far, and is bisected by a pit filled with burning coals. On the far side of the room is an altar, on top of which rests a scepter made of pure silver. At its tip is a large emerald.
Alarka looks relieved and she studies the group, "Thank you for coming to our aid, we thought we would have been goners! Perhaps it would be in our best interest to explore the place together? We really mean nobody any harm, and if you would be so kind to let us through we will be headed off on our way."
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Yes, let us examine this bandit. We can probably wake her up... I know I'd want to get to the bottom of why someone attacked me given the opportunity. Wait a moment, while we wake her and we can question her together.
Kramac will flick his wrist and retrieve a wand of cure light wounds and begin walking in.
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As far as Kramac can see, there is no symbols upon her identifying of her deity.
As the half-orc brawler slowly enters into the chamber, the situation takes an ugly turn!
Realising loopholes in a story, Alarka swings her hand in a horizontal sweep, as if giving some sort of signal! immediately, two of the fighters step in front of Alarka while the other places his sword to the neck of the unconscious woman. They mean serious business!
"You couldn't stop asking questions!! You let us free, or this woman, one of your Pathfinders will never see the light of day again. She's alive, but barely, unlike her allies." She snickers.
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"However, we are in position of bargain." She rudely remarks. They insist the group gives them space as they attempt to make their escape. They drag the unconscious woman along as an assurance for their welfare. "Don't try anything stupid!"
You are quite sure that they woman they carry is a Pathfinder, and likely the missing one.
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Juhnavi takes a risk in a tense moment as all eyes are on both sides of the divide! Juhnavi penetrates the bandit's mind and plants thoguhts of anguish, and destruction. The man yells in a voice that denotes frustration but slowly turns to something akin of fright as his mind slowly turns against him! "Arrgghhh!"
Alarka watches the situation unfold and soon her face turns sour. Agitated by what just happened, she calls out to her men to react immediately with violence. "Kill them all!"
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Karsas initiative breakdown is:
+7: Noble scion feat, he uses charisma instead of dex for init
+3: Circlet of persuasion (affects charisma based checks, noblle scion changes it from a dex based check to a charisma one meaning it now affects initiative. I can dig out the FAQ if you want
+4: Familiar, greensting scorpion, he mostly stays as a tattoo to keep him out of harms way
+2: I drank a blood boiling pill when we entered, +2 for 8 hours, I take extra bleed damage if it comes up
+4: Heightened Awareness
Dammit mutters Kara, You shouldn't outa have done that lass. Now things are gonna get messy
Focusing his mind he quiclly starts to cast a spell. Flames flicker around his hand and coil into a writhing serpent which he sends racing down the stairs into the lead bandit. As it coils around her it spits fire at the other three bandits.
for 66 damage
for 28 damage
for 16 damage
for 4 damage
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After traveling with the group for a while in her characteristic silence, the bandit leader's orders cause Martha to spring to action. She does not completely understand what caused the bandit to drop the unconscious Pathfinder, but she immediately steps up towards the leader as instructed by Kiboko.
"Occupy their leader", she repeats. While this makes Alarka her target, Martha knows simply waltzing forward would put her in a dangerous and tactically inferior position and thus stops after a few steps to lash out at the bandit, still recovering from Karsa's fire. She moves her large sword with surprising ease, twice swinging and tearing chunks off the enemy's armor and flesh.
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With a show of force, Martha puts herself immediately into the fray and strikes first with her falchion. With a couple powerful blows, her sword cuts right through the raiders breastplates and causes a heavy injury to his lungs. Unable to breathe, he falls and suffocates, and dies.
Alarka begins a worried look, tsk, and then decides her course of action. She places herself a little bit behind then mumbles a few words and fire in a form of a snake emerges from her hands. The fire hits the ground behind the altar and eventually grows into what seems to be a wall! The heat radiates from the growth causing those around it to feel it's effect!
The bandit that held the injured persons immediately drops her and makes a made run to escape from the ruins.
The other villain, the bandit wearing the green shirt, turns his masterwork towards Martha and attempts to retaliate. However, Martha demonstrates her on swordmanship and deflect every attack!
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Karsa hobbles through the group, muttering and touching them as he goes.
Get on with it you lot, you aren't afeared of a bit of fire are you?
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With Karsa's protection in place, Kiboko and Mvumbu engage the enemy leader.
"Kiboko sees he should have been more direct, Martha. When Kiboko said 'occupy', his meaning was 'KILL'."
Kiboko drops his lance and draws his Greatsword, allowing his animal fury to guide his stroke and driving Mvumbu into a frenzy.
"MOOOOAAARRRGGHHH!!!!"
Mvumbu barrels through allies on her way to assist her friend.
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Martha exhales from her nose as the first bandit falls to her two initial swings; she may have been expecting an enemy of her caliber, not any normal brigand. Even as she focuses on her given task, occupying--now updated to killing--Alarka, she must attempt to stop the frightened bandit who took a Pathfinder hostage from fleeing. Her attack goes wide though, which apparently leaves Martha unfazed. Instead, she uses the swing's momentum to strike at the bandit clad in green, hoping to dispatch him before she can get around to dealing with the spellcaster.
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