Morgana says, "It's unfortunate that you weren't able to learn more of your father's secrets... though I imagine we could look into that, as well."
You take the coach to the Noble District, where you then take a ferry over to Castle Teraknian. You spend little time in the castle itself, stopping only to speak to a clerk who verifies Lavinia's identity and her signet, and who then escorts you down a spiral staircase in to a large circular chamber under the castle.
Over a dozen five-foot-wide hallways radiate out from the central vault chamber; each of these halls is ten feet long and ends at a single iron door - the entrance to the family vaults. The clerk does not accompany you and Lavinia into the vault; he instead bids you good day and returns to his office in the castle above.
The short passageway ends at a solid looking iron door. The portal is emblazoned with a rune of the Pathfinder Society. Above the door, inscribed in flowing script on a polished silver plaque, is the name "Vanderboren." A single handle protrudes from the door, just below a circular depression bearing the mark of the Vanderboren signet.
Lavinia turn to you and says, "Once I insert this ring into the depression here on the door it will open for us. What is your plan once it is open? I assume you will go in ahead of me and take care of any danger that may await us."
Quartle narrows his eyes, "I would hope there is no danger in a family vault, but we'll take care of it if there is." He has a look over the door for any traps before she inserts her ring.
Morgana, also feeling more confident in her armour, nods, "At least, make sure that it's actually hostile first."
N'Dateh snaps out of his reverie once they get below ground. The heavy air and the ominous doors marking the passing of centuries bring him peace.
Ancestors! Their legacy the stones paving our paths. Are we ever free of the past? he asks to himself, but gets no answer from within.
He nods at the others, his spear lowered in front of him.
Stealth DC 22
adjust -2 in Surprise
adjust +2 in Water
Lavinia puts her signet room into the depression and the door opens revealing the room beyond.
The floor of this domed chamber is of polished green marble. Two fifteen-foot wide alcoves have lower ceilings and feature marble pillars carved to resemble coiling snakes. In the center of the room, five similar pillars are embedded into the walls,rising up thirty feet to a dome overhead. Looking up, the dome bears a huge representation of the same eight-pointed star that was engraved on the door to the south.
Morgana steps into the atrium, not seeing where it leads to the vault. All of a sudden a metallic cobra, similar to all the carvings in this room, strikes her without warning.
vs FF 15 *Hit*
- Celentria, N'Dateh, Metal Snake, Quartle, Julian, Morgana
AC 20 T 13 FF 18 CMD 13
"Is that a metal snake?! As if the real ones aren't bad enough!"
"One of those metal constructs, not easy to hurt with anything but the densest of rare metals."
Located so far behind, N'Dateh can barely make the metal snake attacking Morgana.
"Make space!" he shouts, and waits for space to open somewhat.
Celentia maneuvers around to the opposite side of Morgana stabbing the creature. Her aim was true, but the tough hide resists part of the attack.
After the hit, the iron cobra turns to attack Celentia which she easily parries and then returns an attack which hit again.
- Quartle, Julian, Morgana, Celentria, N'Dateh, Iron Cobra
AC 20 T 13 FF 18 CMD 13
Rnd 2 Julian
begins a song of elder magic, enchanting weapons again.
Morgana winces at the bite and the strange feeling that rushes through her. She turns towards the beast and lashes out with her claws despite the sick feeling.
Quartle scampers up the wall, clearing room for N'Dateh, then crawls along the wall out of reach of the snake before climbing back down to the north. Once back on the ground, he pulls out his net.
N'Dateh nods appreciatively at Quartle's gracious movement and clever positioning. He moves forward in the space cleared and stabs forward at the snake, above Morgana's shoulder.
Celentia up last before the iron cobra!
The iron cobra is about to strike again, but the repeated hits to its metal skin produces a perfect opening for Celentia's rapier. Her aim is true and the metal snake instantly stops moving.
Combat Over
You decide the search the room with Lavinia. Morgana and Celentia soon find that the northern pillar's snake patterns are different than the rest of the room. After calling everyone over N'Dateh and and Julian notice one of the snake heads is actually a switch. A quick search for it being trap reveals nothing so you activate it.
As soon as the switch is triggered, the snake designs begin to animate, writhing aside to reveal an archway to another room. "You found the vault! Excellent!"
This octagonal room is supported by a single large pillar with dozens of deep grooves along its sides. The seven walls of this room each bear fantastically detailed bas-relief carvings of exotic monsters in threatening poses.
Starting at the wall immediately to the west of the entrance to the room and moving clockwise, the carvings depict a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth, a looming dragon, a fish-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles, a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs, a spherical creature with four eye stalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw, a gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes, and finally a towering black spider with seven eyes.
Each monster's eyes consist of a glittering red stone. The ceiling above is only ten feet high, with the now-familiar eight-pointed star pattern radiating out from the grooved pillar. The arms of this star are black, save for the one pointing south toward the entrance, which is red.
N'Dateh steps through the portal, his yellow eyes flickering with nervousness. As the light touches the myriad forms and sets their eyes ablaze, he is struck by the quality of the work and the power it hints at. He turns to the lady with questions in his eyes, wondering what kind of trouble he's gotten into...
Quartle has a look at Morgana's wound. "Looks like it nicked you there Morgana. I think you're poisoned. Let me see if I can help."
Justin points to two on the east side:
"Two headed giant is an ettin. That is a huge spider."
Morgana says, "I'm fine... well, not fine, but I will be fine in time... However, I'm thinking these sorts of figures may explain the note that we found.."
"Good catch! I had forgotten about the note..." hisses N'Dateh. "Who has it? Can we read it again?"
Ancestors! Where are you? he cries in his mind, wondering if he is going mad. Or sane..?
Lavinia checks out the grooved pillar in the center and pushed using one of the grooves and the pillar rotates as well until it clicks. The star on the ceiling moves as well, the red arm of the star pointing to to the first monster. She is able to rotate it back to the original position as well as to the eastern most monster (the spider).
"There's no ettin, or spider in this list... Wait, the pillar rotates! It's probably the key... But how does it work!?"
"Does anyone know anything about those other creatures? Either the ones here in the room or the ones on the list?"
Morgana shakes her head, "I know little of monsters, other than the undead."
"Well, we can put the chimera, medusa, and basilisk on this side."
Julian points to the east.
"But we got to find them first. I guess the spider goes north or south."
Julian knows the spider isn't on the list, and begins rotating the arrangement until the spider is in the north or south slot. He figures there are eight slots, and two of them are not visible when they are north and south.
"I wish we never have a reason to learn more about such... monstrosities..." says N'Dateh in a quiet voice that echoes through the dark chamber, as his own flickering shadow starts to scare him.
"So you think there are more monsters hidden? Are there more rooms or hidden panels?"
"Ok, let's keep looking..." agrees N'Dateh, and he gives a hand to Quartle.
Nothing else is hidden that you can find.
"I think they turn like a child's mobile."
The creatures on the note are not located here, but if you choose think about the creatures listed....
Morgana shrugs, "I don't know those creatures, so I can't help. Though it could be some sort of coded reference."
"I have heard legends of the medusa, a woman with a hair full of snakes. The one eyed giant Cyclops likes music. And there is a four eyes burrowing aberration called the umber hulk. A basilisk is a lizard that turns you to stone with its gaze."
Checking the paper he found, Julian knows about all but the first monster, so he figures he will find that by trial and error, though he knows what side it is on. His intent is to match the number of eyes as they all have different numbers of eyes. After the first three he will ask - "How many eyes to a chimera??"
Cyclops West
Medusa East
Umber Hulk West
Basilisk East
West: a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth , looming dragon, a fish-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles
Middle: a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs:
East: a spherical creature with four eye stalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw: a gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes, a towering black spider with seven eyes:
Julian then says: "Looks towards to means it is on the opposite side, the one eyed creature is in the east but looks west. And I am missing only the first one, so I can just go through the three on the west and wait for some reaction from the mechanism."
Julian clicks the pillar through the three creatures on the west side waiting for a reaction, then he quickly goes to the one-eyed creature east, the two-eyed west, the four-eyed east, and the two-eyed west.
Thinking again, Julian realizes the Cyclops and one eyed creature go together.
He has no idea where the chimera fits, as he knows not how many eyes it has, so he clicks through the creatures until something happens.....
then he tries to match the number of eyes in the note and the side of the room they should be on.
Morgana nods, "That seems to make sense.", but steps back out of the way to let Julian work.
"Mmmh..." is all N'Dateh can offer.
I hate puzzles! he thinks to himself...
Julian plays around with no luck moving the center pillar. However an idea comes to his head that it is similar to how a combination locks works. Now if he only could figure out what the combination was and which way it needed to turn for each number....
Lavinia answers the question about the Chimera, "I once saw a picture of one, it has a head of a lion, dragon, and goat, so it would have three heads and six eyes."
Julian enters a sequence.
chimera - 6 east/right, cyclops - 1 left/west, dragon - 2 east/right, umber hulk 4 left/west, basilisk 2 right/east
Julian bows to Lavinia:
"You have a magical education on addition to uncommon beauty."