Petronicus moves over to Zuuga and hits him over the head with the flat of his polearm, knocking him out instantly. He then searches through his belongings, grumbling when he finds nothing. He rips his "crown" off the mite's head and tosses it to Um'bala.
"There you go. Now you, the halfling, and the Magnimarian can fight over who gets to wear them. To nobody's surprise, the mite has nothing of value on him, most especially a diamond the size of his head. I'm guessing that it was in his head the whole time."
He then give the unconscious mite a swift kick in the side.
|
Um'bala sighs as Petronicus brains King Zuuga, and the mite goes sprawling to the floor. "That's...that's fine. I bear the Shard of Pride, so I really don't need much more at this time. I think Milo might get the most out of them - he's more often closer to the fray than Quintus or myself, but that's just my opinion on the matter." He sheepishly places Clickylegs on the ground, his cheeks flushing red from the embarassing way this whole debacle turned out.
Milo was uncertain whether or not diplomacy was really going to get them anywhere, but was interested in the attempt. When the Chelaxian attacks the King he should not be, but nevertheless finds himself surprised, "So much for diplomacy."
When Um'bala offers the magic items he is a bit abashed, "Yes, well... I am uncertain how appropriate it would be for me to wear a crown."
Looking closer Milo realizes that he really had not been paying close attention and continues, "But, of course, if one were to wear his 'crowns' as bracers then the conversation is rather different!"
Chuckling as he looks to Milo, "I don't know...you might be able to wear it as a pair of crowns, Milo...Grandfather thinks it would be...the word he uses is Dapper...which isn't one I am familiar with." Despite this, Standing Bear is clearly amused by the concept.
Back to the place where we think is the illusionary wall?
Milo accepts the 'crowns' and wears them as bracers, "I shall happily take less of whatever treasure we next come across. Thank, you, comrades!
The group makes its way back up through the giant chamber with the ant hills, up the stairs to where you encountered the mite scout. These things seem to have happened ages ago, although you know that in truth, little more than an hour has passed since then.
Passing through the corridor above the chambers returns you to the chamber with the pool where you fought the giant amoeba. Like before, you see a green, scum-covered pool extending across the northern half of the room (to your left as you enter). Passages exit to the sides, and curving stairs rise to a balcony over the south end of the room. The floor and walls are streaked with dark smears of guano in thick layers. The amorphous shapes of the amoebas can still be seen floating in the water. They are quite still, although the surface is occasionally disturbed by fish, which seem to be feeding on their remains.
You also remember that there is a crevice too small for any of you to crawl through on the eastern wall (). As before you feel a fresh breeze coming from the north, although you can only see a solid wall. To access that part of the room requires getting into the water, which is of unknown depths due to its opacity.
"So, did we want to dive into the water to explore what lies beyond the illusory wall?"
"Well, I for one am not a very good swimmer, so I prefer to investigate this 'wall'. I mean, we seem to have good evidence it is an illusion, do we not?
"But, of course, you are our Wizard, Um'bala, and, perhaps, Quintus might have some useful insights....?"
Mach pokes the water with his sword. "I'm not that good a swimmer either, I'm afraid."
|
|
"Well, what if we tied a rope around Milo, and had him swim out to where we believe the illusory wall to be? If there's something weird on the other side, or if there's something in the pool that takes offense to our presence, we yank him back out." The mage looks to his fellow Pathfinders and the Shoanti for input on this plan of his.
That Um'bala looks to everyone but him for input on his plan is not lost on Milo. With a sly smile he speaks, "I appreciate the valor with which you have offered my services [u]and[/u] asked for my thoughts on the matter, my friend.
"Right. Well, I suppose it is not without reason.... Not only my size, but that I am the only one that does not need a weapon aside from my body means that I might do this most easily regardless of my ability to swim. And with a safety line that might abrogate that. I suppose the only remaining specific concern I have is related to light.
"I can not see in the dark."
Petronicus chimes in. "You can let Um'bala cast a light spell on your clothes. That should be plenty of light, in my opinion." He then takes off his backpack and pulls out a long piece of hemp rope and begins tying it around the halfling.
Milo nods, "Yes. If you can do that that would solve that problem. It would also make me a wonderful target, but I imagine that if there is anything under there or on the other side of the illusion they probably would not need to 'see' me to detect me."
Assuming that this scheme is the agreed approach Milo begins to take off his gear. He folds and piles everything neatly. Given that his monk's garb is designed for ease of movement, and he does not know how cold the water is, he will not strip off any clothes besides his cloak. He slings his temple sword over his shoulder and besides a dagger, which is sheathed in a wrist sheath, this is all he intends to wear.
Taking earplugs out of his adventurer's sash, which remains folded on top of his cloak, backpack, et al. and in inserting them into his ears he looks up, "Well, I suppose I am ready!"
Petronicus holds on to the other end of the rope.
"All right. One tug means "give me more rope" and two means "drag me back". That sound like a good plan?"
Milo nods again, "Yes. Right. Okay. I'm ready!", he takes a deep breath and walks to the pool.
His plan is to wade/swim out into the pool and see if he can swim under the 'wall'.
The pool quickly becomes too deep for Milo, who continues swimming forward through the murky water. He discovers within a few strokes that he is swimming through salt water. Moving to the back of the room he feels along the back wall, which seems quite solid. After a bit more exploration (and a successful Will save) he realizes that a small part of the back wall is actually an illusion, which he guesses connects directly to Magnimar harbor.
Upon discovering where the illusion is, and assuming he has sufficient rope to swim further, Milo will take a deep breath and attempt to see first hand what is on the other side.
If it does not seem as if there is enough rope to continue he will swim back and report his discovery.
Milo pops through the illusionary wall and comes up in the darkened bay of Magnimar. The shadows of the bridge and its pylons loom impossibly large above him. The halfling himself is illuminated by magical light that makes him clearly stand out in the darkness, but show that he seems to be on one of the other sides of the Crow from where the dock is located.
Other than the twinkling lights of Magnimar, Milo does not see anything of interest.
Milo floats there for a momhtent. He has not spent much time in the bay. Even less beneath the Crow. It is an impressive vista....
And then he remembers why he is here and how seemingly fruitless this has all been.
Turning back he looks for something to remind him of this location from this side before taking another deep breath and diving back down to return to the party.
Once more on the other side he swims back and wades 'ashore', "Well..."
He takes a deep breath, "All that's on the other side is The Crow. Literally. It's Magnimar bay. I guess this was meant as an escape route?"
"At this moment, the spirits are quiet and as such, I will allow the others to lead in our direction. Point and I will go. For now." Standing Bear says firmly.
After drying himself off a bit, Milo and the rest of the party descend back down the spiral staircase to the torture chamber. All seems to be as you left it.
The stone door in the western wall seems quite heavy, but working together, you are able to pry it open, revealing a long corridor that heads southwards.
A short walk later you enter a room that once seemed to have been a barracks. The beds and furniture, however, have long since crumbled into ruins. A passageway to the east seems to connect to the high-ceilinged room where you found Clickylegs. To the south the corridor reaches a staircase going further down.
[dice=Perception]1d20+1
Um'bala does a quick search of the room (with Petronicus' help), but doesn't come up with anything of value.
Milo moves along with the party and looks about the room as Um'bala and Petronicus does, but says little as he does so.
When the wizard suggests moving on he grunts agreement as he is glancing about.
Mach waits for the others to finish investigating the room before heading down the stairs.
After some brief investigations, the party heads down the stairs. Unlike the other spiral staircases, this one is straight, and ends in another long corridor.
The corridor eventually leads south and ends in another heavy, stone door that appears to be unlocked and untrapped ().
Following the party down the corridor to the stone door he glances around the staircase and walls, but having no knowledge of engineering it all probably looks pretty much the same unless something is rather obvious.
When they get to the door, though...
"Seems as if we've maybe left the Crow... Anybody have any idea whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing?"
|
|
"Oh, did we?", Um'bala asks, instinctively feeling the stone wall. "It's a good thing, archaeologically speaking - we've confirmed that the Crow's interior reaches down into the earth further than we thought! That might mean that the others have similarly large unexplored chambers. Who knows what secrets are in there!"
"Well... That's hopeful! I was beginning to be concerned that we'd seen just about everything to be seen here.
"Onward, fellows!"
Petronicus opens the heavy stone door. As the magical light you carry spills into the room, you can tell that this chamber has not been opened in a very, very long time. The air is stale and foul with decay, and slime cakes nearly the entire floor, especially in a large circle in the middle surrounding a red statue of a woman holding a ranseur. Three other stone doors can be found in the other cardinal directions, but what draws your attention is a 10–ft. long slug-like creature that is crawling around the statue. Its head spins around toward you, revealing a tortured face, and a mouth filled with sharp teeth and hundreds of squirming maggots. It lets out a bellow halfway between a tortured scream and a belch, as more maggots spill out of its gullet.
Mach's jaw drops as he sees the ugly-as-sin worm beast. "Eugh."
He then readies his blades and runs forward, hoping to catch the beast off its guard...
Mach stabs the slug-like creature with his sword. His blade plunges through the giving flesh, causing pus to erupt over the tiefling's arm and weapon.
Milo too is repulsed by the thing they see in the room. He realizes, though, that if they do not act swiftly all will be lost, so he manages to recover himself and as Mach moves so does he; however, given the creatures position and the nature of the room he opts to spend the round running to a spot to better attack next round rather than doing so this one. The speed his training grants him enables him to end up directly opposite Mach at the huge creature's back.
Petronicus grimaces and quickly calls out: "It's a damned soul from Hell, called here by Infernal magics. It's not quite yet a devil, but careful, it's hide protects it from fire, cold, and acid. It's also insane with pain and misery, so mind-warping spells won't do any good. "
In obvious pain, the creature's disgusting maw snaps at Mach, but the tiefling easily sidesteps the massive creature.
Petronicus charges into the room, his polearm held high. "No good trying to trip something with no legs," he mutters as he tries to slice the creature, but cuts nothing but its protective layer of fat.
"Ugh, how revolting! Go back to Hell, Pitspawn!"
,
|
|
"No fire, cold, or acid, eh?", Um'bala replies, racing into the room, placing the statue between himself and the monstrosity. "Let's see how it likes electricity!" He hurls another blast of energy at the infernal beast, but only succeeds in scorching the ancient stonework. He winces as the statue blackens where his electrical attack strikes it. "Ohh! I must be more careful - there are archaeological wonders here, I don't want to damage them!"
Now in position Milo thrusts his sword at the creature.