Squint moves forward, burning the corpse with acid. It smokes and sizzles, releasing acrid fumes into the cave, but not seeming to react further.
Outside, you hear Jasper ranting in a loud voice. He strikes himself again, then you hear him begin to make proclamations, most of which sound like gibberish, but a few phrases ring out clearly.
"O unwise generation, ye labor for naught! Abandon thy plow and heed the tolling of Oblivion’s bell!"
"The blue-eyed raven marks the grave of one of thee... the one who heeds my warnings yet does not believe!"
"All know that the Dark Child sings on the salted wind. Be wary of the chorus that presages Oblivion’s watery denouement!"
Eventually, he collapses, panting and holding his head as he kneels in the muck.
The party emerges from the cave to begin picking through the scattered remains of the pyrohydra's victims. It takes a few minutes to scour the area, but the party eventually gathers up 2,400 sp, 1,230 gp, 91 pp, a gold ring (250 gp), a silver necklace (100 gp), a crystal wand, a magical amulet, and a magical ring.
I will fast forward
Thanks for that. So we have searched the bling zone but not the cave at this point?
... Outside, you hear Jasper ranting in a loud voice. He strikes himself again, then you hear him begin to make proclamations, most of which sound like gibberish, but a few phrases ring out clearly.
"O unwise generation, ye labor for naught! Abandon thy plow and heed the tolling of Oblivion’s bell!"
"The blue-eyed raven marks the grave of one of thee... the one who heeds my warnings yet does not believe!"
"All know that the Dark Child sings on the salted wind. Be wary of the chorus that presages Oblivion’s watery denouement!"
Eventually, he collapses, panting and holding his head as he kneels in the muck....
Barkot shakes his head. "Yeah, I think we made the right call deciding not ta try ta make friends with either the trogs or the frogs. I gotta admit our guide here has been useful, but we're definitely better off keeping him out of earshot of the neighbors. Let's just stay ..." The half-orc's eyes go wide when he sees the pyrohydra's hoard gathered in a pile.
"Oh. OK. Huh. What've we got, Squint?"
Wand of Acid Arrow (25 charges)
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1
Ring of Swimming
The cave is empty, but contains a small tunnel leading in the general direction of the tidal pool next to the monument.
Following the tunnel leads to an intersection of four tunnels forming a sizable cave. The domed ceiling rises to a height of twenty feet, while near the center of this cave stands a monument made of polished black basalt, seven-sided with the same great rune carved on each face. The top portion of the monument has broken away, revealing what appears to be a hollow space within in the shape of a female figure.
Barkot recognizes the runes as the Rune of Lust. Closer examination reveals that the hollow appears to be a beautiful winged woman.
There are 3 tunnels you can head down. One to your left, one to the right, and one on the other side of the intersection.
There are no obvious tracks.
"Lead the way, sir."
Following the tunnel, the rough cave walls eventually give way to a chamber of worked stone,
with walls made of blue-veined white marble. The ceiling
is supported by columns masterfully sculpted to depict
voluptuous warrior women wielding two-headed guisarmes,
with each column unique and strikingly detailed.
At the center
of the room, a ten-foot-square shaft leads down into the
darkness below.
Following the tunnel leads to an intersection of four tunnels forming a sizable cave. The domed ceiling rises to a height of twenty feet, while near the center of this cave stands a monument made of polished black basalt, seven-sided with the same great rune carved on each face. The top portion of the monument has broken away, revealing what appears to be a hollow space within in the shape of a female figure.
Barkot recognizes the runes as the Rune of Lust. Closer examination reveals that the hollow appears to be a beautiful winged woman.
Barkot looks at the the hollow revealed by the broken face of the monument and asks Soralyon for his guidance in determining what the figure - or absence of a figure - represents.
After a moment, he raises his eyebrows in surprised recognition. He reaches into his pack and retrieves a large sheet of paper and a stick of charcoal and elbows Squint in the shoulder.
“So, uh, who’s gonna rub the succubus?”
Once the rubbing and unfortunate double-entendres are done, Barkot packs up the materials and returns them to his pack then moves down the middle corridor, sword in hand, with the group.
Paeral does not detect any traps, nor notice any tracks. However, as he nears the center of the chamber during his examination, the four statues begin moving. Their eyes focus on the rogue, but no expression shows on the faces and the stone guisarms no longer appear to be stone, but instead look quite real.
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot -2
Deric -2
Blue
Paeral
Yellow
Jasper -9
Green
Red
Deric whispers to Barkot. "Barkot, the girl mentioned someone that liked this area and made use of succubi. Sor....Sorchen? I do not recall. Make something up!"
Deric moves forward and inscribes the likeness of the runes he just saw on the ground with his greatsword.
Deric, go ahead and give me an Arcana check to see how well you inscribe that rune.
LOL
Deric has no recollection of the rune at this point. He scribbles gibbersih.
|
"That amulet would be useful for Ulyi, if no one else wants it," Squint reasons.
Squint squints at the statue.
"I'd have to be on top of Ulyi in order to reach, Barkot!" Squint winks.
When the statues begin moving, Squint squawks.
"That's gonna be a problem. I hate being a one-trick pony, but what works works!"
Squint casts grease again.
"Paëral, watch out!"
Suddenly standing on a slippery floor, the construct falls to the ground.
“Sorshen? Pretty sure that’s what she said. But I think ya had a good idea trying to draw that rune. Let me take a shot at it, Deric.”
Barkot steps up behind Deric and makes his best effort to carve the Rune of Lust with his own sword.
The oracle also tries to figure out what type of animated attacking statutes these might be.
Barkot knows these constructs to be Caryatid Columns, programmed with specific commands to guard an area or object.
They are immune to most magic, resistant to physical damage, and their construction is extremely damaging to weapons that strike them.
The blue column attempts to stand up, struggling at first, but managing to get to it's feet.
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot -2
Deric -2
Blue
Paeral
Yellow
Jasper -9
Green
Red
As Paeral aims his bow, blue looks as if it wants to strike out at the elf, but is slightly off balance due to the grease.
Both of Paeral's arrows strike the column and do damage, though less than anticipated.
Both arrows are destroyed by the impact.
Yellow moves closer to the elf and swings its guisarme, slashing the elf
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot -2
Deric -2
Blue
Paeral -11
Yellow
Jasper -9
Green -15
Red
"I hope these aren't the female warriors who visited Maroux"
Jasper channels healing energy.
Green and Red slash at Paeral.
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot
Deric
Blue
Paeral -19
Yellow
Jasper -5
Green -15
Red
"Thanks, Jasper!" Handy guy to have around.
"Paë, get outta there! Deric, you might have a shot at taking down the one Paëral started busting up, but you better do it in the first coupla swings or you're gonna have to ask our priest of the end times if his god'll give him a mending spell. Or we could back up the tunnel a bit and make 'em at us one at a time. At least that way when ya take one down, you could grab its guisarme and use it against the others so your own sword don't break."
Quickly calling on Soralyon's power, Barkot claps Deric on the shoulder. A ripple of shimmering energy washes over the warrior.
"There, that oughtta let you hold them off a little longer."
"I can't break my weapons on these things. We should retreat and come back asking for passage or at least let me ready my bow. RUN!"
Deric takes a five foot step and a totally defensive posture hoping to draw their attention so Pae can escape.
"Now, now ladies..easy. My name is Deric and I seek passage so that I may worship. Have you that authority?"
"Ulyi, I'd appreciate it if we didn't go charging in this time," Squint says with worry in his voice.
"Barkot! Can I damage these things with acid?" the summoner calls out before summoning a blob of acid to test.
"Maybe? They're immune to most magic, but sometimes acid spells get through where fire or lightning won't. Bigger problem is they're just hard to hurt - unless yer spell is gonna do some real damage, ya might not wanna bother."
[dice=Ranged Touch Attack on Yellow]1d20+8;1d3
"On the other hand, why not give it a shot?"
The blob of acid hits the yellow construct where it bubbles and sizzles, pitting the surface.
Blue steadies itself and swings at Paeral.
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot
Deric
Blue
Paeral -30
Yellow -3
Jasper -5
Green -15
Red
Yellow turns its gaze to Deric, the unchanging look of ecstasy carved into the construct's face giving a rather disconcerting punctuation to the attack
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot
Deric
Blue
Paeral -30
Yellow -3
Jasper -5
Green -15
Red
Jasper's features go rigid again as he starts mumbling under his breath, then bangs his head against the wall of the tunnel, leaving blood running down his face.
Red walks around the area of grease and joins green in attacking Deric.
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot
Deric
Blue
Paeral -30
Yellow -3
Jasper -10
Green -15
Red
"Jasper, what in the Hells is wrong with you? Snap out of it!"
Barkot runs back to Paëral and puts a hand on the least bloody part of the elf's arm.
"Soralyon, please heal this guy. I know he got hurt as we're breaking into an ancient monument, but there's some bad stuff in here and we're trying ta keep it from falling into the wrong hands. So help us out, OK?"
Deric withdraws from the lovely killing machines.
As the party withdraws from the chamber, the constructs appear to lose interest. Blue moves back into position and turns to solid stone again.
Barkot understands that Jasper appears to be suffering from some type of insanity that appears to manifest during stressful situations.
Squint
Ulyi
Barkot
Deric
Blue
Paeral -14
Yellow -6
Jasper -10
Green -15
Red
"I would like to go back and explore the womanly orifice. It could have what we need to gain passage. And, we can just run past the angry columns, could we not?"