It would seem that the concerns of Forest and Artemis are warranted; Artemis is able to detect first the distinct, smoky smell of charred flesh, and sees among the objects floating in the water three overlarge rats and one very peculiar frog the size of a dog; all four creatures' bodies are covered in strange burn marks.
The walls of the chamber are covered in a strange, blue fungus, as are parts of the ceiling and much of the four pillars that stand within the room. Wispy strands extend from the patches of fungus, dangling in the air, twitching and swaying in some unseen wind.
What is that? Calia muses aloud, sending one of her dancing lights closer to the strange, undulating blue patches. I feel like...ugh, it's on the tip of my brain, but I can't think of it! Anyone else got any ideas?
Glowing fungus.
Dancing like lanterns.
Its a trap.
Doreen peers up at the strange fungus.
"Back home, when people found out I was being sent here, everyone kept talking about how great nature is. This stuff is part of nature and I'm pretty sure its here to kill us."
Ah I don't know either. Woodruff, be careful not to touch it! Maybe ah...move slow...
Laird will put up a hand to the others, HE is more resilient than us in many ways. Let him look around a moment...I can help him...
Laird's eyes turn a milky white color as he stands tall and looks towards Woodruff
Woodruff shudders slightly as he feels Laird join his mind. Looking around carefully, the eidolon looks around the space to see if there is another exit or something worth looking at...
Woodruff sees that the passageway opens on the other side of the chamber and splits left and right- the north passage likely leading to the same room the previous door led to, the other leading onward into the darkness.
Laird relays the information to the others, Should I have him keep going? Or should we check the other passageway without water?
Artie is too concerned for Dimira's fate to recall what the strange fungus could represent. Other than the possibility it's weakening the wood and stone structures around it.
But the dead creatures give him pause.
"C'mon back, Woodruff..." He's not seeing the milky stare of Laird, but instead gestures to the man's companion to return. "Them critters got burned up by somethin'. If Dimira was bring here, there woulda been a hollerin'. Whatever did for these rats n' frog woulda done for her n' her kidnappers too."
Artemis backs away slowly, a chill running up his spine at the thought of some unseen creature below the water's depths.
Since nothing immediately jumps out of the water at them, Forest takes a moment to look at the strange blue growths. He'd never seen them up close before, but recalls being warned about them in the past. He can't quite remember what the threat was,though, having only seen them once before. "They're called 'Azure Fungus' and they're dangerous, I'm just not sure how. Probably don't eat them."
Azure fungus...azure fungus...you're right! A flash of inspiration beams in her eyes. It discharges electricity when it's disturbed - lots of it, and it doesn't take much. I'd bet even just rippling the water would be enough, and the pool would conduct it perfectly. That's what must have burned up all these things. Artie's right - there's no way they could have come through here with Dimira, not if they wanted her alive.
Carefully, she examines the walls from afar. If we want any shot at getting through there, we're gonna have to get rid of it - and I don't know if I like our chances at that. Probably best to just let it be.
Artie emerges from the pooling water and sighs in relief.
"Forest could shoot 'em up with his bow..." Artie looks to Calia and Doreen. "Ya ain't got no zappers now like ol' Holgast? I once saw 'im put a bolt o' light up Brisby's mangy dog fer givin' the old wizard a fright."
"I got me javelins too. Who knows, them blokes wha' got their mitts on Dimira...mebbe they know a sing-song keeps the fungus sleepin'. We may have ta gob this way later..."
Forest absently taps an arrow against his calf. "Could be, Artemis. If we get forced back this way I'd rather not have these things blocking our way. I have never found arrows to be particularly effective against things that don't bleed, but it's worth a shot. If everyone wants to clear the room I'll give it a try."
Woodruff returns to the group as requested.
LAird ends his connection and nods, Well we can consider the value in clearing the room some other time I guess? We should follow the other route?
Two roads diverged in a stupid dungeon.
I took the one that wouldn't get me zapped.
"YES." Doreen says. "Let's go the OTHER way."
I'd rather not lose the time scraping it off if we don't need to...that's going to be a long job, and we don't have that kind of time. C'mon, let's go back, Calia finishes, throwing her long knife over her shoulder and turning back down the passageway to the other door.
Wisely backing away from the deadly fungus, the young heroes of Kassen try the other branch of the eastern passageway. Around the bend of the hallway, the passage dips even more severely than its southern counterpart. It terminates in a sagging wooden door that might have been sturdy once, but now is swollen and barely contained by its decaying frame. The water here is two feet deep, but at least the azure fungus does not appear to have spread this far.
Frogs, Calia murmurs, her ear cocked toward the door. But with our luck today, I'm betting not the tiny cute kind. If we go in, let's do it ready for trouble, in case they're big enough to think me bite-size. She sallies forth carefully, the water past her waist, and tries the door. But the door's stuck - and good. I'm guessing Dimira and company didn't come through here.
Seeing the door is stuck Woodruff approaches it curiously and tries to pull on it but fails. Somehwat put off the eidolon tries again...
Woodruff grunts with effort but won't back down...
The eidolon can't help but turn to the others with a triumphant smile...
Regardless of Calia's misgivings, Woodruff puts his brawny strength to good use and nearly tears the door from its hinges on his third attempt. Water sloshes about as the room beyond reveals itself.
The chamber is in an advanced state of decay. A gaping hole in the ceiling admits a constant trickle of water into the room, no doubt the source of the flooding on this wing of the Crypt's lower level. Three stone sarcophagi lie in the center of the chamber, their heavy lids almost completely encrusted with a thick carpet of moss and fungi- thankfully, not of the azure variety. A door on the southern wall would appear to lead into the hallway Woodruff glimpsed earlier beyond the reach of the azure fungus.
However, the room is not unoccupied. Two surprisingly large frogs dwell within, one perched upon the farthest sarcophagus while another's head is only just visible in the corner of the room.
There's one under the water, too, Calia whispers. Stepping carefully forward, she feels the floor begin to slide away as the water rises to her chest. She begins to speak calmly, trying to keep the creatures pacified.
Nice frogs...we're no-ack!
But partway through her sentence, her words suddenly turn into a loud croak, and she goes wide-eyed. We ar-ribbit! she tries again. And then the look of shock on her face turns even more intense as she realizes that their chitterings and croaks have morphed into recognizable speech to her!
*Please...we don't want to disturb you, but...what's back there?* she calls out in what she hopes is a cheery manner despite her surprise, though all the rest of the party can hear is a frog's croaks and grunts.
"Hungry," the one in the water croaks.
"Hungry! Hungry!" the other two respond. "Stuck in room. Come from hole above. No can get back out. Eat bugs and rats for days. Food run out. Hungry!"
"Bad smell things come, scare away other food. Dead things walk but no good for eat! Hungry!"
"Small thing interesting colors! Good for eat?"
"Look good for eat!"
"Hungry! "
They're starving, and seem to be chomping at the bit at the prospect of a good meal having walked in, but your attempt at communication seems to have delayed their actions. You've got only a few more seconds before they start to attack.
*No, not good for eating, hardly any meat on me!* But quickly, Calia can see words won't avail her.
They're co-ack! coming - and they aren't getting tal-ark! talked out of it, unless we've got something big and tastier than gnome for dinner! Calia backs out of the deeper water furiously and slips her way back into the corridor, drawing her long knife.
Giant frogs.
I wonder how tasty their legs are?
"TELL THEM WE CAN SHOW THEM THE WAY OUT SO THEY CAN HUNT!" Doreen screams, stepping back.
Animals won't usually attack a larger group of larger creatures. They must be really hungry. Forest pity's the frogs. Animals always get caught in the paths of destruction of the sentient folk. "There's a relatively fresh giant beetle corpse back a ways. Would put up less of a fight than we will. I will commit to helping the frogs find better hunting grounds, after our business here is done. " Forest had seen the druids of the Fangwood talk to animals before, but they seemed to hold a higher power over them. He isn't sure if Calia is doing the same thing, or simply speaking to the frogs. Impressive, nonetheless.
Artemis raises his shield, torch held high. "Tell them the way up is clear, Aunt Cal. That there's fresh rain up top, lot's o' critters ta eat. But they try to eat us...I'll kill the lot of 'em."
Artemis rams the butt of the torch into the cracked door frame and pulls a javelin. After Calia translates he roars defiance.
Scaring them's not going to do any good - but Forest is right, that beetle'd be perfect. Raising her voice, she calls out to the frogs again...from the safety of the hallway this time. *We have some food - food that's way better than us! And we can show you the way out of here!*
*Meat! Meat! Hungry! Hungry!* Even those without the ability to understand frog-speak can understand the intentions of the giant frogs now; all three frogs begin bounding toward the party, though whether responding to Calia's offer to lead them away or intent on devouring the gnome is unclear.
Playing keep away with frogs.
Do we play leap-frog with keep aways next?
I hate this place.
"Yeah, let's get the big, ugly fly eaters to food that isn't us."
Doreen's already moving. She does not want to be frog chow.
Snatching up Calia before the frogs can reach her, Woodruff puts a spring in his step- as do the rest of the party, with the curious exception of Sariel, who seems slow to react. Nonetheless, he joins with the others as they run out to the crossroads, a trio of enormous frogs hot on their trail. Up the stairs they go, back across the blood-soaked room where they fought the skeletons only a few minutes before.
What follows is a brief chase through the gloomy halls of the Crypt of the Everflame's first floor, terminating in the room where the giant beetle and its stash of bloody refuse remain. After a tense moment, the frogs seem happy to hop toward the meaty remains and begin to feed.
They do not, however, thank Calia.
Forest can't help but feel a bit relieved as they flee back through the crypt, despite the circumstances. He did not want to kill the poor frogs, and it eases his mind to know those he accompanied did not mindlessly seek blood to shed. After the frogs begin their craft, he urges the others to quickly return to the downward stairs. "That beetle won't take them long to get through." At the bottom of the stairs he stops and whispers "The bones have been disturbed since we destroyed the skeletons. They're closer together than we left them. I fear someone may have come through behind us, tried to put them back together. We must be wary." He enters the bloody room with an arrow nocked, ready for trouble.
Calia sits draped over Woodruff's shoulder, her hair sticking out in twenty different directions after the bouncy ride - and her stomach preparing to leap just as many different directions in protest. Still, those frogs had been quick...if it wasn't for the angel's quick thinking, things could have turned out far worse...
Wriggling her way down from Woodruff's arm, she tries to tell the frogs to stay with the beetle corpse, but it seems whatever strange quirk had allowed her to speak with them in the first place is no longer working - maybe because the danger is past, maybe because the gift's duration was simply limited. At Forest's comment, she digs a packet of crackers out of her bag and begins breaking them into pieces, leaving them in a path through the room that had held their gifts and toward the pool. Hopefully from there they'll find their way out.
Then she rejoins the others, staring at the bones. Someone tried to put them back together...or they're putting themselves back together. After the day we've had...
Frogs eating our kill.
Our kills reassembling.
I hate this place.
"She might be right. We shouldn't take chances."
Doreen picks up some of the bones and tosses them towards where the frogs feast.
"Scatter them."
Artie nods and goes a step further, grabbing up the heads and hands and skulls in his bedroll. He nods towards the pool chamber and away from the frogs. Once there he scatters the bones in front of him and proceeds to pulverize them with his club until they're dust. That accomplished he scatters the remainders about.
"Let's get back to the chamber. This place is gettin' on mah nerves."
It appears that the threat of the hungry frogs has been quelled for the time being. As the party begins scattering and smashing the bones of the bloody skeletons, Sariel hangs back, watching with an increasingly sour expression. "We should rest soon," he says in a voice that lacks his usual optimism and enthusiasm. "Dimira should be all right for a little longer. Why would they take her instead of just killing her like they did the rest of the villagers if they didn't have some kind of plans for her?"
Calia helps to scatter the bones and dust, though something in the back of her head doesn't quite seem right about it. Some stories from that Ustalavic woman who'd traveled with Calia's troupe for a while...
Artie, Doreen...I don't know if this'll be good enough, she finally murmurs in a low voice. I had an old friend once, from Ustalav, said her cousin had had to deal with some of these. Just destroying them wasn't enough - it took destroying them in some kind of holy place, or using blessed weapons or holy water...otherwise whatever makes them tick just keeps bringing them back...
Just then, her low dialogue is interrupted by Sariel's comments - and something doesn't seem right. Sariel...are you all right? What's the matter? Before, you'd've been the first out here scattering these things...and what's this about waiting on following Dimira? I mean, I know we're tired, and sure, everything seems to suggest they're keeping her for something...but aren't you the least bit concerned what that something is?
Anyway, I don't want to stop unless we've absolutely got to...let's go back downstairs, see where that tunnel the other side of the frogs goes. Suddenly she smirks. It may not be a rest, but at least it'll be a bath.
"...Forget it. I'm just tired." Sariel shrugs and falls back in with the rest of the party.
- - - -
Back downstairs...
Heading back into the now-empty chamber where the hungry frogs once dwelled, the party finds the room more or less empty. A single human skeleton, stripped of flesh but still clad in ragged scraps of clothing, lies half-buried in a mound of waste and debris in the far corner.
Beyond that, there is little to see here. On the other side of the southern door is a hallway that leads onward for some ways, finally opening into a wide chamber that appears to also be partially flooded. Through the gloom, one can just make out the large wheel-like mechanism against the far wall...
Nothing better than water-filled boots. Forest sloshes through to yet another skeleton, holding his bow and quiver out of the water. Another victim, or a perpetrator of this madness slain by his companions? It wasn't Dimira, that was certain. A glint of gold catches the rangers eye and he stoops down to remove the ring from the decayed finger. He rubs it between his gloved thumb and forefinger, then runs it through the water in case any bits of flesh were still stuck to it. He trudges back to the others and offers the ring to Doreen. Dire circumstances usually brought allies closer together, but this one seemed to remain as distant as she ever was when Forest saw her in Kassen. "A lovely ring for a lovely girl." Hopefully corpse rings didn't upset her. Forest had no idea what she liked. He then turns to Calia. "We should check out the wheel, since we're here, and your our girl for that. Would you like some assistance getting to it?"
Laird continues to follow wordlessly.
Woodruff makes a motion to Calia if she would like more help to navigate the distance...
Yeah, sure. A hand wouldn't be a bad idea, Calia answers distractedly, already intrigued by the wheel on the far wall. Woodruff can carry me - you cover us with your bow, Forest, just in case something decides to jump out and say boo. Scrambling up to Woodruff's shoulders with Forest's aid, she drapes one arm on each side of the angel's neck. Riding piggyback wasn't the most dignified way to get around, perhaps, but it was certainly easier than fighting chest-deep water.
When they reach the other side of the room, Calia drops back into the water and begins to examine the wheel, going over it to try and figure out what it's meant to do. Opens a porticullis somewhere, maybe? Or maybe it's meant for drainage...looks like this place could use it...
Gleaming gold,
Round a circle.
Hidden depths.
Or broken vows?
Doreen snatches the ring, muttering.
"Why is it the adjectives used for women are always based on their appearance while the adjectives used for men are based on their prowess?"
"When we find a ring with character or accomplishments I will compare its to yours." Forest shakes his head and follows into the wheel room. A cold, hard ring for a cold, hard girl. He tries to find some ruble or a shallower area to stand so he can draw his bow if need be without putting it in the water.
Woodruff will scoop up Calia and direct her wherever she wants to go.
- - - -
As Woodruff carries Calia down the hallway and into the flooded chamber, the gnome sees that the walls of the hall are covered in slimy moss, and the wheel at its far end is connected to a system of chains and pulleys that rise up into the ceiling. It looks as if the wheel is in good enough shape to operate- three good pulls should do the job.
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Forest's military training tells him that this room too contains water.
Laird's intuitive connection to other planes of existence also informs him that this room contains water.
Woodruff's otherworldly gaze confirms that there is, in fact, water in the room.
Come on, Woodruff, let's get over there! Guys, you mind if I go ahead and turn the wheel? I'm curious to see what it does...the mechanisms go up into the ceiling, I can see that, and the wheel looks ok. A few good turns should do it.