Hustavan mumbles a thanks to the party, although the acid continues to burn his wound.
Looking a bit closer now, George notices that Hustavan has stepped on a pressure plate which obviously set off the trap. It likely has to be manually reset.
As George moves towards the statues, however, the party hears a padded footstep in the hallway ahead, follow seconds later by the body of an undead winter wolf, clearly attracted by the sounds coming from the party!
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Nivik! Your fire spells will do the most damage the to beast., George rasps out before pulling vials from his under his cloak and mixing them together on the fly. Mr. Chips holds a very fragile looking glass sphere out and George fills the sphere will all of the vials before stoppering it. The chemicals start to swirl and steam. George launches the sphere at the beast as Mr. Chips covers his ears and closes his eyes.
Curses, the magnesium didn't react as strongly with the brimstone as expected
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Ignatius sees that Hustavan is still suffering from his wounds, and gives the old man another tap with the healing wand.
"Eeugh, what is that thing? Some kind of zombie woof?"
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Jake moves forward ans assumeds a defensive posture in front of the Wolf.
C'mon you ugly bastard!
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Kraang! reaches across his body, crossing his arms as he reaches into a pair of pouches. In one hand Kraang! holds up to revel powdered iron and in the other brimstone. He beings to hum, the octaves sliding up and down the scale. The brimstone and iron flutter out of Kraang!'s rubbery palms. In rays of mist, they intertwine, swirling together across the dungeon's floor. Once past Jake, the two elements spark and ignite into a sphere of flame. This spongy mass roll over to the hindquarters of the zombie wolf, prodding it to go forward.
Sleep now with the fire.
George hurls a bomb, searing off some of the winter wolf's rotting flesh. Hustavan calls out, "A well-timed blow, m’lord! Not as well timed
as my downfall, but good enough!" Nivik follows suit with a jet of fire that mostly burns away fur but still damages the wolf zombie. Jake takes a defensive stance to guard his companions and Kraaang hurls a ball of flame at the beast, only for the wolf to leap out of the way.
The wolf takes a step forward and tries to bite Jake!
Iggy heals the whining noble as the acid continues to burn in his wound.
Nivik hits the zombie wolf with a missile!
Kraaang rolls his flaming sphere right into the undead canine! Jake hacks off one of the wolf's legs and George finishes it off with a powerful explosion, sending rotting wolf fur throughout the chamber to cover the party!
"Well done! Well done, everyone!" Hustavan offers, encouragingly. "Of course, I think I brought it out of hiding by not finding that trap so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise!"
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George wipes some undead winter wolf gore into a vial before his hand disappears into his cloak. Mr Chips can be seen running around collecting tufts of undead fur and one of the eyeballs before disappearing into the foot of George's cloak and reemerging on his shoulder.
George turns back towards the stairs and Hustavan. Betrayer, which direction is the sleeping quarters of the leader of the Zyphans? We should hit them hard and fast. Disrupt their leadership to send the minions into a panic and be done with the lot of them.
"I. . . I don't know. . . I wasn't down here for very long and I was. . . terrified out of my wits most of the time. I told you, I don't know where the traps are or all of the secret places they have hidden away. I know we're in the crypts and that most of the lairs are down below but they usually led me there in the dark."
Jake and Kraaang notice a secret door to the right of the staircase coming down.
George finds no traps and opens the secret door, revealing a landing at the top of more stairs that descend further into the complex. George notes that the top landing is actually hinged, likely indicating a pit trap below the false floor.
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Hmm... Hold that thought Nivik. The landing is trapped...
George looks around pensively. He strides to the carcass of their last kill and examines the creature closely. His claws cuts through the decaying flesh of the once-risen animal, exposing the skeletal underbelly. CRAAAACK! SNAP! He wrenches two stout rib bones from the undead winter wolf before cutting around the spine at the base of the head. SCHEEECK! George severs the spinal cord. He carries the animal parts back to the hidden door before throwing the heavy head of the beast onto the false floor, causing the trap to activate (hopefully!).
If the trap does activate, then George will hold the two ribs in structurally sound points to wedge the floor enough to hold the weight of a creature, allowing passage without the peril of the pit trap. (This assumes that the false floor resets).
George grabs some decimated wolf parts and tosses them on the false floor, which opens up to reveal a 30' deep pit. After confirming his suspicions, George has to manually reset the trap, after which he wedges several bones into the hinge to prevent it from opening, now allowing safe passage to the lower levels.
The party descends the stairs:
A five-foot-wide, rickety rope bridge stretches fifteen feet from a small landing at the bottom of a set of stairs on the south side of the room across a twenty-foot-deep pit to another small landing on the north side of the room. The north landing has a solid wood door leading north, and the south landing has a set of stairs leading up to the west.
Hustavan offers, "I've. . . I've been through here before! I remember this room. You have to cheat death by crossing the bridge before Zyphus triggers its collapse and crushes your skull with a rock or hurls you against one of the walls. Once you figure it out, you just get through here as quickly as possible. Lots of cultists die here even after they’re part of the cult. Nasty business."
Nivik detects no magic in the room. George sees that there are three dead cultists in the pit—2 human males and a female half-elf.
internal injuries, probably from falling.
of poison.
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Yes, Kraang. They appear to have perished. That being said, it looks like this is some form of falling trap. Those humans appear to have died from internal injuries related to sudden stops. The half-elf, however, was moved to this location. No idea what killed her.
Mr. Chips, can you go investigate the bodies for paper and shinies? Mr. Chips, Ook, ook!. He climbs down the wall of the pit [Climb 30'] and investigates the bodies of the Zyphans for anything papery or shiny before returning to George's shoulder.
George, wary of such a deadly trap, picks up some small rubble and begins to bounce the rocks onto various planks of the bridge. There are no magical auras? Can you see illusion auras with your arcane sight? Perhaps part of this is an illusion? Some of the planks could be real and some could be fake...
The Zyphans don't seem to have anything valuable. The rocks bounce harmlessly off the bridge.
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Hmm... I guess I shall attempt a trapfinding method I heard about from a Champion of Irori in the River Kingdoms: "Bold Striding". Keep watch for any traps so we can better understand this room. George runs as fast as possible across the planks of wood. His feet falling fast and hard against the swaying bridge.
As George begins to run across the bridge, it of course collapses under his feet half-way through!
As George lies at the bottom of the pit rethinking his life decisions, Jake feels a mental force trying to throw him down into the pit!
But Jake holds his ground!
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George falls from the collapsing bridge... but grabs one of the severed ropes and swings away from the falling debris. He lands lightly on his feet in time to see Jake being wrestled by some invisible force. He dusts himself off, muttering Well, son-of-a-*****, he was right. It does work.
It's a poltergeist! He's invisible and you will need magic weapons to attack him! Watch out for his Telekinesis!
George readies a bomb to throw at the poltergeist if he become visible.
Mr. Chips is last seen cowering under George's cloak before disappearing.
The party readies itself, realizing what is pestering them. Unfortunately no foe is seen as Iggy feels an internal force trying to throw his body into the pit! Iggy is able to keep his footing though.
The party works at preparing themselves against the invisible trickster. Suddenly a rock flies out of the air towards Nivik from near the corpses.