Another charge expended to heal Sealman.
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Good, he's still breathing. Bleeding stopped. Let's hope Miana's trick worked.
Seal stands up and 5' steps to the empty space next to Miana.
"I will not be bested by some dog!"
Seal whips himself into a rage as he begins to spin frantically. The dorn whips around the warriors body before finally released at the yeth hound.
Not wanting to miss out, Thunderpuss attacks with tooth and nail to bring the demon dog down.
Miana and Seal bring the Yeth Hound down!
After a thorough search the party finds nothing particularly valuable or interesting in the chapel other than crude markings and depictions praising Lamashtu.
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"I agree, Miana. We were careless there. " he says with humility.
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Rissi sits down and sighs a bit.
"So I have been working on magic of a *squeak* certain nature. It is called "rope trick". I believe it could provide a *chhhh* method for protecting us while we explore places such as these. It works on the principles of creating a small extradimensional space."
"I can only sustain it four hours at the moment, but longer as my mastery of the arts increases. But you do cause me to consider an *chhh* interesting point; it is too short a dweomer to be of immediate use. Perhaps though, in the future."
The party heads down the stairs:
A stone door just around the corner from the steps hangs slightly ajar, the detailed carvings that once covered its surface defaced by chisel marks and hammer blows to the extent that only a few remnants of images (mostly of gemstones and crows) remain. The floor here is slanted downward toward the west.
After resting for one night Lucian looks refreshed, though the grim nature of Thistletop starts bearing on him. He then attempts to contact the powers that be to gain insight on Nualia. He meditates for a while, sitting at Lyrie's desk, then starts his trance and his hands write on a blank piece of parchment, though the young Varisian doesn't control it anymore.
"Desna, grant me insight on what is to come. Let your stars guide my hand and my mind in this ordeal. My question is the following: Will leaving Nualia alive but beaten bring weal or woe to Sandpoint?"
After that, he'll be ready to go down the stairs leading to the depths of Thistletop.
"Alright, let's find Nualia and be done with her. Enough evil has already been sown here. Sealman, would you do the honor?"
---
---
Seal leads the way through the ancient door: two pillars support the ceiling in here. In many places the stone walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south walls contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is canted toward the west, and whatever ancient upheaval caused the complex to tilt knocked the statues from their bases so that now they lean against the western walls of their alcoves.
Lucian displays a grim face when he gets his answer. "The powers that be have shared part of their knowledge with me. Should we catch Nualia, leaving her alive would only be detrimental to Sandpoint. I loathe this, but killing her may yet yield the best future for my hometown."
"*squeak* Interesting." Rissi wipes a bit of the soot and sniffs at it, determining if it is anything other then plain dirt.
Rissi is pretty certain it is just normal dirt and soot.
Heading through the next door, a short hallway rises in a slope to the east. Five feet from the western door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floor elsewhere. A pair of stone statues depicting stern men wielding glaives stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. At the eastern end stand two stone doors, their faces carved with strange runes. Just past the doors is a third alcove in which a partially collapsed statue sits. The top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind a ragged stump of a torso.
"Kill the demon lady, got it."
Once in the first room, Seal tries to see if he can pick up any tracks of those who may have come through recently.
As he crosses the alcoves, he looks for any secret doors or traps.
Seal finds tracking hard on the stone floors, especially when they are worn as much as they are. He finds no secret traps or doors in the hall. He leads the party through the door on the right to find a short hall and another small room. The southern wing of the L-shaped room ends at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.
"Hmmm. This does not seem like the *chhh* iconography of Lamashtu. I wonder if these are older ruins."
"Not sure about spiky coins. They would poke you in your pockets."
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Seal takes a closer look at the spiky coins out of interest. Then something catches his eye.
"Hey, this wall behind the pillar is hollow. There are slits here. See in the coins. Maybe for arrows, maybe for peeping."
Seal will try to find some way to access the room behind the room. Otherwise he'll keep that area in mind during their investigation.
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"If this is a coin slot, perhaps there are *chh* forgotten donations to forgotten gods behind it. Something to investigate, but perhaps *squeak* later?"
Seal drops a couple of silver pieces into the slot. If nothing happens and he is unable to find a non-destructive way into the opening, he'll continue through the southern doors.
After Seal inserts his tenth silver piece, the pillar noisily grinds down into the floor to reveal a small room beyond with doors going in three different directions.
Seal scoops up his silver pieces then looks around.
"Let's go look for the loop!"
Seal enters the small room and heads toward the north door to open it.
"Well done, my friend. Let's continue."
Lucian follows Seal as he heads north.
"...fascinating! But what was the mechanism? It must be *squeak* magic."
Rissi looks with magical senses for a bit before proceeding.
Seal scoops up his silver pieces then looks around.
---
Rissi detects a lingering illusion aura (it was actually stone permanent imaged to look like gold) and a lingering conjuration aura (from the teleport effect). The stone pillar is purely mechanical though.
Seal leads the way north. This barren room contains an upraised dais on which sits a marble throne. To either side stand statues of a man clutching a book and a glaive. A ghostly figure seems to be seated in the throne, an image of the same man who appears in the statues. He seems to be addressing an audience as he moves his hands about, his fingers decorated with hooked rings, but the words issuing from his phantom mouth are difficult to make out and in a strange language.
Another runelord! K... she stops speaking, taking out a piece of paper and writing on it. Karzoug.
Names have power, and should be uttered with care when magic is afoot. A programmed image, I think. He speaks out against the runelord of wrath. And he says something *chhh* fascinating: [i]Take my final work to your graves, and let its memory be the last thing[i]... well, the message ends there."
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Seal absentmindedly sounds out the word Rissi wrote out, "Kar-zu-ga. Oh yah, I know him. He's a runelord. I don't know much about runelords, but I know he's one of them. I wonder which rune he was the lord of."
Kufieno shrugs, watching with interest. [b]"Haven't a clue. Perhaps he was the runelord of stealing coins from drawves."[b] The suli says with a wry grin.
Seal snaps open his belt-line to make sure his undergarments are still there after Kufieno's remark. Satisfied that they are, he then opens the door to the west.
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"I believe your history lessons have paid off, Lucian.", the paladin pleased that her recent studies allow her to understand the image of the imposing man.
"Although I'll have to improve my language skills; I am at a loss at what he is saying."
Upon hearing Rissi's translation, Miana raises an eyebrow. "What do you suppose that means, Rissi?"
At Sealman's new plight, the paladin cannot help but chuckle. "If it bothers you that much, then I'll treat you to dinner when we are finished rooting out the evil here."
She'll then follow Sealman into the next room.
"Rissi's right. This man was one of the most powerful arcane spellcaster alive in his time."
Lucian translates Karzoug's words in hushed tones, as if in reverence of the ancient - now probably dead - runelord.
"I supposed he was at war with Runelord Alaznist, and commanded his forces to remain here even if they should perish."
Rissi rests her chin upon her gloved hand.
"Goblins aside, the whole situation is curious. In a chamber underneath Sandpoint, we find a round room where objects float, and it *chhh* looks like nothing so much that a person's body was consumed. Possibly to create sinspawn?"
She shuffles up to the image. "Here we find another runelord talking of another "work", and the image is in illusion, magic barred to the ancient runelord."
"The proximity is something *chhh* curious as well; the two locations are very close; either this was a border region between the two runelords; this facility was some manner of secret forward operating base; or, this place is not what it seems. Too many *squeak* questions, and not enough information."
Seal leads the way west as the party ponders the mysteries of Ancient Thassilon buried beneath Sandpoint and the surrounding countryside...
This room contains three low tables, their tops covered with a strange and chilling selection of tools, saws, long-bladed knives, and objects whose purpose is not readily apparent. A strange collection of bones lies near the southern table-too many to be one skeleton, but too few to be two.
Sitting on the easternmost table is an object that, upon closer examination, isn't a tool at all. It appears to be a silver-and-gold seven-pointed star; one surface is studded with nodules and blades, and the other features a thin, curved handle.