Karn and Argust quickly take down the last ripper!
A few objects of value remain on the shelves of this room-they aren't hidden, but some sit on higher shelves. These include four thin silvery metal plates that contain magical writings-these are sturdy cold siccatite plates that function as scrolls-scrolls of ice storm, wall of ice, cone of cold, and polar ray.
Another shelf holds a series of metal tablets edged with silver clasps that contain etchings of the internal organs of a whale of prodigious size (measuring at least 500 feet from head to tail); the tablets are worth 250 gp in all. Three round jars sealed with silver contain baby aboleths preserved in embalming fluid (each jar is worth 50 gp), while fragments of a chuul's shell sit on another shelf. The skeleton includes a pearl of power (5th level) embedded in one of the shell's claws.
Finally, one shelf near the center of the room contains 29 enormous bone scroll rollers, some of which are 6 feet long. The contents of these scroll rollers have long since turned to dust, but five of the smaller ones are bound in silver and gold and worth 400 gp each.
After examining all of this for some time, however, there is a sudden poof! in the room and you see the ghostly form of a handsome, elderly Azlanti man wearing a heavy cloak and fine blue robes. "I am the Curator." he says, his voice echoing unnaturally. "You have disturbed the Silent Halls." The ghostly caretaker begins casting a spell....
(+2 underground)
Oh no, no more spells!
Argust moves up to attack the new enemy!
for
Brelar casts dispel magic as a counterspell on the Curator!
Argust's blade cuts through the ghostly figure and his magical weapon leaves behind a silvery wound.
The curator tried to cast a quick glitterdust spell but Brelar blocks it. In his anger, the Curator tries to turn Brelar into a turtle!
Argust notices that his weapon didn't seem to lay full damage to the enemy but doesn't seem to care much.
for
for
for
Brelar returns some magic missiles to the ghostly curator.
Karn's spell doesn't take hold but Argust and Brelar still wound him nonetheless!
Assuming that this is an undead creature, Bert advances into combat and strikes at the Curator.
The Curator dodges away from Bert's stab. "Perhaps you'd rather join the collection then?" He casts another spell and Argust feels his skin hardening.
flesh to stone
The halfling calls on his luck and strikes again.
Argust manages to shake off the spell and continues to attack!
for
for
for
for
Brelar releases more magic missiles at the Curator!
Bert stabs into the Curator as Brelar pelts the ghost with a force spell. Argust and Karn then work together to finish off the azlanti spirit!
Brelar suggest the group heads south.
Brelar suggests the party head south, which proves fortunate as it was the only true way to go and the other three doors only lead to abandoned mining efforts. ;)
In each of the six corners of this hexagonal room, a statue stands atop a dais—each is of a six-foot-tall woman dressed in a short robe and wielding a silvery sword. The statues have four wings (the lower pair of each being small and atrophied), and have no faces whatsoever. As soon as you step into the room, voices ring out from the statues in a Thassilonian greeting: “Welcome to the Hall of Arcane Wonder. Please treat all exhibits with care and respect, and do not attempt unsanctioned interactions within. Enjoy your visit!”
Each of the six statues wields a masterwork cold siccatite longsword—a weapon made of cold siccatite deals +1 point of cold damage on a hit. Each sword is worth 1,315 gp.
Bert looks around at the statues, baffled, and scribbles a few notes on them for later. "Let's leave the swords there for later, OK?"
Brelar casts detect magic and investigates the statues for a few moments (and anything else of interest).
You investigate the chambers in this area of the complex.
To the southeast, half of this hexagonal room is buried under a wall of hardened lava, including the hindquarters of a gray stone statue of a faceless sphinx. The sphinx sits atop a two-foot-tall dais. Shallow shelves have been carved into the side of the dais, in which sit various objects that appear to be of an oracular nature—crystal balls, censers, and the like, many of which have fallen from their alcoves to crack or shatter on the stone floor.
"Fascinating," Brelar mumbles looking at the sphinx but failing to grasp it's true meaning.
Bert examines the oracular objects with detect magic and mundane senses.
Not quite certain of the meaning of the statues in this room either, you move on to the next chamber.
This chamber hums with an unsettling noise, for at its center churns a great ball of fire. The sphere measures ten feet across and hangs in the center of the chamber, periodically sending short tendrils of fire out as it tasting the air around it.
Bert is certain that touching it in any way would set it off, as if it were a trap.
"Wow, how'd that happen? It looks like a delayed blast fireball that's sort of paused in the middle of detonation. Cool!"
Brelar can hardly contain his excitement after looking at the frozen fireball. "I will need to prepare my spells in this chamber when next we rest! There is powerful magic here which will increase their potency!"
You move along to the next connected chamber. A hulking object lies upon a fifteen-foot-wide circular dais at the center of this room. The object is made of stone and seems to be a fragment of a much larger colossal stone carriage or conveyance with immense stone rollers for wheels. Snake motifs cover every corner of the object, while its front has been carved to resemble an immense serpent’s skull. Smaller shelves built into the edge of the dais contain numerous other objects ranging from weapons to pieces of armor to more mysterious objects.
One alcove contains a serpent mask of beaten gold with amethyst eyes (worth 1,400 gp in all), while a second alcove contains a mummified snake that crumbles to dust if disturbed, revealing an incandescent blue sphere ioun stone the thing had swallowed. A third alcove contains an iron wand of sepia snake sigil (8 charges), while a fourth contains a rod of the viper.
Bert pokes around the stone carriage, oohing and aahing over it. "Hey, I think this used to be part of a juggernaut! Big construct, very dangerous. What do you think, Brelar?"
The halfling grins as a thought comes to him. "Hmm...this looks like it was built by the old serpentfolk. I bet these are battle trophies from Thassilon's wars against them!"
Certainly it was a powerful machine of war in it's day, but those days are long past. Hopefully there are no others that survived. It would be an amazing relic to find, if it didn't destroy us first!"
After taking some notes on this room, you move through the doors to the south.
This sixty-foot-high room is almost completely filled by a twisted metal pillar that rises up from the floor to apparently pierce the ceiling above. A narrow flight of stone steps, only two feet in width, winds up the side of the pillar to the ceiling. A strange, butterfly-shaped rune with what appears to be closed eyes on its wings is carved onto the middle of each step's riser.
Brelar points to the rune and says, "That's for Desna, of course. It has meaning for Her power over dreams. Interesting, I wonder what waits for us up top?"
Argust shuffles along with the party, alternating between looking bored and faking interest in all of the fact-finding events. As Brelar wonders about the stairs, Argust takes the initiative. Only one way ta find out! Might be more stuff ta look at or somethin' and all that. Yep.
Argust ascends the stairs but he reaches the top he doesn't stop where the stairs seem to end at the ceiling but rather is able to continue past the ceiling and out onto a flat promontory, finding himself perched on atop a 20-foot diameter space high above a remote glen inside of a vast enchanted forest in that dimension, extending well above the surrounding canopy to a height of 1,200 feet. He feels a chill breeze whip across the structure as he observes the surroundings.
At the very center of the tower’s top stands a miniature (10-foot-tall) version of the Dreaming Tower, held aloft by three delicate metal statues of butterflies who cradle the tower’s foundation in their wings. Argust gets the impression that the three butterfly statues are in fact breathing and subtly shifting their weight as if they were alive.
Overall, despite the terrifying height, Argust feels a sense of calm and relaxation here, as if the nightmares of Guiltspur would be unable to reach him here.
Following his companions, Brelar climbs the stairs...
Brelar! Karn! These little towers are breathin'! How can they do that?Are them real butterflies?
Bert looks around the room as everyone else ascends the staircase. On realizing he's alone in a very dangerous place, he shrugs, grins, and follows his compatriots into the unknown.
Everyone is able to ascend the stairs through the ceiling and out atop the pillar above the strange forest. In fact, when everyone else ascends you even notice something that Argust was unable to see before: There is an incense burner sitting beneath the miniature model that for some reason is invisible to the dwarf.
Slot none; Price 8,000 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
Typically crafted of bronze, brass, or copper with an upper section of silver or mithral, a censer of dreams protects sleeping minds from the fell influence of magical nightmares. A censer of dreams can burn any type of incense as per a normal censer, but can also be commanded to emit lavender-scented fumes that fill a 30-foot-radius spread for up to 8 continuous hours per day, as long as the censer remains immobile. Strong winds disperse this effect, and moving the censer causes the effect to end immediately, but otherwise, any creature that sleeps in this area gains a +4 bonus on all saving throws made against dreamor nightmare-related effects, such as the nightmare spell or the effects of the nightmares caused by the abysium reactor in this adventure. A night hag cannot use her dream haunting ability in an area under this effect, and at the GM’s discretion, the effect can block other strange effects that target sleeping or dreaming minds. All creatures who sleep for the full 8 hours in this area awaken particularly refreshed, having had pleasant dreams in which they explored idyllic landscapes and spoke with charming and eccentric creatures. Upon awakening, these subjects heal as if they’d taken complete bed rest for an entire day and night (recovering twice their character level in hit points).