Grun seems in no rush. I can wait on the outstanding 27gp, if it means life. Our hostess may or may not choose to help further.
After rendezvousing with Lavinia at the castle, she leads you down to the lower levels where she has a brief conversation with an attending clerk who directs you down a one of the numerous halls leading to the vaults.
The short passageway ends at a solid-looking iron door. The portal is emblazoned with a simple rune an eight-pointed star. Above the door, inscribed in flowing script on a polished silver plaque, is the name "Vanderboren." A single handle protrudes from the door, just below a circular depression bearing the mark of the vanderboren signet. Lavinia presses her father's heavy gold ring into the depression and there is a brief flash and the door opens with a sigh revealing an inner chamber.
The floor of this domed chamber is of polished green marble. Two fifteen foot wide alcoves have lower ceilings and feature marble pillars carved to resemble coiling snakes. In the center of the room, five similar pillars are embedded into the walls, rising up thirty feet to a dome overhead. Looking up, the dome bears a huge representation ofthe same eight-pointed star that was engraved on the door to the south.
The same star symbol appears on the sign of a building on the western edge of the Merchant's District. This building is the Seeker's Lodge, the regional base of a world-spanning group of adventurers and treasure hunters known as the Seekers.
Hrm.. I do not recognize the symbol either, but considering I have only been in this city for a few months that is not a surprise. Regardless I am ready to proceed.
Moira shrugs her shoulders. "Uhhh pretty symbol."
Darien shakes his head, indicating he doesn't recognize the symbol.
Lavinia pokes her head in and the gestures for you to lead the way,
"Please, after you. This doesn't appear to be the vault proper. Let's poke around a bit and see what we can find."
Before entering, the rogue approaches the threshold and kneels. She begins to exammine the threshold and the floor.
"Excuse me lady and gentlemens and ..." she looks at the grippli and goes off on a tangent. "...by the way Grun....are you a male or female? Not sure if I should be calling you Mr. Grun or Ms. Grun or Mrs. Grun."
Moira shakes her head and then get back to the task at hand for looking for traps. "Some places have trip wires and pressure plates. Some could be really nasty. Poison barbs or darts. I had a friend that got pricked by a poison dart and hours later he had uncontrolable diarrhea. yuck... Let's just say we had to burn his clothes."
Moira throughly checks the doorway for any nasty surprises, but finds nothing out of the ordinary.
Grun using his acute vision, slinks off to the right to check behind the pillar there.
Moira moves forward slowly, always lookig for some form of trap.
When you enter the room one of the snakes detaches itself from a pillar and coils, preparing to attack.
Round 1:
26 Ignius
22 Darien
18 Moira
10 Grun
7 Justified
4 Enemy
Watching the snake detach itself from the pillar Ignuius takes a quick step back. Gah! First spiders then snakes.. what have I stumbled into! The older man mutters to himself before summoning up his internal reservoir of power and lashing out at the snake with a wordless scream of fire.
You unleash a powerful scream, inaudible to all but a single target. The target is dazed for 1 round and takes 1d6 points of sonic (fire) damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6). A successful save negates the daze effect and halves the damage.
Darien moves up and swings his greatsword at the snake, but fails to connect!
Moira springs into action, tries to tumble past the iron snake hoping to get flanking position with Darien. Once at her desired spot she then attacks the creature.
Grun waits, hidden.
The snake completely ignores Ignius' spell as the others close in for the attack. Darius and Justified can't connect with the nimble beast, but Moira manages to dart in and land a solid hit, though the metal body of the snake resists the worst of the blow.
AC 17, touch14,flat-footed 14
hp 25/31hp (2HD);DR5/adamantine
SR 19
Fort +0, Ref +3, Will+0
The snake lunges for Moira, but she easily avoids the attack.
Round 2
26 Ignius
22 Darien
18 Moira
10 Grun
7 Justified
4 Enemy
Darien tries to attack the metal snake again, using Moira's flanking to his advantage.
Moira easily dodges the snakes lunging attack.
"Whooaaa...big fella. That's not a way to treat a lady."
Even though the rogues attack was hardly felt, she continues on with the attacks hoping that the combined efforts can bring the creature down.
Fall back, we need room! If it is some sort of guardian... would it respond to the ring?
It might! Ignius yells looking around. Oh hells.. why has the blasted ring?
"I've got right here."
Lavinia enters the room brandishing the heavy signet ring. In the presence of the ring, the snake stops attacking and left to its own devices, it coils back up around the pillar.
A thorough search reveals a hidden switch that reveals an inner chamber to the vault.
This octagonal room is supported by a single large pillar with dozens of deep grooves along its sides. The seven walls of this room each bear fantastically detailed bas-relief carvings of exotic monsters in threatening poses.
Starting at the wall immediately to the west of the entrance to the room and moving clockwise, the carvings depict: a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth, a looming dragon, a fish-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles, a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs, a spherical creature with four eyestalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw, a gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes and finally a towering black spider with seven eyes.
Each monster's eyes consist of a glittering red stone. The ceiling above is only ten feet high, with the now-familiar eight-pointed star pattern radiating out from the grooved pillar. The arms of th is star are black, save for the one pointing south toward the entrance, which is red.
The central pillar can rotate in either direction. The pillar doesn't rotate smoothly. Rather, it "clicks"in its socket as it rotates, eight times in the course of a single revolution. As the pillar rotates, the eight pointed star in the ceiling rotates as well, the red arm pointing to a new wall with each click.
Grun looks to the tall people. There was a note, yes? I remember the mention of fantastical beasts...
And, there. The column is a dial.
"Sun's right. Let's try the code we found on that paper."
Chimera looks to sunrise
cyclops looks to sunset
Medusa looks to sunrise
Umber hulk looks to sunset
Basilisk looks to sunrise
Looking up, Darien considers the creatures. "Which of these is a chimera?"
By the note, it faces east... sunrise.
"I think the note indicates the direction we should turn the pillar, not the location of the monsters."
Darien looks at the creatures again, then the note.
"You know, there isn't a cyclops up there, but I do see an ettin. And there isn't a basilisk, but there is a dragon. Those are pretty close. What would be closest to a chimera?"
Perhaps the gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes? Chimera's have three heads correct? Six eyes?
Darien looks at the gorilla for a minute, then over at Ignius. Smiling, he claps the man on the shoulder, "Next time we have a puzzle, you're in charge!"
Darien steps forward and rotates the pillar east (to the right) until the red arrow points at the gorilla-like creature.
Does it face sunrise, Ranger?
The the boys are playing Moira stares at some of teh carvings."Do you guys think we are going to face a dragon? I certainly hope so. Or maybe this giant with two heads. I wonder if the two head have arguements and hit each other. Hey guys, check out this huge head with eye stalks and teh huge eye. Uuuggly."
Nothing happens when the arrow faces the gorilla-like creature.
Darien continues turning the pillar:
Left to the one-eyed monster
Right to the dragon
Left to the four-eyed sphere
Right to the dragon
When Darien rotates the pilar to face the dragon for a second time. There is a soft whisper of stone against stone and five alcoves open in the vault's walls. Inside lay numerous chests and iron coffers.
"Oh, very well done!' Lavinia exclaims as she rushes to the nearest chest. "Now let's see about that coin I've promised you."
She eagerly opens the chest, but her delight fades as she looks in.
"What...? This isn't right."
She hurriedly begins flinging open the various coffers and chest. You can see that while a few are packed with books and ledges (one even has a number of maps depicting an island), most are empty, with a scattering of loose coin in the bottom. As Lavinia's panic begins to peak, she opens the last few chests to find them still filled with coin.
"Thank the Gods. Something isn't right here. These chests should be brimming, but that is a problem for another day. There is plenty to keep things afloat and more than enough to pay you what you're owed, with a little bonus thrown in. That snake was a nasty bit of business."
She pays to each 500gp in coin and gems.
"I need to take proper inventory of what I have here, but there is a mystery that need solving here. When don't you swing by the manor in a few days, I might have some more work for you then."
Lavinia greets you all warmly as you are escorted into a well appointed study.
"Greetings friends. I hope you still have a little coin to rub together after celebrating your recent successes, but joking aside, I have another task for you, if you are interested. First though I would like to thank you for your air so far. Though the vault was very cash poor there were a number of uncollected IOUs from various individuals and organizations my parents performed services for that I intend to cash in. Those should help to cover the household expenses for the next few months or so, but according to the household book, that vault should have been brimming with treasure. I inquired with the vault clerk and apparently, my brother Vanthus has been making regular visits to the vault over the last month or so, ever since our parent's died. I haven't seen him since shortly after the funeral, we had a disagreement over the company he's been keeping. I don't know how he's been getting in, but it seems to me that he has been robbing the estate blind."
"I need you to find my brother, I believe he's fallen in with a bad crowd, perhaps smugglers or thieves, or even killers. I hope that it's not too late, that if he can be brought back to my side I might be able to talk some sense into him and redeem him before it's too late. Are you willing to perform this task?".
Nodding thoughtfully to Lady Vanderboran as she addresses the odd group, Ignius gives a short bow to his patron. Indeed mistress, the monetary supplement was quiet helpful in advancing some of my research at the university. As I have said before, I am afraid that I am both new to the city and know little of such things, but I would be happy to accompany our more street savvy members in this endeavor. Pray, what can you tell us of your brother and the areas that he frequented and people he associated himself with?
Grun's head tilts, the grippli blinking as he considers. Does you brother have any "skills" we should be aware of?
Moira is taken back slightly by the mention of that her brother might have been mixed up with the local low-lives.
"I'm game to help out your brother."
Darien nods, "Finding your brother, hm? Well, you were generous last time we worked for you, what does this errand pay?"
"What can you tell us about this 'company' he's been keeping? Names, locations, anything like that?"
"And do we have to bring him back here when we find him, or just deliver a message?"
"Why don't we discuss payment after you've found my brother. I don't know how difficult it will be to track him down and I wouldn't want to short change your effort. I assure you that you will be amply compensated."
"I don't know anything about what my brother has been up to, or who his fellows are. We haven't spoken much in recent years. I was sent to the Thenalar Academy to study and only recently returned to the city. I would probably start asking around the different districts to try to track him down. If you can bring him, do so, but I do ask that you don't harm him. He is my brother and I would like to hear his side of the story before I make any judgements."