"If its all the same to you, I think I shall be staying right here until I know what lies beyond." Gil said, keeping his arms crossed and looking rather set in his ways about it.
Numair simply shrugs, and will follow along, but will wait and follow at the rear.
There appears to be little to no enthusiasm in following Felrin down the dark passageway as he cautiously proceeds down the narrow corridor. His boots clanging on the metal grating echo mournfully every few seconds back to those waiting by the pit.
After Felrin isn't immediately eaten by monsters in the dark Malum will follow him in.
"Ah, the darkness looks fine, Felrin hasn't been eaten yet."
Felrin calls back down the hall, saying, "The hall's narrow - single file narrow - and goes about twenty feet and turns left, than another ten feet or so and turns right. Just at the first turn is a pedestal - like the one we found in the first room, where Twigs had all his fun. On it there's a little glass sphere, like a child's fist in size. It looks black. I'll check it out a bit, but I'm not planning to touch it right now."
He waves a hand before the pedestal and sphere, sensing any magical emanations and trying to identify them.
"Sounds like another puzzle." She says to herself. "Do you see any plaques, Felrin?"
Izabelle steps into the darkness as well, placing a hand on Malum's back and the other on the wall.
"Stay close." she mutters. "I don't like this."
The trio comprised of Malum, Izabelle and Numair shoulder past Giltharon and march into the narrow corridor single file, being careful to stay within arm's reach of one another as the latter two struggle in total darkness.
Twigs watches wide-eyed as the trio disappears from view imagining them walking down the dark gullet of some horrible monstrosity.
Twigs shrugs, falling in step behind the others. "Come on, pritty boy. We've been all at sixes for two, no, three bloomin' hours now. Let's not waste any more time, eh?" he sneers, before he lopes through the threshold behind Isabella, bumping into her and clasping his hands around her waist to right himself. "S'cuse me, love." he grins, making no sign that he means to release his grip. "Tight squeeze, 'innit?"
"You go if you want." Gil sneered back. "My skills are all but useless in pitch blackness, and I should rather be useless out here in relative safety, than in there, where being blind would surely see me dead in a number of scenarios."
"The orb is magical, as you'd expect," Felrin reports. "It is evocation magic, meaning it will go boom in some unpleasant way. Shall we see if we can just go around it?"
”Okay, good idea, I’ll give it a try.” Felrin takes the belt pouch – sadly empty of coin – off his belt and opens it wide. He calls upon Asmodeus’ blessing once again, then slips the pouch over the black globe.
The unnatural darkness seems to lighten somewhat as the light from the first chamber trickles into the narrow corridor. The area is still bereft of any torches or other forms of illumination which makes it somewhat hard to see for certain members in the group but the globe was obviously the source of the unnatural darkness which now appears to be contained.
Seeing the darkness lighten, Gil produced a smug smile, even if noone was there to witness it. Conjuring up his dancing lights, he made his way inside to join with the others. "I was right." He said as he entered the room, his voice bereft of any surprise on the matter.
"An excellent idea, Gil! Now that's the teamwork I believe Thorn was talking about." Numair calls back, although even he thinks his praise comes off sounding a bit too ... cheerleader-ish, and he grimaces inwardly.
Shocked he came up with it and not me, though. Oh well, every dog has his day I suppose.
"Well, that's better," say Felrin. He then moves past the pedestal and down the hall to the next turning, where he peeks around the corner, blissfully unaware of Gil's self-congratulatory air.
"Good boy." Izabelle says patronizingly, glancing back at Gil. "Perhaps we can find a boiled candy to reward you with later."
"Hmm. That seemed to work... for the most part." Izabelle frowns, squinting through the low light. "Did that seem too simple to anybody else? Let's keep moving, and keep your guard up - No doubt the intent was for us to blindly blunder into some sort of trap."
Gil gave Izabelle a hard sideways stare, but said nothing, instead drawing his rapier in readiness for them to continue forward.
As Felrin rounds the second corner and moves down the narrow corridor, it soon widens out into a normal sized passageway with torches spaced every couple dozen feet. The metal grating gives way to a stone floor that matches the stone walls.
The group eventually comes to a wooden door set at the end of the current hallway. Attached to the door is another plaque with a single word etched on it - Trust
Reading the plaque, Gil laughed a joyless laugh. "Well, if nothing else this is atleast sure to be interesting."
Felrin approaches the wooden door with appropriate caution, given the hazards presented by most of the doors they’ve encountered down here. He studies the door and the nearby hallway closely, scanning with eyes and ears, and sensing the presence of magic.
”The door seems safe enough,” Felrin says in a whisper. ”But I hear some quiet…shuffling sort of sounds on the other side of it. I wonder what that has to do with the ‘Trust’ sign on this side? I’m going to open it, okay?”
He looks over his shoulder for a moment to give his companions time to object or move away. Then gives himself the blessing of Asmodeus, as has become his habit in this place, draws his mace, and opens the door.
Malum whispers back to Felrin "Wait a moment Felrin. Trust is pretty wide range of options, but what if the intent is for us to 'gain' someone's trust. Since Twigs still looks... disreputable is the best word I have for it, it might be harder to gain their trust. I suggest we wait until he uses his amulet to look harmless like the rest of us before we open the door, or failing that, have him move away from line of sight until we know what we are dealing with. On the other hand, maybe we are supposed to 'trust' what is ever on the other side of the door."
Malum looks over at Izabelle and whispers again "Do you concur?"
Looking at his rapier, Gil sheathed it with a shrug, the weapon blending back into the illusion and becoming a screwdriver in his belt once more. "It can be drawn quickly if needed." He whispered. "It would be prudent to keep it sheathed in case Malum is somehow correct." He added, making no indication that his choice of words were deliberate, although knowing him as they did so far, they surely were.
He placed his hand on the long roll of canvas strapped to his backpack, looking a bit curious to anyone who didn't know what was hidden beneath the illusion.
Izabelle gives Malum a noncomittal shrug. "Might as well. We don't lose anything by it."
"Twigs, put that disguise on."
"Yeah, 'bout that. I don't fink mine's workin'." he says, biting down on his amulet and squinting at it appraisingly. Suddenly he succeeds in activating it's magic, his features beginning to contort. For a moment it looks as if his greasy, misshapen features are too much for the amulet's magic, as his gap-toothed smile and sunken eyes and crooked ears don't seem to change with his face and clothing. Suddenly however, the amulet shaves ten years off of him, and before you stands a knock-kneed, lank-haired shoe-shine boy. "Seems like t'aint worth the bovver when we ain't in town. What do we need disguises 'ere for, anyways? Only means I don't know which of yew berks I'm talkin' too, yer ladyship not withstanding." he says, a familiar smirk stretching over his unfamiliar features. His eyes waver over her chest with an appreciative grin. "'cor, I reckon I could spot those thr'penny bits anypla-" he says, biting his tongue and casting his eyes downward as Isabelle looks his way.
"What're we rabbiting on out 'ere for?" he snaps, flustered. "Open the bloomin' door already!"
Felrin opens the door...
Numair holds back near the rear, as usual. He keeps himself ready for whatever may be behind ...
Felrin opens the door and peers in to a well illuminated 30 x 30 chamber. The door just opened by Felrin is located in the middle of the west wall. Another door lies roughly 30 feet ahead in the middle of the east wall. The northern and southern sides of the room hold what appear to be two glass enclosures about 10 feet square each.
The southern enclosure holds what appear to be three reptilian metallic-appearing serpents quite actively pacing about the limited area. From his vantage point by the door, Felrin spies a rather disheveled looking man huddled in a corner in the northern enclosure.
Felrin studies the room a moment, then says, "We've got three metallic snakes squirming about in one of the tanks, or cages, whatever they are, and a scared, unkempt fellow in the other. Looks like he might be kin of yours, Twigs. Why don't you go chat him up, in that way of yours?"
"Actually, perhaps I would be of some use here. My father had diplomatic leanings, and some of that rubbed off on me. Mind if I speak to him?"
Assuming a positive response from his leaders, Numair will creep forward to the door, and peer in. He will not yet enter the room. In his guise as a humble peasant, and making sure the others are out of view, he will try and get the man's attention.
"Umm, ah, ex-excuse me, sir? Wh-who are you? Can you help me? I-I-I don't know where I am and me and my friends are t-trying to find our way out. Please help!" Numair carefully observes the man and room as talks, trying to ascertain who he might be as well.
perception
disguise
bluff
"Wot chew mean 'in that way o' mine'? Chat 'im up? Wot chew tryin' to imply? Dat I'm some kind of bum-bandit? 'dat I'm behind on the rent, or summ'ing?" Twigs says, affronted. He stands sulkily in the threshhold as Numair volunteers and makes his approach.
"I know we was in prison together, an' I don't know what yew've 'eard, but it was one time an' one time in Matharyn Penitentiary, an' he was wearin' the wig an' wot 'appens on the inside stays on the inside, yew dig?"
Fuming in silent embarassment, Twigs slinks up to join Numair in the shadows.
Izabelle raises a hand in front her face, chuckling at Twigs' rather insightful anecdote.
She gives Numair a nod as well. "That might be best."
Felrin pauses in some confusion as Twigs begins to speak, and as comprehension spreads over his face, his eyes widen and he fights a grin, only somewhat successfully. "Riiiiight," he says in response to the unexpected peek into Twigs' history. "Maybe Numair should go first. But we'll remember your, um, flexibility, in such matters should it be useful in the future."
Hearing Numair speak, the man stands up and gingerly walks over to the western edge of the enclosure closest to the group. He timidly looks towards the door trying to get a better look at the speaker. The snakes in the other enclosure take a definite interest in the sudden movement - their raspy hissing, if one could call it that, sounds like a rusty spoon being strummed across a cheese grater - as they coil about by the wall closest to the man.
Oh praise Mitra! In here! I'm in here... wait! Wait!! Don't come in! hollers the young-looking man. He's wearing a tabard with the Mitran symbol emblazoned across his chest.
The snakes appear to get more agitated at the sound of man's voice who sounds genuinely terrified. Did you get captured and thrown in this house of horrors too? That crazy man... he ... I... I tried to escape but he found me and said those things - pointing to the snakes - would get me if I tried to leave. But... oh please, Mitra have mercy, you have to help me get out of here!
int check
"By Mitra, he got you too?! Oh, we are surely cursed! Yes, all of us have found ourselves down here without our choice. We won't come in, but how are we to free you? Do you know what will release the snakes?"
bluff
Malum whispers "It seems to be a trap of some sort with the poor fellow as the bait and the snakes as the 'teeth' so to speak. I would suggest that it would be to our tactical advantage to fight the snakes back here, if we need to fight them."
To emphasis his point about 'tactical' Malum shows his holy symbol of Dispater to the group before tucking it away. The implication being not to demonstrate divine abilities that are obviously not of Mitra to the victim-under-glass.
"All of you?" By the Gods, how many of us is that maniac holding in this mad house? The young man bangs his fists on the glass wall and suddenly stops when the noise further agitates the snakes.
That... that man... he calls himself Thorn! My Lord and I were traveling to Matharyn when we were beset. Next thing I knew I woke up in this god forsaken place in a room all by myself. He shudders as if recollecting some terrible memory. I managed to escape but I couldn't find the way out... it was as if the walls themselves moved around in some labyrinth. He... he found me... and laughed... and said I'd feed his pets...
Realizing he's speaking about the snakes, the man suddenly looks over at them and backs away to the northern wall. Please... please you have to get me out of here! I don't know what releases them but he said they'd get me if I stepped foot outside this glass cage... he did something with that wall - pointing to the east wall - but I couldn't see what and then he left through that door...
You said you had your friends here? Perhaps you could find some sticks or tools as weapons and hold them off and we can make a run for it the way you came? He looks pitifully and somewhat hopefully at his potential rescuer.
A fell grin crosses Felrin's face, though the amulet's magic transforms it into an idiotic grin on his diguised face. "Yes, let's find some sticks or tools," he says quietly, waiting to see how Numair handles the situation.
Numair's eyes darken ever so briefly as he realizes who the man is; only his companions may have noticed his brief change in expression.
"Oh, jeez, we won't leave you, but let me talk to my companions here. We're gonna try and come up with a plan. Don't worry ... sorry, who are you? I'm Jendel. And is your Lord here, too? Was he captured?"
"Why are you humoring this mithran fool?" Gil almost hissed at Numair in a low whisper. "Let us press on and stop wasting time here." He looked at Numair, obviously expecting an explanation.
T-Timeon... my name is Timeon says the young man. I'm squire to my Lord Balin. We were traveling together when we were accosted. I got knocked out and woke up in this place.
Timeon looks to the east door and back to Numair standing by the west door before shrugging his shoulders I know not if that Thorn fellow managed to capture Lord Balin as well. I did not see him when I first managed to escape. Were he here, he would undoubtedly help us escape. He is one of Mitra's blessed... evil holds no power over him!
He paces about a bit fervently in the enclosure and stops by what could be considered the 'door' to the glass cell.
The door is only held in place by this bar... Timeon points to the bar from inside the glass cell. What if you and your friends rushed in and lifted it up and we used it as a weapon to hold the snakes at bay and ran back out your door closing it behind us? Sure enough, the door to Timeon's cell is held in place by a 2 inch by 4 inch thick plank of wood acting as a deadbolt to prevent the door from opening.
Please hurry Jendel. Let us be away from this place as fast as we can!
"I will talk to my companions. Patience, good Timeon!"
Numair withdraws back into the room. "I am humoring him as I thought he may know how to get through. Now, we may have an even better reason. What is our play?"
"I concur with Numair, let us not be hasty about this. After all, if Thorn has brought him, then his master is probably here as well."
"Since those creatures look like snakes and are acting like snakes... maybe we can 'treat' them like snakes by trapping them in a bag or other container. They might prove useful later on."
"Haw. I like the way you think, chief." Twigs says, grinning. He pulls a burlap sack from one of his many pockets. "'ere. This should do the trick."
Felrin shakes his head at his fellow tiefling's suggestion, saying, "I don't know, any snakes put down here by Thorn are not likely to be what they appear - and they appear pretty dangerous already. I say we walk straight through this room and out the other door, tell the fellow we'll be right back. Or kill him and feed him to the snakes, and then move on."
"Ah Fel, the problem with that solution is that it is pretty final. We would lose his 'trust' either way. Maybe he has info for us, or perhaps better is that if his master is also here, his presence would allow us to surprise the fellow. Perhaps we could even convince the fellow that Mitra has abandoned him and turn him to our cause. The most effective way to remove an enemy is to make him your friend."
Malum grins at the last bit, and if he wasn't disguised as a commoner, it would be a truly evil grin, instead is merely a bit mean.
Pulling at his chin he contemplates Felrin's comments about the snakes. "You are quite right Fel, we don't know what those things are. We may need to look at them a bit closer, it would behoove us not to underestimate Thorn and his trials."