Petals is worried about Catiana, but knows she herself wouldn't handle a devil potentially popping up to kill me at any second any better. So she shuts up about the books and heads up Faustinia's direction, trying to watch out for suddening devil popping.
The old wine cork Varius dropped into the shaft falls down as expected and soon disappears from view. After a few seconds, though, you still don’t hear any sound. Seconds pass, and suddenly the wine cork…reappears! The wine cork materializes above your heads, and slowly continues to fall in the shaft again. It’s like it appeared again above the shaft itself. Also, gravity seems to work a little differently in the Knot, or perhaps only in this room, since the acceleration, as you can see, is building only slowly and the wine cork is falling down again much more slowly than you would think it should according to the laws of nature in the Material Plane.
When the group starts using the stairs, another strange and rather unsettling phenomenon happens. After a few seconds spent walking down the stairs, the Irises end up at the same location they left without any apparent change in elevation.
Fortunately, there might be another option, and possibly a way out of this unsettling chamber, for both Petals and Alessandro noticed a hidden door on the northern end of the room.
Petals stumbles, shaking her head in confusion, unable to wrap her head around what is happening. Sweet Mother of all things beautiful, this is insane. she whispers, then blushes cause she meant to think that instead. It's then, looking anywhere save those staircases, she notices the secret door. Look! in the north wall. Another way out, just hidden. Happy to not have to brave the stairs again she leads the others there.
"Well, what do we have here? Curiosity killed the cat but I can't help myself."
Alessandro glances back at the ever-falling cork but pulls his eyes away before he makes himself too dizzy.
When everyone is ready, he'll open the secret door.
|
”Hm. I suppose I was wrong,” Faustinia admits. ”Between that bit with the cork and these stairs, it’s a bit trickier than I thought…” She sighs deeply, feeling defeated, and sits down on one of the steps with her eyes closed. ”What now?” she asks as she rubs her eyes to try and stave off any vertigo.
She looks up in surprise as Petals and Alessandro point out an accessible secret door. ”Oh, thank the stars! I’m glad we’ve got two as clever as you with us - or else I might as well drop down that hole with the cork for as good as my plan of walking around these stairs would do me. Let’s get through quickly - I’m starting to feel a bit sick.”
Varius watches the cork whiz by with wide-eyed glee.
"WOW!" He reaches out to snatch it from the air, and looks it over.
Pocketing it, he looks over to Faustinia, having half-listened to her attempts to reason out the room.
"I still don't understand the point of this room. It's neat, but... does it have to be here for the dimension to work? Or is it meant to distract and confuse people? I mean, it'd be rather splendid to run up and down the stairs for a while, but less so to get sick from it and have it rain down. Hrm - oh! A secret door. Wonderful."
Varius draws his swords again, and steps up to the door, waiting for Alessandro to check for traps before pushing on to the next room.
Catina looks near to panic when their path leads them back to the room they had left from. She peers down and up, looking for the cok that must still be falling there. "This... This... Are we trapped here?" She presses herself against the wall more firmly, forgetting for a moment that the way back is always open. "Walking these stairsways over and over until we go mad? Would madness drive us to throw outselves over the edge, only to find that even that won't give us release?" She fidgets with her long-fingered hands, until Alessandro notes the secret door leading further on. "Oh, that's good," she comments as she wipes an arm across her forehead, shifting back to her regular composure. "We should move on, then..."
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
The group decides to head to the hidden doors found by Petals and Alessandro. As soon as they start moving, however, and just when Alessandro is about to open the door, eerie whispers fill the room. The rustling of ethereal presences precedes the sudden assault by a group of three shadows!
---
Create Spawn (Su) A humanoid creature killed by a shadow's Strength damage becomes a shadow under the control of its killer in 1d4 rounds.
An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if the creature's Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).
An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object's exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see beyond the object it is in and attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.
An incorporeal creature's attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.
An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Perception checks if it doesn't wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to its melee attacks, ranged attacks, and CMB. Nonvisual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.
Strenght Damage (Ex) A shadow's touch deals 1d6 points of Strength damage to a living creature. This is a negative energy effect. A creature dies if this Strength damage equals or exceeds its actual Strength score.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Petals
Alessandro
Red shadow
Blue shadow
Green shadow
Catina
Varius
Lady Faustinia
______________________________________________________
--- ---
"Shadows!" shouts Alessandro. "Be careful. They can sap away your strength until you become one of them."
Alessandro doesn't wait for a response and begins slashing away and the ghostly creature in front of him.
Varius jumps as the shadows materialize around the party.
"Th-th-at doesn't sound good! How do we fight them?!"
Alessandro's cry fits with Petal's basic knowledge as well. Howling devils, and now evil undead ghosts they can't hit. Well they didn't think this would be easy did they?
To Varius, she yells back I don't know, but try something! Whispering arcane words, the elf points at the wisp of darkness in front of Alessandro, where a split second later a sudden burst of light explodes before the creature.
While Petals tries to cast a spell, Alessandro attacks the shadow in front of him, but with great horror he discovers that his nonmagical kukri does not damage the shadow at all! Petals’ spell seems to be useless too!
The shadows attack all together. One attacks Varius, and its long, shadowy hand brushes the fighter’s chest, causing hims to feel suddenly much more weak. Another one attacks Catina, but the tiefling girl is able to avoid the shadowy grasp. The last shadow attacks Alessandro, and fortunately he’s able to avoid the attack as well!
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⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Petals
Alessandro
Red shadow
Blue shadow
Green shadow
Catina
Varius
Lady Faustinia
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
===========
===========
Faustinia desperately flips through pages of her newly found book, and lands on a gruesome scene involving the same shadowy creatures that have suddenly appeared around them. She looks around desperately, trying to ascertain what can be done about these incorporeal monsters. ”Don't let them touch you!” she warns as they begin their assault. Scanning down the page with her finger, she nods and then claps the book shut. ”We need magic, preferably sanctified! Magical weapons, holy water, alchemist's fire if you have it. Otherwise, try to draw them away from Catina.” Faustinia looks at her tiefling friend with desperation in her eyes. ”Catina - you can destroy them. Your healing hurts them, and your spells especially! They're more wary of your other technique.”
Faustinia clutches her necklace and drops her book to the ground as she draws on her reserves of magic. As she does, she extends her other hand and two silvery bolts of magic shoot from her fingertips and strike the shadow next to Catina.
---
=========
=========
Catina shrieks as she spots the shadows, and the fact that she throws herself against the wall again in fear is just enough to avoid its attack. She looks unsure, but Faustinia's description fits what she herself knows. "Magical attack, yes. Healing should work as well. My channeling is probably too feeble," she apologizes. "But fire?"
The noblewoman's magic missile gives Catina a clear target. She silently prays to Shelyn and summons the power to heal. However, instead of a gentle touch to one of her companions, she shoves her hand in the shadow's direction. "Here!"
She looks at their companions, realizing their surrounded. "Just focused on defending, hold them off as long as you can. Petals, your wand might do the trick as well. If we can just concentrate on one at the time, we might do it!"
--
============
============
Varius gasps as the shadow steals his strength. Seeing himself badly positioned, he simply makes the best of it and commits entirely to just not getting hit.
==========
==========
Right... wand... where is- YES! Petals grabs the thin stick of wood and rushes over to where Catina is battling for her life from the wispy shadows.
The same warm glow comes from the tip as it does when it heals, but instead of comfort, the shadow hisses in pain. The light is meager compared to the burst of light from Catina's hands, but it is at least something. Can we do this? she asks hesitantly, but hopefully.
==========
Round 2
==========
Alessandro is dismayed that his weapon has no effect but relieved that the shadow doesn't drain his strength.
"The shadows came out from that wall. Maybe there is a key to defeating them within."
Alessandro takes the total defense action (+4 AC) and opens the secret door.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Catina’s touch attack would be enough to succeed against an ordinary foe—but shadows are not. Filling your hearts with terror, the shadow Catina attacked instantly warps its own form in order to twist itself into a ring. Catina’s hand passes through the hole and the explosion of positive energy bursting out from her hand is wasted. In the meantime, at least, Faustinia’s silver bolts hit the shadow, which reverts to its original, humanoid-like shape as quickly as it became a ring. A few feet away from the scene of this desperate battle, Varius does what he can in order to prepare himself to the inevitable upcoming attack from the shadow next to him.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Petals quickly follows Faustinia’s attack with an accurate touch of her wand, which gives off a beam of shiny light and harms the shadow. In the meantime, Alessandro tries to open the hidden door without lowering his defense, and the skilled warrior succeeds!
Two mirrors of weird black metal hang on the opposite walls of this trapezoidal room. Strange shadowy figures writhe in the mirrors, and they do not seem to reflect light as much as absorb it.
The bad one. It’s very likely that the shadows will keep spawning at a certain rate.
The good one. Destroying the mirrors would render the link to the Plane of Shadows null, and there is a strong possibility that it would seriously harm the shadows, severing them from their original plane.
The shadows keep assaulting you, giving you no quarter and no breath. Their targets are the same as before, but the results are different. Varius gets brushed again by the shadowy grasp, and feels even weaker than before. Catina does not manage to avoid the attack, and this time she gets touched by the shadow. She starts to feel very weak too. The only one who manages to avoid the attack is Alessandro, who deftly lowers his head at the very last moment.
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⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Petals
Alessandro
Red shadow
Blue shadow
Green shadow
Catina
Varius
Lady Faustinia
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
===========
===========
Faustinia backs away from the melee with the shadows toward the single one and Alessandro. As she turns, she sees the open door and the strange, writhing mirrors within. Her brow knots in thought for a moment as she tries to process the arcane inscriptions and light-absorbing glass, before her eyes open wide in a panic. ”Alessandro! Those mirrors are portals to the plane of shadow! Destroy them before more of these things come through!” she urges, obviously terrified of the prospect of dealing with even more of these things.
Realizing that Alessandro needs to get past the shadow next to him, she starts casting a spell. Shakily drawing some powdered mineral from her component pouch, she makes a tight fist around it before letting the hand blossom open accompanied by arcane words of power. Behind the shadow, an explosion of golden particles erupts, with the shining dust clinging to its shadowy form.
---
"Get the mirror then!" shouts Varius somewhat desperately. He continues to dodge and weave and avoid the attacks of the shadow to his south. The normally chipper young warrior is pale-faced and obviously terrified, trapped between two shadows with no easy way to get out.
HP: 32/32
Conditions: 4 str damage (10 str left, -2 to attack/damage)
Alessandro tumbles past the shadow (to avoid AoO) and up to the mirror.
He grabs the nearest mirror and tosses it over the edge of the pit and tries to angle it so that it will eventually smash into the stairs after falling a ways.
"Let's see if this does the trick."
MORE!?!? Petals exclaims in horror. Break the mirror? I can help, once... in a... second she stabs her little stick at the shadow hoping their combined attacks can bring it down.
========
========
Feeling feeble and quite tired, Catina's heart sinks at hearing that there might be more shadows to deal with. "Smash it!" she yells. "We'll hold them off here as long as we can." She makes a sweeping motion with her arm, hoping to catch the shadow even if it changes shape again.
--
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
This time Catina doesn’t let the shadow escape her, and the wave of positive energy bursting out of her hand catches the shadow in front of her inside its area. Catina’s spell must have critically harmed the shadow, since it appears now to be reduced to a translucent veil, almost completely devoid of shadow matter. But still, that’s not enough to get rid of the shadow once for all.
While Varius concentrates on his defense, in order to buy more valuable time for his allies, Lady Faustinia tries to facilitate Alessandro’s task casting a blinding spell. Unfortunately, the shadow seems to resist to the spell, although its shape gets covered with glittering particles.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Petals steps forward and touches the shadow again with her wand, causing it to definitely vanish from existence in this plane.
In the meantime, Alessandro successfully evades the shadow’s guard and tumbles into the trapezoidal room with the mirrors. As soon as he tries to detach one of the mirrors from the wall, however, he finds out that the mirror is firmly secured to the wall. A great feat of strength would be needed in order to dislodge the mirror from the wall.
The two remaining shadows swarm on the Irises, and this time they are both successful. One of them touches Varius, while the other slithers into the trapezoidal room with the mirrors and pounces on Alessandro.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Petals
Alessandro
Red shadow
Blue shadow
Catina
Varius
Lady Faustinia
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
===========
===========
Knowing the mirrors must be destroyed, but finding her own armaments lacking, Faustinia resolves to call on more help. ”The mirrors tether these abominations to our plane,” she explains as quickly as she can, ”If we can destroy them, it will disrupt the shadows that are here now. Please be careful, Alessandro!” Faustinia urges before starting to cast another spell.
She lowers her stance and starts to trace various symbols in the air, uttering magical syllables as sweat rolls down her temple in intensely focused concentration.
---
========
========
Varius is tagged by a shadow again, thankfully only partially drained by the deathly touch. He keeps up the fight, dodging and weaving, silently willing Alessandro to get rid of the mirror as soon as possible.
=========
=========
Despite her feeble state, Catina manages a cheer when she hits the shadow and another when Petals manages to disperse it. The tiefling girl listens to Faustinia's explanation and makes the hard choice. "You have to hold that one off, Varius. Alessandro, I'm coming over to distract that one, so you can deal with the mirrors." She casts another spell and - with the positive energy pulsing on her hand - hustles over to the shadow harassing Alessandro. "Hey!" She swipes again, hoping to draw the shadow's attention.
--
=========
=========
Free of the shadow in front of her Petals hurries over with her hammer to try and destroy a mirror. Despite her worries about the cost of delay, she gives the shadow trying to devour Alessandro a wide birth. if it saps my strength, breaking the glass might prove impossible... glass... I'm worried if my hammer will break Glass... Magic glass, remember... my hammer could bounce like a kids ball. Here it goes...
She rears her silver weapon behind her head, and tries desperately to make it count.
=========
Round 4
=========
When Alessandro fails to remove the mirror and after the shadow drains his Strength, he no longer has any hope to destroy the mirror. He takes the total defense action (+4 AC) again and steps into flanking with Catina to at least contribute in some way.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Catina harms the shadow with positive energy, while Varius keeps offering himself as a tribute for the party’s success and Lady Faustinia starts casting a spell.
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
Petals reaches one mirror, but in doing so, she provokes an attack from the shadow. The contact with the shadow instantly makes her feel a lot weaker, and when she tries to destroy the mirror she finds her weapon bouncing against it just like a kids ball, as she had imagined. But she realizes that that’s not due to any magical protection the mirror has, but from a combination of her weakened strength and the natural resistance of the mirror itself.
In the meantime, Alessandro tries to keep his defenses high, but the shadows immediately counterattack. While Varius somehow manages to avoid any form of contact with the shadow is keeping busy, the same can’t be said about Alessandro, whose strength gets further dried up by the shadow behind him.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
: none
Petals
Alessandro
Red shadow
Blue shadow
Catina
Varius
Lady Faustinia
______________________________________________________
--- ---
|
|
===========
===========
As Faustinia finishes her spell, a new creature appears. A small but sturdy mass of stone and dirt, vaguely humanoid in shape, pops into existence inside the mirror room. It turns two gemstone eyes to the shadow nearby before Faustinia shouts out to command it. She says as quickly as she can in the slow tongue that is Terran, ”Stone one… mirror… destroy!” The stone creature turns around to face the mirror, then lifts up its thick arms to smash down into the shadowy glass.
As the elemental pounds on the mirror, Faustinia shoots a dart of acid at the nearest shadow.
---
HP 17 (2d10+6)
Fort +6, Ref -1, Will +3
Immune elemental traits
Strength 20
=========
=========
Catina is very disappointed when she watches Petals's hammer recoil from the mirror without effect. That's no ordinary mirror. It must be strenghtened by magic. The evil of shadows, perhaps? Determined not to let themselves be overwhelmed by shadows, she rallies her companions. "We have to focus on the mirrors. Like Faustinia's summoned aid. Everyone, with all the strength you have!"
She takes a step back to give herself room to swing, and lightly caresses the carved handle of her glaive as if to seek aid. We need these mirrors closed. With all the strength she still has, she swings her glaive at the mirror.
--
=========
Round 5
=========
Alessandro dodges past the shadow again makes his way towards the exit. "Please don't think me a coward but one more hit and I could very well become a shadow myself. I'd very much like to avoid that scenario."
The shadows touch felt like part of her was being dragged out of her body. A startled whimper escaped her lips as a chilling weariness settled into her muscles. Despite the desire to collapse, she dragged her hammer forward somehow only to have it bounce off like she had feared.
Despair and shock joined the weariness. What... what are we going to do? she panicked inside her head, Various and Alessandro could barely stand anymore, they were going to die, they ALL were going to DIE!
Keep Trying her mother's voice ringed firm in her head. No other words, no other suggestions, but it cut through her desperation. Cleared it enough she could think again.
Her mind raced. Faustinia said our healing touches could hurt them. Maybe... she whispered a pray to her mother, filling her hammer with her love. With all the strength left she could muster, she slowly lifted her heavy hammer.
==========
==========
Varius watches with bated breath to see if the elemental manages to dent the mirrors.
"If those mirrors don't break soon the rest of us need to follow Alessandro. We must to rethink this!"
Realizing that the tide of battle is quickly turning against them, the Irises decide to flee. Instead of returning from where they came, the heroes of Westcrown decide to take one of the side passageways leading out of this crazy room.
In one way or another, the group manages to avoid the shadows, and with great relief they see that at a certain point, after running almost out of breath, the shadows are not chasing them anymore. It's very likely, Lady Faustinia conjectures, that the shadow can't wonder off from the mirror they come from. For the moment, the party should be safe, although the shadows have dealt a heavy blow to their strenghts.
---
As they rest and try to recover their energies, and perhaps heal their wounds, the Irises see a rickety-looking wooden set of curved stairs, supported by creaking ropes above and a lattice of wooden boards below. The set of curved stairs passes like a bridge through the center of
a circular shaft. No floor is visible below, and no ceiling above. An opening in the far wall beckons about 30 feet below the point where the stairs curve.
A leap from the stairs into the hallway leading the next area is
possible.
___________________________________
|
|
Clutching her chest as she finishes gasping for breath, but otherwise none the worse for wear, Faustinia surveys her companions. ”Is everyone alright?” she asks, looking around to make sure all the Irises made it out. Looking back down the hallway, she adds, ”I don't think they can chase us here, thank the gods. We should rest while we can. Here, please, someone else should take this.” Faustinia pulls a potion vial from her bag and offers it to the rest of the group. ”We can also think about sending someone out for supplies. The whole lot of us would be suspicious, but one of us could make an excuse to duck out of the party and seek out Arael for some help with potions, if nothing else. I have a spell that might help someone get past those creatures too, but I don't know for sure…”
Faustinia utters a deep sigh and allows her tense body to relax. She drops her bag and leans her back against a wall, then slowly slumps down it into a sitting position. Rubbing her eyes with her palms she mutters, ”Gods. Here I thought we would just stroll into the mayor's secret vault and snatch his puzzle box like candy from a baby. What a fool I am.” She looks up and sighs again, before consulting her spell book. Reading it seems only to bring frustration - what was the point of trying to seek magical power if it wasn't enough when she needed it most? Her brow grows increasingly furrowed as she searches for an easy solution and doesn't find one. Eventually she hurls the book at the wall opposite her, denting one of the corners as she returns to holding her head in her hands. ”...Let’s try to get some rest,” she mutters.
---
Varius unshoulders his pack which clatters to the ground. His legs give out and he just flops unceremoniously down.
"I'm... that was horrifying. I feel weak as a baby. And I always prepare to fight one thing and end up encountering another. Petals, I think you're the most likely to talk your way out of a tricky situation."
He holds up a small vial.
"I think this will help. I... could definitely use it but I'll offer it up to someone else first."
Varius then pulls a bag from his pack, his hand shaking as he holds it up.
"I have around a thousand gold here. Just take it and come back with whatever the rest of you think we need. Petals, I nominate you to head out. I think you've the best chance of talking yourself out of an uncomfortable situation."
Petals hammer drops with a loud thump against the floor. I can't believe how heavy it is... she pants Like when I first saw as a child, begging to be allowed to play with it, and having to sneak in late to actually get to... she's babbling, distracting herself, but not well based on the tears welling in her eyes.
They almost died. She stared at the wall, remembering its touch, clutching her heart.
Faustina's book flying across the hall, paper flapping like shadow's robes, made her jump out of her skin. She wanted to run and hide and never ever come back here...
Varius' hands are what brings her back into focus. Shaking as he offered his own salvation to others. He is always sure, to the point of abject cockiness, and now is close to crumbling. She wraps her hand around his with a warm smile, You take it. It would do horrible things to your reputation if I have to carry you out of here on my back, now wouldn't it?
To the others, I can go she fumbles in her pouch and pulls out a potion I bought this just in case one of us less sneaking types needed to get past some guards. A potion of invisibility. Petals will gather Faustinia's book, kneeling down, offering it back, If you could help me on the way out, I can use the potion on the way back in. I'll be as safe as you please. her smile doing its best to be sure. Give me a list of what we need, and I'll find Arael and be back here as quick as possible.
Alessandro sits down. "I need a long rest. But resting in here disturbs me as well. I'm sorry friends. I was useless against those shadows and the mirrors. If only I had some magic to use against them. If you need any help sneaking around, I can certainly help there. Stealth and searching are my specialty more than fighting actually. And more-so now that my strength is greatly diminished. I won't be good at fighting at all until restored."
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"That will never work," Catina argues wearily against Faustinia's and Petals's plan. It might be the runecurse talking, but she doesn't sound optimistic. "Even if an invisibility spell could get you past the guard and out the front door, it's the middle of the night. There's still shadowbeasts out there! And that's not to say about the time it'll take you to get back with supplies. People will start waking up here, and out chance will be gone. All the trouble we went through - the entire play - it was just so we could be here tonight, and have this one opportunity to enter the Knot. We have to make it work with what we've got." She seems to have regained a little of her energy while talking.
The tiefling girl digs around her backpack for a potion. "Like Faustinia, I have one potion to reverse some of the shadow's drain. I say we hold on to them for now, and decide later who best can make use of them." She looks around the group. "We're going to need magic to deal with the shadows. I say some of us head back to the library, and see what we can find. Maybe there's some scrolls tucked between the books, and possibly even a magical weapon. Faustinia and I should go, I suppose. We'll be able to assess what we find, and whether it's useful."
She looks around again. [b]"Ooooor... We could take a leap of faith, and hope to bypass the shadows entirely. We could try the hallway down there, although we don't know what's behind it. Could be a dead end. But if it allows us to progress without having to deal with the shadows...? That would save us a lot of time. We might not even have to look for magical weapons, if we decide to go that way.
"We have no idea if there is anything in the library!" Petals nerves are frayed, as all of theirs are. Her voice reflects this way too much. She breaths in catching her own fear softening her voice again "Risking going past the shadows again for a chance the mayor leaves valuable magic around sounds foolhardy. So does trying to get all the way to Arael, past guards, shadowbeasts, and everything else, but at least we know there is help there..."
She sighs "Maybe... we can give the potions to our fighters" indicating Varius and Alessandro "And push on. We're past the shadows at the moment. They didn't come out when we entered the room last time, they waited a bit. When we leave we could run, as fast as we can, and hope." she looks around at the others to see what they think, but adding quickly and firmly "But if the library is what everyone thinks is the best option, we should include either Alessandro or me in the pair that leaves, in case what we need is behind a lock or two."
|
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Faustinia looks up from the blank, expended scroll she's using as scratch paper to write down a supply list. She blinks several times, waking from the haze of wracking her brain for remedies to defeat the shadows and calculating gold costs, squinting at Catina as she tries to focus on what the girl is saying. As Petals chimes in, Faustinia stands to add in her voice. Shaking her head, she says to Catina, ”Either you are wise beyond your years or I have lapsed in wisdom from mine. I had hoped I was not quite ‘old’ yet,” she tries to joke with a weak smile. ”Of course it would be foolish to leave while the shadow beasts still stalk the streets. I ditched many a party in my youth to go and bring back supplies - although usually I was sneaking off to find a decent book to read - perhaps I spoke with youthful folly.”
Her self-admonishment delivered, Faustinia takes another look around, calmer since her immediate frustrations. ”I believe the first thing we should do is try to rest. We seem safe enough in this hallway, even if it's not particularly comfortable. I'll be near useless until I can prepare better spells - I won't be terribly useful if we encounter something else dangerous.” Faustinia follows Catina’s gaze over the turn in the wooden stairs, down to the opening below they could try to jump to. ”When we're ready… well, going back into the manor seems like an alright plan. But as Catina says, what if we don't have to deal with the shadows at all? We've made it past them, worse for wear but alive. My gut says to keep exploring once we've got some strength back - anything magical and valuable is likely going to be found here, wouldn't it? Let's sleep on it, perhaps?”
Faustinia approaches the rickety looking stairs hanging over the pit of shadowy nothingness, without stepping onto them. She crumples up the expended scroll she had written on and attempts to toss it across the pit to the waiting opening thirty feet below, watching to see if this pit has some similar spacial or gravitational distortion as the pit in the shadows’ room.
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"If it is safe here, why don't we just rest for two days at the entrance? Catina can ask her god for restoration spells the next day, then after that, she can replenish her usual repertoire. We should definitely keep a watch, just in case."
We can't wait too long. We don't know how long before... Petals stops herself before saying devil meant to kill one of us, but the glance at Catina unfortunately gives her away. How about enough time for Faustinia and Catina to get spells back, for you and Varius to drink your medicine and then we keep going?
Varius shrugs and downs his potion, feeling significant strength return to his limbs.
"Someone will come looking for us eventually I imagine, although I wonder what the likelihood of being found is. This is uh... obscure. Also I doubt anyone will have recovered from this evening until tomorrow afternoon."
While Varius rests, he reads through the documents he pilfered from the attic.
"So what if they they notice us gone? Most likely they'll assume we just left the mansion. I'm sure we wouldn't be the only ones. The streets are kept lit to the noble districts. These pompous asses don't fear the night. Even less likely would anyone assume that we are in the Asmodean Knot. The only ones we'd need to worry about are the mayor and his majordomo. No one else likely even knows about the Knot. And I doubt the mayor or majordomo would think we knew about it to think to look for us in here. Also, I doubt the mayor himself even uses the Knot much, judging from its fearsome guardians unless he has a specific way to bypass them. And if he does come in after us, and has a method to bypass some traps, we can attempt to take it for ourselves. Lastly, we are not nobles. We may be guests but we are still just commoners in their eyes and likely below their notice at all. I'm sure they aren't giving our presence or absence much thought at all."
"On another thought, the Knot is in its own plane. I am far from a scholar on such things but I've heard that not all planes operate on the same time as each others. Who's to say the time passing in here is passing outside at all. I have no way of knowing if it is true I suppose, but it's another possibility. The man we found at the entrance could have been killed a hundred years ago for all we know."