Moments ago...
Yeda pauses and stares at her rag in the pool at length. Hmm... that worked a little too well.
She gently lifts it back out with the end of her sword and shakes it out dry before proceeding to the next door.
Zeldana looked at Loxley a little confused. "Why would I make the offer unless I didn't intend for you to take me up on it?" Zeldana asked. "Unless you mean to say you want some drink that is astronomically expensive.... however I don't think there is anything like that in little Sandpoint."
Then she followed Yeda, passing by the pool with a small pause. "Curious..."
"Let me help check that next door for traps"
(+1 for traps)
Sazzat, and his raccoon, search the door diligently for any type of trap. Starting from the top, along the door jamb, the gap between door frame and door itself, along the edge, ceiling, rock wall, he inspects each surface. No nook nor cranny is left to chance; his small metal probe pushing lightly upon the surfaces.
Finally he turns to Yeda, and nods, his face showing that he is sure that there are no traps to be found upon this doorway.
Yeda, trusting her diligent companions efforts in keeping the party free from traps and surprises, steps up to the door and turns the dull brass knob.
The knob squeaks in protest from being turned, tarnish and age built up upon the shaft, the gears, the turning parts. It shifts and moves, and the door breaks open. A hard push frees the confined door from the sturdy frame, and with the grind of dust being pushed upon the floor, it swings open, revealing another short set of stairs that descend downwards, and stopping at a landing.
Upon the landing is another door. Silent. Still. Foreboding. The light from Yeda's sword casts back the eerily darkness within the tunnel. The Door, even from 20 feet away, reveals a stark scene set in relief upon the wooden door. A three eyed jackal overlooks the scene of some sort of ceremony, a figure standing taller than others arms outstretched, and smaller figures interposed at various stages of strange mutations. above, upon the top 1/3 of the door, is a single seven pointed star, gilded and still shiny.
Tamm casts Detect Magic and examines the next door.
(+1 for traps)
Yeda holds her blade's light up to aid Tamm's inspection of the door. She awaits his nod to push through the next one.
It can't be too much further...
Loxley gave a rye chuckle at Zeldana.
”I don’t know, Miss Ameiko seems the type to have something really good hidden away in the back.”
She eyed the pool as the moved on. Arrow ready as Sazzat checked the door, she drew it taught when Yeda gave it a hefty shove and it opened. Beyond it, a rather grim relief stared back at the group.
She eyed Yeda unsurely. Maybe it was just the halls fueling her doubts, but something felt off and she couldn’t put a finger on what was causing her paranoia.
The door squeals loud within the small confines of the hall, the sound screeching hard upon the ears, like hundreds of nails upon a chalkboard. Red grit explodes in tiny puffs as ancient hinges are moved for the first time in many, many, many years. Yeda grunts and slams her shoulder into the hard wood, forcing it open.
Stepping into the room, she sees that the room is actually the bottom of a spiral staircase that starts and twists up from the left in a clockwise manner.
"Up or own?" Tamm asks as he looks at the stairs.
"Dewdrop. Guard this juncture."
He began with a slight scowl eyeing both pathways.
"The stories always have the evil being in deep dark places, but. . . I dont like the idea of where up might lead."
He began cracking his neck and hefting a spear. He chanting slightly the tip of his spear glowing like Yeda's sword and then he darted up the stairs.
"Be right back"
He called back.
"How deep does this place go?" Zeldana wondered curiously.
Then Corrine ran past her and bolted up the stairs, making Zeldana's eyes go wide. "What just happened?" She muttered in a bit of shock.
Yeda gasps at Corrin's sprinting ahead of the team.
Wait! What do you mean 'right back'? C'mon everybody, we can't let him go alone!
Yeda beings following up the stairs, but more careful and not at quite a breakneck pace. She listens to ensure she at least hears Corrin.
"Whoa....he's never done that before." Tamm says as Corrin runs off.
He startled when he noticed you following up Yeda.
"As I figured, blocked by a rock fall.. or is it a marblefall? Guess its down we head for sure."
"We should probably follow them!" Zeldana pointed out to Sazzat and Loxley before she headed up the steps as well.
Tamm cocks his head and listens
"It doesn't sound like they made it very far...."
"Corrin!"
Loxley gasped as the elf ran into the darkness. She nods strongly to Zeldana and quickly followed the others.
"What is going on?" She thinks to herself. "People are starting to act strange all of a sudden."
Yeda nods at Corrin, but then looks closer. She points her sword upward revealing the gaps in the rock.
You're a graceful elf. You don't even want to try to shimmy up there?
She looks at him expectantly.
Sazzat and his furry companion look up as everyone rushes up the stairs after Corrin...
Bandit, perched upon his shoulder, looks Sazzat square in the eye and shakes his head before putting his little black paws over his face. Youd almost swear that you heard a slight sigh come from the 'coons mouth.
The warrior grunts at Corrin derisively. Yeah, okay. I guess you've been overdoing it on the goodberries lately. No squeezing through rocks.
She turns to head back down just as others in the party come rushing up. She passes them nonchalantly while muttering Party's over...
Getting to the bottom Yeda sees that Tamm alone.
Holding down the fort? she asks the raccoon.
"Anything interesting up there?" Tamm asks Yeda.
"blocked by rubble, guess its down we head. I had sort of figured that it would lead to nothing thats why i moved quickly. This place is starting to wear on my senses."
He began as he joined the others patting Dewdrop but not releasing him from his guarding spot.
"No way out up there?" Tamm asks.
"I think that means we've looked in all the different rooms and passages down here."
"Do we want to go grab that dead guard and get out of here and back up to the daylight?"
"I wasted my cloak on wrapping that guy up. We might as well take him back up, even if it's going to be a closed-casket funeral."
Zeldana came back down and sigh. "I am in agreement on leaving this place. As much as I'd like to study it further I'd be more than happy to see the sky again."
Loxley sighed a bit in relief.
"I will be more then happy to not have stone and dirt over my head. If I'm never underground again, it will be too soon."
She slid her arrow back into her quiver and shouldered her bow. Her hand rested on her scabbard still though. She wasn't going to drop her guard completely until her was back in the open air.
"I certainly hope the guard isn't dead."
Loxley sounded concerned.
"Right then, lets go."
He offered leading the way back as he whistled for Dewdrop to follow along. He did stop at the statue again and after a moment of staring at the weapon they put back in place looked to the others.
"should we leave it here? take it?"
Hmm, yes I could use some fresh air. I will not miss this foul place. I wonder what more Tsuto can tell us about this place, about where the caved-in passages led...
"If we don't take that weapon, then someone from the town will sneak down here and take it instead." Tamm says.
"Better not to leave valuable objects down here to attract people."
Standing in the shrine room dedicated to Lamashtu, the group looks down upon a strange sight to see.
The mutated, twisted body of the former guard known as Karsen has, simply, disolved. Where there was once a body is now a large, black pile of ooze that slowly pulsates across the floor; it's movement guiding the thing towards the large double doors on the opposite wall.
Seeing the ooze before them gave Zeldana pause, a slight look of shock and disgust on her face. Then she saw were it was trying to go and told the others. "Don't let it get through those doors!"
Now as to how they were going to do that... the witch didn't know...
Seeing the slime trailing away from where they wrapped up the dead guard in his old cloak, Tamm says: "Ok...somebody owes me a new cloak...."
Tamm points a finger at the slime and directs a Ray of Frost at it.
(touch)
Loxley looks at the creeping ooze with open disgust. Stepping up beside him she points makes a gesture of her own and matches his Ray of Frost.
Of course... I should have known we wouldn't just traipse out of this horrible place! Yeda remarks with marked irritation.
She holds her sword out towards it, then shakes her head no acknowledging she can't actually hurt it and backs up.
Anybody have something we can burn it with?
the slimy ooze sludges forward, only to pause momentarily at the combined attacks from Loxley and Sazzat. The magical freeze that sets upon the thing causes its mucilaginous form to harden like a weird supple shell. It stays in this rigid form for a moment, and then slurps forward at a snails pace.
"Got to think of something! Got to think of something!" Zeldana said as she sought her thoughts about what to do. "We could push something under the door... Some kind of cloth... But why is it heading there... the well maybe?" She wondered.
Yeda's eyes light up and she points at the ooze with her sword (but still standing back).
Hey, Tamm, I think that did something! Keep zapping it and hold it still.
Tamm zaps it again.
”Do you think that hole in the other room could hold it?”
Loxley asked as she added her own ray to the attack, determined to turn the ooze into a solid chuck if needed.
"Well yes but how do we get it there?" Zeldana asked. "We need something it can't go through and push it there, while keeping it from going another way! That's a tall order..." She said with a sigh.
"I have an idea, but it is... greatly experimental... and could go... very wrong!" Zeldana said as she looked at the others for their okay to try.
Loxley spares a glance at Zeldana and nods. ”I’m willing to try. We can’t let it get away. I’ll do what I can to help.”
She looks around at the others, waiting for their opinions.
He tilted his head to the side clearly confused as to what everyone was doing but he held onto the strange expensive polearm.
"if its frozen i can try to push it with this thing, where or what are we doing with it?"
He asked shadowing the ice beam casters.