Kyrian starts with the middle door, tapping it with his tools and checking it carefully for traps. Finding none, he works at the lock and picks it easily. The lock clicks open, and he swings open the door.
Beyond is a simple cell with bare stone floors and walls. A human skeleton lies on the floor. Examining the bones, you notice a peculiarity: it apparently has three arms and three legs, the bones of which all seem far too long and narrow for its torso.
Kyrian repeats this with the other two doors, and unlocks them as well. The other two cells are more-or-less identical to the previous one, with some differences in the features of the skeleton: one has a huge and misshapen skull, and the other seems to have an extended rib cage that goes all the way down to a stunted pelvis with vestigial leg bones strewn below its strangely flat girth.
Lynnda casts detect magic again, but does not see any auras of magic.
Can we tell if the bones are recent or ancient?
Halvor stares apprehensively at the skeletons, not wishing to know what terrible magic twisted the creatures within. Gladly leaving the grim find behind, he follows Cerin to the previous room, getting ready to proceed should he be given the all clear.
Can we tell if the bones are recent or ancient?
The bones are obviously dry and completely clean of flesh. You could make a Survival, Heal, Knowledge (nature), or Profession (physician) check to try to determine their age.
Cerin does not hear anything beyond the door in the torture chamber.
|
While waiting for Krissina to finish her examination, Cerin copies down the runes they have seen so far to make a more detailed study of them when they get back to town. "Thassilonian is a fascinating language. I've heard that they had some very unique ideas about the study of magic, as well. I'm going to have to find some time when this is over to study it more thoroughly!" he chats to Halvor.
When they are all gathered together again, he opens the door and peeks through.
Halvor nods politely along with Cerin's chit-chat, the topic itself of no interest to him. However, the gnome made fine company and knew a lot of stuff, so the warrior continues to humor him, encouraging him in his banter.
As Cerin opens the door, Halvor holds his sword ready, and will lead in if nobody cuts in front.
The unlocked door opens easily, revealing a staircase carved out of the bedrock, descending into darkness below.
You descend the stairs. They descend for 30 feet to an open doorway into a dark chamber. The domed ceiling of this strangely cold chamber rises twenty feet above the floor at it center. Eleven heavy chains hang down from the ceiling, each passing through a decaying five-foot square wooden trap door on the floor.
As Halvor steps into the chamber, something immediately attacks him from the shadows near the entrance!
Surprise Round
Taller than a man, this hideous creature vaguely resembles an oversized goblin, except for the extra limbs: a squat foot grows out of the side of its head, a tiny arm from its right hip, and a second fully-formed arm from its left shoulder! It holds weapons in two of its three seemingly-functional arms, one of which is a nasty-looking axe! It swings the axe at Halvor, striking the unaware warrior on the shoulder! Fortunately, his armor absorbs much of the blow.
Barely able to see anything from her position at the back, Krissina dutifully checks behind the party for ambushers.
Cerin bounds past Halvor, running around both his startled friend and the weird mutant goblin. As he darts by the disgusting creature, it slashes at him with its dagger, but Cerin is far to agile for the blow to come anywhere close.
...irrelevant
Kyrian waits a moment for Cerin to bound around behind the creature to flank it, and then strikes at it from around the corner. However, with the wall between them, he can't get a good angle of attack.
Round 1
Realizing that there are more of you up the stairs, the creature attempts to knock Cerin out of his way and retreat past him.
It stiff-arms the smaller man and runs past the opening to a corridor heading south. While it moves, its third arm draws a longsword that glows with an eerie blue light. It then turns to you, smiles, grunts, "Hogga hogga gib-gab!" and grabs a lever that is sticking out of the wall.
When the lever is thrown, you hear a distant *THUD* followed by a rhythmic CLANK-CLANK-CLANK-CLANK-CLANK. Nine of the eleven rusty chains hanging down from the ceiling start to recede into the ceiling. Three of these chains apparently aren't connected to anything, and simply rise. Six of the chains begin to raise the trap doors off the floor. You now see that the wooden trap doors are actually the tops of iron frames, like cages without bars, which the chains pull up from square holes in the floor. As they rise, you can see that the six cages each hold a humanoid form composed of decayed, desiccated flesh. They shuffle and moan hoarsely from their cages. At this point, the cages have raised up enough such that the figures' heads and shoulders are just above the level of the floor!
Hearing all the clanking, Krissina heads into the room.
Halvor slashes across as the little creep moves away from the group, then tries to follow, struggling to keep up. Deftly avoiding the trap doors, he drops his longsword and shield, pulling out the excellent ranseur they found earlier. He jabs forward with it, attempting to end this goblin before any reinforcements came out.
|
|
Cerin tries to slash the goblin, but it pushes him off balance as it charges past. After recovering, he races after Halvor to try to take down the mutant.
Turning to see what is going on at the sound of the chains, he grimaces. "Whoever has that potion that makes you invisible to the undead, now might be a good time for it!"
Running down the stairs and taking in the room, Lynnda exclaims, "Aroden's arse! What in the Abyss is that thing?" She then casts a spell. Ghostly motes of multicolored light appear around the mutant goblin's head, floating and twinkling dreamily.
Perched on her shoulder, Shadow looks at the rising cages holding zombies, and hisses menacingly.
...fails
As the monster stiff-arms Cerin, knocking him off balance, it turns its back on Halvor, dropping its guard. Halvor reacts with a nasty slash with his sword, cutting a red gash across its back. It grunts in pain as it runs to the lever, which it throws. Cerin follows, but the monster seems to possess an unnatural agility, and sidesteps his scimitar. From where he now stands, Cerin can see that the opening in the south wall is a corridor that heads south into darkness, with one passage that leads east.
Seeing its hand off the lever, Krissina calls to the spirits to push the lever back down. But the lever seems to require more force to move than the spirits are able to muster.
Meanwhile, Halvor drops his sword and shield, and readies the mithril ranseur liberated from the marble statue earlier. The weapon proves to be razor-sharp, and he skewers the hideous mutant in the chest. It howls in pain.
Kyrian drops his shortsword and presses into the room, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow. He lets the arrow fly, and it strikes its mark, sticking out of the creature's mutant shoulder that sprouts two arms.
Lynnda casts a spell at the beast, causing motes of multicolored lights to twinkle and flit in front of its deformed face. The thing appears to be distracted by the lights, as if it wasn't under attack!
The distant rumbling of metal wheels and CLANK-CLANK-CLANK of the chains continue, and the six cages continue to rise into the air. Two of the chains snap, sending their cages crashing back into the holes in the floor. However, the four remaining cages are now about halfway out of their holes, and the zombies therein claw at the air (and any people) around them.
Round 2
...miss
...hit
The mutant goblin stands in place and stares vacantly at Lynnda's motes of light.
The caged zombie that's rising next to Krissina strikes at her legs, slamming her hard in the shins.
Making a quick guess at distance, Krissina steps back and spreads the fingers of her shield-hand, flame flickers, but she can't manage to call them forth.
Knowing the gnome and sorceress are more quick-thinking than he is, he yells out, "Stop those cages!"
He turns his attention to making sure the mutant before him doesn't get to attack his friends again.
After his attack, he steps back 5 feet, if he can, hoping to skewer the little bastard if he tries to press an attack on the warrior. If the goblin falls, Halvor turns to the nearest cage, getting ready to fight zombies, if needed.
"Man, is there anything in the place that doesn't look ugly as sin?" Kyrian says as he lets loose another arrow.
Seeing Krissina get mauled by one of the caged zombies, Lynnda casts a spell, and a ray of icy magic shoots from her outstretched hand at the thing.
Krissina attempts to cast a spell, but is distracted by the undead arms clutching up at her, and the spell fizzles.
Lynnda casts a spell of her own and a blue-white ray of energy shoots at one of the zombies attacking Krissina, but the sorceress misjudges the angle and the ray simply hits the wall.
Kyrian lets loose an arrow at the three- (or is it four-?) armed goblin, but the arrow harmlessly bounces off its unnaturally thick hide.
Cerin reaches around the dazed creature and pulls the lever. You hear a metallic screech and the grating sound of chains in gears stopping and reversing. The rising cages halt with a lurch, and then begin to descend back into the tomb-like pits in the floor.
As the mutant goblin stands staring at the blinking lights, Halvor skewers it in the gut, inflicting what appears to be a mortal wound. Blood gushes from its abdomen, but that seems to shake it out of its stupor, and it roars in fury.
Round 3
...hit
...miss
...crit threat
...no
...miss
The zombies' cages descend back into their burial chambers. Krissina breathes a sigh of relief and turns toward Lynnda just as a zombie punches her hard in the gut. She doubles over in pain, and its other fist smashes into the side of her head! Krissina falls hard onto the floor! [ooc]Take 13 hp damage from two solid hits. Krissina is at (-3) hp, and is unconscious and dying.
Despite the blood gushing from its torn-open belly, the mutant goblin roars in anger and moves in toward Halvor, parrying the warrior's ranseur with its glowing sword and dagger. With its third arm, it chops into Halvor's shoulder with its handaxe. While Halvor's armor absorbs most of the bow, it still really hurts!
Not wanting to leave Cerin stranded, but wanting to create distance between the mutant goblin and himself, Halvor backs off a step, gritting his teeth as he sees the redhead fall. He couldn't effectively help her while this thing was still alive, so he does his best to make it dead, thrusting forward.
"Krissina!"
Lynnda rushes over to Krissina's unconscious form and drags her away from the grasping reach of the trapped zombie.
|
|
Cerin looks pleased as the cages start to lower and Halvor badly wounds the mutant. He is waiting for an opening to finish off the goblin when he hears Lynnda's shout. His head snaps around and his expression turns grim at the sight of Krissina's unmoving form.
The decision is made almost without thinking as he steps back, sheathes his sword and calls on Gozreh, his birthmark glowing brightly.
...hit
...miss
...miss
Kyrian fires another arrow at the goblin, and hits it squarely in the foot that grows out of the side of its neck. However, the monster seems so intent on attacking Halvor that it barely seems to register the wound.
Shocked at her friend being taken down by the zombies, Lynnda rushes forward and drags her out their reach. Ignoring his own safety, Cerin bounds past the mutant goblin and the steadily-descending zombies, evading their grasp. He casts a spell, and his hand glows with the sunshine of a warm spring afternoon. He touches Krissina's face, and she stops bleeding; her breathing becomes steady and rhythmic.
The goblin seems to be fully concentrating on his ranseur-armed opponent, and doesn't even make an attempt to strike at Cerin as he runs past. Using its dagger and handaxe, it parries the long weapon as Halvor attempts to stab it to death. The weapon passes harmlessly to the monster's side.
Round 4
The cages continue to descend into their pits, and now only the zombies' heads are visible; barely a foot of the cages remain above the floor.
The mutant goblin clutches its perforated belly and staggers forward, making a gagging, retching sound. At first you think it's the monster's death throes, but it then opens its mouth and vomits a jet of sickly green bile streaked with blood at Halvor and Kyrian! The stench of the fluid is nauseating, and both men are splattered with it. The digestive fluid burns their exposed skin.
...
Halvor relaxes as the creature starts to gag, thinking it will fall down. He twists to the side as a line of acid comes out of its mouth, instead, hissing in pain as his left hand and arm are hit with a patch of the foul liquid.
Glancing behind him nervously, the warrior realizes he still has a bit of space to work with as he backs up once again, thrusting forward once again.
...fails
Kyrian manages to dodge most of the projectile vomit from the mutant goblin, but is quickly overcome by the smell. He drops his bow, clutches his belly, and adds his own vomit to the splatter on the floor. Halvor is also splashed by the bile, but manages to avoid getting hit directly. While certainly disgusted, Halvor resists the urge to throw up caused by the stench.
With the zombies mostly back in their tombs, Cerin has no trouble casting a spell. Again, his hand glows with the warmth of the summer sun as he touches Krissina's wounds. A gentle breeze blows over them both that carries with it the scent of rain in a forest. She opens her eyes to see the concerned face of her friend kneeling beside her.
After spewing the line of bile, the mutant goblin drops its guard momentarily to draw a deeper breath. Halvor seizes the opportunity and jabs at it with his ranseur. This time, the warrior is too fast for the creature to react, and he stabs it in the belly once again. The creature's foul-smelling bowels spill from the wound, it sinks to its knees, and slumps over. Its vestigial arm continues to twitch for several seconds before it goes still.
End of combat
Now that the fight is over, you take a few moments to examine the room. Lynnda casts detect magic and scans the room for magical auras. After recovering from being sick, Kyrian examines the wooden trap doors over the zombie pits, and discovers that they pull up easily to reveal the shambling undead creatures trapped in 10-foot-deep pits that are five feet square in area. A zombie shuffles around each of the 11 pits.
You examine the mutant goblin's corpse. It hadn't been wearing any armor, as its hide seems unnaturally tough. It only wore tattered rags, but did carry three weapons: a handaxe, an alchemical silver dagger with a pommel shaped like a skull, and a longsword that continues to glow with an eerie greenish light. All three of the weapons appear to be of human manufacture; the handaxe seems especially well-constructed and sharp.
Lynnda picks up the sword and examines its magical aura. Its hilt and crossguard are fashioned to resemble a winged eye, and it has a green gem in the pommel.
There is a corridor heading south out of this room. You can also see a side passage off that corridor that heads east.
Looking at her friends, Lynnda comments, "Wow. We're all pretty banged up." She rifles a moment through her satchel and produces both a small pot of unguent and a packet of yellowish-white powder. "Does anyone want to use either of these?"
"Sorry, I wasn't much help there, thanks for pulling me out." Krissina looks rather embarrassed at having being pummelled into unconsciousness.
"I can manage a couple more curing spells, we should probably make sure Halvor is up and ready - he takes the brunt of the hits."
"I dunno, Red. You look pretty roughed up. I think you should use some of the healing balm." She offers her friend the pot of unguent that Hannah had given her earlier today.
Lynnda walks over to Halvor. "Okay, big guy. I've used this stuff before, and it really, really stings, but it will heal those wounds. Hold still." She tears open the parchment packet and pours a liberal amount of the yellowish powder into his wounds.
Lynnda sprinkles the powder into Halvor's wounds. As it touches the wetness of the wounds, the powder quickly liquefies into a thick paste, which begins to bubble. Halvor feels a sensation that at first tickles, then stings, then burns, then itches painfully while still stinging and burning.
After less than a minute of severe pain, his wounds have significantly healed— as if they had healed naturally for a few days.
|
|
After inspecting the wand for a few moments, Cerin mutters something under his breath and taps Krissina lightly. As her wounds start to heal, he smiles and taps her again. "How do you feel?" he asks before moving on to Halvor and Kyrian. "This is a very well made wand!", he exclaims as it quickly takes care of everyone's injuries.
He checks Lynnda over and nods his head, satisfied. "It seems we escaped the worst of it, eh?" he teases her with a grin.
Halvor winces, struggling not to retch as the powder does it grisly work. gritting his teeth against the pain. After it passes, he smiles gratefully at Lynnda. "Thanks! Kind of weird, but effective!"
He sighs in contentment as Cerin uses the wand to close up the rest of his wounds, "I think I'm good to go on now, if everyone else is. I was feeling pretty rough there for a moment!"
Between Cerin's wand and Lynnda's alchemical remedy, your wounds magically heal, and you feel much refreshed.
Once everyone gets to feeling refreshed, Halvor will lead the way down the southern corridor leading out of the room with the zombie cages when everyone is ready. With the strange things they have already encountered, he keeps on guard, wondering what new menace might pop out of the next room.
|
|
As Halvor walks out of the room, Cerin calls out "I think it might be a good idea to dispose of these unnatural things. There might be someone else in this place deranged enough to set them loose. I am sure your polearm can make short work of them."
He picks up the other weapons and looks at the sword."That appears to be made to honor the God Aroden, last of the Azlanti. Lynnda, what do you make of that?" he asks before touching his birthmark and uttering a short prayer to his God as his eyes start to glow.
Nodding grimly, Halvor sets to work with the ranseur, taking his time putting the undead creatures to rest as the others figure out what kind of treasures the goblin possessed. The sword with the eerie green light seemed pretty cool, but he was loathe to handle it until Lynnda or Cerin inspected it and told him it was safe.
Krissina thanks Cerin for the healing wand and Lynnda for the salve, though after magic clears up her wounds there's no need for it.
...and waits for Cerin to draw some conclusions from his examining.
The mutant goblin had stood over six feet tall: its excessive size was part of its bizarre nature. It was size Medium, and was using weapons sized for humans.
Cerin casts a spell and examines the sword closely.
The wooden lids to the metal cages come off easily. With nowhere to go, the zombies don't stand much of a chance as Halvor chops them to bits with the ranseur. Destroying all 11 zombies takes about 10 minutes.
Answering Cerin's question, Lynnda replies, "Yeah, it sure does look like the old Arodenite holy symbols I've seen for sale as trinkets. Of course, Aroden died like, what, a hundred years ago? Y'know, I think I've seen that symbol on ships' flags in Magnimar Harbor too!"
|
|
"I think we have just found that goblin Shalelu mentioned, Korvus. Which means that this is not his natural form. Something down here has mutated him into that..." he shudders.
"Well Halvor, I think you could make best use of the magical sword. While I don't think much of modern Chelish craftsmanship, this is from the time before they became devil-worshippers, so I think it will serve you well."
Halvor accepts the blade warily, but relaxes once he gets a good grip on it. It feels lighter and more well-balanced than his well-used mundane sword, and a few test swings confirm that it is something special, indeed. He nods, a smile breaking out on his face. "How about the axe and dagger? They seem useful, as well."
"Maybe we aught to not spend too much time down here, for fear of growing an extra arm? Let's certainly not drink anything we find down here."
Considering the weapons, "I don't think I'd trust myself swinging that axe around, I might take the dagger, if no-one else wants it"
Halvor follows closely behind Cerin, keeping his sword sheathed while the gnome peers down the corridor. If he waves him forward, the warrior draws the sword, the light guiding his way as he leads the way down the hall.