Theron is able to identify a number of them, kind of, but all of them are downright... off. They just don't look quite right, like they don't belong on this world. They seem harmless enough though if the similarities to the molds and funguses she knows is to be trusted, and the spore release is to be expected the way Tho is tromping about in his heavy armor, squashing things. From his current angle all Theron can see is a small corner of the room so he sticks his head out and peeks around the corner but sees more of the same. The far end of the room seems particularly thick and slimy though.
You all notice that it seems colder in the room than outside and Thokzazt noticed it got even colder as he moved into the room.
Marock, from his vantage point, is able to spot a backpack in the central northwestern corner of the room, half overgrown with mold.
Bold May go
Thokzazt: walked boldly into room
Selethe
Marock: Stepped tentatively into the room, looked around, and spotted a backpack
Erlathan: looked into the room from a poor (but safe) vantage point.
Theron; stuck his head into the room and looked around
Roc companion
Selethe sees the same backpack.
The backpack is where the 'b' is. Are you moving over to it in a straight line?
Bold May go
Thokzazt
Selethe
Marock
Erlathan
Theron
Thokzazt makes the lonely trip to the backpack, returning to the party so that he can see what Marock is pointing at, then bravely trundling over to the corner to retrieve the backpack, under the watchful eye of the rest of the party. Other than another innocuous spore trail and a deepening of the cold, Thokzazt senses no disturbances or presences.
He brings the backpack back to the party after scraping a layer of mold off of it. Under the mold the backpack looks a bit the worse for wear but not likely to fall apart on him. In spite of whatever precautions you take...
The backpack is not trapped and holds a collection of jars, masks, and both magical and non-magical but obviously valuable historical paraphernalia (canopic jars, jeweled death masks, gilded ushabti, and other valuable Osiriani relics). Also inside is a scrap of paper with the phrase “The Eye is always vigilant” written on it. Nothing magical.
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Erlathan chuckles. "A paranoid person? I'd expect as much in the infamous Blakros Museum. You just can never tell what's going to be behind a door - a vargouille? A statue that can dissolve weapons? Or perhaps some dancing monkey idols.." He throws his hands up in dismissal. "Bah, let's be on with this."
"When we have finished in this room, Perhaps we should see if Nigel can interpret any of these notes."
Thokzazt and Marock lead the way, Marock taking the southern side and Thokzazt the northern. As they pass each aisle they search and meet in the middle. The others hang back a bit with Erlathan maintaining a detect magic spell in case something pops into his detection range. As they progress it gets colder and colder. When they get to the aisle marked with a B and start inwards, a patch of mold nearer to Marock starts quivering; it's erie blue flowers open and the cold intensifies brutally.
Marock takes , and backs away quickly. Thokzazt is just far enough away so that he is unaffected, though his innate cold resistance would have spared him most of the damage anyway.
When Theron catches up and is able to take a look, he will be able to identify it as a common underground hazard known as Brown Mold , or an odd unearthly variety of it. Luckily Marock was not carrying a torch!
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Marock quickly backs away from the hazard. "There is something over there that feels like it draws the heat right out of you."
Marock retrieves his wand of cure light wounds and activates it on himself once to offset the uncomfortable cold.
"What ever that stuff is, we need to steer clear of it, or destroy it. I am curious why this room is so full of vegetation. Does anyone have any insight on what would cause this?" Marock says as he puts away his wand.
Shall I assume you move on searching the rest of the room while avoiding the hazardous patch of mold. Any changes to the way in which you search?
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"Well, you might be thinking up strategy, for your own good then. That's a brown mold.
Brown mold feed on warmth, drawing heat from anything around it. They normally come in patches 5 feet in diameter, and the temperature is always cold in a 30-foot radius around it.
Anything living within 5 feet of it is affected by the cold. Fire brought within 5 feet of brown mold causes them to instantly double in size. Cold damage, like from freezing spells, outright kills it."
Searching further, you pass the brown mold and look around the next bookshelf to find youselves confronted with one of the most obnoxious denisans of the underworld - the infamous shrieker mushroom. This huge purple mushroom is about the size of a man. You soon get an earful of the reason for the naming. The fungus starts screaching. Painfully loud, though not so painful that it causes any damage to your systems. Theron, who has the requisite knowledge skills, will be able to fill you in on the details later, but for now do any of you cast any defensive spells or prepare for action in any way?
Everyone please make a DC 11 fort save or take
sonic damage for the one round of shrieking.
Erlathan's roll:
You obliterate the poor pile of mushroom rubble and the shrieking stops;
None of you cast any defensive spells, which is good, since the only things that would have come running are the things you toasted in the previous rooms.
You are all in the slimy area of the room (the eastern 20x20 portion). The terrain is difficult terrain, though it hardly matters since you have cleared the level. The search continues and Theron first spots, hidden beneath a thick layer of fungus, a circular, 10-foot diameter shaft that drops 40 feet from the archives to the level below. The fungus over the shaft has a slightly off color tint as if better nourished that, which clued Theron in. A narrow flight of stone steps spirals down along the shaft’s circumference, coated with slime and mold. You may try the steps, which require a moderately difficult acrobatics roll or the wall which requires a very difficult climb roll. Neither look very tempting to the less athletic or heavily armored.
Would you like to take this moment to pop out and visit Nigil for a quick consultation, or would you prefer to do this the traditional Pathfinder way and rush forward?
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With a loud CLANG Thokzazt slams his gauntlets to his ears, as blood drips out the bottom of his helmet.
Speaking a little loader than normal, Thokzazt adds, "I think Speaking with Nigel would give some... Insight before dropping into the depths below. Forewarned is fore armed."
With an uncharacteristic chuckle, He adds "That's the only good advice I've ever gotten from a Glabrezu."
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Marock shrugs off the shrieker's high pitched sound, finding it to be the equivalent to Erlathan's continual banter.
"With the passage down being concealed, I believe this is a good time to withdraw and ask Nigil if he can translate the document we found. The information in it might prove to be worth the time."
You bring your notes to Nigil. He is waiting nervously near the entrance and greets you with enthusiasm.
"You made it back! Oh, this is good news. Please tell me that the basement is back in order and the guards are safe."
Nigil is visibly wringing his hands, half with excitement and half trepidation.
"Oh. Well, then, what exactly is going on down there? How did he die? How much longer before the problem is solved? Can I help somehow?"
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Marock pulls out the sheet of parchment written in the Osiriani language, and then pulls out the book with the underlined passages in Osiriani.
"We found these two items and are unable to translate them. We believe they may provide us either with some answers to why things are going wrong, or could give us some insight on what to expect further down the road. We where hoping you might be able to translate them."
Marock hands over both items to Nigil.
@Tho
"Hole? What hole? I don't remember any hole." It did look like it may have been boarded up at one point.
Your haul from the scriptorium includes some scrolls and books, each containing treatises on the solar system and the empty space beyond. Underlined passages and marginalia hand-written in Osiriani refer to the "the Dark Tapestry" and the "Dominions of the Black," as well as something called the "Gate of Beyond," a long-lost portal to these otherworldly realms. References to an ancient aberrant sorcerer named Kubburum Ishmedagan and the mad wizard Ralzeros the Overwatched are also highlighted.
Please make a DC 25 Knowledge (history) check with a +2 circumstance bonus to gain more information about Ralzeros and his studies .
The parchment that fell beneath the desk is written completely in Osirani. It contains some notes as well as sketches and diagrams of a magical gate, which you assume is the design for just such a gate.
A DC 25 Linguistics check may be made to decipher some of the cryptic diagrams and references in the notes to get a better understanding of the inner workings of the proposed gate. Nigil will be able to aid for a +2.
The diagram shows a canister connected to the gate with something inside it, which is somehow used to open the gate. Destroying the canister will demolish the portal.
Tell me how you all plan on descending the shaft.
Nigil:
"Then there is hope! Do you think you are able to deal with this issue or should I call in the wizards of the Arcanamirium to deal with it instead?"
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Marock glances at the museum for a moment and then looks back over to Nigil. "I believe we will be able to find the problem and deal with it accordingly. If this was just a case of magic gone haywire, I would say the wizards school would be more equipped to handle the problem. By the sound of things, we may be dealing with elements of the black tapestry. If that is the case, I am thinking there are very few people around that have had experience dealing with a situation like this. We will head back immediately and attempt to correct the problem. If we fail, the wizards school might be a secondary option."
Marock collects up his crossbow, loads it with a bolt, and then begins to head back into the museum.
Still need to hear how each of you descendand for you to make your respective rolls. Erlathan will go last .
Nothing presents itself. The bookcases are covered with mold and fungus as is everything else, and its all in a pretty rotten and slimy state, particularly near the hole. If you have an iron spike or something you could probably manage a secure anchor.
The surface around the pit is VERY slimy, such that it counts as difficult terrain. If you could extend the rope to a doorway and anchor it in another room, that would work, but holding on to it when the floor is so slippy would be a recipe for disaster. The door you came through is pretty far away but you could use something, like a desk, to provide an anchor if you can scrounge up 100' of rope. Less rope would be needed if you opened the nearby door but it seems pretty wedged in there and will require a strength roll to force open (DC 20 strength roll).