Mahdi flops back against the nearest wall as soon as the last rast is dispatched. "That was ridiculous," he mutters darkly. He tucks the wand away carefully-- the little earth creature's gift has turned out valuable indeed-- and pushes back his kefiyeh to run his fingers through his sweaty hair. It's been a trying day.
...a very trying day, he thinks, watching Pent's behavior a few morbidly fascinated seconds before he turns away with a grimace.
He nods wearily at Aldebert's words of studying the enchantments on the room. "I was doing so, when those wretches interrupted us."
"I think we'll be safe enough from those rasts for tonight, but the magic that calls them refreshes daily," he says to the group, only to realize that several of 'the group' are already out cold. Mahdi snorts.
He listens to Alde's words on the potion with an arched brow, and a little nod. "Mightn't we be able to cleanse the points where the poison entered your system?" he says vaguely. "I'm no physician, but one can siphon out the poison of a snake bite..."
Either way, he agrees to administer the potion as needed, and settles down on one of the benches for a needed breather. Mahdi lets his little scorpion, Sa'amm, sidle out of its hiding place within his robes to crawl about on his shoulders instead, while he opens his spellbook to replenish the day's exhausted efforts. He nibbles absently on an almond-- surprised to discover how filling it is. After Sa'amm seems to think the water of the spring is fine, Mahdi refills his waterskin and drinks deeply, before settling in for the first watch with Aldebert.
Ami approaches his brother, his face still hidden by scarf and his little hands rubbing in worried contemplation.
"Brother. Where are we going? What are we doing?" Ami looks around at the garden. "We should turn back now, go to the surface and kill the gnolls there. There is nothing but darkness this way...and the sun and our foes are the other way."
Ami looks towards the stairs and then back to the way out.
"We cannot expect the gnolls to keep their word. And even if we could, how can we allow ourselves to push our problems upon them? They will just go terrorize and hurt others...we should kill them while they are weak and fleeing."
"Ever land under Sarenrae's light deserves peace and justice, we cannot allow our problems to be shuffled to another. It would be different if the gnolls were to repent and find the light, but they are gnolls are are incapable of it. So we must give them the claw and stone."
Aldebert awakens after his sleep only to be confronted by the poison coursing through his system and he collapses.
Rising weakly, he gathers his scrolls together to try and heal the rest of the way…
Mostly restored he turns to his brother. "Wait a moment - there is a contraption in the next room that we should examine. It may lead to another chamber below and we should know what's there before we consider hunting gnolls I think."
He looks to want to say something more, but he hesitates. Eventually, he continues, "Besides brother, we said we would give them 24 hours and a share of what we find down here. You wouldn't want me to go back on my word would you? That would be most uncivilized. Also, I am a little unclear by your assumption we are pushing our problems upon them. What problems are we giving them?"
Otah waits for the party to finish their rests and preparations. Leaning against an almond tree, he watches the two halflings with interest while occasionally plucking an almond and stuffing it in a pouch.
"Other than the rasts, this room seems far too serene for the creatures who live upstairs. Who made this place?"
"What, brother? You think the gnolls will hold their end of the deal when they know we will be tired and broken when we leave this place? We are strong now. We should fight them, kill them all, then come back here at our leisure," Ami argues.
"Or let them come down and take the treasure from this place while we wait above. There is nothing for us down here. No reason to go. Down there there is darkness. Above us is the Sun...and our true enemies."
Ami looks at Pent, Otah, and Mahdi, seeking 'sanity' and 'reason'.
When his eyes open, the gnome smacks his lips together. He's surprised when they aren't dry, as they normally are after a long night's huffing with an open mouth. "Well isn't that pleasant? A humid garden makes for a moist maw. We could definitely use a hanging garden in our manor."
Pent bounds over to dunk his head into the fountain, and drinks deep. He shakes off the water like a dog, then hits the almond tree for more nuts, actively climbing the tree and picking as many almonds as his cap will hold. When he's done, he drops from the tree, and surveys his team.
Hearing the halfs at it, he tilts his lips, and listens intently.
"Other than the rasts, this room seems far too serene for the creatures who live upstairs. Who made this place?"
"That's a right proper question, Odie. History on the House of the Beast should be an interesting topic of research, and one we should set our minds to on our return to Kelmarane. My guess is that this place was either forgotten over time, and the 'above' simply covered up all that's good down here, or the 'above' actively tried to conceal the goodness by sitting its fat arse down upon it, and hoped no one would be silly enough to find their way through the smell." Pent muses some more without words. He seems able to keep up with his own internal dialogue, but the halfs keep at it long enough for him to return his attention to the two of them.
"Up."
"Down."
Pent taps his fingers together, pointing one finger at Ami, while mumbling to himself. The other finger points to Aldebert, and a higher pitch mumbling occurs. High to low, low to high, then the gnome comes to his almost-conclusions.
"We have a single gnoll telling us about wildest riches. A single, cocky gnoll. My least favorite kind of gnoll. Aldi is right- we gave it our word, and breaking one's word is what Ami accuses the gnolls of being capable of doing. We're not gnolls, last I checked. Thinking like a gnoll gets you a better understanding of your prey. Acting like a gnoll makes you a dog." Pent considers further words, and has plenty to give.
"Ami's right too. We're not looters, but if there are resources here, we'd be fools to let the gnolls have them. They get rich, they get powerful. They can't be allowed to enjoy this almond tree, let alone whatever grand riches await below. Now, there are two ways of preventing the gnolls from gaining from this House. Either dead them, or take the wealth before they get to it. Those ways aren't mutually exclusive."
"As I've come to understand, I'm a Drip. Sarah's Drip. She has plenty of reach, sure, but these dark places, that's where She asks me for help. I get to trickle into these holes, and bring Her strength to strike at Her enemies that think they can slip Her gaze below. If we go 'up', we can work over the mutts, breaking our word. If we go 'down', we seep into the roots of this House, and make good and sure we know how deep the roots go."
The gnome hedges a little more. "Eh, I say if we've done what we've come to do, you know, kill the Carrion King, and finish his massing gnoll packs against Kelmarane, then we're done here. Forget the mystical almond tree. Forget the strange contraption Aldi's talking about. For now. We did that with the Shrine to Nethys, right? Left it, then returned? Then again, the Shrine was awfully convenient, being right there and all. This House, on the other hand... if you tell me we've got to return here after we leave it behind to lose our strength chasing dogs, I might have to bark my disagreement."
Pent seems done with speaking for the moment.
Ami turns and looks strangely at Yeen.
"What? No. Really?" Ami speaks to Yeen, answering words unmeowed aloud. He looks to the party, abashed.
"Oh. Are you sure? Uhm...okay," Ami looks at his brother and shrugs.
"Nevermind what I was saying earlier...we're supposed to go down now. Yeen says so. We should do that." Ami begins to prepare to go down, no more questions asked and no more complaints.
"Oh, sure. A dog tells you to dig, and you're the most obstinate half there is. The worst kind of half, by my reckoning. But a cat tells you to dig, and you're the most obsequious half there is. The best kind of half, by my reckoning." Pent looks at Yeen, then Aldebert, then back at Ami.
"You're much better off listening to your cat than your brother, Ami." The gnome almost doesn't believe what he's saying.
Finding himself hungry, and far more tempted by water loving almonds - a rare treat - Aldebert finally gives up his paranoia and partakes, munching happily, maybe even greedily, at an almond or two - and taking a small handful for later.
He's surprised Yeen agrees with him, all things considered, but he has learned not to question his brother too deeply on such matters and simply nods.
"OK then, Mahdi, can you make any sense of this device? There are runes, here, along the surface."
Ami waits for Mahdi to look at the device so that they can move to the darkness.
Yeen sniffs at the device while Ami looks at it.
Know (Nature)
Know (Planes)
Know (Religion)
Otah crowds along into the room, examining the device.
Pent gives the others wide berth, deciding to remain by the fountain and almond tree. He looks up at the tree, and wonders about the life of a sunless existence.
"You aren't lucky enough to have legs and arms to climb, so you must root here. Are you tree, or are you 'tree'? Did some ancient mage think it kept up appearances to have magic almonds come from a tree, instead of simply coming into being? Are you happy, o bountiful Tree? I can tell you about Sarah's Light, but it feels unfair I can't show it to you directly. The crystals are pretty, I'll grant you that, but the Sun is the true beauty, so I'll just keep wondering if you'd enjoy a window or not..." Remembering his recent bodily function, he blushes a little, and creates more water to mix into the soil and wash away trace of tinkle.
The gnome starts thinking about what he might ask Sarah, knowing that he and his crew are slated for spelunking.
"Oooh," Mahdi says appreciatively as he munches an almond. "Is anyone still hurt? You ought to be eating these, if so-- they're-- they're healing almonds!"
(He promptly starts trying to fill his belt pouch with a few extra.)
In due course of time, he makes his way over to the device, called by Aldebert's querying, and (vaguely) some of the arguing over 'up' or 'down'.
"I want to see what's down here-- if the gnolls feared it, all the better to use against them," he hums. He tilts his head quizzically at the strange contraption, with its bars and screaming faces, and then casts his usual spell to check for magics, before thinking if he's ever read of anything like this.
Pent saunters in after a while, and takes in Mahdi's concentration and study of the odd thing in the center of the room. He immediately takes to the interest, and scrambles along the arches, studying the writing for himself.
His fingers wiggle as he looks at the center floor, putting together the overarching design of the room.
"Oooooo. Now that, that right there, that's interesting... Who would have thought it had such far-reaching duties..?"
He pulls at his beard, while his free hand begins to wiggle its fingers again.
Pent is casting Detect Magic.
Suddenly on the central floor, an image of a duck becomes visible in its glow.
"Well, aren't you a welcome sight, Guard Duck! What was that you say? There's words here, that need speaking? Is it safe to do so? Are you sure? Well alright, then. I'm pretty sure I don't speak Quack, so I'll need something a bit more appropriate for the language written here. Is that acceptable? Aye, me as well. Look forward to the next time we cross paths."
The gnome wipes the inside of his mouth with his shirt sleeve, bringing a dryness that should help with his pronunciations.
"Բացեք ճանապարհը."
"Open the way."
Pent turns to Mahdi. "I find ducks wonderful conversation partners."
From the stone a group of bound earth elementals reshape the rock. Methodically the once solid ground is transformed into a spiral staircase that winds down for what must be more than 50 feet, as far down as you can see without walking more light.
Weapon Equipped: Hammer
Conditions: Endure Elements (24hrs), -1 Dex (poison)
Summon Mount: 1/1 (full round)
Smite Evil: 2/2 (+2 attack, +6 damage, +2 AC)
Lay on Hands: 5/5 (2d6 healing +1d6 if not fatigued or diseased)
Guisarme Attack BAB +5, Str +2, MW +1, Size +1, (Power Attack -2)
Guisarme Damage Str +2, Two handed +1, (Power Attack +6)
Hammer Attack BAB +5, Str +2, Magic +1, Size +1, (Power Attack -2)
Hammer Damage Str +2, Magic +1, (Power Attack +4)
Spells (caster level 3, concentration +5)
1) Hero's Defiance, Lesser Restoration
- - -
Gretiem Lord of the Green
HP: 48/48 AC: 18 (F16/T12)
Fort: 7 Reflex: 7 Will: 4 BAB: +3 CMB: 6 CMD: 18
Conditions: None
Tricks: Aid, Attack x2, Come, Defend, Deliver, Down, Fetch, Flank, Flee, Get Help, Guard, Heal, Hunt, Sneak, Stay, Watch, Work
Bite Attack BAB +3, Str +3 Damage Str +4 (1.5x)
Aldebert watches the wiser and smarter among them as they search and study. As you may imagine, he’s rather taken aback by Pent’s exclamation and shocked when the stairwell reveals itself.
"Wow Pent. Nice one."
He look to Otah at his side, and rides Gretiem into the darkness. He'll crack a sunrod if others don't provide light (seems likely).
Ami watches as others work and examine the machine. He sits on Yeen, looking this way and that, hoping the gnolls come early to try to pry the prize from their hands.
As the elementals move stone and earth to open the say, Yeen edges closer to sniff at the escaping air, scenting for trouble.
Perception (Scent)
Ami gives a nod to Pent, work well done before spurring Yeen over his Get'him.
"Brother, let me protect you before you go down. I would not see you injured," Ami whispers to Aldebert. He then casts light on Aldebert's armor.
"I knew something was strange about this contraption. Well done gnome."
The sound of Otah's armor is heard with each step he takes down the stairs.
"How long has it been since this place has had a visitor?"
Pent startles as actual earth elementals become evident within the structure. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..." He runs about the arches, trying to understand the magic that imprisons them.
Finishing with his novice study, Pent brings his words to bear, hoping he might glean a thing or two.
"Քանի տարի ?? Ով է ֆիքսված ձեզ այստեղ ?? Դու քաջալերուեցէք. Դուք կարող եք ստանալ հստակ ?? Վախենում եմ, որ մենք ոչ մի տեղ մոտ հասակակիցների է էմիր որը գործում ձեզ այստեղ ..."
"How many years?? Who fixed you here?? Are you of good cheer? Can you get clear?? I fear we're nowhere near the peer of the emir who adhered you here..."
Pent considers the circumstances, then nods. "Well, the Guard Duck will keep them company for now. Who would do this? This is the very opposite of freedom. This is imprisonment set in stone. Literally. Horrible." The gnome wrings his hands, then follows the others down the stairs.
He approaches Mahdi. "Do you think you'd ever learn enough to set them free? The elementals back there?"
Mahdi debuts the Golarion equivalent of the lineface at Pent's duck shenanigans, lips pressing into a thinner and thinner line as he carries on, until Mahdi is, fortunately, distracted by the need to prepare for the revealed stairwell.
"Hang on," he say shortly, before anyone goes down. Two more scrolls from his backpack, and in short order both Gretiem and Yeen are armored for at least the next two hours. Mahdi proceeds to cast the same spell on himself, albeit from memory.
At Pent's pleading for the imprisoned earth elementals, Mahdi looks over with a shrug, a quirked brow of 'ehnnh'.
"Probably," he says with a dismissive shrug. "But why should I? They seem to perform a useful function."
He hands the wicked-looking axe back to Otah. "Here. It's enchanted, but most effective against humans.... which I doubt we'll encounter many of, down here. Save for myself. If you use it on me I will kindle endless fire in your nether regions."
"Are we ready to go down?"
When all assent, Mahdi will take the rear position, following the others down the stairs warily. The burning ring on his finger sheds light ahead of him.
Aldebert cautiously descends into the sea of coins and loot. He, quite literally, cannot believe his eyes as he surveys all the treasure.
"This cannot all be real, can it? I mean, there's so much here... we could rebuild the city with this!"
When he reaches the bottom, he carefully leans over Gretiem and picks up some bit of precious and examines it. He's trying to ascertain if the loot down here is genuine.
(illusion?)
""Probably, but why should I? They seem to perform a useful function."
Pent scowls at the fire mage. "And that function would be what exactly? Making a set of stairs disappear and reappear with words spoken in command? For eternity? At least when I was a slave, there was always the promise of freedom for work well done. Even if the promise was mostly false, it still stood. These poor wretches look like they'll always be bound, no hope, no rope." He shakes his head in frustration.
"Would you do the same to your fire fellows? I know you have power to control fire, and summon fire creatures, but you can just as easily release them back to their home hearths, like I can. Elemental in, elemental out. It's a request for work, then work done, away they go." Pent's eyebrows raise, a new thought lifting them like a theater curtain rising. He pulls out his fire ring, and talks to it.
"અરે !! ત્યાં કોઈને માં ?? ભયંકર માફ કરશો !! હું મહદી તમે એક સુંદર રિંગ બનાવવા માટે લોક આગ કેદ નથી લાગતું, મને માને છે !! તમે મારા માર્બલ્સ માટે અત્યંત અનહદ બંધ આરામ કરવામાં, અને તમે શેકેલા બદામ તેમને માલિકી ધરાવે છે જે અખરોટ બેગ વાંધાજનક હોઈ નક્કી કર્યું હતું કે, કારણ કે, તમે મારી કૃતજ્ઞતા છે. કોઈપણ ??"
"Hey!! Anyone in there?? Terribly sorry!! I didn't think Mahdi would imprison you fire folk to create a pretty ring, believe me!! You been resting awfully close to my marbles, and for that, you have my gratitude, since you decided that roasted nuts would be offensive to the nut bag who owns them. Anyone??"
...
Pent bounds down the stairs in pursuit of the others. When the sea of treasure comes into view, the gnome gawks.
"Oh my. That's a lot of pesh... a lot of camels... lot of gongs... a lot of underwear..."
He starts to wonder what it feels like when submerged in coin. He's conflicted.
The elementals wordlessly shift back into the stonework after the stairs have been constructed.
This vast, natural cavern glitters and shines from what appears to be a king’s ransom. Well over a hundred feet across and fifty feet high, the floor of the cavern is a sea of gold coins, lush carpets and tapestries, statues, weapons, armor, immense gemstones, and glittering artifacts. At the center of the cavern, a stone pillar rises forty feet from the treasure- strewn floor, and a stone spiral stairway rises up from the top of this pillar to the roof twenty feet above. A curving flight of stairs winds down from the top of this pillar into the sea of treasure below.
Aldebert straightens up holding up his hand.
"Stay back a moment, it's a trap! This whole room, I think, is an illusion - the coins aren't real, or at least some of them aren't."
He tries to wipe his hand off on the side walls of the spiral stairs.
"Can you see the green goo stuck to my hand? Anyone know what it is?"
wipe, wipe, wipe
Pent wrinkles his nose at the half's activity. "I normally find a leaf for that function, Aldi. You couldn't hold it until we were done here, eh?"
Ami watches his brother and looks for gnolls among the piles of gold. He doesn't care that much about money (unlike *some* halfpeople) and feels that true treasure would be gnolls to slay or perhaps heaps and heaps of gnolls hearts piled into a mountain.
Ami imagines 1000 dead gnolls lying in the room. Now *that* would be treasure.
"Brother, are you okay? Have you become allergic to gold? Has your god cursed you?"
Will save
I wipe the goo on the side walls of the stairs. If I'm not close enough to reach, I move closer. If that doesn't do it, I'll use my dagger I guess to scrape it off and then onto the stone.
Oh, and if it is an illusion save, the others should get a +4 thanks to me pointing it out.
Link, check out next header
"Would you do the same to your fire fellows? I know you have power to control fire, and summon fire creatures, but you can just as easily release them back to their home hearths, like I can."
"No," Mahdi says dismissively. "Because I like fire."
He watches with cynical amusement as Pent talks to the ring, shaking his head and moving on...
When they come to the room, Mahdi too is astounded by the sheer wealth on display... and suspicious. Did the Carrion King never come down to this treasure...?
But almost instantly they have other things to worry about. Mahdi hisses when he sees Aldebert's fingers sporting the bright green goo.
"That's green slime!" he shouts. "Scrape it off your fingers immediately, or it will eat away your very flesh, down to the bone!"
Mahdi heard Aldebert, but he can't quite believe his eyes... perhaps the halfling's mistaken. He wonders if he could burn away the goo in the room, but leave those gorgeous piles of gold intact....
Aldebert gets the goo scraped off and onto the wall, which dissolves a bit.
"Yeah, this stuff is nasty! Hold your flame Mahdi, I think I got it all off. Might be something down here once we get the green slime out of the way - and then again might not. Let's be careful."
Will Save
"Brother, what are you doing? Where is all the gold?"
"Ami, there is no gold, at least not here. We have to get past the green slime first. Looks like we can make it across by staying on these rocks. Shouldn't be too hard I think."
The stones are spaced such that jumping will be needed.
Aldebert rides Gretiem across the rocks to the farthest shore where he waits for the others to catch up.
He eyes the illusory treasure along the way and shrugs sadly. Oh how great a city we could have forged!
As Aldebert and Gretim come down on the first rock without any issues, several apparitions emerge from cracks in the rocks ahead.
Initiative
(with Yeenoghu)
Round One: Mahdi now acting.
(Stuck on phone only for several hours, but I'd lead with an kn check to know what they are; what category should I be rolling? )
"Damn," Mahdi mutters. "Undead! And intangible -- strike at them with enchanted steel only, or your blades will pass through with no effect! Their moans cause fear, and on death they will try to stuck the life from you. Oh, and they have cold hands..."
But, Mahdi supposes, he can spread warmth. He chants words of a spell, then hurriedly moves to touch several of his friends.
(Casting communal resist energy- cold. Targets, if I can get to everyone to touch them: Alde, Gretiem, Otah, Yeen, Ami, and Pent.)
"There! You are each safe from their claws now. But their death throes are still damaging! "
He hands the wicked-looking axe back to Otah. "Here. It's enchanted, but most effective against humans.... which I doubt we'll encounter many of, down here. Save for myself. If you use it on me I will kindle endless fire in your nether regions."
"Thanks mage. And I will remember your offer whenever I face a deep and dreary cold.
"What goo? All I see here is vast wealth that could turn the hearts of my kin."
"Where are these undead you speak of?" Otah asks, flummoxed.
One of the apparitions flies toward the group.
Round One: Ami (w/Yeen) now acting.
Round 1, Init 22
Ami rides Yeen down the stairs.
"Brother! There are bad things!" Ami yells.
"What goo? All I see here is vast wealth that could turn the hearts of my kin."
Pent nods, and debates which pile of gold he'll leap into. "I wonder if the sheer amount of gold is too much for the halfs to process..."
"Ugh... this is why Rokova sent us down here, then? Cleaning House?" The gnome debates further, the gold now a secondary interest to preserving his crew against the undead.