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Dumm and Mariel begin to heft one of the Demonic corpses as Sifvery dons the silvery armour. Crowding around the corner, it is all you can do watch what will happen. The SIlver Crusader and the Rager each take an armpit and drag it towards the pressure plate.
Counting to three they heft the creature and launch it on to the pressure plate. From the roof above, a fist-sized brass orb drops to the ground, striking the corpse and then exploding in brilliant radiance. The Demon's corpse is burnt to ashes and the two Pathfinders are struck by the Fiery-light.
Luckily, the resulting explosion does not cause any defenders to come rushing this long-abandoned hallway and you are able to press on, after Dumm and Mariel take some time to tender to their wounds.
Following the corridor, you come to a bend which comes to an end at an Octagonal chamber.
Flowing script of inlaid silver lines the polished walls of this chamber. A thick Iron door, reinforced by four thick horizontal bars of stone, blocks the way to the west whilst there is an open passage to the east.
A niche in the wall contains a glass octagonal prism clasped between a set of steel prongs. Liquid that glows with a blue-white radiance fills much of the prism's interior. A stout lever is set into the wall next to the door.
The Silver script on the polished walls is written in Celestial, the tongue of Anegls. When translated, you see they are merely half-sentences regarding the Goddess Iomedae.
The Bars across the door each contain four dials, numbered from 0 to 9 with an eleventh blank facet. Each Bar also has a unique inscription above the dial, written in both Celestial and the Common tongue. To the faithful gathered, it is obvious that these phrases link to the Eleven Acts of Iomedae, which saw her Ascend to Godhood.
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Wembly winces as the trap explodes.
Are...are you both ok? I was afraid we may have lost you in the blast!
Following the corridor he sees the door and dials.
This place is so wonderfully appointed. All these cool gadgets. I hope we get time to come back. You know , they really need a tour guide in here! Can anyone read this angelic writing?
He takes a look at the dial and tries to recall anything helpful.
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Not surprising for one as clumsy as her, Mariel zigs when she should have zagged and takes the full brunt of the flamestrike trap. She holds up a lock of singed hair, then nods at Wembly. "Yeah, I'm ok, I guess. Could have been worse...?"
She pulls a wand from her belt and starts healing. "I guess I'll just stick with a loop on my belt, Isonda. Catching a wand flying out of your sleeve like that doesn't seem something for me, especially when under pressure. She proceeds to heal herself with the wand.
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Mariel cautiously approaches forward, until she spots the inscriptions, which she can read perfectly. "Oh, oh! I know about these. They're the acts of Iomedae. Here, the thing about the Black Prince!" She translates for the others.
"Could it be the key to unlocking the door, linking up the Acts to the numbers? The Acts are always in the same order, aren't they?"
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Dumm's ears perk at the strange sound, and he throws up his hands to shield his face and steps backward-- avoiding the worst part of the explosion, but still burned by the holy fire. Ow.
He pulls out the magic healing stick that seems so commonplace among Pathfinders but which nevertheless still amazes him.
Dumm looks around at the silver script, perplexed.
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"The first inscription is 'A broken sword is reborn in knight-saving blood so that Absalom might withstand evil.' Her sixth act was the reforging of her sword 'in righteous ire'. Hence my guess that the first bar opens on a 6... Unless each one refers to more than one act, I don't know.... The second inscription is 'Inspired by her courage by fight of the righteous, the Black Prince was judged in the Halls of Aroden.' Her eight act was that she convinced the Black Prince to fall on his own sword for punishment for his evil, thus redeeming his soul and allowing him to be judged in the halls of Aroden. so the second bar is opened on an 8 ... the third inscription reads 'By escaping the wound, her royal servants, helped her slay the King of the Barrowood, ascending her to godhood.' Her first act was to slay a fell beast and cut the bodies of her circle from its gullet...and her third act was her slaying the King of the Barrowwood, so actually the 3rd bar should be 3 and 1. I'm probably wrong on some of these, or incomplete, but I think I'm on the right track."
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"Hold on, hold on," Mariel interjects. "Let's try and get some order to the discussion." She looks quite pleased at her own words, for some reason. "I think you're on the right track, Hakime, Let's take it one by one."
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She taps a finger at the inscription on the first bar. "The broken sword could refer to the Sixth act, The knight-saving blood refers to the Ninth, and I guess Absalom withstanding evil could mean the Seventh Church. That would make the combination 6-9-7-blank, for this one."
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Still guessing, she moves on to the next. "Inspired by courage, could be the fourth. Then the Black Prince, meaning the Eigth as Hakime said. 4-8-blank-blank?"
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Her finger moves downward. "Escaping the wound, I'm not sure about that part. Slaying the King of the Barrowood is the Third, and I think ascending to godhood is the Eleventh. That would make this one Something-3-1-1."
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Moving down, she comes to the fourth inscription. "This one is the easiest, I guess. The Battle of Three Sorrows is the Fifth, Eleder is the Second, and Kintaria is the Tenth. 5-2-1-0."
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She then comes back up. "I think that, in this manner, we've used all the Acts except the first. That would be the one we're missed on the third bar. Hakime, you though the part about 'escaping the wound' also refered to cutting out the soldiers from the fel beast, didn't you?"
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She then comes back up. "I think that, in this manner, we've used all the Acts except the first. That would be the one we're missed on the third bar. Hakime, you though the part about 'escaping the wound' also refered to cutting out the soldiers from the fel beast, didn't you?"
"Yes, that would be my guess... escaping the wound refers to cutting the soldiers from the beast."
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Mariel lays out her ideas and then steps up to the stone door, examining the dials and slowly turning them. The others, confident in their ally yet unwilling to risk the failure step back from the door as the Oracle reaches out to the handle and pulls it.
Holding your breath, you realise the caution was for nothing and the bars of the door slide open. With a slight pop the Prism embedded into the door falls free yet doesn't shatter and the power leaves the runes on dials on the door.
The Prism you hold appears to be a Battery of source for a great source of Holy power. The Prism currently holds around 3/4 of its full capacity.
The Prism can be recharged in one of several ways:
The prism absorbs spells with the good descriptor cast directly at it, regaining a number of charges equal to the spell’s level. When affected by a channel energy effect augmented by the Alignment Channel feat to harm evil outsiders or heal good outsiders, a prism regains a number of charges equal to the number of dice the PC would roll for the effect.
Finally, a good-aligned creature can grasp a prism and concentrate as a full-round action to restore 1d4 charges, though doing so also gives the PC 1 temporary negative level for 24 hours. Prisms cannot hold more than 8 charges.
It also has another use:
In addition to its use as a battery, a PC can use a sacred prism to augment spells he casts with the good descriptor, expending 2 charges to increase the spell’s caster level by 1, 4 charges to increase the caster level by 2, or 8 charges to increase the caster level by 3. A PC can also throw a prism as a splash weapon that destroys the prism and replicates a holy smite spell (Will DC 16) with a caster level equal to the number of remaining charges.
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With the door open, you are able to pass through it and deeper into the tower, through a small corridor obviously designed as a choke point to slow down incoming attackers, the design of this place showing once more that its main purpose was war.
The walls of this large, irregular room are bare but for a goldcapped prism socketed into a niche along the south wall and radiates blue-white light. In contrast, the floor is a mess of red and brown stains. A single iron door seals the room to the south, and a set of heavy double doors blocks the east exit.
The rooms bareness and blood are not it's only features however, standing guard are two once Celestial Beings, it is obvious to those of a Holy following that the Creatures are Hound Archons but they have obviously been affected by their exposure to the Worldwound. The Archons have patches of red scale on their skins, spurs form at their elbows and knees and their feet are clawed. The Greatswords they wield are impressive.
"Halt Invaders! The tower is our domain to guard, retire from this place or face our blades!"
The Archons are obviously hostile, but are not yet willing to attack, hoping for something perhaps.
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Mariel lets out a deep breath when the tumblers lock in place, without any traps going off. She reverently holds up the prism. "I've read a thing or two about these as well, Wemdly." She holds it out to one of the others. "Who wants to carry it? I can cast some spells, but might not be most suited for it."
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Mariel is on guard when she spots the partially corrupted Archons. She holdsl out her hands to show she's not about to make a hostile action, then steps up next to Hakime to reason with the Hound Archons. "Greeting, guardians. We know that you are here to guard the fortress. We are with the Fifth Crusade, and we fight under the banner of the Inheritor." To strengthen her words, she points at Iomedae's symbol on her shield. We have been sent to relieve you from your duty, and retrieve the weapon that Crusader Ghalcor was building."[/b] Emphasizing with the Archons' condition, she continues. "I can see that your task here has been hard on you. You have done an admirable job in keeping this fortress safe, but your task here could be almost done. If you will let us pass and explore the rest of the site."
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"I also stand with my allies shoulder to.. well normally about waist to be honest... Anyway the point is that we are united and we are here as a force for the powers of good to explore and find allies and objects to help defeat the forces of evil! You stoic servants of good have clearly stood watch over this place for a long time. What can we do to help you with your task?"
Scratching snuffles quietly in the presence of corrupted outsiders. Without his training and loyalty to Isonda it's clear he wouldn't want to stay here for long.
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The Celestial warriors, tainted as they are by long exposure to the Evil of the Worldwound seem difficult to convince, the please of Hakime and Mariel threatening to fall on deaf ears, as the corded muscles of the Hound Archons bunch in anticipation of slaughter, Isonda's carefully chosen words seem to soothe them and they relax slightly, though they seem ready.
"We were summoned here by Ghalcor to defend his tower and Weapon from intruding demons and trespassers. Ordinarily we would have been rotated out for fresh brethren, though the wards here are solid and prevent our Teleportation from this place.
Tell us creatures of flesh and blood, how did you breach the barrier? It was meant to be impenetrable."
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Mariel's eyes light up suddenly. "Of course!"
She hastily retrieves her Wayfinder and shows it to the Archon. "We used this. The ward bent back to let us in. These are the tools of our trade - the Pathfinder Society - and I think Ghalcor specifically meant for us to be able to get in, using one of these. Does that show our allegiance and good intent?"
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The Archon taking the lead looks down at the extended Wayfinder and shakes their head in confusion, apparently not sure what it represents.
"We have been guardians for... A longer time than we should, much of what I know is hazy without my connection to my home Plane. Ghalcor bid us defend this place from demons, he said little about potential allies but maybe he did set this up.
You are free to pass, creatures of flesh and to take the prism here, it would seem you have some purpose with them. Now, unless you have more business with us then you should press on, there is more beyond."
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"Thank you both. You proud guardians have done a wonderful job here. I promise to do what we can to help you in your task so that you can either be replaced by more of your kind or maybe even fulfil the task so your guardianship is no longer required."
Isonda bows to the hound archons on the way past to show her respect for them.
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Thanking the Archons and leaving them to their task, you push through the next door which leads down a narrow corridor, obviously another well-designed kill zone to slow down intruders who managed to bypass the once angelic guardians. At the end of the corridor another solid door leads into a larger room beyond.
Two long countertops and a workbench occupy this workshop. The work surfaces are covered with religious iconography, quills, broken glass and small metal components as well as dusty alchemical supplies that have not seen use in years.
A niche in the southeast wall holds a gold-capped prism that glows with blue-white light. Doors lead to the North, South and East whilst a heavier, iron door, stands at the room's northwest corner.
Sifting through the dust, mariel is able to find two hybridization funnels and three potions. Two match whilst the third is different. The prism here also seems to hold around 4 of its charges.
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Mariel sifts through the items on the workbench, very careful not to knock anything over. She talks to order her thoughts as she does so. "We've found three of those prisms so far. At first I thought they were just a useful aid, in our exploration here. But what if they're more? Could they be a part of the weapon, that we're supposed to find? By dividing the components and putting them safe - in a trap, with the archon guardians, could that have been an extra safeguard? I guess we'll have to be even more careful with them."
"Sorry, I don't think I've ever seen a potion like this one before. I can't make out what it's supposed to do." She then looks around the room, trying to figure out the layout of the place. "Should we go north?"
Before the group goes through the door, Mariel thinks of something. "Wait. We've encountered one group of guardians already, but luckily we could reason with them. Maybe there are more, and we might not be so lucky. I can bless each of you, to be better protected if it does come to fighting." Mariel wanders about the group, touching all of the Pathfinders (and Scratchings) as she prays. "Blessed Iomedae, Light of the Sword, we've been sent here to seek aid for the Fifth Crusade. You have guided us so far, and we hope to avoid a direct confrontation with the guardians of this place, who have dedicated to their cause to keep this site safe. But if we do get into a fight, please know that we're doing this for good cause. Keep us safe." As an afterthought, she whispers "Brom, I trust you'll keep a eye out for everyone as well, please."
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North seems as good as any, Mariel. If you are right, and there are more of these guardians, I hope they are as willing to let us pass as the last ones. I am so excited if we find all the pieces of the weapon. I want to see how it goes together and if it will work after all this time! the young gnome says with growing enthusiasm as he guides Whiskers to the north.
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Moving through the Alchemical workshop and summoning the power of the Inheritor to ward her allies, Mariel pushes open the northern door of the chamber. Despite the age of the doors they all open smoothly here, though there is a thick layer of dust coating every surface which is disturbed by the opening.
Five cots line the west wall of this barracks. A dusty table, counters and a hearth share the east side of the room. At the end of each bunk lies a simple wooden locker, most of these are open with a few personal effects left. Obviously the previous occupants left in a rush.
"Everything! I have tried everything and still my creation defies me! I would pull all the Sacred Prisms from their sockets to deactivate the defences if I could, but even now those same defences I insisted on creating prevent me from reaching the only things that could allow me to stop the defences, which would allow me to reach them were it not for defences, which keep me from reaching them!
Am I even making sense anymore?
I have resolved to charge the remaining prisms. Perhaps their energy will enable me to override the system. Ideally I could remove the prisms and actually open all of the doors properly!"