Cavenn: You determine that the water has an enchantment on it.
And that is about it.
Eydor catches up the rest of the group.
For all it matters, the voice has stopped talking to me. Strange. Last thing he said, we should hurry up.
He then prepares to open the door, waiting for the rest of the group to catch on.
Snyk makes his way toward the backlit door. Responding to Cavenn in a whisper:"Looks like water to me. It appears the door is..."
Cavenn sighs loudly, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t learn something a bit more useful. ”This water has some sort of magical enchantment upon it but I cannot tell much beyond that. I wonder how long these tunnels have been down here and to what purpose they serve? That creature back there may have given us some clue, if we only knew what it was.”
Tracing his hand over his blades edge, he smiles, his teeth gleaming white as his holy symbol of Desna emanates an orange glow against the darkness. “I’m ready for whatever lies beyond.”
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Harness moves stolidly forward, wondering if Robori's majesty reaches throughout the caverns and dark places of the world, and then his thoughts meander to the heavens, stars and beyond.
I feel....so small in an infinite universe. Thank you Robori for opening my eyes and heart to my own mening and yet meaningless in the vastness of your creation!
Snyk: The door is indeed unlocked.
Eydor: With a word from Snyk that it is not locked, you begin to push. After getting close enough, you can see that this is a pair of large doors, intricately crafted and decorated. Opening one shows you a new room;
"This huge room looks like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. Stone doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but beyond this, the walls are carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the room is a large pool, with a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection. At the far end of the room, a pair of stone stairways leads up to a pulpit on which sits a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like translucent lava. Yet while wisps of what look like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold."
This room is well lit by magical light emanating from the walls and both pools glow as well. Sitting in the middle of the first pool, in the center of the ring of spiked skulls, a small marble pedestal rises from the water and a sword sits point down into the stone. Some sort of cloak is draped over the top of it, lumpy and leathery. As soon as the door is opened, you hear the voice again, this time like a sigh in your mind.
Eeyyddooooooorr.....
WHAT DO YOU DO? Rush headlong in, headless of the danger? Close the doors and leave? Throw in Cavenn and see if he dies?
Saira moves up to the rest of the party. She looks at Cavenn, who seems to be the leader of this little expedition. So what's the game plan? This looks to be some sory of altar, but to whom, I cannot begin to guess.
Cavenn moves up behind the others, says a quick prayer in his mind to Desna and touches Eydor on the wrist. He then turns to Snyk and does the same, a small bit of protection in case something sinister awaits.
So what's the game plan? This looks to be some sory of altar, but to whom, I cannot begin to guess.
"My suggestion, madam," he says with a mischievous grin, "is that we cast what protection magics we can now and let Eydor and the warforged lead the way. I've given Snyk and Eydor a small ward of protection against somethings but if you have something more powerful, we may benefit from it now. Myself and Snyk can follow the warriors if you and our friendly Tessa want to come behind. I hope it's nothing, but with the looks of that room, I certainly feel uneasy."
If noone in the group objects to his suggestion, Cavenn will follow into the room and cast Detect Magic, beginning on the pool.
Snyk moves in as well. Keeping his back to the wall.
Turning to Cavenn as he speaks, drool hanging from her mouth Tessa shakes her head. "Do what? Sorry...was just picturing how much better this place would look in a few weeks when Robori's blessings overtook it..."
With a smile she adds, "Can't you picture it Harness? His divine hand covering this..." glancing towards their new priestess, recalling how the last few reacted to her comments. She pauses but a moment. ...uh...teeeeeemple." she squeezes through a grimace.
"Anyway, sure. That sounds fine...you didn't see anyone in there did you? As I recall, the goblins we saw up top weren't exactly sneaky."
Harness has the disquieting sense that perhaps servants of Robori did not create this fane. Tessa's comments cement his certitude. He smiles, though thankfully his awkward physical approximation of a smile hides the wistful nature of his agreement.
"Robori is indeed somewhat absent from this place, Tessa." The warforged gazes about at the space. " May his verdant hand spread throughout." he adds with fervour.
Resolve invigorated, Harness nods at Cavenn's suggestion and nods again to Eydor by way of suggesting readiness.
"Stay safe Snyk. Low, and in the shadows."
Group: Once the first of you enters the room (in this case Snyk, followed closely by Cavenn), the cloak over the sword begins to move. What appeared to be a leather cloak spreads out to reveal itself to be a pair of leathery wings attached to some sort of scaly creature.
It slowly lifts itself into the air, flapping it's wings lazily, before speaking. Her words are incoherent, a language none of you understand.
What do you do?
Is there anywhere in this room I can hide?
Seeing and recognizing the creature for what it is, Cavenn speaks: "Foul demon, what are you doing in this place? I'm betting your master abandoned you. I doubt a lowly servitor such as yourself built these catacombs. Answer now and in the tongue of this plane."
Anticipating a fight, Cavenn cast Shield of Faith on himself.
Saira makes sure her holy symbol is visible, sending up a quick prayer to Desna. She ignores the prattering on about the Robori god, whoever that is, draws her starknife, gripping it tightly, and prepares to cast Harness if necessary.
Not having a clue about what that creature really is, he listens to Cavenns, and a look of worry paints over his face.
Is he that voice? Was I tricked by this demon to come here? Was it a trap to make us all come down there?
Whatever it is, he's not going down without a fight. He draws his scimitar and moves forward, waiting for Harness to be at his side.
Harness moves in to Eydor's side, and stares into the pool. Then he notices the...thing that has unravelled above the sword.
It doesn't look like the woman Ameiko's brother drew, but then maybe he is a poor illustrator. the warforged muses as Cavenn speaks.
"Demon? Master? What is that thing?" he asks generally, taking aim with his heavy crossbow.
Snyk moves round to the reverse side of the pool and takes a defensive stance with his dagger.
Cavenn: It does have a few spell like abilities. I'm only going to give you the strongest one it has, that is commune. It has the standard weaknesses for demons (cold iron and good).
Eydor: I'll give you that you know it's a demon, but nothing additional. Also, you hear the voice again, whispered in your head. Eydor, I can sense you. So close now.
Snyk: We are not yet in initiative. The creature isn't outright hostile, and none of you are yet.
The quasit begins to flap back, moving herself away from Snyk. She then speaks, her tone rasping and harsh (and in common). Who are you to make demands of me, pathetic mortal? This is my home, claimed as such for centuries. You are the intruders here, not me. Come no closer, wrong doer, and answer me first. Who are you and why have you come here?
Snyk shares a look with the others in the room as if to say: Are you going to tell her? I'm not the one driving this train
Cavenn laughs mockingly. "Intruder? You're the one on our plane and if you've been here for centuries and are still a quasit? You've got some serious problems, ugly. You'll not use some claim of occupation to justify your existence down here. We are from the town of Sandpoint above and have come down here to cleanse this catacomb of it's evil influence. Your time is up!"
He then seems to enter an almost bloodlust like state and charges full speed at the creature, eyes full of anger and blade above his head, ready to cut down hard. The veins on his neck bulge as he brings the blade to bear.
Saira waits for one of the others to answer because she's still not fully aware why they are in the tunnels.
Cavenn: As stated, this creature is flying. You are not going to be able to reach it without a reach weapon. Please feel free to redo your action.
Hearing the noises ahead, Tessa moves into the room. Glancing towards the beast, she smiles.
'Aint that a strangeness....' considers the woman. "You there! Why don't you come down and face us with honor?"
Harness: Technically possible, but exceedingly unlikely. It would take some hella outrageous acrobatic checks to pull that off.
Cavenn: The ceiling in this room is 20 feet high. I've moved you back to a pre-charge position. Let me know if you still want to have charged at her.
She responds to Tess's words. Face you with honor? Do you intend to kill me then? Are such immoral savages that you can only deal with others through violence? Pathetic. She (for the quasit is definitely a she) seems guarded and defensive now.
"Is not a debate honorable? As you should be able to see, I currently have no weapons out." replies the half-elf without a hint of aggression. "I understand the reaction to take flight. I too would likely avoid others barging into my home."
Glancing towards her companions, she smiles sweetly. "If we could all take a beat, perhaps we could find out what is going on here."
Turning back to the flying thing she continues. "We are a bit jumpy. You see, my companions have been attacked a few times in the recent days and well....they recognized you as a demon and assumed it gave cause for a fight."
"Are you here for immoral reasons? Do you wish us harm? would you welcome the love of Robori?"
Saira speaks in an undertone to the party We don't know this creature, so we mustn't assume that she wishes us harm, why don't we all calm down a bit. Let's talk to her a bit. I find that fighting is best left as a last resort. If she attacks us, then by all means. She shrugs. By the Way, Why ARE we here?
to Eydor "Where you not called here?"
Why call us here only to turn us away?
Eydor looks at the rest of the party, a bit surprised of all the sudden reactions. You should all calm down. Even a demon talks... Sometimes.
He looks at the quasit I've been called here by a voice. That's all I know. They came with me, and the voice seems to come from this room, which leaves a few options, and a high probability of you knowing something about it. Anything to say?
Cavenn laughs mockingly. "Intruder? You're the one on our plane and if you've been here for centuries and are still a quasit? You've got some serious problems, ugly. You'll not use some claim of occupation to justify your existence down here. We are from the town of Sandpoint above and have come down here to cleanse this catacomb of it's evil influence. Your time is up!"
He then draws his bow and trains an arrow on the demon.
"This is the closet? I thought it would have more...sharp edges..." Harness murmurs over his aimed heavy crossbow.
"A QUAsit is a type of demon I believe , sir"
The demon seems to ignore all of you. All except one. YOU!? IT CHOSE YOU?! She seems to turn her attention to the pool in the center of the room where she was resting. Hundreds of years of waiting and you choose this pathetic little mortal!? Very well. She turns her attention back to the group. The rest of you will have to wait, She focuses mostly on Cavenn as she continues, if you can contain your more evil instincts long enough, that is. Now her gaze is on Eydo; What say you mortal? Will you accept the choosing? Do you have the inner strength?
"Oh. QUAsit. My mistake." Harness murmurs again, lowering the crossbow somewhat as he both thinks, requiring concentration, and realises that hostilities aren't seeming to commence just yet. The creature seems to be addressing Cavenn. Or Eydor. One of them, anyway, Harness thinks.
Cavenn keeps his bow trained on the little demon, unsure of what is happening with Eydor. He then spits onto the stone floor and wipes the remaining spittle with his coat sleeve.
"Let's get this figured and fast. My blood is up. Have to find out what is happening down here."
Who are you calling pathetic? I could kick your ass anytime, demon.
Looking at the pool, he speaks I'm already here. Turning back would be a shame, and I must say I'm curious enough about what you are talking about. Go on.
Eyeing the pool with intrigue, she turns to the demon. "What's going on here? Will you explain it for us please?"
Amused by the demon's supposed concern over Cavenn's soul, she leans back on her heals and watches the half-orc interact with the being.
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"I'm sure you have the inner strength, Eydor. While not metal as I am, your mettle is truly metal." Harness whispers to Eydor helpfully.
Oh this looks like it might be interesting. Barely out of seminary and I get to watch an obscure ritual... It's not going to turn him evil, right?
Saira's eyes sparkle a bit at the thoguht of watching whatever it is that is about to happen.
She ignores all the bluster going on around, all the bravado, and continues speaking to Eydor, There is no ritual. It is a test. And it is simple. Go into the pool, grab the sword. If it accepts you, then you pass. If it rejects you, then you fail. Even your small, mortal minds should be able to grasp that concept.
If you investigate the pool, then you easily notice that at it's deepest it is about 3 or 4 feet deep. The water seems clean and it has the same stone around its walls and on the floor as the rest of the room. The circle of spikes with skulls on them in the center of the room is tight, but not impassable (game mechanics, you'll be squeezing while in that area).
Seems like a ritual to me
Seeing tensions fall, Snyk sheathes his daggers. and returns to Harnesses side.
Cavenn lowers his bow and shakes his head. "This sound like a good idea to any of you?"
Turning to the quasit he says, "What is your name little demon? And why are you here?"
Saira shrugs in answer to Cavenn. Well he was chosen, so shouldn't he have the right to decide what he wants to do? Might be best to let him go along with it. Could be driven mad by whatever he's hearing elsewise.
Despite the grim surroundings, the feared cl...quasit and the tension evident in Cavenn, Harness smiles as Snyk moves and stands by him.
Always feels safer with Snyk by my side...
Sounds simple enough, then. For a long time, failing meant death back in the academy. It's hard to do worse.
He then gets in front of the pool, inhales and exhales deeply, and gets inside of it. He looks at the sword, for a few seconds, as if waiting anything to happen, and finally grabs it with his left hand.
An intelligent item. hmm. Is the sword now his property or is he now the swords property? I'm going to have to think through this one.
This is your black blade for your class feature. Right now, it is only a masterwork scimitar, when you hit the level where the class feature becomes active, it will act as that sword.
Eydor, you reach out and grasp the hilt of the sword with a reverse grip (it's point down in the water). The leather bindings around the grip crumble at your touch, but the metal beneath is still sturdy. A light flashes in your eyes, but with your back to the party none can see it.
A deep sigh sounds in your mind, Eydor, finallllyyyyyyy......... You're not sure how, but you get the impression of sleep.
The quasit laughs maniacally as she speaks, My name!? MY NAME!? It doesn't matter now, mortals! I'm free from this cursed place! FREE!!! And then she disappears.
Well that was anti-climactic. Shall we continue on? Saira moves to look if there is anything else of interest in the room