"Can you draw out a map of this labyrinth and where these groups might be located?" Silas asks.
Gavele shrugs. "Draw? I mean, I can sort of point out which directions they are?"
Silas pulls out a chalk and tosses it to her. "Sketch it out."
"Fine," she says with a sigh. She sketches it out.
She describes the various areas as she knows them or has heard of them.
Tilver jabs his finger at one area marked 'chaos chamber'. "What's this mean?" He then motions with his foot to 'kaleidoscope temple' "And what about this one?"
Sauklas doesn’t look at the map, continuing to watch the woman for signs of betrayal. ”Just some more information, and you’ll be free to go.”
"I don't know. They call that the Chaos Chamber. Seems like they're afraid to go in there. I've never been."
"I haven't been to the Kaleidoscope Temple, either, but that's because it's the heart of this place, the reason everything else is here. They don't let the hired help in there. And that's what I am - hired help. That's where you'll find whatever you've come for. Be sure of that."
Silas shrugs and says, "Looks like both ways lead to the chaos room. I would like to go clockwise and check out that room she doesn't know about. But going straight to the important room might be better for our resources."
Master Nekht looked like a statue in thought.
"My preference would be to continue around in a clockwise manner; I don't want to miss something important." He spoke aloud.
Tilver shrugs. "Ok, clockwise. Let's go." He twirls his finger in the air in a clockwise manner for emphasis.
”We sound decided. Clockwise. I guess you fulfilled your part of the deal,” he tells the woman and lowers his hand crossbow. He gives her a nod in farewell.
”Kaleidoscope temple?” he repeats with his voice raising to indicate a question. ”That sounds confusing but I bet mesmerizing.”
Released, Gavele takes off for the surface at a trot.
You head south down the wide passageway, hearing strange sounds echoing elsewhere in the complex, but encountering no one. You find the door on the eastern wall of the corridor to be slightly ajar, and peering in you see a wide and empty chamber. Stairs rise up to a set of curtains covering another doorway. The floor and walls of the chamber sport strange dark violet stains.
With a word and a gesture, Master Nekht cast Detect Magic.
Silas shakes his head slightly at the sight but continues on to find more of these vile cultists. He stops at the stairs to look for traps.
Tilver enters the room, pausing at the violet stains to examine them. "What is this?"
Sauklas approaches the dark violet stains and peers at them, thinking of what he knows about religious rituals, looking for a pattern in the location of the stains. Maybe if he knows the ritual, he will know what left behind these stains from the ritual. ”Hmmm,” he drones.
Afterwards he goes to the stairs and stands next to Silas. ”Did you find any traps?” he asks looking up the stairs towards the curtained doorway.
Master Nekt-Mutf definitely detects the presence of conjuration magic in the room. Alister begins to identify the magic when Silas simply strides across the room.
Suddenly, the room is alive with flailing tentacles rising up from the floor and reaching out from the walls. The horridly strong pseudopods try to seize Tilver and Silas, but each manages to block or deflect the flailing assailants.
"Interesting, I sense... wait!" Started Nekht before Tilver and Silas started across.
With the eruption of flailing tentacles from the floor, Nekht made a sharp gesture and command word to cast Dispel Magic on the tentacles.
But he was rushed and the magic failed.
Silas growls at the tenticales, but doesn't see anything that looks like he can attack, so he backs out of the room.
Tilver leaps back away from the tentacles. He slips back out of the room hoping that he is out of their reach. "Is that a trap? Do you think it resets, or if we wait it out can we just walk by?"
Sauklas hurries to Nekht’s side to assist in a retreat. ”I think she could have warned us!” His torso sways, ready to roll to either side if a tentacle attacks.
"This room was listed as the room she did not know. Or at least I think this is the areas that she put that for." Silas says.
Dain is just entering the room when the tentacles appear. He is momentarily taken aback but recovers quickly when he sees his companions in danger.
He whistles and calls out to the arcane spirits in the room as he tries to release them from the spell that binds them here.
”Good point, Silas,” Sauklas says. ”I’ll focus my frustration on these tentacles.”
Master Nekht-Mutf and Dain each try to counteract the spell, but it proves too complex for them. Likewise, Tilver tries to recall what he knows about such spells, but recalls little more than the name: black tentacles. What Tilver does realize is that it might be possible to disable the trap by temporarily draining the glyph's power . But failure could also be dangerous.
Or you could simply walk away...
"Let's just leave it for now. I doubt anyone else will be able to get through it either. We can come back later to check on it."
"hmph" Grunted Master Nekht, seemingly personally offended by the resistance of a mere rubber tentacles spell. But he managed to restrain himself and walk away stiffly.
”Alright, continuing on,” Sauklas says while towards the next room.
As you turn your attention south, you see a lone figure in heavy plate armor approaching. The armor is stylized to represent a female figure and the heavy helm is carved to represent a snarling female face. The helmet is oddly pierced by holes in many places around the scalp.
The figure holds a strange rod, angular and fluted like something grown, not forged.
She stands for a moment, limned in the wavering light of the torches that line the walls.
"Intruders. Good. I was getting bored. You lot look like you think you're somebody. Good. Good. FOR THE NIGHT OF DISSOLUTION!"
So saying she begins to charge forward!
STATUS
Tilver - 74/96 hp
HERRIAKADAL
Nekh-Mutf - 60/68 hp
Sauklas - 89/96 hp
Dain - 72/96 hp
Silas - 110/124 hp
Tilver spots a rare opening. He just has to get closer. He rushes forward, pulling out a tanglefoot bag. He hurls it at the woman, and the bag explodes on contact, rooting her to firmly to the floor. "Sauklas, hit her now!"
Tilver's bag hits the warrior squarely in the knees. Sticky goo erupts forth, instantly cementing her to the ground. Surprised to find herself unable to move, she surges forward, shattering the glue and squeezes a disturbing bulb on her strange rod, causing a caustic yellow ray to lance out at Tilver and Sauklas. From within her strange helmet, the woman laughs maniacally.
She shatters the glue and comes forward, leveling her eerie rod at Tilver.
STATUS
Tilver - 72/96 hp
HERRIAKADAL
Nekh-Mutf - 60/68 hp
Sauklas - 89/96 hp
Dain - 72/96 hp
Silas - 110/124 hp
Tilver, you don't know anything about this woman, or even if she -is- a woman (though her voice sounds female.) What you do know is that Chaositech is a discipline that relies on eldritch principles that should not work but somehow do. It is said that these principles descend from the most ancient times and are somehow related to the Nath'arlnacna, also known as the Galchutt, which you have learned are some sort of Chaos gods, though you never learned specifics.
Tilver grits his teeth as the ray hits him. "That's Chaositech! Try not to let it touch you!"
Sauklas isn’t sure if he twisted slightly or his opponent missed a hurried second activation of the wand. Either way he is relieved the yellow ray didn’t strike him. With practiced movements, he reloads his crossbow while striding towards his opponent. He hears Tilver’s encouragement, halts and fires his crossbow. A split second later he removes his axe from it’s belt loop and motions to his adversary to approach. Hearing the warning about Chaositech, he swallows despite the suddenly dry mouth.
Dain hustles down the hallway towards the armored attacker. Shouting out in spirit-tongue, he calls for the city's spirits to defend their home. A ghostly spear materializes next to the cultist and attacks her!
Silas rages at the chaositech and charges towards the woman.
Sauklas's crossbow sings twang-chunk! and a bolt sprouts from the figure's thigh. She hisses in pain. Nonetheless she recovers just in time to knock Dain's spiritual hammer aside as it swings on her.
STATUS
Tilver - 72/96 hp
HERRIAKADAL - 14 damage
Nekh-Mutf - 60/68 hp
Sauklas - 89/96 hp
Dain - 72/96 hp
Silas - 110/124 hp
Tilver crosses over to the other side and dashes up to the chaositech-wielder. Without his usual precision, he tries to kick at her legs to bring her down.
Master Nekht pointed to another section of broken masonry, which then lifted into the air and then hurled itself violently through the air.
for a possible bludgeoning damage.
Tilver rushes up to the woman and sweeps her heavily-armored leg, causing her to crash to the ground and Nekht-Mutf's thrown brickbat to sail past her head, caroming off the floor beyond.
With a growl, the woman rises and flips up the visor on her helm, locking it into the up position. It reveals a classically beautiful female face, snarling with rage, her eyes blazing with supernatural power. At the same time, snakes emerge from all the holes in her helmet and bite Tilver on the arm!
As she stows her noxious ray emitter, the snake-haired lady fixes her gaze on Tilver, freezing the blood in his veins...
Sauklas feels a tingle along his spine when the woman reveals her blazing eyes. He instinctively knows staying too close to her will be bad in someway. He breathes out, gathering his courage, and strides forward. ”Let’s dance,” he says reloading his crossbow. He pivots to slide to the other side of the woman. He fires at point-blank range then attempts to puncture her armor with the spike on the axe head.
Silas moves forward and strikes at the woman several times.
Dain takes a step back from the fearsome creature while singing out encouragement to the attacking spirits.
Spiritual Weapon
Spiritual Weapon
plus enfeebled 1 (1 round).
Tilver' blood burns with the pain of the snake's venom and he feels himself weakening, although he resists the strange power of the woman's gaze.
Sauklas fires his crossbow, the bolt no doubt bruising flesh beneath her armor, then rushes in and slashes her with his trusty boarding pike. Then he feels the eerie force of her gaze as his skin and flesh begin to harden...
Silas, ignoring all such magical nonsense, charges in and with a terrific blow, cuts the woman badly across the shoulder with his big blade.
Dain wisely retreats and sends his spirits to harrass the warrior woman with blazing lances of light.
STATUS
Tilver - 64/96 hp and enfeebled 1 (1 round). Poison Stage 1.
HERRIAKADAL - 70 damage
Nekh-Mutf - 60/68 hp
Sauklas - 89/96 hp, slowed 1 (1 minute)
Dain - 72/96 hp
Silas - 110/124 hp
"Bring her down! Silas, under her arm!" Tilver shouts as he bring his sword under her guard. Then he sweeps it around to crash into her legs.
His mind whirling with assessment, Tilver anticipates the medusa's actions, thinks five moves ahead, then lashes out, stabbing her and sweeping her legs. She crashes heavily to the ground, bleeding from the cut.
Master Nekh-Mutf telekinetically hurls a handful of metal balls at the downed figure. They slam into her armor with a cacophanous roar.
She staggers to get up, and Silas lashes out to punish her for it, but she blocks his lunging blade and manages to rise.
The hissing adders that are her hair lash out at Sauklas, biting at him directly on the arm!
Bleeding and panting, she then draws her shortsword and tries to stab Silas, who blocks her smaller blade with his huge one.
STATUS
Tilver - 64/96 hp and enfeebled 1 (1 round). Poison Stage 1.
HERRIAKADAL - 105 damage
Nekh-Mutf - 60/68 hp
Sauklas - 61/96 hp, slowed 1 (1 minute), make a poison save!
Dain - 72/96 hp
Silas - 110/124 hp
Sauklas almost drops his axe when the adders bite his arm. ”Agggh!” he yells. ”Not that dance,” he adds retreating in a stumble, past Silas Silvermane.
His fingers feel a little slower loading his crossbow. He aims, but he keeps glancing at the snake hair when he fires.