Kaelic's mind wanders away from him as he is attacked by the awful brain.
....
Dagon fires his crossbow, hitting the brain!
Juma and Kaelic are dazed!
Maffei steps up and lands a blow against the brain.
The brain moves over and attacks Maffei!
"Hurrrr..."
"Wha...?"
Juma and Kaelic stand dazed, while Dagon fires a bolt, missing.
Maffei steps back and swings twice, missing both times!
The brain follows Maffei, but its tentacle misses!
"For crying out loud, snap out of it!"
The creature's myriad wounds catch up to it as it shakes violently, then falls to the ground, motionless.
Kaelic unsprings his wand and starts trying to get his brain back. He then tends to Dagon in the same way.
"That cabinet was awful."
"Just like... uh... I mean... I'm trying to make a joke about Andoran politics, but it's just not coming. Is it gonna be like this forever?"
"What, with Juma smelling like that? Yeah, probably." Kaelic says before summoning up some magic within himself. "Ah, tingly."
Juma looks around at the broken furniture and his wounded companions, then says, "Let's all agree never to speak of this to anyone."
Searching the chamber, you find there actually two cabinets. The first, eastern cabitet, now in splinters, has a barely legible message, in Commom, on the front door. Herein lies safety-but know that to rely on such crutches is to fall from the Path. Among the debris, you notice three silk cushions.
The western cabinet also has a message on the front; Return what is no longer needed here, lest it weigh you down.[i] Inside this cabinet, you find three [i]beads of force sitting on silk cushions.
Going through the western door, you find a corridor that leads back to the southwest. At the end you find a secret door that leads into the room with the training dummies. Nothing of interest is found.
Kaelic sees what Dagon is trying to do and, realizing Dagon is going to fail as Dagon does, he does it better.
But maybe not quite as better as he would've liked.
Kaelic and Dagon detect no magic pillows, nor magic anywhere else, other than the beads.
"Moving on, then"
-Posted with Wayfinder
"So we're taking the beads? I feel like this is some kind of test."
Dagon fidgets at the door.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Opening the door to the east, you see a tiled pool dominates this chamber, which has a fifteen-foot high barrel vault ceiling. The waters are clear and look to be about three feet deep. Three marble platforms featuring the same mosaic design found in the monastery above rise along the pool's center, protruding six inches above the surface. Four octagonal, domed alcoves in the corners each hold a marble pillar. Near the southeast alcove, a large hole has been dug in the wall. You also spot two bat-winged creatures, in the south end of the chamber, who look up as you enter.
"Cripes, I feel like pest control," Juma says as he moves forward and takes a swing.
, /
Juma moves closer?
Juma moves a little closer and takes a defensive stance!
The northern grioth flies over to the middle platform in the pool. Grasping an icon hanging from its neck, Juma feels dark energy wash over him!
The other grioth strides forward muttering a chaotic language, then points at Juma.
Dagon advances and begins to sing.
Kaelic moves forward and casts a spell, seeking to blind one of the Grioths.
Dagon begins to inspire his party!
Kaelic fires off a burst of light, injuring and blinding one of the grioths!
Juma finds his mind confused and punches himself!
Maffei moves closer and fires a shadowfire ray at the southern grioth, hitting it, but it doesn't seem to damage it fully.
Kaelic blinds the one on the platform!
The southern grioth moves closer, grasps its icon and points. Suddenly, a thunderclap sounds next to Kaelic, Dagon, and Maffei!
The other grioth, in a blind fury, channels negative energy, catching its companion and Juma!
The southern grioth shriek in anger at its blind companion!
"Oh wait, hit THEM, not ME! That's right!"
Juma goes after the nearest grioth and takes a swing:
, /
Dagon takes a shot at the grioth on the platform, while continuing to sing.
Kaelic stands, hands over his ears, wondering why no one else is stopping to emphasize how painful that explosion was.
Juma steps up and slams his flaming staff into the grioth! It falls to the ground in a heap!
Dagon fires his crossbow, but misses!
Kaelic is stunned by the loud noise!
Maffei manages to shake off the noise and moves closer, firing another shadow ray!
As before, she hits a grioth, but it seems to resist!
Shrieking in blind fury, the grioth channels more foul energy!
Dagon reloads and fires at the grioth on the platform, while singing.
Not wanting another situation like the last pool, Juma decides not to cross the water to the grioth on the platform and instead chucks a chakram at it.
,
Dagon fires a crossbow bolt, but misses!
Juma chucks a chakram, striking the grioth!
Maffei evokes another ray, hitting the grioth, but it resists!
Kaelic runs around to get a better angle, pulling out his crossbow and popping off a shot.
,
,
Kaelic fires his crossbow, hitting the grioth and dropping it.
Each grioth carried a scroll of deeper darkness, scroll of speak with dead, scroll of sound burst, mwk voidglass breastplate, and mwk voidglass dagger.
"Huh. Creepy."
"This pool is magical, but I don't really get it."
"You guys suck at magic."
Maffei peers into the pool and shrugs.
After looking around, you find that you havce explored the entirety of the monastery, but have not found the Dark Window. Going back over all the floors, you eventually find a concealed door in the library on the second floor. The iron door is covered in complex sigils and runes painted in delicate black lacquer—a message repeated over and over in several languages, including Common: “Beware! Dark Oblivion Lies Within!”
You find the door locked, but key given to you by the mummy opens the lock. Inside, a drone, like the sound of a vast wind,fills this room, yet the air is cold and still. A fifteen-foot square of arcane symbols is inscribed on the floor. Two five-foot-square areas of similar writing sit to the northeast and southeast of the larger one.
Above the larger square hovers what appears to be a vertical hole in reality—a window that looks out into a night sky in which only a few tiny stars are visible. The window itself is fifteen feet square, running from the north and south points of the symbol below. It’s suspended a foot off the ground, and comes within three feet of the ceiling above.
"This must be that thing." Kaelic says of the almost certainly magical window.
"Well, let's get to studying then, shall we?"
[spoiler=Dagon]
Dagon realizes the Window is essentially an immobile, magical effect of a strong magic. He believes casting dispel magic would close the Window for a few seconds, or the Window could possibly be destroyed. Figuring out how to destroy it would take some time studying the runes and squares in the room.