Bjorkus waits his turn, helping the weaker and maimed aboard the strange translucent disk of force. Even after watching it make the trip two dozen times, he's still suspicious when he climbs aboard himself. "You sure this is gunna hold me?" the bull asks.
Rilka is getting ready to jump across the pit when Dalton conjures a disc of magical force. She volunteers to ride the disc first, wanting to make sure the pit trap is indeed only five feet long. She crouches on it, curling her fingers around the edge of the magical force. ”How high does this go? I’d like to examine the ceiling if I could too. I can imagine the floor collapsing and then the ceiling caving in for further lethality. I suggest you sit on the disc when it’s your turn.“
Slowly, tediously, stressfully the entire group passes the pit unharmed. Rilka has enough time to thoroughly examine the trap while all the slaves are crossing and discovers the true diabolical nature of the trap .
The party spends the next thirty minutes traveling winding corridors, running into dead ends and forks constantly. It's nerve racking as Rilka constantly scans the hallway for traps, but this time is filled with just the sounds of footsteps echoing off the walls.
Finally there is a source of light seen ahead and the temperature begins rising. Rilka and Toramin carefully peer around the corner and see that that there is thirty feet of magma instead of floor, slowly moving to the west. On each wall is a lip that looks just barely big enough to stand on and cross it if you flattened yourself against the wall. Dalton looks up an notices a black sphere set into the ceiling right above the center of the magma. It is giving off a quiet, high pitched whining that gets slightly higher and louder over the course of about 20 seconds, then abruptly stops before repeating the process.
"I wonder what that is?"
The disk still being with them, Dalton decided to use it to their advantage. "Sorry, Miss Featherfeet - the platform only hovers a yard above the solid surface below it. Let us see if our magma flow here is at least that deep, shall we?" Dalton motivates his disk to head over to the flow.
Rilka wipes the sweat from her brow, studying the sphere. ”Is the tone familiar to anyone? A musical note, perhaps?” she looks at Bjorkus for his musical knowledge. ”Maybe if we stop the cycle the magma will disappear.”
Dalton has no idea what it could be. When he puts the disk over the magma it becomes apparent that it's too deep for that idea to work.
The sphere is about 5 feet in diameter.
What an interesting device.
Toramin believes the sphere is a very powerful magnet that charges up and activates every 20 seconds, then goes dead while it charges again.
"Does anyone have any piece of metal they don't mind losing?"
Dalton offers Toramin a copper piece as he peers across the molten river. "I'm a bit leery of magma. Reminds me of that demonknight we fought back during the regicide."
"I never met him, but there was much strange happening during that first regicide."
Toramin flicks the copper coin after he balances it on its edge so it rolls far down one of the ledges.
The copper doesn't seem effected by the magnet when it reaches it's peak, and Tormain remembers that copper is mostly not effected by magnets.
"I need something ferrous."
Bjorkus leafs through the torturer's journal for any mention of these tunnels.
"Do you have any thing like an iron trade bar, Master Dalton?"
Toramin takes one of the steel bands from his beard and rolls it down the ledge as he did the coin.
As the steel band rolls down the ledge, the whining of the sphere reaches a high and brings the band towards it at frightening speeds; obviously a very strong magnet. A moment later it stops, dropping the band directly into the center of the magma.
"As I suspected. Everyone. Listen very closely. Our lives depend upon it. Give anything metal you possess to Master Dalton to store in his magic pouch. Once we make it to the other side, it will be returned to you."
Toramin will start doing just that.
"A capital idea!"
Dalton begins stashing things into his sack like there was no time to waste.
"A capital idea!"
Dalton begins stashing things into his sack like there was no time to waste.
"Now then," Dalton brushes off his hands. "I, for one, am none too excited about this trek over a substance that would melt me to a sludge. Given a few minutes, I can prepare a cantrip that will greatly aid us in keeping our balance. It will only last a minute, but I imagine that would be enough."
Without objection, the mage reworks his preparations and casts the cantrip as they move across, one at a time.
After some time Dalton gets the cantrip prepared.
”Too bad we can’t swing across with a metal grappling hook,” she says as she passes over the metal items she has: her belt, the pen nibs, and her thieves’ tools. ”Even better though is the climber’s kit back at the house. We could have hammered pitons into the wall and made a safety line.”
Rilka will inspect both lips for traps, going down one way, stopping at that end to inspect for traps, and returning to the group along the other one. When it’s time for others to cross, she’ll help lead anyone who wants help, slowly talking them through walking along the lip, reassuring them that while it is scary, there’s no rush and to take their time.
”Maybe we can bribe that one into crossing without giving us a problem,” Rilka says to the others nodding towards the combative one.
Rilka nimbly navigates the ledges with no trouble. She does not believe they are trapped in any ways.
Toramin crosses the ledge.
Toramin crosses without the burden of his armor. As soon as his second foot is on the ledge he knows he was not built to do this. Halfway across his foot slips and there is a moment of fright as he pinwheels his arms, but he recovers and makes his way across.
While Toramin holds one end and Gabriel and Bjorkus the other, the younger tiefling takes the chance to speak up and ask a question he thought needed asking of the bull standing with him. He spoke low enough so as to not disturb the efforts of any slave crossing, but otherwise did not try and hide what he was saying from anyone else. "You would be the one to call them to your side, you know. What sort of battle will you lead them too?"
Bjorkus is surprised by Gabriel's question but knows it's one worth asking. He flexes to keep the rope as taut as possible as a few more of the prisoners complete the short but perilous journey across the ledge before giving his answer.
"Whatever battles it takes to see 'em free - outside the city's walls, onto the streets, or even inside the damned slaver's palaces. Growin' up on the water wasn't easy. Sometimes it was hell. But even hell's better than livin' and dyin' in chains. You'd know."
The bull nods at the location where he knew the paladin's brand was.
"There's girl I met workin' at the bathhouse. She's a pretty thing, and smart, the kinda girl that could go places if she wanted to. She was a slave there but, worse, she could barely imagine a life without those chains. These people can't suffer like that anymore. Livin' without hope isn't livin' at all."
Gabriel glanced down to the brand as well, where it was beneath his simple shirt, but then he glanced up again toward the prisoner that was walking along the ledge. He steadied the rope and was careful not to get so distracted as to look away from it again while Bjorkus was too. "I was born a slave. This mark is only a recent thing. It wasn't as bad as it is here, but my mother died a slave, never knowing that neither of us would never have freed ourselves. It was Geoffrey that freed me... but even with the man sent to prison... the man that had kept my mother working day in and out for a pittance... kept her and I in slave quarters... Even with him rotting for a sentence longer then his life... I still wanted to kill him. And the guards that overlooked what he had done. And at times even the other nobles who had known, even if they hadn't done it themselves, simply because they did nothing but watch."
Gabriel glances at Bjorkus, then to the prisoner along the ledge. His eyes grew distant for a moment, but not hard. If anything they softened just a little. If he felt any of the hatred or anger he spoke of any more it was a distant and faint thing. "I will fight with you. Not a day more should any of them be slaves. But what sort of freedom will you lead them toward? Will we attack every man and woman who turned a blind eye to what was done, and earn their freedom that way? It will be what some of them will want. It is a path this battle could very easily take. What was done to these people was far worse then what my mother and I suffered, physically and spiritually."
Bjorkus snorts, a bit uncomfortable with the question. Though the bull was no stranger to violence, he'd never been one to seek out slaughter and yet the idea of hunting down each and every man aligned with Targ and his ilk did tempt him. But what kind of future could these people have founded on corpses?
"I'd be honored to fight with 'em as long and far as it takes for all of Akropash to recognize that no man or woman will live as a slave and what'll happen to those that try to put others in chains. These people are strong. They have it in 'em. But they've been ruled by fear for so long, they just need someone to show 'em how."
Gabriel thought Bjorkus' answer. The bull clearly wasn't the brute mos people thought he was and Gabriel found himself gaining more and more respect for the man. "Geoffrey might have freed me from my slavery, but it wasn't until he showed me another path that I began to let go of my hate and anger and move toward the future... It wasn't until then that I was truly free of what had been done to me."
Gabriel smiles at Bjorkus, then focuses on the rope for a few moments as another prisoner crosses. Gabe waits until the man was completely across and down from the ledge before speaking again. "I want to leave this place stronger then it was when we came here. Leave them a home. Certainly there are some of the slavers who should not escape justice, but I'm sure there are others who took a wrong path and should be given a chance at redemption, and other people here still who have just been wishing for a chance to be better. I think you can rally the people toward a less... bloody future. I think you can show them how to find true freedom from whats been done to them. It's in your name after all. The one you earned. Ares the Honorable."
Bjorkus rumbles with laughter when Gabe mentions his newest title.
"My father was called a lotta things. Honorable was never one of 'em but I think I like it. I just gotta make sure they don't think I've gone soft when I get my ship back", he explains with another laugh.
The bull pauses to consider the young paladin and the rather limited life experiences he's had.
"You should come with me and try the sea after this is all done with. Bein' out there - on the open water with the ocean air in your fur - it's like flyin'."
Gabriel was surprised by Bjorkus' laughter, but it only made him smile more fiercely. "I have a feeling this may take a long time to finish, but if I am still alive when that time comes I would be glad to join you... so long as we avoid any... er... lawbreaking while I'm with you."
He had never been embarrassed to be a paladin, with both its benefits and his limitations, but he truly hoped Bjorkus would understand he was not trying to be offensive. He was just being Gabe. Bumbling, a tad awkward with people, but honest. "As far as going soft, I doubt you'll have a hard time convincing them that is not the case. Targ, a Deathworm, an Anti-paladin, a mad-king. All stories you can tell and some of them will, in the end, sound more fantastical then actual legends do. I think you'll have a harder time convincing them half of what you went through is true."
Another few minutes of twisting and turning go on without issue .
*Click*
Rilka dives forward while Dalton and Gabriel dive back, leaving Toramin looking down at a pressure plate he just stepped on. There's a brief moment of panic as the floor opens up, then the sturdy dwarf drops down. But instead of a bang there's a wet squishing noise as Toramin is dropped into a thick pale amber substance. He lands on his back and gets doused in it, but the substance is only about knee deep. As he stands he already feels the substance starting to tug back at him, trying to hold him there. Even more terrifying is that his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears are all coated and full of the liquid which is quickly hardening.
Diabolical! "That's sovereign glue! Rilka - can you make the solvent? He'll be petrified otherwise!"
Gabriel reacts quickly, having already jumped back. He grabs the rope from whoever had it last and tosses one end down the whole too Toramin. Then he gestures for Bjorkus to grab the other end. They could buy Rilka more time to make her solvent and help him if, together, they could pull him out of the pool of amber liquid. Or so he hoped.
Toramin grabs the rope that Gabriel tossed down. He blinks rapidly and opens and closes his mouth in hopes that movement will prevent the glue from hardening. "Pull me up!"
Gabriel heaves as hard as he can and calls out, "Grab the end of the rope and help me get him out!" Of the group, Bjorkus was easily the strongest, but with the others helping as well Gabriel hoped they could do it before whatever this substance, Dalton called it sovereign glue, hurt Toramin.
Toramin stands out of the glue and with a quick swipe clears his mouth, allowing him to breath. However his nose, eyes, and ears are all completely ineffective right now.
Gabriel manages to pull Toramin free of the glue before it sticks Toramin to the floor, dragging Toramin out.
Gabriel was surprised by his own strength when he managed to hall Toramin out of the pit. He knew he was strong but to be able to do it all on his own was unexpected. He quickly moves to the Dwarf's side and helps him to his feet, looking to the others to see if any of them knew of a way to help the dwarf. He was largely lost, not really understanding what sort of substance it was or why it was so dangerous. "Are you alright?"
Being unable to hear Gabriel, Toramin doesn't respond to his query.
Dalton or Rilka will know how to remove this substance. I must be patient and calm.
His hands tremor slightly as he stays still.