Hadgar lets another glass shard fly, this time drawing blood.
Antikas keeps that ceiling pinned down with another arrow as Shard attacks the bugbear with a flurry of attacks. One of the claws catches the bugbear across the throat and Grulk collapses.
End of Combat
Looking around this room:
This strange chamber pulses with the green glow of the column of glass-like crystal that forms the core of the tower. The walls of the room are damaged, and the roof is cracked. The spire in the center juts up, just peaking above the crude ceiling. A bed and a side table sit in the northern half of the room, and archery targets line the eastern section of wall.
On the bugbear's body, you find a mwk morningstar, leather armor, 3 garnets worth 50gp each, a mwk Composite Longbow (STR +2), and a ring that detects as magical.
Looking around you also find a key sitting on a table. The key is to the locked double doors on the opposite side of the spire to the stairs up to the bugbear's room.
Stairs wind downward to the right, circling around a glowing wall of semi-translucent green stone. It seems the Azlanti tower was built around a core of some other material—a spire within a spire.
You make your way down a little bit, and fight off a couple goblin zombies. As the spire winds down further, you decide this a good time to check in with the Venture Captain. You start making your way back to Fort Inevitable. . .
The sun is setting as you make your way back to Fort Inevitable. It's been a tiring day. Too many goblins, but you're hoping you cleared the infestation. You travel down the road about half way to the fort when you spot a small cabin you're pretty sure wasn't there before. As you get closer you notice the glyph of the open road burnt into the door. You pause for a second to look at it before moving on when the door opens. A familiar half-orc stands before you. "Back so soon? Well, come on in, let's see what you've found thus far." Venture Captain Gorak Behn ushers you inside. As you step inside the cabin, which couldn't have been more than 10 foot square on the outside, you walk into a grand hall 30 feet across, 60 feet long, and the ceiling 30 feet high. There is a seating area in the entry with trophies and artifacts of various kinds from all over Golarian and a large feasting table beyond that with a massive fireplace at the far end. To the right is a staircase that goes up to a loft with a modest library and sleeping quarters. Motioning toward the table, "Welcome to the Traveling Lodge of the Angry Muse. Have a seat. Food and drink will be coming shortly. Now, tell me about the spire . . ."
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"Not so goblin-infested now that we swept the ruins of goblin taint. Their bugbear leader and robotic invention were the only ones that pose a threat to our entire group. Others not so much."
Hadgar reveals himself behind the Antikas and Shard, greeting the venture captain with a nod as he enters the lodge after both of them.
"Other than that, there were not much sights than the winding stairs that spiral upwards and downwards of a spire that was shaped like its outer shell and the mysteries that await us in the lower levels. I can vouch for my fellow pathfinders that there is more to the ruins than meets the eyes. After all, we did encounter undead on our way down. But, we did not gleam much as we ceased further explorations and decided that was a good time to report back to you our findings."
Gorak listens intently as he ushers everyone to the table. As you sit down, another half-orc similar in look but a bit slimmer in stature brings out a round of ale for everyone followed by plates of food.
Gorak pauses a moment at the mention of a the robotic invention, "A robotic invention? That seems a little clever for goblins. The spire does sound interesting though. It seems there's a lot more to these ruins."
After the meal Gorak offers you a place to stay for the night and suggests you take a couple days to go to Fort Inevitable and make any purchases you need to for your continued exploration of the spire.
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There is a knock at the door of 'The Traveling Lodge'. Whoever knocked doesn't wait long before they open the door, walk in, and hop up on a chair.
"Nor'srcik is here to help. I'm back from the big sandy desert place and the Pathfinders sent me here. This is the right place? I'm not so good with directions but this is the only place around here!" says the halfling sized rat-like humanoid.
"Hey wait a minute... this place was much smaller on the outside, yes? That's fancy magic stuff for sure!" he says with a slight squeak in his voice that shows he's surprised and maybe a little impressed.
After a couple days in and around Fort Inevitable the party returns to the lodge to find a ratfolk. Gorak introduces the ratfolk as Nor'Scrik, a fellow Pathfinder Society agent. The next morning, with your new companion in tow, the party heads back to the spire. You head for the stairs which wraps around the spire two times before the darkness enchantment of the upper level wears off, and continue another 50' below the upper ruins.
The steep stair descends through solid bedrock for fifty feet before ending in a stone-lined room. A large stone door stands directly south of the stair, a small alcove lies to the east, and another door to the southeast is slightly ajar. An extinguished torch rests on the floor of the alcove.
Hadgar focuses on the door slightly ajar and kinetically opens it the rest of the way revealing a hallway with a door to the north and a door down the hall to the east.
Nor'scrik moves to the extinguished torch. He notices the torch has been sitting there for some time.
@Everyone: The area (both the starting area, and the passage way) is dimly lit by irregular, luminescent patches of greenish-white, furry mold. The light is enough for anyone with normal vision to see.
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"Nonsense. I know a trap when I see one. It is likely the memento of a poor soul who fled or devoured by the horrors in this floor. We've seen undead on our way in so this..."
He points to the dropped used torch.
"may be a natural reaction. Or maybe he survived and stowed away in one of the many rooms here. The door is slightly ajar so we at least know that someone was here."
For the time being, the half-orc poke and prod at the room, testing it with his telekinesis to see if there are reaction by moving the a little of the green patches that is the source of the illumination and lifting the torch. He also pay attention to detail. (Perception (Take 20) - 27)
Hadgar looks carefully at the area around the torch and finds light scrape marks on the floor leading up to a hidden lever in the wall. A secret door.
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"Trap. Just not where you are looking at."
Hadgar smiles as he points to the hidden level. Then, he walks over to Sana and deposits a obscuring mist scroll into her hand.
"In the event we are about to be bombard by arrows."
After that, he watches whoever moves to dismantle the trap, readying a kinetic cover to protect the disabler from an attack if it happens.
Nor'scrik checks for traps, then proceeds to open the door revealing a 5' long passageway to another door.
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Hadgar takes out a mirror and spies the narrow passageway from every angle including the ceiling.
"It is indeed small. But it is barely enough to qualify for a storage room."
Hadgar continues to watch over the safety of the ratfolk, ready to throw up a shield to block any incoming attack aim on his figure.
Nor'scrik checks the next door for traps, and upon feeling it safe to do so, he opens the door.
A curving wall of glowing green crystal bulges out into this chamber from one corner. A stout wooden table stands along the wall opposite it. On the table lie three rotting human corpses and the remnants of a giant spider.
One of the human corpses has had all of its extremities severed, and its torso has been opened to reveal the internal organs. Another dismembered corpse has spider legs sewn onto the stumps in place of the removed limbs, all of which are neatly arranged near the rest of the spider.
A bucket full of reeking, old blood sits on the floor under the table, and needles with lengths of silken thread attached are stuck in a hand-sized block of bloodstained wax atop the table.
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Sana peaks over the shoulders of, and around those in the short hallway.
Seeing the bodies she stops, barely keeping herself from retching at the smell of decay and the butchering before her. "Who could... why?... What kind of monster..." her rage is unlike anything you have seen from her, and is severe enough that it makes it difficult for her to speak. "Those poor people..." She says as she pushes past the others into the room. Tears of sorrow, and anger dripping from her face, marking the dusty floor.
Hadgar takes a moment to look in the room. He doesn't notice any immediate danger, but he does notice that during that time, on of the spider legs on the table briefly twitches.
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Antikas moves in and takes a shot at the twitchy spider thing, just in case.
But clearly something is wrong with his bow and the arrow falls to the floor, where he embarrassingly picks it up and and puts it back in his quiver, then turn to look at the emerald wall next to him, pretending nothing happened.
"Er... to this emerald wall hey. It's so green."
Special Attacks: Srength draining poison from bite attacks, and wed it has a web attack.
Spell-Like Abilities: Obscuring Mist 3/day, Gaseous Form 1/day
Nor'scrik moves in to check the door as Antikas forgets to load his crossbow and dry-fires it. Shard pushes past Antikas next to Sana. As Shard steps into the spot next to Sana a pressure plate triggers and a cage breaks through the ceiling crashing down over Shard and Sana. As they try to avoid the cage, it strikes both of them.
Shard tries to avoid the cage and gets hit by the bars as he's stepping outside of it.
Sana gets caught by surprise and ends up inside the cage.
In the cage itself is a skeleton strapped into a harness, as the cage hits the ground, the skeleton loosens itself and moves toward Sana.
Initiative:
Round 1
Qildar
Antikas
Trutzburg
Sana
Hadgar
Skeleton
Nor'Scrik
Shard
End of Round