On each of the troglodytes you find the following:
Mwk falchion, 3 javelins, amulet with the flaming head of a serpent engraved on it.
Holy symbol of Kro’akoth. Kro'akoth is known as The Awakener and The Fire Serpent, god of Chaos, Evil, Fire, and Trickery.
Heading into the West room:
This chamber is an irregular octagon, and smells terrible. There is no furniture, just piles of makeshift bedding. The room looks like it could easily sleep twelve. There is a dark opening on the south wall.
It looks as if this was the room the troglodytes lived. Among their beds are gnamed bones, trinkets and crude wooden bowls.
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Lucifer pockets the amulet with the flaming head of a serpent, encase it proves useful later.
"Ugh... trogs always smell. Careful though, maybe more will come from that opening in the south wall."
Carefully moves to the dark opening at the south wall and uses his dark vision to spy what lies beyond.
The journey from Absolom was a long one and you breath a sigh of relief at the sight of the stone walls and battlements on the shore of the Sellen River, your destination. As you approach the large timber door clad in iron plates, your feeling of relief wanes a bit at the sight of the Hellknights guarding the entrance. Your are stopped at the entrance, but a quick flash of the letter you received 2 weeks ago provides you hassle free access to the fort; as well as a curt, “Welcome to Fort Inevitable.”
Just inside the gate of Fort Inevitable is a bustling market filled with merchants, farmers, and townsfolk, as well as Hellknights patrolling the streets. As you walk a few paces in you glance at the letter you received in Absolom. It simply states, “Meet me at The Red Shield Tavern in Fort Inevitable. Show this note to the guards at the gate. - Venture Captain Gorak Behn.” Imprinted on the parchment is the Glyph of the Open Road.
Just as you go to ask someone where to find The Red Shield Tavern, you notice a wooden sign with a simple red shield painted on it. Inside, the Red Shield is actually quite busy. There are at least a dozen off-duty Hellknights, enjoying drafts of bitter and stout. You get a few sideways glances as you are clearly out of place in this establishment. As you glance around the room the bartender hollers in your direction, "You, tengu! This is for you! He hands you a piece of folded parchment with a map to a spot on the edge of the Echo Wood. I got word that you were held up. There's a hot meal already paid for and a tankard of ale. Eat up. Get any supplies you need from the Fort, and hightail it to the location on the map. -Gorak Behn.
Just as you finish reading the bartender sets down a hot bowl of stew and a tankard of ale. The meal is a welcome treat after couple weeks of travel. You finish, thank the bartender and hurry off to the nearest vendors. You purchase the last bit of gear you need and quickly leave Fort Inevitable. After about a three mile walk, you see a small cabin with smoke coming out of the chimney. The glyph of the open road is burned into the door. You open the door and step inside the cabin. What 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. A massive half-orc about 6'7" wearing a wide brimmed hat, mithril breastplate, a greatsword strapped to his back, and burn marks on the left side of his face, greets you with a smile, "Welcome to the Traveling Lodge of the Angry Muse. Running a bit late are we? No bother, but your counterparts have already left. Wasn't sure if you'd be joining 'em." He hands you a green cylindrical stone, "This stone will transport you to the different levels of the spire." He rolls out a map on the table and a parchment with an Ancient Azlanti symbol on it and points to a stairwell on the first floor, "Go here and when you see this symbol activate the transport stone and you will be transported deeper into the spire. From there you should be able to find the others." With that he gives you directions through the Echo Wood to the spire and sends you off.
The gray sky threatens rain, but the hike into the wood is dry and uneventful. After about a 3 mile hike from the lodge, the wood opens up to a clearing. You pause for a moment in awe at the site.
You find yourselves staring up at a ruined keep guarding a broken central tower, all made of smooth, green glass. It’s obvious that a grand battle took place here many years ago, and the clearing around the ruin lies barren, with sickly weeds struggling to rise from the magic-blasted earth. Melted chunks of twisted glass pepper the ground, lending a green hue to the clearing’s light. Despite the damage, however, the glass of the keep itself seems to have avoided the ravages of time, with those pieces that survived the initial cataclysm unmarred by pitting or cracking, clean of moss and other clinging debris. At the top of a steep dirt path winding up through the rubble, a doorway opens onto darkness, its entrance seeming to steal light into its inky depths.
You enter the spire and find the great green column in the stairwell of the first floor. Holding the Transport Token and touching the green glowing crystal say the word given to you by your venture captain and are instantaneously teleported. You navigate through the clockwork maze and find the staircase leading down.
The stairs descend in several long flights for almost 200 feet before reaching the next level. You decend through the darkness until you see a faint orange flicker of light ahead. The stairs open up into a well lit 25 by 30 foot room.
Signs of battle—most commonly dried blood, scorch marks, and smashed bones—appear along the stairway down. The stairs end in the northeast corner of a small, brightly lit room with a door on the west wall. In the center of the room are two large iron racks holding numerous burning candles. The iron candleholders are crafted so that each candle appears to be held in the jaws of a serpent. A phrase is written on each rack in Undercommon.
“Offer prayer to Kro’akoth the Awakener, scaled brethren, and be welcome here.”
Lucifer and Ting instantly jump back as they approach the opening. The smell is worse than anything they've smelled before, even that of the first 6 troglodytes. It is obvious without even looking they used this room as their latrine.
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Hello everyone, sorry I am late. The summons from Venture Captain Gorak Behn did not reach me for a while as the road to the monastery was blocked. he said as he introduced himself.
"I am Andirke von Niginburch, the Risen, master of the bow." he said with a bow.
Seeing the candle rack and the inscription, Andirke pulled out a journal and started to write it down. "I do not see the language of the underground that often. It says Offer prayer to Kro’akoth the Awakener, scaled brethren, and be welcome here. Hum, Kro’akoth the Awakener? Let me think now."
"Sorry, the name does not ring a bell."
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His eyes watering, as he covers his beak with his empty talon, Ting looks at Lucifer, 'At's a bloody awful stench wroight, let's goes back tha other way." Nodding to Aroden, "'At's a bloody fine Idear, Aroden." Turning, he realizes there is another Tengu pathfinder introducing himself, he lulls his tongue in a tengu smile. "Welcome's Adirke veo niginbrt? err , Andirke, I's be ting tang, wroight." He points at Lucifer, "foller us if'n you's bloody wells wants ta live." Resting his bastard sword on his shoulder, he proceeds to the opening he saw on the southern part of the walled room. Stepping into the doorway he looks into the room.
Aroden doesn't detect anything magical. Ting decides to move away from the latrine cave and move back to the previous room. He and Aroden look through the other door.
In the center of the room is a fire pit with a sizable blaze crackling away. On either side are two tables with four chairs each. The remains of several small subterranean creatures—mostly rats and lizards—cover the tables. It seems they were being eaten raw. Along the walls are several barrels, one of which is full of javelins. There are doors to the east,
west, and north.
There does not seem to be any traps on the western door. Opening that door lets another breath of foul air come pouring into the room.
Andirke, with his Tengu senses, looks down into the fire pit and sees a shiny ring among the flames.
@Ting: No door to the south. You do not detect any traps on the East door.
@Andirke: It's a fire pit, with a fire burning. It's not deep (reachable), but it looks like it's on a bone finger in the fire itself.
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Seeing Aroden reach into the fire and grab the ring, ting lulls his tongue in a tengu smile. "Now 'at's bold, wroight."
Pointing to the eastern door, he asks Aroden, "so's Aroden, would ya's lioks ta use yer magic and opens tha door too?" He moves near the door waiting to see what's no the other side.
Aroden sticks his hand in the fire without incident and grabs the ring. Examining it, he finds it to be a minor ring of energy resistance (fire).
He then uses magic to open the eastern door revealing a dark cooridor.
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Nodding, in agreement with Andirke, "You's is wroight, Andirke, you's is wroight."
Watching the door as Aroden opens it, revealing the dark hallway; ting turns to Lucifer. "If'n I's was ta walk down' 'air wit me Ioun stone shinin' it would bloody well let every'one's knows we's was a comin' wroight." He nods towards the hallway. "But if'n you's was ta eyeball's it foist, we's could get tha jump on em, wroight." ting waits at the door in the dinning room until Lucifer checks around the corner to see what awaits them.
Lucifer looks down and the hallway goes as far as his darkvision will let him see and further. The door in front of him is made of thin iron plate and is warm to the touch. The sound of metal striking metal in a rhythmic fashion can be heard beyond the door.
Another door can be barely seen at the end of his vision.
No traps. It is not locked.
Lucifer cracks the door and peeks in.
A wave of heat floods out as the door opens. Inside the scorching hot room are a great anvil, a pool of magma, and a stack of barrels along the north wall.
A fire salamander stands at the anvil swinging a hammer forging what looks like a white hot falchion.