Victor slips the powerful ring on his finger, his lips turning up ever so slightly into a short lived smile "I expected more. Oh well."
As he's heading out he waves off the offer of the cloak "Nah, I got my use out of it already. I've got this nice Manta Cloak thing. Put that one on whoever's loudest." He looks back and forth between Geoff, Morv, and Issil on that front.
As Issil leads the way across the pit he shrugs as the floor gives way and things are about to go south "I could have helped with that, no worries."
"Oh please, I'm so quick I can-"
"Oooh, shiny!" Issil sword she saw something precious in the water, and goes to investigate.
|
Issil plunges twenty feet, spraining her ankle. She hits a nest of thick yellow, gooey fungus, and the mold bursts, spraying her with spores.
"I already wear a cloak," Morvena points out, gesturing to the Cloak of Resistance +1 that she still wears. "Geoffrey or Issil should take Padraig's old cloak for the moment."
When Issil tumbles down into the pit, Morvena winces and then carefully peers over the edge. "Are you all right? I am sure we have rope; we can have you back out very quickly!"
|
"That yellow mold is, well, yellow mold," Pádraig Henry proclaims.
The bard explains, "If disturbed, the mold bursts forth in a cloud of poisonous spores, endangering anyone within 10 feet. It weakens your fortitude, and it can continue to do so for up to half a minute. Fire destroys yellow mold, and sunlight renders it dormant."
"You all right down there, Issil?"
"Euuughhh...so we should burn it out then, once Issil is free?" Morvena asks, looking quite disgusted by this new information. "We should take care of both issues with all possible speed, then!"
"I also wear the same kind of cloak Morv," Geoffrey points out his own Cloak of Resistance +1, "I suppose we could sell it off..."
When Issil takes a tumble into the pit Geoffrey hurries over to the pit's edge. "I have some rope Issil but I have no way to burn away the mold. Can you take care of that?"
Issil goes splash and inhales a cloud of yellow mold.
"That wasn't gold. Just more mold." Issil climbs out of the pool, away from the cloud. "Besides a bruised ego, I'm alright. And if none of you are going to wear that cloak of elvenkind, I will."
"Victor, can you... jimmy that thing so it doesn't give way?" She prepares to cast Burning Hands upon the yellow mold. "Stand back, just in case it spits up more of the yellow stuff."
"Roast it. Then I'll work on the walkway." Victor waits for someone to do the fire cleansing then gets to work with his tools.
As he works Victor's mind wanders. Hopefully we can get this done quickly and get back into the city, I'm starting to feel kinda queasy and it sure would be nice to get some of that stuff.. fresh this time.
|
|
Issil manages to hold her breath, and the mold is ineffective on her constitution. Geoffrey lays down a rope and Issil quickly climbs up, then smothers the mold with pure fire, causing it to bend and curl into fingers of ash as her casting finishes. A secret door is revealed inside the pit.
Victor looks visibly irritated as he gets to work on the trap. Beads of sweat have started to form on the back of his neck, and though it is humid in this room, his hands tremble and he spends much longer than usual disabling the trap.
Another set of double doors lies past the pit.
"Vic... you doin' okay there? I can cast guidance to help if you want." Something about Victor's movements seem familiar to her. Too familiar.
Once he finishes, Issil looks around. "I was planning to see what was behind those doors, but whats in the secret doors? Vic, go swim through there with your cloak of the manta ray or whatever."
Geoffrey nods in agreement, "Let's see where those secret doors lead Victor. Hopefully they'll lead to the treasure room!"
Victor shrugs off Issil's concern "Ya not sure. I think this damp and cold or that mold is getting to me a bit. Once we clear this out I'll prolly lay low and rest a bit for the rest of the week to clear it up." He nods along in checking out this secret door, climbing down the rope and having a look-see.
|
|
The secret door opens to a short tunnel leading to another pit lined with spikes - the same pit you had earlier passed by just outside the sealed, haunted doors. Both pits lack any loot to be found.
Back at the top of the pit and with the only way forward through the double doors, you continue on. Beyond the double doors is a chamber supported by two pillars. The floor is decorated with five-foot-square colored tiles, the reds and yellows and blues and greens faded with the passage of time and appearing to have no real pattern. The mangled skeletons of two people lie slumped in the center of the room. Another set of double doors is at the northern side of this room.
"Now I am beginning to regret putting Lorelu to rest so quickly..." Geoffrey mutters under his breath.
"Well, the obvious path would be to walk on the same colored squares to reach the doors. Looks like both the red and green squares lead to the door. Seems easy enough...TOO easy," he shakes his head here. "There must be another pattern here that is the correct one!"
|
|
"Hang on, folks, let's at least try to spot any traps or identify anything within the room before we enter."
The halfling wriggles up near the doors and peers inside. Then he casts detect magic, looking for any telltale auras within the strange chamber.
He nods at Geoffrey's logical conclusions, "I've heard of worlds where green means 'go' and red means 'stop'."
Hmm. "Which squares are the skeletons resting on?"
"Yes, I believe we should take note of precisely where and what the skeletons rest upon as well as their condition...as best as can be judged from our current position, anyway," Morvena nods as she squints at the two skeletons.
______________
"Some rest would be good..." Issil yawns and flicks some more water from her hands. "So, what's beyond these doors?"
She snorts upon entering the room. "I can't tell if these skeletons died from these garish colors or something worse."
Issil looks around the room for magical auras.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Huh." Grunts Victor as he sees where the secret door goes "Would have been nice to see that earlier, but I guess we needed to open that door anyhow." He heads back and climbs up out of the pit to check the next area.
Seeing the overly large room before them he flicks his wrist and three glowing balls of light appear. He points his finger and they fly around the room so everyone can get a better look. "Well, looks like we don't wanna step in the middle there, unless its maybe like a gas trap or something. Maybe we can hook 'em with some rope n tackle and drag em over to have a look how they died..."
He lets his eyes wander the room for anything he can see from the doorway.
Which seems to mostly just be Issil's cleavage.
|
|
One of the skeletons lies on a yellow tile, while another on a green. Their bones don't seem to bear scorch marks nor do they seem melted, but what remains of their long-decayed limbs appear to have deep bite marks.
Padraig peeks past the doors, and he can notice that all of the yellow tiles are slightly more raised than the rest, but he can't see what's under them from where he is. The room lacks any magical auras.
"Sounds about right. Maybe they are bear traps that snap your feet apart. Or maybe it opens the cage to a very hungry monster. Victor, any advice?"
Victor snaps out of his dazed and distracted look "Ya, those all could be a thing. Guess I'll just creep in there to find out I guess...."
Victor moves slowly and carefully across the red tiles only.
|
|
Victor enters the room and steps on a red tile. Nothing happens. He continues to follow the path through room, stopping to examine the corpses. The two bodies are clad in similar clothes to those found in the room where you had encountered the wretchghosts, and they wear similar signet rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces that could be sold.
All combined, the jewelry should be worth 1,200 gold pieces.
Victor gets a better look underneath the yellow tiles, and finds hidden troves of coins, gems, and more jewelry under the four he walks by.
The contents under each yellow tile should be worth 300 gold pieces.
He reaches the far set of doors unscathed!
"Victor seems alright." Issil shrugs. "Are they wearing any jewels? I'm coming over there!"
Victor stops at the bodies and pulls out the jewelry, waggling it at Issil "Just these rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Nothing you'd be interested in prolly." He smiles as he hears the hurried footsteps coming up behind him.
"More under these other tiles too..." He lifts up the ones within reach and relieves them of their burden before he takes a long look at the doors.
"Ok, here we go!" Victor pushes open the double doors so long as no one screams bloody murder first, then he ducks behind the wall so Issil is the only one to be seen.
Issil practically salivates as she sees Victor grab the jewels.
"Shouldn't we wait for the others..." Issil mumbles as the doors fly open.
"You need me to come up there?" Geoffrey asks as he waits back next to Morvena. "Just say the word."
|
|
The double doors open a short hallway. On the western wall is a single door, while on the eastern a double.
Victor examines the door for traps, and finds it is safe. The single wooden door to the west opens to an office. Thick layers of dust lie over the long central table and shelves. Several large parchment maps sit on the table, along with a curved dagger and a few stacks of dusty coins. Numerous moldy and dusty ledgers and scrolls sit on the shelf to the south. To the west hang three faded portraits.
The northernmost painting depicts a red-haired man with goatlike horns and sharp teeth - its plaque identifies him as Guildmaster Baccus.
The southernmost painting depicts an attractive halfling woman - someone you immediately recognize - and indeed, the plaque reads Guildmistress Lorelu.
The central painting depicts a stern-looking young Tian-Shu woman with a narrow face and short hair. Its plaque identifies her as Guildmistress Hei-Fen.
Scattered on the table are 38 pp, 230 gp, 392 sp, and 43 cp. There's also a curved dagger that glows with a faint necromantic aura.
Most of the ledgers are ruined thanks to the humidity in the air. Examining the entire contents could take hours, but split between the five of you is certainly manageable.
|
|
The ledgers reveal the extent of the Gray Spiders’ impact on Kintargo— their thievery and abduction activities were quite profitable, and the city is much better off without them. Study of the texts reveals numerous links to the city of Vyre, and it was to this city that most of the abducted victims were sent—many appear to have been scheduled for sacrifice or sold into slavery.
One particularly interesting ledger, though, is a set of deeds for a number of warehouses and waterfront buildings in Vyre that name one Molly Mayapple as the legal owner.
Other notes with the ledgers indicate that these deeds are stolen, and that the Gray Spiders intended to use the deeds to blackmail Miss Mayapple, yet the raid by the Hellknights cut this plan short. In one note, there is text written in Tien.
“Mayapple may be a fellow rat, but that doesn’t exempt her from being fed on by a Spider!”
One final paper stuffed in a ledger contains a short poem.
Hell’s Coda
“Contract terms are by the book!”
Crooned the Devil to the Crook.
“If you change them I declare
I must know you’re playing fair!”
“In yon vault your papers lie,”
Crowed the Crook in swift reply.
“Door’s locked tight by magic word,
Speak the phrase so it is heard!”
“Moonstone, Moonstone, Ruby bright
Open Turquoise, Malachite!”
As the Devil voiced the phrase,
To the vault he cast his gaze.
When his back was full displayed
Canny Crook plied silver blade!
“None shall mourn your foolish death,”
Voiced the Crook with victor’s breath.
“Devils’ single greatest flaw:
Doubtful wits entrenched in Law!”
The maps on the table are mostly of the city of Kintargo, but contain numerous routes along rooftops and through the sewers. These could surely be handy to the Silver Ravens...
One of the maps contains a detailed map of The Lucky Bones and all of its secret doors. Scribbled in the margins are notes indicating Guildmistress Lorelu was to defend the upper floor, and Guildmaster Baccus was to defend the smugglers' tunnels below. A "pet devil" is mentioned in relation to Baccus, but little else. Guildmistress Hei-Fen's role was to attempt an escape via the smugglers' tunnels to bring news of the assault to allies in Vyre.
Geoffrey rubs his eyes after poring over the ledgers for what seemed an eternity. "Well, it sounds like we owe the Torrent Hellknights a great service here!" He lets out a low whistle, "Looks like they had some ambitious plans here!"
Pocketing his share of the assorted coins he glances at the dagger with a look of disdain, "One of you may use that, not I."
"That poem is rather...interesting to say the least," Geoffrey comments wryly, "yet these maps will definitely help our cause here! No need to even risk travelling openly now! I'll bet there is a way to get to the Wasp from here too."
He yawns and stretches his arms out, "Well, this indicates there are more tunnels beneath us here, and I'll bet Baccus still awaits whoever treads there...or at least his 'pet devil'. Should we rest now or press onwards? Exploring those tunnels to find an escape out of Kintargo is a wise plan."
|
|
Pádraig Henry examines the dagger, but shakes his head. "Afraid I can't identify it. How about you, Morvena?"
"Anybody understand Tien?" The bard holds up a loose note in one of the ledgers.
"And this poem, 'Hell's Coda'? I know this poem. It was written by the notorious halfling poet Boswyth, a well-known critic of Thrune and rumored worshiper of Norgorber who grew up in the city of Vyre. Boswyth is one of the poets whose work was recently outlawed by Barzillai's tenth proclamation."
"The circled stanza seems it might be a clue to the room we crossed to get here. Not sure what the rest of it means."
Rubbing his eyes after poring over the ledgers, the halfling says, "We should tell the Bellflower Network about this Molly Mayapple. Seems she's the key to the Gray Spiders' attempt to develop a slave network and other illicit dealings in Vyre."
Victor pockets his share without a word, he looks through the documents a bit, but focuses mostly on the layout of the place, piping up on occasion "Pet Devil, maybe that's the one we took out already. Sounds like we've got more work to do here still. Glad they've got a back door or two too."
After a few minutes he yawns and leans back dozing "We gotta check that door across the way. What are the odds its the entrance to the tunnels below eh?"
"A Dagger of venom. Nice. Well, not so nice." Issil holds onto the dagger.
"Tien? Nope." She shrugs. "I guess the poem has the secret to crossing this room unharmed. Not that we need it."
"I'm ready to venture further now, but whatever. Is this Molly Mayapple even alive? How old is this ledger?"
"I am ready to venture forward too," Morvena agrees. "Though I do wish that we had more of a description of this 'pet devil' so we have a better idea of how to combat it should it still lurk below."
Victor nods along as Issil describes what the dagger does "Pretty nifty. Lemme know if you ever want to let that go..." While he waits he pulls out some of the jewelry he picked up in the previous room and eyeballs it a bit, being sure to only give Issil glances at it before shifting his body so she can't get a good look.
"Huh, once we settle down for the day you should really take a look at these. Pretty good stuff, if you're into that sort of thing..." A smile peeks out as he turns away from her. So easy.. yet still so fun.
|
|
You collect the magical goods and maps, which ought to help you plot routes for future missions.
With the room thoroughly examined, you make for the final set of double doors in the dungeon. Victor verifies they're free of traps, and then pushes them open.
An intense battle occurred here, as indicated by gouges and old bloodstains on the walls and floor, scorched patches from old fires, and the moldering skeletons of several men and women sprawled on the floor. The middle of the room features a ten-foot-diameter iron capstone over what appears to be a well, next to which stands a winch made of wood and rusted iron. A large carving of a strange, tall, lanky man in a cloak adorns the capstone. The man’s four eyes are softly glowing gemstones.
All around the capstone stand a group of six humanoid creatures with long, sharp teeth, and pallid flesh, still and unmoving as if frozen in space. Just as you finish taking the room in, all six of them growl and hiss, turning to Victor as drool collects at the corners of their wretched mouths...
Victor hisses back, then laughs and slings a gob of acid at Green's forehead. "Been here long?" And draws out his mithril dagger.
"How long have you been here? Just waiting for us to walk in? Not really that exciting" Issil jokes.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pádraig Henry shouts a warning, "They're _______________! Their special attacks include _____________."
Then he starts singing.
From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes
They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They did the mash
It caught on in a flash
They did the mash
They did the monster mash
"I believe they may also be resistant to _____ and possibly even immune to _____ entirely," Morvena adds to Padraig's call as she gears up to begin casting....
Geoffrey has no intention of entering the room, instead taking a position blocking the entrance. Brandishing his he readies for their approach...
|
|
While teaching a student at Lady Docur's School for Girls, Pádraig was told of ghasts, a meaner version of a ghoul. Their special attacks include paralysis and cause the ghoul fever disease . They also exude an awful stench that may soon become more apparent.
Morvena had gleaned further knowledge from an undead encyclopedia as Crisalli's, and knows that ghasts have channel resistance +2, but no immunities.
Victor is quick to react, and gathers acid in his palm, throwing it at the far ghast and melting off whatever remains of its cheek.
Blue approaches, and its awful smell of rotting flesh fills your noses...
Geoffrey slashes at the foe with his bastard sword, carving through several of its exposed ribs, and it bites back, but its fangs bounce off Geoffrey's armor.
___
-- Bold is up --
Pádraig, Geoffrey, Victor
Blue (-8)
Morvena
Black, White, Yellow, Red
Issil
Green (-11)