Misha's most recent strike leaves the creature critical and disabled. A series of jagged lines of burned flesh connect across the creature's body to leave a generous portion incapable of maneuvering.
Victor attacks the same creature again, hoping to finally bring it down.
"Until we find the next grotesque creature that's been hiding down here for some ungodly amount of time." Juniper keeps her distance from the strange goos while the party finishes them off.
One, the one of many claws, yet stands defiantly, if only just.
The other, the one struck by Victor, collapses into a pile of disgusting flesh.
Tobias attacks the last remaining strange fleshy blob, hoping to be the one to claim the last kill, and thus all of the remaining glory.
"The end is nigh!" Armon shouts as he swings his weapon overzealously, leaving himself wide open.
Tobias hefts his sword, and brings it crashing down into the creature, finally managing to land a solid strike. The blade cleaves through flesh, bisecting the disgusting fleshy thing. Blood oozes out into the fetid pool, and slowly swirls around within. All is quiet for a moment, save for the small bit of drainage on the other side of the room that the slurry is pouring through.
The way forward is somewhat barred. Both in this direction and the hallway to the side, rubble and detritus have been piled up, perhaps intentionally, perhaps over time. Crossing the intervening space would be difficult (terrain). There's also the disgusting looking water, which likely wouldn't slow anyone.
Thankfully, now that things are a bit more quiet, the group can get a good look at the various etchings around the room.
Scath, now bored with the dead things, leaps up onto the chain, and pads out to the post, like he'd intended to earlier. He sits on the post above the water and stares at the walls.
Understanding Infernal: Depending upon how much time you desire to put into it, there are hundreds of pages of what at first and second glance appears to be a contract.
Scath spends several minutes looking at the walls, then bounces up to another chain, and back to the floor and begins searching the room.
"Not bad pipsqueak," Victor says as he sheaths his blade. "You got one to my two. Looks like you're still falling a little short, eh?" He whistles and Brutus barks, wandering back over to his master. "Good boy Brutus." He pulls a piece of dried meat from his pack and feeds it to his hound. "Let's get the taste of abominations against nature out of your mouth."
Misha looks around the room with a look of disgust once the creatures are dead. "This is further and further from what my idea of what the Silver Ravens' base should look like." She wanders around inspecting the markings for a bit, and gets a strange look on her face as she does. "These... were meant to allow the pool to act as a portal to hell..."
Rexus looks it over for about as long as the cat does. And... doesn't do any better than him. "Hell, Blosodriette, and Mephistopheles are all quite commonly used... but I'm afraid the jargon would be far, far too convoluted to make sense of without spending a bit of time here." he says, looking over the area, and shaking his head. "And I don't intend to do so. Shall we be off?" he asks, not really intending to cut off any banter, but with the amount of information before him, it seemed almost a waste of time... especially given that the runes didn't carry even a dash of magic, once he -did- try to detect it. "Wait, you're saying that a Silver Raven base had a portal into hell?"
Scath takes the high road across, and then begins to pad around for a moment, paying passing attention to his surroundings.
The rooms ahead, like the room behind, looks like a bomb went off nearby. That, or someone accidentally let an elephant into the room. Doors hang off of tattered hinges that barely attach to the walls, old, destroyed furniture and torn apart cabinets litter the floor. Anything within eight feet of the floor has been mostly destroyed, leaving only an occasional pantry cabinet in the eastern room not torn to shreds. The room on the left, the first that Scath passes, is roughly the same, but bunks near the ceiling hang, chained to the wall, like you'd see in a jail house... though several chains near the floor and strewn about suggest that something had its way with this room, as well.
Perception DC20:
Either room + Darkvision, or Final Room + Light:
Tucked away in the furthest corner from the gateway, noteworthy for being completely unharmed, are three small crates.
Scath stalks forward, using his dark sight to see what others can't. He sniffs the floor, and the air, looking for scents.
The smells you've come to associate with House Thrune permeate the area. It isn't a scent that is exactly human, but that of stinging and burning that seems to follow wherever that thrice-blackened house goes. It's normally a lot more subtle, but here, it's everywhere. Like recently burned tindertwigs. And if that's the case, someone lit a few boxes in here, daily. But nothing remotely human lingers in the first pair of rooms.
Victor recovers his torch, checking to see if it's still burning properly. Lifting it up to cast its light across the room again, he looks around. "If we're not going to get anything out of this circle without some serious time investment, I suggest we keep moving. If this really is the Silver Raven's headquarters, we'll have plenty of time to look at it more in-depth later." He moves down the hall a bit, waiting for the party to catch up. Given how their little adventure has gone so far, he'd rather not be caught alone.
Armon follows after Victor, having no desire to sort through the countless pages of infernal jargon. Even though the creatures are all dead, he does not return his morningstar to his belt, despite his less than stellar performance with it. Regardless, simply having it at his side was enough to make him feel safe.
"My, this is quite the mess," he remarks bluntly, frowning at the catastrophic damage.
Juniper summons four small glowing orbs that each give off a bright pink light to guide the way forward.
"This entire building is a mess, how the Raven used it is beyond me."
Juniper lets three of her lights explore ahead and light the way for everyone but she keeps one near her, specifically near her feet, to avoid stepping in anything too gross.
Scath finds the undamaged chests to be suspicious, and approaches carefully, sniffing the floor very slowly as he approaches them.
Victor moves through the rooms, looking around with his dog close on his heels. "This place was torn up pretty good," he says, dropping down to one knee to examine the shattered wood and broken metal. "Hmmm, perhaps the place was raided or attacked by something. If they were wiped out, it would explain their sudden disappearance."
"Well... it has been a few decades. Though the place being like this and locked up is more than a little disappointing." Rexus responds, glumly. "I'm sure much of their bases have met similar ends."
For Scath, the disgusting acrid smell continues to permeate much of the floor, but nothing stands out as Scath approaches it. When he's within five feet of the chest (assuming no one beats him to it), he'll note that the ground doesn't have the smell, and the air has less of that smell in the immediate vicinity.
Nothing happens even as he gets up to the crates.
Scath snifs the perimeter of the crates, noting where the smell drops off, also where the damage drops off. Once he makes as much of a survey as he can (due to walls), he'll stop and carefully bat at the 'clean' area with a paw, jerking it back.
If nothing happens, he'll do so two more times. If still nothing happens, he'll sniff all the way up to a crate. If nothing happens, he'll bat the crate lightly and leap away. Lather rinse repeat a few times. Then sniff the crates from top to bottom. Finally, he'll bat the top. If nothing happens, he'll jump up on top of them and sniff the tops.
Everything appears to be 'clean' so to speak. Much cleaner than everything else, anyway. One of the crates (viewable from the top) is slightly cracked, and you can see the glint of metal inside.
Scath's approach doesn't send up any lightning bolts or anything terrifying.
The crates smell like... wood and resin, with bits of tar in the crevices to help keep keep those things that are inside dry in these conditions. Likely, the slightly open crate didn't afford the contents as much protection.
Once satisfied the crates are not mimics in disguise or guarded by lightning bolts, Scath curls up on one and takes a nap.
As the cat curls up on the crates... nothing happens.
Seeing the cat laying on top of the crates, Victor wanders over. "Just like a cat," he mutters. "Alright then..." If he can manage it, he tries to check inside one of the crates that Scath isn't holding shut with his body.
Pulling open the first crate he comes to, Victor finds a lot of straw, and untarnished glinting silver beneath.
Digging through the contents swiftly reveals six tiny raven statuettes made of silver nested within.
Each individually will easily fit into the palm of your hand, though they also each weigh a pound. Each is also meticulously carved down to the veins of their feathers.
Rexus, for his part, stays near the center of the group, and waits for the crates to be opened to move forward.
"Well... that's very interesting," Victor says. "This might improve your mood Rexus." He holds up one of the silver raven statues. "I think we've found our first real sign of the Ravens."
"Oh, my." he says, dropping his worry about 'danger' as soon as Victor shows him what he's found. His face lights up as he examines it. "Yes, perhaps they were used as tokens to identify themselves." he says, looking it over. "Quite remarkably well made, as well! Probably Kintargo's own silver." he adds.
Scath sniffs the straw to see if there's anything else in the opened crate. He casually rips he side off the crate he's standing on when he's done sniffing the other one, letting it's contents spill out at Victor's feet. Then he goes back to laying on the now side-opened crate, giving Victor and the Goggie the lazy eye.
Misha pores further over the contract and looks a little shocked that it directly involves House Sarini. "This was a contract intended to reclaim an old contract or obligation and a trip home in exchange for servitude. House Sarini is directly mentioned in the contract..." she says. "If we studied this further we might be able to piece together exactly what happened here. It might give us something useful against House Sarini in the future."
"Which will be quite useful if they ever come looking for me," she thinks to herself. She makes a mental note to remember to come here when they have free time and try to piece together more information.
Following behind the others, Misha spots a nest and peeks into it, retrieving a signet ring and locket, which she pockets to inspect later.
When Victor opens up the first chest and holds up the raven, Misha gets an excited look on her face. She kneels down and snags one of them out of the chest quickly, holding it up to inspect it closely. She beams as she turns it over, finally feeling like they are finally getting somewhere.
The crate Scath is on is ripped open, its contents spilling out over the side. Most of the contents are ruined, but there's a silver lockbox covered in celestial warding symbols. The box is locked tight.
Scath eyes the box as they hold it up and examine it, seeing if any of the celestial on the box is readable. Wards usually use the names of people to be allowed to open them, etc.
Tobias stands around and waits for the others to do their thing. He's not...really sure what's going on, and he's not entirely sure how he can contribute to the situation at hand.
And nobody's giving him any orders anyway.
"So after all this we've got a wall of scribbles and some trinkets." She looks to Rexus. "Any chance they left a note about a place that might be usable?"
Scath reaches out to the third crate and rips it along the damaged side, letting it's contents spill out. Then if nobody is looking at the silver case, he rubs his jaw against it and purrs.
Rexus winces slightly as the cat breaks open the crate. As the cat rubs against the silver box, Rexus's attention is drawn to it as well, drawn from his attention to the little bird.
The final, now torn-open crate has many objects that spill out simultaneously: A Masterfully Crafted Yew Shortbow, a Dark-stained Hand Crossbow, A Masterfully Crafted Silver Morning Star, A finely woven cloak, and a set of silver-blue chain shirt, and a small case.
"Ah, alright." he says, nodding. "Celestial... against devils, I think? Must be important, then." he takes a moment to do his draconic-elven spell once more, and looks at the box, and then takes a step back, looking towards the raven in Victor's hand. "That's... more potent than the box." he says after a moment.
He looks first to the statuette and inclines his head, trying to appear serious, but the excitement breaks quickly across his face the longer he talks. "It's the same as the other five in the box. If you drop it and say "Freedom" it will transform into an actual Raven. From there, you can tell it to take a message to someone, or just... be a bird! That is so... incredible! I'd never thought I'd see one, let alone six."
"Private animal messengers. Both a symbol of membership and an invaluable tool," Victor mutters as he eyes the raven statues. "The resources at the Silver Ravens when they were at their prime must have been quite impressive." His eyes shift over the rest of the gear, carefully examining it. "Hmmm, the chainmail is truly exceptional. I've rarely seen work this fine before. And the box..." He turns it over in his hands. "This is a Celestial Coffer. They're banded by the Church of Asmodeus since they can hide things from devils. In fact, this one seems to be made to do just that."
Armon's eyes gleam with excitement when the contents of the crate spill out. Quite predictably, it is the silver morningstar they are most drawn to. Approaching carefully - almost reverently - the cleric stoops down to pick up the masterfully crafted weapon. Holding it in both hands, he raises it to eye level, reveling in its craftsmanship. A symbol of rebellion if he had ever seen one.
"I suppose that begs the question then," he starts without looking, lowering the silver weapon ever, "Of what is in the coffer now? This place seems like it was ransacked, perhaps in search of that very object. But as you say, no devil could have found it... and so here it remained."
Misha looks in awe at the raven as she discovers it's also magic, able to come to life. She examines it for a bit before being distracted by the crate full of wondrous items, including a gleaming mail. She looks down excitedly at it and picks it up, pocketing her raven first. "Ooh, that's amazingly light," she says, awed by the fine craftsmanship of the armor. "I've never seen anything like this. I've read about mithril in books, but never would have expected to actually see some!" she adds.
"Oh!" she exclaims, "Can you see if these are special in anyway," she asks Rexus, holding out the Sarini locket and signet ring.
Rexus looks over the objects, still maintaining his spell, and then shakes his head. "Nothing magical at all. But they both bear the symbols of House Sarini... strange. What in the world did House Sarini have to do with this place? Aren't they Asmodeus worshippers?"
"Yes, and they were involved in the contract and ritual we found in the other room," she says, responding to Rexus's question.
Juniper looks over the new items. "Well at least the place was good for something." She tries to help Rexus identify any magic the items had that he may have missed.
But,being unfamiliar anything involving Celestials or Devils, wasn't of much help.
"Devil or no this place was definitely ransacked so why is are these crates left alone?"
Juniper looked over the crates area in search of signs of any kind of protection magic or otherwise.
There are no symbols or wards beyond the ones on the coffer.
"I believe that's... everything we'll find, here. We can either open the coffer here... or we can take it to a family friend's place of business. I'm not sure what will be inside, so I'll leave that to all of you. As for the bow and hand crossbow, I have no real use for either. I'm not... martially inclined." he explains.
"Hmmm," Victor sets the items aside again for a moment. "I think there's something else back here...." He reaches in and pulls out a small sack. Looking inside, he finds it full of small pearls. "Looks like some jewels."