"You have the worst luck with spiders today."
"Certainly complements our schtick," Petrova comments, looking with distaste at both gems and spider.
Kanthuun was able to gather a grand total of six soul gems; all of them containing their namesakes-one guarded a soul that was less than happy to remain silent. It reacted to the sorcerer's grabbing it with a scream at the volume of a human whisper. It was difficult, however, to gauge what they were worth.
He imagined they were all in at least the 30 gold range for barter.
The wand restored him to complete health and better.
Much refreshed, thank you. He wipes some of the blood and spittle from his chin. The bite still stings a little, but that will heal over time. No longer poisoned.
He shrugs. "What can I say? Spiders just seem to like me."
"What's next?" Rohini surveys the room and tries to determine whether it makes sense to search for secret exits and tries to see what see can see down the hallway.
Rohini is also wondering how the soul gems might have ended up in the spiders web. And also thinking they don't exactly seem like the thing to be sold casually, although I suppose they may be useful in barter with some of the denizens of this place.
Knowledge planes about what to do with the soul gems:
"Free them, back home, to pass on, I reckon. And let's move on through these webs." Kanthuun, in the manner of arcanists, makes no move to lead, but bows and extends an arm to the weapon wielders.
Hanethes pauses to load his pistol again. Three shots remaining. But so far, the two he's used have been well received.
Drovya sheathes Black Ivan and begins clearing away more rubble as quietly as he can. The soul gems are the true currency of this place. We had intended to present ourselves as traders in them, to avoid some molestation from the denizens of this plane. So far, it has not been the most successful of plans...
Drovya puts the whispering gem into the bag of holding, hoping that its magic will swallow the stone's cries.
"There is a line between appearing as traders and being traders...one we shall not cross." Kanthuun spits into the muck as if to spite the plane itself.
You felt your companion's insights into the matter, along with your own initial instincts as to the uses of the soulgems, were correct. However, you also know that such a trade would be amoral; worse than slavery. Your goddess would not abide by it.
Arasmes took a few more seconds to look Hanethes over. Once satisfied that the rogue's condition had indeed improved, the inquisitor returned to the murk to fish his ranged weapon out. The errand only took a few seconds.
Drovya's attempt to quiet the screaming gem was successful, and he moved back up with Talon to clear away more rubble. With a slow, careful pace, they cleared another small amount of the hallway rubbish away, finding more bones in the process, though these more likely belonged to fiendish animals that strayed in from outside, and were stripped bare. There was no evidence to indicate a second spider was lying in wait, regardless.
Meanwhile, Kanthuun suddenly felt... wrong. Not sick, not poisoned, or molested in any other way except for the agitation to his instincts, as if something so powerful that his significance was as a speck looked his way. The feeling passed within moments, but could hardly be forgotten right away.
The continued clearing of the rubble revealed a small room whose purpose was obscured by age. Only four people could remain in it comfortably, from the looks of it, and half-rotted cobwebs wavered, their constructors long-since devoured by their larger cousin (or its prey).
Again, there was a door and a corridor ahead, but this one was only wide enough to allow one person at a time to enter-thus forcing a single-order march to continue onwards.
The tunnel appeared move on at an upward slope, the way again congested with rubble and evidence of disuse at the edge of vision.
Talon looks towards his comrades for signs of readiness and leads them into the tunnel while clearing the way.
"Nobody said we would become traders, but we did agree that if we could, we'd gain possession of some gems, keep them to augment our disguise, then set them free before we leave."
Kanthuun stops and shivers for a moment. "Yes...of course..." he says, distractedly.
Talon's arms earned their worth, to say the least. The small width of the tunnel also made it harder to find places to move blockages when they were encountered, but Drovya's quiet assistance allowed the fighter to focus more on the heavy pushing, pulling, and wriggling. After a while, the debris was cleared sufficiently to continue on.
The route the group had taken opened into an enormous chamber. The light from the ioun torches barely touched on the ceiling, which was covered with a haphazard lattice of roughly-hewed stone beams. The temperature in the room was even chillier than it had been outside; the party could see their breathing come out in small clouds.
The floor had aged better in this room (perhaps due to stewardship), and there were pits placed within the ground leading into what was likely the same murk they'd encountered at the secret entrance. However, the depth of the hole itself before the water would be reached proved the group had travelled further upwards than they might have though. Flickering light from the torches proved the water below was moving under thin sheets of dirty ice, should someone choose to look.
A lone pedestal stood in the center of the pools, devoid of any real decoration except for something that resembled a lever in the center.
Talon will proceed carefully into the room.
Rohini is certainly in agreement with Kanthuun and Petrova re the soul gems.
She is likely towards the end of the line, but for what it's worth, perception:
Petrova roughly grabs Talon's arm as the oblivious warrior is about to step off into the pit he didn't see.
"Watch where you're going!" she hisses.
"Pits!"
"So there are, Kanthuun."
Arasmes surveyed the scene passively and pulled out the cure wand, tapping Hanethes with it twice for good measure.
That taken care of, the inquisitor made his way around his companions and a pit and stared at the constructions in the ceiling.
"There doesn't seem to be any convenient entrances or exits in this chamber, but I think I can make out a doorway up there... That could just be due to shadows, but I'm relatively certain that's the only way out, unless we feel up to a swim."
Arasmes looked around thoughtfully.
"I suppose we could also try the lever."
Something is amiss on that pedestal. Probably a no-brainer, but as the thing does look mechanical AND important in this room, best you disable whatever is causing your instincts to act up.
You gather it is meant to turn the water channels into a large-scale hindrance for those who don't know how to disable it.
Drovya stays wary at the back of the group, armed and ready in case something comes up from behind.
"Levers will probably let in fiendish ice fish or something." Kanthuun scowls.
I have been ice fishing. I would not recommend we try it here. We don't have nearly enough brandy.
Petrova laughs, the genuine sound of pleasure and merriment seeming at complete odds with the environment.
She also punches his (Drovya's) arm, but in a playful way.
Kanthuun eyes Petrova with some wonderment. "Perhaps you've caught one...seems someone's full of caviar." He then muses about wonderful Ustalav caviar, which rarely gets to hot Katapesh without expensive magics.
Drovya rubs his arm in mock hurt. Now, if only we had some magical means of getting to out of reach places...
"I was saving it for the climactic battle!" complains Kanthuun.
"Yea, that's a long way up. No ideas here." Talon looks up while squinting his eyes to focus.
Drovya takes out his rope and ties knots into it every few feet to make the climb easier, then passes it to Kanthuun.
Get on with it. he says, not unkindly.
"Well, maybe we should use the lever..." Kanthuun takes the rope.
"Hang on." Kanthuun gets out his extend-o rod and first casts Mage Armor.
He then looks from party member to party member. "If I wind up a dark smear up there, just sprinkle poison on my bones and leave them out for the jackalweres."
Extended Fly.
"I hate going first," mutters Kanthuun as he rises up to the door, both hands holding onto the rope like an anchor.
Rohini pulls out her crossbow to help Kanthuun, if needed. She is also looking around with detect magic.
It was very dim near the door. The shadows caused by lower beams almost completely blocked out the light of his companion's torches. However, there didn't seem to be any enemies or traps that made to squish Kanthuun with a vengeance.
Likewise, there weren't any good places to tie off the rope without using a lot of it. It looked like the best option, from what meager light Kanthuun had, would be to tie the rope around the beam itself, which would require at least a 20' length.
Drovya digs around in Rogar's bag of holding and comes up with another coil of silk rope.
There's more rope down here if you need it, he calls up to Kanthuun.
Rohini reports her findings to the group and adds. "It appears that the lever is magical and I suspect it would be of assistance in reaching the door. But it may be trapped as well. And what do we think these pits are for? Hard to tell what the purpose of this room was. I'd be curious to know whether there are signs of recent travel in this room, although I'd prefer we check for traps before I enter to search for tracks? Hanethes?"
Perception (looking for traps on floor):
Survival (looking for signs of recent movement in this room):
Kanthuun flits back down, this time casting Light on one hand, ties the two ropes together, and heads back up to tie the rope to the beam.
After tying the rope and securing the knots a few times, a little cold sweat on his person, he utters arcane words and makes a gesture at the door.
"Pull the lever and the slimy water fills up the room, bubbling up from the pits so that we can all float or swim over to the door."
She didn't sound like she believed it when she started, but by the end she has convinced herself.
"Any evidence of slimy gunk up there, Kanthuun?"
"Sounds probable. Well only one way to find out. Feel free to pull the lever, Kanth."
"Lever's down by you, Skyfall! Wait...I don't want to repeat that name right now...Let me look for signs of a water mark, or sludge mark, Petrova..."
"Oh right. I knew that." Talon will wait for a signal and pull.
Talon, don't pull the lever, just hold it in place if it starts moving when the door opens.
Drovya heads over to the knotted rope and sheathes his sword, ready to climb.
"Got it."
Kanthuun's spell pushed the door open, though it came to his attention that it had already been partially ajar. Likewise, the walkways gave no indication of sludge-marks or the smearing Petrova had hypothesized would be present.
Talon didn't need to pull the lever to prevent it from moving.
Kanthuun could see through the doorway a passage that led to the next room, his light spell streaming through the hall to spill on the floor beyond. The air coming through was no warmer, though.
Kanthuun fastens a loop of rope from the length that is tied off at the beam, and alights on the doorway, peering inside.
Rohini didn't see any traps on the floors, with the exception of a slippery patch that might cause someone to trip into one of the pits. She did note the dust in some areas is less present than in others, but there was no indication that anyone had been walking there recently.
Aside from some stone flooring and a fallen pillar, the sorcerer could see nothing in the room ahead. Then again, he couldn't see behind the pillar. He also didn't have enough light to see where the walls were and if there were any other exits and entrances.
Kanthuun gestures for the party members to come up and counts minutes. Once within the room, he unties the rope and waits, floating, keeping his eyes on the room for movement.