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Eben hops into the pit, supported by the magic of his feather fall ring, following Farrukh and his flying shield. He can't help but notice the others diving off the rim as well. Gee, he thinks to himself, I sure hope Astraden had a chance to cast air walk before they start doing something silly like that.
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Astraden quickly casts communal air walk as the party suddenly acts on a long-standing urge to experience free-fall. She follows them down into the hole. "Carina and Grin and I'll keep an eye out for horizontal passages, otherwise let's keep moving so we get as far as possible before the Angels check up again. Grin, you can see in the dark, right?"
Finally, the group comes to the final room: A fifteen-foot-wide pit yawns at the end of the short passage. The walls are lined with bricks and caked with mold and less-identifiable encrustations, and in the places where these growths aren't too thick, strange figures and pictographs are visible carved into the bricks.
...
This is in a language Zalamandra has only very briefly read before: Avolakia, the language of an alien species of nightmarish intelligent worms. She doesn't know much about the language or the species, but she knows enough to be sure that she could translate this—given an hour or so. Avolakia writing uses its own alphabet. It's a combination of hieroglyphics and curved tangles that doesn't resemble any other known language.
"Mm-hm. Uh-huh." The blue-wigged hobgoblin has been very quiet so far—even without the silence, he seems to be fairly content to just listen and observe the party's process. He performs a cautious step upwards, then, content that the spell has been cast on him, proceeds down with the group—lagging behind a little, however, as though he is concerned that he is several magnitudes out of his league regarding anything the group should encounter down here. As he's still invisible, the only way to be aware of where he is exactly is to notice when people turn invisible and re-visible again. He is about ten feet above the party as they descend into the depths.
The shaft leads down hundreds of feet, and with most of the group air walking or slowly falling down, it takes about a full minute for everyone to reach the chamber below.
The well empties through the ceiling of an immense chamber, its domed roof a full fifty feet over a black floor worn smooth by the passage of countless creatures. Alcoves in the north and south wall hold wretched statues of worm-like monsters coiled around pillars of skulls and bones.
A single object occupies the room's eastern half—a huge statue of a three-headed, six-armed monster. It towers thirty feet high, a powerfully built creature missing two of its left hands and one of its right. The figure seems to be made of some strange stone that looks almost like leather in places, and the one good eye in its gaunt, skeletal face seems wet, soft, and almost alive.
Behind them, the members of Spiny's Six hear Grin mutter a Goblin curse of confusion as the statue comes into view. But all save Carina recognize it well: It is the spitting image of the Ebon Aspect they defeated almost six months ago, back in the Diamond Lake chapter of the Ebon Triad. Just... quite a lot bigger.
Somewhere partway down the shaft, once they're sufficiently below the rim that random light sources won't alarm an Angel making her two-minute rounds, Eben conjures up some dancing lights so the non-goblinoid, orc, and planetouched members of the party can see their surroundings too.
At the pit's bottom, upon sighting the statue, he gives a soft curse of his own to match Grin's, though his is less of confusion and more of dread. "Hey, guys, remember how I said that pile of rope upstairs was totally going to come to life and attack us and everyone thought I was being paranoid, and then I turned out to be completely right?"
"...whoa." Carina's eyes widen as she looks upon the statue.
"Anyone want to tell me just what it is I'm looking at, here?"
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"Well, Carina..." Eben says, reaching into his pack and drawing out his rod of extension, "Back in the Triad lair in Diamond Lake, you remember that big black pool? Well, while you were busy being dead, we found out what lived in it." He casts an extended arcane concordance around himself, making sure to also include Zalamandra and Cuetzpalli, at least within it. (Grin as well, if possible.)
"That thing. But a much smaller version. It's kind of an Ebon Triad champion, I think it represents their three gods smooshed together or something. It's called an Ebon Aspect, and it hits hard." He stows the extend rod, draws out the Quicken rod, but doesn't use it quite yet, instead casting an extended greater magic weapon.
"Dunno if this is a living one or not. Last one only got activated when we killed all three priests- I think it sucked up their life force or faith or something to activate. But the way these things go, I'm assuming it's going to come to life and try and kill us pretty much any second." He says this casually, as though he's giving someone a grocery list, but keeps waving his hands around and casting spells as he descends.
Astraden inspects the Aspect carefully, seeming to come to a conclusion. "It's just a dummy, Eben. It can't hurt you! It's probably filled with some sort of stuffing, 's why it looks so plushy." She grins at her nervous friend, in a manner that invites dramatic irony. "Look, I'll get Olidammara to watch over you. But the least we have to worry about down here is a silly statue, okay? Don't you remember what Zalamandra said about the avocet runes?"
She proceeds to rattle off a quartet of protective prayers and impart their magic to Eben. "Oh and Tanith, I can make your spear thing magic again, if you like."
Zalamandra regards the statue with a frown, not quite sharing Astraden's conviction. "Well, I suppose someone goes to investigate it, then? Should we summon a monster or should we simply saddle Farrukh with the task?" She hangs back with Grin, casting a few protections of her own.
"I've worked up a Summon Monster," Grin says, his disembodied voice echoing softly in the vast chamber. "Low-level. Rats and stuff. Expected to need it for a distraction, but it didn't come up today. But if I cast it, my sphere's gonna break down, so it's your call. This whole place gives me the hobby-jeebies."
"I'll poke it if no one else wants to," Cuetzpalli offers.
"Nah, keep your cover. I'd hate to bring you back to Miomay and explain how you got broken. I can cover summoning, if we need it. Do we?"
"Let me take a closer look. I don't know if rats are going to tell us much."
Farrukh creeps in closer, activating his layered defensive stances.
"Well, I was thinking a shadow lantern archon, at least those can talk... but suit yourself. At least you can see the thing this time around..."
”Sounds good to me. I don’t think the old poleaxe would mind a good magicking”, Tanith says offering up his trusted weapon to Astraden.
”Why do you think the Blessed Angels are keeping such a close eye on this place?” he adds aloud hoping one of his friends has made some connnection he missed.
Carina chugs down her extract of shield while Farrukh approaches the massive statue.
"Notably, it's odd that they don't seem to have even tried to take the statue apart. One would assume such an insult to Zeech's ideals would be destroyed within a day. Maybe they are afraid of it?" Zalamandra replies to Tanith.
"That really doesn't do anything to discredit my 'come to life and try to kill us' theory, Zal..."
As Farrukh draws near to the ground, the statue speaks.
Many in the party have never met a god before. In fact, most have not. And none have heard a god speak in a world not built to fit them. Listening to the statue's voice is something like the experience of trying to cram an entire hornet's nest into one's mouth, only in audible form. It is painful in a way the mortal body is not meant to understand pain—which is probably the only reason the pain isn't completely incapacitating.
The statue's voice reverberates with raw, endless power, and with every word, the earth trembles. Some dust and loose bits of rock fall from the ceiling and down the shaft, the latter shattering against the stone floor.
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If the phrase 'I told you so' ever became incarnated among mortals, the physical form it would take is undoubtedly the look on Eben's face as he stares at Astraden.
Astraden looks innocently down at the statue, apparently unaware of Eben or good at feigning it. "Wow, the last one of these we met sure didn't talk!"
[ooc]Weaknesses of a statue? Or a God? [/dice]
Zalamandra twists a piece of copper wire in her hands, muttering something under her breath and pointing towards Farrukh.
She bends her neck towards Carina and Astraden, whispering, "What is the proper display of fealty to an Ebon Aspect?"
"I don't know! I was DEAD at the time!" Carina whispers back, clearly frightened.
Farrukh looks at Zalamandra incredulously, knowing the limits of his own skills.
Nevertheless, he has no BETTER plan.
"Oh, uhh, yeah. That sounds about right. Twenty years. Sorry it took us so long to get back down here, uh, Oh Great And Powerful Aspect. Our people have been killed in droves by, uh, mercenaries and stuff, and so it was like super hard to get here." he says, awkwardly half-prostrating himself before the statue before getting back up again.
Zalamandra curls a frown in disappointment and pinches the skin of her forehead. "So much unnecessary elaboration. You'd think Farrukh was dead at the time, too, and hasn't even come back yet . . ." she replies to Carina. After a moment, she bites her lip and sends a message down.
Astraden looks innocently down at the statue, apparently unaware of Eben or good at feigning it. "Wow, the last one of these we met sure didn't talk!"
[Dice=Knowledge (religion)]1d20+17+2 [ooc]Weaknesses of a statue? Or a God?
It also does not appear to be fully animated. Perhaps this is just a mouthpiece. Or perhaps it takes special effort to do more than speak.
It pauses.
"Okay, Eben, wherever you are, I think I've worked it out. It's just like a magic mouth, but for a god. It probably can't even move its limbs! And look, Farrukh is smooth-talking it like a champ!" Astraden tries to pat Eben's shoulder, but ends up just sort of waving in midair. "This is going to turn out just fine."
"He's dead. Died almost a year ago, actually. Some musclebound oaf caved his skull in."
Why the hell does he think I'm Theldrick? I barely even remember that guy! Did we actually have anything in common or is this thing blind as a mole?
"Do you think it has true sight? I could pretend to be the Faceless One's ghost, if we need to..." Eben's voice whispers back at Astraden, several feet away and on the complete opposite side of her from where her arm is flopping around in midair.
"He's dead. Died almost a year ago, actually. Some musclebound oaf caved his skull in."
Why the hell does he think I'm Theldrick? I barely even remember that guy! Did we actually have anything in common or is this thing blind as a mole?
"The, uh, Age of Worms finally draws near, I guess?"
Hearing a description of his deeds, Tanith silently beams with pride.
"The, uh, Age of Worms finally draws near, I guess?"
The whole cavern rumbles. Dust falls from the ceiling.
"Might you also examine it more closely? If it is a construct, that would be useful information."
Carina is evidently too awed or terrified of the massive talking statue to clue in to what Zalamandra is saying.
...are my bombs even going to WORK against that?!
Noticing her rising panic, Tanith wraps a big hand reassuringly around Carina's. "Keep it cool Red. We're going to be alright."
Carina calms down a bit when Tanith takes her hand. "...I hope so..."
"I'm, uh, sure it's just a bad dream or something. Nothing could ever hurt someone as powerful as you, right?" Farrukh says, before turning to give a questioning look to Zalamandra.
Zalamandra gives a helpless shrug. Her expression is one of exasperation and nervous energy. She looks at Tanith and Carina. "I sincerely hope you are right. But this Aspect is much worse than that we faced in the caves below Diamond Lake. Combined with those runes . . . I'm not so sure it was the best idea to break in here in the first place. It's terribly old."
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Farrukh gives Zalamandra a thumbs up, taking her shrug and energetic facial expression as a sign he's doing fine.
I never knew being the talker was so easy! I should do this more often.
Hearing Zalmandra, Cuetzpalli frowns even more. Knew this was a bad idea. Though I guess is this is an agent of the Age of Worms that we should kill it anyway.
Astraden's still smiling, apparently independent of the group's overriding unease. "Well, maybe it's a bit tougher. But we're way deadlier." She indicates her rapiers. "I think it's worth destroying this thing, if we can. Not like it's just waiting for u's to attack it in order to fully animate and attack!"
Tanith nods, backing up Astraden.
"And it's got to be down here for a reason. Something that big and powerful doesn't guard an empty cavern for ages for laughs."
Eben invisibly) buries his head in his hands, from frustration over the fact that parlay with a god is being left to someone whose idea of dialogue is knocking out an opponents lower jaw with his shield before it gets to say anything else. "Alright, I'm going in." he says to Zalamandra, before dropping down to floor level.
He remains invisilbe, but his voice betrays his position. Excpet it isn't his voice, exactly, it's the voice of a long-dead insane grimlock. "Heh-heh-heh. Ask Theldrick for an explanation? Better to ask a fisherman how to bind a book, or a carpenter to tan a hide. He knows nothing but the ways of war. If you seek to know of dreams and visions, ask another who does nothing but see that which others do not. Ask Grallak Kur."
"Good luck," Zalamandra says, belated. "That doesn't particularly lighten my trepidation, Tanith. If avolakia have been here, they could have secreted away all kinds of horrors."
Eben invisibly) buries his head in his hands, from frustration over the fact that parlay with a god is being left to someone whose idea of dialogue is knocking out an opponents lower jaw with his shield before it gets to say anything else. "Alright, I'm going in." he says to Zalamandra, before dropping down to floor level.
He remains invisilbe, but his voice betrays his position. Excpet it isn't his voice, exactly, it's the voice of a long-dead insane grimlock. "Heh-heh-heh. Ask Theldrick for an explanation? Better to ask a fisherman how to bind a book, or a carpenter to tan a hide. He knows nothing but the ways of war. If you seek to know of dreams and visions, ask another who does nothing but see that which others do not. Ask Grallak Kur."
Astraden looks to Tanith, color drained from her face. "Well, maybe it's worth being a little cautious." She wraps a hand around her holy symbol. "There is a possibility that the Overgod is full of worms. Probably worth destroying it from a distance. Zalamandra, can you call Farrukh back here?"
"What if they come out and make a big worm monster? That would be so gross...and scary..." Cuetzpalli whispers.