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RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES GAMBLING HALL (14 Desnus)
Jessibel smirks in amusement at Caldariel's comment but also raises an eyebrow. "'Gentlemanly?' Me? Hmm, let's go with 'civilized' instead." When Arani chips in her thoughts, the teen bard re-sheathes the dagger she's just drawn and looks at the gemstones on the capstone in a more analytic and less greedy manner.
At the masked elf's suggestion, the party backtracks a bit to the room across the hall. Thick layers of dust lie over the long central table and shelves here. Several large parchment maps sit on the table, along with a curved black dagger and a few stacks of dusty coins. Numerous moldy and dusty ledgers and scrolls sit on the shelf to the south, enough that it will take multiple hours to examine them all. To the west hang three faded portraits.
Jessibel makes herself useful by casting detect magic from the doorway and informing the group that the black dagger on the table radiates magic. She then uses a prestidigitation spell to magically clean the hanging pictures and making them easier to see. 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—-its plaque identifies her as “Guildmistress Lorelu,” and you all recognize her as the gambling ghost encountered earlier. 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.”
The maps on the table are mostly of the city of Kintargo and focus on now-out-of-date information about where patrons, allies, and enemies of the Gray Spiders lived. Of greater interest are the numerous hidden routes along the rooftops and through the sewers--these could prove valuable to the rebellion.
Another map details the now-destroyed Lucky Bones building above, including the location of all of its secret doors (revealing a hitherto unknown secret passage that links the hideout's two pit traps). Notes on this map (likely dating back over 40 years to when the Hellknight Order of the Torrent sealed these areas off) indicate that Guildmistress Lorelu was to defend this floor and Guildmaster Baccus was to defend the smugglers’ tunnels (this includes an indication that Baccus should call upon his “pet devil” Shurshogot for help but provides no more insight there). Guildmistress Hei-Fen’s role was to attempt an escape via the smugglers’ tunnels to bring news of the assault to their allies in Vyre.
A quick counting of the coins atop the table reveal the following totals: 38 pp, 230 gp, 392 sp, and 43 cp.
T'chazzar accepts the blade from Jessibel with a sort of quirky expression.
"Normally I would decline when someone else could benefit, but I will not question the sincerity of your gift. Instead I will give to you in return this other blade that I have. Perhaps you can likewise exchange it with someone else for something more to your liking," he says to the bard.
"Also, I'm not feeling very well so I'm not terribly loquacious, I'm afraid."
He swaps blades in his sheath and gives his mundane mithral shortsword to Jessi.
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"I agree that the statue on the capstone is unusual, but lacking context, I'm not sure what to do about it," says the drow. "Usually these sorts of things have magical traps, don't they? If you see a spider statue hunched over a trapdoor with jeweled eyes in a drow city, odds are that it has all kinds of magical traps."
”There are no ways forward but this. Either we solve this puzzle or we retreat.” Caldariel said. ”And I do not fancy speaking with that ghost again. If nobody else wants to chance it, then I will give it my best shot.”
"Well, first off, T'chazzar brings up a ver good point. I';d suggest everyone stand a bit clear while I check everything for traps and se if I can figure the mechanism." Arani says, heading back to the previous room and bringing her full attention to bear on the capstone.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES GAMBLING HALL (14 Desnus)
Although T'chazzar's warning sounds more than reasonable, neither Arani nor Jessibel can find a trap on the capstone. It looks like the only way to pop it is through a trial-and-error approach. Jessibel offers to help Arani in the attempt.
Nodding at Jessi's offer to assist, Arani stares at the set up of the statue and stones in silence for a few minutes, before setting to work, talking it through with Jessi as they reason out the most probable sequence.
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RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES GAMBLING HALL (14 Desnus)
The two dark-haired, pale-skinned young women dressed in black-and-red studded leather look for all the world to be sisters as they work together to find a way to open the capstone. It's fairly obvious the moonstone gem must be pressed at least once, as it has accumulated more gunk on it over the years, presumably from repeated touching. Arani is the first to recall that she has the vaguest recollection of these four gemstones being mentioned in an old song or poem, so she presses the bard to dig deep into her memory banks.
"Yeah...what was it again? '“Moonstone, moonstone, ruby bright / Open turquoise, malachite.' That's from...well, I forget what those lines are from, but it sounds like it's worth a try to me!" the bard replies.
Arani takes a deep breath before pressing the moonstone twice and the other gemstones in the order of the rhyme. To her relief, there's a clicking noise and the capstone moves slightly, its locking mechanism released.
Once the capstone is opened, a 10-foot-diameter shaft is revealed. The old, rusted rungs of an iron ladder descend into the shaft, which is flooded with water 10 feet below the floor level of this chamber. Jessibel dispels the light spell on her rapier and recasts it on a single copper piece. Making a wish, she drops the coin into the shaft; it sinks approximately another 20 feet below the surface before coming to rest. Jessi dispels the light again, just in case something lurks in the depths.
Taking a step back from the shaft, she gives a nervous smile and asks, "Anyone care to go for a swim?"
With his mask on, Caldariel was spoiling for a fight. With a curt nod he went forward, eager to explore further.
As Calardiel eagerly heads down the iron ladder, Arani arches an eyebrow in surprise. Staring down the hole she lets out a sigh while removing her cloak.
"Ugh...this is likely to be cold....and with the amount of undead we've come across so far, try not to get any in your mouth."
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (14 Desnus)
Caldariel descends almost silently into the deep water at the bottom of the shaft while Arani prepares to join him. Jessibel nervously concedes that she's not a great swimmer, but seeing Caldariel and Arani's resolution to press onward, the bard resigns herself to a quick dip.
The ceiling of this entirely flooded chamber is fifteen feet high, supported by eight square columns of stone that measure five feet to a side and are crusted with algae. Ruined doors to the south and west provide further access, and a heap of rusting, algae-caked rubble lies beneath you. The water is cold, dark, and still, but only slightly murky with mud and silt.
It's fairly obvious that some sort of magic will likely be needed for the party to plumb these murky depths.
Resurfacing, Caldariel reported his findings to the group. He was no Wizard, so he hoped someone with that specialty could provide guidance.
KINTARGO (Undetermined Number of Days in Mid-Desnus)
The ledgers recovered from the Lucky Bones are mostly ruined from years spent in the humid subterranean environment, but a thorough examination of them reveals 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, a particularly interesting bit of text, written in Tien, reads, “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 the following 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 part about gemstones--the combination key Arani and Jessibel used to open the well's capstone--is circled.
"Hell's Coda" 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 is outlawed by Barzillai’s tenth proclamation.
The recovered maps are mostly of the city of Kintargo and contains scribbled notes about where patrons, allies, and enemies of the Gray Spiders lived; it's likely that much of this info is now outdated. Of greater interest are the numerous hidden routes along the rooftops and through the sewers.
Game Mechanic: Recovery of these maps allows the rebellion to gain a permanent +3 bonus on Secrecy checks. (If I ever re-implement the Rebellion Organization subsystem, that is....)
One of the maps details the now-destroyed Lucky Bones building, including a detailed map of the upper dungeon featuring the locations of all of its secret doors. Notes on this map indicate that Guildmistress Lorelu (the halfling ghost) was to defend this floor during/immediately after the Hellknight raid, and that Guildmaster Baccus (a tiefling, fate unknown) was to defend the smugglers’ tunnels (this includes an indication that Baccus should call upon his “pet devil” Shurshogot for help but provides no more insight there). Guildmistress Hei-Fen (young Tian woman) was to attempt an escape via the smugglers’ tunnels beneath the capstone to bring news of the Order of the Torrent's assault to their allies in Vyre.
Shurshogot is the name of a drowning devil of no particular renown. (If anyone actually hits this DC, PM me for more details about drowning devils in general.)
Arani and Jessibel put their heads together and recall a few bits about the poem you discovered, "Hell's Coda" 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 is outlawed by Barzillai’s tenth proclamation.
Caldariel went out and purchased for himself a cestus. It was more cumbersome than what he was used to, but he reasoned that if there was a chance of fighting underwater, then he would need something that could do damage even without having too much force behind it.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
After taking a few days off for recovery (Jessibel throws off her unnatural addiction to opium while T'chazzar battles and overcomes ghoul fever), the Silver Ravens shop a bit before returning to the Lucky Bones to investigate the flooded smugglers tunnels beneath the ruins. After everyone's tapped with the wand of water breathing, T'chazzar and Caldariel are the first ones to head down the ladder, since they have darkvision. Arani starts down next, with Jessibel and her light-treated rapier at the top of the well to illuminate the descent.
THE CHAMBER BELOW
The ceiling of this entirely flooded chamber is fifteen feet high, supported by square columns of stone that measure five feet to a side and are crusted with algae. Ruined doors to the south and west provide further access, while to the north, a heap of rusting, algae-caked rubble lies below a ten-foot-diameter hole in the ceiling. The water is cold and still, but only slightly murky with mud and silt.
The silt stirs and swirls suddenly as multiple dark shapes emerge from hiding behind the great pillars and swim up to engage T'chazzar and Caldariel. While humanoid in shape, these things have webbed hands and feet, and their heads are a frightful mix of frog and fish.
These creatures are skum (or ulat-kini, as they call themselves) and are generally Lawful Evil aquatic monstrous humanoids. They attack either with claws and teeth or using weapons such as spears.
Skum are moderately resistant to cold attacks and rarely speak Common, instead speaking Aquan and Aboleth, when such a creature leads their tribe.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
T'chazzar shouts out a warning when he spies the ambushers, but his words can't be made out by Arani on the ladder or those still topside; the fact that he's shouting during a stealth mission, however, is likely a bad sign.
Below the surface, the drow decides to slice-and-dice to the best of his ability against the nearest unarmored foe. His two attacks with his main blade both strike true, filling the nearby water with clouds of blood.
The skum flank and counterattack the two intruders in the water, a combination flurry of tridents, teeth, and claws. Caught flat-footed, Caldariel takes two hits from trident pokes , while T'chazzar takes slightly less damage during the frenzy.
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Finding it impossible to punch under water, Caldariel used the sharp edges of his cestus and the horns of his mask different than what he was used to. Rather than punching, he sought to puncture and pierce, aiming for pressure points, as well as the eyes, throat and groin. Any place that would cause either the most damage, or pain.
Seeing the chaos of battle erupt below, Arani steps off of the ladder, dropping into the water and quickly swimming downward and firing a shot at the already wounded creature, the shift in environment definitely requiring a moment to adjust.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
Arani drops into the water and swims deeper; she's joined by Jessibel (and her light source), as the bard drops into the water from the top of the shaft and swims after the ranger. Arani, having less distance to travel, is able to squeeze off a shot at the skum hurt by T'chazzar, wounding it further. Falina starts down the ladder.
Falina did indeed make her way down the ladder but stopped when she saw the fight starting below. She kept her feet on the ladder and held on by one rung with her left hand while she began to weave a spell. When she released the spell it fell upon their attackers and began to make everything move much faster than they were used to.
With her first spell done Falina cast yet another one, this time sending a flurry of magical bolts at which ever of the creatures had been hit the most.
T'chazzar tries to right himself but just winds up slowly floating to the bottom.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
Falina, perhaps from the sudden immersion into cold water or possibly from the proximity of so many enemies, flubs both spells she attempts. Though off-balance, T'chazzar's lone stab attempt hits his unarmored foe, further damaging it (a bit). The drow and tiefling sorceress both sink to the bottom of the flooded chamber by the end of their turns and now have firm footing.
The aquatic beings are better suited to this fight but that doesn't mean they're great fighter or execute their many attacks well. Even though he's flanked and off-balance as he sinks, Caldariel's only hit by a lone trident thrust . One of T'chazzar's previous attackers makes the interesting choice of no longer trying to flank the drow; instead, he maintains a position in the middle of the submerged room and attacks Falina. It manages to bite the sorceress in the arm but the partial cover granted by the ladder foils a follow-up claw attack. From its floating position, however, it still threatens the two heroes up near the ceiling, Arani and Jessibel.
Nonetheless, the drow's still targeted by a pair of skum who gracefully sink/swim down to the bottom to engage him. Their myriad attacks fail to penetrate T'chazzar's defenses, however.
On her turn (which unfortunately for him comes after Caldariel's actions), Jessibel sings to inspire courage as the fight goes on. She also manages to maintain her position near the top of the chamber with a few decent arm- and leg-flaps.
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T'chazzar retaliates against the skum surrounding him, stabbing with furious abandon now that he has firm footwork.
Watching closely for her opportunity, Arani carefully makes a gesture through the water, invoking the magic in an old hunter's trick, improving her ability to fight underwater.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
T'chazzar hits with two of three strikes with his mithral weapons; his wounded foe ceases moving and floats in a cloud of blood in the water. Meanwhile, Arani successfully casts a spell that'll help her fight better in the water.
Caldariel operated in the water with poise and grace. He was so focused on the fight, that it barely registered to him that he was not on solid ground. He feinted with his cestus, only to come in with a vicious headbutt with his horned mask.
Falina gave the skum that attacked her the most vile glare that she could after it bit her. She once more began to cast, careful not to give it any openings to attack her.
This time she succeeded at casting her opening spell causing the skum to suddenly feel like everything around them was moving faster than before.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
Caldariel finishes off his already-wounded foe and gets a good start on dispatching his second attacker with a quick mask headbutt. Falina gets off a spell and the three remaining skum seem to lose some of their speed and underwater grace.
Reduced by Falina's magic to a single attack, the skum jab the intruders with their spears. The slow spell may indeed have saved Caldariel from a bad injury , as a lucky stab from his foe merely grazed off his side . T'chazzar and Jessibel are able to dodge the incoming attacks.
Jessibel maintains her inspirational underwater song and stabs her opponent lightly with her rapier.
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Allowing herself to sink to a more solid position, Arani fires at the most injured looking of the Skum still fighting
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
Arani expertly snipes at her target, her bolt snaking through what seems to be a forest of potential cover to strike the wounded skum nearest Caldariel. She sinks a bit more and feels her boots touch the silt-covered floor. Though it's nearly slain by the bolt, the creature shows no sign of contemplating retreat; it seems likely these guards have decided (or perhaps been ordered) to fight intruders to the death.
T'chazzar continues to press the attack against the skum harassing him.
T'chazzar continues to press the attack against the skum harassing him.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
T'chazzar stabs his opponent through multiple vital organs, leaving it spinning lightly in the water, near death, in a cloud of its own blood.
This leaves the badly-wounded skum to the west of Caldariel and the uninjured one swimming in the middle of the room (both horizontally and vertically) as the only foes remaining.
RUINS OF THE LUCKY BONES--FLOODED TUNNELS (17 Desnus)
Caldarial strikes his already wounded foe, finishing it off. The last skum fights to the death, trying to skewer Jessibel with its trident but missing. The party swarms and stabs the creature, eliminating the final opponent in the chamber.
There seems to be two ways to proceed deeper into the flooded level: squeezing through the opening(s) in the west wall or proceeding to the wide opening in the southwest corner.
The low, seven-foot-high ceiling in this completely flooded torture chamber gives it a claustrophobic feel. Two whipping posts are positioned to north and south, while narrow, rusty cages sit against the walls. A partially collapsed rack slumps in the center of the room, while a low stone well sits in an alcove to the west.
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"So, larger entrance?" Arani asks, reloading.
[b]"Yes.{/b] Caldariel responded. Given that they were already in the water, there was no need to clean any blood off of himself. As such, he moved forward, taking point as the group moved on.