Tsin discovers that the gorgon is in fact flesh and bone beneath its armor plating, but with time speeding through the hourglass on Mal's spell, she's soon ready to move on to explore the other branch of the tunnel.
It opens into another cavern, its walls rough and jagged, though the stone floor is smooth and has been swept clean. A small pool of water surrounded by pale white stones lies to the west. Along the opposite wall to the east, an oaken table holding a wooden bowl and a silver chalice sits in a small alcove.
To the northeast, a short passage leads to a stone door engraved with the image of a naked, pregnant woman sitting in a meditative pose. The woman’s hands lie folded in her lap, and a full moon is painted upon her belly. A trio of waist-high pillars of stout gray stone stands in the corridor just before the door.
Quinn ponders the religious significance of the chamber.
"Eh? What's all this then?" Malavarius looks about curiously, then nods approvingly when no false maidens appear to further waylay him and the others.
You don't recognize any religious significance, Quinn.
ZephTyr roils and spits.
"If there is nothing of interest here, let us move on," ZephTyr blows, flying next to the ceiling as he looks around.
Perception - anything of interest- alcove?
The wooden bowl on the table contains corn seed. The silver chalice is empty.
The tops of the three stone pillars in the northeast passage have been hollowed out to create shallow fonts or bowls, each with an engraved symbol chiseled into the bottom of the font. From west to east, the symbols are a stylized ear of corn, a six-spoked wheel, and a downward-pointing triangle inside a circle.
In order, these symbols represent corn, the sun, and water. These three elements are part of a crop-planting fertility ritual used by Iobarian
witches to celebrate the passage into womanhood.
Pems studies the symbols. "Corn, sun and water. It's an Iobarian crop-planting ritual used to celebrate when a girl becomes a woman."
Quinn picks up a small stone and prays to Cayden as it blossoms into light. Gathering some corn before plucking the chalice from the table and filling it with water from the pool, he approaches the fonts. Slowly, each element is placed in its receptacle. "When witches have rituals are those wituals?"
In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have helped her sister. From the frying pan, and into the fire. Ah well, arranged marriages are a gamble, at best, and hope is a false friend. In the moment, Melisande feared, and turned to Tsin for reassurance.
"It's come, sistermine. It's come, and now father will know, and I'll be offered up like so much chattel... I can not bear to think on warming Lancel's master bed, Tsin. The worts alone..." Melisande's breath hitches, and she stifles her sobs, fearful of drawing a maid's attention.
"Come now, it can't be all that bad, sister, can it? His stables are quite profitable. You won't want for anything..."Tsin sees her words are falling on inconsolable ears, at least while she speaks in favor of horsemaster Lancel.
"Alright, Melisande. Show me everything blood-touched, and we'll make sure no one stumbles upon it. From now on, you must take pains to avoid leaving clues. I suggest you start having uncomfortable dreams when you feel it approaching. My bed is big enough, and you are still young enough to fear nightmares. That way, I can shoulder the blame, alright?"Melisande's face brightens, and her cheeks radiate a youthful ruddiness the instant she wipes the tears from them.
They concealed the truth long enough for Lancel to find another, and they were happy. At least for a time...
...
Tsin looks over the items, and hears their significance, and she lets her mind wander, watching Quinn begin to handle said items with some familiarity.
Nothing happens when Quinn places the corn in the first pillar, the lighted stone in the second and water in the third.
Quinn frowns at the pillars and looks back to Pems,"Did I match the items to the right symbols? Perhaps flame is needed for the sun? I could drop a tindertwig in that font?"
Pems checks the elements to make sure Quinn has them correctly.
Malavarius watches as Quinn attempts to place various items before various pillars, stroking his beard habitually as his focus fades and his attentions wander.
The old wizard begins muttering softly to himself as his eyes glaze over and he stares at nothing in particular, "Riddles... in the dark. Hmmm. The shadow of the past. No, no. The black gate- the black gate is closed. Hrmmm. Yes. Many. Many partings."
Zeno draws Malavarius out of his reverie with a sharp peck to the crown of his wizard's head.
"Ouch! Hmm? What's that? What what?"
"Hmm? Was I? Pay it no mind, Zeno. No mind at all." Malavarius dismisses the bird's concern with a wave of his hand as he turns his attention back to the room. "Quinn? Pemsworth? How's it coming, lads?"
Pems, you believe Quinn has the ritual correct.
"It looks right to me, Quinn. Perhaps there is some sort of chant?"
"Perhaps there is some sort of chant?"
ZephTyr offers to do a rain dance, if that would help.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Quinn strikes the tindertwig and drops it into the font. Alright Zephtyr, start the rain dance, I got the chant."
"Poura bowla corna
burna witha firea
drowna ina wata
fora baba yaga"
Quinns ponders the fonts for a moment, then grabs a few kernels of corn and singes them in the fire, then drops them in the water.
There is no apparent effect from either of Quinn's subsequent actions.
Tsin breaks from her reflections, only catching a snippet of Malavarius's slipping away. She looks from Zeno to Mal and back, but decides to not ask further. Instead, she looks to Quinn and his rain dance.
"Are we done here? I'm not sure why you should be doing that, unless this is a Cayden ceremony. We still have plenty of corridors to search."
Quinn starts moving the elements to different fonts, trying each possible combination.
ZephTyr dances when he is supposed to dance, and creates water (with the create water spell) when it is time for rain. No matter what, when there is rain dancing to be done, there is wet rain dancing.
ZephTyr is committed to Quinn's insanity good ideas.
There seems to be no effect from any of Quinn's combinations.
Quinn shrugs and turns to follow Tsin. "Maybe the other corridors will have the items that go in the fonts?"
Tsin nods unenthusiastically. "Maybe." She moves back down the shared hallway, into the hag den, and points to the locked southern door.
"Let's try that door. Hopefully, it doubles back on the hallway we didn't investigate from the start." She hops back and forth, bringing the blood to course through her calves.
Malavarius nods as Tsin leads back the way they'd come yet again. "Blast all this walking back and forth. I'm an old man, don't you know! Zeno? Zeno! Remind me to figure out how to make you big enough to carry me about. Or maybe to turn you into one of those famous flying carpets in all the stories! Oh yes, that'd be best, I'm sure."
"Bah! You're no fun!"
The wizard and thrush shuffle along behind the others, Malavarius' staff tapping on the stone floor as he goes.
The door is locked and, surprisingly, the iron key you discovered on the hag doesn't fit.
Pems sighs and moves forward to try the lock, pausing to check for traps first.
and
ZephTyr waits, floating above Pems and watching him work.
The lock doesn't give immediately under Pems' ministrations, but in time the halfling smith is finally able to get the tumblers to click and open the door.
It opens into a corridor that continues to gently slope downward, the passage brightly lit by something at the far end.
"Ah! Excellent work, Pemsworth."
Tsin proceeds down the passage, wary of lit wisps again. She keeps her blade at her side, ready to flick at floating fey lights, should they appear.
The light seems to come pouring out of a hole in the center of the room like a fountain, bright enough that Tsin has to blink back tears to see the roughly circular cavern. A hallway leads to the west while a door opens in the eastern wall.
Pems manages to shield his eyes from the bright light. "What sort of room is this?!"
"Good heavens! Why's it so blasted bright in here? What's happening?" Malavarius stumbles as the light overcomes his old eyes. Blinking in futility, he slowly extends his staff to prod the nearest blurry blob. "Quinn? Tsin? Which one is that there, hmm? Help an old man won't you?"
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tsin's eternal scowl comes in handy, as her lids collimate the brightness into something less blinding.
For the light's intensity, she begins to worry as Malavarius staggers. "That would be Quinn, Mal, I'm over here. Keep the pace of your staff slow. You don't seem steady in sight at present."
She looks ahead, hoping to find an end and/or exit to the room, so they may remove themselves from the source. She also listens as best she can for alien sounds.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"Eh, that does make the eyes squint, still not worse than that morning we woke up to sunrise facing east. Remember that Hektir, we'll never be able to return to that farm again, at least not without the butcher protecting us."
Quinn shields his eyes and approaches the hole. Peering inside as he blinks away tears, he searches for the source of the light.
"...collimate the brightness into something less blinding..."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fort Save
ZephTyr's eyes cloud over protectively at the lights, stopping most of the negative effects (save for seeing Tsin's face too clearly in the light).
ZephTyr remembers.
Ah yes. Those were *not* pillows.
"We weren't going to speak of that again, Quinn. It was an innocent mistake."
ZephTyr flies to ceiling, looking for threats hidden in the light.
Perception
Surprise!
As Quinn moves into the room toward the fountain, he suddenly feels stabbing pains, and realizes blood is spurting from what seems to be four stab wounds in his torso, one in the front and back, and one on each side.
It's not clear what happened to the young Caydenite.
Hektir:
Malavarius:
Pemsworth:
Quinn:
Tsin:
Antagonist:
Round 1/2
Seeing nothing other than injury on Quinn's body, and at such a distance, Tsin reflexively whispers to Pharasma for protections against whatever presence in the room may prey on them next.
She also strains to see and hear through the light.
Hektir: 15
Malavarius: 16
Pemsworth: 18
Quinn: 14
Tsin: 24
Antagonist: 21
As Tsin casts her spell, Quinn feels another stabbing pain and something scrape off his armor on the other side and then everything goes mercifully dark.
Moments later, Pems feels two stabbing pains, and blood briefly coats the shape of two daggers as it begins flowing down the halfling's chest, though the blades disappear in the brilliance moments later.
"Argh! Whatever it is, it's hiding in the light!" Pems looks around, seeing the glowing hole in the floor. Trying to be as careful as possible, Pems throws himself over the hole! ,
HP 26/50
"What? What's hiding in the light? What are you going on about, Pemsworth?" Malavarius blinks futilely once more in the brightness of the hall. Holding his staff defensively, the old wizard squints into the light, assuming his best posture for fending off unseen attackers.
HP: 39/44
AC: 15 (15 T / 10 FF) (includes total defense)
Fort: +2 // Ref: +3 // Will: +8 (+1 vs spells, SLAs, & Su abilities of evil arcane spellcasters)
Resist 5: Cold
Energy Absorption: 0/24 absorbed
Pearl of Power I: 0/1 used
Cantrips Prepared (4): detect magic, open/close, prestidigitation, read magic
Level 1 Prepared (4+2+1): endure elements [X], feather fall [ ], hydraulic push [ ], protection from evil* [ ], mage armor [X], snapdragon fireworks [X] [ ]
Level 2 Prepared (3+2+1): create pit [X], glitterdust [X] [X], resist energy* [X], scorching ray [X], spontaneous immolation [ ]
Level 3 Prepared (2+1+1): dispel magic* [X] [X], fireball [ ], haste [X]
Level 4 Prepared (1+1+1): stoneskin* [X] [ ], wall of fire [ ]
Protective Ward used: 4/8
Ongoing Effects:
protection from energy (Quinn): 60/70 minutes
stoneskin: 0/80 damage absorbed, 40/80 minute duration
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Round 1
Watching Quinn randomly sprout holes, ZephTyr watches in confusion.
ZephTyr floats above and casts Echolocation to better espy invisible or unseen things.
If he sees them, he will point their location out to Mal & Pems.
Round 1
Quinn grimaces as his muscles convulse, then he crumples to a heap on the floor as blood pools beneath him.
Hektir sees four large-eyed humanoids that looks like glowing, emaciated elven children save for their small, transparent wings.
Two surround Quinn, while two stand in front of Pems and Mal.
Know (Nature)
"THERE! There are 4...2 there and there!" ZephTyr points out with various airy appendages. "They are..."
"Surrounded by what? Sickly elf children? Good heavens!" Thinking himself well surrounded, Malavarius casts a spell over himself rather than waving his staff about. A moment later, his skin takes on a grayish, stone-like hue.
HP: 39/44
AC: 11 (11 T / 10 FF)
Fort: +2 // Ref: +3 // Will: +8 (+1 vs spells, SLAs, & Su abilities of evil arcane spellcasters)
Resist 5: Cold
Energy Absorption: 0/24 absorbed
Pearl of Power I: 0/1 used
Cantrips Prepared (4): detect magic, open/close, prestidigitation, read magic
Level 1 Prepared (4+2+1): endure elements [X], feather fall [ ], hydraulic push [ ], protection from evil* [ ], mage armor [X], snapdragon fireworks [X] [ ]
Level 2 Prepared (3+2+1): create pit [X], glitterdust [X] [X], resist energy* [X], scorching ray [X], spontaneous immolation [ ]
Level 3 Prepared (2+1+1): dispel magic* [X] [X], fireball [ ], haste [X]
Level 4 Prepared (1+1+1): stoneskin* [X] [X], wall of fire [ ]
Protective Ward used: 4/8
Ongoing Effects:
protection from energy (Quinn): 60/70 minutes
stoneskin (Tsin): 0/80 damage absorbed, 40/80 minute duration
stoneskin (self): 0/80 damage absorbed, 0/80 minute duration