You light each of the candles and place them in the lanterns. The sarcophagus chamber is once again awash in distracting, flickering light.
You then make your way up into the hallway with the face, which has conveniently disappeared. Dara is able to retrieve her shield which is lying on the floor just past where the face would be.
Beyond the face is a long, dark room with no floor. A three-foot-wide beam of petrified wood spans the chasm, leading straight ahead into darkness. About 10 feet below the beam, countless iron spheres about the size of large oranges form an irregular floor, but it's impossible to tell if they represent a wholly solid surface. The side walls are covered in a honeycomb of geometric patterns. The featureless stone ceiling extends about 20 feet from the beam.
Only Dara and Udaya can see to the far side, but there they see a metal door.
After Vene gives him the lecture, Fredrik feels oddly moved by this, but he doesn't let it show. "Umm, yeah, Vene, I will definitely keep an eye out for her, I am sure my true love is somewhere..." just not here in this gods-forsaken place!
Once Vene has turned away, he gives Udaya a shrug, not really sure what to say about the philosophy espoused by the priest.
Once he sees the ledge, he murmers a quick incantation,
Nav: Before we lit the candles did Dara find anything when she took 20 in examining the sarcophagus?
Before we head up, Dara inspects the insides of the sarcophagus by hand to ensure there's not a false bottom or anything else like that.
Perception 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 2 = 20 stone
Nav: Before we lit the candles did Dara find anything when she took 20 in examining the sarcophagus?
Before we head up, Dara inspects the insides of the sarcophagus by hand to ensure there's not a false bottom or anything else like that.
Perception 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 2 = 20 stone
Fredrik shrugs again, with a resigned look on his face. He turns to Dara, and says, I guess you are up now, he he.
"Er– sorry Freddie, yer a bit too tall fer my tastes..."
Freddie looks confused for a second, and then a rather noticable blush appears on his face. Trying not to look at anyone else, he mutters, "Ehh, I meant for you to lead the way there, Dara." He huriedly retreats to the nack of the group, thinking maybe Udaya is right, these Wind Dukes probably didn't get out much.
"Oh, uh..."
Without further comment, Dara inspects the door for traps and such.
Clearly, she is still distracted by mistaking Freddie's comments. ^_^;
"Oh, uh..."
Without further comment, Dara inspects the door for traps and such.
Clearly, she is still distracted by mistaking Freddie's comments. ^_^;
"Hmmm, I don't know how stable that beam is, maybe we should cross one at a time. Plus who knows if those balls are actually capable of supporting your weight, Dara."
UU squeezes past a person or two, looks down past the beam, and scans for any sign of evil among the balls. "Hopefully these balls aren't moderately evil..."
Udaya does not detect any evil. However, she is also aware that detect evil is blocked by 1 inch of metal and as the balls would appear to be metal, they could be blocking anything just below them.
"Well, I can't detect anything... but that isn't saying much. Maybe we should back up and drop something in there to see what happens?"
"Yeah sure Udaya, not a bad idea. Lemme get my grappling hook out...ahh here we go." He hands the rope off to Udaya, and says, "Good luck with that."
UU goes to the edge, while the rest back off a discreet distance. She lowers the rope end down until it touches the balls. She leaves it there for a moment, swirls it around, and then pulls it back up to inspect the effect on the end with the group.
If nothing 'interesting' happens, she will repeat the process with the hook end of the rope.
If nothing 'interesting' happens, she will drop the hook end into the balls faster, seeing if it will sink below the surface or cause something to happen.
Nothing happens when the rope end touches the balls, so she pulls it back up and lowers the hook end. Nothing happens again. On the third time, the hook drops down with a light clang on the balls. It doesn't sink as the balls seem to be too tightly packed.
However, a moment later, you all hear a rumbling sound and the surface of the balls shudders.
"Yeah, that was a really stupid thing to do," a disembodied voice says, seemingly coming from everywhere around you. It sounds much like a young boy's voice.
Then a wormlike monster bursts from the surface of the balls. It's about 6 feet long with four tentacles a little longer than a person's forearm. The tentacles are located on its head along either side of its vicious jaws.
"Now you've done it," the voice says (it does not appear to be coming from the worm). "You guys are so dead. A shame, since you got this far."
Order: Udaya, Venedictus, Worm, Fredrik, Dara, Bear.
Up First:
"Ain't that some sh1t? Play with the balls, gotta tackle the worm!"
The surly little dwarf raises her shield and brings her axe to bear waiting for her chance to strike.
Bear's mirth is lost as he mumbles, "I knew we shoulda gone back to town."
Udaya laughs, "Ain't that always the way of it. Fortunately this snake is smaller than Be..." The rest of her comment is cut off by her scimitar clobbering the beast.
Udaya laughs, "Ain't that always the way of it. Fortunately this snake is smaller than Be..." The rest of her comment is cut off by her scimitar clobbering the beast.
Is Udaya jumping down onto the balls? She'll take some non-lethal damage, but that's the only way the worm will be in reach, and she'll still have an action left after the jump. It's also still flat-footed so it won't get an attack of opportunity.
Probably another dumb idea on UU's part, but she will take the leap, figuring this beast's plan is to drag them down anyway. A killing shot right now might save us a lot of trouble.
Bear casts a feather fall on Udaya as she leaps off the edge. She floats down in front of the worm and slices with her scimitar. Her blade digs deep into the worm, slicing off a tentacle and nearly cutting the thing in half.
"Wow! That was incredible!" the disembodied voice says. "No one's ever beat this thing before! At least, not as long as I've been here. You are awesome!"
At that moment, a ghostly figure materializes in front of Udaya. He looks like a transparent boy, maybe 12 or 13 at most, but his head hangs at an odd angle, like his neck has been snapped. He floats over top of Udaya, his form merging with hers.
Udaya is unable to resist, and the ghostly apparition takes control of her. Udaya turns and calls up to the others. "I just want to talk!"
"Damn.. this is gonna mess with my head later."
"We will not harm you, child," Venedictus says, discretely prepping his holy symbol just in case. "Please release our friend and we'll hear you out."
Bear slides his blade back into its sheath following Venedictus's words. "Agreed. We'd love to chat, but it'd be a good show of faith if you could let the woman go."
"How do I know you won't?" the boy, still using Udaya's voice, calls back up. "You people are strong, but if you attack me, you'll attack your friend too. If you listen to me, I'll let her go."
"Guess you ain't givin' us much o' a choice. Well whatcha want then?"
Udaya smiles--or rather, the boy smiles through her. "My name is Alastor Land. I have been here countless decades. I abandoned my family in a time of need, and I have been cursed as a result. Over the years, I have seen explorers like you come and go. The trap in the walls or the grick kills most of them, but others have left in humiliation, unable to pass through the far metal door. I am unable to leave the way you came because of my curse. It forces me to haunt only this small area because this is where I died. However, I can cross a very short distance past the far wall. Beyond is a glorious chamber of strange carvings and a pillar of air. And there's a catch on the other side of the door that opens it without a problem. I'll trigger it for you if you take my bones from here and bury them with my family on a farmstead just beyond Baslwief. Do this for me, and I will be free. I assure you there is no other way through that door."
There is a shimmering around Udaya's body, and boy's ghostly form floats away from her, freeing her of his control. He floats up to the central beam. "Will you do this for me?" he asks again.
Udaya felt very odd throughout the whole experience. She could hear and see what was going on, but it was like through a dream. She also did get a sense of this boy's own feelings and the vaguest of glimpse at memories--nothing more than brief images of that she could barely make out. However, she did get the sense that he was being honest.
He seems on the up-and-up.
UU grabs a couple of balls and starts twirling them dextrously in one hand. She regards the floating apparition. "I think he speaks the truth. So... your bones... I'm standing on them right? They are somewhere down here?"
Fredrik stands paralyzed by fear when the ghostly apparition appears, and only after it has retreated out of Udaya's body, does he recover his voice.
"We would be happy to do this for you, but, as Udaya here has asked, we do need to know where your remains are, and also where your families homestead is located."
Alastor smiles. With his head at its extreme angle, it's a sideways smile and so looks a bit creepy, but at least it's a smile. "My bones are underneath the balls just below the far door. They are not far down, and it should not take you long to uncover them. You should not cross on the beam though. As soon as you reach halfway across it, you will activate the trap in the walls and you will be pelted with iron spheres. If you walk across the spheres, you will be safe. My family's farm was located just 10 minutes from Baslwief, not far from this cairn. If you leave here and go directly southeast, you should reach it in under five minutes. When my bones have been buried with my family, I will know immediately. As soon as that happens, I will open the far door for you. By the time you get back to the cairn, I will have passed on, but the door will be open for you."
"Always did want to try one o' those ball-crawls at the county faire but the ol' man never would let me..."
With that, Dara attaches a grapnel to the side of the chasm and climbs down to where UU is to start helping her look for dem bones.
Dara and Udaya make their way across the iron balls to the far side of the chamber. Then, with Alastor's guidance they start "digging" down. Digging pretty much entails picking up balls and moving them aside. While that's not a particularly difficult task, the hard part occurs when they start to get a bit of a hole and the surrounding balls start collapsing into it.
"It's not much farther," Alastor keeps saying. "Just a little more!"
With careful work, they are able to dig down in a cone shape, always keeping the upper parts of the hole wider than the lower parts, and that avoids a collapse. After what seems an eternity, but is really only half an hour or so, they uncover bones.
"That's them!" Alastor exclaims. "That's them!"
"Not to sound mercenary here, Alastor, but clearly you've seen some of the Grick's other victims. Wanna direct us to any equipment we might be able to put to good use? We are breaking your curse and you DID take my body for a ride after all."
UU is hoping Alastor will feel generous but she already knows she won't press the matter. She more or less gave her word to see his soul to its eternal rest and she will do exactly that whether he stonewalls or not.
She starts gently collecting his remains.
"Not to sound mercenary here, Alastor, but clearly you've seen some of the Grick's other victims. Wanna direct us to any equipment we might be able to put to good use? We are breaking your curse and you DID take my body for a ride after all."
UU is hoping Alastor will feel generous but she already knows she won't press the matter. She more or less gave her word to see his soul to its eternal rest and she will do exactly that whether he stonewalls or not.
She starts gently collecting his remains.
Fredrik glances at Udaya, an alarmed look in his eyes, "You know we don't have much time..." His voice trails off as he realizes she did not mean what she says.
He really felt bad for the young kid, actually, and he says quietly to her, once she has returned to the group. "That was a nice thing you did there, no one should have to suffer like that."
Fredrik glances at Udaya, an alarmed look in his eyes, "You know we don't have much time..."
"If you guys are worried about the candles burning out, you can head out and keep the fires going. We'll be along as soon as we've finished here."
Fredrik glances at Udaya, an alarmed look in his eyes, "You know we don't have much time...""If you guys are worried about the candles burning out, you can head out and keep the fires going. We'll be along as soon as we've finished here."
"Uhh, Ok we should head back, and make sure those lights don't go out. C'mon guys, I think the ladies are ok up here" He then turns back, and head back down to relight the candles when ready.
Venedictus nods and heads back with the others, scaling down the lantern chain. There's a brief moment where his considerable girth blocks the light coming from the green lantern itself, and the wall face snaps into existence just behind Bear's heels, but then he's off the lantern and the trap disappears once again.
"Well..." Alastor ponders for a moment. "I suppose. I know some others that are near the surface. I'll show you where they are." He directs Dara and Udaya, who eventually uncover three other bodies. The bodies don't have a lot valuable on them, but you can recover 47 gp, 7 sp, 1 pp, a rusty longsword, and a suit of masterwork banded mail.
"Their spirits don't haunt here," Alastor says, "so they don't have to be buried, but if you wanted to bury them, too, I suppose that would be nice of you."
Altogether, it takes a little over another hour to recover these bodies and belongings. The men outside replace the candles as they burn down to keep the face open.
UU is very careful about keeping the remains separated and observing death rituals when packing them. She carries the bodies personally along with whatever items Dara doesn't have room to carry.
Fredrik waits patiently while the ladies finish their tasks, all the while wondering about what lies beyond the door Alastor pointed out. While the thought of treasure excited him, the chance to gain new knowledge, and power, was more important to him. Certainly a trip to Kaer Maga was on the agenda...
After climbing back down into the lantern room and double-checking all the lanterns, Biter takes up an uneasy position leaning against the sarcophagus, watching the way the women should come, idly flicking his Spark cantrip on and off incessantly, nervous energy just pouring from his thick body.
"Surely they should have been down by now, right?" he looks over at Freddy and Venny, "Ya think everything's goin' okay up there?"