"And then if I cast all my spells until I had nothing left, I could float away up into the treetops," Douena agrees, getting on her tiptoes and spreading her arms like wings.
Makoa stops Douena from using the last charge, his wounds sealed completely. "Thank you, little one.
Present!
You have been making your way towards an old temple in Tazion where you expect to find a snake person, as well as some giant wasps. You have just defeated a large group of charau-ka led by their shaman, Raogru, and are hopeful that with their defeat, any remaining charau-ka will leave you along.
You have now reached the temple. At the front of the ziggurat, a wide flight of stairs leads up to a columned entrance. Rubble litters the steps and vines grow over just about everything. You can only see a portion of the chamber that the steps lead into, but given the rubble, it's clear that portions of the ceiling have collapsed. Plants and more tangled vines grow up through the floor.
In addition to the stairs, you can see two other entrances to the ziggurat. A pair of double doors to the right allow entry to a side section, while to the left, a single door provides entry to another side section.
Douena approached the side door and used her door sight ability to peer through and see beyond: Cracked, faded paintings on the walls of this room depict ancient soldiers fighting snake-headed creatures under bright skies. The stonework beneath the paintings appears damp and is covered with condensation. The ceiling above is decorated with faded solar designs. Light leaks into the room through one spot where the ceiling has partially collapsed.
Mahjik has started his way up the main stairs to look into the area beyond. "Perhaps we shouldn't be hasty," Jask says to Mahjik.
Tar'kanas finds himself lost in thought as the others go about investigating. He's broken from his reverie as Jask speaks, looking around to make sure no one noticed he wasn't paying attention. "While caution is wise, I believe it is time to move and see what awaits us. We will never know if we remain here longer than we already have."
Jask nods in acceptance at Tar'kanas's words.
Mahjik reaches the top of the steps and peers round the corner. A smaller, inner structure fills most of this large chamber. The ceiling has collapsed in some places, and a tangle of vines, mosses, and other plants grow in the thick mud covering the floor.
"I want to open my door," Douena complains. "Why is Mahjik going that way?"
Makoa walks over to stand next to Douena, taking a moment to try and listen through the door. "Why this door?"
Makoa does not hear any sounds from the other side of the door. However, his keen hearing does pick up a faint hint of buzzing in Mahjik's direction.
Mahjikk is noticing the buzzing now too and it's starting to get louder.
"Why this door?"
"Because it's mine," she explains, as if the answer should be obvious.
Remembering all the times that Douena's been right and the group didn't listen to her, Urza agrees, "Let's try Douena's door first."
Pezock nods. "Agreed." He points to Mahjik and says, "Forget that one. Let him wander alone. We'll go this way."
He marches over to join Douena and Makoa by the door and waits for Douena to open it.
Jask ascends the steps to Mahjik and says, "Let's go Douena's way and avoid splitting the group up."
The buzzing sound is quite audible now, although it seems to have stopped getting louder. It sounds like whatever is making it must be on the other side of the inner building.
Tar'kanas moves over to 'Douena's door' and readies to enter with his bow in his hand and Untari by his side. "Let us enter."
Douena checks the door for traps; if all is clear, she attempts to open it.
Douena finds no sign of traps on the door. The door is not locked and opens easily. Your group moves carefully into the room. Around the corner, the walls are covered in the same kinds of faded paintings Douena could see in the front part of the room.
At the far north end, there is another door. A large patch of yellowish fungus grows on the floor in front of the door.
"Hold. The fungus that lies before the door is yellow mold. If it is disturbed it will burst, creating a cloud of poisonous spores. I would recommend burning it seeing how it possesses a great weakness to fire."
"Fire you say?"" Urza gets a smile on his face. "You might want to stand back a bit." It's easy to tell that he's ramping up for a good fire, but he suddenly stops. "Sometimes simpler is better." He gathers some wood and tosses them into the mold, careful not to be too close. He then uses Spark to set the sticks, and hopefully the mold, on fire.
Mahjik ponders the elf's words as he approaches. "What other molds are there? Is weakness to fire a common trait for them?"
"How can we burn it without disturbing it?" Douena asks. "If you burned me, I'd be disturbed."
Douena soon gets her answer. When Urza tosses the twigs onto the mould, puffs of smoke-like pores shoot into the air around the mould and several feet in front of it. As soon as Urza casts his spell, the floating spores go up in a quick burst of flame. The mould on the floor takes a little bit longer to burn up, but in under a minute, it's gone--almost like it was never there.
"Excellent work, my friend," Pezock says approvingly. "No worthless mould will stop us!"
Douena moves over the scorched floor to the next set of doors. First she listens for any sounds of movement on the other side in reaction to the party's approach; then she checks for traps.
Urza likes walking on the extra warm ground.
Mahjik takes up a spot in the rear. "Yes, indeed excellent."
"I feel like keeping some might have been useful." Makoa says as he adjusts his axe in his grasp.
Douena hears nothing beyond the door and finds no sign of any traps on it.
The door is unlocked and beyond lies a partly flooded foyer. Water has seeped in under a pair of double doors to the west. Another pair of double doors to the east are partially submerged in mud. It looks as though the entire east wall may have subsided since the doors otherwise look secure in their frame. Another single door is in the north wall.
"I feel like keeping some might have been useful." Makoa says as he adjusts his axe in his grasp.
"We could have grown some in a jar and then thrown it at people like a poison-ball!" Douena agrees with disturbing enthusiasm.
Douena sees no footprints/slithermarks/other trails in the room. It doesn't look like anything has been through here in quite some time.
"Nothing in here," Douena says with obvious disappointment. "Unless whatever comes through here flies through." She looks up hopefully toward the ceiling.
"I remember vampires don't necessarily walk - and with that yellow thing there maybe they'd have preferred their other ways of moving."
Through the doors to the west, Douena can hear a very slight rustling, like wind through leaves. No sounds come from the north or east.
"I remember vampires don't necessarily walk - and with that yellow thing there maybe they'd have preferred their other ways of moving."
"Or just other entrances," Sasha suggests.
"I hear something past the water," Douena whispers, pointing to the doors in the western wall. "Do you think maybe there's a drier way in? Let's try the north door."
Unless anyone objects, she checks the door for traps and to see if it is unlocked.
Mahjik ponders the elf's words as he approaches. "What other molds are there? Is weakness to fire a common trait for them?"
"There are various kinds of molds. And as far as fire being a common weakness... I do not recall."
Tar'kanas nods and follows the gnome toward the north door.
Makes simply follows, looking around just in case they didn't hear had heard them instead. You couldn't be too carefully out here. Not with snake people and ruins and such.
Unless anyone objects, she checks the door for traps and to see if it is unlocked.
Douena finds no signs of traps on the door, which is also unlocked. Opening it reveals a room with a high, arched ceiling embedded with crystals to represent a starry sky. Friezes along the walls show people of noble bearing travelling through a variety of landscapes and terrains. The hall ends at a curved flight of descending stairs.
On the floor in front of the stairs are three metal statues of cobras. The bodies are made of overlapping metallic plates, suggesting that the poses of the snakes are adjustable.
"Ooh, look at the stars," Douena stares up at the spangled ceiling, entranced. "And people going on a journey," she points out along the walls. "This looks like a temple to Desna."
"Then it is fortunate that we have Desnan expert with us. What should we do?"
"Hmmm," Douena considers, rapidly making things up. "Well, the stars journey across the sky ... and the people are journeying all over the world ... but the snakes are in their way." She points to the three metal cobras. "In the last room, they were fighting snakes under the sun; they could have been followers of Sarenrae. And the snakes are opposing Desna, too, which accords with all the dreams she's given me. So the snake-people are opposed to all the good gods ... which means we have to fight them, too. Does that make sense, Jask?"
Jask moves forward and between Douena and Urza to look into the room. With a shrug and a moment of hemming and hawing, Jask says, "Well, I suppose it's one possible interpretation. It could also just be a record of actual people journeying without a religious significance. They could easily have been followers of Desna though. I've no idea what the snakes in the middle of the room are supposed to designate though. They seem separate from the friezes. They almost look like they're guarding the stairs."
"Which is why we have to fight them," Douena continues, unperturbed. "Because that's where we're going."
"Is there any indication of supernatural forces at work? Meaning... are they still guarding the stairs, say against us?"
"Well, I suppose the way we would find out," Jask says, "is to approach the stairs and see what they do."
"Then let's do it," Pezock says, drawing his sabre and moving forward. Jask backs away.
Sure enough, as soon as Pezock moves towards the stairs, metal eyelids on the cobras slide open revealing red glows beneath.
Order: Untari, Douena, Makoa, Lorenz, Cobras, Jask, Urza, Mahjik, Sasha, Ishirou, Tar'kanas, Pezock, Shokambe.
First Up:
Not very helpful.