"We can come back at a later time to investigate the water. When we are better prepared."
"Why not open all the doors at once?"
"I say we head to the doors on the sides..."
Kellen glances quizzically at the dwarf and then at Tomaru. "Priest, I think you'd better check this dwarf for blood loss after the tussle with that troll. He might be in shock...or drunk...maybe both. He finishes with a shake of his head and starts checking/opening doors - southeast; southwest; and then clearing the skull pile for the south door.
Rhianni looks at Tomaru with surprise, "Really, you would let all the demons onto us at once! Let me take divine help." as she takes her cards out and after she shuffles the pack. She looks up and utters a few Varisian words and cuts the pack. She carefully lays down three cards face down on the ground. "Let the mystics speak to us." she says as she slowly shows the first card, "The Cricket shows for the side door on the left, what lies there is quick journey, that might leave to a final destination. And death is often the final destination." Deep furrows cross her brow, "Not that door yet."
She looks back at the two cards left face down, and turns the next card, her hand steady and moving with slow precision. "The Theatre for the other side door, the one on the right. The card of prophesy, to see and tell the future, it may be good to go through that door. "
She turns to the final card, "And to the south door, is the keep. A card of strength and resoluteness. Let us leave that door til last, it might prove the most challenging."
Lym mutters a cantrip and looks at each door in turn.
As everyone pitches in their detections and divinations, Kellen shrugs and mutters just enough to be heard: "...fallen in with a bunch of mooncows, we have...," before focusing on Rhianni's suggestion and starts with opening the door on the right/southeast side.
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Kellen glances quizzically at the dwarf and then at Tomaru. "Priest, I think you'd better check this dwarf for blood loss after the tussle with that troll. He might be in shock...or drunk...maybe both. He finishes with a shake of his head and starts checking/opening doors - southeast; southwest; and then clearing the skull pile for the south door.
Thordak looks over at Tomaru and gives a questioning shrug.
As everyone pitches in their detections and divinations, Kellen shrugs and mutters just enough to be heard: "...fallen in with a bunch of mooncows, we have...," before focusing on Rhianni's suggestion and starts with opening the door on the right/southeast side.
Cocking an eyebrow, the dwarf scratches his chin a moment before turning and locating Rhianni. Heading over next to her, he leans in a bit, his eyes cutting from left to right. "Lass! Do ya have any idea what a 'mooncow' is?" he asks, moving his eyes toward her, curious if she knows.
As Rhianni remembers where she is, after her reverie with the cards, she looks round to see Thordak speaking to her. Her face looks at the dwarf questioningly, "What? what did you say, something about a mooncow? What?"
A pool of water sits against the wall to the west of this chamber, with a set of steps leading down into it along the pool’s east side. Opposite the steps is an alcove in which rises a fantastically detailed scale model of Skull’s Crossing. The five skulls along its face seem to be actual human skulls, the bone polished to a gleaming sheen.
"Evil that way," he says, pointing south.
Sighing and rolling his eyes, "Never mind." As Praxim points the way to danger, "South it is." Thordak tightens his grip upon his hook and heads in that direction.
Kellen takes a moment to examine the scale model of the dam, to see if it reveals anything about the release mechanism.
Lym joins Kellen in his examination, scanning the scale model for magical auras.
Rhianni's shoulder move up in a gesture of resignation, "As the cards said, the danger is to the south, so we must take up that challenge first." she says quietly to Lym, as Lym finishes looking at the model. Rhianni scans the model, it might hold a key to how to stop the breach."Interesting isn't it. If only we had time to look at it more closely before we follow off into the darkness and evil."
An examination of the skulls reveals that the jaws of each can be pulled down like levers to reveal tubes leading into the wall. Try as you might, the levers do not move. The scale model itself radiates strong transmutation magic.
Outside, the pile of skulls partially blocks the doors were Praxim has indicated there is evil.
"Rhianni, please assist me," Lym says. "I feel I am on the verge of understanding something, but..."
"Oho! What. Is. This...?
Lym carefully tries to loosen the ioun stone, eyeing it with undeniable interest.
"Hmmm...this is most unusual, yes let me see... I think I can help you, yes that's it." says Rhianni a little excitedly at the impending discovery.
Kellen glances at the two women, who are clearly staring intently at something he can't see. "Some kind of control mechanism or guide? Don't think it would be just a display."
"This was the control device for the floodgates. Unfortunately, its power source appears to be drained. Also, I found... this."
Lym finishes prying the precious ioun stone free. She holds it for a moment, then opens her hand and allows the jewel to start orbiting her.
"This was the control device for the floodgates. Unfortunately, its power source appears to be drained. Also, I found... this."
Lym finishes prying the precious ioun stone free. She holds it for a moment, then opens her hand and allows the jewel to start orbiting her.
"Its a pretty stone Lym, but what does it do?" asks Rhianni impatiently. "The others head towards the south door, we should join them. Who knows what dangers they are about to face? I mean I wish they wouldn't, so we could leave easier lives, but they will root out evil. I mean, I owe you all, but sometimes I wish for a quiet time. I know nows not the time, but ..oh well!" she hurries to the group outside.
Lym joins the others at the south door, ioun stone gently orbiting her head.
"Not to be insensitive to the poor souls who these skulls belonged to, but... did anyone happen to bring a shovel so we can clear the way?"
Tomaru starts moving skulls out of the way.
"I'll help." Thordak aids the cleric in sweeping the skulls out of the way.
Uneasy at the removal of the skulls, Rhianni quietly asks her companions, "You don't think the pile of skulls was set there to trap the evil inside do you? And to warn others away?"
Lym subjects the skulls to a magical scan to see whether there might be arcane confirmation of Rhianni's notion.
"did anyone happen to bring a shovel so we can clear the way?"
"Sorry, miss...but nothing I can do there," Kellen chimes with a shrug. To be on the safe side, while people are working on the skulls, he will check on the western door to make sure no surprises lie beyond that.
The pile of skulls is just that: a pile of skulls thrown in a heap by a careless troll. It takes some time to remove them, only because of the sheer volume of bones and skulls in the pile.
Kellen finds an empty room, save for the 10' deep pool running through the middle of it. It is clear looking down into the pool that the tunnels seen in Grazuul's pool connect to here.
The stone door is revealed after a solid half hour's work on the skull heap. They are close-fitting, so no gaps exist to send an arcane eye.
Praxim attempts to get a read on the power level of the evil aura before they open the doors.
"Nothing except another pool of water next door," Kellen tells everyone as goes to assist with the skull clearing. He then gives the doors an examination to check for any traps or warnings (since there's an evil presence detected, etc.).
Kellen does not find anything untoward on the door.
Once the door is cleared, he will try to open the door. Kellen is a little wary, given the recent troll surprise and evil emanations, as he tries to access the room.
Lym mentally readies her Gust of Wind-spell, in case something nasty tries to leap out of the room...
"The aura isn't very strong...I can barely even sense it...maybe a troll baby?"
"If it is, I want it clear I am against killing any more infants if we can avoid it. Those Ogrekin were bad enough."
The doors are as you would expect...stuck. With some effort, Kellen and Thordak manage to force them open.
This narrow chamber ends in two curved alcoves, one to the right and one to the left. Each alcove is enclosed by a dull iron portcullis. A winch next to each provides a way to raise or lower the gates. Beyond each portcullis a circle of runes glows with a faint orange light on the floor. Inside the circle to the left is a pile of crimson ash, while inside the circle to the right is curled what appears to be a long-dead devil, its flesh taut and dry on its bones.
Thordak looks curiously at the runes, narrowing his eyes to get a better view. After taking his eyes off of them, he glances around at the others, noticing they're all occupied with whatever is they're doing. Clearing his throat, "Ya know, I'm thinkin' the glowy circle thing on the left with the red looking ash is probably where something burned up. And the one on the right is probably a... a dead devil," he concludes fairly positively. "Probably dead for a long time. Ya know, like a really long time. Probably 5 years or more. Or probably less than 5 years." He looks back at the devil a moment before, "Or probably, ya know, more than 5 years." He extends his arms out with his hands up and fingers apart and leans to the side just slightly to where he looks through his fingers at the devil at a minor angle, as if studying it. After what seems like an eternity, "Yep, definitely more than 5 years," he nods in conclusion. He then takes a quick glance back at the dead devil, his shoulder twitching a bit, "Or, ya know... less... than," he finishes, clearing his throat in a bit of awkwardness.
Cast Guidance on Lym before the roll.
"Stay back!" Lym warns. "It's a Pit Fiend! I have never heard that a devil could die of old age or hunger, and pit fiends are the strongest things beneath the infernal dukes! Nobody breach the runes!"
Lym mutters a quick cantrip and scans the runes...
"Wonderful, caged devils in the mix. Still, I wonder," Kellen mutters as he examines the ashes in the other alcove. If possible, he will use his blade to stir the ash and see if there's any indication of what happened.
- to see if this is connected with model/control back in the other room.
"Do NOT breach the runes! Neither set!" Lym screams, horrified. "Not before we've had a chance to examine them!"
Tomaru stays close but does not approach the runes. He stands ready to fight if the pit fiend gets free. "Trust nothing about that foul devil. Everything about it is a lie." He spits out venomously.
Rhianni's eyes are wide as she waits at the door, whilst the others investigate, on hearing them talk about a devil she asks "What would a pit fiend be doing here? It's very strange." Her voice wafts through the air to her friends, though she stands still a look of bewilderment and thoughtfulness about her. "And what was Thordak going on about? I thought he said is was dead, its very confusing, what is going on up there?"
No sooner does Thordak begin to examine the devil through the bars of portcullis then it begins to stir. Thin and emaciated, it stretches out a clawed hand towards you...
"Freedom..." it croaks in a half-whisper...
"I told you these... that devils do not die of old age or need!" Lym hisses. Grabbing Thordak by the collar, she hauls him away from the cages. "Nobody touch anything! I mean it! Avoid eye contact! Let's just move through - and hug the wall!"
Despite the oddities of everything, Praxim knocks an arrow and trains it on the devil, never letting it waver. He concentrates to confirm that the devil is the source of the weak aura.
"Can these creatures cloak their innate auras, to make themselves appear lesser than they are?" he asks Lym.
"Don't know! Don't shoot at it unless it gets out! Your arrows might breach the circle! Don't be the first to attack!"