"I... just... feel... so... weak..." Krixit says, falling over the edge of the dias.
As she does so, she suddenly seems to gain a burst of strength and lands solidly on the ground.
Krixit narrows her eyes. "Waitaminute- Mirima, dear, what was it ya just said? Something about weaknesses bein' strengths and strengths bein' weak?" She looks the child up and down.
"You're still little when it comes to these guns, right? Krixit asks while flexing. "How about you try going up there? And, oh! Is it magic? This is probably some kind of magic, right?"
Mirima feels great! With a solid laugh of glee in this new found power she pushes on the solid iron doors before her!
"Haha! I wish we could take this thing with us!"
As Ver is looking around the room, Cratis steps up behind Mirima, and assists her in pushing the very heavy door open. Ver pockets the stick as the party heads through the doors, where they see...
Suspended by thick chains, a massive metal cage shaped like a demon’s head hangs over a dark shaft with no bottom in sight. The cage’s door—by all appearances a menacing maw, filled with incisor-like fangs—hangs open to the west. There, a narrow bridge spans the short distance between the ledge and the cage. A small console on the north edge of the bridge bears a single lever.
Kalkamedes walks straight into the cage and waits.
Mirima enters the indeed ominous looking demon head cage. As she does she notices the wand Ver'Yanion snatched. "Hey Ver, where did you get that?" She tries to inspect it as she wait for their ride down to begin.
Perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 Casts detect magic as well.
As Mirima follows Blood Oxe into the cage, the room gets tight. Ver could probably fit.. but would be very uncomfortable.
While considering it, Ver sees Blood Oxe grin and flip the level. The cage closes its maw, starts to descend 200 feet with the four of them inside.
At the bottom, they pile out and find a similar lever they pull to send the cage back up for the rest of the party.
While the lift returns to the upper level, Kalkamedes continues walking into a room that opens up to 20 feet tall...
Palm-sized shards of jagged steel jut from halfway up the walls of this large cavern, bathing the cavern with a dark green light. A set of natural rock columns support the chamber’s ceiling, which rises to a height of twenty feet. A small tunnel leads to the northeast, and several rounded alcoves branch off from the main cavern.
To the South...
This circular alcove buds off from the larger cavern to the north. An elaborate set of concentric circles inscribed in dull metal of different colors occupies much of the space within the room.
A Gnome stands up in the circle is dressed in threadbare clothes
and has an unkempt mane of fuchsia hair. "Hey... HEY! Help me please! GimmeOutaHere!!"
"Hey there... buddy?" Krixit responds. She eyes the circles around the gnome dubiously. Looked like magic business to her.
"Whatcha doin' here? This seems a bit out of the way to..." She pauses, thinking of an appropriate phrase. "... hang out. My name's Krixit - what's yours?"
"Oh thank god, a fellow Gnome. Koth'Vaul is my name. Been trapped here i dunno.. a century. these crazy Thrallkeepers... bound me here in the Black Edifice to use my fey essence to power their magic. How sick thinking is that?"
Gasping in shock at the horrible tale, Blood Oxe moves begins looking for a way to get the gnome out, "Ha! We'll get you out little guy! Do you know anything on the how of it?"
"Wait, Gnomes as batteries?! Do you happen to know this guy by the way?" Mirima gestures to Kalkamedes with her thumb.
She then gives the Gnome a once over to see if she trusts him, you gotta be careful when it comes to people pleading to get out of magic prisons at the bottom of demon-headed elevators..
Sense Motive:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10
Blood Oxe, Krixit, Mirima should roll each the of 4 following skills: Knowledge (local), Knowledge (planes), Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (arcana or planes).
Krixit can roll Knowledge (local) as if trained with +1 circumstance bonus. Mirima can roll it with a +1 circumstance bonus as well.
To Blood Oxe"It should be as simple as damaging the circle's physical presence..."
To Mirima"I don't... wait... He must be the direct descendant of Johanis! Looks just like him! He was a human adventurer with whom I traveled... him and his sister. When the Thrallkeepers accosted us, Johanis was the only one to escape, though the man swore that he would mount a rescue."
Cratis mutters "Hm. Transmutation aura on the dias... powerful too" Cratis muses while waiting for the elevator. Once on, she keeps concentrating on detecting magic to see if she can get any more of a clue about this place as she descends.
Krixit shrugs. "Well that makes sense!" she exclaims after hearing the new-found gnome's explanation. "Weird that's he wandering away though." She looks after Kalkamedes with a little worry.
"Tell ya what - this precious child here-" Krixit indicates Mirima "-is gonna make sure the circle won't explode or something when we break it. And we'll wait for the others to get down here too."
She keeps her eye on Kalkamedes - if he gets out of sight she'll suggest that she and Blood Oxe go check on him.
You know that...
Any gnome trapped for more than a year should be vulnerable to Bleaching, an affliction that gnomes suffer over time when they fail to partake in new experiences and sensations. Koth’Vaul appears to be perfectly healthy.
You also know...
Koth’Vaul has linguistic roots in Abyssal and makes an unlikely name for a gnome.
You also know..
The Thrallkeepers vanished along with the runelords thousands of years ago. Koth’Vaul’s claim that Kalkamedes is the descendant of Johanis is biologically impossible for a human.
Mirima and Krixit believe he is telling the truth.
Kalkamedes does continue walking westward.
The party upstairs sees the elevator approaching them...
Mirima gives Krixit an eye, "Yes, how about we ALL go check on Kalkamedes actually. We should certainly wait for the others to come down as well. Don't worry sir! You'll be out in what feels like no time after what you've been through!" She persistently tries to lure Blood Oxe and Krixit away from the gnome. If either of them tries to fiddle with the rings she'll try to prevent their action as well.
Once the three are enough away from Koth’Vaul:
Mirima grabs the two and tries to bring them in close, she whispers "We should NOT let him out. Nothing seems right about his story. There is no evidence of Bleaching, his name is rooted in Abyssal, and after a thousand years the entire country could damn well be distant, very diluted descendants of Johanis. Let's focus on what Kalkamedes is doing and wait for the others, he seems pretty well contained and out of our way in those rings for now anyhow.."
Mirima walks at a leisurely pace as to not lose sight of the elevator area but still keep an eye on Kalkamedes. She wants to make sure she can call over the others when they land and keep them from freeing the suspicious gnome as well.
"Super weird, hopefully whatever actually is drawing Kalkamedes will give us a bit more insight. Man, this elevator system is convenient but slow! What are the others doing up there?"
Mirima tries to steal herself, a.a.a.a.dragon?! While she gulps her fear down as the dragon approaches.
Diplomacy:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25 "Oh hi there! What lovely scales you have! Please, allow us to introduce ourselves first."
With her hands up Mirima steps backwards diagonally.
Blood Oxe moves in and takes a chunk out of the Dragon, Krixit however finds the dragon to be softer than expected... it doesn't appear to take full damage.
Just then, a couple severed hands come crawling at the group and attack!
Krixit AoO:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 damage:1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Mirima delays, as to not exhaust herself and fall unconscious. She's waiting for someone to be near her with a wand or healing spell. She will take a defensive stance though if it will not cause her to black out.
