Coming to the edge of the room and into the next you see a hallway that leads off to the west. To the north is a large room. Cracked and crumbling frescos line the walls of this large empty room. The sections of the frescos not destroyed by the passing ages show Qadiran men engaged in battle. A rough stone tunnel leads off to the northwest, as if the ground simply cleft in two ages ago. A pile of bones rests just inside the passage. Another passage leads off to the northeast.
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Terrill picks up the inscrutable letter and tucks it into his belt pouch, saying as he does so, ”Some Pathfinder somewhere is bound to be able to read it and find it of interest.”
He then joins his companions heading deeper into the ruins. As Ozi inspects the pile of bones, Terrill holds his light coin high and looks around the room, then pitches it into the tunnel leading off to the northwest to see what trouble he can get into in that direction.
Coming up to the pile of bones you give it a good look over aside from noticing bones and other items in the pile, one of the sets of bones begins to move to attack.
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Grisbane sees the skeleton rise and mutters an arcane phrase quickly, flinging out his hand with his first and second fingers pointing at the undead being and launches a bolt of acid at the creature...
Ozi, if I recall correctly from our last encounter with one of these, they are highly resistant to your attacks. Do what you can to keep its attention or let another member of the party take it down. Be ready to move if needed.
Ozi steps toward the skeleton, launching a series of attacks at the creature...
The attacks mostly glace against the animated bones, doing little real damage against the toughened creature.
Grisbane's acid eats away at the skeleton, Ozi claws at it and manages to break it apart from where the acid had eaten away. The skeleton crumbles to the ground.
In the pile there are 100 gp in mixed coin, a golden crown, a nice short sword, and a wax-sealed tin scroll tube with a scroll inside.
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"I think the door down the tunnel is the other way in to this place that Maurit mentioned if my mapping skills are correct. I'm in favor of heading down the stairs, it feels more right. From the notes Maurit gave us, I can only assume that blue arrow is good, red arrow is bad. But either way will work, we just need to find this katana and be rid of all of these undead."
Grisbane will sort through the pile and grab the valuables for later distribution. While the party is determining the next course of action he will break the seal on the rube and see if he can read the scroll without exploding into a million tiny pieces.
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Terrill speaks up as Magda and Ozi begin leaving the chamber, saying "I think it'd be a good idea to not leave too many unexplored areas behind us. Who knows what's lurking in them, in a place like this?"
He collects the light coin and walks with it to the opening on the east wall of the room. He tosses the coin down the hall and looks to see what it reveals.
Down the long hall there is a door to the north and a door to the south. At the end of this corridor sits a sinister-looking fountain in a rounded alcove. A four-headed hydra, displayed in cross formation, protrudes from the middle of the rounded wall. The hydra’s heads all face directly down the hallway. Its top head’s mouth is firmly shut, its socketed eyes staring darkly down the corridor, and its head fin is flared and up. On that head fin, a single Kelish word is carved into the stone. The other three heads have toothy mouths open wide and reclined head fins; these obviously served as spouts for the fountain. Just below the mouths is a ceramic basin. The basin has been dry for many long centuries now.
Heading toward the stairs, this crossroads of stairs has one dominant feature: a crumbled statue in the southeast corner, once the image of a proud warrior chiseled roughly in granite. The statue’s helmeted head
now rests on the floor, its lifeless stone eyes gazing toward the south. On the helmet, a single Kelish word is carved in the stone. The wide stairway to the north leads to a passage that ends in a cave-in ten feet past the foot of the stairs. There is a door that leads to the east.
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More Kelish, blast it all. I knew I should have studied that one a bit more closely.
Falling into step and not wishing to rock the proverbial boat, Grisbane and Ozi will both move to the hallway that Terrill has chosen to investigate. Grisbane asks Ozi to make his way forward and check the doors, leaving the fountain for now. Ozi moves down the hallway and listens to each door, trying to determine if there is anything behind them.
Ozi walks down the hall, cautious to make any noise, checking each of the doors as the hydra stands ominously at the end of the hallway.
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Grisbane whispers to the group, "The doors ahead lead to silence, so I am not sure if there is anything skulking within. Would one of you care to check inside or should we leave these be and head to the area that was marked on the map for us? The shortest distance between two points is of course a straight line. No sense getting into trouble if we don't need to."
With that he waits for the group to decide their next course of action.
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"I'm slightly for continuing Northeast and leaving these rooms alone. However, Terrill does have a point that it's prudent to clear our flanks. We never know but that we'll have to flee this way to escape danger. Perhaps it would be wiser to open the North and South doors in this hallway, just so we know it's clear. "
It's up to Grisbane and Ozi whether to open those doors.
"Also, companions, while our resources are full now, we should not hesitate to withdraw and camp out above, should we later begin to tire. There is no hurry." Nothing wrong with a little 15 minute adventuring :-)
Omar tries to kick in the door, but it doesn't budge. It seems to have gotten stuck form old age.
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Grisbane, sure of himself that the blue arrow is the key to where they need to be, barks out, "Stuck! Old doors, worthless I tell you. And probably well suited to keep whatever could be in there, in there." With that he moves off to the north, Ozi in the lead, and towards the door they spotted earlier at the end of the stairs.
Hopefully the others will see the sense in this. At least Magda is following along.
Ozi checks the door for any sounds on the other side before attempting to open the door if needed.
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Terrill collects his light coin and follows after Grisbane. As he approaches Ozi to take the lead once again, he says to the summoner, ”You’re right – if nothing has come out of those doors in a couple of centuries, it’s unlikely to do so today.”
He then steps up next to Ozi, ready for whatever lies behind the door.
This room has a wide corridor exiting it toward the north, and a door to the south. Barrels and boxes of supplies fill the cramped chamber. The wide tunnel leading north from the room goes 40 feet before ending in a solid stone wall.
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Ozi will take 20 and search the room for a few minutes.
Grisbane quietly speaks to the group present, "Nothing here, strangely enough. I expected this dank place to be filled with all manner of creepy crawlies. I can't say that I'm not pleasantly surprised though, our mission is for the katana."
"Terrill, would you be so kind as to check that door while Ozi makes a quick search of the stores here?"
alchemist’s fire hidden in a bag of weevil-infested flour. The labels on
the bottles—which contain the sort of spirits one might find in a mining village tavern— having writing in Draconic on them that reads - Gurk’s Fire Juice.
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Hmm...
"Noises behind the door, and bursts of what seems to be flame?", whispers Grisbane to the group. "Ready yourselves..."
Grisbane mutters a few arcane phrases and gestures at Ozi. A bright green shimmer surrounds him for a moment and then fades into the air.
He then motions the group to close in, gives them a nod, and opens the door, allowing Ozi to step inside to what would be the east looking at the map.
This large room was once two, but the wall between them has been partially torn down, and the broken door now serves as a makeshift altar. The candles and strange statues that decorate it all face the dark alcove beyond the broken wall. There are 4 kobolds praying at the alter. Directly to the south is another door.
After hearing you speak the will get up from their prayers and stand there a moment not quite sure what to do. Then from the Alcove you hear a thin, whispering voice from the darkness tells them to “Defend the flame!” in Draconic. A bright flash emminates from the alcove and you hear the wush of fire.
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Grisbane continues to try and keep their attention, not letting this strange hidden source of the voice derail his attempts to keep the peace, "My friends, I can assure you there is nothing you need to defend from myself and my companions. We are not here to do any harm to you or your people. Your flame is perfectly safe from us, for it is not what we seek."
He pauses a moment, and then speaks a little more loudly in Draconic, "I would prefer to speak with whomever is hiding directly, so please, do come out and I will give you my word that no harm shall befall you so long as you do not threaten myself or my companions."
Moments into Grisbane's speech the door to the south opens up and more kobolds spill into the room. One, a little bigger than the others seems to take note of your words. She looks to the other kobolds and motions for them to wait. Then turns to Grisbane "You will not harm my kin, what of the flame speaker? I feel he has lead my tribe astray. Help me dispose of him and we will leave you in peace." Out of the shadows the voice whispers "Heresy! Smite down these trespassers by the elder flame!" Another wush of fire emits from the alcove. The original group of kobolds looks torn between grabbing their weapons and listening to the larger kobold.
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Grisbane is shocked by the appearance of the additional kobolds, and for a moment thinks he just may have made the wrong choice in actions, but he regains his composure quickly and says, "If this flame speaker has led your tribe astray, let him show himself and speak in his defense. Come out from the shadows and present yourself to your tribe, that you may answer to them the accusations they place at your feet. Know this, a wrong move or a hostile action shall prove your undoing."
Kobolds never cease to amaze me. You just can't tell what is running through the little guy's heads at any given time.
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Terrill is both impressed by Grisbane's aplomb in confronting the two groups of kobolds, and concerned that the summoner may have placed himself between two warring factions who care little for him. The speed of Desna's blessing in his stride, Terrill moves quickly to stand by his companion, to get himself on one side of Grisbane while Ozi stands on the other. His sword is drawn but held low, to show he is ready to defend himself but does not mean to strike the first blow unless he has to.
You don't see anything in the alcove aside from a statue and a well.
The larger kobold seems to acknowledge Grisbane's diplomacy and yells at the other kobolds that had already been in the room "I call for a challenge of battle between the flame speaker and a champion of the heros. If you truely are a prophet of the flame you should have no problem dealing with one of these 'tresspassers'"
The other kobolds grab there weapons and move south as if to group up with the other kobolds. The voice from the alcove shouts out "You fools,I... I am your prophet, you would turn against the flame?" You barely notice a stone color head jut out from behind the statue to survey the situation.