As with previous doors encountered in the dungeon of the Maiden, this stone door is also decorated with motifs of maidens of various species and tripartite symbols. Still, the door is simply a stone door with a good lock. Shanya's delicate touch eventually allows her, after several attempts, to work free the primitive stone pins that hold the door secure.
Varka nods in appreciation at Shanya's skill. (Iobarian)"Impressive - I have tried several magics to get past that door, but you did so with only those pieces of metal and your hands." She seems to nod in approval. "Do you weave magic at all, child?"
As the door swings open, the group is suddenly forced to look away as blinding light flashes into their eyes. Soon, however, eyes adjust and the groups finds that they can stare with squinting eyes into the room. Inside, a flower of white light pours from a hole in the ground, brightly illuminating the bare-floored room.
Perception
(+2 in cold, mountains, underground from Kalt)
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles (+3 in cold, +2 in natural settings)
Greta
Kalt Ìsson (+4 cold, underground; +2 mountains)
Lana Shahakh
Shanya (+4 v. traps)
Sven Bjornson
Shanya shakes her head. "Only alchemy and skill, Varka." She smiles a little at the appreciation of her skills.
The changeling covers her eyes as the door opens and a blinding light floods the hallway. Once her eyes have adjusted to the light, she tries to figure out what could cause such a light.
"...I have no sodding idea what that is, sad to say."
"Well, I've no idea, that's sure," Kalt offers. "Ankih, any guesses?"
He holds his sword at the ready, though he's not sure how he'll fight a flower made of brilliant light.
It seems, after a few moments of study, that any opaque object placed over the hole in the ground would serve to block the river of light.
"I am not sure, let me study for a moment..."
Ankih gestures and prays, quickly casting guidance before studying the light.
Sven makes his way into the room and towards the illuminated hole - located across the breadth of the room. However, his enormous strides take him only a short way into the room when the his body begins to jerk violently back and forth, with bleeding cuts opening up in several places around his body.
At the same time, bursts of bright light sear into his eyes, not the warm, embracing light of Sarenrae but a harsh light the burns hellishly into the flesh.
Sven cannot see his attackers, but he can feel the hot breathe of two adjacent to his feet.
Varka panics at the site of the blood, backing away while hurling vile Iobarian curses at the invisible assailants.
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles (+3 in cold)
Greta
Kalt Ìsson (+4 cold, underground; +2 mountains)
Lana Shahakh
Shanya
Sven Bjornson
When Sven is attacked, Kalt mutters, "What in the frozen wastes of hell?" He quickly considers if he's heard of such creatures as he moves into attack. Judging where Sven has been hit, he can guess where the light-beasts were standing when they struck, and he swings his blade through the space.
Shanya moves into action as Sven gets attacked, following up on Kalt's swings with a stab of her own.
Kalt's blade smacks one of the invisible assailants away from Sven's side, and a body skitters across the ground raising a cloud of dust. Still, nothing is seen, other then blood pooling around the limp form.
Kalt racks his mind and recalls tales of fey who lurk in the light - creatures nearly invisible in bright light who favor poison and mayhem, particularly blinding and maiming their foes.
Both warriors feel bright flashes in their eyes as fey magic assaults them again. Another fey strikes out at Kalt this time, but he nimbly intuits and dodges the blow.
Shanya's blade finds only air. A fluttering is heard and on the far side of the room two flying shapes can almost be seen.
The brilliant flash of light from the fey creature nearly blinds Kalt, only his years of saving himself from the unexpected allowing him to turn away in time. As his vision clears, he darts across the room to attack another of the creatures, his fighting instincts continuing to serve him well, as he cuts into it viciously!
Unlike Kalt, Shanya ends up staring right at the flash of light.
"AAAAGHHH!" She recoils from the light clutching at her eyes. There's a stinging sensation and a coppery smell.
"I... I can't see. I can't see!" She's beginning to panic again.
Shanya staggers back to Avora & Lana, blood pouring down her face from her ruined eyes.
Lana holds out one hand to Shanya even as she extends her spirit to the woman's eyes. "Shanya, we need you..." she whispers, feeling the other's pain and... something else, a difference between right eye and left. Ignoring it, the northwoman embraces the pain and winces as her sight is stolen away.
Avora blinks twice to clear her vision, then advances, spear in hand. "I've been blinded before, and I didn't enjoy it much then. Doubt I would now," she growls.
The curtain of blackness temporarily descends upon Shanya, but almost as quickly is pulled back by Lana's spiritual prowess. The magic is just in time to allow Shanya to see the cold iron greatsword and magical battleaxe bit the flesh of the lurker. The creature is only saved by it's unearthly resistance to Sven's weapon. Still, with death looming over it the blurry, half-seen fey flutters back slightly. A burst of light erupts and the fluttering shape is gone.
The she-wolf scampers up with her swift strides, sniffing the air as she moves. She abruptly stops short and growls. (Skald)"Here, I can smell the child of the first world right here."
Shanya blinks several times to clear her vision. "Thanks, Lana." She blushes and looks at her feet in embarrassment.
"Now, I think that fey fled through a dimensional door."
Seizing upon Sven's suggestion Ankih quickly runs towards the light emanating from the ground. He tears his cloak off as he runs and throws it over the hole, blocking the light. The room goes dark save for the light of the door and that which the heroes hold in their hands. Even the dim light of the door is enough - the twisted magic of the fey is strange; where once the creatures were invisible in bright light, now they can be seen standing among the flickering shadows.
The fey shriek out. The flying lurker begins chattering to himself.
(Sylvan)
Blackness is a death,
the night I flee,
curtain of dark,
to extinguish me;
But we can fix that,
shine a new light,
magic aplenty,
now better we fight
The flying fey throws his hands wide and the magic of daylight floods the room again. He then begins moving around the edge of the room, barely visible from the fluttering of his wings.
The lurker in front of great seems to strike at the great worg and then retreats into the invisibility of daylight once more. Greta howls from the pain but quickly follows, sniffing the ground as she moves.
(Skald)"Here, the fey morsel *grrrrr* is right here!
Avora finds herself withing that she had prepared some sort of darkness spell. However, in lieu of such, she tries to hit the fey with her spear.
Kalt takes a quick step towards the flickering creature along the wall and lands a devastating strike! "I'll do something about this damned light," he mutters as he attacks.
Kalt Fey-bane continues his steps, a dance of death with cold iron singing in the air - another smear of rainbow-hued blood splatters the far wall. Sadly, the light does not extinguish with the death of the fey but continues to shine from the ceiling.
Avora drives her spear into the body of a Lurker, and Sven's axe opens a bleeding tear in the magical flesh.
With a few more deft blows the party quickly dispatches the remaining lurker, who finds himself quickly outmatched by the greater numbers.
The combat ended, Ankih finally gets a chance to look inside the hole in the north end of the room. Inside is a brightly shining gem.
The fey slain, Lana's vision slowly returns to normal.
With the fighting at an end Varka emerges from hiding. She leans heavily upon her staff, a look of scorn upon her face, and then begins talking angrily to Shanya.
(Iobarian) "Good riddance. The fey are nothing but a nuisance - servants of that bint Jadrenk. I hope you think about your future; should you come across Jadrenka, expect more of the same. You would be wise to kill her before she can work magic upon you."
Only one other passage seems to lead out of the room.
Lana nods, examining the wound carefully with her inner sight.
Greta comes over and licks a bit of blood off of Sven's skin. (Skald)"Sweet and tangy. Careful; you never what kind of animal it might attract." She circles around Sven once, rubbing against him.
Kalt gives his blade an appreciative pat. Did well there, taking out those fey so neatly. I'll have to be careful you don't try to nick me!
He grins at Greta's description of Sven's blood, saying in Skald, "I guess that's how a Northman's blood tastes when he grows up in the soft Southlands. Not enough iron in it, eh, Bjornson?"
Once everyone is healed up, he turns to the passage on the far side of the room, inspecting the door and giving it a listen before opening it up and leading the way through.
Kalt presses his way up a set of stairs, and finds an impressive site. Flickering light fills a large cavern, emanating from the eye sockets of nine skulls hanging from chains staked into the walls with iron spikes. Huge stone menhirs form a ring about the perimeter of the chamber, catching the candlelight and tearing it into swaths of wavering shadow. The gutted corpses of two frost giants hang from two of the menhirs, facing each other from the east and west. Bound to the massive stones with rusted chains, the giants are soaked in their own blood, which flows into the center of the room to disappear into a huge pile of wilted wildflower blossoms.
It is only the subtlest of movements - a few leaves disturbed, a quiver of blood pools, that alerts Kalt to the fact that something lurks within the pool itself. Focusing, the northman swears for a moment he can discern the vague outlines of a female figure hiding within the bloodsoaked leaves. The hairs on the back of Kalt's neck tingle in an ancient reflex of fear.
Kalt stares in horrified wonder, trying to imagine what sort of power sacrifices frost giants in their rituals. He raises a hand in alarm and points to the pile of bloody leaves and blossoms, showing the others what he's seen.
The leaves stir and swirl, and a nymph rises from the pile. It should be a beautiful sight, skin like soft bark and hair like hanging moss. What the heroes see, though, is a creature whose beauty has been twisted into something awful; her arms end in sharp, blood soaked claws, and her skin and hair are the color of gnarled and dead tree rind. Her face is the most unsettling, with a row of teeth as sharp as daggers and eyes glowing reddish-orange.
Varka screams briefly from the rear of the party, before beating a hasty retreat. (Iobarian)"Shield your eyes!"
The nymph swings a clawed hand about; droplets of blood fling off of the arms and splatter the face of those standing in the door of the room.
(Sylvan) "Has spring come? Blood quickens and flows, a stirring in my belly, a heat in betwixt my legs. But what do I make of it; do I caress their flesh, will they cry out when I touch them?"
She pauses a moment to lick a bit of blood off of her fingers, and laughs.
"They come to the Ring of the Sun with men - they do not walk the maiden's path. They come to my home with sword - they do not come to plant the seed of their loins." She smiles with some inner understanding. "Ah!. They come like the others - sacrifices to Kyrisjana, to offer the sweet nectar of their blood. How gracious."
The creature seems totally engrossed by her thoughts and wandering monologue - for the moment at least.
Ankih Tohep
Avora Teremocles (+3 in cold)
Greta
Kalt Ìsson (+4 cold, underground; +2 mountains)
Lana Shahakh
Shanya
Sven Bjornson
Nymph
"A dark nymph!" Avora shouts, averting her gaze. "To look upon it is to risk being left reeling or even blinded! It is resistant to any weapon not made of cold iron, and it's touch can defile. Be careful!"
She raises her weapon in a defensive posture and enters the room, avoiding looking at the nymph, placing a menhir between herself and the creature.
Kalt lets his enchanted greatsword fall to the ground, moving up next to Avora and drawing a cold iron blade as he goes. Once he's safely behind the menhir, he says, "I'm glad you knew this creature, I've never run into one. Fortunately, we've had enough fights against invisible things, I'm getting pretty good at not looking at my opponent." He lays a hand on his longsword, enchanting it to strike their foe harder.
Shanya doesn't reply to Varka as she moves to pick up the gem and stow it away. No idea what it is, anyway. Remember to prep an [i]identify extract later.[/i]
However, when the nymph appears, she recoils. "Agreed. Though I seem to remember an extra step involved in going blind when looking at a nymph..." She quips in a shallow attempt to lighten the mood.
Shanya averts her eyes, drawing her dagger and drinking her extract of cat's grace.
Greta, in her pride, ignores Avora's wisdom and charges into the circle, eager to aid Sven. Yet she stops a few feet in and howls in a panic.
(Skald)"I cannot see... help me!" Her normally black eyes have turned a milky white.
Lana stops before she gets to the circle, intoning a chant that brings the magic of the ether into this reality.
The nymph sways along to Lana's song, enjoying rather then quailing at the sound.
Ankih fingers his holy symbol for a moment, but then his hand goes for the spell pouch at his belt. He readies to let fly a magic missile should the nymph bring magic to bear. It is a well timed choice, as they nymph begins calls upon her unholy link with nature corrupted.
The nymph waves her hands, splattering blood across the menhirs as she channels her magic. Ankih's magic missiles leap from his fingertips and streak towards the nymph, small piercing holes appearing in unnatural flesh in response. Sadly, her will is strong and Ankih's distraction proves to be no real impedance. She summons a rain of stones from the sky, which pelt the entire group painfully.