"Ushari, how long will this hold him this way?"
Jayse recenters his mind as he steps up to the half-orc , blade at the ready. "You make one move I think is aggressive, and I'll kill you."
He quickly scans the corridor, visually checking on Ushari then nodding to Straehan.
"Strae, good to see you all in one piece. You, too, Ushari. Glad you were all were able to find the women. And who's your friend, Strae?"
Straehan leans heavily against the wall and gives the monk a wan smile. "Good to see you, too. As for this fine fellow - we didn't exactly exchange names and I haven't gotten his particulars... though I have to say I'm favorably disposed towards anyone who stands between me and band of bloodthirsty pirates."
Realizing that the man is referring to him, the ranger introduces himself. "The name's Jofram. Your friend showed up just in the nick of time to help me separate these ladies from this villainous garbage." When referring to the dead pirates, Jofram drives his blade into the burned captain, either to ensure that he's dead, or just for punctuation.
"You sure you shouldn't finish him off right now?" he says, gesturing to the petrified half-orc. "You don't seem the squeamish type, but I can do it if you'd prefer." With this, pulls his blade from the dead captain, and steps up to Iron Bar with blade ready.
Jayse eyes the newcomer and his blade, not letting his own blade leave his captive's throat, "Well, thanks for the help. No, I'm not generally squeamish. I also try not to be overly-rash. What is this place?"
"No idea." He gestures down the corridor behind him. "That way leads to a beach, and a room where these pirates came from. There may be more captives there, I think your friend, Stray, was it? - He may no more about that section. As for the rest, this place seems long abandoned, and these pirates seemed as lost as the rest of us. Truly a mystery."
Gesturing again the the half-orc, Jofram continues. "I didn't intend to seem bloodthirsty - I'd just rather not have this fellow sneaking up on me later, and he doesn't seem the type for surrender. You could always offer him the opportunity, I suppose, but I dislike the thought of him with that axe and a grudge." He shrugs, and leans over to wipe his blade one of the fallen pirates clothes. He sheathes it again, and holds out his hand, letting out a sharp whistle. The magnificent red eagle flies up to alight on the dragonhide gauntlet. "And this, of course, is Vaelos."
Ushari nods to Jayse and responds quietly, ”The spell should hold him for a few seconds”
As Jofram introduces himself, she nods in greeting but he can see her eyes do not reflect the gesture. He can tell she does not trust easily….”I am Ushari, it is good to meet you Jofram, Vaelos.” She then turns her gaze at the frozen half orc, ”I agree with you, he stinks of violence. Do what you will to him.”
She steps over to the burned corpse of the Cap’n, and starts checking the body for her pouch and rapier, plus any other gear he possessed.
The pocket-sized sorcerer nods, "Well met, Jofram. I'm Straehan and this is Jayse. But... did you say there is a beach?"
"Yes, but that's about all I could find, there. Not much left of what I think was a ship, and I'm not sure how far the beach goes. I think our best bet lies that way." He says, gesturing to the corridor behind Ushari.
"A ship?" The gnome casts a glance at Jayse to confirm what he is about to say, "Jofram, how did you get here? The way we came in... this complex is 30 to 40 miles inland and seemingly entirely subterranean."
Jayse watches the half-orc while the others talk. He notes the blood-lust in the man's eyes, the way he strains agains the invisible bonds.
This guy isn't calming down.
"Listen, big fella. This is gonna be your last warning. You need to calm down or we'll have to put you down."
Fin staggers over catching Jofram's speculation about the best path. She shakes her head at the path he indicates, "Circle room with evil lantern that way. No exits."
Iron Bar seems incapable of calming down. He continues to struggle and Jayse, good as his word, drives his mystical blade into the pirate's chest. Even that devastating blow doesn't drop the manic half-orc. Only when Jofram's blow takes his skull does he stop fighting.
A stab from Fin finishes off the slow dying third pirate.
The two women return, delighted to see their tormentors are dead... though they fear for their future in this strange place.
Ushari methodically and efficiently searches the bodies, removing her own belt pouch and borrowed shortsword with clear satisfaction. In addition she finds:
- 500 GP
- (Captain's) magical cutlass
- (Captain's) magical breastplate
- (Iron Bar's) magical leather armor
- (Iron Bar's) non-magical greataxe
"Regardless of the final course we choose, we'll need to go back this way. There are more women and girls trapped in a cell."
Ushari re-equips herself, wondering where her rapier disappeared to. She motions everyone around her and channels her healing power to restore her newly reunited comrades.
After she has healed the others, she motions back to the corridor leading to the cell, "That is where I found myself, and it would be the best place to return to, at least for now. This place could be an old Shaudran ruin, but I am beginning to wonder if we are even on Amador island still."
As you walk to the cells, Straehan smiles at Ushari's guess and shakes his head. "I'm fairly certain this place isn't that old. I've seen frescoes that are clearly from current times. Remember the Shaudran vanished before the Elven empire rose." He points at the roads and cities shown in the frescoes. "This is all modern construction: post-Shaudran and post-Elven."
Red Cross = Straehan's start point
Orange Cross = Jayse's start point
Yellow Cross = Jofram's start point
Green Cross = Fin's start point
Blue Cross = Ushari's start point
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Ushari laughs softly, "Well as you can see, I am NOT an expert on old ruins. I prefer my haunts a little more lively!" She looks around at the corridor, "I am confused then, I wonder who then constructed this place, and for what purpose?"
"I can show you the way out, when you are ready. As for the rest, I don't know where these tunnels lead, if they indeed lead anywhere at all. Did anyone find anything that might hint as to the purpose of these warrens?"
Straehan pulls out his lockpicks and sets about liberating the remaining women while he ponders Jofram's question. "I'd like to look around a bit more, and see more of the art, before I speculate on the purpose of this place."
He deftly opens the first cage but the final one gives him some problems. He hrumphs at it before he takes his time with the tumblers. After a few minutes, the second gate swings open and the women and girls are reunited. They cling to each other, clearly overcome.
While the former hostages calm themselves, Straehan pulls out his pince-nez glasses and examines the items with Ushari. After a few minutes of consulting, they feel confident announcing their findings.
Jofram finds a spot on the wall and begins to sketch a map in the dust. Using the party members descriptions of their journeys, he gets a rough idea of the area. "It looks like there are three areas we have not explored." He points to various points on the map.
"Shall we take a look around?"
Ushari nods at the ranger, "That seems a wise move, if we are going to figure out WHY this place was built." She looks back at the cells holding the newly rescued women. "I do not feel comfortable leaving the women unguarded. Someone put us in those cells, and I have no desire to have whoever it was return while we are poking about."
She looks at Fin, "Fin, would you feel OK in staying with the women while we check out the area?"
A few of the women look startled at Ushari's pronouncement. One little girl, shakes her head. "No one put you here, silly. You just appeared. POOF!"
Fin looks sourly at the idea of guarding a bunch of mewling women but she merely nods.
Ushari pales when she hears the young girl’s pronouncement. We were transported here by magic? Who did so and WHY did not the other get transported to the same place?
She reponds to the girl who mentioned that, ”Really, so the same thing happened to you, right? That is interesting, and one of the things I want to check into."
Before the group heads out, she waves Fin and Jayse over and casts several healing spells on them.
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Straehan looks intrigued. He gives his best warm smile as he stands eye-to-eye with the young girl. "Poof, huh? That's neat. Did you see her 'poof' in?"
She nods. "Yeah, I was first up... but the bad man with the teeth woke up pretty quick after that."
She responds to the girl who mentioned that, ”Really, so the same thing happened to you, right? That is interesting, and one of the things I want to check into."
She nods vigorously, "Yep, I got poofed in as well. I think the chair man did it."
She nods vigorously, "Yep, I got poofed in as well. I think the chair man did it."
"Ummm...chair man?"
Her brow furrows, "Yeah. The man in the chair in the big beehive... where the water came down."
Straehan keeps smiling, but it stops at his eyes, "The beehive? Is that like a big round room? Sweetie, did you see the water pour through a whole bunch of square holes in the floor?"
The little girl rolls her big brown eyes. "That's what I said - the beehive room. Tho' the water wasn't running so good with Nonesy blocking lots of it." She explains, sensing these adults won't understand, "Nonesy was our horse. I think he died in the fall down the river-thing. I landed right on top of him KERSPLAT before the water pushed me off. That's when I saw the chair man."
Ushari shakes her head in frustration. She did not remember anything about seeing a round room or any man during her crazy descent. Of course, that may be because she was unconscious at the time.
"Sweetie, do you think you could describe him to us? Did he say anything to you? Did you see anyone else?"
Jayse stands next to the half-elf, studying his impromptu map and nodding at the suggestions from both his team and the new-comer.
Seems like we aren't going to be able to return these girls until we figure out a little more about this place, anyway…
He's pulled from his thoughts by the discussion of the big room and this 'chair man'. He elbows Jofram, indicating maybe they should all pay attention to the little girl's description.
"I only saw him for like a second. He was in this really big chair an' it was dark. He seemed pretty thin and then his eyes glowed and I was here... I think maybe he had a friend though? There was a big shape behind his chair." She shrugs, "That's all I saw... can we go home now?"
"You're a clever girl. That was a big help." Straehan walks over to the other members of the group.
He says quietly, "Were any of you conscious all the way down? I remember a bit of that room. The ceiling had to be 20' or 30' high. It was a big domed chamber with some lighting in it - probably lanterns like these." He says with a dismissive wave. "There was a stone grate in the floor. That's where I landed. Aside from seeing Fin, I didn't see anyone else there... but I wasn't conscious long."
Ushari shakes her head. "I do not remember that chamber she spoke of, that ride knocked me out pretty quick." She shrugs, "I have no idea who that could be, but it sounds like he was a mage of some sort."
She gazes back at the former prisoners, "The pirates had a mage working with them, perhaps he is one and the same? Although I fail to see why he would imprison the Captain and his crew...."
She sighs in frustration, "I wish we had taken one of them prisoner!"
Jofram examines his map, committing it to memory for later use. He rubs a knuckle under Vaelos's beak to reassure the bird that these newcomers are not a threat.
"We know what to look for, but not where to look. I suggest we try one of these areas..." He points to the unexplored areas near Jayse's and Strae's starting points. Perhaps we can find this mage. I suggest we start with the middle passage."
Looking over the group before him, Jofram ponders their exodus from this place. "Perhaps this is not my place, but I recommend against leaving anyone behind, even temporarily. It may prove inconvenient to come back for them, if a timely exit is warranted. I assume that with the release of the women, all of your party is accounted for?"
"Yes, Jofram that is all of us. I think that is a good place to start...well as good as any in this maze."
She looks to the women and slowly shakes her head, "I am not sure it is a good idea to have them tagging along with us. If we do encounter any other monsters or guards in this place, their lives would be at risk." She waves her hand at the cells, "At least they are somewhat protected in here. Plus, the passageway here was off the main corridor, so there is less of a chance for something to wander down here."
She gazes back at the former prisoners, "The pirates had a mage working with them, perhaps he is one and the same? Although I fail to see why he would imprison the Captain and his crew...."
One of Straehan's eyebrows rises. "I hope we are just dealing with a common mage. Glowing eyes don't sound good to me."
Ushari sighs, "Straehan, I don't think whoever, or whatever it was will be friendly to us. Plus, that girl said she saw someone else with him, a bodyguard perhaps. Not sure which worries me more."
Straehan chuckles, "I wasn't hoping for friendly. We are in some strange, long buried... labyrinth. I'd count us lucky if this 'chair man' is some run-of-the-mill mage who needs a bodyguard. It suggests we can kill him."
Straehan nods at Jofram's suggestion. "Since we've no clue where we are, one path is as good as another. I'm happy to check out the passage you fancy... as long as we visit your beach at some point."