"An interesting... test, to be sure." Severus calmly says though his curiosity is piqued. He walks by the creature, glancing briefly at the runes carved on the body, and tries to interpret them.
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Watching the mutated goblinod trundle off, Marcoul frowns. I suspect we are going to regret letting the creature leave. The dark priest states. When we encounter it next, I'm sure it will not be alone. Shaking his head Marcoul grips his inverted pentagram and calls upon the unholy power of his lord. Again the smell of brimstone and crackle of flames surrounds the priest for the duration of an eye blink before its gone.
Walking over to the fallen longsword Marcoul nudges it with his boot while gazing at it and down the hallway.
The weapons he dropped were a small +1 longsword (shortsword for medium creatures) that looks like he probably brought it with him into this place rather than finding it here, a small masterwork handaxe, and a small masterwork silver dagger.
Koruvus was a champion of the Seven Tooth tribe, as well known for his short temper as he was for his prized possession—a magic longsword sized for a human that the goblin stubbornly kept as his own (despite the fact that it was too large for him to properly wield). Koruvus vanished several months ago after he supposedly discovered a “secret hideout” in a cave along the cliffs, but the Seven Tooth goblins remain convinced he’s out there still, a ghost or worse, waiting to murder any goblin who tries to discover his hideout.
Pavro just looks puzzled,
"What was that?"
"I'm not really certain. A very interesting creature, mutated no doubt, by some sort of magic. Did you see the runes on its skin? Still trying to figure them out."
Severus leans on the ranseur like a staff as they make their way into the next chamber.
"By all accounts, a relatively pleasant individual. Of course, so was the quasit, mostly."
Avian stares at the goblin as the group passes him, the anger in him having dissipated and having left him strangely numb and a little dazed.
He picks up the weapons as is his habit. Any of you need these? I can carry them until we get out of here, in any case.
He'll put the dagger and the handaxe on his belt, if no one asks for them, and will sheathe his falcata and wield the longsword, unless someone speaks up about wishing to use it. What could they have done to this Koruvus, that he would mutate into this beast and offer without struggle his most prized possession? Whatever we shall find down here, we shall not like it.
"No, feel free." Thandion walks do the corridor exploring.
The rest of the dungeon is actually pretty bland. There are no more combat threats and only two remaining areas of interest. One appears to be a stairway of sorts, and the other is round room that seems to have several things floating inside of it.
Is the stair blocked by rubble like the other ones? Thandion will explore the round room for a bit with detect magic running to see if he can work out why things are floating.
"By all accounts, a relatively pleasant individual. Of course, so was the quasit, mostly."
Vors stares at Severus like he's grown a second head. "Pleasant folk say 'how do' or smile and wave, or perhaps invite you in for a piece of pie. Pleasant folk do not worship the Mother of Monsters or summon beasties that attempt to kill you. Sounds to me like you need to start consorting with a better class of people."
Pavro cannot resist trying to see if he can float in the levitation room, while Aressa watches on disapprovingly.
Severus also peers into the room of floating objects. "Intriguing. Again proof that the Thassilonians were exceptionally magical."
He looks around for any runes or signs that might provide the reason for the flotation effect.
This strange room is a fifteen-foot-diameter sphere. Several objects float in the room, spinning lazily in space—a ragged book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven surrounded by a halo of floating and writhing maggots, a tiny +1 cold iron returning dagger, a tiara worth 50 gp, and a twisted iron wand with a forked tip. Yet perhaps the most unnerving aspect of the room is the walls, for they are plated in sheets of strange red metal that ripple every once in a while with silent black electricity that seems to coalesce into strange runes or even words far too often for the effect to be chance. Anyone who steps into the room starts floating along with them, and Severus is able to guess it's probably a permanent levitation effect.
The blocked stairwell is similar to the earlier one except that is going down and also periodically has the same strange runes flash across the rubble.
Without entering the room (yet), Severus attempts to identify the black electrical runes.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeee ahahahaha, this is so exhilarating!" Pavro says, kicking off from a wall to float lazily through the air. He to casts detect magic and attempts to identify the items - albeit after placing the tiara on his head atop his hat at a jaunty angle.
The tiara looks rather foolish on the summoner as it looks like it was made for a small creature at most; on a medium creature it literally look like a doll accessory.
The wand has 28 charges and holds the spell life conduit.
The room itself seems to be mostly plain aside from the permanent levitation magic, though you have no idea where the strange runes are coming from. They are easy enough to read for those who understand Thassalion, but even they don't really know anymore about them than the others, as the runes seem to be no more than mere thought fragments, mostly dealing with the themes of wrath, vengeance, and revenge.
"Fascinating." After watching Marcoul's and Pavro's silly floating trips, Severus has decided he's bored with the whole room. The only things that really interested him were the black runes, and even those (while legible), were incomplete thoughts.
"Well, gather up what materials you want. I'm not sure what details we discovered about anything new or imminent about to happen, but at least we prevented that great well of wrathspawn from forming more."
Avian chuckles in spite of himself at Pavro's levitation. Yeah, let's get out of here before we lose Pavro forever to the childlike joys of the floating room. What purpose do you think this could have held for the demons running the place? Do I want to know?
Vors fights a smile at Pavro's antics, remembering where they are. He keeps his bow at the ready and tries to keep his mind on guarding the group against any hidden dangers that might reveal themselves.
Severus strokes his beard thoughtfully at the question.
"I think it is more of a playground of sorts for those that wish to cavort with demons. This whole level, I mean. I doubt that any of the actual work of the Runelord happened here."
"Unless we want to spend months digging out the collapsed stair wells I think there is much more we can do and I for one would like to get out of here before that demon comes back with reinforcements. I didn’t seem like there is a way for goblins get through to the town but we should let people know what we found.” Thandion says starting walk back down the corridor.
"Its obvious what they used it for isn't it, I mean it took me a split second to think of the possibilities and I'm only slightly depraved," Pavro says cheerfully. He grows more serious as they leave the place, constantly scanning with detect magic for signs of the quasit following them. Once he is fairly certain the thing cannot hear them he adds,
"Its hardly safe though with a quwhatsit floating around down here, so we had better keep the place closed off until we can deal with that thing. I don't care how reasonable it seemed, an invisible demon associated in some way with a goddess of monsters under my home town needs to be dealt with. Dibs on the levitation room once we do get rid of the little monster though!"
Severus sighs with relief when they start making their way back to the surface. Though he found the structural designs amazing, it seemed far more likely that he would survive above ground.
"I'm sure you gentlemen will find some way to divide up your acquisitions. The only thing I would truly appreciate is this ranseur. And perhaps that red marble statue if we could somehow move it up to the surface. I believe that particular discussion should be pursued when we might have the means, magical or otherwise, to extract it."
Avian sighs at relief when the open air greets him after so long in the tunnel. Whether supernatural forces were crushing his spirit or just his tengu instincts reviling the underground, Avian nearly laughs aloud at the weight seeming to fly right off him when he exits the tunnels.
No objections from me to you having the ranseur, Severus. Avian replies. Nothing in the lot is of particular use to me, so I'll take my share in coin.
He pauses, and turns to Marcoul. I'm sorry I lost my temper in there. We're going to have to agree to disagree on a lot of things, but that doesn't mean we can't work together. The dwarf who gave me my pistol told me that on his ship, they have a rule: end your quarrels on the shore. Or, as he explained to me, 'the battlefield is no place for a row.' Guess I forgot that. Avian offers a claw to shake.
After assuring the rest of the group he'll be back to the Rusty Dragon by sundown, Avian mounts his horse and rides to the beach reveling in the wind on his feathers. Once there, he flies his kite, imbibing the ocean breeze like ale and mulling over the events in the tunnel.
Avian heads to Sandpoint Cathedral to warn the clerics of the evils lurking in the tunnels, especially the quasit still at large, and expresses his concern over the tortured souls that might still linger in the tunnels.
Severus will return with anyone else going to the elven ranger (whose name I forget at the moment), and help to explain the situation below. After they do that, he will probably get a hot bath, do some studying, and writing, then as pleasant a dinner as he can afford.
Vors will take the time to speak with Shalelu, or the Sheriff if he's returned, concerning the Glassworks and the tunnels beneath. Then he'll check in on Ameiko to see how she is and offer his condolences for her loss, returning her father's blade to her.
Afterward he'll spend some time with his sister, telling the tale of what went on down below. The next day might be spent reequipping, if we take the time to divvy out treasure.
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Careful and meticulous as befits his nature Marcoul prepares several actions upon returning to Sandpoint. Before departing from the others Marcoul takes Pavro aside and discusses the matter of spoils, to which they agree that on the following day they will look into having the majority of the salvaged items sold. The remaining items of a high value Marcoul has taken to their lockbox within the Sandpoint Townhall for additional safety. Stopping at the bar Marcoul requests that a good bottle of red wine (or whatever serves as good in this backwater village) be brought up to his room, and a bath be prepared for him. Following the bath the priest retires to his room where he writes a letter to his superiors in Korvasa concerning the recent developments within Sandpoint. He lays out his discovery of a hidden cathedral dedicated to Lamashu hidden underneath Sandpoint, possibly of Thassilonian origin. He goes on to describe the magical well, and further states the complete and intact nature of the complex, suggesting that it would make an excellent site for a new church to the Dark Lord. Also he mentions the possibility of demonic forces at work within the town and the discovery of a Quasit, who was able to flee. Finally, Marcoul requests that his church provide any additional support they deem proper, in support of his endeavors. Signing it with a flourish, Marcoul makes his daily observerances, pricking his thumb with a silver athame and letting a single drop of blood drip into the open fire of a candle before he turns to sleep.
Pavro's first course, after chatting with Marcoul about selling the spoils of their underground adventure, is to seek out Ameiko to see how she is doing. She is one of his closest female friends and one of the few women whose beauty he can see past.
After that he heads home, squirming free of his mother's embraces after a half hour or so to seek out his Aunt,
"So there's this whole complex underground, which is still haunted by this quwhatsit demon thing. Its invisible, but we spoke with it so its very real, and though it did not exactly act dangerous it is a demon... There's this whole shrine to Lamasummat down there, Mother of Monsters? Thing is there's this one room down there that I'd like to own, how would I go about doing that exactly? I already called dibs..."
He then relates events in detail to his Aunt, the Mayor.
Once able to extract himself from the Deverin Mansion he heads back to The Rusty Dragon to reconvene with The Shields and hash out what they want to do with their spoils.
Looking in on Ameiko, you are unable to find her, and are told that she is "busy dealing with family matters" and will probably not be performing her normal duties at the inn for at least several days, if not longer. After some asking around, one of the servants aware of your involvement will eventually tell you she is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, and that your concern will be passed on to her.
The mayor is concerned as Pavro tells his tale, though she cracks a smile and chuckles at the request to claim the levitation chamber. She lets her nephew know that the ruins would be claimed as city property until such time as the appropriate investigations have been carried out.
Father Zantus thanks Avian for the information, and says that he will seek guidance from Desna on how to proceed.
Neither Shalelu nor the sheriff are around when you emerge; Shalelu is checking up on some of the nearby farms to access the full extent of the damage, and the sheriff will be gone for several more days. The rest of the afternoon is uneventful, and you all gather again for an early dinner, where you have a couple of guests. Shalelu is back from the her inspections and is wanting to hear your report of the morning activities; Brodert Quint, the local scholar, is also inquiring what you found down there, having heard rumors that you found some ancient ruins below the city.
Severus scrapes butter over a slice of bread as he explains the intricate designs and architecture of the tunnels they had discovered, although he warns that there are still some dangers down there: dungeons, evil temples, a shrine of some sort with boiling magma, a torture chamber, some room filled with pits covered by trap doors, and the possibility of more wrathspawn.
"However, I believe we had discovered a particular font in the aforementioned shrine which we managed to deactivate. I do not think any further wrathspawn can be created, at least from that font, so their numbers will be significantly reduced. The town guards should be especially watchful for further denizens."
Thandion returns to the Rusty Dragon to check on Ameiko then sits and writes down a through recollection of events before he forgets any details. Once he finishes he'll make a second copy and drop one off with the mayor's office and the other on the Sheriff desk.
That completed he'll take a walk around town to check every that there aren't any issues. In the evening he returns to the Rusty Dragon expecting the others to go there as well.
Vors will also take the time to visit a local mill and procure a small sack of flour (about 2 lbs.).
While Brodert is fascinated by the description of the ruins, Shalelu frowns heavily as you mention both Thistletop and her archrival. "Thistletop is a well defended base; it will take a group to deal with it, and there is little to no recon I can do in that immediate area. The goblins live on an island, and the only land access is through the Nettlewoods, making it only slightly easier."
Pavro, having immediately set about getting drunk with gusto interjects,
"S' stupid why don't they sell me the levitation chamber we found it... Hmmm, maybe I'll buy something for 'Ress instead, not a collar because I don't want outards - my spleen would get cold," he shakes his head and attempts to focus on Shalelu,
"So you think we should go to Thisle *hic* this Thisletop place? Have to wait for the Sheriff to get back, but it sounds like our only proper option to me. But we should get better equipped, I'll sell the spoils of our underground adventure tomorrow afternoon and we can look to improving our gear. I can probably lend people some coin if anyone needs it."
"Sounds sensible, while it sounds like recon is impossible we might be able to organise a distraction to remove some of the goblins when we do go there. Anyone got any ideas of a distraction that might pull away many of the goblins?" Thandion asks.
On the subject of equipment, I was thinking about getting my pistol enchanted. Avian says, a tankard of mead in his claws, though his is about half full and doesn't seem inebriated as Pavro. I don't have enough for anything special. Just enough to make it magic and bypass some critters' defenses. Do you think it's worth it? Or I could buy some enchanted armor. Might be nice to better protect myself. What do you think?
"We probably need to take a look at what we are up against before we make any proper plans, but there's nothing like a celestial eagle ripping your eyes out for a distraction," Pavro says cheerfully, he then empties another wine glass and is soon lost to the world of strategy.
Pavro awaken shortly before noon and heads off to sell the groups spoils, enjoying a hearty haggle before divvying out the coin at lunch at The Rusty Dragon. This done he invites his companions to join him in hitting the shops, primarily for magic items.
After pouring ove every display looking for something for Aressa, the first thing that catches his eye in a thick green metal rod, and after reading the note propped up against it in the case he seeks out Marcoul and Thandion,
"They've got this rod that makes your spells last twice as long, I'd like it for 'Ress's Mage Armor, but I can't afford it on my own and I won't need to use it three times a day. Either of you interested in coming in? We can buy one charge each, or we can go halves if only one of you is interested - I've got enough to pay for two charges if you only want one to. Interested? Seems like it would work really well for that fast healing spell of yours Marcoul..."
"I can't argue with that, although I was thinking something larger to draw away a number of the defenders before we attacked."
to Avian "I'll do my best to keep the goblins away from you if you want to enchant your gun but the armour will see some use I'm sure."
Thandion goes with Pavro to look at magical items. He seems focused, quickly scanning displays until he finds what he is looking for, after a quick haggle he pays a large purse of coins for a small pearl.
Thandion nods when he sees the rod that Pavro shows them "You are right, that would be useful for conjuring my shield but I have already spent most of my coin on this pearl that will allow Marcoul or myself recast a spell we have already cast. After I replace your net I was planning to leave the rest of my coin with Ameiko just in case the family of any of the mercenaries comes to town. I suspect that it is unlikely many will so I probably can give you some, maybe enough for half a charge."
I think I'll enchant my pistol, then. The best defense is a good offense, as they say.
Avian will look around in town for a mage who can place a +1 enchantment on his gun.
Avian finds what he is looking for in the militia blacksmith shop, where one of the blacksmiths has trained a bit in enchanting weapons and armor. The man looks over the gun quickly, and though he's probably not capable of making the base gun, he is more than up to the task of adding the enchantment to it. After hammering out the details of money and such, he asks the bird to return in two days time, at which point it will be ready.