Although the various panels are well-maintained and show little sign of wear, there is some evidence that the central panel - the one showing Sorshen binding a succubi into the torch of the Lady's Light - can be depressed. And so, after confirming that there are no traps across the door, Teldon lightly pushes on the panel...
Suddenly glowing, a soft amber light, the panel is surrounded with an elegant script - written in an ancient language.
...and, noiselessly, the door itself swings open. Beyond the door, a sloping sandy beach extends down from the cave walls to the edge of the slowly flowing underground river. Two wooden skiffs are moored to four-foot-tall stone posts protruding from the sand near the river’s edge. Each boat is relatively narrow and has room to seat four, and each contains a long wooden pole.
Zee translates the glowing Thassilonian runes, "Ayandamahla is bound to the Light for all ages. That must be the name of the succubus bound to the Light. I should write that down... it could be important."
From her satchel, Zee removes her journal and a charcoal pencil, and scribbles a few notes.
As the doors swing open, she snaps shut her journal and defensively raises a Harrow card.
She then peers through the open doorway at the strange beach.
Teldon checks the opened door to see if it can be closed again, if it can be locked again, and if it can be opened from both sides or only the side from which they came.
"Oh. Well then," Joanna says a bit sheepishly as she follows the others. Halli padding along beside her.
"Brianna, I think we're pretty far underground. Wouldn't this whole place have flooded if there was tunnel to the sea?"
There are footprints on the beach - exclusively humanoid in nature, they cut a route back and forth between the boats and the door being examined by Teldon. It is impossible to tell exactly how may distinct trails of footprints there are but, if one were to make the assumption that most of the folk passing through here only went one way, it would seem sensible to deduce that at least ten people came through here... if not more.
The rear face of the door isn't anywhere close to the decor on the other side... there are panels, mirroring the decorated side of the door in terms of their size and relative position - and, tentatively testing it, Teldon confirms that pressing the middle panel on this side of the door will open it should it be closed once more.
"Hmmm..." Teldon remarks with some concern, it appears we've crossed paths with them... that is, they headed back the way we came from. We must have missed something--another door or an important passageway--that they have made use of..."
"They made a deal with the boggards, right? Didn't we pass an intersection on the way here," Joanna asks.
"Hmmm..." Teldon remarks with some concern, [/b]"it appears we've crossed paths with them... that is, they headed back the way we came from. We must have missed something--another door or an important passageway--that they have made use of..."[/b]
...certainly there don't seem to be any other side passages from the main corridors either side of the sarcophagus although, as observed by Joanna, there were multiple tunnels leading from the cave where the friends fought the soligufids...
"Well, regardless of where they are now, I believe that we need to press onward."
Zee takes out a wand and speaks an arcane word. She is briefly outlined in a glow, which subsides. "Should have done that earlier..." she mutters to herself.
Sending her dancing lights ahead of her, she cautiously approaches the boats, looking around for possible danger.
Joanna and Halli are right beside Ziomarra, helping her, as she examines the boats.
"We take the boats or wait for them here," Joanna says rather firmly, "I think the other passages go to other caves in the area, or rather, that'd be my guess. Besides, everyone's wondering how they would have gotten past the bugs. Didn't the Xulgath say the boggards that they allied with had some 'magic juice' that made them docile?"
Both boats, replete with elegant carvings along their hulls, are moored to stone posts at the water's edge... and, as per their first impressions, each could probably safely take four passengers - any more than that and the vessel would likely become dangerously unstable. Stowed in each boat are a pair of long poles - clearly these are meant to be guided rather than rowed - and a second more detailed look at the boats discovers a small, red-leathered coin purse... the coins inside, with a negligible value of a few silver pieces, are all of Korvosan mint.
...standing at the water's edge, the friends notice a contrast between the gentle flow of the water from the west and the sound of cascading water, not unlike a distant waterfall, to the east.
"Yeah, and they'll probably know something's up between the dead bugs and Jasper if they run into him," Joanna says, now worried about their guide.
"Guess we need to figure out who's with who. These boats hold four, but there's six of us," Joanna says as she takes the coins and purse out of one of the boats and moves a little ways from the shore.
"Teldon, can I use a page from your journal and borrow your quill and ink for a moment? I'll see about getting you a new one when we're back to Magnimar," Joanna says as she judges the best place to leave the purse so they see it.
"More boats," Shadlah mutters bitterly, pacing the bank and stealing nervous glances at the river. "We should move quickly. It does not do well to tarry by the water's edge."
"It would seem that the way forward is on this underground river. Three to a boat, then? Joanna, why don't you, Teldon, and Brianna take one, and Shadlah, Arsith and I will take another... We can pole into the river, and at least wee what's ahead. If there's nothing, then we can head back."
Joanna looks puzzled for a moment, then embarrassed as she realizes she miscounted.
"Right, Halli and I will just, um, just ride with Teldon and Briana," she says sheepishly before making sure that Halli isn't going to be rocking the boat too much.
Teldon digs into his bag and pulls out one of his loose parchment papers and a charcoal stick. "I trust these will suffice?"
"Yes! Thank you," Joanna replies before taking them and quickly writing a note for whoever left the coin purse before placing it in the middle of the floor just inside the door.
Found your purse in one of the boats. Thought you might like to have it back. We didn't take anything from it, so it should have all the coins you left in it.
JW
P.S. Please don't hurt the man at the top of the shaft leading down here. He's our guide and I'll be rather cross if you hurt him.
"Okay, I'm ready to go if you are," the young paladin says as she hops into the boat next to Halli, who's busy sniffing around the inside.
"We can pole into the river, and at least wee what's ahead."
The boats, easily accommodating the friends are guided - by the poles - out into the middle of the river... to the west, the river curves out of view whilst to the east... where the river flow is gently pulling them... the river opens up into a vast cavern. The immense space is a breathtaking sight. Dozens of tiny coloured motes of light flit and dance in the air, illuminating a vast, cathedral-like cavern... a forest of delicate stalactites hangs down from the ceiling 30 feet above a dark pool of water.
To the east, the water foams as it cascades down into a lower cavern, while to the southwest, a low beach of white sand slopes up from the shore to a single stone door set in the wall. A seven-sided stone platform sits in the middle of the lake — an artificial island whose surface sits a mere six inches above the water level; a three-foot-tall stone mooring post protrudes from each of this island’s seven points. A single glass statue of a beautiful woman stands atop this platform, one leg poised before the other as if she were preparing a running leap into the water.
Allowing the flow of the river to take the boats will bring the vessels into the cavern within a minute or so... whilst navigating westwards, against the flow, shouldn't be too challenging...
"There's a fairly high probability that the glass statue is more than it appears, possibly even one of the bound succubi," Teldon remarks, "but I think we should examine that platform nonetheless..."
"Alright, can you or Briana secure the boat to a post," Joanna asks as she guides the boat to the stone "island".
An examination of the platform’s surface as Briana moors the boat reveals a narrow band of Thassilonian runes around its perimeter — fluently reading the runes, Teldon determines that the island has been fashioned to allow teleportation to other important locations throughout Eurythnia and that subjects wishing to use the platform must heed the commands of the glass guardian Ashamintallu.
...and no sooner has Teldon communicated this to his friends than the large statue, some ten feet high and showing signs of damage, starts to move towards the boat. Its arms, longer in proportion to its body than they should be, end in savage looking crystal blades and, as it moves, the illumination from the motes of light imbue the glass figure with a sparkling quality.
"What on earth...?"
Zee thinks about what she knows of magical constructs...
Be quick, we must help them!
Arsith tries to row quicker
- Ziomarra is fairly confident that the animated statue is, in fact, a golem. Golems are magically created automatons of great power. They stand apart from other constructs in the nature of their animating force — golems are granted their magical life via an elemental spirit, typically that of an earth elemental (although that seems unlikely in this instance). The process of creating a golem binds the spirit to the artificial body, merging it with this specially prepared vessel and subjecting it to the will of the golem’s creator.
Being mindless, golems do nothing without orders from their creators. They follow instructions explicitly and are incapable of complex strategy or tactics. A golem’s creator can command it if the golem is within 60 feet and can see and hear its creator. If uncommanded, a golem usually follows its last instruction to the best of its ability, though if attacked it returns the attack. The creator can give the golem a simple command to govern its actions in his absence, or can order the golem to obey the commands of another, but the golem’s creator can always resume control by commanding the golem to obey him alone.
...but, of this particular form of golem, Ziomarra recalls nothing.
"Back in the boat! I do not want to fight that thing in this small a space," Joanna says, not with fear, persay, but definitely apprehension. Halli is right at Joanna's side as she guards her friend's retreat.
"Ποια είναι η εντολή σας, Ασαμιντυλλα?" Teldon calls out, stepping back into the boat.
"That thing is certainly a golem... but I've never heard of one made of glass. Most golems are immune to most spells, but some spells will affect them strangely... Does it look damaged to anyone else?"
Glass can be broken, no?
Arsith looks at her heavy mace
The golem, moving forwards accompanied by the strangely melodic sound of tinkling glass, doesn't respond to - or even show any sound of having heard - Teldon's request.
Instead, raising its arms as it draws closer, the golem prepares to attack...
Zee fans her Harrow desk and casts a spell. Ghostly images of wise and benevolent Varisian men and women (mostly women) float out of the deck and surround her friends. The images of the spirits then fade away. Everyone gets the feeling that the friendly spirits of Zee's ancestors are now watching out for them.
Teldon has read much of the Glass Golem...
A glass golem is immune to most spells or spell-like abilities... further, certain spells and effects function differently against a glass golem - a shatter spell damages a glass golem as if it were a crystalline creature whilst a keen edge spell affects all of a glass golem’s slam attacks as if they were slashing weapons.
Temperature based attacks also have a peculiar affect upon the golem - a cold spell will typically slow a golem whilst, somewhat conversely, fire damage will fuse the cracks and damage across glass... healing rather than hurting the construct.
Finally, a glass golem can align its internal structure to enhance its resistance to magic for a few moments. During this time, the golem reflects spells back upon the caster...
Teldon calls out what he knows about glass golems as a warning to his companions while he studies this particular one. Then he raises his spear to protect the women between him and the construct.
Zee gasps as the golem.approaches her friends. "Get closer! We might have to land to help fight it off!"
The golem is an immensely powerful construct, apparently undiminished by the passage of time... twice, its blade like arms crash down upon Joanna - and twice, the razor-like glass finds weak points in her armour.
Arsith casts a spell, linking Joanna's life force to hers, sacrificing her health to protect the young paladin.
Joanna's eyes widen in shock as the glass golem reaches around her shield and punches its wickedly sharp blades through the seam of her armor. She twist around to prevent the wound from becoming worse, but then she lets out a breathless gasp of pain as the second blow sinks home.
Briana's healing keeps the wounds from bleeding, and helps make right some of the damage, but Joanna can't help but feel that she's returned to another chamber full of fire and chittering shriezyx. The blood, the pain, and the sense of failure awaken a very real fear in her heart.
Simple fear, though, hadn't stopped her yet.
Halli lets loose a snarl as she tries to lock her jaws on the golem.