"Deceit? Really, now. Can you honestly blame us for your stupidity when half our number openly shows who we serve," Joanna says dubiously as she points to the holy symbol hanging from her neck.
"I say we just get this over with," she says to Teldon, "I doubt there's anything in that head of his besides hot air and blusters."
The paladin readies her sword, her shield on her back. Her eyes bore into the fiend's, begging him to give her one reason to end his existence.
"Serve??? I thought them nothing but vain adornments. Why would anyone pledge allegiance to anyone other than our Lord Asmodeus??? Still... no matter... what has happened is history now... noted forever in the annals of hell - your betrayal a millstone around your necks for all of hell to see...", as it talks, the grotesque fly devil grows less distinct... and then, accompanied by a pop of air filling a vacuum, it disappears - not invisible this time but teleporting away...
And so ended the ages long struggle between the petty rulers beneath the Crow, the Suzerain slain within his own mad lair and Lord Baz, cowardly to the last, fleeing before it to is subject to divine judgement... and, for the first time in a long time, the old Thassilonian rooms are free of fiendish infestations...
Looking around in Lord Baz's room, it seems that he was true to his word and that an ancient treasure was to be paid to the friends for their part in ending the Suzerain. An ancient, and quite elegant,s tringed instrument leans against the back wall - the zither is a work of art and a true treasure of Thassilon .
"It is nice," Teldon agrees, "but I had rather hoped the devil might have the key to wind the repair automaton we found. I suppose I could always try to start it without one..."
He lapses momentarily into deep thought once again but quickly recovers. "At the risk of seeming the imprudent one, though, perhaps we should head south quickly while we still benefit from most of our magical enhancements?"
Leaving behind the rooms that, at one time would have told of Thassilonian grandeur but have fallen to ruin beneath the petty fiends that ruled here, the friends head southwards… moving through the large hall with the grand mural of Xin-Bakrakhan, the group head southwards past the corridor that leads to the now-defunct rift syphon and onwards to the two doors at the end of the corridor… one heads to the east whilst the other, to the south.
Carefully listening at both doors, silence…
After Teldon checks the door, Joanna will open it with her sword in one hand.
"Far be it for me to do the unlucky thing," Joanna says with chuckle at Briana's words.
Teldon chuckles at Briana's highly rational methodology for door selections. "As you wish," he replies while quickly checking her choice of door for traps or signs of danger beyond. Then he steps aside to let Jo through first.
Satisfied that the door is not trapped, the friends head to the east... opening the door, a small, and near featureless, room is discovered - A bronze plaque, green with corrosion and inscribed with spiky runes, hangs on the solitary door to the southeast.
Let's hope there are no more devils in there. What's that, Teldon?
Arsith points out to the runes
* * *
A few minutes ago...
After Lord Baz disappears, Zee mutters, "Călătorie sprâncenată!"
Stepping back into the hallway, she pauses a moment at the burbling fountain. "Hmm... is this fountain magical or natural...?"
She tastes the water to see if it's fit to drink.
In curiosity, she then looks through the Harrow for any magical auras.
* * *
Now...
Zee reads the plaque aloud. "Μην αφήνετε τα κλουβιά ανοικτά... 'Do not leave cages open.' Hmmm..." She looks at the door to the southeast suspiciously.
"Zee, you make me nervous when you do that," Joanna says at Ziomarra's "hmm."
Whilst the friends listen at the door that heads eastwards, Ziomarra reads the slightly ominous Thassilonian sign out loud… beyond the door, despite what the notice may suggest, all seems quiet.
"Cages this close to the rift-syphon lead me to believe they likely had Devils on display here at one point," Teldon offers, "If that's correct there's a good chance that the cages have already been emptied by one of the would-be 'lords'. It will still be smart to proceed with caution though."
When everyone looks ready, he cautious opens the door and looks inside.
The fountain outside of Lord Baz’s ‘apartments’ proves to be of a similar design to the one that the friends discovered all that time ago near the top of the Crow… it appears to magically create water at its spout, fill a pool of water and, at the same rate that it is being created, destroy the water somewhere beneath the pool – it has apparently provided an endless supply of fresh water ever since Thassilonian times.
Cautiously pushing the door open, Teldon and his friends discover what may once have been some form of a zoological storage area… stone tables line the sides of the room,and atop them are rusted and battered cages of many sizes. The majority of the cages contain the skeletal remains, little more than heaps of bones now, of their occupants… and, whilst most are locked, some have been forcibly wrenched open.
…a tangle of bones lies in the middle of the room; piled atop the brown smear that is surely a blood stain.
Another door leads to the east and, consulting their map, the friends quickly move to confirm that it is the far side of the portcullis at the southern end of the Rift Syphon… from this side of the portcullis, the friends could use the winch to raise the iron gate…
Seeing that they'd exhausted the possibilities this way, Joanna heads back the other way and tests the next door to see if it's unlocked.
"Nalathi's vision lead us down here with a purpose," Teldon reasons, "and that purpose seemed to be the acquisition of another piece of the sihedron... it seems unlikely that such a thing would be lying around unattended. Since neither of the 'rulers' in this area had it, I suspect there is another area we must access, replete with new threats of it's own."
While he speaks he walks close beside Briana as the follow Jo.
Do you have any idea about what it was? Another fiend? I supposed they went back to Hell when they were killed, but I'm not educated enough in these matters.
Whatever had been caged here has been dead for a very long time ago… and so the friends are free to explore at their leisure – sadly the creatures that were once captive within this room destroyed anything of archaeological or historic value an entire age ago. Finding themselves at the southern end of the rift syphon, the friends choose to retrace their steps – back to the corridor where another door led to the south…
Listening at the door, Joanna can’t hear anything and so, sword in hand, she presses on… opening the door into a second corridor, she beckons to her friends to follow her southwards… for a good distance they walk in silence, finally arriving at a double door that heads eastwards. Listening once more, Joanna hears a sound like water dripping in a cavern… a strangely peaceful noise…
Teldon searches the door for traps, locks, or other hidden mysteries...
Teldon searches the door for traps, locks, or other hidden mysteries...
Examining the door for a while, Teldon convinces himself that it is not trapped...
Zee stands defensively, Harrow deck in her left hand and one card in her right.
"Let us see what lies beyond this door."
Satisfied that the door is not trapped, fairly confident that there is nothing lying in wait behind it, Teldon opens the door.
Joanna gives chuckle. "Aye, or they would have gone mad, or madder. I'm still not convinced Devils are entirely sane."
After Teldon opens the door, Joanna follows the scholar through the door.
"What else do you think is lurking here," she asks.
Us?
Pushing the door open, a grandly decorated room, and the origin of the water noise, is revealed... Two flights of steps descend into a wide pool of murky water - of indeterminate depth - in this room. Pillars carved to look like coiling tentacles support the vaulted roof, rising from the pool to the north and south.
...and, moving in the water, four broadly humanoid shapes - alert to the door opening, they change their apparently aimless circling and kick towards the eastern double door - and the friends. As they move closer, it is possible to make out their bizarre features - hairless, and with peculiarly canine legs propelling them through the water, their most striking feature is its articulated jaw... opening as its head leaves the water, nearly half of its face becomes a savage maw....
Arsith waste no time and attack the closest foe, trying to whack its ugly head off with her mace
Standing at the edge of the pool, Arsith patiently waits for the first of the creatures to come to her... and, when it does, she smashes her mace against its dreadful face...
...cracking her knuckles and feeling for the voice of the stone, Shadlah attempts to pull masonry down upon the rapidly approaching creatures... but it is to no avail, the rock refuses to move to her will...
...and then the creatures, moving with alarming speed, charge the friends - three swimming towards Arsith and one, clambering from the water, attacking Joanna. Up close, their hot breath tells of fury and death...
...and when Arsith is bitten, she feels wrath run through her veins - a primal urge to destroy...
Joanna sees Arsith being surrounded and bites back a curse. She'd have to work quickly, but she needed to focus on one task at a time. Taking her sword in one hand and her shield in the other, she swings to kill.
Joanna's blade bites deep, deep enough to slay the adversary she was expecting... but these creatures, reinforced by the Thassilonian structures in which they have lurked for so long, are made of sterner stuff...
...blood pours from the wound as the spawn throws back it head and laughs...
damn, I couldn't hear them under the water...
"They appear to be wrathspawn," Teldon calls out, "beware their poisonous bite!" Quickly studying the raging creature before him, Teldon draws his shortsword and stabs at it twice: once to aid Jo's attack and once to pierce it himself...
,
"So, how was Thassilon done in again," Joanna asks as she takes a step back, a little unnerved by the monster's reaction to being mortally wounded.
,
Zee taps her drawn Harrow card to her forehead and then throws it at the sinspawn.
Mastering the sudden urge of wrath, Arsith delivers another powerful blow to the unholy creature
Beware their bite..
Slicing through the air, Ziomarra’s card cuts a thin scarlet line across the neck of the sinspawn… once more, savouring the joy of the fight, it throws its head backwards to scream its appreciation – as it does, the thin red line becomes a severe wound… a fatal wound, the beast crumples to the floor… whilst its companions bellow and snarl around Arsith…
Shadlah, composing herself, rips at the walls and pulls a lump of masonry straight into the ribcage of the nearest sinspawn… Arsith, not heeding her friends pleas to fall back, crashes her mace into the abomination attacking her from the water… a hefty blow but not enough to slay the beast…
…and then the creatures fall upon Arsith once more…
...bitten savagely, Arsith is overcome by the ferocity of the attacks upon her...
"Arsith!!"
Zee rushes into the room, positioning herself at the top of the stairs into the pool. She chants arcane words and throws her entire Harrow deck into the air above her. The cards flutter above her head and start swirling around her in a vortex, becoming a roiling black cloud. With a shout, a bolt of lightning flashes out of the cloud at the three sinspawn standing above Arsith.
At that, the cloud becomes a swirling mass of cards that then flutter back into her hand in a neat stack.
Teldon's eyes go wide for a moment as he watches Zee summon lightning for the first time. Realizing how vulnerable she has left herself, he drops his shortsword and moves up next to her, in between her and the wrathspawns. Studying the nearest beast as he goes, he attempts to stab it with his longspear.
,
alright, Jo, now move up and protect me...
Brian's ghostly warhammer smashes into the nearest of the sinspawn... staggering under the force of the blow, it nearly falls back into the pool. And then, silhouetted by the sudden lightning that Ziomarra summons, Teldon stabs forwards - this time it is enough, the blade thrusting deep into the sinspawn's chest and sending it tumbling back into the water...
Joanna acts almost on instinct. She drops the heavy wooden shield to the ground and takes her sword in both hands so she can focus more of her strength into her strikes. She comes rushing at the thing, aiming to make it focus on her.
Wrenching again at the stone ceiling, Shadlah brings down a shower of rocks upon the target of Joanna’s charge… dust covered and bleeding profusely, the creature seems ready to collapse…
From the murky water, the sinspawn grabs at Arsith’s unmoving body with savagely clawed hands… and, finding purchase, pulls hard upon one of her arms. Pulled halfway from the steps adjacent to the pool, the weight of Arsith’s armour takes over… and she slips into the water, disappearing into the semi-opaque water as she sinks…
The creature, hissing at its remaining foes, follows Arsith downwards and out of sight…
Upon the steps, the other sinspawn – near crippled by Joanna’s blade and by Shadlah’s rocks – turns tail and dives into the water after its companion…