"Another door past the bend, about 40 feet farther," Erevan calls out, informing both Felrin and the rest before moving along the corridor with the intent to check both it and the door at its end.
Erevan does not find any traps - or secret doors.
"Wait a moment, Erevan" Felrin says. "Let's test Etna's theory." Gesturing to Erevan to come with him, he moves back to the room where the rest of the party is. "Etna, you can summon magical light, no? Perhaps you could send some light down the hall and see if shriekers or any other surprises await us there?"
To speed things up: the light has no effect, other than illuminating the corridor.
|
Tkaara reaches out and pats the youth on his shoulder.
Don't worry Timeon. There are those who reward and protect the strong. You are clearly have great devotion. Perhaps you need to find one who will reward that devotion, rather than allowing one such as yourself to be locked in a strange dungeon and guarded by metal snakes and traps.
She pauses, before continuing.
For now stay her and consider what Mitra has truly done for you. Other than requiring years of labor and studying. I must go and help my companions to make sure that we are not harmed by anything else in this hazard filled dungeon.
With that, Tkaara will follow the men into the tunnel and carefully examine the odd eyeless paintings.
To the rest of the group:
Why is this passage unlit when the others were lit? Is the trap to see if we bring light into the next room? Would the trap not have just as easily been to have a lit hallway and see whether we were smart enough to douse the flames? Something tells me that this is something more. I do not know whether it is the paintings, or something else, but before we open that next door, I feel we should proceed with great caution.
Sense Motive:
--> finally the legal training is helping, at least a little
Perception: <-- searching walls and checking behind the strange paintings.
--> at least she is not completely blind
"Yes, I agree." the ifrit says as she smothers the flying flame with a gesture. "I meant that light in the room would have triggered the shrieker, not in the corridor. We always found something in the rooms, not outside. Best to be sure.". After dispelling the light cantrip, she waits for the two men to scout into the room.
Tkaara reaches out and pats the youth on his shoulder.
Don't worry Timeon. There are those who reward and protect the strong. You are clearly have great devotion. Perhaps you need to find one who will reward that devotion, rather than allowing one such as yourself to be locked in a strange dungeon and guarded by metal snakes and traps.She pauses, before continuing.
For now stay her and consider what Mitra has truly done for you. Other than requiring years of labor and studying. I must go and help my companions to make sure that we are not harmed by anything else in this hazard filled dungeon.
Tkaara, like the others, finds nothing out of the ordinary in the corridor - no secret doors, no traps.
However, as she examines the paintings, some instinct she didn't even know she possessed suddenly awakes, with an urgent message: don't. She's not sure why, or how, or what, but something is not right with those paintings. Best to back away and not look too closely at them.
Does she have the wisdom to listen to those fears? Or will she follow her curiosity?
Felrin returns down the corridor with Erevan, asking for his dark lord to protect him. He follows Tkaara's suggestion and continues to leave the paintings alone, then opens the door.
As Felrin opens the door, the same disembodied fiendish maw appears - directly in front of him. In black and white, the dark shades of red are almost indistinguishable from the darkness surrounding it; but the white teeth are even whiter, almost incandescent. Again it snarls in the diabolical tongue:
With that, it vanishes. The room beyond is unlit. A blank wall faces opposite the door, barely 20 feet away; the room stretches away to the left and to the right. On the left, the floor slopes up slightly towards a set of stairs about 40 feet away. The stairway leads up, and presumably out of the cellar. On the right about 40 feet away, there is what appears to be an altar, covered in dark cloth (presumably red, but it's hard to tell in black and white). Above the altar, carved into the wall, is a vast face, smiling wickedly. This is Talingarde: none of you has seen an image of Asmodeus. But you know, instinctively, this is his face.
On the altar, nestling on a cushion, is a pendant in the form of a dragon. It glitters even in darkvision, and is clearly some sort of precious metal. The eyes, too, glitter - presumably some sort of gemstone, although their colour cannot be made out in black and white.
"An escape, and right in front of it a bejeweled medallion? This looks like a trap if I ever saw one. What is this, a test of our stupidity?" Etna exclaims as she strides into the room, stressing the last words as she looks first at Felrin, and then at the medallion.
"Timeon, you said that the exit was just opposite the stairs, right?" the ifrit asks for confirmation as she gaze (from a distance) at the amulet.
It was supposed to be made out of...silver and ruby, correct? And weren't there nine lessons? I doubt this ends at the sixth.
"We should check the opposite wall, then."
Still observing it from a few feet away, Etna focuses on the engraved visage of Asmodeus, looking for something that may resemble an hidden switch or similar.
So he is supposed to be my new lord, then? the woman muses as she looks at the image of the Lord of the Ninth.
I know practically nothing of him, and yet I feel...connections? As much as I know that the Cardinal's speech were mostly demagogic arguments, I can't help but think that maybe it's the best solution to put this nation again in its tracks. Too many brilliant people have been stymied and weakened by Mitra and his teachings: my family, this squire here...Hecate. Yes, the shining lord is holding everyone down. It's in the interests of everyone to see him gone.
The Doctor, blinded with the dismissal of the magical light, sniffs the air, trying to perceive with his other senses what dangers might await.
At Etna's words: "Tkaara bid the little fool to remain in the room in which we found him; you will have to speak much more loudly if you wish him to hear you. To answer your question, however, yes, he did indicate that he was given to believe there was a passage opposite a stairwell. Now, as I do not hear any shrieking, is it safe to resume illumination? I have excellent night vision, but do require at least a little light to function."
Timeon is indeed not present. As Etna casts illumination for the Doctor's benefit, you see that the altar cloth is indeed a deep red (the same colour as the Cardinal's robes).
Etna's examination of the dragon reveals that the eyes are nothing more than blue glass, not sapphire as you were commanded to find. As far as she can tell, the wall is nothing but a wall - no secret doors reveal themselves to her gaze.
Tkaara spots an interesting artistic detail on the carving that Etna had missed - but no secret doors. Or traps, for that matter.
None of the others is able to do any better. It is only when Felrin (aided by Tkaara) painstakingly searches every inch of the wall - using up irreplaceable time in the process - that he finally locates both the door and its activating mechanism.
Pressing both of the carving's eyes, there is a muffled thud as the concealed counterweight falls - and the mouth of the carving drops open, revealing a passage. More of a tunnel, really: you will have to crawl in on your hands and knees.
Felrin gives Etna a puzzled look, thinking to himself, "This looks like what we were asked to retrieve." Before he can move to collect it, the ifrit studies it with great care and determines that it does look superficially like their target, but it's a fraud.
"Should have expected as much," he says, turning to study the room carefully for a the real exit from the room. Once he's found it, he turns to Erevan again, saying, "I'll be right behind you. Looks like it goes thirty feet or so before opening into another room. Let's see what the next test holds."
As DMD notes, we were sent to get a "a pendant of silver and sapphire" not one with rubies. Let's remember that as we judge whether something is worthy of our collecting it.
Crawling into the mouth on your hands and knees, you catch a glimpse of the eyes: from this angle, they have an amused, contemptuous cast.
The tunnel is cramped, but straight; at the end, it terminates in another chamber, which is perhaps 30 feet by 30 feet. Torches - unlit but serviceable - hang in sconces on each of the walls. Opposite you, there is another door, which is barred from this side with an odd-looking mechanism.
The entire floor has what appears to be a grating set into it, with holes around half an inch across.
You hear a voice, speaking in Infernal:
"Here beginneth the Seventh Lesson: Beware those below you, for they may become mighty in time."
Meanwhile...
Timeon lingers in the other room, obedient to Tkaara's order. He peers into the dark, where all his newfound friends have disappeared. "Hello! Hello! Are you there?" he calls. His voice appears to be swallowed up by the darkness.
Shivering, he waits.
"Oh...". Even before entering the room with the altar, Etna was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice that Timeon was still in the previous room.
"Should we call him back here? It would be a problem if he wanders around alone. I doubt that he was here for no reason, so we may still need him for something." the ifrit says while she waits for Felrin and Erevan to cross the tunnel.
Felrin turns around awkwardly in the tunnel, contorting himself to get facing back the way he came, then crawls back to the party to describe what he's seen. "The tunnel runs straight, not for very long, then ends in another room, about thirty by thirty. There are unlit torches in sconces on the wall, and a door on the far wall with a lock of some sort. It looks...odd. Oddest of all though, is the floor. The whole thing seems be a grating, with the spacing of the grate about a half-inch or so. And there was another voice. This one said, 'Here beginneth the Seventh Lesson: Beware those below you, for they may become mighty in time.'
He glances around at the others and offers his thoughts, "It sounds like there's something under that grate. Like it means 'beware those below you', referring to underlings who may plot against their masters, but also more literally, that there's something below you when you're on that grate...and it may get bigger. Should we try to test it with Etna's lights? I'm reluctant to just start across that grating to see what happens."
"Understood. I agree that we must proceed as cautiously as possible." Etna nods after Felrin finishes to speak.
If no one offers a different line of thought (and after Erevan, too, is back to safety in the other room), the ifrit creates four tiny orbs of flame. Moving in a straight line in the tunnel, at about 10 feet from each other, the wisps are sent by Etna in the darkness, until the frontmost hovers just above the grated floor.
"If you wish to babysit the mewling child, be my guest. Perhaps he can be useful by scouting ahead for traps and monsters. As for this grating... perhaps a pressure system that secretes acidic or poisonous fog into the room, raising in both elevation and concentration as we deal with the no doubt puzzled lock," the Doctor muses.
The wisps of light don't reveal anything. Timeon nods "As you think best, my lady."
"We could have the boy go first," Felrin says quietly, "this would be an excellent use for him." Without waiting for an answer, he reaches into his quiver and pulls out an arrow. He throws it towards the middle of the room in a flat arc, so it will land on the grating, rather than falling through.
He then takes a second arrow and throws it more like a dart, letting the weight of the head pull it down, attempting to pass it through the grating.
"We should take a better look at the mechanism keeping the door closed," Erevan offers, his expression one of thought. "Although I am willing to bet good money that I do not possess that tampering with it causes the grate to open up or something to that effect. And what awaits underneath, going by the... mouth's words at least... Well, I am thinking more along the lines of teeth and claws rather than acid and poison."
Neither arrow has any effect. The room remains silent, still, and dark now that Etna's will o the wisps have been dismissed. The silence might best be described as... hungry.
Etna sighs when both of their reconnaissance tactics fail.
"It seems we have no choice but to try to open that door, then." the ifrit comments as she peers once again into the darkness. "If I were to guess, I suppose that we will have a limited time to unlock the mechanism before something creeps up from that grate.". She pauses for a moment, thinking, before adding. "Do you think we should all wait in the grate room while you and Erevan try to open the door, Felrin?"
"I'd call that a fine plan, Etna, but I'm not eager to cross the grating without some idea what's under it, or what will happen when we do," Felrin replies. "I say we send the boy across. The message before we met him was that we should reward those who serve us, and punish those who fail. This is an opportunity for him to serve, no?"
Looking across the floor to the door on the far wall, he says, "If the boy crosses safely, Erevan and I can follow him and get the door open. Tkaara, he seems to have some trust in you, come up with a tale about why we need his stalwart bravery or some such tripe, and send him across."
"Well, what do you propose, then?" Felrin asks Tkaara. "Any one of us can step across that grating to test it, or the boy can. Or Etna's dog. I have gone first into danger for much of our time together, and survived because I am strong. But I know not what hazard this grate presents, and I've little interest in testing it by laying my already injured body across it."
With a more direct look than he typically gives, Felrin counters Tkaara's raised eyebrow with a glare and says, "So propose an alternative to the boy."
"Gullible though the boy is," Erevan interjects with a half smile, "I think that even he would be hard-pressed to convince himself that he should lead the way when we are supposed to be the brave heroes. Besides, did he not already serve by telling us all he knows and quite obligingly, if I do say so myself?"
He thinks for a moment and then shrugs. "How about this? You tie a rope around my waist and cast whatever magics you think pertinent to the situation on me. Then I go ahead while you stand watch a little before the edge of the grating. If you see, hear or smell even the slightest hint of trouble, you pull me back. Forcefully, quickly."
"Well enough. If you wish me to be able to see a damned thing, however, I shall need some light."
Standing up, Erevan moves carefully into the room, which is now illuminated by Etna's light. Looking around cautiously as he proceeds, he makes it to the other end of the room and is about to study the door mechanism when a flash of movement below the grating catches his eye.
Erevan moves quickly, but not fast enough: an amorphous, hazy mist (looking something like a spray of blood) emerges from the flooring and wraps itself around his leg. Erevan feels an intense biting pain and turns pale as the thing gorges itself on his lifeblood, turning an intense shade of red as it does so.
The mist appears to be some form of vampiric life: being amorphous it is likely to take little damage from weapons but may be vulnerable to energy attacks, especially fire.
Forgot to roll initiative for the rest of you:
INITIATIVE ORDER
Mist - already acted
Erevan
Tkaara
Felrin
Ottakar
Etna
”Should have given the boy a chance to serve…” Felrin mutters, scrambling out of the low tunnel and into the grated room, reaching into his belt pouch as he moves. Seeing Tkaara swing at the peculiar mist, he decides to leave it to her and his companions. ”Get out of the way,” he says abruptly to Erevan, stepping in close to the man and turning his attention to opening the door before him.
Surprised by both the strange mist coming up from beneath him as well as from its brutal attack, Erevan feels his strength ebb as his blood is drained from his body. Still, he stands and tries to get a better look at the creature, if it can be called that, before attempting a strike against it. Still, his focus is more on defense rather than offense under such circumstances.
Getting to the door, Felrin can see immediately what Erevan didn't have the opportunity to before he was attacked: the door is not locked, but barred with an elaborate mechanism involving cantilevers, dials and assorted weights. In a sudden flash of insight, he suddenly understands exactly how it should operate; perhaps all that time examining clocks and mechanical things was not wasted...
*I have no guidance on this other than the d20pfsrd, which states that using a skill that takes a full-round action "usually" provokes an AoO. If anyone has definitive words on this, point me to them!
Completely unsure about the mechanics of fighting something with no discernible anatomy, the Doctor hangs back and watches carefully to see if his companion's attacks seem to actually be affecting the creature. In the meanwhile, he pulls out a weapon that he assumes will be more effective against such a foe: a flask of alchemist's fire.
"I can attempt to burn the thing, but if everyone remains in the way then you, too, shall be at risk!"
Unsure of what to do against a creature such as this, Etna moves into the room and hurls a greenish orb at the enemy.
Tkaara's mace lands and encounters resistance as it passes through the mist; it has a spongy consistency which robs her attack of some of its power. The mist hisses and snarls at her in reply.
It dodges easily around Erevan's spear thrust, and Etna's acid bolt misses completely.
"Very well, do not say I did not warn you!"