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Startled at the sudden shrieking, Pavo hopped back half a step. His ears continued to ring as he spoke. "WOW THAT WAS A GOOD ONE. THAT ONE PROBABLY WOKE THE DEAD" he said, much louder than he had intended.
He turned and looked at Maellyra with a grin. "CAN YOU TELL IF THERE WAS MAGIC ON IT, AND IF IT'S GONE NOW?"
Spitter snickers and tries to hold it back.
"Poor Pink-skin Pavo. The fish is deaf!"
Nobody really understands why Spitter thinks this is so funny...
Maellyra looks as close to startled as anyone's seen her when Pavo turns to grin at her, spying what she thinks might be blood or maybe darkened cerumen leaking from one of his ears. "There was, but it was deliberately hidden. It's gone now. All that remains is an aura of protective magic over the door, specifically the handle. It... shouldn't be dangerous. Are you alright?" The wizard deliberately concealing spell auras was not something she had prepared for. At a loss to counter such skillful deception, Maellyra shakes her head as if that will quiet her rising doubts. "It seems Hunclay was as paranoid as he was clever."
"WHAT?" Pavo shouted as he tried to clear his ear with one of his fingers.
Pavo's eyes squinted as he tried to make out what Maellyra was saying. Something about a pair of cleavers? He shrugged and turned back around, looking at the lock on the door. His hand went to the small belt pouch on his waist. He untied the pouch and slid out a small pair of metal tools as he knelt down to inspect the lock.
"I'M GOING TO SEE IF I CAN OPEN THIS. YOU MIGHT WANT TO STAND BACK." It almost went without saying.
Pavo works the lock successfully. It fades from existence and the door gently swings open to reveal two long tables of stained oak lining the east wall of the room, each cluttered with alchemical supplies. Atop the desk on the west wall are writing implements, ink, sheets of vellum, and several scrolls. A large chest secured by a prominent lock sits just north of the desk.
Maellyra exhales in relief when the soft click of the lock signals Pavo's success and nothing more untoward happens than the door swinging open. As the group's resident expert on arcane matters, the witch feels a certain amount of pressure to identify signs of magical traps before anyone else can accidentally stumble into them. And so she listens to the darkly whispering spirits of questionable morality residing inside her spell poppet, opening herself up to their influence in exchange for their guidance.
"I don't sense anything," Maellyra concludes with as much confidence in her findings as her prior experience in identifying magical hazards calls for. Which is to say, not very confidently at all.
"If there's one thing we learned, it's that this Hunclay fellow liked putting resetting traps on everything, so let's take it slow and easy," suggests Leng.
"OKAY, NOW LET'S TAKE IT SLOW AND STEADY. I'LL CHECK THE CHEST. YOU GUYS SPREAD OUT AND SEARCH THE ROOM...AND BE CAREFUL."
Pavo moved slowly across the room towards the chest. He stood a few feet away from it and looked it over, tools still in hand. He then knelt down and started to take a closer look at the lock before finally getting started.
Pavo feels the ringing intensify as he disables the arcane lock, which falls away into the ether.
Maybe it was because this time he expected the trap, or maybe it was because he was already half-deaf, but this time the trap didn't have quite the bang that the last one did. Pavo staggered back half a step and gritted his teeth for a moment. His hands went to cover his ears and check for blood.
"I'M OKAY, I'M OKAY. IT WAS JUST MY HEAD...AND MAYBE A LITTLE BIT OF MY BRAIN" he said as he stared down at his blood cover hands. He wiped his hands off on his breeches before continuing to work on the lock. It didn't take long for his hands to work the tools and pop the lock open.
Maellyra grimaces as Pavo gets down to work on the locked chest only to stagger back as yet more blood drips from his ears. Not only is she ill-equipped to spot the deceased Hunclay's carefully concealed traps, but she hadn't come prepared with any healing spells either. At the rate they were going, Pavo would be dead long before they even cleared the second floor. Maellyra reaches into her satchel and draws out a small glass phial of red liquid. Knowing the man likely couldn't hear her anyway, she wordlessly presses the potion into Pavo's hands.
Spitter tries to keep his eyes out for more traps, but is also trying to stay out of the bigger pink-skin's way.
Smiling, Pavo popped the top on the potion vial and drank it down without hesitation. His face paled slightly and he looked over his shoulder towards his own rear end.
"Huh, no tail. HEY! I can hear me now. Thanks!"
Five flasks rest on the eastern tables. Atop the writing desk are four scrolls. However, the room's grand prize is in the locked chest to the right of the desk. Inside are Hunclay's six spellbooks.
A cursory glance through the spell books reveals a large trove of spells. The books are written and cared for meticulously. The bindings are firm and secure, the pages free from folds or creases. Which is why it is notable that next to one spell are four words: Eox, Aucturn, Carcosa, and Dominion. The first three are crossed out, Dominion is not.
"He sure had a thing for books, huh? Maellyra, do you know what any of this stuff means? It's all just gibberish to me."
With a look of deep thought, Spitter holds up a taloned finger to point out the words listed.
"Could those be passwords? The previous ones are crossed out like they've been used before. I used to know a chieftain that did that on a scroll he kept. He used a new password every time he had to reset his trap. He'd always use the blood from the one caught in the trap to do it."
"Haha Spitter, I bet you're right! Now that's using the old noggin!"
While the wizard's spellbooks would ordinarily be of great interest to Maellyra, the witch is a little too busy trying to examine Pavo's ear canals in the most unobtrusive way possible to determine the possibility for long-term damage if they came across any more of Hunclay's traps to notice the repository of occult knowledge. "Hmm?" It's only when Pavo questions her about the words that she drags her attention away from his bloodied ears and toward the contents of the chest he's sacrificed his well-being to uncover. "Oh. Umm..."
"They're celestial bodies. Two of them, at least, are planets in our solar system," Maellyra provides after a beat. "But it's possible he also used them as passwords. I don't think it will help us bypass the magical locks. If the spell the words are written on is any indication, it's a password to reveal hidden writing." Tempting as it is to spend just a few hours going through Hunclay's trove of spells, Maellyra knows they haven't the time for that. Maybe she could bid on them during the auction once this was all over. If we survive.
"Are you alright to continue?" Maellyra asks Pavo in concern.
"Celestial bodies? What, like aasimars?" Most of Maellyra's words were lost on Pavo, and it had nothing to do with his ears.
"Aye, I'm good to go." He looked left, then right, and left again.
"Although I'm not sure which way we came from" he said as he suddenly began to shake his head quickly.
The door opens easily for once. This bedchamber is richly appointed, with three armoires and three tall wardrobes, a canopied bed with a large locked chest at its foot, a writing desk and chair, elaborate marble tub, and a thick bearskin rug.
Sighing, Spitter looks around.
"More pink-skin traps? Probably. Not very inventive or imaginative I have to say. This pink-skin seems very lazy-repetitive."
Maellyra gives Spitter a sidelong look. "Are rat-filled pits and vials of alchemist's fire hanging from the ceiling more to your taste?" She would rather deal with the kobolds' simple traps herself, and she is sure their designated trapfinder would agree. "The magic in this room is different, though. I can sense it, for one. But it's also of a different type of magic than the locks. Conjuration rather than evocation." Maellyra continues to study the auras in the hopes of trying to provide more information to the others.
"So... it summons guard monsters when you trip the trap?" suggests Leng.
Maellyra shakes her head. "Conjuration is such a broad school of magic. It might summon a guardian of some sort or it might just teleport us somewhere else. Conjuration spells can also create something from nothing, like a cage or a pit or a shower of acid. There's no telling what effect it will have until it's triggered. All I can say for certain is that whatever spell Hunclay used to create the trap is a strong one." To say nothing of the fact that, if the wizard was as capable of manipulating the magical auras of spells so as to render them undetectable to a relative novice like herself, he could likely make one aura detect as another. The witch doesn't even want to think about that possibility.
"I don't know if it can be fooled by something other than a person setting it off, but it's worth a try."
"Well then. I guess this one's on me" Pavo said as he clapped his hands together and walked over towards the large chest. Feeling a little more confident after the last two locks, Pavo gave this one a quick glance before probing the locking mechanism with his tools.
A deep growl reverberates through the bedroom when Pavo enters. There is no immediate effect as Pavo goes to work on the locked chest. He spots a slip of paper on the nightstand beside a ring of keys.
A massive bear studded with barbed spines and thick dermal plates materializes in the center of the room, red eyes glaring at everyone.
Grimacing at the fiendish-looking animal, Spitter moves to get an angle on creature, then launches lightning at it!
The bear is still adjusting to suddenly being on this plane of existence, and is caught off-guard by Spitter's lightning. It howls in pain and the room is filled what the the smell of burnt fur.
Leng's eyes glaze over as Maellyra explains the intricacies of the Conjuration school; he clearly lacks the kind of education and intelligence necessary to follow even the most basic of magical instruction.
When the bear appears, he says, "Yep! Conjured guardian!"
His kusarigama spins in his hand and lashes out suddenly.
... with the usual lack of any success.
Pavo's concentration was broken at the crackle of energy and Leng's exclamation. "What is that god awful..." he started to ask as he stood up and turned around"...smell. Oh...that's not good" he finished as his lockpicks clattered to the ground.
"OUT OF THE ROOM, OUT OF THE ROOM" he shouted. His hand freed the net from its catch and it slowly snaked down to the floor, unwrapping as it went. Before he had even contemplated the decision, it was floating through the air towards the massive bear.
If you hit, the target is entangled. An entangled creature takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty on Dexterity, can move at only half speed, and cannot charge or run. If you control the trailing rope by succeeding on an opposed Strength check while holding it, the entangled creature can move only within the limits that the rope allows. If the entangled creature attempts to cast a spell, it must make a concentration check with a DC of 15 + the spell’s level or be unable to cast the spell.
An entangled creature can escape with a DC 20 Escape Artist check (a full-round action). The net has 5 hit points and can be burst with a DC 25 Strength check (also a full-round action). A net is useful only against creatures within one size category of you.
The bear snarls and snaps at Leng, rising to it's full height on hind legs with a roar. Pavo's net catches on it's spines and thick skin. It drops back to all fours, struggling against the constraints of the rope.
"Lucky guess," Maellyra says, stepping behind Leng to get a better view into the room. Her eyes widen slightly when she sees the monstrous bear Pavo has snared in his net. Reaching into the folds of her robes, the witch pulls out her grisly spell poppet and chants an ominous-sounding incantation over it. "Lemsa az qebr."
The fiendish bear holds back it's head and roars with ferocity before flailing it's massive paws against the net. The net begins to give, and the bear finds itself able to move freely again. It edges closer to Leng.
Moving further into the room for a wider angle, Spitter fires off a shot again!
"This thing is a brute!" shouts Leng. "I, uh, think if it gets up on me it'll tear my head off." The monk likewise shifts back 5' and continues spinning his weighted chain. He spins and slams the weight against the bear-beast multiple times, brutalizing it as it tries to escape and close in on him.
"OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT OF THE ROOM!" Pavo continued to shout as he stepped closer to Spitter.
"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
His eyes scanned the bear up and down and back again looking for any sign of weakness as he continued to maintain his defensive posture.
Spitter inflicts a deep burn on the bear while Leng's weapon seems inadequate to breach the bear's tough hide and only his second strike seemed to be effective.