"Lord in Iron slay this creature"
Says the Dwarf as he Casts cure light wounds and steps forward to touch the creature
Pavo opened his mouth to gasp and being hit, but was immediately overcome by the desire to yawn of all things. His arms felt heavy and his legs wobbled as he suddenly began to feel tired. Angered by the undead child striking him, he gave up his defensive posture and stepped forward to smash his shield into the creature.
Leng lashes out with the flaming kusarigama once again, but misses.
Intense magical cold and bright sparkling electricty are joined by a pure holy white light that glints hopefully from Pavo's shield as he crushes the weakened creature, finishing it off for good. The body collapses into it's sarcophagus and rapidly turns to a gray dust.
Wilfried steps over to the sarcophagus and says.
Our Lord in Iron, allow this poor soul to rest in peace."
Then turns to the group and says.
"Is anyone injured enough to require healing?
Hopping over the sarcophagus with a flap of wings, Spitter looks inside...curiosity getting the better of him.
"Strange creature. Undead?"
As the others turned to healing or searching the area, Pavo took the time to untangle and refold his net, stowing it on the hook on his belt once done.
"I'll be fine, I'm just a little tired for some reason. It definitely seemed undead, but I'm no expert."
”Attic whisperer. Poor child. Pavo, should we press on?”
"Yeah, may as well. Didn't come this far to turn back now."
Pavo headed out of the room and back into the previous room. He took a moment to survey the room and glanced into the southern room.
"This place doesn't seem very big, does it? Probably should have asked for a map or something."
With the immediate threat of the undead child handled, the entrance floor to the crypt is thoroughly examined to find very little of interest.
A huge mosaic of a red dragon decorates the floor of this large chamber. To the north lie three circular alcoves, each with a single pillar of black marble in it's center. To the south, in a single large alcove, a spiral staircase descends to a deeper level of the crypt. Four stone sarcophagi sit on the floor on the south side of the main room, two on each side of the alcove entrance.
Once the combat ends, Renliat looks at the creature with a great deal of despair. "Poor, poor thing. I wish I had the power to do more for you." He takes a moment to take out his notebook, writing down the details of the encounter. It stands next a dozen other similar experiences, places he planned to revisit once he had gathered more power.
As they continue moving he gazes about the place in wonder. "Look at this! Imagine what secrets, if we only had the time..." He looks like he would spend hours in here looking through if he could, but as it stands he is good with simply scanning the area for magic as they pass through.
Silently disappointed at the small undead's lack of treasure, Spitter will trail along behind the others...but upon seeing the new stone coffins, wonders aloud.
"More undead? Ohhh..nice artwork for pink-skins! See how the Red's tail spikes are curved? Not many artists get that right!"
"Well, we're looking for a great hero's tomb. None of these here seem to be ostentatious enough. So I say we go down. But no reason not to be through.
He raises his gauntlet and says. "Reveal to your servant auras magical."
Spitter admires the mosaic and the careful attention to detail. The artwork is both accurate and respectful. Respectful, in fact, to the point where even the inscription in the tile shows reverence. It reads in Draconic, "Red Azramo-Give the Dragon Her Due"
Spitter recalls that Azramo was a powerful and influential great wyrm killed in a battle with Lady Tula which claimed many human lives.
He also spots the tell-tale nozzles and magical paraphernalia that would result in massive gouts of flame erupting around the room!
"TRAP! Grab cover Pink-skins! Fire-fire!!"
Spitter spins and then runs for stairs back up, his little wings fluttering as he runs!
Following Spitter's lead, Pavo dashed for the stairs as quickly as his legs could carry him.
Leng, likewise, beats feet post-haste to get out of the blast radius - he hopes.
Though somewhat slower than the others Wilfried too heads for cover.
"Hey Elf run for it.!" He says as he runs.
Renliat, already in the back, is the first one out once Spitter starts yelling.
Everyone gets off the mosaic and heads back upstairs. A popping and rapid ticking sound breaks the silence and a loud but brief "fwoosh" noise is accompanied by a bright flash of orange light. Waves of heat shimmer the air above the stairway.
The flames die as quickly as they erupted, but the orange glow of fire remains behind. From below comes overlapping voices speaking in Ignan with raspy, crackling voices.
Renliat stops, trying to see if he can figure out what the language is.
Renliat can tell it is the language of the elemental plane of fire. He can also tell there are three separate speakers which seem to be repeating themselves several times over.
"Ignan, but I can't tell what they're saying. There are at least three of them, and they're repeating themselves."
Spitter spits in the corner of the stairs...and smiles.
"They said we defiled the...did not 'Show the Dragon her due.' Whatever that means. Great now we have Fire eaters. You're all welcome by the way pink-skins."
He then waves off any concern over his words as if swatting an invisible fly.
"What do we do next? I can create a minor resistance to fire for one person...but nothing that strong."
Renliat shakes a little. "I don't think we should mess with them."
"Fire Planers." Wilfried says shaking his head. "Never liked em. Be a good fight, but it does tend to singe the beard. Dragon's due you say."
He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Nope, don't remember anything about that."
"Well I may have to sit this fight out," says Leng. "Don't wanna punch fire, and a fire chain is... probably not the ideal weapon."
Spitter chuckles at Leng's worry.
"Silly pink-skin. Your weapon is still magical! Can't you turn the flame off? I've heard of such things. If they are elemental in nature, we may need magical weapons to hurt them properly anyway. Note...I can also summon elementals too. If we find enough water somewhere near them, I can summon water elements to fight them directly. Or even other fire elementals who would be immune to their fiery attacks."
Turning away from the group, Spitter spits again.
"Where else do we go from here? I get the impression that trap will go off again eventually. Pavo? Think you can disable that fire-maker?"
"I don't see as we have much choice. Do you think they're likely to leave on their own? Go back to wherever they came from? We can't let them leave this place to set fire to everything outside. And yeah, I think I can take care of the trap."
"Maybe we just flood the whole tower, or I can bombard it with ice magic from a mile away." Renliat suggests, clearly not interested in being anywhere near the fire creatures.
Renliat's fear of fire is momentarily diverted as he comes to a realization. "Wait...the inscription, it's a clue. If we spoke the dragon's name, it would change the trap. Perhaps a way to safely bypass it?"
"Well, only one way to find out" Pavo said taking a step.
"Wait, what's the dragon's name?"
Spitter chuckles.
"To you pink-Skins it is 'Red Azramo'. To my kind it is...much longer."
Leng shrugs. "Well, whatever. Worth a shot."
Renliat tries to tap into how the magic of the trap works. "Red Azramo..." He says, searching around the trap. "Spitter, I could use the draconic name as well."
"Velika Slavnor Kran-Drakon Azramo. But my guess is the common translation is probably the more likely code phrase. Pink-skins who build such places like this try to honor the Draconic, usually fall short..."
Pavo treads back down the stairs to be greeted by three man-sized walking bonfires with coal black eyes. They stare at him for a moment, but turn away after he says the ancient red's name. Each take their place beside pedestals in the northern chambers. Shards of pottery lay scattered by each pillar.
Four sarcophagi fill the main hall, and a spiral staircase can be seen just to the south.
Spitter walks confidently up to the closest Fire Elemental and speaks to it in Ignan.
Stepping next to Pavo.
"You think Little Dragon is telling stories about us?"
The Dwarf says.
"Hard to say with that one...mostly because I have no idea what he's saying half the time" Pavo said with a grin.
The fire elementals seem to cock their head at Spitter, clearly confused by the question.
Walking over to the sarcophagi, Spitter hits one with his small staff hard enough to chip it (or his staff) and looks back quickly at the fire elementals to see their reaction.
The elementals do not react to Spitter's action. Their "faces" are completely devoid of emotion.