"I can carry him." Kale said as she set down her halberd along with her pack. She moved some things aside and held out her hands to the pig. "Come on you little thing. I'll carry you across." Kale said with a smile.
Kale settles the pig within her pack, making sure he is comfortable, before returning the pack to her back. "Lets see how this goes." She said before climbing. When she joined the others Kale looked at the ledge. "Oh this is just going to end badly I know it..." She said before she started across.
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The last of the ladies cross. Calli is slow going at the beginning, the quickly makes her way passed the final edge.
Kale picks up the lil porker and carefully makes her way around the corner. However as the warrior makes it to the final stretch, Sweet-tooth begins to squirm in her backpack. Quickly loosing focus, Kale tries to grab onto the slick wall with no assistance. Turning in mid fall, she raises the backpack and Sweet-tooth into the air. Kale lands in the sludge, but the pig is clean.
Near the end of the trough, Kale grumbles her way to the end of the trough and pulls her self out of the caustic sludge.
Once the party is ready to continue they travel south for 60', then down a long corridor to the east. A small, barred window pierces the iron door at the end of the hall, revealing a plain, ten-foot-square room with windowless iron door on the opposite wall beyond.
Guillaume pulls out the key he found in the iron maiden earlier. "Let's see if this will unlock this door."
Kale reassured Haruf that she was fine as she cleaned the sludge from her armor. She gave Sweetooth back to his mistress before returning the pack to her back and moving on with her friends.
When Guillaume and Mira begin to fade, Kale reaches out to grab them only to have them slip through her hands. "I... I agree. This place is evil..." Kale muttered after her lover spoke.
Kale lets out a shout as she feels the floor give way and falls down to the pit below. "... You know I am starting to think the gods are laughing at us..." She said.
Kale ensures that the door is shut before looking at the others. "Be ready in cause this doesn't work. We'll try one then the other." She told them before she called out. "Good Baron Salvo wills it"
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With everybody inside the room again, the disembodied voice makes its request.
Kale closes the door behind them and calls out, "Good Baron Salvo wills it."
A click and a pop is heard. The disembodied voice speaks again.
A single iron lever protrudes from the wall next to the door in this otherwise empty chamber's west wall. To the east, a ten-foot wide hallway curves to the north. Beside the entrance of this hallway is a being made of gears & springs. This four-armed, human-sized clockwork construct balances on three legs that rise into a central body. A large, metallic key floats in the air next to the clockwork creature.
The moment everybody enters the room, the clockwork whirs to life and speaks in a tinny voice.
"Please present the crest for passage."
Vulnerable to electricity
"What all have we collected since we have been here? Your daggers is the only thing of note I can think of..." Kale said as she tried to think back.
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After several heart-beats of non-response, the clockwork creature takes up a defensive posture in front of the hallway. Brass sheets acting as ribs pull back to reveal skeletal remains preserved in a large glass tank.
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Haruf retrives the heavy brass crest and returns. Upon displaying the hallmark of a rooster upon two spears, the clockwork creature bows in acknowledgement.
"Good Baron Salvo wills it."
Stepping aside, the clockwork winds down.
The hallway immediately turns north and end as at large, heavy iron door. Utilizing the dead jailer's key, the party unlocks the door and proceeds inside.
An area along the south wall is enclosed in a cage of thick iron bars that extends from floor to ceiling. Within the enclosure sits seven black iron chests. To the north, the stone wall has collapsed, revealing a rough-hewn tunnel.
Lurking in the mouth of the tunnel, something creeps out of the shadows. A humanoid creature with long, sharp teeth. Its pallid flesh is stretched tightly over its starved frame. With teeth bared, it readies to attack!
Kale brings her halberd around striking down upon the creature. "Have to agree with him!"
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"There is no killing what is already ...."
The ghoul's proverb is cut short by Kale's halberd crushing its collarbone. It drops to the ground, now reaching its final resting place. Picking up her dropped torch, Kale nods with a look of satisfaction.
The tunnel to the north is the only other exit from this room.
"Huh... Any one got any idea what those slots are for?" Kale asked as she pointed out the slots in the ground. "Maybe a trap of some sort love?" Kale asked as she looked over to Haruf.
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Looking at the slots, you feel that they are apart of a duel key lock system. Two keys, turned at the same time would unlock these locks.
It would take two Good locksmiths, working on the locks at the same time to disable them.
The key slots are abnormal in shape. They would require a long, thin key but yet strong enough to handle the torque needed to turn the key without snapping.
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Haruf feels the slots are keyholes. Iulia recommends the daggers found earlier might be the keys. Placing the mithral daggers in the slots together and turning at the same time, the barred cage slowly descends into the floor.
Contained within the cage are multiple locked chests. None of the keys found so far match the locks on the chests. After a few minutes and several flicks of the wrist, Haruf removes those annoying locks.
Inside the chests are a total of 120 gp, 14 pp and a teak case full of gems. The gems and case together worth are 800 gp.
With nowhere else to go, the party ventures forward into the make-shift shaft.
A pair of low barricades made of timbers and rocks partially block the passageway, which opens into a larger cave beyond. While slowly climbing over the the barricades, several broken-off stalactites swing down like pendulums to strike the party.
At the other end of the tunnel is a large cave that appears to have been recently scratched from the hard-packed earth. Its ceiling is only five feet high. Several tons of debris fill the western portion of the cave. Near the north end of the cave, there appears to be the familiar body of a man lying half buried under the rubble.
Kale reassures Haruf that she is perfectly fine, even though that trap did a number on her.
Better me than some one else...
As they moved along and came to the man the only thing that came to Kale's mind was that of their friend, Hunclay. "Don't tell me... Is that?" Kale asked, sadness coloring her voice as she took a few step closer to see more clearly.
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As Kale approaches with the torch-light, the details of now tattered scarlet finery can be seen through the fallen stone and earth. The long white hair and familiar face of Hunclay stares back at the party lifeless. With him among the fallout are two more kobolds gripping spades.
As Haruf starts to dig through the rubble, and before Kale & Calli have a moment to greave for their fallen friend, scraping of stone can be heard ahead in the cavern. At the edge of the torch-light, two spear wielding kobolds come into view. Behind them, a third, more lithe kobold approaches with a fine shortbow in hand.
"Hu-mannss. Come out and pla-ay!" the archer, Sesserak, cries out.
Cinder and Azul advance first with spears in hand. Cinder beats Azul to Haruf and tries to stab the half orc. Azul moves as far as he can and waits for enemies to come to him.
Sesserak sets up station behind Azul. Able to get a clear shot at Kale, Sesserak takes aim in hopes she can catch the warrior flat footed with her precise shot.
Kale is barely able to let out a cry before the sound of her armor hitting the floor is heard. Kale lays there, eyes closed, blood dripping down the side of her mouth and through her armor.