You manage to maintain your composure, but gods on high is this stuff rancid. Was that a kidney under your feet?
The ray of frost seems to merely cool their slimy exterior, with none of the telltale blackening and cracking of damaging frostbite. Ramón's blade finds purchase, but doesn't seem to pierce as deep as Amara expected. The creatures seem to resist normal steel.
Septima sees the others go for the offense, and decides to follow. She raises her crossbow and aims for the...thing on the left.
With a dull thud, the bolt from Septima's crossbow just manages to pierce the slimy hide, leaving a small dot of oozing black goo.
The blobby creatures rush Amara.
Their sluggish, clumsy forms fail to do much more than gross Amara out.
Waaait a tic. Blobby fleshsacks in a pool of fetid waste..? That seem to avoid taking full damage from a standard crossbow bolt, and resistant to the elements?
No Chelaxian worth their salt wouldn't recognize these things. It's like, Devils 101.
"Pretty sure these are Lemures. Don't remember what they are, other than useless and hard to kill, but they're totally Lemures. Dunno if that helps you guys, but! Hey! It's something."
Knowing enough to know that she's going to be useless for damage without a flanking position , she steps into the grossish ickwater and up into a flanking position.
Amara cocks her head.
What the hell is a lemure? Mira said it like we all should just know what it is...
Why couldn't she have offered more information? Well, Ramón clearly isn't going to cut it here.
Amara tosses Ramón out of the pool and pulls out her silvered dagger, swinging it at the now flanked lemure.
Amara reaches for the silvered dagger, but upon producing it and readying the attack, she realized her off hand was holding something squishy. On the grotesque creature there was a well formed pair of breasts, one of which found its way into Amara's hand.
You feel uncomfortable.
The pair manage to hold it together, barely.
Importantly, Amara is probably on the right track, as devils don't much like silver. They are resistant to some elements, but not all.
Well attacking worked, so... Let's attack the freaky things again!!
"Amara! They don't like silver, stab em good! I uhhhh......Will think of something?" Alexis, Realizing she has literally nothing prepared for this is gonna, when and if it's her chance, to look around for something that may help.
Septima's bolt glances off of a hard, calcified lump harmlessly
The blobs flail pitifully at their attackers, stirring up more nasty stank.
"DUCK!" shouts Alexis at the two in the pool. She had spied a strained link in the chains above and, in a moment of inspiration, shot it with a ray of frost. The newly brittled link gave way and the black, runed chain swung hard at the two forms assaulting Amara and Mira. The ladies dodged easily enough, but the blobs had no idea what hit them. The runes flared with a bit of energy left over from the ritual and seared their fatty flesh.
The blob with the bolt and pick wound fell into a gurgling mass, and the other shrieked in pain.
Mira, still flanking a blob with Amara, tries to maintain her composure and discern a vital spot to stab.
The vital was there, it just didn't cut like it should...
Alexis turned her attention to Septima, aiding her with the reloading of the crossbow to give her more time to aim.
Septima nodded a quick thanks and took aim.
Amara, still flanking a blob with Mira, tries to maintain her composure and discern a spot to stab.
With a defiant roar she plunges the silvered dagger deep into the gelatinous skin sack, a sharp searing sound coming from the silver touching devilish flesh. With a hard push, she finds something akin to a heart with the very tip of the dagger.
The Lemure gives one final lurch and, with a disturbingly flatulent sound, collapses.
Amara, tired and still frustratingly itchy, exits the pool and sits down, cleaning her dagger and retrieving Ramón for the same purpose.
"Is this increasingly s~%#ty day over yet?"
She leans against the wall and closes her eyes, sighing heavily.
"Hell if I know." Mira responds, walking out of the pool and leaning back against the wall. "These things are gross, but they don't occur naturally. So, question. Who in the nine hells summoned devils in a place where the Silver freakin' Ravens were supposed to be hanging out?"
It was a paranoid question, but it was a good one she figured.
"'Cause like. I'm pretty sure it isn't Thrune. This place doesn't look like he's paid it any attention yet."
At any rate, once she's done breathing it's time to go looting!
Alexis looks upon the mess and, in a suede. fit of adrenaline wearing off squeals a bit.
" Oh my goodness that actually worked, I could have sworn that was gonna backfire or something but low and behold the thing got it, everyone's safe and I am....breathing very hard is anyone else tired?" Alexis excitedly looks around to the group, making it very clear her lack of experience. She picks up the chains and examines the runes and such. Maybe they could give clues to the kind of people who would summon these things?
"I am unaware who left these, at the moment, but what I can infer from there appearance here is that someone probably didn't want people snooping around.....obviously.....so I say we gives this wretched pit a good ol' once over. After all most security isn't just plopped in pointless areas right?" Alexis cocks her head at Amara, as if expecting an answer to her question
"Right... right. It's not, is it."
Mira answers the question posed to Amara. "Okay then. Breath caught--more or less. Time to hunt." She gives the place the good ol' once over for anything useful.
Amara, still leaning against the wall, doesn't even open her eyes.
"I don't know, I've guarded some pretty useless places before. Sometimes it was a distraction. Move some muscle one direction so the people watching you don't see what you're doing in the other. Sometimes it was because the client was an idiot. Or paranoid. Or both. Enchanted chains, though? That sure as hells isn't my department."
She sighs again, clearly tired and irritated, and scratches her forearm.
Not much is left in the cistern. The chains do indeed have a bit of latent energy from the summoning rituals, but not enough to permanently enchant them or even make curiosities worth selling. In fact, it was only chance that Alexis had found the reaction they'd have against the lemures to overcome their DR.
Farther on is a room that looks like the end of the hidden area.
These rooms have fallen mostly into disrepair. Chunks of plaster hang from the walls, exposing rough stonework beyond. Furnishings that once outfitted bunk rooms, a kitchen, and even an armory lie scattered about in complete disrepair, and doors hang from hinges in crumbling archways that used to stand between the rooms.
When the room seems safe, the four of you set about looking for what it may be that brought you here. Alexis, drawn by a stack of ruined books, moves to the bunks. Amara for obvious reasons finds herself drawn to snoop about the armory. Mira, by some thieving instinct, is drawn to a shadowy corner especially hidden by the debris. Septima, less queasy than her compatriots, is the only one not repulsed by the kitchen.
Amara brushes her hand over the panel, tracing the moon with her finger before turning around and heading back into the cistern.
"Guys, I found a fancy thing. Could be a trap, could be a lock, could just be fancy."
Septima returns to the cistern with a wine bottle cradled in the crook of her arm, and the raven statuette in another, gazing at it curiously.
"As did I. Did anyone find a a corkscrew, out of curiousity?"
"Ditto!" called Mira from her corner. "A freaky raven thing, looks like a figure for one of those hex-mini games they play at this one shop in--well, nevermind how I'd know about that."
Seriously. Nevermind it.
"Did anyone else see any creatures 'round here? We've got a second nest here... something small and humanoid, too far off to be those guys upstairs."
"Funny you say that Amara! Alexis shouts, heading towards Amaras voice. She holds the book that had the little statue in it as she approaches. "I also found something of note.....A little statue...Hexagonal in shape. Alexis pulls it from the book and looks Amara in the face.
" What did you find?
Alexis looks at the others finds and then the box. She looks up to Amara and smiles.
"Okay this is like something out of a spy book! How much do you guys wanna get these open the box?" Alexis chuckled at what should be obvious to everyone.
The three figurines set into place, a magical energy sets the mithral ink aglow. The pattern shows in stunning relief, as well as some runes not previously seen. The words are repeated in three separate languages.
A Canticum Argenti tulit vulpes corvum
tenet noctis lunam in litore
constituitur ex nobili requiescet
Verba fuere corvis,
Ένα τραγούδι από ασήμι που έφερε το κοράκι
Μέσω της πιο σκοτεινής νύχτας στην ακτή με φεγγάρι,
Την ευγενή αναζήτηση που τώρα βρισκόταν για να ξεκουραστεί,
Είπε ο κοράκι,
Cân o arian y gigfran a wnaed
drwy nos dywyllaf ar y lan olau leuad,
yr ymdrech bonheddig yn awr i orffwys,
dywedodd y gigfran,
"A song of silver the raven bore, through darkest night on moonlit shore, the noble quest now laid to rest, quoth the raven..."
Mira pauses for a second, having translated the Strix writing. "Bore, shore, quest and rest... someone went out of their way to translate a poem into a language where it didn't rhyme. Quoth the Mira, 'whatever for?'"
She strokes her chin for a second, then remembers that she's around other people and just totally went out of her way to make a stupid wordplay pun. Instinctively, she puffs up and just starts trying to pull the box open.
"Hey guys let's open the box and get the sweet sweet stuff inside! I smell treasure!"
"um Mira maybe you shouldn't tug on it so hard, the contents could be sensitive!" Alexis Alexis places a hand in Mira's shoulder in hopes it would keep her from pulling the lid clean off. Though honestly her own curiosity was seeping in.
try as she might, The lid would not budge.
"Ugh."
Mira throws up her hands, setting the box down. "So it's looking for a password, then. It's probably based on the rhyme that's written there. So, think about it I guess. Just... try to remember: There's only one password. Never more. Got it?"
The panel simply glows expectantly.
Amara sighs.
"How the hells are we supposed to participate in a rebellion against Thrune and his devil lackeys when we can't even open a damn wooden box that the Silver Ravens thought they were so damn clever leaving behind? Give it to me, maybe I can bust it open."
[ooc]Before I post. Would any of my knowledge checks allow me to figure this out? I mean the ansers probably in the riddle but....Im terrible at riddles lol. So yeah any of my extensive knowledges help here? Before Amara starts pickaxing the box.[/b]
"How about..."
Mira hums for a second.
At Mira's word, "Byth Mwy" (nevermore) one of the pieces clicks and settles into the panel, The light seems to dim on the Strix version of the poem.
Mira raises her arms triumphantly.
"Quick! Someone say 'nevermore' in Celestial and Elven!"
Septima narrows her eyes at Mira, but does so in Elven.
"Yes I believe that's correct!...Anyonr know celestial?
"Say the Infernal word for "nevermore" backward, maybe?"
Alexis does that.
"Good effort, but it's actually Poté perissótero I think. ... ... What? you pick up a few things scrounging around churches and Monasteries. I used to quite enjoy listening to old Abbot Mortimer recite poetry."
The black cat strolled in lazily, licking blood from his still damp chops.
The panel clicks again at the words in Elven and Celestial. With a brilliant glow, the panel rises from the floor to show that it is not attached to a box. Not yet, anyway. With a pop of light and a refreshing burst of clean air, a box materializes beneath it, the lid swinging open.
The crate contains a suit of +1 leather armor, a composite shortbow (+1 Str), a masterwork hand crossbow, a masterwork silver morningstar, a fine cloak, and a pouch of a dozen pearls. At the bottom lies a locked, watertight iron coffer.
The panel settles to rest atop the crate and ceases to glow, the three figurines pop loose as well.
"...See, cat, this is why I like you. No mice around, are there?"
She sits down and gets right to work on the coffer, going at it with her picks without even a second thought. If the first bit wasn't trapped, there's no way this part would be.
"Anyways, we should figure out who's getting what if we're dealing with loot. Does anyone else here look good in leather, because I would love to get in on that armor..." Armor, after all, makes one less likely to get dead. "And is any of the rest of the stuff magic?"
The coffer contains a small stack of documents and scrolls—among the scrolls is a scroll of misdirection, a scroll of pass without trace, a scroll of undetectable alignment, and a scroll of whispering wind. As valuable as these scrolls are, the other documents in the coffer are perhaps worth even more. These documents number hundreds of pages in all, many of which are written in a cipher that mixes the languages of Celestial, Elven, and Strix. These documents contain a wealth of information about the Silver Ravens, but it will likely take weeks of
study by someone who is fluent in all three languages and skilled in Linguistics to decipher them.
Mira pauses dramatically as she first lays eyes on the glut of information inside the box. There's so much information in here that it nearly boggles the mind.
"...yeah okay, I'm not nearly enough of a nerd for this." She shoves it at Alexis. "Here. You deal with it."
Amara looks over the haul.
"There is literally nothing in there that I really care about. In fact..."
She removes her previously acquired cloak and tosses it in with the rest of the stuff.
"I'll just take my share in gold when we sell off what we aren't keeping."
Alexis face literally lights up at the stack of papers handed to her. She glances through them lightly before speaking.
"I know it probably doesn't seem like much, especially in worth of gold, but these may be the most valuable things in this box! Once we are in a safe place I will begin transcribing all of this! I may not know Celestial but our feline friend here can help with that....as long as your okay with helping me my friend....Otherwise I could use a celestial dictionary and try to transcribe it that way......Hmmmm so much work to do, I'm so excited!" Alexis gathers the papers and neatly places them inside one of her books in her bag.