"I have no idea how this place is connected with Cauldron either.
"But Nabthatoron, Cauldron's old bane, must have been trapped here for a reason.
"I'd be lying if I said I knew what that reason was, though.
"If we can find the reason, it might help us further protect Cauldron.
"Our first priority, though, is still to get back home.
"Shame I don't know more about Osirion.
"I doubt any of us ever thought we would actually end up here."
"Fair enough." Kikinnin rubs from mustache to chin a couple of times, mulling things over.
"M-maybe things will b-be clearer after we look around a l-little more," Marigold suggests, glancing back towards the way they came. "This c-coffin has been here for years, it'll b-be okay one way or the other f-for a little l-longer."
Assuming the group comes back to the pedestal room, you examine the doors there and it seems they lead to old sections of the structure where rites to different Osirion gods where taken, and the sages were inhabiting. Whereas the lack of a spell weaver's disk has prevented access to the northern corridor this long, it seems the west and east sections have been totally sacked through the years and there is nothing left of value for you.
Finishing their search of the temple, Ryan is a bit frustrated as little is learned by the exercise. Remembering a previous comment Ryan finally replies...
"I could petition Abadar in the morning but for now, we are on our own. Should we see if we can pinpoint where we are from the outside? Reach the highest point and find any landmarks that might be available. Who knows we may not be as far from home as we thought. Otherwise we determine how we'll handle the coffin."
"If we leave here, we will have to take Uncle Alek with us. But in the meantime, he is probably safest back where we found him."
Kikinnin has a decidedly different take on leaving comatose allies behind. "Those mirror creatures. You sure we've seen the last of them? I don't think it very wise to leave his body in the last place a demon was slain." The black beard turns to JJ.
"Your uncle, your family, your burden. You won't be able to live with yourself if we come back to Alek's resting place, and find him either dead or missing. He doesn't leave our sight."
Kikinnin looks over JJ's arms, newly swollen. "I presume you have the ability to bear him?"
"B-between all of us s-surely we can haul him up the c-cliff," Marigold points out. "JJ can h-hold him and we can p-pull them up or we can t-try to rig up a l-litter or something."
"Can make a gurney of sorts? That would be allow all of us to to help carry Alek about."
Maxim eyes the paladin's inert form;
"Well I sure as the Nine Hell's ain't for carryin' him. Given a day I could envoke a spell to grant us a steed... could carry Tercival's body for a while a day."
Assuming the group climbed him to the ruins and abandoned him in the entrance... when you come back to the ruins entrance after your deeper inspection, you find Alek's corpse surrounded by three emaciated figures looking like horned human skeletons smothered within a bone-tight hide of slimy leather.
They are babau demons, creatures with strong defenses like partial resistance to magic, or damage reduction to non cold iron or good weapons. They can see those invisible, and their skin is coated with an abrasive acid that burns those touching them.
They are next to Alek when they realize of your appearance. They automatically react turning towards the lying paladin and attacking him with their claws.
Two of the humanoids claw through the paladin's skin, the other impacting on his armor. One of the claws open a bleeding wound in his neck. Luckily Ryan's channel had healed the comatose Alek before the group left Nabthatoron's Vault.
"ಏನು? ಅವರು ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಬಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ??" Marigold yelps with surprise and horror as the return to the entrance of the ruins and stumble upon the creatures.
"ಬಾಬಾವು ದೆವ್ವಗಳು! ಅವರು ಮಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಮತ್ತು ಶಸ್ತ್ರಾಸ್ತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಶೀತ ಕಬ್ಬಿಣ ಅಥವಾ ಉತ್ತಮವಲ್ಲ ಮತ್ತು ಅದೃಶ್ಯವನ್ನು ನೋಡುತ್ತಾರೆ! ಔಟ್ ವೀಕ್ಷಿಸಿ, ಅವರ ಚರ್ಮ ಆಮ್ಲದಿಂದ ನೀವು ಸುಡುತ್ತದೆ," she continues as she pushes into the room and attempts to use Sarenrae's power to smite the three creatures.
"What? Where'd these things come from??"
"Babau demons! They resist magic and weapons that aren't cold iron or good and they can see the invisible! Watch out, their skin will burn you with acid!"
____________
Ryan starts readying to action when the demons attack Alek but catching the wording as Marigold calls out to the others; reaches out and touches both JJ and Kikinnin. "Everyone touch me" Concentrating on his key Ryan calls out "acidum resistere"
cast Resist Energy, acid - communal: 10 mins/lvl = 90mins / 6 people = 15min each
"Golly, you're right. This place is demon plagued."
JJ rushes past Ryan, touching him as he goes past and into the mass of demons.
He slams the butt end of Alkast into the green demon.
But in his haste to save his uncle he trips while negotiating his way around the pillar.
"Little wonder this place was abandoned so long ago!" Juraan mutters as he casts a spell to ready his bow:
« სიმძიმის მშვილდი » . .
Maxim cannot discern the words of their diminutive oracle, but at Ryan's behest he clasps the cleric's should garnering restrictive qualities in the process.
The gun-mage holds position loading both barrels of his magic pistol;
"What in tarnation did Lil' Miss sayin'? Anything we should know?"
AC = 27
HP = 94/94
Weapon Equipped = +2 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Resist(Acid), Smite
Kikinnin's jaw goes a little slack when they return to find that even up here, the damnable demons seem to have smelled the poor paladin, and come to finish the job. He immediately summons words of petition for Abadar's grace, hoping that a good swat or two will see the picnic cleared of the wasps hungry for food.
"For all that's holy, you abominations better disappear, and leave us in peace!"
"Our little miss ran down the demons. They're Babau, and she said they resist magic and weapons that aren't cold iron or good by nature. Ryan understood that we need to protect ourselves against their acid burn, and miss Marigold also points out that turning invisible won't do you any good."
The party quickly react to help Alek, the first in being Marigold with a burst of divine energy that overtakes two of the demons, but the other seems protected to her magic.
Ryan covers everyone around with a resistance to acid.
JJ stumbles upon one of the columns in the rush to save his uncle and fails to reach the first of the babaus.
Juraan casts a spell and his bow grows powerful with magic while Maxim reloads his double barred pistol.
Kikinnin calls for a blessing to Abadar and opens a clean wound through the demon with the most reddish skin.
The babaus scream in pain for the damage imposed by the group.
From the ruins entrance appears a human jumping over the collapsed pillar and enters the room dressed with a tunic "It seems you would appreciate a bit of help here..." he points with his staff to one of the babaus and five missiles of pure force travel through the air and hit the blue demon.
The babaus react turning against the Cauldron Watchers attacking with claws and bites.
Two claws and one bite pierce through JJ's armor, opening deep wounds on his arms as he fights.
Blinded by Marigold's burst of divine energy, the last babau is unable to find other than metal while attacking Kikinnin.
"And who would you be? How long you been following us?" Kikinnin almost stays his Axe, uncomfortable with a strange mage at his back. His discomfort lessens only a little when the babau are targeted, not his companions.
His memories flit over the elven scouts which previously shadowed them, and he can't place this stranger as one of their ranks...
!?
As startled as she is by the sudden appearance of an apparent 'ally', Marigold's focus is still largely on the babaus as she attempts to shoot a beam of light at the more grievously injured of the two.
____________
"ARrghhhh" screams JJ as his wounds burn under the demonic attack. Celestial blue light falls from them, but against such a tide of darkness, it seems little.
His staff however spins striking out again, and again, and again.
Alkast slams into the demons, smashing bones and crushing limbs. Each strike landing with the force of a boulder.
Trying to stem the flow of blood from both JJ and Alek, Ryan channels Abadar's mercies once more.
before calling out to Marigold in celestial. "ಮ್ಯಾರಿಗೋಲ್ಡ್, ನಾನು ನಿಮಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಕಬ್ಬಿಣವನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟೆನೆಂದು ನೆನಪಿಡಿ"
AC = 27 (29 against Red)
HP = 94/94
Weapon Equipped = +2 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Smite Evil(Red)
Kikinnin forgets himself for a moment, turning back to the more obvious threat at hand, and tries his hand at slaying Red Blue...
He finds himself entirely too distracted by the tunicked one...
Marigold's ray barely hits the demon, but the light burst following it leaving it in very bad shape.
JJ follows in, some of his wounds healing by his celestial blood, then breaks the demon's ribs with a couple of powerful blows, then he finishes the job crushing the skull of the babau with the other extreme of his staff that destroys the creature. The young man turns then to finish the job started by Kikinnin and Marigold, and destroys too the red one with a perfect strike on its head.
Ryan raises his holy symbol and performs a blessing that heals JJ and stabilizes Alek while excluding the remaining demon. Meanwhile, the cleric's acid resistance protects the group weapons as they fight.
The stranger grins as the battle turns odds "We will soon have time to talk" then points to the remaining demon and casts more projectiles "Die demon!" that burst into its chest leaving it in an ill state.
The symbol in the stranger's tunic catch your attention. A circle divided in half. The left is empty, while the right one holds the right side of a bestial skull, it's empty eye socked expelling smoke.
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Kikinnin sneaks in, but finds the demon uses the pillar's cover to his advantage, hiding behind just in time to avoid the dwarven axe.
Juraan moves up and tries to shoot the last Babau demon:
Bereft of any information regarding their demonic foes, Maxim notes that magic missiles cast by the newcomer seem to have the desired effect.
The gun-mage moves to gain a better angle . He foregoes firing his pistol, instead raising his off-hand in a "pistol" shape, and draws a bead on the remaining demon.
"Magische raket!"
A trio of energy bullets streak toward their abyssal foe;
:
Juraan has to adjust his aim to avoid shooting his comrades with his bow, and the arrow ends hitting in the column instead of the demon.
Maxim's magical projectiles burst the babau actually finishing the job by totally destroying the evil creature.
As the last demon falls, the stranger approaches the group until he is at a reasonable distance to hold conversation "Well met heroes. It has been a tough task to find you through the different strings of space. It seems I reached you at a perfect time" the stranger holds his staff from the top, where a huge amber gem palpitates with fiery smoke "My name is Kaurophon. I was sent by the Smoking Eye. It has arrived the time of your Test"
The symbol in the stranger's tunic catch your attention. A circle divided in half. The left is empty, while the right one holds the right side of a bestial skull, it's empty eye socked expelling smoke.
"Who is the Smoking eye?" asks JJ.
"And why has it been manipulating us? And what is this test? And who are you?"
The questions fall from his mouth like water down a waterfall, as he kneels to check on his uncle.
As JJ begins introductions, Kikinnin looks the human over.
Ryan relaxes the grip he had on the crossbow hung over his shoulder as the final demon falls to the ground; but keeps his eye upon the stranger as he approaches the group.
Chuckling as JJ rapid fire throws question at the stranger, Ryan responds.
"Well met Kaurophon, I am Ryan a cleric of Ababdar and this is JJ, forgive his introduction. However his questions do have merit as we have felt much like a pawn on a chess set in someone's opening gambit. A visible move, with the expectation of being lost."
At the newcomer's welcome Maxim lowers his pistol, but doesn't holster it. The canny dwur eyes the human - weighing up the man... and his intent;
:
:
As Ryan introduces himself formally, Maxim chimes in with a nodded introduction;
"Greetings too Kaurophon. Maxim Snaphance o' Cauldron. Kin I take it that'll be the pennant o' the Smoking Eye ye display upon on yer chest?"
The gun-mage continues to eye the stranger closely;
"If so... You here on account they sent ye... Or as one o' them? Like young Surabar jabbered out we've been dancin' to the tunes o' mysterious troubadors. Gettin' a mite sick o' it. So if you're just another maestro whose fixin' to speak in riddles an' such, save it. Talk straight an' we'll get along handsome like."
"And to b-be honest, it's awful c-convenient that you sh-showed up just now," Marigold adds, rather bluntly. "Wh-why should we t-trust you?"
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You feel a moderate aura of evilness on Kaurophon.
The man seems calm and sure of what he is saying. You see no symptoms of untruth on him.
Kaurophon smiles and starts by answering backwards "To find the reasons to trust me or not is only in you to decide. But there will be consequences for you and your world whatever decision you make. I just hope you find the reasons to trust me after I have had time to explain myself"
"I came to you to guide you to the outer plane of Occipitus. If you can pass the Test of the Smoking Eye you can cleanse Occipitus of evil and win a great victory for the forces of good" he then soothes the smoking eye sign on his tunic "I hope I am being straight enough. I'm a traveler, and I've wandered the planes for hundreds of years. Because I was born of an illicit dalliance between fiend and human, I'm welcome nowhere. Perhaps my heritage is the reason I want to help someone pass the Test of the Smoking Eye and purify Occipitus. But I'm not one for introspection"
"The Smoking Eye is not a Who but a What. The Smoking Eye is a power and what you might have felt until now is its influence. It is trying to fill it's vacancy." the man observes your confusion before resuming his explanations "The Test of the Smoking Eye was created by the former ruler of Occipitus, who disappeared years ago. Whoever passes the Test becomes the new rightful ruler of Occipitus. I know the test has three parts, each hidden somewhere on Occipitus. Passing the first part of the test reveals the location of the second part, and so on. I stumbled upon the location of the first test, but I'm not powerful enough to pass it. The prophet's final words..." Kaurophon glances at Alek "...give me hope that you have sufficient power to do it"
JJ thinks about what he might know of Occipitus
"Who was the former ruler of Occipitus? And when did they vanish - and how?" he pauses for a moment, considering. "I'm guessing that you would want to be coming with us.."
"You've been watching us, for some time now. Some way of looking through those mirrors, hearing what Alek had to say before he collapsed?"
Kikinnin doesn't know exactly what tact to take with this half-fiend.
"Those last words didn't come from the 'prophet'. If you heard the words, you'd know they were spoken in a female voice."
For Kaurophon's conversational manner, the black beard is loathe to interrupt him, so he waits out the ongoing dialogue of his own companions, and this stranger seeking to use them for something.
Muttering about his horrid luck lately with his bow, Juraan is still happy the combat ended as quickly as it did.
Juraan tries to remember if he's ever heard of Occipitus …
… but nothing at all comes to mind.
"Greetings, Kaurophon. I am Juraan.
"We're kind of, well, ambivalent about new people we meet.
"Many of whom are want to kill us as soon as they meet us.
"Present company excluded, of course.
"We have heard about the Smoking Eye, but only in an off-handed way.
"No mention of it in the libraries back home that we could find.
"You're the first one we've met who seems to actually know anything about it.
"I don't suppose you would know how we can get back to Cauldron, do you?
"I'm sure you're well aware we hadn't expected to be here."
"With all our luck, the route home is probably via this Occipitus place he's on about" Juraan thinks pessimistically.
Maxim mulls the newcomer's words, and the proposition contained within;
"Ruler did you say? Huh. That job come with any perks? What can ye tell us about this here Occipitus locale?"
Kaurophon negates to Kikinnin with the head "While I was trying to get contact with you or somehow locate you, I somehow heard the prophet's voice in my head. I suppose I'm the 'sign of the Smoking eye' he talked about"
The man then addresses Juraan's question "I have magic able to travel through planes which will enable us to reach Occipitus. The same magic I can use it to help you get back to Cauldron"
He then addresses JJ's questions "Occipitus was ruled before by a Demon Lord named Adimarchus, I believe. He vanished fifty years ago, likely slain by one of his countless enemies"
And finally Maxim's "Occipitus is another plane, once part of Celestia but now corrupted and consumed by evil. I've traveled its lands for years, and I think I've uncovered the secret of controlling the plane and cleansing it. It is part of the Abyss right now. But if the right person passes the Test of The Smoking Eye, he could separate it from the Lower Planes. Perhaps it would become a demiplane, or perhaps it would again become part of Celestia."
JJ nods his head. "That sounds possible.." he admits.
"I recall reading about something like that, but normally only a deity or divine being would have the power to attempt something like that. Why do you think one of us could attempt that? And what more can you tell us of this test?"
He looks worridly down at Alex.
Saving an entire plane of existance... now that would be something to go down in the annuals of history. But how would it affect the people of Cauldron?
Ryan listens as the man makes his pitch, per se. "what he has said strikes me as true. Kaurophon,, what is the test of the Smoking Eye?"
"I too am curious about this test.
"Does seem odd that any of us could help save an entire plane.
"Just trying to save our city is taxing enough.
"And we have Tercival to address, before we set ourselves to a new task."
"I th-think he's being t-truthful," Marigold whispers to her friends before raising her voice to address Kaurophon. "S-so if one or all of us can pass these t-tests, we can f-free Occipitus to a g-good end? That's a w-worthy goal b-but what do y-you get out of it b-besides a w-warm, fuzzy feeling inside?"
She shakes her head. "Th-there's always a c-catch. I've learned that over and o-over."
"Just so. 'Enlightened self interest' is only to be expected.", Juraan says, nodding in agreement with Marigold.
"It's a test created by the former ruler of the plane, who disappeared years ago. Whoever passes the Test of the Smoking Eye becomes the new rightful ruler of Occipitus. I know the test has three parts, each hidden somewhere on Occipitus. Passing the first part of the test reveals the location of the second part, and so on. I stumbled upon the localion of the first Test, but I'm not powerful enough to pass it. The prophet's final words give me hope that you have sufficient power." Kaurophon looks at you hopeful "I want to see a new direction for Occipitus, and I have the sense that it has a crucial role to play in the battle between good and evil. The reason is I have come to learn your enemies want to destroy everything in order to recover Adimarcus. It is not in my interest that the world as we know it is destroyed. Those are my reasons here. Occipitus still holds it's former ruler power to some degree. Despite it will not stop them, recovering Occipitus will be a strong hit to them"