Maxim pushes his googles back up his head, then surveys the carnage as he reloads the still smoking Smaug.
At the elderly scholar's insights he brow furrows;
"Huh. Very interestin' nuggets o' knowledge there old timer. Got me wonderin' how you know so much o' demodands and the like...'
He rubs his beard thoughtfully as he watches Eidi head up the stairs, then pushes on himself in the wake of his Bror...
"Han er gammel, Bror. Elveblod som ham, vil han sannsynligvis snakke øret av deg hvis du gir ham en sjanse. Som du gjør nå."
"He's old, Bror. Elfblood like him, he'll likely talk your ear off, if you give him a chance. Like you're doing now."
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"Oh sure, it was that time I was reading Abdul's Alhazred masterful work... mmm... you sure know about the Kitab Al-Azif, it was a true adventure to get my hands on that tome with all that knowledge on the essence itself of life, but what I meant is by that time the good Abdur Raqeeb al-Shabazz had this problem where an ancient scroll of arcane power was misused in his bazaar opening a crevice into another plane..." Eidi turns his head to see if Maxim is still listening and almost falls on missing one of the stairs steps "...ouch... well his best client was displaced with the planar burst and his favorite group of adventurers went checking but were not coming back, so he looked for extra help. Suffice to say Carceri is not a nice plane to visit, but is fully stocked with demodands offering plenty of first-hand opportunities to know about their diet and other daily rituals. Ultimately we rescued the fortunate client at a tower made of broken weapons, armor, and bones, 'Harrowfell' I think they call it. Oh the marilith was very angry but we talked her down with some coin before they ate the scared rich man. The rest you can probably picture it yourselves, is not that fantastically incredible as Beafinator's Watch of the Wrathful after all"
"W-wait...what?" Marigold blinks, her brain trying to parse everything the old half-elf had just said. "B-back up a little...wh-who is Abdul Alhazred and what's this about a t-tome?"
______________
"Oh, well, for those who want to study life essence and life past death, the studies cannot be completed without having read through Kitab Al-Azif. I was lucky enough to have my hands on a extremely rare copy of the Mad Poet's work that an expedition to Katheer had unearthed. You better stay away from it if you do not have an absolute need, what lies written in there can drive you mad pretty easily" the bald half-elf points at his forehead then while staring at Marigold "Wait, what is this mark you have in your forefront. I am pretty sure it was not there when we met at the street. Isn't it that the Carcerian sign?"
While the group talks, the finally make it upstairs. There a door to the north and another to the south give entrance to the topmost part of the front towers. Meanwhile a corridor with more doors drive to the east of the manor.
With JJ spilling to his left, and Maxim to his right, Kikinnin leaves the two rear doors to his companions to clear, while he moves forward, and opens the first door on the left. Should nothing greet him in the doorway, he'll keep moving down the hallway, opening the next door on the left second, then the first door on the right, and then finally the last door at the end of the hallway...
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Maxim allows the old fellas sage babble to wash o'er him as his Bror's advice plays in his head.
When Marigold cites a reference, the gun-mage pauses, then frowns in thought;
The ol' fart actually referenced Surabar's pulp serial. God's be darned don't tell me there's merit to them pot-boilers..!
Shaking his head to himself, checks the doors in turn, where necessary attempting to unlock those locked...
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JJ, tiredly, eyes the door in front of him. For a moment he thinks about dramatically kicking it open, like beatinator. But he is just too tired. So he settles for trying the handle and opening it in a more gentle manner.
Hey, if one of us gets to live here later on, it'd be nice not having to fix the doors. Though who is likely to want to live on top of a pit to the lower planes? Oh... I wonder if we could redirect it to Occitpus - give a way to visit Marigold.
"Hey, Marigold I was just wondering..."
"Uh..."
For a split second, Marigold is tempted to lie - say that it's just a neat magical tattoo or maybe even feign ignorance of the mark's existence altogether. But something tells her that Eidi is sharper than he acts and would likely see through her lies.
"Y-yeah," she sighs. "It's the C-Carcerian s-sign. It's...a l-long st-story; m-maybe we can tell you s-some of it l-later. But I'm n-not your enemy, I p-promise."
She falls silent; not particularly inclined to say any more on the subject for the moment. It's actually with some relief that she next turns her attention to JJ, who seems to have something on his mind.
"Y-yeah? About wh-what?"
"You know how you can, ahh, travel... to different places? If that pit below goes to Carceri... do you think you could shift it so it goes to your home instead?" asks JJ with tired interest.
"Oh! G-gosh, I'm, um...n-not sure," Marigold replies, looking quite surprised by the question. "M-maybe one d-day but I th-think that'd t-take a lot of t-time and effort...and m-maybe even some outside h-help from p-powerful m-mages and clerics..."
JJ and Maxim open the rooms closer to the stairs to discover two fairly plain bedrooms, most probably used as guest rooms for Vhalantru's rare visitors to his home.
Meanwhile Kikinnin advances through the corridor and finds out a couple of serviceable, but dust-covered bathrooms.
Kikinnin finds little of interest in the unused bathrooms, so moves to the door on his right, then the final door at the end of the hallway.
"Looks like we're due to return to that pit. Nothing up here but dust-covered commodes."
On the way back, JJ carefully checks all the statues for signs of Celeste.
"What was it that the divination said exactly about her?" he asks.
"I th-thought she was t-trapped in a p-painting or s-something, w-wasn't she?" Marigold queries as she dutifully follows along with the others.
Kikinnin opens the southern room to find an extravagantly appointed bedroom, with a large bed, a writing table, a fireplace, and a dresser. At the middle of the room is Davked Splintershield amid a great swath of acidic slime that is slowly eating through the furniture and the carpet to pool and bubble on the wood floor below, which is only barely resisting the acid damage.
The old dwarf clears his throat before speaking "Alas, it is good finally someone came to save me"
From her position further back in the line, Marigold blinks as she hears the voice coming from the room ahead. It sure does sound familiar but she can't immediately place it.
"Wh-who is it? I've h-heard that voice be-f-fore," she whispers to JJ or whoever happens to be standing close.
Kikinnin lowers his brows, and gives 'Dakved' a Look.
"You'd better not be wearing his face, whoever you are." Kikinnin keeps strong awareness of the the acidic slime, not interested in stepping into obvious danger, but he also pays attention to what if anything it's doing to the 'dwarf' standing across the room.
"I see no shackles on your wrists. Speak your story, and we'll weigh it, here and now. You'll understand if we're not quick to assist you. The last thing that wore Dakved's face works with the Cagewrights to bring Zenith home, dead or alive. If you're the same thing that stood in front of us, and lied to our faces, I'll see you dead, here and now."
The strongest evil aura you have ever experienced surrounds Davked, it is overwhelming to the point it forces to instinctively remove your look from him.
You also remember you found Davked's body at the Malachite and put him to proper ceremony.
The acidic slime does not seem to bother Davked or affect his clothes.
The dwarf extends his hands towards Kikinnin in a defensive movement "Wait! Wait! This must be an error, yes, yes, indeed Vhalantru took us both, Celeste and me prisoners. I am not bound, hehe, but the manor has many guards, a poor elder like me had no opportunity to escape"
"But now, I am safe, isn't it? The Malachite defenders came to my rescue!" the elder dwarf smiles reasuringly.
You feel Davked is very surprised and scared by Kikinnin's first statement, and then nervous during his explanations, but if he is laying, you can tell he is a very very good liar.
Kikinnin opens the last door, and should it be empty, he steps through the door. Then he calls to 'Dakved'. "If your legs work, then come forward. We'll remove you from the House. Take your time."
Kikinnin is choosing his words carefully. By 'remove', he means to kill him outright, purging the massive evil from House Vhalantru.
"Watchers, ready a welcome for Dakved Splintershield-bedrager."
"... Splintershield-imposter."
Maxim eyes the risen auld-beard with frowned interest;
At Kikinnin's call out the gun-mage allows his hand to brush the handle of his pistol;
"Of course Bror. Welcommen old one... Step this way, so we may greet in the traditional way of the Malachite..."
"Oh, the traditional greeting of course... I have not had the opportunity to do it lately... you might wish to start with it" Davked does as the dwarves ask him and slowly walks towards the last room, which results to be a bedroom very similar to the last one, but it has seen no use in recent days.
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"Oh, let's start, then."
Kikinnin marks Dakved-bedrager for Abadar's white-hot anger , then brings Eldgammel full 'round, seeking to see the true face of this evil.
"Wait.. .what?" cries out JJ, tired and confused by what is happening but hurrying to see what his causing the sound of battle.
"Wh-whoever or wh-whatever he is, he's l-lying-oh," is about all Marigold manages to get out by way of explanation before the sounds of Eldgammel being brought to bear can be heard from within the chamber...
Kikinnin takes the elder dwarf by surprise sinking his axe on his skin.
Davked opens wide his eyes "Traitors!" but he is slow to react before the group can go.
"You deceived us once, and you're likely to die here and now because you're trying it a second time. You don't have long to redeem yourself, face-robber. Your evil stinks to high Heaven."
JJ dashes into the room, circling around behind the dwarf.
"You sure about this Kikinnin?" he asks as he tries to knock the old dwarf out.
Marigold's Round 1
Hoping to get a better handle of what's happening Marigold barrels after JJ - as much as her short legs and heavy armor will allow, anyway - and into the room. As she ducks to the right side of the door her eyes widen as she takes in the sight of Marinated-Davked.
"Ewww! ಅವನಿಗೆ ಏನಾಯಿತು!?"
"Ewww! What happened to him!?"
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Seeing Kikinnin close, Maxim draws his own shortsword as he grimly intones their intent to Davked;
"Vi afvikler dette på den gamle måde. Malachitens metaller sunderer dine knogler og afslutter din bedrag med bedrag."
"We will settle this the old way imposter. The metals of the Malachite will sunder your bones and end your time of deception."
"What's it? Is this dwarf your enemy?!" Eidi approaches the group and waves his staff sending a group of force missiles to unerringly strike at fake Davked.
Knowledgeable of what happened to true Davked and understanding Kikinnin's intentions, Maxim prepares his sword as the assault begins.
JJ's strike with Alakast is successful, nearly knocking down the dwarf.
Marigold approaches while Eidi follows her sending magic missiles that are enough to make Davked fall.
As he gets unconscious, the shape of Davked changes into a lean creature completely featureless with long extremities and tongue. What was before concealed by its disguise is an acidic coating that exudes droplets of acid.
+1 glamered chain shirt
mwk punch dagger
handy haversack
wand of cure moderate wounds (18 charges)
wand of glibness (12 charges)
wand of invisibility (22 charges)
wand of silence (10 charges)
wand of scorching ray (15 charges)
wand of shield (7 charges)
"Mmmm... a doppelganger" Eidi soothes his chin while he observes the fallen creature "These are able to adopt the image of anyone of their size they have previously seen."
"There is something strange though, it has suffered the same transformation the gauths did. It seems someone is doing some kind of ritual to all the monsters and aberrations inhabiting this house" the elder retrieves his cinnamon cookies pot and offers them to the others, eating one while examining the creature thoughtfully.
Kikinnin watches as the form of Dakved Splintershield becomes something alien and shapeshifting. "Then this is the one who deceived us. And deceived Celeste, for the timing. I suspect she knew of its evil nature, but she needed us to play along, and we did. While we traveled into the Darklands to retrieve Zenith Splintershieldslag, she must have fallen into its hands. I've rarely seen such an evil aura. It was so strong, I needed to tuck my Look away."
The black beard debates what to do with the dead thing's corpse, then shrugs his shoulders, when he remembers that things that should stay dead, don't, when evil still has use of them.
"So the evil is strong in House Vhalantru, this we know. If these low creatures are being transformed, is it to serve as more powerful guardians? Do we have to worry of what is waiting for us in that Pit?"
Kikinnin looks to the balding half-elf, suspecting the old one knows more than he ever will regarding undead creatures, and demonic infestations.
"We haven't found that picture yet. The one which imprisons Celeste. Are we thinking it's also down the Pit? I think we should head there now, since the House is cleared of aberrations."
When it's clear everyone's had their say, Kikinnin encourages Maxim to lead them back to his discovered Pit. He waits to hear what the best way is to descend.
"M-MORE things that can t-take someone's sh-shape? R-really?" Marigold sighs heavily as Eidi explains the nature of doppelgangers. "S-so now we've got even m-more to worry about...g-great..."
She shakes her head.
We'll be jumping at our own shadows before it's all said and done.
"N-nothing for it, though. We've g-got to p-press on. And n-no, I've not s-seen any sign of the p-picture Celeste should b-be trapped in. I h-hope we'll f-find it below..."
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Maxim too scowls at the alien creature that wore the face of the auld dwur;
"Hell's Teeth. Could be that Vhalantru hisself has been changed fir one o' these fell doppelgängers? Would explain why he changed tact from our early interactions..."
Grim-faced the dwur mulls the implications, then is snapped back by Kikinnin and Marigold's urging to press on (or down as the case may be);
"Aye... The Pit. 'Course we'll face untold horrors in that depths. Just like Surabar's Beefinator did in..."
The gun-mage cuts himself short, with a gruff cough, then still scowling pushes on.
"To strengthen lesser guardians... or perhaps to test on them some ritual before taking it on someone more important" ponders Eidi, whilst he acknowledges Maxim's ideas about the doppelganger "Indeed, having someone able to pose as you at boring meetings while you do something more interesting seems like something attractive, isn't it? Still, perhaps that Vhalantru you are saying was this creature? The room seems for guests though"
As you go downastairs, you find Karlsgran Stonescrapper dutifully guarding the entrance, he greets you and let's you know everything is calm "Except for the shouts I heard from upstairs"
Back at the wine storage at the lower floor, you push away the empty barrels of wine to open the way through the illusory wall pointed by Maxim.
At the other side you find yourselves in a circular room containing six statues, the petrified remains of a halfling with a quizzical expression etched into his face, a female elven aiming a wand, a female human drinking a potion, a cheetah in an aggressive stance, a male human with a longsword and a short sword crossed in a blocking maneuver, and a black bear roaring over his two feet.
A wide pit lays in the middle of the circular room falling into the darkness.
Your darkvision let's you spot the floor below 50 feet lower than this level. The chamber below must be way more ample, but you can only see the raw ground in the 10 by 10 hole you can spot through the pit.
Maxim leans in, then extols what he sees;
"Ground is 50ft below... Ain't sure the nature as all I can garner is in the 10 by 10 hole we're gazin' down..."
The gun-mage nods towards the pit;
"Got me a notion. My Ring o' Featherfallin' 'ill allow one o' us to drift safely down. I kin activate a couple o' fly spells - one on me, one on someone else. I'll then ferry the ring up an' down til we're all below. Course if there's a welcomin' committee, then might be a rougher ferry to an' fro."
"Before we head down, do you think we could have a sit down?" asks JJ.
"I'm not sure what those eyes did to me, but I feel like I've just spent the last day travelling through the jungle with a 100 pound pack."
"I can f-fly myself d-down, so don't w-worry about me," Marigold reminds the group. While it's a power she's not made use of often, what with many of their scrapes happening in tight quarters with low ceilings, it certainly comes in handy when there's actually opportunity to use it.
When JJ asks for a rest though, Marigold turns to him with some concern. "Wh-what do you m-mean? Do you f-feel sick or just w-weak or...?"
Maxim nods an affirmation to Marigold;
"Much abliged Lil' Miss. Means we can give more o' us wings should it be needed..."
As JJ seeks an opportunity to lollygag, the gun-mage brings Karlsgran to where the other statues can be found;
"Any o' these look familiar to ye Master Stenskraber?"
"Just tired Marigold. Just tired. I admit, I was eyeing up that bed, but with a dead non-dwarf and the acid, it just didn't quite look appealing enough. Almost, but not quite." sighs JJ.
"Whom are this?" asks Karlsgran "Is this art or more petrified people?"
"Um...at this p-point I'm willing to b-bet practically all of the st-statues in this p-place are petrified p-people," Marigold remarks with a shake of her head. "Vhalantru or wh-whoever he is has b-been doing this for quite awhile it s-seems. Hopefully once we f-finish here we can h-help the rest of them..."
Eidi approaches to JJ "Can I young Sir?" with a calming touch of the elder JJ's fatigue disappears "Until you hit my age you will not know what true fatigue is" the half-elf smiles wide, wrinkles all around his lips and eyes appear, but his elven nature otherwise maintain the rest of his face quite spared.
"I can make all of us float down, but for coming up someone will need to tie up a rope here" looking at Marigold "But seeing you can fly, that will be easy, to fly up and tie up a rope around one of the statues, isn't it? Does any of you have one?"
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Maxim waves off the dutiful dwarf;
"Nevermind. Was hopin' ye recognised some o' 'em. As fir if they are art or petrified souls... we ain't sure, but likely the latter. Hence the importance o' yer vigil."
The gun-mage nods back towards where he found Karlsgran;
"Speakin' o' which, I'll not keep you from actin' as our sentinel kinsman."
As talk turns to rope, the blonde beard banishes any thoughts of the hangman's noose and the half-elven codger...
"Ain't sure Gramps... Recall my Bror might have a hempen coil on his pack."
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"Not just any rope, Bror. Skie's version ties itself, and takes commands." Kikinnin takes a moment to transfer the contents of his current backpack to the doppelganger's Handy Haversack, before producing his Rope of Climbing, and securing it to the most rotund statue circling the Pit.
The Rope knots up to a length of 50', and Kikinnin nods approvingly. "Alright, my Ring will let me drop without trouble. If you all are ready?" Kikinnin gives a nod of respect to Eidi, having lifted the fatigue from JJ's shoulders.
With that, Kikinnin holds Eldgammel's glow over the Pit, then steps off the ledge, and drifts downwards, expecting a fight before too long...
As Kikinnin secures the rope and then allows himself to drift down into the pit Marigold silently calls upon her powers of flight and prepares to head down after him...