At Last - The Horn of Abaddon!
Grumble heads up the stairs nearly one hundred feet until he reaches the top.
As he ascends, the Ogre realizes that this area was supposed to be guarded. There are six arrow slits on both the east and west walls the first fifteen feet up. Forty feet into the passage a solid stone half-wall rises that could provide cover to two combatants. The top of the stairs of course would give any guardian an advantage of the high ground.
But there is no one here, at least not right here to challenge your entry.
Grumble peers into the darkness of the first doorway, it is a much narrower space. There appears to be yet another half wall at the end of that hall.
---
"A good place to be bored, if somebody comes knocking you can make them look like a pincushion." Nate muses as he looks at the arrow slits.
Errisaigh assesses the newcomer, but being somewhat new himself he doesn't pass too much judgment lest it also fall onto him. He shrugs at the new development and follows the headstrong ogre.
Grumblejack eyed narrowness of the doorway and the hall beyond andgrunted, then slowly began to contort and compress into the familiar shape of Sir Jack. By the time he was done he was almost a foot and a half shorter. He still would have to duck through the doorway, but now he'd fit.
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The Horn of Abaddon
Grumble proceeds down the L shaped hallway until he comes to an intersection. His Darkvision allows him to see that the hall extends at least 50' to the north. On the southern hall there are two doors and one door down the eastern hallway (40' away).
It is silent and very dark in here now that the light of the outside does not permeate this space. The place feels claustrophobic as if a weight presses in upon you all. While the feeling is not oppressive, it is not welcoming. You suspect that were you a group of Paladins of Mitra, you might feel differently...
"Hello darkness my old friend..." Errisaigh mutters, almost sing-song as if from an ill-remembered tune. Or maybe he's a terrible singer. He waits to see which way Jack goes.
Alice takes up a spot in the centre of the group.
"This is an unwelcoming place. We should be weary of traps."
Sir Jack's heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway. As he reached the first door he looked back at Alice for a moment, considered her warning, then shrugged and tried to open it.
The Horn of Abaddon
Havelyn steps forward, "Grumble, should we not look and see if some sort of trap is laid upon yon chamber door?"
He checks it and shakes his head, "The door seems fine but then I am no trapsmith..."
"You got a problem with what I'm doin', you can go first," Jack grumbled.
Then he opened the door with his boot just to drive home the point.
Ah, the stomp-and-pray method of trap detection. An excellent choice.
Raaven's mental eye-roll was practically audible.
I think his pride may still be tender from nearly losing a fight to a tree. Best let me handle him. the little daemon said to everyone in the group except Jack.
Oh, the old fashioned trap finding method. Better stand back a bit.
"Whatever works."" Errisaigh shrugs pragmatically. Mostly because he isn't in any particular danger.
The Horn of Abaddon
Grumble kicks in the door to a room which once stored the weapons and armor of the guards of the temple. Now it is empty holding little more than a few broken racks.
To the west is a single door.
Havelyn retorts, "Not a problem per se my large friend. Merely stating that there are better ways of moving through traps them having them explode in your face. Our resources for healing are limited. If we are to be successful in this campaign, we must conserve our resources, not squander them.
But you must of course do as you see best as you are the one who will be in the lead".
"Damn right," Jack grunted. He looked around the room disinterestedly, then continued down the main hall to the next door.
Raaven flitted ahead, invisibly checking the next door before Jack got to it.
"A fine and tangled knot this is." Errisaigh observes drily. He looks about for anything interesting that might have been left behind to steal, take or otherwise obtain.
The Horn of Abaddon - the Armory
Errisaigh searches the room but finds nothing hidden, the inner door leads to a guardroom. A long stone bench built into the north wall and tell-tale broken bits of barrel wood hint that once guards holed up here, ready and provisioned to guard this entryway for prolonged periods. But now there is only emptiness and quiet. To the west, arrow slits seen from the other side verify that there is no hidden wall here.
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The Horn of Abaddon - the Lab
Raaven finds no traps or at least he does not see any.
Grumble opens the door the "Ogre way" redecorating doorways with a more "open air" concept.
This room is much more interesting than the last. Broken glassware and alchemical equipment litter the floor in a random pattern of violence. Most interesting of all though is the "thing" that lays upon a stone slab which rests against the south wall. The thing appears to be several pieces of iron and metal constructed to look similar to a humanoid.
Errisaigh aooroaches the thing, and rests his gauntleted hands upon its frame. ”Appears to be a...construct of some kind. Mebbe a golem?” He shakes his head. ”Let’s just hope it doesn’t rise up and attack...”
"Oooh... You guys keep checking the other rooms. I'm going to study this one. Looks very interesting."
Alice looks the humanoid figure on the slab.
"Oh, an alchemical golem. Could probably salvaged. But it would costs a lot of resources."
Aurex barely fits inside, curling up near the entrance and waiting for the others to do the exploring in the rooms he can barely fit in.
Meanwhile Nate looks wholly uninterested in helping, rather choosing to pick at his fingernails with a dagger.
When nothing jumped out to attack them, Jack headed to the door at the end of the hall.
"Ah. Alchemical. Golem. Of course. Yep, looks like salvage." Errisaigh nods before moving on with Jack and Havelyn. "Come along Brian. Blessed Brian, you are a little out of your depth...I hope you can live long enough to keep us all alive. Tell me, have tou training in arts of war?" the direlock aks casually as they walk.
The Horn of Abaddon - the Lab
Alice wanders about the lab and finds items of interest among the junk: schematics for the alchemical golem, three ounces of stone salve, and an intact glass reservoir. The schematics give enough detail in the margins to perhaps even fix it but would take a good hour to study uninterrupted.
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The Horn of Abaddon - Guardroom
Raaven finds the door unlocked and untrapped. This time Grumble uses the door handle to open the door. There are a few pieces of broken furniture here and a one way piece of glass on the door at about average human height to see the coming sand goings on the hall, rather clever as it cannot be seen from the other side. Yet another door to the east and the south bid Grumble ever forward. Nothing else of interest is within.
Brian remains impassive as Errisaigh questions him, "Some, mainly ambushing the enemy. Certainly nothing of this sort. My plan is to stay back and allow you worthies to fight that which must be fought and assist you all as needed, such as Asmodeus wills".
-------
Errisaigh merely nods and follows Jack, giving Havelyn another nod as he passes him.
Jack walked into the room at the end of the hall and looked at the two doors. He picked the one to the South first.
[Ooc]Raaven takes 10 on perception again. Then Jack opens the south door.[ooc]
The Horn of Abaddon - Completely Empty Guardroom
Raaven again sees no traps and again Grumble opens the door. This time, to an empty chamber. Whatever was here, even the furniture must have been valuable as the place is empty save for dust and cobwebs.
This leave yet another eastern door for Grumble to explore.
Jack, predictably, chose the door that was now in front of him.
Alice itches to start studying the golem and the notes she finds. Hearing grumble still 'checking' doors she pokes her head around the corner of the room.
"Hey, mind if I take a good look at the golem? Looks like it is a lot more salvageble then I thought. It might even help us if we find something nasty down here. Golem cant get sick and all that."
Errisaigh pauses. Looks back, then looks to the door-opener.
"I'd be happy to assist, Alice. I'm a student of the arcane, though my speciality is usually as a foil to magicks rather than a creator..."
The direlock calls to Jack.
"Jack. If Alice can get this golem going again we should rest up for a while. If we can ascertain a quadrant of the complex that is empty or safe we can make a redoubt while she works."
Jack looked annoyed for a moment, then shrugged. He sat down against a wall, pulled out a children's book, and started reading.
I will continue to scout.
The Horn of Abaddon - the Smithy
Grumble opens one last door before being asked to stop. This chamber contains a forge in an almost functional state. There are bellows, a forge-fire and an anvil here all in fine shape. There is a bin for storing coal here as well, but over the years the coal has gotten wet from leakage through small cracks in the wall. Thus the coal bin must be cleaned of the foul soupy mess that current pollutes it.
Nothing else of interest here and Grumble decides this is as good a place as any to take rest.
There are no further doors to explore from this chamber.
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The Horn of Abaddon - the Hall
Havelyn, Nate, and Aurex hold the hall as a choke point versus anything that might decide to wander this way. As Alice and Errisaigh inspect the Golem, nothing does make its way in their direction.
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The Horn of Abaddon - Exploring the Quadrant
Brian stays in the guard room, a halfway point between Grumble and the rest of the gang while Raaven continues exploring the environs where the Mortals fear to tread, or at least, are not ready to tread.
Under the first door [1-21] Raaven finds a "trophy room" or what used to be a trophy room as the wall is discolored where such trophies likely once stood. Plaques still hang beneath where these trophies used to rest.
“Laedrissia the Beautiful who believed she need not honor her promises to us.”
“Markhan the Golden, the draconic protector of Lossewyn. He slept then and now he sleeps forever.”
“Kallister Feign, an illusionist too clever to keep his head.”
“Lazarus M. Who mourns for you now?”
“King Croc, 23 feet snout to tail, delicious on a spit”
“Iris of Ghastenhall, dead from a broken heart and a poison dagger.”
“The Great Serpent of Korokunga, slain for its venom”
“Lord Jurys Hallifax called the Just hid in his castle and hope we had forgotten. We hadn’t.”
“Snorri Five-Axe died on a sixth.”
“The ears of Lord Kelerrian. If only he had sense enough to listen.”
“Chief Gorgun Sakkathet, invincible in battle, careless in choosing his cup bearer.”
“Ergun Nigma, The third scion left in the House of the House Hyrhul, second greatest swordsman in the land, the first to die.”
Raaven's trained eye notices that “Iris of Ghastenhall” actually has a small silver ring mounted beneath the name.
---
Raven then slides under the next eastern door to explore [1-23]. This chamber contains a cage made of stout iron bars that run from floor to ceiling. Above this cage, which is in disrepair as the lock is broken and the door is open, is a chute.
Against the southern wall are set three heavy iron rings the perfect place to manacle prisoners.
---
Raaven slides underneath yet another door leading east [1-24]. This room is empty save a broken table and broken chair. A long dried spray of blood is in the corner on top of the ruined furniture.
To the north and south are more closed doors.
To the east is a holding cell [1-26]. A stout iron door with a small barred window controls entry to this plain stone cell. The door once had a fine lock but that was smashed. Inside the room are metal rings set in the wall that could secure manacles enough to restrain either fourteen medium size prisoners or ten medium sized prisoners and one large sized prisoner.
Heading North would take Raaven outside of the "quadrant" so he continues to explore south [1-25].
---
A sight that would warm Grumbles heart! A once fully functioning torture chamber now is sore need of repair. The chamber is a tangled pile of neglected metal and splintered wood for decades.
The Horn of Abaddon - the Golem
Alice and Errisaigh spend half a day looking over the manual as well as the Golem itself (named Artephius) and determine the following:
1. The Eye – Artephius even if activated would be blind. Its single glass lens has been shattered. The lens is entirely present however and so could be repaired using the make whole spell. Failing that, a new lens matching the exacting specifications of the schematics could be bought in Farholde. The cost would be the issue.
2. The Brain – Artephius needs a new human, dwarven, elven, half-orc or half-elven brain. No other race will do – they are not the right size and attunement. It need not be from a living person. Someone who died in the last twenty four hours from natural causes will do.
The difficulty is installing it. A skilled Alchemist would be required
to install the brain.
3. The Heart Cog – Artephius’ mithral heart cog was stolen. Without this critical component, Artephius will not activate. A new cog will have to be made. Fortunately, the exact shape is described in the schematics. A skilled Smith with 500 gp worth of mithral will suffice to make the heart cog.
4. The Reservoir – Artephius needs a new glass reservoir where the four primal reagents can mingle and power the golem. The glass reservoir was smashed during the battle and now the pieces are missing so make whole is of no help.
5. The Reagent of Fire – Artephius needs ten doses of alchemist’s fire.
6. The Reagent of Ice – Artephius needs ten doses of alchemist’s ice (sometimes also called liquid ice).
7. The Reagent of Acid – Artephius needs ten doses of a potent acid.
8. The Reagent of Electricity – Artephius needs a large supply of lightning elemental blood.
Once all the components have been assembled and the golem is repaired, Artephius will come to life by simply activating his heart pump.
Nothing of significant interest, Raaven said telepathically. "A trophy room lacking trophies. An empty cage. Wait... I hear movement from the floor above."
Alice happily hums while working on the golem.
After completing the work, she brings the others the news.
"Ok guys, good and bad news. The good news is, this golem can be made to function again. Bad news is, what is left of the lab doesnt have the components. Getting them made for us, will cost us some money."
Errisaigh nods and wipes his forehead.
"And likely time we don't have..."
"Nothin in the next few rooms. Raaven went up some kinda hole to next floor. Said he heard somethin'."
Without waiting for the others to be ready, Jack stowed his book and started opening doors again.
Alice waits a bit before following. Just in case 'sir jack' would find something with his 'door checking'.
The Horn of Abaddon - Up the Shaft
Raaven heads up the shaft which rises 100' into the space above the cage [2-1]. As he rises, Raaven realizes that this is indeed a (20' wide) pit trap designed to catch the unwary. Now it is an open pit on an upper level.
No one mans this defensive hallway as there seems to be no one left to do so, or is there?
Raaven hears some echoes from these halls. A croaking sound that perhaps could be a language...
The northern hallway curves to the left.
Behind Raaven is another hall that, based upon the breeze, seems to lead back outside.
The Horn of Abaddon - First Level
The group has secured a portion of the first level. All seems quiet. Havelyn has seen nothing from down the hallway.
Raaven headed in the direction of the croaking sounds.
Something is here. he mentally reported back to Grumble.
Jack replied with an audible grunt and headed to the other door in front of him.