"It may not be possible to find. A clever lich will have hidden and protected it well. However, we should certainly try to locate it if we can. The Quill would be a good start. Otherwise some other form of divination magic might be required."
"If Azaven is going to return, then let's cripple him. Let's gather his spellbooks and notes and burn them. Locate his tools and render them beyond useless. Find every magic item in here that you didn't previously own and destroy it. "
"Well burning the magic items might be a bit excessive. We should take them and sell them, should we not?"
"We need his notes for something, if I recall. Something about a well? It's fuzzy, but I don't think destroying his knowledge is the right thing to do."
Ryli begins searching the chamber for treasures and the mystery phylactery.
"My apologies. I forgot to mention that utter destruction was our extreme option," Jeevika clarifies. "That being said, the last thing I want to do is sell someone a lich phylactery. As for burning anything, I was solely referring to his spellbooks. That seems like a nice little farewell present if he somehow survives."
"Well, let's look around. I detected four humanoid figures before we hopped down here. What are they, I wonder?"
As the fog and tentacles dissipate, your surroundings come into focus. This crypt contains three stone sarcophagi, each bearing detailed carvings of hundreds of capering skeletons and dancing corpses. It is from these carvings the screams and beams come from, for every few seconds (every 2 rounds), they animate and point all about the room, and small beams of purple negative energy fills the chamber as the skulls and heads throw their heads back in a wail. This happens twice more before coming to an end.
One of the sarcophagi contains 11 spellbooks with a wide range of spells within their. The varied nature of their bindings, notations, and specialities would lead an experienced caster to think these are likely trophies from defeated wizards, kept as a source of knowledge. These each have various occasional notations regarding arcane studies written in Thassilonian in the margins.
The second coffin holds 7,000 gp in various gems, jewels, and fine linens, an eversmoking bottle, a golembane scarab, and another collection of spellbooks seemingly bound in flesh. Also included here are Setsuna’s bag of holding and handy haversack, though notably missing is The Quill.
"Well, unless he can store his soul in a gem, I believe we destroy the bottle and the scarab, then wait and see if he comes back. And maybe do something about those stone heads that shoot the negative energy as well. They've stopped for the moment, but an undead wizard like him probably would create it to recharge and go again."
"I agree. We can use my adamantine blade to destroy those stones," Jeevika declares. "That was negative energy. Our Death Wards are probably the only reason we have not joined my daughter, and they will not last forever."
If possible, Jeevika starts working to destroy the three stone sarcophagi with her adamantine sword. She tenative stabs one. If nothing happens (such as more random wraiths falling on top of the Rangers), she hacks all three into pebbles and only stops when they cease radiating magic. Unless anyone objects, she also destroys the bottle and the scabbard.
"Let's go look for the Quill. Otherwise, we will have to wait until tomorrow for me to prepare Locate Object."
As the third sarcophagi is destroyed, a large pulse of green and purple energy similar to earlier erupts from it, momentarily taking the form of the face of an agonized Azaven wailing helplessly before dissipating once more.
The Quill is still nowhere to be seen within this hidden chamber, or the one above.
Ryli assists in the search for the quill, including any recessions that may be in or behind the sarcophagi.
"...Did I just accidentally destroy his phylactery?" Jeevika wonders aloud in disbelief.
She spends a good minute laughing at the utter absurdity of the situation.
She frowns when the Quill fails to appear.
"Didn't that lich have a desk somewhere? Let's look there."
Jeevika retraces her steps and starts looking for Azaven's desk.
Ryli blinks in near disbelief. Finally, she slowly nods in agreement. "You may have. That saves us from having to rush through searching this wing. However, I'd like to go back and make sure Kallie is okay."
She spins, turning into a whirling air elemental, and flies quickly back to the Halls of Wrath.
Searching the desks do not yield the Quill. Just notes on necromancy and the like.
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Jeevika enters the southernmost chamber and sees that within the entrance of the chamber is a large statue of a creature with the lower body of a serpent, the torso of a woman, and a head shaped like a Sihedron Rune.
A single sarcophagus of gold sitting atop a white marble plinth at the far western end of this wide hall. The bas-relief lid depicts a handsome man holding a sprig of grapes and a bottle of wine crossed over his chest. The eyes are large star sapphires and the grapes appear to be individual gemstones that could be worked free with the right tools. Five wide alcoves in the room are carved with dozens of narrow niches, each of which contains a different bottle of what appears to be wine.
As Jeevika passes, the statue springs to life and turns to face her! It swings twice but fails to connect with the nimble elf!
Not exactly worried about a mundane statue, Jeevika starts taking several swings at the statue.
Jeevika’s blade clangs off of the metal plates covering the clay statue harmlessly. It pulses with magic, and begins moving with lightning speed, tough Jeevika dodges the attacks easily.
Jeevika starts to take more calculated swings.
Her first swing digs into the body of the golem, and comes out coated in a thin layer of clay. She continues to nimbly dodge the golem's attacks.
__________
Time to try another strategy.
Jeevika vanishes... and suddenly reappears behind the golem!
"Hey, ugly!" "Jeevika" calls out as she gets ready to continue her dancing.
(The real Jeevika steps away from her old spot and starts to cry tears of blood.)
The golem pounds her fists through the illusion, immediately realizing it for what it is. As she searches for the hidden Jeevika, the elf lashes out at the statue and wounds it. The golem pounds its fists at her, but fails to connect. Then, it rears back its head and the rune shaped skull begins to glow red! It lashes out at everything around it, it's fists clanging the floor and wall in the process! Four wraiths appear and immediately sense Jeevika and move to attack. While the golem targets the wraiths mindlessly, Jeevika focuses on eliminating it. Eventually she slashes through it's clay torso, and the golem falls into two halves to the floor.
She then systematically eradicates the four wraiths one by one.
Jeevika stumbles back to Eugeni and Zoli.
"I went for a walk around most of this wing. I have not checked that strange dark room to the north, but I was not able to find the Quill anywhere else in these blasted crypts.
"The only thing of note was a sarcophagus plated in gold. Not much. Perhaps 800 gold pieces worth if we spent like 8 hours of work scrapping it all off. Of greater value, the gold sarcophagus has two star sapphire eyes about that are likely 1,000 gp each and dozen amethyst grapes each worth perhaps 300 gp. I also found 68 bottles of wine in that room. I would place them at about 100 gp each. The Runeforge’s aura seems to have kept them in perfect condition. I say that we take the gems and wine."
Her face appears to be covered in blood. She realizes that she is attracting stares.
"What? Setsuna's father priced trade goods for a living, so I picked up some tidbits. And it was an enthusiastic walk! Now let's go rejoin my grandmother, shall we?"
Eugeni protects the trove of spell knowledge from the vengeance-maddened elf. When she goes off searching for the quill, he settles in to skim the tomes. "Perhaps both of you should go check on Kallie. I don't think there is much threat left in this wing, I will wait here for Lady Jeevika to return," he says to Zoli and Ryli.
"...Of greater value, the gold sarcophagus has two star sapphire eyes... that are likely 1,000 gp each and a dozen amethyst grapes each worth perhaps 300 gp," Jeevika says suddenly, seemingly correcting herself from earlier. "Well, now we know where Setsuna got that little quirk from, don't we?"
Once Jeevika is back, Eugeni collects the tomes. "Zoli and Ryli went to check on the babe. We should go join them. I must continue to study these books. The amount of spell knowledge here is staggering."
Ryli shifts back to her centaur form, trotting up to Olympus and patting the side of his great head. "Thank you, old friend," she says softly. Then she picks up her foal and coos as she rocks her gently in her arms.
Jeevika nods and takes a moment to recharge her shield with holy energy.
"With Azaven almost certainly dead, I see no harm in keeping them. My shortest buffs also just expired, which means that it has been just over fourteen minutes since we entered this wicked place. Hopefully, little Kallie was okay for that brief amount of time."
As Jeevika leads the way back to the others, she pauses briefly as they pass by the northern dark room.
"Tomorrow, I would like to inspect that room. It is the only place I have not looked, but I would rather investigate when I am back at full strength. Something tells me that it would be foolish to just leave it be."
The baby is indeed fine, and the group is able to return to Wrath unaccosted. You are able to rest without any attack on their person.
Ryli is moving about the Halls of Wrath in a brisk canter with Kallie in her arms when the others arrive. She slows down when she sees them, and waves them over.
"Was there anything left in the Gluttony wing? Sorry I left so soon, but I couldn't bear to stay away from Kallie any longer."
She observes the stacks of tomes that Eugeni is carrying. "Anything in there that can give you a centaur stallion's form? I could use a little... recreation. If you don't mind," she asks with a pointed glance.
"I could not find the Quill. There is a rather sinister dark room to the north that I did not inspect. I would like to investigate it tomorrow when we have recovered. There was also a small treasury of trade goods in what looked like the chapel. I would like to collect them; as trade goods, we can directly exchange them for the diamond needed to bring back Setsu."
Jeevika suddenly facepalms.
"I also neglected to look for any remains of my daughter besides an obvious corpse. That is alright; locating any fine... leftovers with sight alone would probably prove impossible. As such, I will prepare several Locate Object spells to find some hair or blood."
Jeevika continues to massage her temples.
Something on her hand stands out.
It appears that she has reacquired a rather familiar ring...
Eugeni pauses at Ryli's request. I suppose there are some advantages to being the only male in the group.
Eugeni clears his throat. "I too could use some non-committal relief of tensions," he admits. "Things have been extremely dark and stressful of late."
"With my current repertoire I can assume the form of any humanoid male you might find pleasing. Are you completely opposed to inter-species...recreation? If so, then I will need to locate a copy of monstrous physique II in order to fulfill your request."
While Ryli and Eugeni are busy, Jeevika watches her little Aunt Kallie. Afterward, she spends most of the remaining day meditating and dancing.
Ryli considers Eugeni's answer. "Oh! I can also assume any of my prior incarnations. Do you have any preferences for race or species? I've been human numerous times -- more times than I can count, to be honest."
She shrinks down into the Tian woman she briefly changed into in the Gluttony wing, then she shifts into a regal woman of Azlanti stock. A few seconds later, she morphs into a dark-skinned beauty with hair in tight braids.
"But if you prefer, I could recall an Elven incarnation," she continues, shifting into a lithe elf with golden hair and turquoise eyes.
She suddenly looks pensive, biting her knuckle and looking away. "Huh. That's... odd."
"Actually, I would like to lie with a female orc if you do not mind. I've never had the chance. To be honest, there are many female forms that arouse my curiosity, never having had much experience in the realm of romance. I will take the form of a male orc?"
Ryli turns back to Eugeni and refocuses from whatever had distracted her before. She nods slowly after a moment, closing her eyes as she searches her myriad past lives for an orcish female. After a few seconds, she shifts to a olive-hued orc with muscular biceps, dainty tusks and a slightly upturned nose.
She takes a moment to move her hands up and down her body, noting the powerful thigh muscles nicely exposed because her centaur form hadn't needed pants.
"This will do," she says gruffly. "I seem to be attuned differently to the various wings. That elf I was was so uncomfortable that I was completely turned off. But with me here in Wrath like this? Heh, boy, I hope you're up for doing more than just laying with me."
Eugeni concentrates for a moment and shifts form into a surprisingly healthy looking male orc. His skin is perfectly smooth, his tusks intact. He lacks tattoos or scarring so typical among the orcs. He has long black hair and a long beard, and stands slightly taller than Ryli-orc. A tusky grin later he says, "Heh! I almost feel like my old self in this body. C'mon, I doubt the others want to watch or listen."
Eugeni takes Ryli by the hand and leads her to a more private part of the wing, where they can recreate in peace.
Some noises reminiscent of a menagerie at feeding time echo down the halls, and about forty minutes later the pair return covered in a thin sheen of sweat and smelling of love.
Eugeni cracks his neck and shoulders, grinning. "Thanks, I needed that more than I knew. So much death...always death. Feels good to live a bit." He gives Ryli a hug and a peck on the cheek.
She gives Eugeni a joint-popping squeeze back, then she shifts into her normal centaur form. She smiles back at him. "And I needed that too. Ever since coming back to life in that wing of Lust, I've been... well, ready for it. Promise that you'll get that spell? No offense, you were great, but sometimes a filly needs a stallion."
She canters back to Kallie, scoops her up and settles for some nursing while she rests and reflects.
"I notice I haven't needed food here in this place. I should be famished. And Kallie seems to nurse more for comfort, not for sustenance. I guess that's a good thing?"
She notes how much the foal has grown already, the stubby legs beginning to lengthen and gain strength. She thinks she'll be walking on her own in a week.
"I am fairly certain the spell should be in one of these grimoires. I will need quite some time to sort through and interpret all of them though."
Ryli sighs and swishes her tail back and forth as she looks at him. "Okay. I suppose you should focus your attention on learning if Azaven had notes on how to activate the Runewell and forge these weapons within it. But, you know, keep looking."
Zoli wishes Eugeni and Ryli well as they head off for a romp, but the moaning brings back traumatic memories of her time under Delvahine's control.
She goes over to Kallie and strokes the foal's fur, as much to comfort herself as the youngling. "Does it weird you out to hear your mom getting busy out there? Heck, she's kind of my mom too, sort of, in a weird way. So I guess 'Ew' for me too.
"Hey! I guess that makes us like sisters, right? Half-sisters. We've got a pretty kooky family, sis...but you can count on your Lil Big Sis to look out for you."
___________
In the morning, Zoli wakes early. "Alright, everyone ready to go check out that last room in Azaven's wing?"
Eugeni wakes feeling more refreshed than he has in some time. He casts his normal array of daily spells before floating over to meet the others.
"I believe I am ready, yes. I have memorized a devious new spell that can permanently blind even a powerful opponent. Hopefully it will come in some use."
"Before we go, let me take a minute to cast a spell. It will bind us all together, and should I wish, teleport us back to this spot in a moment's notice. However, you must all remain within thirty feet of me at all times if the spell is to work. It will even capture the remains and gear of any of us should the worst occur."
Eugeni then spends a minute chanting, and casts getaway on the group, with the return point being their resting place.
Ryli casts her usual repertoire of spells on herself and Olympus, along with barkskin on whoever wants it (Zoli for sure, but I can't remember if anyone else got a pearl of power for their own casting).
She again has Olympus stand guard over Kallie when they're ready to leave.
The walls of this room have been plated in iron, each plate of which bears a single rune—the upside-down, hooked “U” shape. What appear to be two ten-foot-tall smooth crystal pylons stand in the middle of the room. A rippling curtain of blackness shimmers between these crystals. On the opposite side of each crystal, strange tendrils of black energy—reverse lightning crackling in extreme slow-motion—extend out from the crystals into spheres of roiling blackness in circular caverns to the le and right of the entrance. The air in the room is shockingly cold.