Garret shrugs. "Doubtful, but there's no reason not to try it."
Holly nods to the Agathion, "Well, give it a try," She suggests with a slightly apologetic shrug. Summoning the truly intelligent creatures always gave her a little pause.
The agathion ventures into the adamantine-sheathed alcove and inserts the golden key into the floor keyhole. It looks up at Holly for another confirmation, receives it, and turns the key. Suddenly, the f;ppr pf the alcove shunts upward, pushing the agathion out of sight and into the ceiling of the alcove.
This movement also brings a single mithral-coated door, a pull hook on the front of it and no locks or anything present, into view as the ores shift upwards.
The agathion takes damage.
Shadassa turns to Ferrek. "Great -----ing aboleths," she says a little shakily. "Do we have a hooked pole? Preferably one that doesn't conduct electricity?"
Garret lets out a held breath. He shook his head at the Agathion's fate. The fact that it was not actually dead was little solace to him. He was fairly certain that it still felt what had just happened to it.
"Lets see if we can figure this out, Ferrek."
He took a good look at the door to try to suss out how dangerous it was.
Holly winced visibly and took a step back. "Ow. Oops." She mumbled to herself. This was why she didn't like summoning intelligent things.
Ferrek leans close in and sniffs at the mithral door. He prods it, carefully, with the end of his finger.
"Ain't nothin' weird about this door, seems. A little stuck, of course."
He takes a step back and a look at Garret. "A good hard pull won't kill you, and should open it."
Garret nods and gives the door a solid pull.
Garret's strong tug pulls open the heavy door, and reveals the 15-by-15 room beyond.
A pile of gems, coins, racks of weapons and closets full of armor are what are immediately evident on the inside of this mithral vault, but against the back wall is a stone bier. A thick layer of dust mixed with bone shards and a single, gem-encrusted skull lie atop the bier.
The vault itself is full of cobwebs and heavy with age. A haze of mist fills the air.
"This is definitely a trap." Garret said dryly, not moving into the vault.
Shadassa motions everyone to move away from the entrance. cast spells she mouths, and prepares Hide From Undead.
Holly peers around the Paladin, "Could you get more gaudy?" But she is hesitant to summon something else now.
"So do you casters have any tricks up your sleeves."
Aviel had been deep in thought about what to do. Playing a number of different scenarios out in his mind. When his cousin impatiently brought him out of his reverie it dawned on him that he had been over thinking their immediate situation. He realized that a few simple spells cast could alleviate a lot of their indecision.
"Hmm, that haze. This might take some minutes."
First he called up a servant followed by a pair of simple cantrips.
"You there. Grab that skull and bring it closer."
Shadassa casts Hide From Undead on everyone.
There is no poison, but most of the items in the room radiate pretty powerful magic. They seem to be potent magical items.
Besides that, the skull in the back of the room radiates magic, and reacts immediately as Aviel's unseen servant tries to pick up up. It immediately rises into the air of its own volition and lets out a bone-curdling shriek.
To the party members, who are far enough away from the skull that they aren't affected, it's only an unnatural and loud scream. But to Aviel's unseen servant, it's death - the translucent force pops.
Aviel recognizes the spell as wail of the banshee.
After the shriek, the skull settles right back onto its bier, not having noticed the party members.
"Wonder how many times it can do that before it runs out of breath." Garret said with an arched eyebrow. "Can you do that again?" he asked Aviel.
Aviels breathing came in short bursts as he tried to regain composure, the recent brush of death still wearing on his mind.
He slowly moved his hands away from his ears. Sometimes, he cursed having sharp ears. He had long suspected that Elves were more sensitive and thus more susceptible to sonic attacks than other races, and this only solidified his belief. Even though he was of mixed blood, it was enough.
He looked over at his cousin.
"Not that one in particular, and not many in any capacity. I had hoped to save them for more dire consequences... but I do not enjoy the prospect of dying again. Hollydania, I see you are hesitant to call up another creature, but you have to do so. It could mean the difference of life and death."
"Its undead," Hollydiana notes from behind Garret, "I doubt it has breath to run out of."
Still, she nodds, and says, "Well, I'll try not to summon something that will hold a grudge," She mutters, starting her circle behind the group.
This time what steps out of the circle is a white-haired creature that looks something like an elf. It has a long bow on its back, and silvery-blue swirling eyes.
"We need your help," She tells it, then glances at Garret, "What would you like her to try?"
He examined the Azata. "Yes, that one will do. If you would be so willing, have your companion try bringing out any number of the items one by one. Leave the skull alone. We can then examine them for magical properties. Hopefully some will be useful."
Garret sighed at the fact that they were once again subjecting a summoned creature to a likely painful experience, and then nodded. "Do it."
Hollydiana at least had the decency to look a bit sheepish. It was some consolation at least that the things she could call forth were generally good and could see the benefit in helping defeat evil - but this was treasure.
Still she nodded to her new Azata friend, and relayed the request, careful to add that touching the skull is a terrible idea.
Shadassa casts Hide From Undead on the Azata as well. "Just in case that helps," she says. "That shriek--Avriel, I can cast a spell that will protect from magical sound. Will that help?"
"Hmm, it may help. But only for those who are highly resilient to begin with. Garret for instance... but even then it might not be enough. You would be better served utilizing your magical resources to preemptively divert any such effects, rather than minimizing the impact of the effect."
The azata nods, voicing in a beautiful, lilting voice that it is happy to serve. Then it strides into the room, roots around for a moment before selecting a particularly impressive-looking jewelled bastard sword and lifting it into the air.
There is silence as the bejewelled skull rises into the air. Its eyes gleam with an inner white radiance as it opens its skull-mouth...
The bralani grits his teeth through a loud whooshing noise. The bralani's figure seems to blur, as if the essence of his "thereness" was being pulled away, but the bralani remains standing. "It can still see me!" he screams.
"Aboleths and kraken," says Shadassa quietly. She prepares to cast Communal Protection From Evil.
"Hmm, I see. Garrett, prepare to smash that skull! Focusing his will power, Aviel extends a hand and attempts to crush the skulls magic.
Aviel turns his hand towards the creature and casts a dispel spell, and rips some magic away from the skull - its eyes glitter with a little bit less inner light. However, he also removes the illusion protecting him from the thing's sight, and it turns to attack him and his friends.
Initiative:
Garret - 25
Shadassa - 22
Hollydiana - 22
Demilich - 20
Aviel - 18
Shadassa casts Protection From Evil Communal and taps everyone.
Seeing the creature continue to function, Aviel curses and begins to conjure up allies.
"Someone silence that screaming!" Garret said, as black and white spiral aura began to emirate and swirl out from him and the runes on his axe began to glow. He pulled his hood up over his head.