Recoiling in disgust, Odebie takes a wild swing at the corpse-thing with the pointy end of his hammer.
Fi attacks the offensive blob, her sword glowing with heat.
(including 1 fire from Scorching weapons)
It's only after Byron has mixed and thrown a bomb that it occurs to him that his action really makes no sense at all.
"Umm...Byron?
If the blob is still twitching, Osric will attack it.
Otherwise, he'll hold his attack until a torch comes into range.
Byron shakes his head slightly and goes over what just happened.
"Something is using mind-affecting magic," he reports clinically as he watches the results of his bomb.
Everyone in the party (except Byron) combines their attacks against the offensive thing - Ky La even draws a flaming long sword and slashes with some degree of proficiency.
Under the assault, the thing is punctured in several places, leaking more ichor on the floor. With one final heaving shudder, the pulsing tissue stops moving, and seems to deflate. As it does so, noxious fumes begin burning your eyes and throat.
The torches flare brightly for a moment as Byron's bomb cascades fire upon them. Suddenly, they flow downward to v'Manco's body, as if drawn into a vortex. A crackling, sparking sheet of flame fills the area between the disembodied arms and legs.
The limbs twitch and flex in a gross parody of life, and clumsily rise on unsteady, rotting legs. The roar of the fire seems to speak: "Fffi-helpp-lufff"
With stunning speed, the burning body seems to fly more than run toward Fi. It wraps her in an embrace that reeks of putrid flesh and singed hair. "Beee-wiff-meee"
"Fi! Damn it!" Holding his breath, Odebie reverses his grip and sweeps his hammer up at Corazon's - or at least his body's - knees.
Osric stumbles around a bit before vomiting on the throne.
"Whatever this spirit truly is it is remarkably persistant," Byron comments as he reloads and fires his crossbow.
Fiordelise attempts to force the thing that was v'Manco off her as his fire begins to comsume her. But caught off guard as she is, here struggles are somewhat feeble
Under the assault of magical weaponry, the shambling creature staggers and reels. It lets go of Fiordelise and drops to one knee. Struggling to rise, the thing seems to dry out and solidify before your very eyes. The decaying flesh and flaming body both slowly take on a texture of reddish-clay.
The creature wails as it legs and arms cease to move. The stone line creeps up its neck. As the flames sputter out, it is v'Manco's twisted face that appears once more. There is a strangled gasp as the face turns to clay: "Help-!"
The ifrit, or whatever he eventually became, is completely still. He is now simply one more naked statue caught in a moment of perversion and shame.
His cry echoes in the throne room, lingering longer than seems natural.
"Help"
"help"
"help"
Fiordelise steps back her chest heaving barely above panic, song forgotten. "Is this the last gasp of the dying Efreet, or is it merely playing with us?" she looks the others standing there, hoping someone can shed some insight.
Osric wipes his face off and tries to hide the existential dread this place imbues. "My suspicion is that whatever malignancy haunts this locale eventually consumes those it seduces. That wouldn't explain why it waited for us to do it, though. Whatever unknown power is behind all this, this place is holy to it. Intellectual curiosity aside, I suggest we do what we can to desecrate the place, potentially severing the connection."
Upon seeing the unknown runes, Osric will quaff his comprehend languages extract.
In terms of ongoing effects,
1) The statue of v'Manco seems utterly inert.
2) As you observed earlier, there is a decay in all the enchantments that are holding this place together.
3) You still sense a small thread of magic coming from the bloody mass of tissue on the floor, but it is so faint you would be surprised if it could even light a torch.
4) The throne and the altar are obviously magical, but without further assistance (like a spell or an extract) it is not possible to ascertain their exact nature.
Osric's guess is a good one - you are fairly confident that the strange occurrence with the statue was simply the consequences of v'Manco bonding with the efreet spirit and the ruby. His soul is likely trapped inside the statue.
Based on the sequence of events, it was likely Fiordelise that attracted the thing's attention again. It is difficult to tell if it was v'Manco or the efreet (or both) who held such an obsession with her, but it seems logical that her presence prompted the thing to action.
As for the thing on the floor, you surmise that that is the corporeal form of the efreet - at least, as much of a corporeal form as it was able to muster after being severed from its host (v'Manco) and losing much of its spiritual energy (in the ruby).
The runes, which seem to be a logographic language, whisper their meanings to your mind. The upturned smile, which appears quite often, is the name of a god you have never heard of. The physical manifestation of this god does not come through to you; the only thing you know is that it is not Volcano, Forest, River, Sky, or Dark. Even the name itself is nearly unpronounceable - the closest you get to a translation is "LN".
Roughly speaking, the main message of the altar is this:
The efreets dedicated this altar to LN, and were planning some kind of ritual to become servants of this god, rather than servants of Volcano.
However, there are several runes which are still incomprehensible - the ideas they are attempting to portray show up as dizzying blurs of color or migraine-bright lights behind your eyelids. ?SN OC LF ST GL VL DR? You are certain this message, and the event it describes, predates the Dark.
"Hm." While the others are busy inspecting the altar, Odebie takes a moment to collect his breath then goes to retrieve that staff.
Byron looks everything over carefully, his intellect working furiously to figure out what's going on. Finally he turns to the others and says, "The throne and altar still have magic and surprisingly the body has a faint aura still in spite of everything it would appear that efreet spirits if that's what it truly is are quite resilient though speaking of spirits it seems likely that v'Manco's is trapped within that statue as a side effect of bonding with the efreet."
She watches the bloody mass carefully while thinking "Do we need to seal that away too, since things don't seem to want to stay properly dead."
"I'd rather destroy it than seal it away, if possible. Sealing it away is what got us here in the first place. Let's try freezing it first, if possible, and if it's still twitching, perhaps a pool of acid."
"As long as we make sure it doesn't come back again"
As you take the staff in hand, there is an enormously loud sound, somewhere between a cracking boulder and a creaking tree. A...yawn?
A booming voice calls in Oread,
None of your companions have reacted to any of this; you realize the voice must have been in your head.
Fi and Osric, between the two of you, you have come up with a basic plan for trying to disrupt the energies of this place. Since efreets are traditionally seen as 'betrayers' of Volcano, enacting a rite for Volcano is a good place to start.
--In a triangle formation, place silver dust, a piece of iron, and a masterwork dagger. (Byron has silver dust, and Ky La has the other two)
--Osric will aid Ky La with the placement of the items
--Since Fi's Song has had such a strong effect in this place, singing a hymn to Volcano will be the start of the rite.
--As you discuss this, Ky La mentions having a scroll of consecrate on his person. He recommends putting the bloody thing on the throne, and he will cast the spell there once the other parts of the rite are prepared.
--Byron and Odebie can stand watch for any attacks that may happen during the rite
Wat? Wie is jy? Odebie thinks in stunned silence, his mouth frozen open. The strange staff not deigning to answer, he shakes his head to clear the cobwebs and stows the staff to inspect later.
Fi formulates a plan with Osric and Ky La, "Byron, Odebie, keep us safe, I don't think screwing up this ritual will make anything worse, but I'd rather not risk it."
Byron's response is a curt nod.
Osric, you set the three items in a triangle around the throne. Upon the silvery filigree chair lies a cold, congealed mass of sinew and tubes. On the northern point--the point of honor--you place the jagged iron piece. You nearly place the silver dust next, but Ky La stays your hand and gives you the fine dagger, to place at the eastern point. Finally, the inquisitor tosses the dusty gray pouch to you. As you pour silver dust over the western point, Ky La makes a deep hum in the back of his throat. This is the prelude to the hymn Fi will sing.
As this occurs, Odebie seems distracted, staring off at nothing rather than keeping lookout.
Fiordelise hears the cue to start. She closes her eyes to concentrate. But at just the wrong moment, one last whiny whisper echoes behind her ear, like a tiny v'Manco mosquito: "help"
Instead of a note, a squeak of surprise eeks out.
Byron, you notice that Fi's sour note disrupts one of the lingering maintainance spells in the room. The statue nearest to you develops a huge vertical fracture, which quickly propagates and splits the perverse shape into two pieces. The ruined pieces fall heavily away from each other, like sleepy children.
Underneath where the the fallen statue had been standing, you are surprised to see a sizable hole in the floor. You are still more surprised to note...something...moving down there. Slithering, in fact.
That is a darkspawn. You are 100% sure.
As mentioned in the other spoiler, you are certain that is a darkspawn. You are also sure it is an infector - a type of spawn that poisons elen and turns them into darkspawn as well.
Whatever action you decide to take (you still have a full round to react to this thing) will have some kind of a bous due to the high check.
Byron had, of course, packed his small sample of white obsidian with him, just on the off chance that they would meet a darkspawn in this place.
"Darkspawn infector!" he shouts as a brief warning to the others as he digs out the small, white ball and hurls it at the creature.
Osric's eye bulge at the hidden nightmare before them. "How did that get here? This curse is worse than we could've imagined."
Osric didn't expect to encounter darkspawn today and didn't bring anything that might be considered effective in combating it. I guess he'll spend his action trying to calm down Fi so she can finish the ritual.
O, pa van die bos red ons... Whirling around, Odebie readies his hammer and moves quickly to cover the hole while calling on the Grey Father's blessing to help him.
Fi, you have the horrid sensation of this throne room...noticing you. For a moment - you are overcome by the memory of finding Enzo in the gruesome scene at the v'Ricci mansion. You see, hear, even smell parts of that night over again.
Byron's marble of white obsidian does not strike the creature directly. However, as it bounces within proximity of the spawn, it freezes in mid-air and emits a piercing white light. The sludge-like beast seems to solidify under this light, like cracked mud.
As the spawn tries to crawl away from this light, Odebie strikes it with a brutal hammer blow. There is a thud as he connects with the brittle, cracked center of the writhing mass of tentacles. Almost immediately, the spawn fractures, and slowly crumbles into dust.
Byron, you would officially call that a successful field experiment.
"Volc Enzo, enough visions of your perversions", it's a weak joke and she doesn't really feel it, but it makes her feel a little better. +2 vs fear for rounds
pushing down her anxiety Fi clears her throat and begins afresh
"That was even more successful than I'd anticipated though now we are left with the question of why a darkspawn was here on top of all the other mysteries of this place," Byron rambles as he watches to see what his white obsidian does now.
For once, Osric will remain silent and look to Ky La, beckoning him to answer.
Ky La looks at you seriously behind his glasses. Stroking his silver goatee, he says, "Osric, that is a very good question...hmm..." He is obviously, transparently stalling.
Fiordelise's song bursts into the throne room, seemingly from the walls themselves. It is painfully loud, causing everyone's ear drums to ring You hear the bestial howls of rage that follow her song like sniffing bloodhounds follow a scent. Though it is recognizably a hymn to Volcano in its keys and progressions, Fi takes the slow, staid tune and jolts life, speed and fury into it, releasing it into the world.
In response, the iron, steel, and silver erupt into flames of crimson, indigo, and ivory. The heart upon the throne emits a piercing shriek that lasts but a second before being utterly consumed.
Ky La turns his head this way and that, gaping around as everyone's ears are ringing. If you follow his gaze, you notice the walls and statues are beginning to decay more quickly. He runs for the exit and motions all of you to do the same.