Tirnel sends his lights down the corridor and ~detect magic~.
Do the prone centaurs appear alive?
Kieran does not detect any magic.
The centaurs do not exhibit any signs of being alive, they are absolutely still.
Any sense of immediate evil nearby Ibram?
detect evil
Nothing specific, the whole room reeks of residual evil. You can only imagine the torture and abuse of prisoners that occurred in this place.
Nothing for it then...
Kieran enters the area and looks into the two closed cells before examining the bodies in the open cells.
The open cells are empty. The closed cells contain the dead centaurs and Kieran finds them locked. From outside the cell it doesn't look like the centaurs have anything of value. One appears to be a male and the other a female. Their clothing is little better than rags.
Looks like whatever happened here...well we missed it. At lease we are not in time to save these pour souls. I'm no friend of centaurs, but I don't think it's right for any creature of free spirit to die in these conditions. Let's go check the other door.
Opens the other door with everyone else relatively close to support just in case but far enough away not to get caught in the immediate blast of anything.
The door opens onto a 30x30' room. The room has 6 alcoves, 3 to the left and 3 to the right. You can see broken pottery within the alcoves. The center area of the room also has 3 large pillars holding up a 40' high vaulted ceiling. You can also see a door on the far wall.
Interesting...
~detect magic~
+16-18
Tirnel detects faint residuals of magic and can discern the pottery is of cyclopian design. He believes this is a burial chamber and the alcoves would be for ashes, maybe placed in the pottery? However, even though there is broken pottery there does not appear to be a lot of ash.
Looks like the craft of cyclopses. Quite strange actually, not sure where all the ash from the broken pottery has go to? Looks like another door to check Kieran.
Tirnel ~detects magic~ on the door as he advances towards it.
I'm adding cyclopses to the list of things I'm not fond of. Let's see if this door yields us any better results.
Tries the door.
As Tirnel and Kieran advance towards the door, two creatures materialize seeming to ooze out of the pillars holding up the ceiling. Each deathly being appears to be comprised of smoke and has a pair of elongated arms with filthy claws. They slither silently through the air to attack Kentaur and Kieran who discover that the creatures' claws pass through their armor as if it wasn't there.
So attacks are versus your Touch AC: no armor, no shield, no natural armor.
Kentaur
DC18 Fort save or
DC18 Fort save or
Kieran
DC18 Fort save or
DC18 Fort save or
-2 CON
-5 WIS
-17/97 HP
60/90 stoneskin used
8 HP damage to Kentaur
Can arrows hurt smoke beings?
Clustered shots
+16-18
When in doubt, use ye ole trusty magic missiles...
channel energy to damage undead
-24 hp
channel energy to damage undead
If stoneskin was 22 minutes, it should probably be gone by now. And yes agree spell does say it only protects against weapons.
The channeled energy and magic missiles appear to do their normal damage to the creatures. Kieran second attack misses and his other attacks seem to do considerably less damage as the deathly things are only partially within the material plane and there is little for his arrows to bite into.
Tirnel recognizes the creatures as some type of incorporeal soul eater, they don't do a lot of physical damage but if their attacks drain too much wisdom from a victim their soul can be consumed.
On Kentaur:
DC18 fort or
DC18 fort or
On Kieran:
DC18 fort or
DC18 fort or
insane, must be a glitch in the matrix, normal damage only
2 CON
-5 WIS
-17/97 HP
-2 CON
-8 WIS (out of 10)
-20/97 HP
-3 HP to Kentaur
Feeling REALLY sluggish....
Clustered shots
Can't evade THESE, creature. Too bad I don't have any more....
Cast Lesser Restoration on Kieran for WIS
channel energy to damage undead
-42 hp
The party finishes off the creature attacking Kieran and it disolves into nothing, the other creature flees back into the column.
-2 CON
-6 WIS (out of 10)
-20/97 HP
Rough going now. Smoke monsters. Better to give me some more zombie cyclopses...
Always trouble underground...
Well done fellows!
Kieran is pretty confused and is unable to plan for anything but what is directly before him and glaringly obvious. (4 wisdom)
Nothing notice by Tirnel that wasn’t previously stated.
Cast Lesser Restoration for WIS on Kieran
-2 CON
-3 WIS (out of 10)
-20/97 HP
Kieran tries the door.
2 CLW wand on Kieran
6 CLW wand on kentaur
13 charges left
-10 hp
-2 CON
-3 WIS (out of 10)
-8/97 HP
Opens (tries to) the door
The door opens to a 20'x20' room, the wall to the right contains another door. The rooms walls are covered in depictions of what looks like ancient cyclopian life.
What does Tirnel know of the depictions? +16-18
~detect magic~ on the room
-2 CON
-3 WIS (out of 10)
-9/97 HP
If it looks safe Kieran will advance to the next door and open it with the rest of the party trailing at a safe distance.
Tirnel doesn't know much about cyclopian history but the depictions do appear to be old, if well preserved. No magic detected.
How many feet does Kieran consider a safe distance?
Since the room is 20x20 he has the rest of the party stand just inside the entry from the other doors (about 20').
Kieran opens the door onto a wide chamber that appears to be a natural cavern and is hit with a wave of hot air that carries the stink of sulfur and tar. The ceiling rises about 35-40' above the floor and is covered with stalactites. A huge bubbling lake of dark fluid fills most of the cavern except for a small area next to your door and another area on the far side where there is another large door. The lake appears to be about 50' across and only a few feet deep.
Welp, no way across. I guess that's it; I'm not getting all THAT on MY boots. Back to Brevoy....
Kieran looks at the rest of the party for ideas.
If there are no other or better ideas, I can ferry each of you over using a fly spell.
If it's to be done, I'll do the flying. Save your spells for later, eh?
When everyone's ready...
-2 CON
-3 WIS (out of 10)
-9/97 HP
~detect magic~ just in case
Cast Fly and take Kieran, than Ibram, lastly Tirnel.
Tirnel is able to discern that the waters of the lake will cause moderate burns and the air is going to be similar to a stinking cloud.
Let's go for a Teleport. What do you think?
As loathe as I am to use my teleport spell, I don't see much of an alternative. If we fly and become nauseated by the gasses we risk losing our concentration and thus the spell. Dropping from a height into the muck seems much worse than just traipsing through it directly. Give me a few moments.
Tirnel spends the next few minutes intensely and carefully studying the clearing on the small side of the room.
OK, here we go. Hold hands.
Once the circle is complete:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/t/teleport/
The gang makes it to the far side! You are standing directly in front of the door, your backs to the boiling lake.
DC16 Fort save for everyone or become nauseated.
I think my stomach is finally getting used to.....
BLAAAAAAGH!
Come on elf...
Kieran opens (or tries to) the door and help shepherd the distressed through and into the next area.