Joriannika exclaimed softly. "Oh, that poor soul..." She hugged her arms, shivering.
Hanzo stepped inside, still wary (just because people were dead didn't make them trustworthy, in his opinion), but went to the door that Thomas had pointed out. He went over it carefully, looking for a way to open it.
Hanzo noticed the one stone brick in the wall that looked slightly different, with a faint, thin outline, separating it from the rest of the wall. He pushed and the door opened. In the room at the end of this narrow corridor is a strange metallic contraption of gears and chains. A large lever extends out at a forty-five-degree angle from the front of it. Hovering above it is a small, roiling cloud of energy that periodically sends out sparks of electricity into the air or along the chains.
Guruthos peers down the hidden corridor at the sparkling... thing, but does not advance, hoping someone else knows what in the Nine Hells they are looking at.
Does the party head toward the mechanism and cloud of energy? Or do you leave this interrogation room to continue exploring the dungeon?
Hanzo held back with Guruthos. He wasn't about to get zapped out of curiosity.
"So... anyone else know what the heck that is? Is it what's left of the ghost we tried to feed?"
Joriannika gently shouldered them aside to get a better look. "I don't know about the cloud, but the lever hidden in a prison cell? That makes no sense. Maybe if we keep looking around, we'll find what it's supposed to open... or close."
As far as anyone in the party is concerned, there's a cloud in the middle of a prison.
Joriannika shook her head. "I don't know what that cloud is doing here, but the lever's chains look like they run toward something in the area we haven't looked in yet. The cloud has apparently been here all this time; it'll be here when we come back, if we need to. I'd like to see what the lever is connected to."
Hanzo nodded, backing away from the cloud. "Well, I wasn't planning on sticking my hand in it or anything. You guys good? I say we go, unless you know something about it."
Guruthos releases a gravelly hum, then backs slowly from the room.
Thomas agrees and follows the group.
You exit the narrow corridor and the larger interrogation chamber, back into the odorific corridor.
What do you do?
Guruthos proceeds to investigate the remaining cells in this block.
Every cell is locked like the others in this section were, and each held the remains of a forgotten prisoner.
After you check the last cell, the corridor comes to a dead end, with a slight nook to the right. Guruthos easily spots the door that probably used to be secret and well-hidden. Similar to the one on the opposite end of this hallway. It's not rigged and there are no traps. The door looks unlocked, but closed.
Over each body, Guruthos salutes the spiral, then moves on. Once he reaches the no-longer-hidden door at the end, he waits for the rest of his party. He fully expects that Joriannika is holding full funeral rights for every corpse.
She's not wrong; these bodies should be properly cared for. Once our mission is complete, I shall return and carry the bodies to the surface for proper ceremony and burial.
Thomas was disappointed to not find anything useful. Well, and the strange cloud, of course. He followed the others eagerly, not caring much for the funerals, but he didn't want to seem blunt, too.
Hanzo spared a dismayed look for each of the corpses, but he searched the rooms as well while Guruthos made his Pharasmin sign.
"Nothing," he muttered in disgust as they came away empty-handed.
At the no longer hidden door, he called back to Thomas and Joriannika, "Are you coming? Or did you decide to stick your hands in the cloud after all? Maybe they're looking for en-lightning-ment," he joked to the stoic elf as they waited.
Joriannika was the last to arrive, having said a quick, quiet prayer over each of the dead, just as Guruthos expected.
"One more pun like that, and you'll be happy to be grounded. Grounded, get it? ...Never mind." She sighed as Hanzo gave her a blank stare. Some things might just be alchemist humor.
"are you a sure this is the time for such flashy humour? Show some respect..." Thomas grinned shamefully and quickly walked on.
Hanzo snickered. "That was a good one," he grinned at Joriannika, jerking his thumb at Thomas.
Joriannika groaned. "I shouldn't have encouraged you all."
Guruthos' eyes roll behind his mask, and he begins to wish he had stuck to building traps for the hunting lodge. Once the humans are done... humaning, he hands his torch to Joriannika, makes sure everyone is in place, then opens the door.
There is a very slight rush fresh...er air, but most of the air pressure was equalized when the first door opened so it's very minor.
Directly across from you is an open cell that appears to be empty. This corridor runs West and East. To your left the corridor stops short and bends North. (You didn't see anything like that on the opposite side of the cell bloc). To your right, the corridor stretches for about 20 feet before it comes to a T. The intersecting path seems to run North and South.
As each of you emerges from the forgotten bloc, you all notice a curious semicircular stone ridge along the ceiling of the hallway.
Guruthos examines the stone ridge closely for traps.
If none are found, he will investigate the cells. He begins by examining the empty cell across from the door, then moves to the right to investigate each cell (including any they missed).
Guruthos inspects the ridge up above suspiciously. He taps it a few times, getting a hollow sound in response. It doesn't seem to be a trap, though.
All the cells you come across are open and empty, with nothing of interest.
"Should I poke it?" Thomas asks, pointing with his spear at the stone ridge.
Guruthos points at the ridge and traces the path to the wall opposite the room with the cloudy mechanism and grumbles, **"Chain."**
He will check each cell until he finds something, doing the spiral salute for any corpses found. If nothing else is found, he will move back towards the west corridor, presuming the team joins him.
Guruthos returns to the corridor with the ridge after checking each of these cells. They were all opened and empty.
"No need to waste any more time here."
Finding nothing, Guruthos moves back to the Western corridor and follows it North, making sure the team is following, and keeping an eye out for traps.
Hanzo keeps an eye out for danger as well, going with Guruthos.
Joriannika wonders whether this place has been explored by the kobolds at all. She walks alongside Thomas, remarking now and then on the architecture.
Guruthos, followed by Hanzo, with Thomas and Joriannika bringing up rear, travel the corridor north until it bends to the left. There's a strong looking door about 15ft in front of you.
"Another door! Who'd have guessed that?" Thomas marked ironically.
"Well, I don't see anything suspicous. What about you?" If nobody found any traps, Thomas would try to open the heavy door.
When no traps are found, Thomas nudges past his companions to try to open the door. It wasn't locked, but at first attempt it wouldn't open. It seemed stuck.
His muscles flexing Thomas leans the spear next to the door and starts pushing it with his flat hands.
The door looked tough, but Thomas was definitely tougher. He made it seem almost easy. The door swung open and what was beyond sent a cold chill down everyone's spine. There can be little doubt what purpose this chamber once served. The dank room stores an ancient rack, a fanciful brazen bull, an iron maiden, a cauldron, iron chairs with sharp edges and cruel protuberances, and a wooden table upon which sit various implements of torture. The skeletal remains of an unfortunate soul sit in the northern most iron chair. A bronze plaque affixed to the western wall depicts a crowing rooster above crossed spears. Underneath the spear, a short phrase is inscribed.
However, for someone possessed by a demon, you are of incredibly sound mind. The fleeting impulse to sit in one of the torture chairs lasted but a moment before you shake it off.
At first the room seems empty. Thomas seemed to stand unnaturally still for a moment, slightly longer than the blink of an eye. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a tiny raven appears on the opposite side of the room, perched on top of the bronze plaque. He addresses you all, speaking in a shrill voice:
"Greetings, fine citizens of our glorious empire! So good to have visitors, though I fear I have no refreshments to offer. I assume you are here for the treasure. Well, I'd be happy to assist, provided that you give me what I require! It has been so long since I was able to ply my trade. I require only that each of you shed your life's blood in this room - simply take a seat in one of my lovely chairs."
What do you do?
The masked elf stares at the raven from behind behind his mask for a moment, eyes narrowed. Then an eerie sound begins to emanate from under the wooden visage... starting with a hiss, then a gravelly groan, and finally the sound of undulating stones erupts from the elf.
His companions wonder if the elf is dying, or has suddenly learned to cast some malevolent curse; then they realize that the elf is laughing at the bird.
HAHAHAHAHAHA...
An unnerving yet full belly laugh continues for a few seconds, until the elf calms himself, then looks at the bird and says in his charcoal tone,
"No!"
Distracted from her outrage over the room by the bizarre bird - and Guruthos' unnerving laughter - Joriannika peered inside with suspicion matching Hanzo's.
"Who or what are you?" she asked, sliding her rapier free, just in case. Her abruptness displayed her state of mind - already angered by finding implements of torture, she wasn't about to give in to the bird's request.
Hanzo leaned against the wall outside the room nonchalantly. Weird was weird, but once you'd heard Guruthos laugh... maybe the others didn't realize how odd it was. He hadn't laughed the whole way from the city. Not even at really good jokes.
"What treasure are you talking about?" he asked, cleaning his nails with his dagger. "It'd have to be pretty good to get me or my fellows here in there. Like, were you planning on making new gods today, or...?"
He laughed at his own joke, and squinted at the plaque, trying to read the inscription.
"I think we should close up this whole thing and set fire to it," Joriannika said crossly. "Those kobolds had the right idea about this place!"
"After we get the bodies out, of course," she amended.
Thomas shook his head, confused by the impulse to enter the torture chamber. Who would want that? But he was quick in shaking it off and grabed his spear to shine some light into the room.
He glanced at Guruthos for a brief moment, but that elf was so weird that Thomas wasn't even surprised anymore.
The raven, wide-eyed, looks at Guruthos, Joriannika and Hanzo when each speaks, its head moving in little jitters, snapping to each each speaker's eyes.
"Now that you are here, you pretty thing, I am but your humble servant, wishing to grant my redeemers with the reward they deserve! This is the treasure I speak of! A king's ransom, it is! However, the path to that treasure requires some sacrifice. The way cannot be opened without the shedding of blood," the raven caws almost giddily. Then, to clarify, it adds, "Not much, mind you. Just four willing souls to take a seat in these chairs is all it takes, and the way shall be revealed! Please! Please, take a moment and discuss! I'm sure you will all reach the right conclusion."
The raven cocks its head to the side and watches the party.
While it was speaking, Hanzo attempted to read the writing on the plaque it was perched on, but from that distance, in this light, and the etched message being so small, he'd have to move closer to make it out.
When his laughter subsides, Guruthos looks at the plaque; his low-light vision adjusting so he can see the letters more clearly.