Gauntlet rushes forward from the back of the sphere and drives his Mindblade through the creature, extinguishing its flame once and for all!
---
This room once served as the living quarters for those working in the Whitehearth facility. Now only hints of the tables, beds, bookshelves, and bodies stick up from among the charred remains. The raging fires of the living flaming sphere that used this chamber as a lair have destroyed almost everything of value.
A 10-foot-long pool of cool, clear water occupies the first chamber, and a row of marble latrines is set against the walls in the far chamber.
Searching farther into this room, you discover a partially charred human corpse in a robe propped against the wall next to one of the latrines.
"Good job, big guy. B, take a look farther in." Frank says, stepping up behind Gauntlet.
"Hy'm gon, Hy'm gon." Broulnindre says, stepping forward to look first.
Something near one of toilets catches her eye. She leans over the corpse next to the toilet and reaches inside the charred remains to retrieve a belt pouch.
"Hoi, Hy found someting."
She pulls a out a few coins (3gp, 5sp), an arcane signet ring (of House Cannith), and a brown object that looks very much like Gauntlet's blue keycharm.
"Vot's diz?" she asks, holding up the brown keycharm.
"Another key to the spinning room. Looks like the fellow ran into the fire ooze spell thing. Bad luck for him. Good for us, I guess. Err, sorry friend."
Sword still in hand, Gauntlet moves to make sure safety is to be had.
"I think he is beyond caring Mr. Blake...Assuming he does not get back up in his current state. Strange. The way corpses do not decay here in the Mournland. It is almost like the state my kind can find themselves in id we are damaged beyond being able to repair themselves and are left to sit. We do not rot or destabilize easily, and we can be healed or repaired much longer after that state in some cases. I wonder...could some of these people...just be in a similar stasis? It is a sobering thought."
<Always thought that's because our part machine thing. This here, though, seems more like preserving magic, necromancy of some sort, to me.>
"To me, it seems that the Mourning blasted away the natural order of things..." Viorr mumbles, looking about the new rooms.
Gauntlet waves off the comments gently.
"Anything could be true here. Who knows? It was just a passing thought."
"So then, shall we try out our new key?" Frank asks, taking the coins and ring from Broulnindre.
Gauntlet waves for everyone to wait.
"We don't know what that key will do yet. Lets finish what we started with the current key since we know nothing in those areas opened will kill all of us instantly. Once completed we can try the new key however you wish. I suspect we need to find another key before the end, so we can't afford to skip areas until we are sure we have all the keys we need."
He then waits patiently on a response before assuming the others agree with him.
"Wisely said." Frank replies, dropping the ring into his haversack.
"B?" he asks as he sorts the coins into different sacks inside different pockets of his haversack.
Broulnindre shrugs and then wordlessly presents the brown keycharm to Gauntlet for safekeeping.
Unless there are any objections, Gauntlet will allow everyone to file back into the sphere room and resets it to the next key-slot for his key.
"We have been doing well so far. No major injuries. 'Lucky' some would say. Let's hope that continues."
Meridian follows quietly along with the others.
Gauntlet triggers the next Blue Keycharm slot and the room begins to rotates once more. The rest of the exploration team lays down to avoid tumbling as the room reorients itself, tiresome though the process has already become.
This time, a corridor of plain gray stone extends ahead of you. In the flickering light from the dim everbright lanterns embedded in the walls, you see a few trails of crusted blood running along the floor, as if someone was dragged down the corridor. At the far end of the hall you see three portals: an open archway to the left, a door propped open straight ahead, and a sealed metal door to the right.
Gauntlet waves at the strange eidiolon to follow him as he moves into the corridor again.
"Boulindre? Shall you and I move forward again? Together we make a good scout team I think."
Mindblade in hand and Ioun stone spinning about his head lighting the way, Gauntlet never falters and moves towards the door that is propped open.
"Keep pumping the luck til the well runs dry, General," Dev says approvingly.
Broulnindre nods and accompanies Gauntlet down the hallway.
"Hy scout, hyu cot." she replies ruefully.
Pink eye and Tenzo follow along looking at the key and wondering how many more hallways they will spin through before finding what they are after...
As Gauntlet and B walk up the hall appearing in the doorway is a massive dire wolf.
It sits down and then speaks in a female voice in fairly clear common, "Hail. I am Rorse.
I trust that you are from the outside world and not some strange creatures that have appeared from no where in this wretched place?"
Broulnindre greets Rorse with a little wave, but without answering her question.
"Hoi dere, call me B. Hy like you clahs."
"That's true, they are nice claws," Dev muttered to Double-E...
Nonplussed at the speaking animal, Gauntlet takes it in stride. Ebberron was full of such odd magical creatures.
"Greetings Rorse. I am named Gauntlet of Sharn, and we are indeed from the outside of this place. Are you trapped down here? Are you truly a wolf of some kind, or is this just a convenient form you are taking at the moment? I mean you no offense of course, but it is my job currently to assess possible dangers for our work here. Do you plan to impede us?"
"Yes, I am a dire wolf, larger and more fearsome then my lesser cousins.
I remember very little prior to the moment four years ago when i awoke to full consciousness. All the humans who had cared for me and my kind were dead. I managed to figure out how to open the doors and operate the rotator rooms, and I and my pack moved to this wing. I admit we eat the former inhabitants of the base, but they were already dead. And besides, they grow back. This leaves us with an endless feast.
There is another pack in another area of the complex but we are frightened of the bizarre creature that guards them. If I could free them, I might seek to leave this place.
This is where your group can aid me.
Destroy the stone guardian that cuts me off from my pack. IN exchange, I will give you a green keycharm and a pearl I believe has magical properties.
I will seek to impede you if you seek to impede us.
I would ask for what you know of the outside world that I may make a decision to leave this place or stay though I am not sure what I can offer you in return for this knowledge".
Cautious, Gauntlet nods and gestures back at the group behind him.
"I appreciate that you are willing to negotiate with us. You offer seems reasonable, but I must discuss it with my associates before agreeing. Give us a few moments and I believe we can move forward with your offer."
He then asks Broulnindre to remain here with the Dire Wolf, then returns to the others and explains things quickly and efficiently.
"...and he offers another 'key.' All we need to do is help him and his people get back together. His words SEEM reasonable enough. I wanted to get a consensus of the group before agreeing to anything. I was also thinking maybe we could negotiate his help as a possible guide too while we travel here?"
Frank seems slightly distracted as Gauntlet explains everything.
Eventually he replies with a nod and a terse "sounds good."
"Lots uf fon outside." Broulnindre says, after Gauntlet turns away.
After alternating a few times between admiring claws and looking distracted, she adds "Mebbe hyu can show us around outside a leedle?"
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Rorse replies to B, "Yes, that would be an acceptable amendment to the arrangement so long as I or my pack do not need to confront the stone creature".
As Gauntlet explains the terms Rorse clears her throat, "Ahheemm. SHE". Seems the wolves ears are particularly keen!
Gauntlet nods in apology.
"SHE...My apologies again. My kind do not have genders really, although appearances can be manipulated to approximate such. Noticing such variances in others, especially non-humanoid species, is therefore harder for my kind to understand and differentiate with."
"What exactly is the stone creature, do you think? And how much good-wine am I going to have to drink after it bashes in my head?" Dev says with a smile that doesn't match the gravity of his words. He adds in a laugh at the end, shaking his shield arm as if getting ready, already.
"Here's hoping we found us a good vintage."
EE nods when Gauntlet tells the she-wolf's story. <Yes, seems reasonable enough. Agree to help her.>
Thinking about the stone creature, EE has very little information to find out in his database, but he's certain they could do some scouting with Rorse's help and retrieve useful info to label their enemy.
Gauntlet speculates out loud.
"The stone creature could be an elemental of some sort, or a construct like me and EE. We both have stone built into our superstructure. I am more metal than stone however."
Meridian nods in agreement with the others, "We should help if we can. And if we gain by it, all the better."
Rorsa gives a low dirge of a howl and two male dire wolves emerge from the room to the left, both larger than her. They communicate with a series of yips and barks and Rorsa turns back to your group.
"There are chests in these barracks that contain weapons and armor should you need any. they also contain gold and silver which we do not need".
She enters the room behind her and emerges dropping a pearl and the green keycharm, "The door to my left only opens with a brown keycharm. I believe it is somewhere else in the complex. The Captain of the guard stayed in this room and he may have some things of value still left within.
I believe a blue keycharm leads to the next chamber which is an Office for one of the human administrators.
My green keycharm leads to another room that moves. Within that area is the lair of the stone wolf. It has plates made of black marble and seems impervious to our attacks...
That is as much as I know of this complex.
Please, tell me of the outside world."
Broulnindre answers with her unhelpful and narrow opinions. "Ootside? De Mournlunds? De Mournlunds hef skeletons, shtrange soonds, und big crabs. Iz fon. Elsevere iz not zo fon, bot dese odder guys like it."
Nodding, Gauntlet tries to be as honest as possible.
"It is not an easy place to live. Since the incident that changed you, the lands around here that are 'outside' are no longer civilized. All has been abandoned, and is now called the Mournland. A strange magic permeates the land. People like my friends no longer heal normally. Only magical healing helps them, and even that is suppressed. Do you heal normally here? Your change may have given you some sort of immunity to that effect. Anyway...since the war ended the only things that live here are what survived the change like you. Some things are not dangerous, but most of anything else is. Left over weapons and creatures from the last war...undead...and apparently living spells now wander around. The barrier around the Mournland is unlike any other. Beyond that is the 'normal' world...if you can find it and reach it."
He then gives the wolves direction on the quickest direction to leave the Mournland.
Meridian smiles at the strange wolf, feeling a strange sort of kinship for another altered being, "We came into the Mournland on foot and will likely leave the same way. If your people will promise not to eat us you could follow us out when we leave."
Rorsa shrugs, "We may leave with you, I shall see what my other brethren say, assuming they all still live.
This place sustains us well enough by virtue of its unusual magics but even devoid of dangers once you destroy the stone wolf it is a boring place and our hunting skills diminish being cooped up so.
If you require rest, you can take that refuge here but if you are ready, I would advise you to go now and destroy the stone wolf as time in this place can seem to stand still if you stay here too long..."
"Understood great wolf. We shall proceed shortly. Let us get our bearings and prepare ourselves to face the stone monster. By the way, how large is this stone creature? Is the area it is in narrow or large?"
Checking the area for treasures! 'She' said something about weapons in chests here? Anything cool?
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"And!" Dev calls out as an afterthought, before The General can get too far off the fun topic and back to the dreary reality at hand, "Everyone is really into Gin right now, for some reason, if you can believe it. Couldn't tell you why--not my style--though there is a certain one I do like with a bit of mint."
I am not opposed to treasure if we might gather it? Pink eye says to the group
Unfortunately, the treasures are behind the door that only the Brown Keycharm can access.
Rorsa speaks as to the wolf, "The stone wolf is as large as any normal wolf.
You will need the Green Keycharm to access that area".
It sits along with the pearl at her paws on the floor.
"Franky can see magic, Hy can show him diz pearl. Let's go keel a shtone volf!" Broulnindre says, forgetting about the brown keycharm she tried to hand to Gauntlet earlier.
The 3' tall Broulnindre attempts to collect the green keycharm and pearl from in front of the massive dire wolf and take them to Gauntlet and Frank E, respectively.
Frank sighs at Broulnindre's unwarranted enthusiasm, and then he casts Detect Magic.
Frank tries to discern the purpose of the pearl.
Gauntlet accepts the green Keycharm with a nod.
"Thank you Lady Broulnindre. Your enthusiasm is appreciated. Yes, everybody prepare! I will enter first with Lady Broulnindre close on my heels again and everyone else follow after. If I can I will try to pin the construct-creature to a single area so the rest of you can apply ranged effects upon it or attempt to flank it. Remember such creatures will usually have improved defenses against average magics and simple weapons. Who knows how the Mournland has affected it either: Maybe it is semi-intelligent too and we can reason with it?"
He walks up to Pink-eye casually and lets out a small voiced whisper.
"Watch the wolves. Their story sounds good, but..something seems off. If they fought the stone-wolf, where are their wounds? Nothing natural heals here."
Zabeth watches the interaction while feeding her plump blue songbird, and continues to eye the wolves warily as the party prepares to move on.
Hunch: This use of the skill involves making a gut assessment of the social situation. You can get the feeling from another’s behavior that something is wrong, such as when you’re talking to an impostor. Alternatively, you can get the feeling that someone is trustworthy.
The group heads back into the chamber and Gauntlet activates the Green Keycharm! As with before, the room rotates and when it comes to a stop, a new location is revealed.
Everbright lanterns provide shawdowy illumination here. A long hall slopes downwards and leads to yet another rotator room! This rotator room has a Green and Yellow keypad.
Gauntlet activate this pad. The first time the room rotates to a hallway which ends in debris. Whatever is past here cannot be reached without further excavation. The second activation of the Green keycharm leads to a long hallway.
This hall too slopes downward to the southwest and is dimly lit by Everbright Lanterns.
Gauntlet's heavy footsteps lead first with B trailing behind him and the rest of the group in the back.
A loud growl issues forth from the hall which turns due south approximately 40' away.
As the group heads in that direction a figure emerges from the bend. It is the stone wolf. There is no doubt that it is some sort of construct. This creature has the shape of a wolf, but plates of black marble have been fused to its flesh. In addition to the stone armor that shields its flanks, its muzzle has been replaced by an elongated maw filled with row upon row of obsidian teeth.
Its stare tells you all you need to know about this confrontation. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
Viorr
Dev
EE
Kana
Frank
Zabeth
Gauntlet
Pink-Eye
Meridian
Stone Wolf
---
---
Eying the strange and very hostile construct, Meridian cannot tell if the beast is fragile enough for what she has in mind. Deciding not to risk the stronger magic, she hurls a blast of raw magical force at the wolf.
Meridian's Eldritch Blast washes over the creature to no effect!
The stone wolf charges at Gauntlet and as it does so it seems to release some sort of wave of energy.
It mouth opens and tries to close on Gauntlet's arm.
It miscalculates the jump and misses Gauntlet!
Round 1 -
Balance of the Party.
Round 2 -
Meridian - GO!
Stone Wolf.
Balance of the Party.
Broulnindre moves around Gauntlet to get in range, but the stone wolf's magic slows her movements so that she seems to move at a normal person's pace for once, only closing the distance between her three foot tall self and the construct.