Yngvilda woops with triumph on hitting the elemental, but then she remembers earlier and turns to go to Sabrine.
"I'm sorry, I should have protected you, it came at us so fast and I wasn't ready. I will try harder. You still look hurt, do you want to continue on?"
Turning to Galandram "You were very brave dashing past the creature like that, especially after seeing the blast it gave Sabrine. It's an honour to fight with you."
As the elemental falls, the elf sheaths his rapier disgustedly, feeling that he is missing some essential component of swordplay.
He looks at Yngvilda with his inscrutable eyes, replying in his pleasant tenor voice, "I appreciate your kind words, Yngvilda," he says, giving a slight bow.
"To my eyes, Eldon and Cei both did more than I did. I failed to land a single blow, and failed to avoid the only attack I drew. Cei, on the other hand, kept us alive and aided your attacks, while Eldon managed an amazing shot into the melee that wounded it sorely," he continues, again giving a slight bows to both Cei and Eldon as he speaks. Facing the Ulfen woman, he continues, "And you fought bravely, and landed the killing blow. The honor in fighting together is all mine," he says with a final deep bow.
Galandram studies Yngvilda briefly, "You were wounded. Has Cei's power healed you? Your injuries look relatively mild at this point, unless my eyes deceive me." Seeing that her remaining injuries are mild, he looks past her to Sabrine, "And how is our brave singer? When the lightning elemental struck you down, I feared the worst."
Slightly somber Sabrine first looks at Yngvilda, ”It is not your fault Yngvilda. Nor anyone else’s but mine own. I made a mistake and put you all in danger and for that I am sorry,” Sabrine sheathes her curved blade and pulls out her longbow and turns to the rest of the group,”I thank you Galandram for your concern, but I do not believe I will be on the frontlines anytime soon. If the rest of you want to push on I will gladly accompany you all.”
Moving her arms around in an attempt to stretch them out she begins testing her voice by singing octaves,”Well the elemental didn’t ruin my beauty singing voice, so shall we see if that pool of acid is gone?”
Upon returning to the sludge of acid, you are not surprised but pleased to see that a stone walkway has slide out from the wall and is now accessible all the way around the hazard. As you make your way across the ledge you can't help but wonder if every other creature in the tower also heard and felt the noise and vibrations you did when the lever was pulled.
After crossing the pit successfully the floor returns normally and fifteen feet ahead is a closed door. Carefully listening and hearing nothing, the party opens the door to find a hallway that extends south for fifty feet before turning east.
The eastern corridor seems endless. As you move down to the east, the corridor that is revealed by your light just continues on. After more than two hundred feet the ten foot wide corridor finally comes to an end. A small, barred window pierces the door at the end of this hall, revealing a plain, ten-foot-square room with a windowless iron door on the opposite wall beyond.
"This place is huge! Do you think we're still under the town? I've lost all track"
She'll step up to the door and peer through into the room beyond
"Step back everyone in case there are any more summoned beasts or deadly acid pits tied to the door, no sense in risking us all"
Then she'll try the door (her axe back in the loop on her belt). If doesn't open she'll try putting a shoulder to it to see if it's just stuck
Yngvilda doesn't do much with her shoulder, the door doesn't budge. In the room beyond appears larger and mostly empty as it fades into the darkness to the east.
While looking around, Yngvilda takes note that the "keyhole" for this door is extremely odd shaped and quite large. In fact, the shape of the lock bears a resembles to the mithril dagger she recently wielded in combat.
Galandram carefully looks around the area, but does not notice the strangely-shaped keyhole on the door. "What do you folks think about this door? Do you see anything? I don't quite have the right tools, but I could try to pick it," he says as he continues his examination of the area.
Finding the door to be unexpectedly sturdy, Yngvilda rubs her arm and looks it over. "Hmm, that almost looks like it would fit..."
Feeling silly for even trying it, she takes the dagger from the makeshift rope sheath she had been keeping it in and attempts to slide it into the large lock, twisting or pushing on it as appropriate.
"What are you doing there, Yngvilda?" Galandram asks the Ulfen warrior. Seeing what she is doing, he excitedly crouches down, quickly analyzing the dagger and the keyhole. I should have seen that, the elf thinks, fast as lightning. We're lucky Yngvilda noticed it.
"Yes!" the elf exclaims, "That keyhole looks custom-made for one of the mithral daggers."
He stands up and, as Yngvilda is working the dagger into the keyhole, pulls a small glass vial from the inside of his brown leather overtunic. He unstoppers the vial and smoothly downs the blueish liquid inside of it. Unlike the last extract the elf took, there are no gross changes to his anatomy; however, he seems to have a bit more energy, and his eyes scan around the room, just a little more alert than they were previously.
School divination; Level investigator 1
EFFECT
Range personal
Target you
Duration 10 minutes/level (D)
DESCRIPTION
You enter a heightened state of awareness that allows you to notice more about your surroundings and recall information effortlessly. You gain a +2 competence bonus on Perception checks and on all Knowledge checks that you are trained in.
If this spell is active when you have to make an initiative check, you can instantly dismiss this spell and gain a +4 bonus on that check.
Cei looks on and simply nods, "That seems to make sense." He muses to himself for a few moments, then barks a harsh laugh, "I'm really beginning to dislike and mistrust this Baron Sarvo." He backs up, pulling out his mace and shield to ready himself for anything.
Amazingly, the dagger fits and twists to unlock the door. When the door creaks open it reveals a small, barred window pierces the iron door at the end of this hall, revealing a plain, ten-foot-square room with a windowless iron door on the opposite wall beyond.
"Please close the door before proceeding with the pass phrase."
Jumping back at the strange sound, Yngvilda looks at the rest of the party and mouths the word "Pass phrase?"
Moving back a bit where they can communicate in hushed tones in case the devilish room can overhear, she whispers "That blasted imp probably knew the pass phrase, and I shudder to think what defenses this Baron could have concocted. All I can think is that inscription on the plaque, something about Cleansing your soul with pain or some such, but why write your pass phrase on the wall of the next chamber?"
"What about, 'Good Baron Sarvo wills it,'? Everyone we meet seems to be constantly saying that."
Despite the confidence in his voice, Cei does not step forward to volunteer himself in this certain trap.
Sabrine, confidently steps forwards bow in hand. ”Well its time to lets us in, don’t you know? Good Baron Sarvo wills it?”
She then turns to her companions, ”Be ready for anything. I have a feeling that whatever is behind this door does not bare good will to those who have no love for the “good” Baron. she glances at Cei in acknowledgement.”Hopefully we can put to rest all of the Baron’s minions, I’m tired of getting impaled by spikes and blasted by elementals.”
”Should we all go in this room together?,” Sabrine turns around and asks everyone still in the other room,”Or should we leave some people outside in case this goes poorly?”
She gives a weak smile to her friends, betraying how tired she is from exploring this dungeon; waiting for the others answers before speaking what she believes is the passcode.
"Sabrine you're quite injured, I don't think we should risk you in this deathtrap."
Yngvilda will examine the floor in the small room to see if it looks rigged to fall away, and up at the ceiling to see if it has holes in to pour boiling water down, and finally at the iron door opposite to see if it has a lock.
"How about this; we close the door with no-one in it, and shout the password through the window to see what happens? Maybe put something heavy in the room in case it has trick floor panels? They used to call me Yngvilda the Imprudent in school but leaving ourselves at the mercy of this ancient magic room strikes even me as too dangerous
Cei shakes his head. "We can try it, but what if once the other door opens, this one cannot until we close the further one. We'd never get through then." He shakes his head, then finally steps forward. "Someone needs to do this, we may as well only put one of us at risk for now. I would volunteer to try."
"I'm not against your plan, Yngvilda, but if it does not work, we still must find a way to push forward," the elf says. "If it is magic, it may not work unless we are in the room. Still, only one way to find out."
"Before that, let me see if I can find any signs of a trap," Galandram say, quickly examining the room. ().
After searching the room, he steps back, studying the room as his alien eyes begin to glow with a bright golden light.
Unsurprisingly, Galandram discovers that the floor of the room is designed to drop away. You can't tell what is below the floor, but you can assume that the people in the room would fall below. He also detects an overwhelming aura of illusion coming from the room as well.
"The room is thick with illusion magic, though I haven't pinpointed where the illusion is. Let me see if I can do something about that floor, though," the elf says, examining the mechanism and trying to find some way to jam it so that the floor does not open.
Galandram identifies the source of the magic as originating from the center of the ceiling in the room.
He goes to work on the trap and does his best to disarm it.
Galandram heads into the room to try to disable the trap, not shutting the door for now.
Yngvilda will stand outside as Galandram works on the trap. "Oh the floor falls away? Good spot, I thought it must be something like that. Should we tie a rope around you in case it goes off while you're in it?"
Yngvilda will then take the rope she has left and tie it round Galandram and keep hold of it (assuming he hasn't already done the trap). "Grab hold everyone!"
”Yes, Yngvilda, that is a good word. Although I am not a fan of having to put any of us in danger, at least Galandram was able to see that the floor is designed to drop off.”, she nods her head stowing her bow and helping to tie the rope to Galandram and grasping it with the others once the job is done.
She braces herself with the rest and waits for Galandram to walk in and close the door.
Cei reaches up to Galandram, "Take Shyka's blessing with you." Then he steps back and grabs a hold of the rope to help in case there are issues.
"You know, a rope is probably a good idea," the elf says, as he heads into the room, keeping the door open, and continuing his attempts to disable the trap ().
With the rope security, the door jammed and the trap door on the floor hopefully disabled, Galandram enters the room. The voice above speaks again, "Please close the door before proceeding with the pass phrase."
Galandram sneaks the free end of the rope through the grate on the door, handing it to Yngvilda and Sabrine before closing the door. He places a foot against the door, wrapping the rope around his left hand and holding onto the grate in the door with his right hand. ()
A worried look crosses the elf's face briefly, but he looks through the grate and gives a the group a wink. "Here we go," he mouths, before turning his head toward the center of the room and calling out in a strong, clear tenor voice, "Good Baron Sarvo wills it."
As soon as Galandram speaks the words, the eastern door unlocks and swings open, revealing a clear passage ahead. After waiting several seconds to be sure that the trap won't spring, Galandram finally issues the all clear and the group opens the western door again.
With no more words being spoken from above nor any sign the trap floor will spring, the group moves through the two open doors in the adjacent room. In the new room a single iron lever protrudes from the wall next to the door in this otherwise empty chamber's west wall. To the east, a ten-foot-wide hallway curves to the north.
Peaking around the corner you spot a four-armed metal clockwork creature that stand son three jointed legs. A large, metallic key floats in the air next to the creature, held in the air by an unseen force. As the creature takes note of you it whirs to life and speaks in a tinny voice "Please immediately present the crest for passage."
Galandram breathes a sigh of relief at having found the correct passphrase, and greets the group with a faint smile as they come into the now cleared room.
He moves cautiously down the new hallway, until the clockwork creature makes it appearance. Looking concerned at this new apparent threat, he takes a step back and begins muttering to himself, looking upwards and folding his hands, "Crest, crest, where have a seen a . . ." he stops suddenly, and whirls towards Yngvilda, "Where did you put that bronze plaque we found, Yngvilda? The crest of the Canteclure clan of wizards was on it!"
"It's in the room where we found it!"
Looking at Galandram's face she says defensively "It was heavy!" and raises her shield and axe in case the clockwork creature doesn't like her answer.
"We could go back and get it...
She slowly backs away in the direction the came from while watching the creature. If it makes no response she'd like to quietly leave, but at the first sign of trouble she'll bound into action and defend her allies.
The clockwork creature waits patiently while Galandram and Yngvilda discuss the situation. when she is back to the door to the passphrase room however, the creature's tinny voice speaks "Time is up. You have been deemed trespassers." as a net blasts out of a tube on the creature's shoulder and entangles Cei with it. "Do not attempt to flee." A second net follows that is aimed at Galandram, but the elf quickly dodges it as it flies past and hits the floor behind him, missing.
"You have been deemed trespassers. Do not attempt to flee. Good Baron Sarvo wills you pay for your crime."
Galandram draws his rapier as he sidesteps the net, standing his ground. This tower will be the death of us yet, he thinks as he sees Cei get tangled up in the net. He gives the clockwork creature a dark glare. "No, no, you've got it all wrong," he says flatly. "We're here on his orders, we just forgot the crest. Good Baron Sarvo wills it," he ends with the familiar mantra, raising his sword and stepping forward to allow Cei space to extract himself from the net. He clearly does not expect the enemy to listen to him.
Having almost made it to the door when the clockwork creature attacked, Yngvilda roars and moves in to put herself between it and her allies, axe drawn to menace it.
Since clockwork engineers can’t always be present to make sure their devices are working at full capacity, the clockwork servant was invented to serve that role. Clockwork servants excel at repairing themselves and other clockworks on the battlefield, proving useful for skirmishes and campaigns alike.
Rumors of clockwork servants with magically imparted intelligence persist among explorers of certain strange ruins—while no smarter than the average human, such “awakened” clockwork servants have skills and feats as appropriate for their Hit Dice.
Clockwork servants are about 5 feet tall and weigh over 400 pounds.
Cei struggles trying to break free of the net. Despite his struggling, Cei cannot seem to break the ropes.
Following the party through the room Sabrine finds herself looking at a wholly unfamiliar thing, a metal clockwork monster. Her surprise is increased when it whirls to life and beings speaking to them, caught off guard Sabrine does not know how to respond.
Too late to say anything the guardian appears to take an aggressive stance as it captures Cei in its net.
Sabrine pulls her longbow out .
Sabrine concentrates on the key and holds her hand up, making a grasping motion and then mimes pulling her hand closer to her body. .
Eldon moves forward to try and get a clear shot at the creature. Seeing Yngvilda and Galandram about to engage the construct he raises his hand and prepares to launch a lightning ray at the thing.
Sabrine tries to pull the key towards her, but it still continues to float in the air where it originally was.
Galandram is still the target of the clockwork servant's aggression as it surges forward and closest the gap between them. Once it is in striking range, one of its limbs swings through the air and impacts the investigator in the right side of his rib cage
Galandram begins to share tactical information with the group as the clockwork servant closes on him, "It's a construct with fast hea . . ." He fails to evade its attacking limb, however, and his speech is cut short. The construct's limb smashes downward into his still-injured chest with a sickening *CRUNCH*, and his rapier drops from his nerveless fingers. The elf's expression goes blank as he falls to the ground unconscious.
Eldon steps away from the creature draws his crossbow and begins to load a new bolt into it.
Yngvilda steps behind the create and tries to draw its attention. "Try me!" She then bashes it with her shield to try to knock it off balance and follows up with a swing from her handaxe, trying to sever an arm of break a critical part of its clockwork innards.
"You're a fast one, aintcha" she grumbles