Alessandra notices one of the piles moving slightly. She catches a glimpse of a cockroach the size of a dog concealed within, chewing on the corpses.
Gabriella moves into the room behind her sister. She keeps her crossbow in her hands as she looks around the large chamber. Her curiosity is drawn to the carved floor tiles, but she doesn't approach them yet, waiting for the others to draw out any threats.
"Looks like someone else doesn't like little blue people either," she says quietly to Alessandra. She shoulders her crossbow long enough to envoke her detection cantrip again and then pulls it back into her hands.
The glowing symbol on the altar radiates a faint aura of magic.
Ellie frowns at the sight of the dead mites. "Those things aren't all that tough, but they do have a degree of supernatural resistance to damage. I would think it took more than a scavenger to kill all of these."
Hefting her flail, she steps warily forward.
Gabriella considers for just a moment not saying anything and letting the Lore Warden unearth whatever magic the tiles contain.
"Be careful," she says, finally. "The carved floor tiles radiate magic of some sort. I don't know if it had anything to do with killing the blue people, but paranoia is a healthy trait."
"There's something in that pile." Alessandra says, gesturing. "Looks like a giant insect of some sort. Your expertise Ellie?" She asks with a grin.
Ellie flashes the woman an uncertain smile. "Oh! ... Good to know, thanks. And, uh, I'm sorry about earlier. It's my fault for getting annoyed - it's just that this..." she waves one hand slightly helplessly "...this is my first time in a real fight and I really, really don't want anyone to get killed just because I don't know what I'm doing. But that's my problem, not yours. Sorry for taking it out on you. That was stupid."
When Alessandra points out a potential source of danger, Elká narrows her eyes and studies the enormous cockroach. She ignores the chatter and focuses on the task at hand: getting rid of the pest. "Mind if I put a javelin through it? There are plenty of things I want to sink my claws into, but a gigantic cockroach ain't one of them."
She then pulls a javelin from the leather javelin bag hanging on her back and eyes her companions. "Well?"
Gabriella grunts and shrugs at Eldarel's apology. She seems uncomfortable at the woman's honesty and openness.
Her duty done, Ellie returns to waiting for whatever is out there to show itself. She blinks when Elka points out the cockroach. "I didn't even see that! Yes, please, by all means throw something at it."
The javelin sinks into the cockroach with a wet thunk. It explodes out of the pile of corpses, and two more emerge from the other piles as well!
Gabbi targets the injured one with her crossbow, waiting until it's within thirty feet before letting the bolt fly.
Alessandra also goes for the wounded cockroach, although not out of any desire to upstage her sister of course!
"Stop trying to hit them and hit them!!!" With that said, Elká brings forth another javelin and hastily lines up the toss. She snarls and throws the wickedly sharp projectile at an unfortunate cockroach dog with the intent to kill.
Mindful of her duty, Ellie moves forward to face the new threat. Perhaps if she focused more on the fight and less on her thoughts, her attack might be more successful; but she's too tightly wound and the blow misses.
She grunts with annoyance, and readies herself for another go.
Elka impales a second roach with a javelin, badly wounding in. Alessandrs moves up and drushes the first one with a heavy stomp. Gabby's bolt goes just high of her target, and Elly's flail skips off the ground beside it.
The two remaining roaches snap at Elly and Alessandra, biting with their filthy mandibles.
The changeling slayer charges in and dives on Eldarel's target. Sadly, she forgot to take into account that the cockroach dogs might be gigantic cockroaches, but they're nowhere near the size of a human being. "Ah! Why must you be so big yet so small!"
Ellie is getting about this whole thing. Focusing on not getting bitten again, she brings her flail down with full force on the bug.
Alessandra unleashes a flurry of nasty stomps against the beetle.
Though Elka misses, Alessandra stomps the wounded roach, and Elly splatters the other one with her flail.
The door to the northeast cracks open and a mite peeks out. His eyes bulge, and he slams the door shut again with a squeak!
Gabriella shoulders her crossbow and walks slowly towards the magical floor tiles. As she passes her sister, she leans close and whispers. "I hope you don't think I'm cleaning those clothes."
Reaching the tiles, she looks them over closely to see if she recognizes the symbols.
The square in front of the altar consists of nine 2-foot-square stones arranged in a 3 x 3 grid. The words “Follow Along Roslar’s Devotion” are carved around the grid. The nine symbols are arranged as follows. Row 1 is the northernmost row; the tiles in each row are listed from east (closest to the mural) to west (closest to the altar).
Row 1: A mailed fist, a tree, and a tower.
Row 2: A heart, a rapier, and a skull.
Row 3: A horse’s head, a round helm, and a pair of feathery wings.
Gabbi looks over the symbols.
"Someone approaching would probably step on the these in a pattern moving closer to the shrine," she muses. "And would need to step on the correct symbols in the correct order."
She walks around the tiles, examining them closely for any wear.
"So the first choice would be the tower, the skull, or the wings."
She contemplates for a moment before stepping on the wings. "Rosler pined for Arazni - a winged herald." She waits for something horrible to happen.
"Wait," she says. "I'm looking at this backwards. The choice should be the fist, the heart or the head."
She chuckles a little. "It sounds like he was nothing if not a romantic. How about the heart?" Following her own logic, she steps on the tile.
Nothing seems to happen, good or bad, when Gabriella steps on the heart tile.
"Ok, then," the dhampir says when nothing horrible happens. She looks over the next row of tiles. "A Tree?" She shakes her head. "A rapier or a helm? There's been rapiers all over the imagery." The woman takes a breath and steps on the tile with the narrow sword on it.
She glances at her sister before looking at the last row.
"Definitely not a skull." She looks between the tile with the tower on it and the one with wings. "Again, it comes back to Arazni. She was a herald and was depicted with wings."
She holds her breath and steps on the tile with wings while cringing, expecting the worst.
When Gabriella steps on the next two tiles, the altar swings aside to reveal a hidden panel behind which a mithral breastplate and masterwork heavy steel shield are stored. Both are emblazoned with a red-winged rapier, the symbol of Arazni.
When the altar swings aside Gabriella starts and leaps away to the side. When nothing else untoward happens she looks at the others sheepishly.
"I could have been wrong," she says, her face flush.
She then scans over the artifacts looking for magical auras.
Neither item is magical.
"But you weren't!" Alessandra replies, winking. "I knew you were good for something!" She steps around the marked tiles to get to the altar and holds up the breastplate. "Oooo this is really light!" She punches it squarely and looks up with a grin. "Still tough though! Who wants this? Gabbi? You found it so you get first choice. And what about this shield? Ellie? In case you can't use your flail? You can take the mace too if you like."
"Wow. That was...spectacular." Ellie gives Gabriella a look of respectful admiration, before returning her gaze to the armour and shield. She briefly wonders what it would be like to be a paladin in shining armour, riding through an adoring crowd on your horse...
Right. You don't even have one friend, much less a crowd of them. Maybe you should reach for a more achievable dream, like spinning straw into gold.
She jumps slightly as Alessandra addresses her. "Oh! Uh, thanks, but if I can't use my flail then the chances are a shield wouldn't be much use either. Anyway, Gabriella found them so it's Finders Keepers, I think."
Elká wants to high-five Gabriella, but manages to hold it in. Instead, she flashes the dhampir a constrained smile. "Good job. All those hours wasted on hopscotch must've been good for something, eh? Now, who of you wants to sport that red-winged rapier on their chests?"
After the armor and shield have been distributed and equipped, you head to the northeastern door and push it open. The shelves along the walls of this room are crammed with ornamental weapons, tapestries, and trophies. Most have been torn or broken, and several lie smashed on the floor.
Alessandra spots a trio of mites hiding among the trophies on the shelves. Two are near the door, while across the way is a mite wielding a sling and wearing a crown made of insect shells. Their ambush foiled, the mites shriek and prepare to attack!
Ulrich will stare at the king and suddenly transform into the thing it is most scared of.
Ulrich will walk into the fray with an ally and one enemy. He'll use his quarterstaff to shepherd one of the mites into harm's way.
Ulrich diligently starts working on Gabriella. "It would seem you were not joking about healing potions not functioning properly for you. I can see it from your blood, and smell it from your wounds. You tread with one foot in the realm of the undead, and the other in the realm of the living. No need to be concerned, I am not bothered by it in the slightest. If you wish for this to be kept secret, I am more than happy to oblige."
"No need for secrets, Dr. Kurbanov," she answers with a slight wince. "We're not ashamed of what we are. We had no choice in the matter. If people choose to be small-minded, we deal with them one way or the other."
She looks down at the result of his labors.
"You do good work, Doctor. Hopefully we'll get out of here without needing it any more."
~~~~
At the discovery of the mite 'King', Gabriella grins and steps across to the other side of the room, firing her weapon at the same time.
"Wow. That was...spectacular." Ellie gives Gabriella a look of respectful admiration, before returning her gaze to the armour and shield. She briefly wonders what it would be like to be a paladin in shining armour, riding through an adoring crowd on your horse...
The dhampir's eyes narrow as if looking for the veiled insult. "Thank you," she finally says carefully. "I like puzzles."
Elká wants to high-five Gabriella, but manages to hold it in. Instead, she flashes the dhampir a constrained smile. "Good job. All those hours wasted on hopscotch must've been good for something, eh? Now, who of you wants to sport that red-winged rapier on their chests?"
"Hopscotch? We didn't play hopscotch," she scoffs. "We spent our time playing ... " She trails off with a glance at her sister. "Not hopsotch." She smiles a little.
The doctor smiles genuinely. "Please, call me Ulrich. I know it may not seem like much coming from a Varisian man, but I understand completely what you mean regarding the small-minded."
"Thank you very much. Tomorrow, be we in danger or not, I will make sure to prepare some different spells. I have one that I believe will function for you, and heal your wounds. No charge will be necessary, I promise."
Dodging the crossbow bolt, the mite "king" loads a glowing stone into his sling and hurls it at Gabby! Her armor deflects it. The other two throw darts at the dhampir, and while she dodges one, the other lodges in her neck!
When Ulrich casts his fear spell on the king, the mite grits his teeth and resists it, though he is still shaken.
Gabriella snarls in frustration, her fangs evident. Ignoring the blood running down her neck, she reloads her crossbow and fires at the sling-bearing pretender.
Ellie blinks in surprise as she's offered the armour. "Oh - thank you! I won't say I couldn't use it..." She looks down at the various tears and rents in her scale mail where she has been repeatedly injured.
She starts to unbuckle the various fastenings holding her existing armour in place, only to find - to her considerable annoyance/embarrassment - that her hands are shaking; and the more she tries to stop them, the worse it gets.
"Could... uh, could someone give me a hand with these straps? SOrry, not quite managing it right now."
Ellie raises her flail and charges the leader. Partly this is a tactical calculation: kill the king and the others might make a run for it. Partly it's annoyance that he hurt one of her companions. And partly... OK, partly it's the shiny new armour and the desire to live up to it. But she doesn't have to admit that bit. Even to herself.
Ellie smashes the leader with her flail, leaving him badly wounded. As he staggers about, Gabby finally manages to connect with her crossbow. The bolt pierces the little fey's chest, and he tumbles off the shelf and crashes to the stone floor below!
The other two mites wail as their leader falls!
Alessandra steps up to help, unbuckling straps and supporting the weight of the armour so Ellie can wriggle out of it. Her hands work slowly, occasionally lingering long enough for Ellie to heal how cool her helper seems to be. Once, as they apply the breastplate Allie brushes the side of Ellie's chest. She doesn't react at all so it might well have been an accident...
"Leave my sister alone you little creep!" Alessandra yells, heading directly for the creep that stuck a dart in her sister.