Feena gave a scream of terror as the giant roaches swarmed out of the corpses. Even worse was two of them coming right for her! She wanted to move but was paralyzed by fear and revulsion letting one of them bite her before she reacted. As she finshed away she avoided a second set of mandibles and then quickly fled away from the creatures as she knew fighting them herself was a bad idea.
Feena was so fast that the two roaches could barely react to her movements as she fled from them. She quickly made her way over to the middle of their group and put Varryk between her and the vicious insects.
Feena getting hurt is like a stab through Damian's heart. The rest of them - they all seemed at least somewhat used to combat. Marya and Vlad were holy warriors, Varryk clearly knew his way around a bow and likely not just from hunting, Rajuna had been ruthlessly efficient in eliminating threats so far, but Feena was gentle and innocent. How dare these bugs hurt her!
Taking a step back to put himself between Feena and the two bugs that had attacked her, Damian draws his bow, sighting down the shaft of the arrow to the bug on his left, and releases.
Vlad's powerful swing squashes the big bug before him, severely injuring it. It still is able to move around a little bit, but it looks disabled and barely alive.
Damian's shot comes oh-so-close to striking the roach, just barely missing.
Rajuna drives his blade into the wounded bug's thorax.
Varryk realigns his sights, focusing on the insect that Damian had taken a shot at. He would be damned if he let his allies fall prey to biting, slithering things.
The poor bugs can't stand up to the punishment that Rajuna and Varryk demonstrate, splattering bug innards all over the far wall.
One bug bites Vlad, another bites Marya and the third bites Damian. Or at least they all try to bite that is. All three roaches are too slow however, missing three attacks this round.
Marya steps back and away from the roach at her feet, leaving a clear, unobstructed shot for Varryk, then continues her sword dance. "Clear shot for you!"
Damian stumbles back in alarm as the giant roach comes at him, mandibles snapping. Reaching back, he takes another arrow and fires it at the critter, but the projectile hits the stone floor instead.
Calm, calm. It's just a bug.
Seeing one far to the north, Varryk takes another shot, attempting to bring one of the creatures to a grisly end.
Vlad and Damian both miss, but luckily Varryk takes another well aimed shot and quickly exterminates another roach.
Raj tries to slash the wily roach in half, but he slips on the residue of the bug Vlad obliterated.
Feena saw just how quickly the bugs were going down and felt somewhat ashamed of her reaction. She resolved to do something to help other than just scream like a helpless maiden and chanted with a few gestures. When she finished a spark of electricity shot from her fingers at the only roach not right next to someone.
Feena's electrical blast is stunted by the fact that she wasn't able to properly concentrate, missing the roach she intended to zap.
The bug in front of Vlad tries to nip at his ankles, but Vlad easily swipes the creature away and avoids it.
The cockroach on the right side of the room moves up to Damian and tries to bite his arm, but the deaf man is able to move out of the way at the last second and avoid the injury
”How many of these blasted things are there?”, Varryk grumbled. As the fight went on, Varryk kept himself aware, sneaking glances to the points of egress around the room, not wanting their party to be attacked unawares. Varryk continued his supporting fire, ensuring his new allies had artillery on their side.
Damian retreats another step, feeling a little silly as he gives ground to a bug. But it was a big bug! And very aggressive! Still making sure to protect Feena with his body, he tries again to skewer his attacker with an arrow.
Varryk and Vlad finally end the combat, taking care of the last two remaining bugs. Once more quiet returns to the tomb... for now ...
Marya takes turns rotating her shoulders. She hasn't needed to pull out the sword dance since the Reclamation and had forgotten how important it was to stretch and stay limber."We're getting good at this. Great job, everyone." She knows they can't keep it up forever, as she has been silently tracking her channel uses and keeping track of wounds, and there's probably worse things than bugs to fight at the end of this. She knows better than to say so, though.
"Gather up and I'll toss out another channel."
Before Vlad opens the door, he observes that the symbols on the floor likely deserve a second glance before moving on.
The area 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: 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.
Feena was relieved when the last of the bugs was taken down and leaned back against the wall shakily. It wasn't until Marya sent a small pulse of healing energy over them all that she regained enough composure to do anything. Feena looked at her companions and asked, "Is anyone but me still hurt?" It was obvious the energy healed a little of her leg wound but not all of it.
|
Vlad looks at the symbols a little more, lost in thought.
"Most of you probably know more about Roslar than I do. But from what we've seen, he loved a woman, he loved his horse, and he had some skill with a blade. Didn't we see a winged rapier somewhere behind us? I do not know what that means for this puzzle, but perhaps some of the symbols must be arranged in a certain order," he says.
Kneeling down, he tries to see if any of the symbols can me moved, or if touching one has any effect.
The scarred man waves off the cleric's offer. "Thanks, I'm good. They didn't get me." While the team heals, Rajuna carefully cleans and stows his blades, save Marya's. He boots the piled bodies apart and looks for anything of note or value. It was a macabre task, but a necessary one. Any single scrap of information might better inform them of what was happening.
As the team puzzles over the symbols, he examines the tiles, trying to determine if they are press plates, and if any or all are trapped. "Sooo... what are we thinkin'. Press the symbols that mirror Roslar's journey in order or somethin' gets us?"
Vlad touches the tile and it moves slightly, but it is quite resistant. He thinks it would take more pressure or weight that pushing with his hand to do whatever it is he is trying to do. Standing up he steps on the tile and presses it into the ground. The tile sinks down with a click sound, but nothing else happens.
While Rajuna doesn't find any traps, he detects a general humming of electricity under the area of the grid of tiles. He gets the feeling that if something or someone does something incorrectly a jolt of current may electricity the entire grid.
"How interesting. A test of knowledge." Damian bends over, hands on his knees, to examine the inscriptions more closely. "Marya, you studied the scriptures. Do these symbols tell you anything?"
He feels that he should know the answer as well, after all he has lived all his life in a place called Roslar's Coffer, for gods' sake. But try as he might, he cannot piece out the puzzle.
Marya sheathes her sword and taps the line of her jaw. ”I don’t think this is scripture. I think it’s a test as to whether we’ve been paying attention to what we’ve seen here in the tomb.”
She approaches the tiles and points to the rapier. ”The rapier was Arazni’s weapon. Hilde never used anything else for that reason. I’m getting the feeling that maybe Roslar converted to her, so his ‘devotion’ was to her instead of Iomedae.” Marya is awed by how this man may have been a kindred spirit to her own Hilde. While she had never converted, Marya knew she had considered it. ”I’d guess the wings then after the rapier just because of the winged rapier. That order would also make a line from one side to the—”
She then sees that Vlad has already pressed the horse. ”...or do that.”
Raj takes a long step back at Vlad's approach to problem-solving. "Never seen a trap quite like this... but if you step wrong, I think you get hit with lightning or somesuch."
As Vlad firmly plants his weight on the horse, the same clicking sound emits ... followed by a blast of electricity that shoots up his leg and shocks his entire body!
Marya pats Vlad’s shoulder in a gesture of sisterly comforting. ”You gotta take your time on these things, Kid. Figure out the logic of it. I’ll heal you after we figure this out.”
If the heart is still depressed and the horse reset, Marya will then press down the rapier, and if that doesn’t shock her, then the wings.
It seemed to Feena that everyone else must be fine and instead turned her focus to the puzzle before them. She listened to what Marya said and winced in sympathetic pain when Vlad got zapped. She couldn't help but snicker as she agreed with Marya, but only since Vlad was relatively unscathed, and said, "I think you're right Marya, or close anyway," she considered thoughtfully, "the only thing is I think we need one from each row, your method would give us two from one and one from another. I suspect it is the Fist for Rosler, the heart for his devotion, and the wings for Arazni."
When Marya steps on rapier it clicks like the other tiles, but no electrical shock comes. Whens he tries the feathery wings she is again met with a satisfying click without a shock.
After pressing all three tiles in the correct order, the altar in the rear of the room swings aside to reveal a hidden panel behind which a mithral breastplate and masterwork steel shield are stored. Both are emblazoned with a red-winged rapier, the symbol of Arazni.
Marya breathes out her relief in a long sigh. ”Well there it is.”
She takes the breastplate and shield and holds them out.
”Same as before, don’t see a problem with borrowing these. We can put them back after we figure out what’s going on and stop getting attacked.”
She pauses for a moment as she mulls over a thought.
”Also leaving a puzzle with a reward for solving feels a bit more like we are supposed to take it? But why would anyone do that?” The questions are half-rhetorical, clear from how her voice quiets and she doesn’t appear to be speaking to anyone in particular.
As she thinks it over, she unstraps her shield and straps on the new one, having noted earlier that she was the only person here using a shield.
”Also leaving a puzzle with a reward for solving feels a bit more like we are supposed to take it? But why would anyone do that?”
"Dunno. Maybe they were left as heirlooms for the family, or he had some notion about leavin' them for 'the worthy'. Sounds like somethin' a knight might do... If any of you can wear that turtle-shell, put it on."
Ran turns his attention back to the southern door, examining it thoroughly.
|
|
Vlad shakes his head. "I did think it through--you heard me mention the heart, rapier, and wings. That was thinking it through, and it was my next guess--I thought the horse would be more important," he says. "At least, in the rest of the crypt, they are in positions of great honor."
He shrugs. "I thought you said you didn't want to take stuff--I'd rather not leave these things for intruders, so I'm glad you agree."
Marya scoffs. ”My position has not changed. I said I’m okay with borrowing things as long as we intend to put them back. People were talking about taking things to sell for coin. I can pick up a mace and smash a few bugs, then put it back. I can’t sell something for coin then put the coin back. We also have an established needs for combat, but any need for coin is speculative.”
She smiles. ”I have been known to change my mind about things when new information comes in. I’ll let you know if I do.”
Rajuna checks the southwest door as Vlad had done earlier, but doesn't take note of any trouble or traps. Pushing it open reveals a rather strange sight. The walls of the room are carved with strange sigils in broad circles. The center of the room contains a stone pillar with a large wedge of crystal atop it; the pillar and the floor around it are covered with more of the strange glyphs. Curled up next to the pillar is the husk of a small blue humanoid. The only door in this room leads out to the north.
Marya scratches the side of her head with the hilt of her sword. "Probably should be careful about that husk, considering the last little blue person corpses. Got me on what's going on with this room, though. Any of you got an idea?"