HP 31/31; Swift Refuge: 0/1
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16, CMD 18 (+1 dodge bonus against Large creatures; +2 vs. Huge or bigger creatures)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +1
Challenge: 0/1; Tactician (5 rounds): 0/1; Champion challenge: 0/1
Effects: 3 Con damage, bless
Feeling a bit weak as the creature sucks her blood, Mithralline tries to cut it off -- while not separating her own head from her neck.
The flying blood-sucker pulls another batch of Mithralline's life away
A massive staircase of dark wood rises to the north, its maroon carpet pitted with age. The railings are carved to resemble ascending ghosts. The wall atop the stairs bears an enormous, looming portrait 6 feet wide and 9 feet tall. The portrait depicts a bearded older man with curling ram horns, hunched under the weight of a massive snail shell on his back. The figure bears a half grin, as though he knows a particularly delightful secret. A chandelier of iron and glass hangs down above the stair’s lower landing from the ceiling 20 feet above, its few lit candles flickering weakly. From the lower landing, three different sliding doors lead to the west, south, and east. From the upper landing, sliding double doors lead to the east and west—one on each side of the looming portrait.
While you are looking around and assessing your wounds, the portrait on the stairs speaks. "Well, well. Things aren’t as hopeless as I’d feared, then! Welcome to Nine-Eaves. The master of the manor, Kishokish, has been betrayed and captured. While I bear his appearance, I am little more than a host for his little parties and puzzles. Sahkils, wicked creatures that prey upon torment and fear, have invaded Nine-Eaves. Will you help?"
Thras enters the next room, warily looking up at the ceiling for any more flying or falling threats. As the voice speaks he barks a humorless laugh. "We are here for the stamp and nothing more!" He shouts back at it.
Sam looks concerned when these evil creatures are mentioned. "Maybe we should help him... That sounds terrible..."
"We're willing to help," Mithralline contradicts Thras, "but if this is one of your puzzles, we'd rather just be on about it."
Current HP 25/25 ; HP 31/31; Swift Refuge: 0/1
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16, CMD 18 (+1 dodge bonus against Large creatures; +2 vs. Huge or bigger creatures)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +1
Challenge: 0/1; Tactician (5 rounds): 0/1; Champion challenge: 0/1
Effects: 4 Con damage, bless
Sarela looks up at the portrait as she attempts to divine the truth of its words.
She also tries to think of what she knows about sakhils.
She says, "Thras, if the master of this manor has been captured, we likely cannot get a stamp unless we rescue him. Mith, as much as I'd prefer to skip the puzzle, if we have to play his game to get the stamp, we won't have much choice."
Neither of the women have any feeling one way or the other about what the painting says. In response to Mithralline, it answers "Oh, if only I could say directly."
Aira approaches the talking portrait. "You ask us here for help, but gave us no forewarning of those bloodsuckers as we approached. What do you offer in return for our service? If you are a mere painting, how can you assure us that what we desire will be provided upon helping?"
With everything they've seen, specifically furniture already attacking them, Aralah keeps her bow trained on the painting as the others ask questions ready in case something else tries to kill them.
The painting responds "Oh, if only I could say directly."
"Well you have responded in that way twice now. Why can't you say directly?" Aira casts detect magic on the painting, and focuses to identify the schooling if possible.
Thras stares at the painting in confusion. Then he gives a wry smile. He ignores it for now, searching the room for anything else of interest, particularly any kind of small threat.
Sarela also casts a spell to seek magic, trying to determine what type of spells are being used on the painting.
"We can come back here, if we need," Mithralline decides. "If this is part of the puzzle or a game, we'll return. If not, let's find these sakhils."
She tries to think if she's ever heard of these things, but they don't ring a bell.
Other than the staircase, the portrait, a locked door at the top of the staircase and the three sets of doors on the ground floor, there isn't much else of interest in this room for Thras to find.
Neither Aira or Sarela are able to determine much of anything from the portrait.
Sarela knows that Sahkils are former psychopomps who rebel against their role as soul shepherds for the River of Souls. Their knowledge of multiversal entropy drives them away from their service to reform themselves into dominating horrors of the Ethereal Plane. While each species of sahkil has its own abilities, all sahkils revel in extending their influence into dark corners of the Material Plane, where they inspire fear and superstition. There are nine known species of Sakhils.
The portait insists "I have important information to give to you, but I am bound by his master’s affinity for games and puzzles. Until you can solve certain puzzles, I am unable to divulge any information directly. I can also answer general questions about itself and the house, so long as they reveal no vital information with regard to solving any my master’s puzzles."
Thras checks the door and finds it to be locked. He raises an eyebrow. "Locked door, they're trying to keep us out of somewhere. Not for long though."
Thras pushes on the door with one hand, testing the hinges.
Thras plants a firm kick in the center of the door, feeling how it responds to the force of his boot.
Thras winds up and gives the door a full-bodied kick!
As Thras is bashing at the door and it is evident the portrait isn't some sort of trap Aralah moves up behind him just as he tries kicking it in and she notes "You know I could try and unlock it..."
She looks back to the others and the other two unopened doors as she continues "Should we not check those other doors first to not leave potential dangers behind us?"
As Thras starts kicking the door, Sarela says, "You know, you could just let Aralah try to pick the lock."
We really swapped Laurel for his oaf of a brother? He's a reckless idiot who just gave up any chance we would have had at catching whoever is on the other side of that door by surprise.
Thras shrugs his shoulder dismissively. "Why? That takes longer."
Smash!
"True. But it also prevents enemies on the other side of the door from setting an ambush - you know, in case you actually want to live."
Thras slams into the door and does some damage to it, but as he backs up to try another slam, the wood on the door regenerates! By the time he slams it again, the door is at full health once more. Repeated attempts to slam the door are met with the same futility at the first.
Aira's eyes soften as she approaches Thras, with a soothing and calming voice.
"Thras... Please... There are other ways to proceed. We are all in this together. Let us help you."
"Let our expert lockpickers have a try"
After the hefty second kick he gets a perplexed expression, examining the door. After a moment he barks a laugh, more amused than frustrated. "Hah! I guess I stand corrected. Now that is a useful spell." He stands back with his arms folded, still looking at the door with an amused grin.
Ignoring the scuffle at the door, Mithralline starts to grin.
"Oh, well, why didn't you say so to start?" Mithralline replies to the portrait. She was always up for a challenge. And always won!
"What can you tell us? Where are the sakhils? Where was your master when he was taken?" She starts thinking of other questions that will help her get to the bottom of this before Thras (or Aralah, for that matter).
Aralah lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes, but doesn't immediately go for the door up the stairs, instead she checks the two doors below to make sure they don't leave anything behind themselves as they advance.
Aralah tries her hand at the door but comes away with much the same result. It's clear you are not getting through there without a key.
Kishokish’s image waves its hand, causing an image to appear. "There are two tasks here: first, tell me the proper order of these images, and second, draw for me the image that would follow next."
Mithralline looks at the images and her face twists in annoyance as the answer doesn't immediately pop out at her.
"Let's look around for some clues," she instructs the others.
She descends to see if there's anything in the lower chamber, or if they can get through the other doors.
Both sets of doors are unlocked. Nothing can be heard from the door on the west, but there are some faint noises coming from beyond the eastern door.
Aira looks at the images with Mith. "Nothing pops out directly. I will need to think on this as well"
"Ahh, after some meditation on the images, I believe i have solved your riddle. Lets order the images from left to right, 1234. As such the correct order for the images should be 2143. I believe this is what the next image would look like."
While the others play around with the puzzles Aralah will peek into the two doors just to ensure there are no threats waiting on the other side.
When Aira solves this puzzle, Kishokish’s portrait congratulates her and attempts to offer more helpful information before being compelled to introduce the next puzzle. "Excellent deduction! First, vital information: Every shoki carries a staff that can contain a single soul within it. The leader of the sahkils—a grasshopper-headed monstrosity named Vithiz—trapped Kishokish’s soul within his own staff! You must—ngh! That’s all I can say before you complete another puzzle."
Sam nods, smiling a little. This was the first thing they had done here that was remotely like something fun. "Ok, what's the next puzzle?" she asks brightly.
Aralah quietly closes both doors before reporting back to the others. "That door on the left appears to be empty, but the one on the right has a corpse in it with several flying insects eating the corpse. Not sure if we want to just leave it or deal with that before moving on with these puzzles?"
"Make sure it's not the shoki, but if not, I think we can just let it go for now," Mithralline says with a shrug.
When she realizes Aira has solved the puzzle, she claps the woman on the back.
"Well done; I knew we'd figure it out! What's the next puzzle?"
Sarela, having been distracted for a few moments, starts as Aira gives the next answer. "Well done, Aira. Now, let's see what the next puzzle is."
The portrait says "There is a chalkboard hanging in the garden with several numbers etched on it. Circle any six digits that add up to 23."
Thras rolls his eyes. "Imagine what the mages could do if they spent half their resources on things other than showing off how smart they are." He tries to find where the gardens are to lead the way.
Mithralline heads for the garden, eager to answer this challenge.
Aralah shrugs as no one seems to concerned with the corpse or bugs that are eating it she mentioned and follows the others to find the garden, more to help if there is any trouble than to play some silly game a painting is giving them.
Sam also follows along to see the numbers in the garden.
Aira nods as Aralah mentions the bugs in the next room. "Before we run off, perhaps we should deal with these giant bugs while we have the advantage. They are unaware of us. If we get the jump on them we may be able to take them out before anyone else has to suffer from them." She attempts to persuade her allies to deal with the bugs first, before looking for the garden.
Thras turns to Aira, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah let's take care of 'em. Where are they at?"
Aralah points to the door at the bottom of the staircase on their right.
Thras flashes a smile to Aralah; despite his bullheadedness and brutish nature, there's a certain roguish charm to him. "Well come on than." He says to her, making his way towards the door.
Aralah nods, her bow at the ready, stepping to where she can clearly see into the room once the door is opened. She jokes "It's unlocked..." as Thras moves toward the door.
Sarela looks at the painting and asks, ”Which way to the gardens?”
Aira nods to Sarela "Yes. To the gardens we will go, once we deal with these bugs first. Thras, if you let me in first, I may be able to blast all of them at once, weakening them, allowing you sweep up after.
I would definitely need your support, as I would be left vulnerable after the blast."