Zadim looks around at the carnage, then notes grimly, "Let us hope that that is the last Lamashtuans that we must deal with."
Once the party is healed and sufficiently prepared, the slayer heads toward the doors.
"We will have to wait and see. As is, a fair number of their foul creatures have been disposed of."
Kyra casts guidance on everyone again, alphabetical order.
The silence is eerie.
The double doors before you hang ajar.
The dull glow of foul-scented copper braziers illuminates the massive facade of this impossibly twisted temple coarsely chiseled into the living rock. The temple resembles the face of a hideous three-eyed jackal, flanked everywhere by pillars carved in the shape of gruesome copulating monstrosities.
Basalt steps lead into the gaping mouth of the jackal facade. Columns resembling huge fangs line the walkway on both sides. The stairs end in front of a huge iron portcullis. The portcullis is currently raised and the dull metal spikes resemble a top row of vicious teeth.
While the design is certainly striking, nothing about the construction or function of the portcullis and steps strikes Roderick Xim as unusual.
The mechanism is not visible.
Aww, did you saw any traps?
At the dwarf's prompt, Zadim walks up for a closer look.
"I do not." Zadim replies
"Still, we had best be prepared for danger." The slayer sternly warns his allies then, with weapons still in hand, he steps through the jagged maw of the doorway.
Kyra holds her holy symbol, and quietly says a prayer for the team's success.
As you enter, this broad foyer—carved from the surrounding bedrock—has high, arched ceilings and rounded wings. Two staircases on the northern wall wind upward to a gridiron perch above, and corridors to the west, south, and east lead elsewhere.
With blades still drawn, Zadim turns to his right and examines the base of the steps and the corridor ahead for any threats or possible ambush sites.
Zadim finds that the stairs lead up to a viewing platform which also contains the mechanism for the portcullis. The area also contains some double doors to the west and looking down the corridor directly ahead of the entrance, to the south, it seems to terminate in a strange statue.
To the east of the entrance, a short passage connects this small oval chamber to the adjacent foyer. A shallow, coal-filled pit occupies the center. Blackened urns engraved with primitive runes line both sides of the pit.
The urns are filled with a powdery substance...
anyone casting detect magic on the bottle can make a DC18 spellcraft check to open this...
Othine, the Twilight Talon you rescued, starts to look down the corridor, "I think they mentioned something about a statue. What was it they said?"
Othine, the Twilight Talon you rescued, starts to look down the corridor, "I think they mentioned something about a statue. What was it they said?"
"Oh? I do not recall. What did they say?" notes Zadim.
"Oh, no, I meant, when I was playing at being their loyal slave. Some of the brutes..." She trails off and stares into the distance for a moment. "I'm sure it was important."
Othine heads further down the passage.
|
Aww, the more I hear you girl, the more it seems you lead us into a trap. No offense meant. If you were so good at playing with them, why wouldn't you play with us right now? Of course I might be wrong. But for someone who was enslaved, and probably suffered for it, you never try to get some revenge. You were supposed to be one of us, a Pathfinder agent, yet you never fight for your own freedom. Some of us are better fighters than others, sure, but you never even get a few slashes of your sword on fallen foes. I never was enslaved, but hate slavers. That demon we killed, even when it was down on the ground I made sure he'd never came back, or only in small bloody pieces. Then I might have a temper. But your behaviour is suspicious.
Kyra faintly nods at Brallenera's concern of Othine's behavior.
Othine shakes her head at Brallenera, "I'm a Twilight Talon, not a Pathfinder. Twilight Talons hate slavery, everyone knows that."
Sense Motive
Kyra=21
Brallenera=4
Othine shakes her head at Brallenera, "I'm a Twilight Talon, not a Pathfinder. Twilight Talons hate slavery, everyone knows that."
"What everyone knows is not what prompted my companions concern." Zadim replies, his grip tightening on the pummels of his blades. "It is what you know, but are unwilling to divulge, that I must insist that you now disclose."
Kyra's sympathetic nature slightly unaware, she does sharpen her attention as Zadim's eyes seem to lock onto Othine.
Trusting in his thus far sharp senses, she steps to next to him, with an inquisitive look in her eyes. With likely not giving in to Zadim's words, she speaks up.
"If you withhold information vital to our mission here, know that the Dawnflower is watching, as are two of her representatives."
Othine reaches out to the statue and a door in its distorted belly swings open, ”The truth? Oh, you’ll learn soon enough. But I can’t tell you. You have to feel it first, deep within you.” she smiles to herself, ”Soon, soon you will all learn.”
Othine crawls through the door and it swings shut silently behind her.
Kyra frowns, then turns to Zadim,
"She speaks as one who has turned to madness or the dark. Given the place we are in, possibly both."
Looking at everyone else now in general,
"Given her sudden shift in behavior, i will assume we've been played, and that Othine is going to be trouble."
Aww, I don't want to badmouth the girl, but maybe it was her own choice from the start, and we've been lead into a trap. Sometimes you have to feel sorry. For the trap.
Brallenera grins, and readies her axe.
"Your enthusiasm is appreciated, my dwarven friend." Zadim replies. "However, if she is intent on leading us into a trap, I think it best that we decline to follow. We must assume that we have lost any element of surprise, if we ever had it. I suggest we remain, for now, diligent in our efforts. Clear this complex of cultists, then deal with any grudges that may remain."
He heads to the double doors and scans quickly for traps.
He then tries the doors.
Before opening the doors, Zadim looks around: strips of cured human flesh scribed in ancient runes dangle from this chamber’s walls. An oil-filled brazier in the northern corner provides illumination and gives off the faint smell of burnt hair.
---
Pushing open the double doors, Zadim sees that crude murals cover these cavern walls, depicting gruesome and bloody birthing rites—ritual scaring, bestial consumption of the afterbirth, and other horrific acts.
A huge fire pit surrounded by charred skulls takes up the center of the cavern floor. On either side of the pit stands an iron slave cage.
Opposite the pit rests a blood-spattered altar, carved from a boulder with a water-filled hollow in its face.
The two cages contain human captives, both of which are being observed by four gnoll cultists who chatter excitedly to one and other.
Initiative
The gnolls look at Zadim, Zadim looks at the gnolls... one of them barks out in surprise and you all recognise that sound, just as you recognise Zadim calling out, "Gnolls!"
Kermit
Zadim
BralleneraGnoll with snake tattoos
Gnoll with green-dyed furXim
Gnoll with wooden teeth
Nanny
Gnoll with red-dyed fur
Victor
Kyra
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Zadim considers these gnew gnolls and gnows how to deal with them, gnastily!
Zadim's kukris bite deeply but the gnoll is still standing.
Kermit
Zadim
BralleneraGnoll with snake tattoos
Gnoll with green-dyed fur (-23)Xim
Gnoll with wooden teeth
Nanny
Gnoll with red-dyed fur
Victor
Kyra