"You say they summoned such things to test a warrior's skill?" he asks Alak, "Are they bound to this chamber? Or are they free to roam the rest of the citadel if they aren't put down?" He looks over to Ren and Shaserai in case either of the spellcasters know anything about such rituals.
"Under test circumstances," Alak replies grimly, "that door would have been closed and barred before anything was summoned."
"It can't stay invisible forever, can it?"
After Ragna closes the door, he shrugs. "Check the book," he suggests to Ren. "We'll cover you."
"Much appreciated," Irenaeus replies as he starts going through the tome. "I find poison decidedly unpleasant."
As he looks for the correct page and entry, the mage cannot help but notice how meticulous the author appears to have been in categorizing and describing the various devils.
"I don't recall seeing very many of these things running around anywhere before...so...maybe they can stay invisible as long as they want?" Jonagher leans in closer to Ren so he can read over the mage's shoulder. "Any tips on dealing with it? Does it have like a soft underbelly...maybe a precise spot where I can pierce it with an arrow? My last one didn't seem to have much effect..."
Although Shaserai is uneasy letting the devil go, seeing as they have no means to track it or make it reveal itself he puts it out of his mind, hoping it's not lurking around to ambush them.
"I didn't precisely focus on devil-slaying in my priestly studies" starts the elf, "I only remember they cannot be burned and the dark is no hindrance to them. They also can talk mind to mind, without uttering a sound."
The priest turns to Highness. "That stunt was a bit reckless." He gives the goblin the once-over. "Having seen that fall I was expecting you to be in much worse shape, but I'm fairly certain I'll have you like new in no time. And you Ragna, how do you feel? You seemed a bit dizzy for a moment before."
"Hmph." Ragna grunts, rolling one shoulder while keeping a wary eye out for the demon. "It feels like that when your foot falls asleep. Annoying not-painful tickling." She frowns. "It's fading. If there's nothing of use in here I say we jam the doors and leave them to rot."
"Do devils...rot?" Jonagher muses aloud, "I was under the impression they were undying...of natural causes, at least. Always lurking. Always making trouble for mortal beings. I mean, obviously, they can be slain...but if we just lock the other one away in here, I imagine it'll still be eager to ambush the next poor soul who finds their way in here."
"Alak? You're the expert on these things. Is there a way to flush them out?" He looks from the Hellknight back to Ren. "Or, maybe the book has a suggestion on how to deal with it? Seems like a terrible risk to leave one skulking around these ruins..."
Highness stares into the rafters all around the room, straining his darkvision to pick up even a flicker of movement or puff of dust. The others surround Ren while he retrieves the book and flips through the pages until he finds a drawing of one of the tiny devils.
Imps are infiltrators and corrupters, he reads, who, despite their diminutive stature, are more than capable of subtly influencing a weak-willed individual into performing increasingly evil acts over time. An imp will often agree to serve a mortal and act docile and loyal in a long-term plot to eventually damn its master’s soul to Hell. Imps are born directly from Hell itself, rather than from mortal souls, and thus they serve outside the usual diabolic hierarchy, granting them leeway to pursue their specialties. Despite standing a mere 2-feet tall, imps can be vicious combatants, flying out of reach and turning invisible to escape should the odds turn against them.
Below the paragraph, notes have been made in various handwritings:
Telepathy is limited to targets the imp touches. Mostly useless, but explains why wizards prize them as famiiars.
Limited resistance to physical attacks, somewhat resistant to poison.
Can change shape to pig, raven, rat, spider. Useful for reconnaissance.
Can heal itself, even when invisible or in animal form. Kill it dead if you get the chance!
Poison stiffens joints and slows reactions but wears off quickly.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Highness mutters, his eyes tired of searching the rafters for any hint of disturbance, then skulks out into the adjoining room to see if he can hear wings, or any other disturbances.
"We will come back to finish them." Ragna threatens loudly, scowling up at the empty rafters. "Nothing else we can do about them right now. Maybe we can find something else to help us catch it." She strides boldly to where her various weapons had landed, not giving the invisible demon the satisfaction of thinking she fears it.
"Yeah...like a really big net..." Jonagher responds. His eyes continue searching the ceiling in case he needs to draw another arrow. Thinking about his bow then causes him to look back down at the demon-pig-thing, and he moves forward to retrieve his arrows in case any of them might still be serviceable. Once he has them in hand, he hurries to catch up with everyone else as they make to leave. "So...how are we going to secure the door?" he asks.
"There should be a bar on the outside," Alak remarks, "if it hasn't been carried away since the citadel was abandoned."
Indeed, a quick search around the training hall reveals a solid bar that can be placed into brackets on either side of the door.
"Of course," Alak points out, watching the room be secured, "we don't know it didn't slip out while the door was open." Highness's piercing stares haven't revealed anything overt in the training hall, but the collapsed wall offers wide open access to the outdoors.
"Well, great...thanks for that bit of paranoia-inducing commentary..." Jonagher notes aloud. "I guess we'll just have to rely on our sharpened senses to ensure that thing doesn't sneak up on one of us or kill us in our sleep. In fact, maybe it's best we don't camp here in the citadel again? Might be safer in Breachill next time."
Once everyone has exited the summoning chamber, Ragna angrily slams the door bar into place. "That was a waste of time." She seethes, gritting her teeth. It hadn't truly been a waste of time; they had confirmed that either the hellknights had not cleared the place of demons or someone else had come along since the citadel was vacant and started summoning them, but she was still angry they hadn't been able to slay all the monsters. "On to the next."
Perhaps still dazed from the devil toxin, Ragna heads back towards the pantry but reorients herself and makes for the door in the southeastern corner of the room.
Jonagher moves along with Ragna as she starts one way and then changes direction. "Hey, ummm...I know we're all eager to find this ring and the goblin tribe...but uhhh...are you sure you're doing okay? That devil didn't get all in your head or anything did it? No offense or anything. I'm sure you're the epitome of health and stamina and all. Fierce warrior woman, right? But, I'm just sayin'...if we need to rest a bit to regather ourselves before rushing into any more devilish challenges, I think that would be okay."
Shaserai is about to suggest patching up the fighters of the group, but Ragna strides forward so resolutely he follows her lead. Then she tries to go into the pantry again before turning back and choosing another door.
"I concur." The priest says at Jonagher's statement "I can try to make sure there are no after effects to that fiendish poison and also take a look at Highness's injuries from his fall."
Ragna stops, her hand on the door. She tilts her head back, eyes closed, and sighs. "Yes yes." She relinquishes her hold on the handle and turns around. "You're right. Come here, Highness. Are you alright? That was a very reckless thing to do."
"Reckless, but, as it turned out, effective," Irenaeus cannot help but point out. "Thanks to him we at least have only one little devil to worry about instead of two."
He pauses for a moment and adds, "As far as we know..."
Jonagher leans in close and whispers just to Ren. "I thought he was a little devil all on his own...so technically, we're still at two, but at least one of them's on our side."
Highness stopped at Ragna's words and looks back at her with a perplexed expression.
"What do you mean? I am not dead and the little devil is." he said with a shrug. "I can do things that longshanks like you can't. But you can also do things that I can't do. Not many things, but a few." he finished.
"I got some bruises from the fall, but I can still fight. I don't know if healing me now is a good idea, or just waiting to make sure that someone else doesn't get hurt worse."
”It was very impressive.” Ragna agrees. Seeing everyone was healthy and herself more calm, she hefts her shield and makes for the next room.
Shaserai defers to the warriors's decision, trusting them to ask for his expertise when needed. He follows Ragna, hand over his holy symbol, ready for any trouble.
"Keep your wits about you, everyone! Aside from any new horrors behind the rest of these doors, there's a chance we've got an invisible devil tailing us now. So, call out anything unusual to alert the whole party..."
Ragna opens the door to a dusty kitchen. A stove is wedged into the southwestern corner, while wooden cabinets line the walls and a large table takes up the middle of the room. There are doors in the northern and eastern walls.
”Makes sense a place this large would have a dedicated kitchen.” Ragna says, entering the kitchen and looking around for signs of invisible demons. ”Do you suppose there is special demon slaying meals that can be prepared?f”
"The devil hides in the Kitchen...of Evil!" Highness whispered from the doorway.
"The deserts were just, and to die for." he finished, then drifted into the kitchen after Ragna, lured by curiosity.
With everyone else focused on what lies ahead, Jonagher makes sure to keep an eye out behind them in case an invisible devil might be tagging along.
And, of course, while not exactly watching where he's going, he accidentally bumps into Ren as everyone stops just outside the kitchen. "Apologies," he sheepishly offers, "Just making sure we're not followed."
There are no obvious signs of danger, or of invisible devils, either in or outside of the kitchen.
"That is a very good idea," the mage nods. "Unfortunately, the creature's invisibility and flight will make such a thing more than a little difficult."
Irenaeus sighs. "It is said that one may catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, or something to that effect. Perhaps there is something the little devil may want? An item or a favor? In exchange for its cooperation or its agreement to go our separate ways?" He does make any effort to lower his voice; if the imp is indeed following them and within hearing distance it might very well find such a notion enticing. "From what I know of them, devils can be bargained with. On occasion."
"To bargain with devils is to invite evil into your soul." Comments the priest as he starts searching the ancient kitchen. He sends a pulse of magic into the room to see if any aura resonates back. "Let's see if we find anything of use."
Ragna growls softly at Irenaeus proposition and takes up a position to guard Shaserai as he searches.
"What exactly are we searching for in here?" Jonagher asks, "Do we expect to find Alak's ring in the kitchen...as if someone removed it prior to washing a few dishes?" He leans against the doorway and watches everyone else at work, only occasionally glancing back the way they came...just in case.
Shaserai detects no unfamiliar magic in the area.
”I hope we don’t have to chase a ring down the drain.” Ragna says, opening the door to the north. ”This would be the mess hall, then.”
"Emphasis on the mess, I assume?" Jonagher pushes off the opposite doorway to follow everyone. "Seems like everything in this place is in ruin still. If there's a goblin tribe living here, they're either fully comfortable with that, or they've got a bit more civilized space to call home somewhere in these halls."
Ragna opens the door in the north wall to reveal what was, in fact, a mess hall. Long dining tables sit in skewed rows, broken chairs are scattered throughout the chamber, and everything is covered in dust, grime, and cobwebs. There are two doors in the western wall, and one to the east.
”Considering the remarkably ferocious predators that call this place home, I’m beginning to doubt the existence of any goblins here.” Ragna says, nudging a rotted table leg with her foot. ”Imagine having so much silver you could just walk away and leave all your furnishings behind, never mind abandoning an entire castle.” She adds disapprovingly.
"It does seem rather wasteful...but I imagine bulky items would have been hard to easily cart off...whether by Hellknights or would-be robbers. Maybe they intended to come back and thought it was easier to leave some things in place rather than take them? Of course, plans like that often fall thru at the drop of a hat. Still, their loss is our gain. Hopefully, they left a few more valuable items lying around like those silvered weapons we found. Those ought to bring a bit of coin to a collector or a smelter."
Jonagher peers around the room and the tables as if half-expecting another shiny bit of valuable metal to call out to him. Finally, he shakes his head in disappointment. "So...where to next?"
"I wouldn't count the goblins out yet. They are resilient people and also, we've only searched on the main floor of the citadel." The priest looks around the abandoned mess hall. "Wherever the hellknights went, I would think it would be cheaper to purchase brand new furnishings rather than pay someone to transport an entire citadel's worth of old furniture."
At Jonagher's question Shaserai thinks on Altaerein's schematics. "From what I recall, that door," he points to the door on the eastern wall. "leads to something that might be a chapel. We could find something of use there, and sometimes there are secret compartments to store the church's valuables. If your Great-Uncle was a devout man or he only knew about such a safe stash he could have hidden the ring there." he finishes, adressing Alak.
"Valuables, you say?" Jonagher perks up. "Well, bu all means, let's head that way and see if we can find...Alak's ring. Yeah, of course. And...even if it's not there, maybe we'll find something else worth the effort."
"That is a clever idea, Shaserai." Ragna's viking ancestors preferred to raid churches and other religious sites, knowing they were filled with offerings of silver as well as men that could not -or would not- defend themselves. "They must have had some monetary reason to build a fortress way out here and not closer to a supply line." She follows the elf's instruction an opens another door.
Highness ignored the banter, and wormed his way next to Ragna as she opened the door to look around the door frame into the next room.
Ragna opens the door to reveal benches still bolted to the floor in strict lines. To the north stands a wide dais. Garbage clutters what was once undoubtedly a pristine floor. There are multiple doors from this room: one opposite the one Ragna just opened, two more in the western wall, and one in the east, plus a heavy set of double-doors directly to the north. What looks like natural light seeps in around the double doors' jamb, and two small closed shutters approximately six feet up look like they might, if opened, offer a peek through to what's on the other side.
There is some definite noise coming from somewhere on the other side of the double doors: a hoarse hissing and the irregular sounds of stone -- or perhaps metal -- against stone.
Moving alongside his companions, Irenaeus takes a moment or two to cast a minor spell of magic detection, just in case. "There does not seem to be much silver here, at least at first glance," he casually remarks, commenting on Ragna's story of viking raids. "Even so, there does appear to be someone or something on the other side of those doors. Trying to get in perhaps?"
”Sound of stone-on-stone? What are golems made of?” Ragna asks quietly, not advancing further into the room. ”According to the blueprints, we are most of the way through the southern section of the citadel. We should clear the rest of it before moving into the courtyard.”
Shaserai enters the room and scans his surroundings, starting to doubt his earlier supposition due to the lack of any religious imagery. He is trying to find any clue as to the purpose of the room when he hears some noises outside. The priest stands near the door and attempts to recall if he's heard those kind of noises before.
"There's only what seems to be the sleeping quarters left." Agrees Shaserai. "Let's tread carefully and then head to the courtyard."
"Really?" Jonagher asks aloud, "Shouldn't we at least open one of the shutters and peek at what's on the other side? Better informed, better prepared, I always say. And maybe it's better to know what's making that noise before exploring the sleeping quarters?"
"I can get to the doors and try and hear what is happening on the other side...look for cracks and the like?" Highness suggested diffidently, curious but moderately scared of the loud sound.
Ragnhild moves closer to the doors to the courtyard but stops before getting to close. There was no easy way to silence the plates of steel that made up her armor and she did not want to alert whatever was on the other side of the double doors.. ”Just be careful.” She cautions.