Seeing that his companions have been healed, Jarprax turns to glare at the mad king. His eyes wide with fury, storm clouds roil in from the edges, covering the whites in purple clouds, lightning sparking across his slitted irises: "YOU! You are not fit to hold the blessings of the storm!" His warhammer held in front of him, Jarprax points a sharpened claw at the dwarf, electricity dancing across the nail: "I will see an end to you and to this kingdom." A bright electric light lances out from his finger toward the king:
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Not content to let the blades do their work, Jarprax calls down holy light burning the derro within and without, reducing him to a chunk of blackened meat! Then the blades tear the corpse into shreds, sending blood and pieces of charred meat everywhere within 5 feet of the Mad King and twirling blades!
--
Landeep, bloody and battered, kicks one of the large chunks of the former mad dwarvish king, the turns to his surviving clutchmates and speaks out in Draconic.
The remaining dragonkin yip and cheer, heading for the door. Landeep stops at the entry of the hall and turns to all of you, placing his hand across his chest and bows for a moment, then vanishes into the darkness...
Atop the stairs, splayed around the Mad King's throne lay gold and other treasures.
Anyone that heads to the area to investigate notes that there is no platinum disc...
Jarprax nods, satisfied that the heretic has been destroyed. If it is not too late, he will turn to the two kobolds who were killed in the combat and attempt to stabilize their wounds:
As he tends to their wounds, Jarprax tries to catch the attention of Blacklock and Antonio: "Apologies for not reaching you sooner with healing, friends. It seems you've been touched by the storm; though," he frowns, "this way, with magic from an unbeliever under the ground, is not truly a blessing. You must come with me to the mountains some day!"
Shaldinari spends a bit of time rummaging through the treasure scattered around the mad king. Not seeing a disc or much else of interest to her she is just about to turn away when she notices a thin crack in the stone just right of the throne behind one of the chests.
"Hmmmm....what do we have here?" She says kneeling down near what could be a hidden door of some kind.
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The two kobolds were killed outright. Both were hit with the lightning bolts hurled by the Mad King and fried instantaneously.
As Shaldinari looks at the door, she finds no traps, but it does not open. She is reminded of the poem read to them by Mother Homwell, While upon his granite throne, he turned to face a wall of stone. Then turning back to kith and kin, he bade his god to let him in.
The fae-pacted half-elf notices a single iron spike driven into the stone at the rear of the throne's base. Additionally, she notices ornate carvings of dwarves in battle, dwarves working the forges, and dwarves kneeling in prayer all over the throne.
Antonio slowing stands up every muscle tingling and sore form the electrical current that flowed through him. The hair on his head and arms still standing straight up.
"Wow, I thought I was good as dead for a second. Don't think too much about it Jarparx, we are alive and won, good enough for me. But I think I might need a short breather if you guys don't mind."
Antonio moves over to the steps and has a seat. Trying to flatten his hair.
Jiro spends the short rest pocketing some gold, and rambling on to anyone who will listen about great mythological tales of the gods - as well as the fine artifacts and relics Jiro has found from these tales. All of the relics are for sale, of course, and all of the tales are completely wrong, of course. But they are so laughably wrong, and Jiro so (seemingly) genuine and animated in the telling, that it makes an amusing contrast to the horrifying sight of the Mad King gore sprayed around the dreary surroundings.
;)
Shaldinari nods to Blacklock as he walks over to the throne.
"Enjoy your visit into the underworld?" She says to the thief, not taking her eyes off of the stone chair and its carvings. "I must admit, I never would have guessed you as one for such...heroics."
She then reaches out, grabs the spike and gives it a tug to see if it comes free from it's odd place.
"Pfffttt...if you'd seen that old witch..." Shaldinari says dismissively as the spike slips free. Pausing for a moment she looks thoughtfully at Blacklock, her eyes looking him over from head to toe, like a butcher sizing up how many steaks she could get out of an old milk cow. Then simply shakes her head. "Nope. You're not my mothers type. But I'll mention your interest in meeting the cold-hearted b$@!h next time I'm traveling the Abyss." She leans in slightly and speaks in a loud stage whisper. "But fair warning, her personality makes mine look like its all sunshine, bunnies, and rainbows."
"Now back to the matter at hand." She waves the spike in front of the thief's nose, a whirling glint of fae mischief in her eyes. "You're supposed to be the expert on traps, secret entrances and such. What's our next step to open yon secret door?"
As she rambles, she tries pushing a little on the throne to see if it slides or rolls back at all.
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It does not slide, so much as it rotates. As Shaldinari rotates the throne until it faces the wall, she and Blacklock (and whoever else might be with them) hear a click. Following the click, Blacklock's keen senses bring him to the engravings of the dwarves worshiping at the altar. On the anvil-shaped altar, the clever rogue finds a raised button...
Jarprax will say a short prayer for the departed kobolds, taking some solace in the fact that they were killed by lightning.
After, he'll wander up to see what Shaldinari and Blacklock are up to on the dais, but he won't interfere.
Tana will quietly join Jarprax in prayer for the Kobolds who perished. She too will then go to Shaldinari and Backlock and observe quietly.
"Oh yes...." Shaldinari says with a thin, wry grin while waving a hand toward Jiro, Jarprax, and Tana. "We all spotted that button long ago and anyone could have pushed it." She shrugs casually while turning and giving Tana a quick wink. "But we all agreed you could use a little boost of confidence after your earlier escapade didn't work out so well."
"Now that we've healed you're vast opinion of yourself just like we had to heal your physical self, let's see if we can't find the Doodad of Doom and leave this smelly cave." She says with all of the insincere charm she can muster and pushes the button
"So with the riddle I guess someone sits on the throne, pushes the button, spins to face the wall and back again then calls out to the dwarven god. Sounds simple enough, who will give it a try?"
Tana listens to Antonio and says,
Well, if you need a volunteer, I'll give it a try.
Tana awaits a reply from the others.
”Sure, Tana, that’s fine with me. I’m all for anyone who isn’t me trying it!”
Relieved that they survived the battle, Zar watches as the others try to access the disk. "You may have to speak Dwarvish for this one," he says outloud.
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I believe everyone has checked in, thank you for being patient over these American holidays! ^_^
--
You all are talking back and forth about who will sit in the throne, when Blacklock first presses the button. There is a click, then a pregnant pause. Just as Tana is about to go sit in the throne, the secret door opens up!
Braziers burn in each corner of this large rectangular room, providing ample light. The center of the chamber contains four square pools that hold colored liquids. Two cups and a bowl rest where the pools meet.
As you cross the threshold and enter the room, a mouth appears on the northern portion of the west wall and speaks, Although it shines as bright as day, consuming fire shows the way. With its final word, it fades from existence.
The four pools have a different color water: red, yellow, blue, and clear.
For those searching the room:
Tana will search the room,
Glancing at the various liquids, there was no way Shaldinari would even consider drinking from one of the pools. Yet, attempting to solve the riddle helped calm her mind and relieve some of the stress of being stuck underground.
"Hmmmm...the yellow sun shines bright as day." She says thinking out loud. [b]"Red seems more likely as the consuming fire. Perhaps we try filling the bowl with two cups of the red liquid...or maybe one cup of red and one of yellow?"
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Jarprax's voice echoes loudly around the room: "HAH! Magic Mouths or mundane mouths - you all look creepy when you talk! It's weird to see your lips moving around the words - eh, Jiro?" Jarprax claps the little kobold on the back, hard enough to cause him to stumble.
As Shaldinari and Blacklock try to solve the puzzle, Jarprax both offers to consume what needs consuming, and offers several unhelpful ideas: "Consume?! As in 'we' consume? I could do that... but - maybe the pool has to consume the fire? Let's stick the braziers in the pools! Or... wait, maybe we set the pools on fire? Hang on..." Unless someone stops him, Jarprax will take a scoop of the red liquid with one of the cups and test its flammability.
Picking up a cup and looking at the pools. "If I remember right, fire in paintings is orange, so if we mix red and yellow that should make the orange color. Then the question is, who will drink it? I have drank some really bad grog before so if no one else wants to give it a try I will drink it."
And scoops up some red water and pours it in the bowl then with the other cup gets some yellow water to pour in the bowl and sees if it turns orange.
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Antonio looks around, and as no one steps up, he downs the mixture! The faint sweetness is fairly pleasant and there is a warming effect that spreads through his body.
There seems to be no change for the rest of you...
Zar contemplates what the riddle might mean. "Maybe if we put a fire out with the red liquid," he says out loud. He starts to nod at Antonio's suggestion of making orange but then looks shocked when he suggests that someone drink it. "You go right ahead. Not the brightest, is he. He's probably made some coin over the years accepting challenges to drink odd things," he thinks to himself.
"I'm not sure that's what it meant to "consume fire," Zar says, thinking that will discourage the fighter. He shakes his head in disbelief as Antonio downs the drink when no one else offers. "Are you crazy?" he asks as he pauses to see what happens. "Well, at least it didn't kill him ... yet."
Antonio smacks his lips "Not bad, oh wait what is this?" As he walks over to a wall.
"There is a glowing door right here." He puts his hand on the wall and it passes right through. "That was strange I can feel a lot of heat, like a hot forge on the other side." He pulls his hand back and turns to the group. "Do you guys want me to take a look?"
"Huh, nice work Antonio! Sure, go check it out! Oh... but maybe tie off to a rope or something? Don't want to step through into a pit or something. I never really understood why people would set up riddles to show others how to get to their treasures. I mean, whoever made it knew how to get in so it's not like they needed a hint, and if they wanted to let their friends in just tell them when you see them, right? So why leave a message showing any stranger who shows up how to get in? If it were me creating an elaborate puzzle to protect my treasure, I'd leave a riddle that when solved leads to certain death. Oh, but I'm sure it's fine, Antonio. Good luck!"
Jiro smiles an overly large grin of pointed teeth and gives two thumbs up.
Zar doesn't take his eyes off of Antonio, expecting him to explode or be consumed by fire at any moment. He doesn't notice that his jaw drops when the fighter puts his hand through the wall like it's not there.
"Um, yes please. Maybe someone should join you so you are not alone," he says, looking at the others, hoping someone will volunteer. He's still not sure how the "dumb" fighter figured out the riddle while he didn't.
He shrugs at Jiro's question. "Maybe to prove even after death that they were smarter than others by leaving a riddle that they think can't be solved," he muses.
Antonio nods to Jiro and ties off a rope around his waste. "I will be right back." Antonio takes a deep breath and steps through the wall with only a rope trailing behind. The rope stuck in the wall moves every now and then like Antonio is taking some very careful steps. Then the rope goes slack. When the rope is pulled back out of the wall the party notices that it is no longer attached to Antonio but just a burnt smoldering end. Before panic rips through the party or wagers being paid for him not making it. Antonio steps back in with the rope still tied to him and the rope ending in another burnt end.
"Sorry about the rope but I got too close to the lava and the rope dropped in and burnt up." He begins to untie the shortened rope from himself.
"So the room is about 25 feet by 40 feet. There are two small landing that can fit maybe 2 people on. One by this door" pointing at the wall "and another about 35 to 40 feet away. The entire floor other than the two small landings is covered in lava. There was another magic mouth and this riddle was One of shallow. One of Deep. Both together, saves a leap.
I am not sure what it means since the entire floor is one level except the two landings that are maybe an inch or two above the lava."
Shaldinari couldn't help but agree with Jiro's assessment of the wizard who originally hid this ancient artifact. If you don't want something found, don't leave magical clues strewn about telling how to find it. But then again, where would they be if there weren't any clues. Probably relaxing back under the sunny skies of Chult, enjoying one of those lavender infused rum drinks.
Antonio's stepping through the wall broke her out of her internal reverie. "Curious..." She says with an arched eyebrow when the fighter finally returns with his singed rope, but otherwise intact.
"Do any of these pools look deeper or shallower than the others?" She says glancing down into the four pools again. Knowing that the depth of water can be hard to from simply looking, she takes out a length of rope, ties her dagger to the end and quickly measures the depth of each pool to see if they are all the same or not.