Kamari accepts the blessing of Aroden via the Major and opens the door to the Path of Blood. Assuming nothing happens to prevent that.
The party returns to the Path of Blood (pending any Anselm actions of course).
The little man is clearly upset that no tithe is forthcoming, but as you are so large a group, and he is only one, he, begrudgingly, lets you go.
You enter the hallway, which looks innocent enough if odd. A leering statue stands atop a plinth in the northwestern corner. It holds a stone scepter, which it points toward a gold door to the east. The south end of the hall is a heap of collapsed dirt and wood. Nothing seems to stir in the hall but dust, though there is somewhat less of it here than elsewhere.
Perception checks for any who enter the hall.
Kamari moves up to the corner to see what the statue is pointing at. She looks at the door in the distance and examines the statue itself, from the safe distance of the corner.
Kort moves up to look, but then moves back to allow others to see what might be seen.
Perception
"You know, you might want to have that healed... you're no good to her dead."
Muri reaches towards his injury, at first defensively. His body language changes as the elf levels with him. The halfling nods, and pads over to Anselm, requesting a single tap of the healing wand.
Muri catches up with Elen and Underfoot, as everyone migrates towards the unexplored hall affectionately referred to as the Path of Blood.
When Kamari and K'Aldrian enter the new section, Muri moves forward as well, sure that the next trap set on their path will reveal itself soon enough.
He waits for Kamari to give the go ahead, girding himself for yet another door needing opening.
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As he follows the party, Anselm shrugs. "Rat, you say? Tithing? Friends, perhaps there's a ysoki about, or a wererat. Who worships Arrow-dean."
He joins Kamari at the cusp of the hallway, gazing down into the everlight.
Mama stays within touching distance of the others. There isn’t much she can do, and yet, whatever there is to do, she will. She keeps her walking stick in her hand, though does not appear to need it much at the moment.
”Well, if there is another about, where might they be?”
Elen moves up and tries to see what there is to see in the hall as she moves into it.
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The party advances to the Hall of Blood, though they largely stay to the fringes of the hall, all crowded around the corner.
- - -
As you enter the Hall of Blood, ever so slowly circles begin to form on the walls. They are similar to the circles you’ve seen around already, starting small and low to the ground. They form on the walls and slowly expand to fill the halls floor and ceilings as well. The circles this time though are made of blood.
Shortly after the circles form, the blood ‘explodes’ into a mist which fills the air with fine deep red droplets and covers the party. The blood begins to coalesce into an image, forming into a large circular room. Wide stairs descend into this beautiful, tiered, circular auditorium or meeting space - rich with dark wood and luxurious cloth coverings. It’s really quite beautiful if tinged in red and smelling of iron.
Within this chamber stands a handsome middle aged man of power with a strange banded gold ioun stone circling around his head. He towers in the middle of the chamber, floating just above the ground and surrounded by large circles drawn in chalk along with layers of mystical symbols and carefully placed candles. Atop his left shoulder sits an enormous dire rat, clinging to his robes and watching everything he does. A familiar? A master? It’s hard to tell in the hazy blood-image.
It’s clear that the central figure is casting a spell of enormous power, drawing upon ancient arcane energies perhaps best left alone. At the apex of the ritual, the rat looks suddenly askance at the man… who seems to have faltered, if only for an instant - but that’s all it takes. The power, so carefully controlled, is left unbridled, and scatters throughout the chamber scorching the walls and ceiling before exploding with light - destroying the blood-image and scattering the reaming blood throughout the chamber, coating you all.
Your eyes reflexively close against the splatter and you open them hesitantly, unsure of what you might see. What remains is a small bloody image of a rather impressive looking dire rat on a pile of books (image) with the strange ioun stone, now flawed, circling his head. Of the man, there is little left but ash.
The blood-mist fades, but something stirs in the hall…
- - -
You're not sure what's going on, but there's a trembling in the hall, as if the wood itself were shuddering.
"A haunt! Can anyone channel/flood the space with positive energy healing? Hurry, before something really bad happens!"
Readied action to attack enemies within reach.
Round 1, Init 17-
AC = 15/13/13
HP = 18/18
Weapon Equipped = Shepherd's Crook
Condition(s) = None
AC = 17/15/13
HP = 26/26
Weapon Equipped = Tooth and Paw
Condition(s) = None
The halfling nopes out, when the shuddering begins, the circles form, and the blood mists all about them. He's not interested in triggering another set of circles.
Muri politely excuses himself, clicking his tongue to get Underfoot to follow him out of the Hall of Blood, while others decide how to best proceed.
In the doorway, the halfling sets his stance against anything flinging itself at him.
Know (Religion)
Kort quickly internally confirms Elen's assertion, but does not feel confident with his limited healing energies to be able do stop the badness.
Round 1
"Get out of here!" Kort says, moving back to the merchant's empty shop.
When he gets to the amassed nobles, he holds up his hands.
"Stop! Go no further!"
Round 1, Init 4
"A haunt yes, something terrible to imagine, but beyond me capabilities. Positivity, I mean -positive energy- is needed, and quickly!" if only I had answered that call... but alas...
Anselm draws out the wand and sends life's energy flooding into the chamber.
"Get back!"
Muri and Major Kort flee the battlefield, taking up defensive positions and protecting the innocent, while Elen readies for whatever foe she may face.
Meanwhile, Anselm ponders his next move, hoping to learn more, but he knows nothing more - it is but a haunt. No more, no less.
He brings his holy power to bear upon the blood, and the soft glow of the positive energy overwhelms the dim red pulsing of the blood. The image of the rat fades, and the hall is quiet once more.
The far golden door has two keyholes and is solidly locked. As you get closer and examine it, you find it is not actually gold, but rather brass and heavy.
When the all-clear is given, Muri huffs over to examine the keyholes. He frowns, as he expects that the door will not forgive his singular Gold Key. The halfling tries his key, nonetheless, demonstrating to the others its application. Underfoot sniffs at the fading circles, then scratches at the walls, and sniffs again.
If the door does open, Muri pulls the brass door open. If the door remains locked, he looks back on the others, shrugging his shoulders.
K’Aldrian holds the royalty at bay until he is sure the situation is under control in the Path of Blood. And only after checking the resolution himself does he return to explain that it’s more safe now, and that he had nothing to do with it.
”What happened? Who did what?” Kort asks and is eventually surprised that Anselm’s wand did the trick. ”That was unexpected, but what do I know?”
He will examine the keyholes and use his key in conjunction with Muri’s to see if the doors open.
Perception
Anselm looks at the wand, impressed. He looks at his companions, unconsciously puffing himself up a bit. "It appears the spirits haunting this place lack tenacity. But it would seem the wizard's familiar remains somewhere hereabouts."
He brings light to bear on Muri's key turning, his hand resting on the smaller fellow's shoulder.
Muri and the Major turn their respective keys and a heavy lock slowly clunks deep within the door. Opening it, you see the very chamber you witnessed in the Hall of Blood vision. This area seems to have once served as a lecture hall hosting academic talks.
Wide stairs descend into this tiered, circular chamber (each ‘level’ is 5’ down). Chairs stand in odd positions throughout the room, collected into circular patterns, even outside of the greater circular patterns of the hall itself.
Circular gouges mar the surface of the wooden walls and floor here, some left to stand alone, while others are multiple circular scratches overlaying one another, joined by lines and scrawlings. The greatest concentration of circles gathers on the ceiling, some forty feet above, where multicolored circles inscribed with artistic fanaticism surround a five-foot-wide hole there.
The room is very still.
K’Aldrian moves up a short distance after opening the door. He moves to the edges of the stairs and looks on.
Perception
Anselm joins the Major, eyes fixing on the ceiling. "Praise Shelyn for artistry, even in those with dark hearts." He can scarcely take his eyes off the colorful markings.
As he gazes, he attunes his senses to the smell of evil in the room ahead.
Kamari blinks as the bloody vision appears and then fades away. She follows the others to the circular room and looks about.
Assuming she sees nothing that makes her change her plans, Kamari skirts the top level of the hall, taking the shortest path to the next door. She'll examine it for traps while waiting for the others to join her.
"Whoa, Anselm!" exclaims Elen rushing back to Haunt Hall. "So that's how you deal with haunts!"
"It appears the spirits haunting this place lack tenacity. But it would seem the wizard's familiar remains somewhere hereabouts."
Elen nods, "Yes, I bet he's the one who has been leaving around all of the chalk and other circles! I wonder what they were trying to summon -- or otherwise do? I wonder if he did not start life out as a dire rat."
As she enters with the others into the auditorium, she looks up at the ceiling. "Is that left over from the catastrophe we just saw?" she asks, pointing to the 5 foot hole in the ceiling. "Is someone trying to calculate a way through?" She makes her way to the edge of the first circular tier, calling over her shoulder. "Does anyone know from where dire rats hail?"
She takes a look around the room.
The Major and Anselm step first into the room, neither finding anything of particular interest - and no evil. Kamari and Elen follow, and likewise find nothing of note - though Elen does detect a trace of magic lingering in the room. Somewhere nearby, magic was recently used.
Elen recalls that the hole in the ceiling was not shown in the bloody display of the former room, and the party doesn’t remember any circles on the ceiling in that scene either. These seem more recent, though some of the circles viewed by the group are indeed very old (dozens of years - if not more).
Kamari finds that the eastern door also has a double locking mechanism, though he doesn’t think it is trapped. It does not look like the first two gold keys will work in this lock. The keyholes are smaller and somewhat simpler (though still complex).
Anselm moves down near the hole. He peeps into it somewhat diffidently, half expecting some ghost to push him in, half expecting to be pulled in by a hideous tentacled beast. He holds the lantern out as he looks in.
Then, looking down, Anselm realizes the hole is in the ceiling. Wondering what kind of mushrooms were in that tart he ate earlier, he looks up to see what might be through the gap in the ceiling.
"Thank you, Anselm. That was very a very effective use of the wand."
Mama D too stays up at the ceiling, and the hole in it.
"One wonders if the rat grew wings to fly up that high?" Though that sounds more like a bat, doesn't it?
Muri blanches at the sight of so many circles. There's no way but forward here. This is not going to be good. Entering the hallway leading to the grand circular room, he has to turn back, and encourage Underfoot to follow him forward. The sheepdog's ears are back, and the animal regards the circles warily, just as much, if not more, than the halfling.
This time, it's Muri who backtracks, and gives Underfoot a gentle shove forward, the direction of the push in keeping with Kamari's trail. When it becomes apparent that they're skirting the room, Muri takes the lead and makes his way a quarter of the way around.
The halfling wrinkles his nose in frustration when he sets eyes on a second pair of keyholes. "What's with this place?? A bunker, sure, but folks would have needed a lesson on this place, before they ever encountered danger grave enough to send them down here. Feels more like a prison."
"One wonders if the rat grew wings to fly up that high?"
"Agreed, M'Della," K'Aldrian keeps his eyes open and his crossbow ready. He knows the value of high ground and archers in high places and so remains where he is while others explore.
Know (Nature) - Dire rats?
He will explain what he knows of dire rats and if it is possible they are responsible for the hole, trying to answer Elen.
"Not sure rats can fly. Maybe they were riding bats? But I don't see any evidence of that either."
"The rat looked comfortable, sitting on the books. It looked magical. The ritual probably shoved the man into the rat. That's why the rat looks so comfortable sitting like a man."
Muri points at the locked door. "Can anyone get us through? We should probably leave, before the man-rat comes back."
Fly?! Why would they have to fly? Regular rats are good climbers. Why wouldn't one expect dire rats to also be good climbers? Even the spirit of a humanoid trapped in the body of a rat could take advantage of that ratty skill."
She follows along the edge toward Kamari, Muri and Underfoot.
Anselm moves under the hole and peers up into it with his magical light.He can't see much, but it's clear the hole opens up to a larger space, but how much larger he cannot say from where he is.
Major Kort agrees, Dire Rats (N Small Animal) are known for their climbing and swimming too! (Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.)
As you have search around the chamber, a booming, yet high pitched and squeaky, voice descends upon you. It’s hard to tell from where the voice comes in the echoing room.
”You are interrupting important research into the Will of the Circles, and are, like a hair in my eye, an irritant. Go back from whence you have come, perhaps I shall stay my hand, and perhaps you shall survive, by my grace! Leave!”
Kort does not yet answer, but does try to pinpoint the source of the sound, or the direction. He believes the acoustics might make it tough, but he tries.
Perception
Muri gives the room a once-over, vexed when the voice fails to materialize into something corporeal. "We'll be on our way, if we can exit through this door. We respect your circles. They are a danger to those who don't understand them. If you unlock the door, we'll be gone in no time."
Underfoot's hackles raise, as do her ears.
Anselm, too, attempts to pinpoint the voice in the chambers echoes.
Unable to find the source, he calls out,
"Alas, going back from whence we came requires moving forward. Upward. But if you prefer, we could help you with your research, Mister Rat. What is your end goal once you understand the Will?"
Mama D looks about for the source of the voice, but does not seem to have much luck. She strokes poor Cuddle's quills to help keep the creature calm in the face of such odd happenings. I know, Darling, it's been a very long day.
Kamari remains quiet and watchful for the mysterious voice as the others have already voiced her own thoughts.
Major Kort strains to hear where the sound is coming from, but all he can immediately identify is ’South’ of his position. With further discussion (see below) he can narrow it down to maybe the southern half of the room but that’s still just a guess. The acoustics really aren’t in his favor here. Kamari, by the door, spots an unusual scratch mark further down the wall as she looks about. Could it be a secret door? Seems likely!
”No, there is going back the way you came, and there is dying. I’ve known too many of your sort!” the voice continues, ”I am Dagio the Great, Hierophant of the Arc, Archduke of Tangencies, the Beginning and the End, the Center of the Pi….” he goes on for some short while before, eventually, getting around to the point, ”You have not done as I wished, and so for your heretical blather and continued demands, you are sentenced to death!” A real short fuse on this one.
As the squeaky voice culminates in a screech, there’s a high pitched scattering, and rats come up from beneath the benches, from largely hidden tiny holes all around the chamber. They eventually coalesce into two large piles of swarming rats!
- - -
Know (Nature)
”Rats!” Kort cries out about the completely obvious. He will also explain the stuff in the spoiler above.
Round 1, Init last again
Kort aims his crossbow and levels a quick shot against the red swarm, then reloads (move). He wishes he had a different mode of attack, but doesn’t like his options.
to hit;
damage;
hp: 16/16
AC: 15/13/12
Saves: F1/R5/W6 +2 vs. enchantment
Lowlight. PBS.+2 v. poison.
Aroden's Verve: 0/4 used
GlitterBomb: 0/0 used
Extend GammaRadiation: 0/0 used
Quantum Leaps used:
Pathfinder Carry: 0/0
Staff of Courage: 0/0
0: (create water, detect magic, light, stabilize,read magic)
1: 2/5 used
[ dice]1d20+0[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6-1[/dice] damage.
to hit; (+PBS)
damage;
Bolts: 17/20
Round 1, Init21
”Oh goodness, have you been starving them, you horrid creature?!” Though Mama doesn’t recognize the magic behind such things, she knows a threat when she sees one. Sometimes. Unfortunately, she can’t see the Voice. With no other choice, she tries to steer the swarming rodents away from her. Cuddles isn’t a fan of other small creatures. Best we not become friends.
Round 1, Init 11
AC = 15/13/13
HP = 18/18
Weapon Equipped = Shepherd's Crook
Condition(s) = None
AC = 17/15/13
HP = 26/26
Weapon Equipped = Tooth, Plural
Condition(s) = None
"Hold on now!" Indignant, Muri finally realizes that Dagio is in the room, but hides. "You're just going to attack us, when we've done noth..." The next moment, Muri is shoved aside , Underfoot desiring nothing more than to wring the life from the vermin newly emerging from the benches. The sheepdog's muzzle sinks into the swarm, emerging bloody and filled with the body of a rather portly rat.
Muri regains himself, and drops his torch, so he can swing on the swarm, trying to keep it from overwhelming Underfoot.
Round 1
"Well, I suppose this means we shan't be friends."
Anselm moves away from the rats and takes out an alchemist's fire.
"Feel free to take this and throw it at them."
HP 16 / 1 NL
AC 14
1st level spells 1/3
Summon monster 3/7
CLW wand 14/50
Alchemist’s fire 2/2
HP: 16/16
AC: 15 (no armor or shield, but the blessing of the Major)
Fort +0; Ref +6; Will +4
Initiative +4 (Dex +2, Elven Reflexes +2)
Speed 30
BAB +1
CMB +1 (blessing might add +2)
13 CMD (11 Flatfooted) (blessing might add +2)
Rapier +4, 1d6, 17-20x2 (anatomist)(Quick draw, Weapon Finesse, & Weapon Focus for rapier only)
Panache points = 3 + 1 for crit - 1 for escape artist use
When wandering Oppara, even at night, Kamari had never seen such a swarm. Even from smaller packs of rodents, she found it just easier to avoid them. Perhaps that can be the case this time too.
"I think there's a door here!" She shouts as she tries to figure a way to open it before the swarm reaches her or any of her companions.
Elen nods to Anselm, reaches into her backpack and withdraws an Alchemist's Fire. She then lobs it at the swarm...
for
... lobbing way too far only to briefly set a bench ablaze.
Elen sheepishly shrugs an apology at Anselm. She calls out to the dire rat hoping for an answer. "Hey, are these your circles and math formulas?"
She grips her pole arm.
Mama D sends a chilling ray down upon blue, drawing first blood. Kamari rushes to the secret door where she finds a simple slide mechanism to open it, though she’s out of actions to do so this round. Elen fumbles the alchemy flask, tossing it short, but splashing the swarm for 1hp damage. Muri and Underfoot go to town on the swarm as the dog thrashes through several rats in quick succession. Anselm draws his flask of alchemy fire and steps back up the stairs a bit to avoid being overwhelmed. Major Kort plinks at the red swarm, though his aim is slightly off and he doesn’t quite connect.
Dagio the Great becomes visible as an acidic arrow flies at Mama D from the little spellcaster. ”So we come full circle, as spells cancel spells!”
The arrow pierces Mama D’s shoulder, and continues to burn (ongoing damage for concentration to cast future spells) causing great pain! Also Dagio appears, standing on a chair near the back wall in the southern portion of the room. He leaps off the chair onto a railing, and rushes around the room away from Kamari.
The blue swarm, well, uh, swarms Underfoot and Muri, triggering AoOs for both. If the swarm survives, Underfoot and Muri each take and need to make DC 12 Fort saves (disease) and DC 12 Fort saves (nausea 1 round).
The red swarm scrambles down he steps following Anselm. However, the rats aren’t as fleet of foot, and so don’t quite make it to him this round.
Anselm scrabbles down of the seats towards the Dagio. He taunts the fink, hoping to draw attention away from Mama D, before turning to throw the alchemist's fire.
"Dagio the Miniscule seems more apt."
HP 16 / 1 NL
AC 14
1st level spells 1/3
Summon monster 3/7
CLW wand 14/50
Alchemist’s fire 1/2
Round 2, Init 11
AC = 15/13/13
HP = 18/18 or 14/18
Weapon Equipped = Shepherd's Crook
Condition(s) = Possibly Diseased and/or Nauseated
AC = 17/15/13
HP = 26/26 or 22/26
Weapon Equipped = Tooth, Plural
Condition(s) = Possibly Diseased and/or Nauseated
Underfoot raises her voice in agitation, which mixes an animal predatory instinct with a sudden alarm when the swarm advances instead of scattering as expected. She savages where she can, snapping spines and bludgeoning bellies.
Muri doesn't hesitate to swing again, markedly more uncomfortable with his personal space being violated by his first rat swarm encounter. He attacks where Underfoot is not.
Muri and Underfoot continue to receive the luck, perhaps stolen from the rest of the group. However it's enough to down the rat swarm before it fully engulfs them.
The blue swarm is dissipated.