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Dora considered leaving Rusty to guard the girls, but the portable hole idea seems less intimidating...unless they are claustrophobic.
It will be fine. We will be back soon enough.
She does not mention the girls will be trapped in the hole forever if the party is wiped out...but that is not likely, right.
Dora and Rusty disappear.
Kel disappears.
The two girls disappear.
Mal disappears.
Thrag, Brother, Glaube remain where they are.
Thrag, Brother, Glaube: what do you do?
(those who have disappeared will be contacted via PM once the rest of the party has decided what to do.)
Thrag and Brother finnd nothing. The Pathfinders are gone.
Nothing
Both warriors pull open one of the sarcophagi and find it empty.
"Probably where they wanted to go," answers a disembodied voice coming from all corners of the immense room.
Nothing happens.
Nothing happens.
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"If it comes down to it, after a night's rest, I can get us out of here using Word of Recall. Assuming we survive."
Kel appears at the Lion Sleeps Inn with the two young girls. They look at the familiar setting with surprise, and melt in thankful tears, taking turn hugging themselves and Kel and the bartender, who is similarly surprised, happy and shedding tears of joy. "Oh, we've looked everywhere for ye girls! your Pa even kept looking for days after we all gave up... wait 'till he hears the good news! sit down, I'll have something for you both to eat in a minute." The patrons of the inn take turns coming over to welcome back the two girls. Inn staff bring drinks, warm towels and a washbasin to help hydrate and clean up the girls. A few min later the innkeeper has food out for Kel and the girls, adding "Oh, Kind Wizard Master, Sir, we thank you from the bottom of our heart! are your friends on their way to join you Sir? rooms are on the house for heroes such as you, and you can ask anything you want from me or my staff."
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Dora and Rusty appear among the buildings on the surface.
Mal appears a few hundred feet from Dora and Rusty, directly in front of the building that was next to the one you last entered.
The two heroes stare at each other for a bit.
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Kel is as surprised as the girls when they arrive at the inn, but after a moment of shock, he half closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and channels his inner cat.
While the girls are seen to, he takes a moment to prestidigitize himself and get a glass of something strongly alcoholic - brandy or whiskey would be fine. While he sips his drink he answers any questions put to him except about the condition of the young ladies when found. Their experiences there were their own to process and reveal or not as they chose. "You're quite welcome, I'm just glad the young ladies are back among friends and soon family as well."
"As for my friends, I'm sure given enough time, they might just come back on their own, but sadly, I'm afraid I'm probably going to have to go back and find them. They are resourceful, but a bit lacking in logica arcana, for the most part. I do believe with their incredible other talents they will make their way here without me in time, but I still am concerned for them. Not to mention, there is still more to learn and things to set right there, and I might miss some of the... experience." He was about to say 'fun', but truly that place was not that fun, and the girls obviously did not have fun there and he didn't want to trivialize their trauma.
He sips his drink and revels in the warmth that spreads through him from it, then replies to the innkeeper further. "Thank you for the offer of a room, and when I have my companions back with me, I'm sure we will avail ourselves of that kindness. For now though, perhaps just a quick meal, doesn't have to be fancy - just something hot and hearty.. Even oatmeal or porridge would be welcome... then I should be back off to find them."
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Mal takes a moment and tests what's' real,' the ground, the air, trying to detect if this is truly teleportation or a fanciful flight of a sorcerer's imagination.
Detecting no malfescence, beyond whatever has brought him here, he hurries to the wizard, hoping to find answers. He looks rather distraught that whatever happened seemed to leave several of the pathfinders behind.
What in the ForgeFather's name happened?!
Kel eventually returns to the necropolis walls, and teleports inside by using the funerary baton the same way he did on the way in, following their employer's letter carefully to make sure no errors creep in the second time.
Once inside, day changes to night once again, and he spots Mal and Dora milling about the buildings aimlessly. Gathering them, Kel heads to the first of the three large buildings to the north, retracing their steps and informing them that they got there by stepping on an exit teleporting circle that is keyed to the destination imagined by the user's thoughts.
Stepping unto the entrance medusa teleport circle, the three heroes are once again transported to the location of Thrag, Brother and Glaube, and the three step off the exit teleporting circle, lest their thoughts activate the device once more before they formulate a group plan...
This dull gray granite building looms in the center of the necropolis. Its entrance has a domed ceiling that rises to a height of twenty feet, and is decorated with intricate geometric designs. In the center of the chamber’s floor, a carved medusa crest stares endlessly upward. To the north, a pair of stained-glass windows depicting a handsome man and a beautiful woman look on, depicting Aroden and Arazni as they appeared while they were human.
A motto engraved around the circumference of the medusa engraving on the floor reads,
Turning east, the walls of this domed and oval-shaped formal chamber are covered in complex geometric patterns of green and gold. It appears to be used for funerary rites, with marble tables to the north and south and two elaborate wheeled wooden biers at the center. To the east, the wall is made up of a huge iron oven with a closed door three feet square and two feet off the floor, with a shelf sticking out beneath it like the tongue of a huge, taunting beast. This room was used to cremate the bodies of servants and others destined for interment in urns within the walls of a crypt.
Suddenly, out of the oven three fire elementals and an efreeti come charging out!
The heroes swiftly dispatch the imprisoned guardians with sword and spells, and searching the place they find the following:
Treasure 1: a small locked chest (DC 35 Disable Device to open) that holds a wand of fireball (CL 10, 18 charges), a tome of clear thought +1, a silver necklace worth 2,250 gp, and an iron key that radiates faint transmutation. (the area you just escaped with Kel's help which you have now 3 out of 4 keys for...)
When the efreeti is slain, his body rots away with shocking speed, leaving behind a ghostly duplicate. Yet though the living noble efreeti was violently insane, this spectral version is calm and serene. The efreeti takes on an almost regretful appearance, thanking you all for releasing him not only from the prison of iron that held his body, but from the prison of madness that held his mind. In thanks for this service, he tells you all about the hidden panel in the north wall. He also tells you that even greater treasures than those in the hidden panel await them elsewhere in the Tomb of the Iron Medusa. While he has never seen these vaults, he learned much listening to the long-gone caretakers of the crematorium. He tells you that the inmost vault, the crypt of Bartolomae Adella, the last head of the Daellum branch, can be reached by a teleporter, and that four objects are needed to unlock that teleporter. The key found in the hidden chest in this room is one of those four objects. He only knows vague descriptions of the other three objects—“a dagger befouled, Thrasillus’s voice, and a sister’s keepsake,” but not where they may be found (although he does know that all three are somewhere in the necropolis or the tombs below). After imparting this advice imparted, the efreeti's spirit sighs in relief, then fades
away, finally at peace.
Moving to the west, you enter a once elegant domed shrine. This place of reverence has been foully and thoroughly defiled: statues lie broken on the floor, and the mosaic symbol of Aroden under the great dome is smeared with all manner of filth. The walls, bearing once-beautiful frescoes of deeds of the god, are soiled with ordure. Pools of red-tinged water stand to the north and south, while a scorched curtain that once sheltered the altar to the west hangs in tatters.
A DC 15 Knowledge (religion) check correctly identifies this shrine as having once been dedicated to Aroden. Careful examination of the mosaic symbol in the center of the floor reveals a single word written in dried blood:
“Abandoned.”
The western curtain has been slashed and partially burned; beyond it is a begrimed altar, the ritual objects atop it shattered. The statue behind the altar has also been smashed to pieces. There Mal finds a trap: the blood-tinged waters of both fountains have become corrupted over the years by the twisted magics of the necropolis. They now pose a dire threat to anyone who touches the water—those who succumb to the trap’s effects immediately and horrifically melt away into foul pools of blood. Deftly disabling the trap by creating a drain hole, Mal waves the adventurer over. Into the drained basin the adventurers find the following:
Treasure2: A +1 mithral dagger with bits of gore still clinging to the blade sits in the pool of corrupted water in the northern fountain; .
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"Hello, all... Sorry for the sudden disappearance... But the young ladies are safe at the inn, probably reunited with family by now, as they were local girls."
After the fight with the elementals and the ifrit, Kel sighs sadly at the revelations from the ghost. [b]"Glad to have been of service, but sorry it came so late for you. Be free and find peace, good sir."
"Good eye finding that trap and clever disabling effort, Mal. Well done and thank you."
"Seems we have found another key - a defiled dagger, but, not sure about any of you, I certainly don't want to touch it, and mage hand won't move a magical item. I suppose we could use a couple of items together as if they were tongs to lift it up and put it away in a safe container."
As he speaks, he casually casts as many prestidigitations as he has time for, cleaning as much of the shrine and altar as he can... He internally laments that there won't be time for mending all the broken items, but at least things will be a bit cleaner.