“Do you know what they wanted with you?” Aith asks. “The entire palace seems to have gone mad. At least, as far as I understand it, the master of the place is long gone, but everyone here is … trapped, and jostling to get the balance of power and control? As you can tell, we’re not local ourselves, but people seem to be at once rather uninterested in our presence, and happy to steer us into making trouble for their rivals.”
“We mostly want to make sure that we, and anyone else who’s been unjustly imprisoned, can get out of here. You’re welcome to follow after us for a bit, but we haven’t found our exit yet, and we’re likely to get in a bit more trouble first.” She sighs, shaking her head apologetically. “I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be. We can chat as we go, if that would help? We seem to be working towards a colloquy of the elements, but we’ve yet to meet an efreeti who has much time for us.”
Neelah glares in Aithaloessa's general direction, but chooses to pretend she heard nothing. She watches the djinni carefully, distrustfully.
Yasmeena peers out the door, trying to decide where they should go next. "We should probably keep moving," she suggests. "I wonder if we can determine where that devil came from?"
"My best guess would be straight from hell. And even though this place seems rather close to that - temperature wise - I'd prefer not to explore further in THAT direction." Haleen jokes.
Bylo nods at Haleen's comment. "Interesting thought there. I was able to get here with a simple plane shift spell. I've used the spell some and have to admit that it isn't very accurate. But how is it that we can enter here with such, but find exiting with the same is blocked?"
Yasmeena laughs merrily at Haleen's wit.
"Well, a feat of most prisons. Way easier to get in than out. But where to now? There are still a few doors unopened, but how far do we want to go in this basement to find the flickering candle?"
Haleen pauses for a moment, and then adds "Or we go back to that giant and demand him to be more specific about what we are searching here actually."
Yasmeena nods thoughtfully at Haleen's suggestion. "We can at least report success in dealing with the denizens of the temple, and perhaps get more information about what remains to be done. I wonder if anyone knows what it is that is keeping everyone imprisoned here? As Bylo says, it does seem unusual that such blocks would be one-way."
So the group leaves with Iavesk in tow and returns to the large yard. The fire giant isn't too happy to be asked to fetch Karambagya again and only reluctantly leaves his post to inform the Bronze Giant about the request.
After a while the fire giant returns. "<Told him.>" he curtly states before he joins the patrol around the yard again.
Some more minutes later an equally happy Karambagya comes to the yard. He looks at the group with suspicion as it seems to have grown since the last meeting. "<What is it you want? Wasn't I clear about your job? I didn't hear a 'mission accomplished' from you.>"
“We’re working on it, sir,” Aith says quickly and humbly, channeling what she’s learned about mollifying people in charge from her time in Alkenstar, trying to do her job with the chiefs always breathing down everyone’s neck for more progress.
“We just thought we should escort rescued civilians someplace safer, and thought we should report in the interim to make sure we’re not missing something important.”
“Do we know how bright is – er, how many there are in the Flickering Candle? We defeated one of their number – an elf who, unlike yours truly, didn’t see the way the wind was changing – and then freed Iavesk here, who was captured by them, but put under a terrible enchantment right after, so he hasn’t had any luck remembering much more about them. On the way, we also dealt with a creature disgracing the name of priesthood, who also offended someone calling himself the “Master of the Haunted Palace.” If he’s one of the guards you mentioned, he didn’t seem to be very concerned about everyone poking about the place – ”
Aith takes a breath before getting to the nub of it, “ – but before we get in so deep that we need to start worrying about who’s hiding what and might turn on us as we track down the Candle and the last of the guards with misplaced loyalties, do you know of who we should be watching for especially? Apart from a barbed devil and a very slippery elf fellow, neither of whom will be a problem anymore?”
She keeps it quick and fairly serious, but there's a bit of a hint of pulling a fast one and making excuses as she tries to verbally shuffle around all the pieces of what's going on for her own benefit too.
When Aithaloessa is talking about the Haunted Palace the giant wonders "Which one did you deal with and which one let you roam in there, Shabendeh or Bagoas?"
"And what about all the undead and the crazy efreet in there?"
As the talk comes to the flickering candle the giant becomes tense. You wonder, if paling is a thing for giants with the teint of metal, or if the light changed. "And all those fire creatures that fill their ranks?" Karambagya inquires.
“Yes, Shabendeh was the one who took poorly to our explorations, so I suppose Bagoas would be his spectral rival? He – the latter, I mean – didn’t seem particularly concerned about anyone wandering around, so long as they don’t bother him.”
“We put down Shabendeh and his ghouls, and, I’m afraid, the mad efreet: they came at us too ferociously for us to subdue them, once they noticed us. It’s been that sort of thing, so far,” Aith explains, counting up the kills quickly in her head. “We open a door, get greeted by either hapless servants like kobolds, who we try to treat fairly, or a mob of swords and whatnot, or even summoned creatures, and those we deal with as you might expect. I think it’s been about, hmm, a couple of dozen or so lunatics so far, your lizardfolk, efreet, and salamanders.”
"Will Bagoas turn on us, do you think? Or try to slip some horrible deeds under our noses? Like we said, we can try putting everyone who deserves it to the sword, but depending on how many that is, we might not be able to do it in one single push."
In a mix of astonishment and disbelief Karambagya states "You wiped out the Flickering Candle, save the kobolds!?!"
"And in the palace only the ghost of that dwarf is left?"
He ponders the weight of those news, braces himself and adds "I'll have that confirmed by some of my guards. Until then, feel free to take care of your own business. I'll send for you if anything else comes up."
"Dismissed!"
Karambagya then leaves to go back where he came from.
Bylo glances at the others, and quietly says, "Ghost dwarf?"
"That translucent guy Yasmeena and Aithaloessa successfully sucked up to. Right behind that door." Haleen points to the main entrance of the palace that they used to enter the building.
Yasmeena lolls and smiles at the others. "What is our own business, I wonder? Should we rest, perhaps? I admit I could do with a bite to eat. Blowing out candles is draining work." She winks.
"That sounds like a lovely idea," Aith says. "Especially if we can find a place to get our bearings again, and see where we can poke our heads into to find what's holding us here. Perhaps our reflective vizier might put in another appearance someplace we might be undisturbed?"
This huge chamber is relatively empty, save for a few enormous bunks pushed against the walls in the eastern portion of the room and a pile of heavy crates that seem to contain military rations for giants. Several banks of murder holes decorate the floor to the west and south. Two fire giants are keeping an eye on the room.
Returning to the premises of the Flickering Candle to search for uninvestigated areas you find a door that doesn't open. Not only is it locked, but also blocked from inside.
With a slightly-guilty look at the others, Yasmeena tries to unlock the door, just to keep in practice. "I am not sure how we'll open it past the obstruction, but might as well clear one obstacle."
"Hello?" she calls through the door. "Is anyone inside?"
The inquiry is met with silence.
Yasmeena shrugs. "I suppose we should try to tear the door down," she says quietly. "Unless we have any other ideas for getting past whatever is blocking the other side?"
"Could you set fire to the inside of the chamber without us opening the door?" Haleen inquires from Aithaloessa.
Neelah snorts. "Not without seeing into the room beyond--unless you don't mind setting fire to everything between." She pauses as if to consider that option. "The magic of my efreeti ancestors would allow me to demolish the door in a ball of fire while protecting us from the blast. As it burns, it should spread to the contents of the room. Is that your wish, master?" She directs this last to Yasmeena with a sweet smile that reads as sarcastic.
Yasmeena shrugs. "If you can do it safely, my friend, of course!"