”By the gods!” Lofnaiali exclaims as she prepares to cast a healing spell.
He glanced over towards the sylph. "Sure, I took a nap and that statute just happened to move in and trap me.
But it seems the others were more sympathetic towards him, so he took a breath and calmed down. "So remember your boss Garavel? Well, you weren't the only ones he sought out."
He smiles as his wounds disappeared, giving him the strength to stand up. "Basically, I was on a mission to examine the place. Found a cute little gnoll... which turns out to be evil and a lot tougher than I thought. I hid in this room, but I guess that thing knew where I was and trapped me. I've been banging on this door ever since.
At that question, he shook his right hand from side to side. "It was more of a tiny little gnoll. But that thing was as swift as the wind."
He revealed a scar on the back of his hand.
"He was in that room so if you haven't met him, by best guess is he went elsewhere.
Ohrmizd stretches his eyes, finding the possibility of this being a new trick high "Hmm... a gnoll..."
"Manuun, do you know if pugwampis or gnolls have the ability to shape change into humans?" the Kheleshite points to the stairs behind "Ok, let's say we believe you are truly another employee of Garavel, let's accept the idea you were sent alone before us without we being informed, let's trust you were closed in here by a gnoll moving this statue... then... why the heck you did not go downstairs instead of remaining here banging the statue?"
Ohrmizd stretches his eyes, finding the possibility of this being a new trick high "Hmm... a gnoll..."
"Manuun, do you know if pugwampis or gnolls have the ability to shape change into humans?" the Kheleshite points to the stairs behind "Ok, let's say we believe you are truly another employee of Garavel, let's accept the idea you were sent alone before us without we being informed, let's trust you were closed in here by a gnoll moving this statue... then... why the heck you did not go downstairs instead of remaining here banging the statue?"
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+7
Heshan tapped on his foot a couple times before sighing.
"To be honest, by the the time I saw the gnoll, I figured I was in over my head at that point. If that thing was giving me problems, than what's to say whatever's down there wouldn't kill me outright? I thought was better off seeking help than to go on my own."
Ohrmizd further stretches his eyes "So... you know there is something there below... you know it is too powerful and so you want us to go there and fight it... do you want us to be killed?"
The Keleshite finally sighs and negates with the head "It is so soundly unbelievable that I cannot imagine a shapeshifter gnoll wanting to trick us would ever approach us in that way"
Sheathing his scimitar Ohrmizd steps forward and offers his hand to the new arrival "My name is Ohrmizd. We are adventurers contracted by Garavel to clean this old monastery for his princess to have a quiet rest. How shall we call you?"
” I’m Tahlumilali the beautiful one next to me is Lofnaiali, my wife so don’t get any ideas.” He says resting his sword tip on the ground and rests his arms across the hilt.
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Lofnaiali feels a wave of pin pricks flood her face into a scarlet haze. A smile uncurled the edges of her lips like a scroll. Well that was an introduction like no other my love! She grinned much like when she was younger. She waved a hennaed hand at Heshan ”Pleasure to meet you! We are the rescuers of goats, destroyers or old buildings and gnoll slayers.” She gives a wink at Manuun and Ohrmizd.
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"Well I'm not exactly a gnoll expert so you can take that up to that person."
He sighed, but brightened up at the introductions, first by bowing towards
Lofnaiali. "The name's Heshan by dear, and I'm quite skilled at wind magic light shows and infiltration.
It did occur to him that his first impression did not truly showcase his skills yet, and he winced sheepishly. "I swear things don't usually end this badly."
Observing the new man is barely armored Ohrmizd makes a sign for him to move behind "Ok Heshan. Let's see what do you have there in the dungeon of the monastery. I do not think you will stand in front of the zombies, so please move behind" the Keleshite draws once again his scimitar.
He turns a moment to whisper something at Manuun's ear "Keep an eye on this one, I do not want a dagger on my back while I am advancing"
Then renewing the light spell on his scimitar Ohrmizd starts the descend into the catacombs "Sarenrae, push back the shadows and bring back the light to your ancient temple!"
"Sure, that is why I advance this cautiously" Ohrmizd uses the light of the scimitar to see where is he stepping and taking attention at any strange detail while moving forward.
The stairs lead down to an undercrypt, a series of ten-foot-wide rough-hewn passages dug in a double-cross formation. The main thoroughfare runs north to south, with two similar east-west passages crossing the main hall about fifty feet apart. An eerie silence pervades the cool subterranean funerary network, which must contain the bodies of scores—if not hundreds—of honored worshipers of Sarenrae in shallow niches carved into the walls of the east-west passages. Many of these skeletal remains have been roughly tossed from their niches, and countless bones and skulls line the floor.
Once the coast is clear, Heshan moved in behind the other two at the moment, checking the carnage.
"I can only assume your clergy wouldn't make such a mess. Which means there is someone else moving ahead of us."
"I do not like it either..." Ohrmizd comments when he sees the skeletal remains roughly tossed from their niches "This is unacceptable. We will have to return them to their niches once we are sure the crypt is safe"
The man advances projecting the light on his scimitar through the tunnels. Ohrmizd studies the niches and the skeletal remains before advancing to the door ahead.
The crypt is a mess, but it is no recently created mess. The bones are covered in dust and dusty cobwebs. No traces of pugwampis or other critters seen. And all the bones stay exactly at their place. Only when Heshan overlooks one collarbone and kicks it down the aisle the peaceful silence is disturbed. Opposite to the stairs is a door.
"No one has touched this place in years..." Ohrmizd keeps advancing, casting the light of his scimitar forward as he goes observing niche after niche.
Once the group reaches the door he breaths deeply while he gets goosebumps due to the unnerving atmosphere "Let's see... what we have here..." the Keleshite checks the door, then opens it.
A pile of skeletons bearing terrible broken bones lies at the terminus of this passage. A mace is still clutched in the bony grip of a skeleton here.
A corpse of a man in yellowing leather armor — clearly not a member of the monastic community — lies at the end of this passage. He wears a suit of fine leather armor and bears a dagger
The door seems to have no traps, but it is locked or stuck. At least it can't be simply opened.
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Manuun looks interested at the corpses lying in the niches. "Hmm that skeleton looks suspiciously like it has fought against a skeleton. I would really hate to see all these guys raise up from the dead. and these guys don't look like moks to me. I wonder what happened here. Maybe one of them has some clue on them what this monastery is all about."
"Mmm... locked. I wonder what kind of treasures they hide there. If it is closed, chances are they were spared from the nasty hands of those critters. Anyone of you know how to force that door open?" Ohrmizd then looks back at the alleys to examine them more closely.
In order to appease Manuun, Ohrmizd makes a prayer before entering the niches rows "Sarenrae, let those that fought for your honor rest in peace in this final coffin" casting guidance on Manuun and himself.
At the end of one of the secondary passages the light of the scimitar reflects something that calls Ohrmizd attention. Putting his hand inside the jumble of bones he produces a small teak box. Blowing away the years of dust the man smiles at the sight of the Angelic Ankh holy symbol.
Opening the box he finds the beautifully crafted holy symbol with a silver chain and a brooch "Beautiful, isn't it? Do you see any magical auras?"
So he was wrong about that for the moment. But he did see that symbol as Orrmizd picked it up. When asked, he smiled as he cast Detect Magic
"Good thing that's one of my many talents."
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Manuun whispers in Auran "ズアグセツ " and checks out the Symbol.
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"Its magical but I do not know it. It was my uncles job to appraise our finds and ind a market for them."
After they have finished Manuun also puts himself in the middle of the first crossing and casts Detect magic on both corpses from a far. "Lets see if there is anything interesting here."
The mace and the dagger, both show up on the magic spectrum.
"Magical weapons... Sarenrae has blessed us and wants us to defend her place" Ohrmizd picks up the mace and tries its balance while he expects for someone else to pick up the dagger "Exquisite balance. Mmm... the leather armor seems of fine quality too. Probably one of you might make use of it"
With the new weapons, the Keleshite looks back at the door "I do not think anyone of you knows how to pick a lock, isn't it?"
"I can tell that this medallion does... something." He frowned a bit, but shrugged it off.
"Looks like we'll have to find out the old-fashioned way. In a time of crisis.
"Wow! You impress me. This is really a work from Dafuur ibn Harask? Mmmm... never heard of him but it sounds important" Ohrmizd attempts a couple swings then looks at the other weapon "What about the dagger. You said is magical. A craft from good sir Dafuur too?"
Ohrmizd looks back at the door afterwards "Do you elf couple know what to do about that lock? Otherwise we will have to bash it down"
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”I’m fairly proficient with locks and the such.” Tahlumilali says as he pulls a few thin pieces of metal from his pouch.
"Sorry, but magical devices aren't something I'm versed in," he shrugged.
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"I think the dagger is not Garoundi, but maybe one of the others knows the design? And who gets to use them for now in case we meet that nasty Gnoll of Meshan?"
When Thalumilali takes out his lockpicks, Manuun looks impressed at the proceedings. "Well done. I see how that would come in handy from time to time."
The lock is rusty and resists the attempts to unlock it with fine tool for a while. But finally it gives in and the deadbolt moves back into the lock's housing. That and a strong shove opens the door, scratching noisily over the floor.
This chamber seems to be an enormous laboratory. Against the north and south walls are two identical daises raised about five feet from the laboratory floor, each accessed by a wide set of curved stairs. Atop each dais is a wide workbench covered in a bewildering series of glass beakers, tubes, alembics, athanors, and other alchemical tools. Some of these containers are filled with a murky green substance.
A massive mold-encrusted basalt table dominates the entrance of the room, flanked by two small tables to the east and west containing surgical tools and sheaves of old parchment. The walls of the subterranean lab were clearly fashioned from the living rock under the monastery, but carefully cut mold-encrusted tiles line the floor, interrupted occasionally by metal drains the size of dinner plates.
Manuun finds some interesting papers about alchemical processes on the eastern table. But nothing magical.
Ohrmizd laughs softly in good mood at Manuun's statement "Maybe you are right good man, maybe you are right..." the Keleshite looks then at Tahl and smiles too "Impressive work with the lock. I am not going to ask where you learnt that, we all have a past"
Then Ohrmizd approaches the lab and tries to understand what are the tubes and murky substance "Do you think this is some kind of magical potion?", he does not drink it, only looks aspect and smells it to try recognize it.
The Sarenrite then approaches the basalt table and tries to understand if the mold there is dangerous.
The green goo smells funny, but doesn't look like anything but an alchemical experiment beyond it's best before date. But just as Ohrmizd turns away the green goo squirts out of the glass containers, covering Ohrmizd. Half of it oozes down his back, but the rest actively crawls into his armor, spreading around his body.
"Rats!" Ohrmizd curses when the goo breaks next to him and grapples him, the man tries to hack away the strange creature "What the hell! I need some help here!"
"Worry not my friend, I have you covered." Heshan moved to the opposite end of the slime grappling Ohrmizd (and avoiding the other slimw) to smack it with his staff.
Ohrmizd has a hard time hitting himself.
Heshan's action would be really painful - to both, the slime and Ohrmizd - if he could pack a punch.
"Careful Heshan! I am here" Ohrmizd wrestles with the strange substance.
Tahlumilali looks on in confusion as the slime attacks Ohrmizd he tries to thinks of what he could possibly do to help.