"I'm not sure what it is and it feels quite powerful. I think I will return the holy symbol to the altar from well outside the room," says Garret.
Ushering everyone else around the corner away from line of sight of the shrine, Garret exits the room and uses Mage Hand to get the holy symbol to just above the shrine. He then rounds the corner himself, and when everyone is out of line of sight of the room, he lets the Mage Hand lower the holy symbol the rest of the way down.
Garret's sweep for magical aura does turn up something--he almost missed it, but the altar does contain a subtle aura of Conjuration magic. Though he and Sanduro are unable to ascertain its exact nature, the presence of a unknown magic may be cause for caution, given the Orcish warning scrawled on the floor.
Ketra, seeing that the others are being extra cautious around the shrine, turns back from the room with the overturned cabinets and stays at the doorway. "Didn't want to just put the holy sym-" She raises an eyebrow "Oh, it's floating in the air. Are you doing that Garret, or is the shrine working its magic?"
”That’s me,” says Garret, ”And I think it best that we all be out of line of sight of the shrine when I magically lower the holy symbol down on the altar, just in case.”
“No argument from me, Garret.” Sanduro backs away with the others. Zsofia trails behind, muttering under her breath about the rubies she didn’t get to remove.
Garret's warning proves prescient, for the very moment the holy symbol touches the altar there's a hiss like acid on stone as sickly fog--looking distressingly similar to the toxic fog enclosing your hometown--fills the chamber. Luckily you had removed yourselves to the previous room, and the deadly mist misses its mark.
This trap seems to draw directly on the poison-cloud dome, duplicating its effects in a weaker echo here.
"Looks deadly," observes Garret before he moves on and follows the others to the next room.
"Uncomfortably familiar..." Ketra covers her mouth "How twisted. On a shrine to Sarenrae they'd set something like that up." She waits until the fog has cleared before waving the others over. "I don't like the idea that Sarenrae would stand for that."
While the others do they own inspection of the next room, Ketra keeps an ear out and eye scanning for more hazards from the next northerly door.
"The first time we pushed up, yesterday, seems they flung a lot of themselves at us. It's been eerily empty so far."
As the fog dissipates after minutes that feel like hours, you rejoin Ketra in the far room with the fallen cabinets. The door to the next room is open a crack, and peeking through--or sending Zsofia--reveals a sizeable square room that appears to have been cleared of debris, furnishings, or decorations--and even cleaned of dirt for whatever reason. Another door leads out from the opposite side.
Nowhere in the Bastion has smelled good, old smoke and a faint whiff of decay lingering everywhere you've gone, but in here the smell of death is stronger...and seems to be coming from the toppled cabinets.
Garret keeps detecting for magic. He eyes the bare square suspiciously, asking, "Do you think that is a trap door, or maybe just a trap?"
"Ugh. Maybe or maybe not. It's hard to think about it with this smell. This place is dusty... but..." Ketra wrinkles her nose. "I'm starting to think there might be something under these cabinets. Something decaying. I kind of don't want to look, honestly."
“Sure, I’ll look. You can’t smell anything if the stench can’t touch your nostrils!”
Once again in her incorporeal form, Zsofia glides over to the cabinets. She checks underneath the cabinets and gives them a cursory once-over from the outside, then sticks her head through the cabinet doors to begin a more detailed examination.
Zsofia pokes her head through the cabinet, and after a split-second of adjustment to the darkness finds herself face-to-face with a grinning skull, strips of dessicated skin pulled tightly over the bone. Clad in filthy tattered robes, the skeletal creature puts a bony finger over its teeth in a shushing gesture, then vanishes in a burst of dark purple light.
Even as Zsofia jerks back in surprise, everyone else sees the purple flash from between the cracks and gaps of the damaged cabinet--only for a matching burst of light to appear in the doorway you just entered from, as a skeletal creature in tattered robes appears! Before you have time to react, the other cabinet bursts open as a second skeleton rises from it!
These undead horrors, uncreatively dubbed crypt things, are sentient skeletal guardians with a gift for teleportation.
With a sibilant hiss of laughter, the creature in the doorway spins its hands through a complicated gesture, and purple glow begins to limn all your forms alongside an impulse to be elsewhere. Most of you shrug off the bizarre sensation, but with a surprised shout Zsofia vanishes in another burst of purple light. The skeleton that burst out of the cabinet leaps towards Ketra, one claw catching the surprised dancer and raking across her skin.
"Ketra look out!" Jando's warning comes too late, but the ranger is already bringing his bow to bear on the monster menacing her and he lets his arrows fly with lethal accuracy...though their impact seems badly blunted, causing little damage.
+ ROUND ONE +
Skeleton Blue
Skeleton Red (-2hp)
Jando
Sanduro
Zsofia
Garret
Silvia
Ketra (-11hp)
As the light fades, you find yourself alone in an unfamiliar room. A comparatively narrow hall curves from south to east, perhaps following the exterior edge of the Bastion? A stairway is right above you, leading up to the floor above, the foot of the stairs only a short distance from you to the east.
A bit further beyond the stairs the room widens out, and from here you can see and hear the burbling of a large fountain that dominates the space. The statue atop the fountain depicts a beautiful woman clad in graceful armor, her hair styled like flames, and a scimitar held aloft in her right hand. Her left is held out in a gesture of blessing, and from it comes a stream of water down into the basin at her feet. The fountain's water is discolored with a ruddy, muddy look to it. A double door exits south of the fountain, and on the opposite side of the room you can see another staircase leading up.
Garret stumbles back a few paces (5 foot step) and tries to make sense of these strange skeletons.
Unwilling to try his unsteady hand at a directed spell, Garret instead casts shield on himself to try and protect against the foes.
“Crypt Things! They’re intelligent, and they can teleport you away… Zsofia?”
Zsofia looks around and grimaces. “Well, $#!@!”
“Ah ha! They’re that way!”
Zsofia begins to glide in the right direction, but fades away before she moves more than a few feet.
Ketra tries to spring away from the sudden attack, but still gets caught. Nevertheless, she turns that momentum into a whirl that then strikes back against the skeleton. She tosses her dagger aside to free up a cestus-wearing hand and then launches into her routine.
Special Attacks: Once per day, crypt things can unleash a burst of teleportation energy that affects all creatures in a 50ft burst--sending them potentially hundreds of feet away in a random direction!
Defenses: In addition to all the usual undead immunities, Crypt Things are entities of supernatural terror and resilience; they can frighten enemies close enough to strike them (10ft fear aura) and even those who do strike them find them unnaturally tough (DR10/????). They are also moderately resistant to channeling attacks.
Weaknesses: Crypt Things are vulnerable to magical or blundgeoning attacks, which negates their unnatural resilience.
Sanduro calls out the relevant details he remembers about Crypt Things.
“That teleportation effect only works once a day, but they can each do it, so they’ve got one more and it covers a really wide area! They can make you afraid just by getting close to you! And it’s hard to hurt them with anything other than magical or blunt weapons! They’re also resistant to healing energy!”
The druid hops back from the grasping skeleton, nocks an arrow to his bowstring, and fires.
5’ step
Ketra whirls on the crypt thing menacing her, successfully feinting it but it's aura of menace takes the edge off her strikes and her counterattack doesn't land. Garret and Sanduro give ground against the crypt thing in the doorway, the latter putting an arrow through its eyes socket...although it doesn't seem all that bothered.
Silvia turns falls back before turning her gun on the blue undead, her shot blasting a chunk from its ribcage!
The crypt thing menacing Ketra sends out its own pulse of purple light, and in a flash both Silvia and Garret are gone! The halfling finds himself standing alone out in the nave, while the paladin looks around in puzzlement at some sort of scriptorium, shelves of bundled scrolls and ink pots piled haphazardly all over. Luckily both areas appear to be empty. The other Crypt Thing lunges for Sanduro,
"Shit, I hate an even fight," Jando grates out as he knocks to more arrows, sending them punching through the skeletal horror that's fighting Ketra.
+ ROUND TWO +
Skeleton Blue (-21hp)
Skeleton Red (-41hp)
Jando
Sanduro
Garret
Silvia
Ketra (-11hp; Shaken 1/3)
The crypt thing in the doorway lunges for Sanduro, its too-long clawed fingers raking blood furrows across the druid's leg and arm!
+ ROUND TWO +
Skeleton Blue (-21hp)
Skeleton Red (-41hp)
Jando
Sanduro (-20hp)
Garret
Silvia
Ketra (-11hp; Shaken 1/3)
“AAARRGH! This is what you call a fair fight, Jando?”
Sanduro steps back and calls out a prayer to Pharasma. He lifts one hand from his bow and a cartload of snowballs flies from his outstretched fingers at the two Crypt Things, narrowly missing Ketra.
“Ketra, Jando - Poate ar trebui să ne îndreptăm spre camera spre nord? Să folosim Varisian în cazul în care înțeleg Taldane.“
"Who knows what's waiting for us there Sanduro, might even be worse." Ketra steps to the side, covering Sanduro after he casts his spell, then lays into the red skeleton with her cestus. "Even with an even fight, we can take these things!"
Garret swears in frustration and double moves (60 feet) back toward the fight!
Silvia stands firmly just through the door, firing a trio of shots at the skeleton attacking Sanduro. Her expression remains grim and focused.
Sanduro starts at the first shot, but by the third he’s grinning in relief.
“Much worse, Ketra - but not for us! Thanks, Sylvia!”
Jando shoots Sanduro an annoyed look. "I said an even fight, which is much worse than a fair one." Whatever else he might have been about to say is drowned out in a torrent of ice and gunfire which leave both crypt-things badly damaged, and Ketra's slash finishes off her enemy. With a furious hiss, the remaining undead horror vanishes in yet another purple flash--leaving you alone in the suddenly-silent chamber.
“Well done everybody! Who’s injured?”
He looks down at his blood-soaked armor and sits down heavily on the floor. “Besides me? Ketra?” He leans back against one of the cabinets and pats the floor next to him. “Come join me and I’ll get us both patched up.”
After three rounds, Sanduro and Ketra are fully healed.
Ketra takes a moment to retrieve her dagger and check that Garret is making his way back in one piece before she heads over to Sanduro. "Rough. We're lucky they didn't teleport anyone into the ground or into the sky or something. Or worse... into that fog outside." After the healing she adds "Thanks Sanduro."
While Sanduro is preparing his spells, Ketra will take a better look at the room to the north that Silvia and Garret went through. It's suspiciously clean for a place that's been such a mess overall.
"Any time, Sanduro," Silvia says with a grin. "Sorry I was late to the party."
While the party regroups and Sanduro tends to the wounded, Ketra carefully scours the tidied-up room. Luckily, no traps or monsters spring forth, and she notes that the room isn't entirely free of dust--there is still some collected in the corners, as though it were somewhat lazily swept. Why this room and not any of the others is unclear.
Moving on you find a simple storeroom; two upright cabinets along each wall that, once carefully examined, reveal only dust, wax shavings, and a large bucket full of rags.
Inside the bucket, buried under a pile of filthy rags, is a length of black silk--a cloak! Stitched into the outside of the cloak along its entire length is a silvery spiderweb pattern.
Spellcraft DC16
Following along and doing the little he is currently capable of, Garret tracks down the hidden magic using his spell. Pulling out the spider silk cloak, he attempts to recall what it might be…
He struggles to recall, but the mental trauma has been too much and he just holds the cloak up hopefully, saying, ”It’s magic, but I am not sure what it does. Maybe something poison or web-related?”
Silvia frowns. "Not my area of expertise."
"Not mine either. Looks fancy though. Maybe it's a magic resisting cloak?" While Sanduro takes a peek at the cloak as well, Ketra takes a look down the corridor to the north, though she doesn't wander far. "Considering nothing else came running after our teleporting problems, maybe there isn't much left around here that's looking for trouble? At least not on this floor."
Sanduro joins the gnome and peers over his shoulder at the intriguing cloak.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what this is either. And Ketra, I hope you’re right. But I’ll be more confident about that once we’ve worked our way around to clear whatever’s in the rooms on the other side of the nave.”
Setting aside the mystery of the spider-themed cloak, you pass through the doorway into a hall dominated by a staircase curving up to the floor above.
A bit further beyond the stairs the room widens out, and from here you can see and hear the burbling of a large fountain that dominates the space. The statue atop the fountain depicts a beautiful woman clad in graceful armor, her hair styled like flames, and a scimitar held aloft in her right hand. Her left is held out in a gesture of blessing, and from it comes a stream of water down into the basin at her feet. The fountain's water is discolored with a ruddy, muddy look to it. A double door exits south of the fountain, and on the opposite side of the room you can see another staircase leading up.
”Sarenrae,” breathes Garret reverently as he approaches the fountain. Wisely he continues to concentrate on Detect Magic, just in case this too was another magical trap. ”Does anyone have a way to purify this water out or respect for the Burning Mother?” he asks quietly.
"If that shrine we found earlier was connected to the awful fog, I don't think this'll be any better. Especially looking like that..." Ketra points at the muddy water.
As he draws closer to the fountain, Ketra's fears are substantiated as the halfling detects auras of conjuration and necromancy. As he focuses in on the auras he learns that there is something, small but magically potent, at the bottom of the befouled fountain.
You realize the auras are a binding effect, necromancy and conjuration interwoven to command and control something.
”There is a potent magical aura in that fountain, but I can’t tell what it is,” says Garret
"Sanduro? Tell me its something good, but trapped by the ick? We could use a friend or two or twenty." Ketra takes a couple steps closer, then thinks better of it, recalling the death cloud. While Sanduro does an inspection from afar, Ketra walks over to the southern doors and listens carefully to them for any lingering foes or other hazards lying in wait.
Sanduro takes a moment to examine the auras in the fountain for himself, eyes narrowing in concentration--then going wide in sudden understanding.
"It's a binding! Spells designed to control...something, a creature maybe. I'm not sure."
“And I can’t see this from the magical aura, but I’d be surprised if it weren’t related to whatever is causing the water to look like that. I can pray for a purification spell in the morning, but I don’t think I have anything helpful today.”
Sanduro peers at the water in the fountain, trying to work out (from a distance) what might be causing the problem if it isn’t directly caused by magical item at the bottom.
The druid sighs. “If we think we’re going to trigger whatever eldritch or undead horror this is supposed to control, maybe I ought to start calling down the lightning now, just to be ready.”
Garret says, ”I can try to fish the item out magically if it is light enough. If we can remove the impurity from this statue of my godess, I would be most indebted to you all,”
Still concentrating on Detect Magic, Garret casts Mage Hand and starts trying to use his detection spell to localize the item and his Mage Hand to lift it out.
"If that's not going to work Garret, maybe we should leave it alone for now. Dipping my hands in that water to get whatever that is sounds like a bad idea for so many reasons." She thinks for a moment and then asks "Unless Sanduro, you think it's already doing its thing, controlling or helping serve as a focus for some monster that's already here. In which case, maybe we should take the risk?"
”Yeah, that’s not working,” says Garret as his magic fizzles. ”If you think it is too dangerous to physically handle, perhaps we should leave it alone,” he adds, though it is clear he wants to stop the desecration of this religious statue if it can be done safely.
Sanduro glances nervously at the fountain before answering. "The aura isn't really that specific. I didn't get a sense that it would get triggered and summon something new, more that whatever is at the bottom of the fountain is binding and controlling something. So... maybe something that's already here, that we could set off by doing whatever." He waves at the fountain.
"That doesn't mean it isn't part of a summoning trap, though. I just think it's more likely that whatever it's in there to control is already here somewhere, waiting for us - or somebody else - to wander in and bother it. If we want to avoid it for now, I think we should just keep going back up the stairs on the other side and make sure that rooms east of the nave are clear of any leftover cultists and wights and giant undead red reavers before trying to sneak past the fountain to go out that door."
The druid points to the north and sighs. "I wish Zsofia were here."