"They probably have died," Lash responds as she considers why he has not seen people in some time. Although she is trying to be brave, she has never seen or heard of something like this, so immediately she is on the defensive.
"I'm not interested in striking any deals with foul beings in alignment with him. If you wish to act in goodwill, then do so. Otherwise, state your intentions."
The eyes shift back to Lash. "Let me uphooold my eeend and then we can taaalk." The eyes dip down slightly and the wall by Kahli begins to lower into the floor...
Quarion hears another voice capture the others' attention. Even muffled, he can hear the tensions rise. However, before anything else happens, the wall he's been listening to begins to lower, shooting up dust as it grinds into the floor. He steps back as light begins to pour into his confined space. When it has dropped all the way, he can see two women and a man staring back at him, along with a floating pair of eyes set back in a pitch black recess in the wall. Off to the side are two more human men and a tall, lanky man with reddish skin.
The eyes speak to break the silence. "Pleassseeee. Don't let me interrrrrupt the introductionssss..." The eyes dim and float backwards, getting smaller and less noticable.
Kahli turns toward the floating eyes, "Introductions can come later. Apparently you've freed another of the pawns that the creator of this gauntlet wants to play with. But you've admitted that you knew he was there and you let him suffer, trapped until we opened the panel for you. And you ask that we do something for you? What are you? And are you in league with the controller of this dungeon? Or do you have any information about him?"
The eyes float back forward, becoming more opaque as their color shifts to a blueish hue. "Iiiii am merely a serrrvant of hissss. We have a, how ssshhhould I say, symbiotic relatiiionship. Heeee provides those with the abiiilities to get me what I waaant, and I help them surviiiive to please hiiiim."
Looking past Kahli at Quarion, the eyes continue. "I did not knooow he was there until you summoned me hereeee. But you seeee, I helped as soon as I couuuld." The eyes shift between each person as they speak. "As youuu get stronger, so must youuur equipment. That is where Iiiii can heeelp. Ask meee for someeething and Iiii will give you my priceeee." You can tell the eyes are smiling. "Youuu can fiiind me on each floor, but I may not be ooobvious. We can't maaake it too easy, you understaaand."
Johan quietly weighs his options with the mysterious creature. He was sorely tempted to engage it and see how significant it's connection to their captor was.
However, he hadn't even the slightest idea of how he would go about defeating something that appeared to scarcely have a body to strike. He placed his faith in his years of training and tactical understanding that discretion is the better part of valor.
Besides, it appears they had yet one more unfortunate soul trapped here with them.
Extending his torch in Quarion's direction, he adopted as easy and friendly a tone as he could: "Hail stranger. My apologies that you've found yourself in the same hell as we. I'd offer you reassurances, but my experience over yours in our predicament can be measured in minutes. I think it best to let our other two companions explain." He gestures with a nod towards Kahli and Lash.
The eyes see Quarion's hesitancy in responding. "Leeeet me help youuuu." Suddenly, the back wall in the small room pushes forward, forcing Quarion out into the church's main area, and sealing the wall, as if the room never existed. "There you goooo. Before I take my peeeaace, I will aaaask of you one thiiiiing. In the forest abovvvve, there are metallls; adamantinnnne is found high in the mountaaaain, and mithhhral deep in the minnnne. If you briiiing me eitherrr, I will maaake what you wiiiish."
Kahli stares at the eyes, a bit confused. A forest above..... But, "And what would I need to bring you to get a wand that heals wounds? I have one, but we are using the charges on it rather quickly. I'd like another."
"I am not too keen on helping a servant of his. Besides, I don't have any money," she comments with rebellion in her tone. "We are allied with these here because they were placed here most unwillingly, but you make it sound like you are working in conjunction with him, and I won't aid you. What do you get out of this?"
Quarion gathers himself after hearing all this. "Greeting to you all, despite the circumstances. I can see that we are trapped here by something, what are they and what do they want from us?"
Johan's eyes dart to the opening above. "If this creature is asking for materials from above, that would imply that up and out may be our intended direction?"
The eyes perk up at Kahli's question. "Yessss, a healing wand is uuuuseful here. If you provide me with 750 gooold of coins or geaaarrr, I can proviiide you with a newww wand. Oooorrrr, in the forest, there is a treeeee with branches sharp as blaaades." The eyes glow to an orange. "The young ones have the braaanches that are beeest for wandssss."
Open this spoiler if you hit DC 21 or higher.
"Briiiing me the braanch, and I can give you the waaaand for a discouuunt."
The eyes shift to Lash as they change to a pink color. "No triiicks. Aaaalll I ask is paaayment. I use what you prooovide to paaass the timeee." The eyes float up and tilt a little to right. "There is no fooorcing you to use my sssservices, but Iii am heeere if you need meeee..." The eyes change slightly to a purple hue. "And if you can fiiiind meee," they say as they chuckle.
"Why hide from us then? Do you get some twisted enjoyment out of this?" she considers defeating this beast as well now, but like with the overseer, perhaps if and when she becomes more capable...
Looking now to Quarion, she bows her head slightly and greets him. She replies, "Greetings. To answer you, yes, there is an individual working against us. Like a gladiator, you have been pressed into death by him. Us few here have banded together to oppose him and escape this tower."
Lash shrugs at Johan's musings, "Yes, up has to be out, as we arrived at the bottom. I'm guessing we were in basement levels for a while until now. This is the first sunlight we've seen." She sighs, "I do hope we are near the top."
With a refocus on their new "frenemy" she asks, "How long do you intend to sit there? I have no money for you. I could use something that allows me to carry some weight without being bogged down. What would that 'cost' me?"
The eyes squint as they chuckle at Lash's question. "I dooon't sit here waiting for youuuuu. I have my own preeeoccupationnssss to keep me buuuusy. I liiive outside of your confiiines and am siiimply summoned when my portal is ooopened." It looks at the the items Lash offers to it.
The eyes pick up on what Lash is requesting. "Hmmmm..." They fade out completely for a second before coming back. "I knooow what you are looking fooorr. You don't haaave to purchase it from me if youuu don't want toooo. To shooow you I have no iiillll-willll, I will tell youuuu where to find oneeee."
The eyes look to the west. "You fouuught creatures that were iiiinterested in your goods. Hooow do you think they caaarried and stooored those itemsss?" The eyes chuckle as they are overtaken in a yellow hue.
"Those thieves who stole away into the rocks? I think we searched them. They had nothing of that sort on them, did they?" she looks to the others and furrows her brow. "I guess we can check again...I thought they just took the items with them into the rocks." She shrugs and submits for the sake of cooperation, "I guess we will see you soon then. I am not sure where this forest is or where these branches you want are, but I suppose we'll see when we get there. I just hope we don't run out of the charges on that wand until then." She looks worriedly to Khali.
Hamley shudders. "I hate those blasted things. Hit me with a club and tried to steal my dagger. At least we got that map off 'em, right?"
Kahli considers for a moment. "Those things that were trying to steal things while in combat.... Didn't they also have some strange ability to move around? They just popped out of a wall and attacked, right? Maybe they have a treasure hole behind a wall of solid rock? Can magic be detected through rock?"
Finally registering what Hamlet says.... "Right! Their map. It has a circle where there's nothing. Behind solid rock! Maybe we need a mining pick. Hey, how much for a mining pick? Or hammer and chisel to break the crack the rock walls? Wait! We have a hammer!!!"
Lash nods to Khali, "I thought they did, but there was nothing I could do about the hole. But that's a good idea now that we have a seller of items." Affirmingly she reiterates, "Yes please...a mining pick."
"Vilstrak?", Johan supposes from the eyes' description. "My unit ran afoul of a small band of them once while tracking some fleeing spies through a network of caves a few miles outside of Oppara. They fled once they'd gotten hold of some of our goods - disappeared right into the cave walls. We didn't have any way to pursue them."
At Kahli's suggestion, he rubs his chin in thought. "That's certainly one way, though it will take a fair bit of elbow grease. Normally I don't know that it would be worth the effort, but in this place we may very well need every last advantage we can get to make it out alive."
To the eyes, Johan questions: "I don't suppose you have anything that would get us through the stone faster than a pickaxe, do you?"
The Eyes give a hmmmm as they float backwards, slightly fading, before returning to the opening. "I liiiike your determinaaaation," they say, as a pickaxe is placed on the ledge, the handle sticking out into the room. "Joooohan, while you may stiiill have to woooork,", a potion is placed by an invisible hand on the ledge, next to the pickaxe, "thiiis will speeed things up."
Lash will take four gold and the ten she has just earned and will place it cautiously next to the pickaxe, and then will take it and will also cautiously hand it to Johan.
"What is that? It looks like a scroll. How will it help?"
Johan remembers the small stash of travel funds he has in his belt pouch.
Eager to endear himself to the group, he withdraws 25 gold coins and places them on the ledge. "I'm happy to spring for the scroll, if someone magically inclined is willing to cast the spell."
Kahli looks at the scroll but doesn't take it. "An arcane spell. I can't cast it. Regardless, we should move to the site before any casting is done. It has a limited time."
The coins placed on the ledge jostle slightly before lifting into the air and getting pulled back into the darkness. "Aaaahh, a wonderful deciiiisionnn, and I thaank you for your paatronageee." The Eyes turn to Kahli. "Youuu are a sssmart one. Some otheresss have waaasted such resourcesss." The Eyes look over the whole group before they start to fade to black. "I look forrrward to whaaat you return wiiith." When they have fully disappeared, the hole closes up brick-by-brick, and the lever pushes from position 5 to position 4.
The party gathers together and leaves the obelisk room, making their way across the rickety bridge, through the narrow hidden tunnel, trudging through or over the mud, walking north through the hallway and past the mushrooms, and finally arriving at chamber where the corpses of the Vilstrak and Dossenus lay.
Kahli carefully moves to where the bodies lay, checking them for any bite marks or such that might indicate another predator.
Lash marvels at the method to which they are going to pay for things now. The eyes still bother her, but when the wall seals back up she pouts. It was her intention to collect the goods and find him again to purchase some things he might have. In any case, she nods toward Kahli, Johan and the newcomer.
"Well...I'm glad you are out. If you want to live, you may find your best chance with us."
She then will move across the bridge back to the cavern where the Vilstrak and Dossenus lay.
"This is the spot," she points out and holds out the pickax to whoever wishes to swing it first. No doubt, it will take them a while to get through solid rock.
Kahli leans down and gives close inspection to the bodies. She finds tiny insects that are chewing off small parts of the bodies then retreating back into the ground, the burrows leaving 1-inch wide pockmarks on the floor. She doesn't think they're of any concern.
Johan sheds all unnecessary gear, placing his battleaxe, backpack, and prized shield on the ground. Gripping the pickaxe tightly in both hands, he prepares to receive the spell from Quarion before laying into the earthen wall.
Quarion unfurls the scroll and reads the incantation before casting the spell on Johan. Immediately, Johan doubles in size, the pickaxe in his hand growing along with him. Everyone takes a step back to give Johan space as he begins repeatedly slamming the pickaxe into the wall. The rest of the party covers their ears and watches Johan's back as he works.
After a minute, Johan shrinks back to his normal size, having made significant progress, and continues on chipping away. Another half minute later, Johan's pickaxe breaks through into the cavity, opening a space in the wall just large enough for a single person at a time to squeeze through.
Johan steps back, coughing and waving his hand to clear the dust. The party realizes two things: That there is a considerable pile of loot in a cramped space, and that Quarion has disappeared.
Looking into the Vilstrak hole, the party sees the following:
• Adamantine Wire Saw
• Masterwork Light Crossbow
• Bright blue dyed waterskin closed with a cork and fitted with a leather shoulder strap
• A long, heartwood staff with religious carvings running its length, which Kahli identifies as a Teaching Staff, a Channel Foci
• Off to the side, a pile of related gear (A Guard's Kit, missing 3 torches)
• 6 blunt arrows
• An arrow with twine tightly wrapped around the shaft from the arrowhead to fletching
• Masterwork Throwing Axe
• A pile of coins totaling 236 gp, 18 sp
Lash had never seen enlarging magic, so her eyes go wide at the growth of Johan. She is utterly fascinated.
"Okay...that's neat," she comments to Ko'Tua, who also would be just as frightening large like that and is probably envious of the power it gives Johan.
"Okay...let's scoot back."
She steps back with the others and lets Johan swing away. She is surprised it even takes as long as it does to get through the wall, but when they are finally through, she will let the dust dissipate and will crawl nimbly inside. The others mention Quirion left them or turned invisible. She wonders what that means. Does it mean that he offended someone, or that he has nefarious intentions for them all? She focuses on what she knows and goes into the darkness further. Her vision is capable to pierce the darkness.
"There isn't much room in here, but there is some stuff. Some money. Some items. Strange that they just stashed it here..."
A moment later, she hands out a staff through the hole and a canteen to Khali, then dips back inside. After looking through the stuff in the room, she lifts up the backpack in the guard's kit. "Could this be the thing that would let me carry more? Humorous..." It just seemed like a normal backpack to her with normal weight of the stuff in it. "Maybe they hid something?"
Then she will hand the other gear through the hole to Tenney for the others to sort through. It takes her a bit to pick up the coins from the pile. Afterward, she digs through the room a bit more carefully.
After handing the canteen to Kahli, Lash picks up the guard's bag. After dumping everything out, she realizes the bag still weighs about 15 lbs. Slightly apprehensively, Lash takes the 5' staff and puts it into the backpack. To her surprise, the staff doesn't stop when it hits the supposed bottom of the bag. The staff continues into the bag as far as Lash puts it. This has to be the magical bag The Eyes were speaking about.
Besides the pile of gear and coins, Lash sweeps aside the dust on the ground in the corners and runs her fingers along the walls, but doesn't find any hidden doors or exits. That makes sense. These creatures can melt into the stone walls. They have no need for doors.
Johan wipes the sweat from his brow and takes a moment to sit on his backpack and catch his breath.
Watching Lash and Kahli rummage through the various loot found in the alcove, he raises a hand: "I'll take that throwing axe if no one else needs it. Could be useful in a situation where my bow is too cumbersome. The rest of the mundane gear I think we should use to further outfit Hamley and the others."
"Wait, I've gotten everything else out of this bag. What in the world? This is so heavy!" She ponders, thinking that maybe this is the magical sack? In her mind, it would allow her to carry many things, so that would mean suits of armor and whatever nonsense they would find in this dungeon. If the eyes actually understood her wishes, maybe that's what this bag does? "What if I put this in here?"
She will then take the staff, before handing it to Khali, and will slide it into the bag. Sure enough, it keeps going. She hops out of the hole nimbly (taking care not to bonk her head).
"It is magical. Look! That's soooo weird...I've never seen anything like that."
With a face of pure wonderment, she hands off the staff to Khali and then will shake the bag upsidedown.
"Come on, empty. If there is anything else in you...come out now."
Once the bag is empty of various lint balls, dust collections, and whatever other knickknacks may have been outside of the reaches of her arm inside (in her mind), she will start putting the equipment they've found inside of it.
"Here, lighten your load. The bag itself is heavy, but I can't feel the weight of your items."
While handing out things, she nods to Johan and agrees, "Of course. That's the least we can do for all that hard work. Yeesh. If that's what miners have to go through, that would not be an easy life." Lash will also hand over their found Ioun Torch to Johan and will activate it for him.
"Here," she volunteers kindly. "Now you won't need to use a torch"
"Now," she hums and haws, "There were some places we left gear behind. Perhaps we should grab it? And I think now I see a point in perhaps exploring that water tunnel a bit more. I can maybe see if anything is hidden back there."
She will point to it on the map for the sake of Johan.
Johan follows the stone's orbit around his head a few times, with a bemused smile.
"Thank you. It will be easier to fight without having to occupy one hand with a torch."
Johan offers the masterwork crossbow to Hamley, who seems somewhat taken aback. "Oh! Uh, thanks. I'll-"
Tenney steps forward past him. "Oh, come on, Hamley. You've seen me stick a rat at 100 feet." He continues looking back at Hamley with a large grin as he approaches the crossbow. "You can't hit the broadside of a ship." He picks up the crossbow and inspects it before slinging it over his shoulder.
Kahli takes the staff and watches the group. "Any equipment that we find that can be useful keeping us all alive should be used by whoever can use it best. We aren't out in the real world where coin can be spent on wine, women and song, having fun and such. If we survive to the top level and finish our confrontation with our jailers, then we can care about a 'fair split' of cash."
"As it stands, Lash now has a way to carry the heavy items of value that can be traded with.... "Mr. Eyes". These will be traded for items that will increase our chances of survival. So let's go gather up the stuff that we left behind because we couldn't use it."
Lash nods in welcome to Johan's thanks.
"Agreed," she comments to Khali.
She moves slowly over to Tenney as they walk and pick up various items left behind. When Hamley is a bit more distracted, she places a gentle burnished, dark hand on Tenney's forearm and suggests, "You know, you've been indispensable in battle in melee with us the last couple of fights. Thank you..." she whispers sweetly,"You know, I don't want to cause a rift between you two, but I saw his face after you took that. He seemed hurt. Hamley was really excited to get to use that. Maybe you didn't notice. It was almost like he could have the chance to be as good as you, but then it was taken away." With her coy tone, she now seeks to appeal to his own judgment. "You two should stick together down here and help each other. Can I ask? I saw you at the fountain when he had lost his mind. Do you think of him more than just an acquaintance?"
There isn't a true indication of where she stands with Tenney, but she isn't going to tell him what to do either. She does remember that in her group of rogues, even though they were backstabbing each other or infighting, they still all had a bond together. She assumes that Tenney has that as well. Her words are intended to provoke that and perhaps make him reconsider taking the item from his friend's hands so quickly.
Tenney quickly swoons at Kahli's mention of women. " Oh, Kiwona. We had such good times. Once we get out of here..." He kind of trails off until Ko'Tua shoulder checks him as he walks by to help pick up the equipment.
Lash snaps Tenney out of his reminiscing when she approaches him and listens to her question. He smiles. "Hamley has been with me through thick and thin. I know Hamley better than his mother ever did." He pats the crossbow. "I'll hold on to this for now. Maybe if we get some downtime, I'll teach 'im how to use it." Tenney increases his pace ahead of Lash as they continue on.
Johan tenses his jaw at Tenney and Hamley's interaction, but ultimately decides it best to avoid confrontation for now. He's known men like Tenney, and suspects his loyalty is fragiler than the man himself realizes. Johan meant it when he implied he trusted Ko'Tua more.
Johan rises to his feet and puts his backpack on. As he re-arms himself, he smiles in appreciation for the Ioun Torch, as he is now able to wield his axe with his shield. He will take point as the party moves on.
Lash has almost had it with both Ko'Tua and Tenney. Only Hamley has been a good sport. With Ko'Tua now shoulder-checking Tenney, it just shows that even the Kuru leader is still not willing to work with the group. After Tenney walks ahead, she knows why. He's probably lying and is probably getting more and more pissed at her for interfering. She lets him walk ahead and folds her arms around her chest in frustration and worry. What she's seeing is making her feel the heavy burden of an insurmountable task and she's about done trying to stop it. Instead, she moves next to Kahli and bumps her for a hug with a shake of her head.
Even still, she doesn't wish them gone. Lash looks to their new member, who seems quite happy to press onward and it makes her smile a little bit.
They will make their way back up to the spider cave, collect everything there, and then, if they have searched every other nook and cranny, they will head back southward to the dead lizardmen.
There, she will explain to Johan what happened and point out the trap set up by the lizardfolk and how the group handled it with teamwork. She will also explain that one of the lizardfolk is diseased and not to touch it, although this is readily seen upon its skin. Once all the gear is collected, they now can head back across the mudroom.
The group retraces their steps through the cave, stopping off at the pool south of the mud pit. Taking a peek into the water, Lash swears there's something in the murkiness that wasn't there before. Calling the others over, they all strain their eyes to see the 10' down to the bottom of the murky water. They're pretty sure it's a body...and it's starting to move...and it's struggling
...The last thing Amestri remembers was settling down after an evening of prayer and devotion. When she awakes in darkness, she immediately realizes she's weightless. Maybe she wonders if she slept wrong, but that thought quickly leaves as she realizes she's under water and whatever magic was giving her breath has just dissipated. When she tries to move, it becomes clear her wrists are shackled together, then locked to a short chain that is anchored to the stone floor. She glances up through the murky water and faintly sees the silhouettes of a group of people looking back down at her.
Amestri quickly goes about assessing the situation. She is unsure of whether the forms above her or hostile or not, but getting their attention seems a better choice than simply drowning. With her hands restricted, she turns about to put her legs upward and continues on to kick them in an attempt to draw the gaze of those above.
"I see something struggling in the water here. It's not a fish...THAT's A BODY!"
She has seen someone drowning before in her childhood and so it is recognizable.
"Help me!"
Lash will pull the Elixir of Swimming off her belt and will drink it. She then take a breath in, hold it, and will dive in.
Lash is cautious as she approaches. Who knows if this is a trap?
Kahli looks on with obvious concern (fear?) on her face. She can't swim and would definitely drown with her armor on. "Does anyone have rope? Maybe tie something to an end so it will drop faster and toss it in?" Mentally she again curses not having chosen the light spell in the morning. It hadn't been needed....
Lash quickly pops a potion and dives into the water, easily making it to the bottom. Through the murky water, she sees the manacles and chain holding the very much alive person to the stone floor.
Kahli calls for rope and Hamley swings his bag around, producing a coil of rope and hands it to Kahli. "Is this enough?" Ko'Tua steps up and ties his club to the end of the rope. "This should be good." Kahli is now holding 50ft of rope with a club tied at one end, and tosses it into the pool. The club sinks to the bottom, kicking up a cloud of debris a few feet from Lash.
Seeing the form crash into the water in front of her, Amestri halts her struggles and instead merely presents the current issue of the manacles. She is unsure of the figure's intent, but hopes for the best.
Lash can see now it is a woman bound in chain. With the club landing next to Lash, she will wrap it around the chain binding this person to the ground a few times, then around the woman a couple of times, and then will hand the club to the woman to hold tight. This will give her the leverage to not have it ripped from her hands, and will allow the whole party to work together to pull to break the chain holding her underwater. Lash Gives the rope two tugs to signal for them all to pull.
In the meantime, Lash will be utilizing her adamantine wiresaw to weaken the chain enough that they can break it. That, or this poor woman will have to wait for Lash to saw completely through it.
Feeling the tugs and watching as much as they can Kahli hopes she understands. "Everyone, grab on to the rope and pull. There might be a heavy weight holding this down, or it might be connected to something. Pull to lift and keep pulling!"