"How elaborate," Marius says, tone unamused as he presses several combinations of the three symbols.
With Konstiantina's guidance, Marius presses through the first combination and is rewarded with a soft grinding sound as a small section of the wall slides in and up, revealing a hidden compartment. Inside the compartment is a leather bag, cracked and stiff with age, containing twenty gold coins.
The coins are minted with the same crest that is present on the senate badges.
"Oh? Got it on the first try. Well done, Marius! I suppose fortune does favor the bold," Rose comments, just as he retrieves the coin bag.
When it's revealed that the new coins have the same symbol as the badges, she grins. "And I suppose we all know what to do with these. To the coin slot, everyone!"
Obviously excited at potentially having found a way out, she quickly paces to coin-shaped identation in the other room. "Well, there's no telling what exactly will happen, so is there anything someone still needs to do before we insert it?"
"I for one am ready to proceed," says Konstiantina dryly. "Please, Rose, insert a coin. There is much awaiting us above."
Lotti shakes her head. "Carry on dear - the sooner we get out the better."
"Well, figured I should ask, just in case. Here goes..."
Rose lowers the coin into the slot and takes a step back.
A circle inscribed with arcane symbols comes to life on the floor in front of the coin niche, and the wooden boards shimmer and become ethereal.
"Oh, now that's interesting." Lotti studies the symbols with interest. "And unexpected - I would have thought we'd have an exit through a wall rather than the floor."
Konstiantina steps back with a frown. "A teleportation circle of some kind? Can we determine where it leads?"
The passage in the floor is about five feet in diameter. Its destination cannot be discerned. Lotti can tell that there is definitely conjuration magic at work here, but is unable to identify the specific spell.
"If... if it is a teleportation spell, then I am willing to go first. With any luck, I'll be able to report back on what I find. If I don't - or can't - then please follow."
And, taking a deep breath, the paladin steps into the circle.
Momentarily startled, Marius steps into the circle a half-second behind Konstiantina. "Apologies for the proximity, but I think it would be unwise for any of us to be caught out somewhere alone--even a paladin," he explains with an apologetic smile.
Konstiantina and Marius disappear from view.
As they step into the circle, they have a distinct sensation of moving downwards before they emerge at the bottomr of a wide flight of stairs. Behind them, the wall glows with the same magical runes, and a section of the stone appears ethereal. The stairs ascend to a small landing beyond which there is a solid wall. On the landing, a hooded lantern burns with a blue flame.
"This is a promising start, let's see if the circle goes both ways," Marius exits the arrival point, and then steps back into the same spot in the hopes that it would carry him back to saferoom.
Konstiantina raises a wryly amused eyebrow at Marius' words as he steps into the circle with her, but makes no comment, turning instead to face the presumed outward world they will soon discover, blade drawn but held down by her side.
When they materialize at the bottom of the stairs, she exhales a sigh of relief - the prospect of being trapped in that suite until they were as ruined and dusty and decomposed as the furnishings had begun to prey on her mind.
"Magic lantern?" she whispers to Marius as she also steps out of the circle. "Not necessarily a sign of life. Go ahead, I'll wait here."
And she assumes a guarded stance, wary but patient, eyeing the stairway as Marius steps back.
Marius steps back through the portal and appears in the saferoom bedroom. It would appear that the passage goes both ways.
"Well that's a relief," Lotti comments as Marius reappears. "Where did it take you? I trust it's safe, or Konstiantina would have returned as well."
Rose reflexively tenses when the portal reactivates and holds her dagger ready in case it was the wrong visitor.
Fortunately, with Marius re-appearing, she can breathe easy and does so. "Indeed, this is great news!" she says, putting her weapon away. "Perhaps if we were to remove the coin from the holder, we could seal off the room from the outside world and have a safe place to rest in. That is, supposing we can find some water at least. I can't imagine one-thousand year old stale water would taste well, but it would sure be comforting to have some around..."
Then, she strides forward and steps into the circle. "Come then, let's not keep the lady waiting, shall we?"
She grants Marius a teasing grin as a parting gift before disappearing.
One by one, Martella's stranded agents pass through the portal, and after a couple of minutes the wall in the passage with the stairs returns to its solid form.
Marius holds up his hands in mock surrender at the knife in Raesilia's hand and gives the others a relieved nod. "It leads to a hallway, bit of magical lighting but not much. Konstiantina is keeping an eye out. Let's not keep her waiting..."
Once everyone is safely through to the other side Marius warily eyes the hallway and draws his falcata. "Nowhere to go but up," he murmurs half to himself as he starts up the stairs.
After Rose carefully checks the staircase, Marius ascends to the top of the stairs. An ornate brass lever, corroded with age, protrudes from the otherwise featureless wall.
"Hm... wonder if it's still in working condition. Should we oil it first? It would be, ah, quite unfortunate if it were to break and we ended up stuck here. Not to suggest you all aren't pleasant company of course!" Rose suggests, smiling softly.
"Actually... let's take a look at Martella's perfumes again. Some of those are oil-based and I think I remember that coming up in her descriptions. Maybe it would do a makeshift job of greasing it for us. Unless any of you are hiding an actual bottle of oil in your underwear?"
On the very off-chance of this being a thing she looks over the others, raiding a questioning though unserious eyebrow, then begins rummaging through her purse for some of the perfume bottles from Martella's kit. "No... No... Hm." She holds one up to the light. "A ha! Kyonin breeze. I think this is the 'fresh and airy' one. And made from Neroli oil, most importantly. Let's see if it works!"
The lever moves with only a small amount of hitching and creaking, causing a section of the wall to slide downwards with a grinding sound, and opening the way to a hallway that stretches to the left and right, then angles northwards. Several doors are visible in the stone walls.
More alarmingly, a body lies to the north west by the opposite wall, fresh blood spattering the stone tiles of the floor.
"Your guess about assassins following us down here may not have been far off the mark, Rose. I do sometimes wish you were wrong a bit more often." Marius cautious approaches the body, carefully checking to see if any immediate danger can be seen before kneeling to examine the blood-spattered corpse.
Whatever killed this well-dressed noble did not wield an assassin's sharp knives - the poor man is almost ripped to pieces and his body bears parallel ragged gashes. An ornate ring remains on his left hand.
"Your guess about assassins following us down here may not have been far off the mark, Rose. I do sometimes wish you were wrong a bit more often."
"Believe me, in this instance, I'd very much wish the same. I'm... very much trying not to think of what this will all mean for the country's future," Rose replies, joining Marius.
...Which is where her thoughts are fully lurched back to the here and now as she balks at the sickening smell of coagulated blood and gore. "Oh gods, that's just disgusting!"
Swallowing hard and trying not to throw up, she slowly leans down and attempts to also investigate the body, prodding the tatttered clothing to the side with her dagger.
"Well... at the very least, with this amount of damage to the body, I image his blood would be all over the killer. That might warn us. And... what's this ring? Is is magical?"
She looks at the ring to see if she recognizes anything about it. Was there a signet?
The piece of jewellery has no crest, only a bright blue stone in a white gold setting. Lotti does sense a magical aura about the ring.
However, before either Rose or Lotti can examine it further, a shape bursts out of the nearby wall, a desiccated humanoid body that is patterned with the same texture as the wall, reaching out with two sharp claws at Marius.
Lotti: 12/12
Mirann: 11/11
Marius: 12/18
Konstiantina: 18/18
Creature: Unharmed
"Watch out!" Lotti yells, but the creature strikes before the sound can leave her throat. "It's a walcofinde - someone who was intentionally sealed inside a wall to die. Probably one of the workers who built this place and then was killed to keep its secrets." Trying to think of something effective against the mindless creature, the serving lady focuses on the hallway beyond it. Faint magic surrounds her as the sound of baying hounds fills the air.
"Marius!"
Rose acts more quickly than might be expected, pushing past the wounded nobleman to catch his attacker just as it retreats into the wall!
Grimacing as the walco-something's claws shred his jacket and some of the skin under it, Marius nevertheless reacts with the instincts instilled by his military training. Sweeping his in, he lays the edge of the blade on the shoulder of the retreating monster before jerking the right in a smooth, savage motion to tear out its throat.
Already weakened by Rose's attack, the creature wails under Marius's onslaught, collapsing as the wall reabsorbs it with a horrible sucking sound.
Konstiantina is bringing up the rear of the group, so that when the violence erupts she can barely make out what's happening. Her blade whips up, clasped in both hands, and she's about to lunge forward, a cry rising to her lips, when she realizes the threat has already been taken care of.
There's the flash of blades, the horrific screech of pain, and then Marius is sagging backward, his torso gleaming wetly in the lamplight.
"Let me through," commands Konstiantina, sheathing her blade as she shoulders her way to Marius' side. For a moment she simply stares at his gaping wounds, and then her jaw firms, she takes a deep breath, and placed her hands over the lacerations.
"Iomedae, blessed lady, hear my call. Bless this man with your healing. He is worthy and good."
The words are clipped, made terse by her tension, but a second later a glimmer of golden light swells up between her fingers, as if she clutched at a burning orb.
For a moment she stands thus, eyes closed, but then she steps back, frowning at his still existing wounds. "I... I hope that helps. I'm sorry I couldn't do more."
After the wall-bound creature is sucked back in, Rose warily regards the wall (well aware of how rediculous it would otherwise be), the dagger still in one hand and the lantern from the stairway in the other.
When she finally feels like the creature won't return and there are no sounds of another enemy coming at the group, she turns around to find Konstiantina already healing Marcus.
"Because why wouldn't she be able to do that, too. I'll put it next to being roughly as effective as me at the gala dressed in an apron."
The thought came quick and cut deep.
"Anything helps. How bad is it now?" she asks instead, short and to the point. It was way selfish to begrudge the paladin for things that could keep them all alive now. Maybe she was just shaken after the murder spree upstairs and more prone to irritation. The environment and dead body next to them certainly didn't help...
From around the corner, the creaking of hinges can be heard. After a moment, a voice calls out, although the speaker doesn't show themselves. "Is anyone there? Are the monsters dead? For the love of Taldor, help us!"
"Iomedae, blessed lady, hear my call. Bless this man with your healing. He is worthy and good."
Marius grins at the paladin, though it is strained. "I appreciate the compliment, Lady Mokei. I'll survive, and I thank you." Straightening his torn jacket, he turns that strained grin to Raesilia with a nod. "Your speed with a blade was welcome, Rose. If you had been less quick on the draw I may have been much worse off."
The shouting of a stranger startles the nobleman, his head jerking towards the sound. After a second's hesitation he calls out. "The creature that lurked in the walls is slain, are there others? I am Sir Marius, third son of House Erallan. With whom do I speak?"
”Whoops,” Lotti whispers to Mirann with a grin as the echoing sounds of dogs howling dies down.
The voice replies. "Ah, there were two, they tore poor Lord Manshun to pieces. We dare not come out yet. I am Lord Jericho Lymere."
If there is a second wall-dwelling creature, it is not showing itself now.
"Your speed with a blade was welcome, Rose. If you had been less quick on the draw I may have been much worse off."
"You're welcome," says Rose, smiling slightly. "But no thanks are necessary. We need to help eachother, and if you hadn't been there, it would have attacked me instead. I'm not sure I could handle those kinds of wounds so easily."
However, when voices of a potential second group suddenly appear, she quickly kneels down to take the magical ring from the body, then directs the lantern and her dagger in that direction. "Could still be assassins. Don't let your guard down." she whispers.
Konstiantina moves forward, blade held down and to the side. "We've killed one of the monsters, my lord. Stay within your room while we try to deal with the second."
She looks back at her companions. "More easily said then done. How do we lure such a thing out of the wall? Or tell that it's still here?"
And, feeling rather hesitant, she begins to scan the walls for signs of evil, unsure if her power will penetrate into the bricks at any actionable depth.
A sense of unease directs Konstiantina's attention towards the right branch of the hallway. The feeling is diffuse, but something malevolent is definitely there.
"Down this way," murmurs Konstiantina distractedly, frowning at the brickwork. "I sense... something..."
And blade held at the ready, she begins to travel down the right branch.
Her carefulness and divine senses allow Konstiantina to spot the creature as it emerges from the wall and reaches for her.
Lotti keeps a firm hold of Wobblekins as the sound of unhuman screaming fills the hall again. ”Not much we can do except keep out of the way and not make them worry about us,” she whispers to her familiar.
"There it is!... Wait, why is she that far away from us!? Did I space out?" Rose wonders, partly dividing her attention between the voices and the ring and finding the paladin was now way ahead of them and decidedly out of range for immediate help.
"Come on everyone, let's go!" she cries anyway, then looks at the wounded nobleman before moving in. "You can still fight, right?"
"Iomedae bless my blade!" cries out Konstiantina, whirling about and bringing her sword slashing upward at the grasping hands.
The undead creature moans as the divine power of Konstiantina's strike leaves seared marks on its strange flesh, reaching out with its clawed hands to the paladin, who easily evades the swipes.
Rose passes around Konstiantina's back and attacks the creature from the far end!
Unfortunately, this enemy seemed a lot harder to hit than the first...