Triel moves in and takes a swipe at the... thing!
Triel joins the fray as she slices the monster with her scythe. Hope delivers another powerful blast, then Ruby Meadow slices the wounded thing in two with a brutal chop of her sword! It falls into a steaming pile of bloody goop as it quickly melts away into nothingness.
"...alright, what in the Nine Hells was THAT?"
Screaming Moon shrugs.
"It was likely a test of some kind, though I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion about the nature of the test.
This being a gauntlet of wrath, perhaps the combat was the test. It is also possible those who went through before us and broke down the gates had the right solution.
Regardless, it doesn't seem like there are any other options but to move on through the broken down gate."
"...alright, what in the Nine Hells was THAT?"
"It was a chaos beast, a creature known to change forms without purpose or reason."
Fioralba agrees with Screaming Moon and nods, "Let's continue."
Beyond the gate, stairs lead up. Two platforms overlook this domed chamber. To the west, where you have arrived from, a circular balcony surrounded by metal bars from floor to ceiling rises fifteen feet over the floor. A two-foot-tall crystal plinth stands in the center of this balcony atop which sits a large, round gemstone.
To the east, a ten-foot-wide iron slab blocks an opening ten feet over the floor. Iron ladders descend from both exits to the floor below, but there’s no apparent access from the top of the ladder through the bars to the western balcony. The dome itself rises to a height of thirty feet from the floor, while to the north, at ground level, a ten-foot-wide alcove shimmers with light from a magical, glowing circle on the floor.
It appears the gemstone here will also fit in the door that was in the previous room.
Fi surveys the room, but sets her sights on the glowing circle, moving towards it cautiously. "There's something here, hold on . . . " she says, studying it.
The magical circle appears to be a summoning circle. Perhaps it is meant to conjure creatures into the room to battle combatants on the lower floor, while those on the upper balcony could watch from behind the safety of the bars. It's impossible to tell from here, though.
Studying the gemstone with her magically enhanced sight, Fio can tell that it is designed to serve as a magical key.
Hope was glad they took the monstrosity down but she still hurt all over. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep this rate of backlash much longer and needed to work on restraining herself. When Screaming Moon's healing washed over them all it did heal Hope's wounds but not the way so much of her was looking black and blue from bruising and it was obvious from the way she moved that she was incredibly sore despite the healing magic she had just received.
When Fio called for a halt Hope was more than happy to comply, she needed a pause to catch her breath and leaned against a wall with obvious, if slightly pained, relief.
Elanna, who is becoming thoroughly sick of blobby oozes, magical traps and blobby ooze summoning magical traps, is quite content to let her sister go first. Fi has a terrible habit of rushing in, but at least that only applies to relationships. She takes magic very seriously.
Seeing Hope falter the aasimar approaches and leans against the wall nearby.
"You ok?" She asks casually.
Hope looked over at Elanna as she came over and spoke to her. Hope felt her heart beating faster but she tried to ignore it. She had come to kind of understand that Elanna didn't love her like Hope first thought she did and it hurt. Fortuantely Hope had other pains to worry her right now.
Giving Elanna a weak smile Hope said, "No, not really." Hope took a minute to collect herself before she could speak further and said, "What I do comes with a cost, other than the voices that is," she added hastily, "When I push to far without taking the time to do it right, the power backlashes." Hope gestured at the bruises on her body where her flesh could be seen, "It can't be healed with magic, only time will make it go away."
Hope caught Elanna's eyes, something she did only rarely now, and made sure that Elanna could see who she pushed herself for, Elanna herself. "I can only push so far before I's spent and I'm nearly there now. One, maybe two more times and I'm done." She was getting better at talking, sounding more her apparent age than the girl she sounded like when they first met.
Triel taps the flat of her scythe against her foot.
Feels like something else is going to happen. Don't start daydreaming now.
...I'm sorry, what?
Triel...
What?!
Relaying the information to the others, she explains the summoning circle as well as "And this gemstone is designed to server a magical key of sorts."
Looking back, she says "Let's take this gemstone and try it in the indentation in the other room."
As they walk, she ponders "Though I wonder. The one gate is smashes terribly, so it clearly was forced open. This gem still rested back there, so it's unlikely that where we traverse next has been utilized in some time."
You return from whence you came and place the gemstone in the carving of Yamasoth's empty socket. Doing so causes the gem to transform into a real eye for a moment before the figure closes its mouth, “blinking.” The gem disappears, and the iron door grinds down into the ground.
Broken stone and marble is strewn down the length of this five-foot-wide wide hall, and a long crack runs along the floor. The masonry of the walls also shows signs of damage. Shallow alcoves alternate from north to south along the corridor, with an unmoving body slumped near the easternmost one.
Some of the rubble lying on the ground appears to be bricks from the walls, while some has the appearance of fragmented marble sculpture.
The body belongs to a savage-looking man who appears to have been bludgeoned to death. His sword is shattered and broken, but his armor is still intact.
The hall continues for a while before opening into another chamber. A pool of crystal-clear water fills the eastern half of this room, flanked by a pair of five-foot-wide walkways that lead to iron slabs in the wall. The slab to the north is decorated with a silvery inlay of a wizard casting a burning spell, while the slab to the south is decorated with a silvery inlay of a soldier wielding a ranseur in battle. Short phrases are etched into the stone above each iron slab. The phrase above the north door reads “Scald me with your wrathful magic,” while above the south door is inscribed “Scour me with your furious arms.” Between the slabs, a carving of an archway made of lines of script adorns the wall just above the water’s edge.
Something in Elanna's eyes flickers for a moment before her usual smile reasserts itself.
"Well don't work yourself too hard Hope." The rogue says casually. "We don't want to lose you at this stage! Let Ruby take a few more hits, I think the girl actually likes it!" She adds quietly, hoping to draw at least a small smile from the strange young woman. She isn't a monster after-all, making your friends laugh isn't dangerous and Hope knows how they stand now.
----------------------------------------------------
"So someone came here before us." Elanna says, examining the body. "Guess we need to be on the lookout for more than just traps and old monsters."
The rogue has a clear preference regarding doors but does spare a glance for her sister.
"You got any 'wrathful' magic Fi? Or shall we save resources and go this way?"
'I cannot scald it, but I can try shocking it." Fioralba responds to her sister. "Let's. Try. Thissssssssss."
Focusing on the northern door, she reaches out her hand and casts Shocking Grasp.
Fio's lightning crackles along the iron slab, and it grinds open in response, allowing access to the hall beyond. The long corridor eventually leads to a large, domed chamber that is decorated with an intricate geometric mosaic. It, the walls, and the ceiling shine softly, all encased in what appears to be a layer of glass. A sphere of blue glass pulsing with an inner light is embedded in the north wall. To the south are three alcoves, the largest blocked off by black metal bars spaced fewer than two inches apart. Set into the wall at the back of this apparent cell pulses a second blue glass sphere.
A hulking, hideous-looking man squats in the caged alcove, but he staggers to his feet when he sees you. A fat, writhing tentacle sprouts from the middle of his back, and a set of vestigial wings poke out from gaps in his armor. "Don't touch the glass ball! Get me out of this cage! Watch out for the monsters!" he shouts in the same breath.
At the same time, two disgusting horrors stumble forth from the other two alcoves. These monstrosities appear to be tangled masses of slurry and viscera from which extend dozens of arms that twitch and writhe, pantomiming the act of spellcasting in their horrific undeath!
The creatures slither and lurch across the floor, grabbing at Fio and Ruby!
Satisfied that her spell works, she stands a little bit taller with a smirk on her face as she leads the way down the path.
That all fades quickly when the horrors of this room emerge "What the hell is this place?!" she gasps just before the things start to grab at her.
Fi manages to wrestle her way free from the Melted, gasping as she moves away from the horror of hands.
Hope tried not to giggle at Ela's joke about Ruby but she failed to completely stifle it. It was a girlish giggle that would fit the child she was before she went missing but it was there. Her mirth was abruptly cut off at the sight of the things coming for them. She was disgusted by the sudden attack of the things though they weren't the worst thing she thought she had seen. She carefully, since she couldn't take much more punishment, pulled in power to amplify
Triel stares at the melted... things... in wide-eyed disgust before raising her scythe and swinging it!
Ruby shrugs off the effect of the monstrosity. It may be hideous, but the party has seem plenty of hideous things so far and there is only one solution.
Ill-equipped to deal with swarms, Screaming Moon stands back and concentrates on his Life Link, ready to heal anyone who needs it, starting with himself.
Snapping out his wand, he touches his own wounds.
Looking up at the man in the cage, he considers whether he could be an ally or not.
"We appreciate the warning, Friend. Do you have any tips for dealing with this creature?"
As the twins fall back, Ruby Meadow tears into the monstrous swarm trying to grab at her. Hope unleashes a mighty gravity blast that hurls it away from the Shoanti warrior and causes it to melt into an inert puddle.
"You seem to be doing well against it!" the strange man says. "Keep attacking!"
Triel's scythe swing goes wide, unfortunately. The remaining melted swarm reaches out for the drow and Ruby.
Triel grimaces and swings her scythe!
Then she tries to run away from the melted pile of limbs!
She manages to wrench herself free and put some distance between her and the thing!
Groaning as the damage keeps pouring in, Screaming Moon heals himself.
Hope looked at the remaining monstrous thing and pulled in power for one more blast. The ball of gravity lanced out at the thing with almost as much force as the last.
Triel and Ruby slice into the melted monstrosity, then Hope crushes i with another might blast of gravity, reducing the creature to an inert puddle of sticky gore!
The twisted man in the cell lets out a ragged cheer. "Well fought! Now get me the hell out of this cage!"
Screaming Moon peers up at the "man" thing wondering what to do. "Before that, we need to know who you are. How did you get trapped in that cage?"
"My name's Maga Szuul. That's all I'll say about myself until I'm free," the man says stubbornly. He points to the glass globe at the north end of the room. "When those monsters appeared, I touched that and it teleported me into this cage. A glowing rune appeared showing the symbol for evocation magic. I think it expected me to cast a spell of that school, but I'm an alchemist, so my extracts weren't enough to complete the test. I think if you come in here and cast the appropriate spell, it will open the cage."
"I need to know that it is safe to let you out before I can recommend that course of action to my friends" Screaming Moon says as he begins healing the party.
"How did you come by that tentacle on your back? Is it an effect that could endanger us?"
Wary of releasing the tentacle-man, she holds out her scimitar towards him and says "You saw what we just did to that thing. Know that the same can easily be done to you should you have any thoughts of crossing us."
Maga Szuul holds up his hands in a nonthreatening manner. "Alright, alright! I get it, you're tough. Exactly why I don't want to mess with you! I just want to get out!"
He turns to Screaming Moon. "It's not contagious," Maga Szuul chuckles. "It is an alchemical alteration I created myself. Useful in a fight, or to grab an extract from my belt." The tentacle on his back wriggles, as if sensing somebody is talking about it.
Screaming Moon glances toward Ruby Meadow's bestial countenance and nods in acknowledgement of Maga Szuul's explanation.
Looking to the others, he states. "Well, he seems honest. It is probably safe to let him out. Perhaps his story can give us some insight on how to proceed,"
Triel eyes the contained alchemist with more than a little paranoia--specifically, his tentacle.
He wanted an extra appendage and that is what he settled on?
The drow tentatively approaches the ball Szuul mentioned and calls forth some innate magic. A set of twinkling violet lights emerges from her fingertips and starts to dance around the ball.
The globe glows, and Triel finds herself teleported into the cage with Maga Szuul. The twisted man steps back to give the drow some space. A glowing symbol, the rune of wrath, manifests on the northern wall of the room for a moment, then two more glowing runes manifest, one either side of the rune of wrath: the runes of gluttony (necromancy) and pride (illusion).
Fioralba nods to Moon, "I agree. We will let him how. One false move however, we ..."
Fi doesn't finish her statement as she has a flashback to earlier. She had intended to say that they would put him back into the cage until later, but she knows how that idea would be received by her group.
"... deal with it." she settles on, turning away from her allies.
"...son of a b%%%%." Triel grumbles as she's teleported.
"I don't suppose if someone casts spells corresponding to those runes, we'll at least be freed from this place?"
Screaming Moon gasps as Triel is moved into the cage. As there appears to be no danger, he holds off on summoning a wormhole to get her out for the moment.
"I imagine my healing hex will satisfy the Necromancy rune. Though, if we all get transported into that cage, it is going to get rather tight. I suppose we should keep going."
Fioralba stops and turns to study the runes. "I can try. One moment."
Picking up her spellbook, Fioralba flips through for a moment before settling on two. "Ah, yes. These will do nicely."
Looking back at her group she says "Prepare yourselves." and turns to cast the spells accordingly.
Fio teleports into the cage when she casts minor image. Before she has a chance to cast disrupt undead, the runes shift again, now showing greed (transmutation), wrath (evocation), and lust (enchantment).
"...apparently not." Triel groans.
"Well, it appears to have not liked those spells. Perhaps we need to use spells that cause damage? First, let me see if I can get someone out of the cage."
Screaming Moon uses Heaven's Leap to move Fioralba out of the cage.
Fioralba teleports out of the cage without problem. "Well, hell! Why didn't you just get me out that way to begin with?" Maga Szuul demands.
"I can only do that once a day for each of you, so it would be good to know another way to open the cage.
Although, perhaps we don't even need to worry about the orb?"
Screaming Moon glances up to Triel and Maga Szuul but does not take any immediate action.
"All right, let's think this through. Can we progress to the next stage of the Gauntlet without doing anything here?"
Fioralba looks to Screaming Moon and says "Thank you for getting me out."
Looking back to Triel who is still locked up, she says "I'd be wary leaving Triel here, Moon. What about breaking them out? Can we bust that open?"
She turns to study the runes further, trying to ascertain what is required here to pass this obstacle.
Scrunching his brown in thought brings no clues, until Triel remembers that there was a different door.
"Yes, you are right, Triel. This room is likely a dead end trap. Let's go back and try the other door."
Screaming Moon teleports Triel and Maga Szuul out of the cage and waits to see if the alchemist is friendly after all.
Szuul seems rather relieved at finally being free. He scratches at his arm, his back tentacle twitching. "Thanks, I owe you for your help. So, here’s the thing. I'm part of a cult dedicated to the qlippoth lord Yamasoth. We're based in the Gecko Pillar of the Irespan in Magnimar. They sent me here to gather ingredients for a contagion they're working on--the polymorph plague.
"But I'm not really so loyal to them all, yeah? Get me back to the surface, and I'll take you to their lair so you can stop them from spreading the plague. That's what you hero types get off on, isn't it?"