The halfling floats in the water like a child's discarded doll lying amidst the wreckage of a home after a flood.
Active Effects:
Ankle Deep: +5 DC on Acrobatics checks, +2 DC on Stealth checks (small creatures instead take the following penalties: +7 DC on acrobatics checks and +5 DC on Stealth)
Huxwren
Taariik
Grunyak
Eldrin
Drusilla
Priestess
Mog Lathar
The water continues to pour into the chamber as it fills up, but it currently remains ankle deep.
Huxwren stays prone in the rising water and bashes themself brutally in the face, managing the impressive feat of almost killing themself with a punch. Taariik continues to babble, but Eldrin springs into action!
Active Effects:
Ankle Deep: +5 DC on Acrobatics checks, +2 DC on Stealth checks (small creatures instead take the following penalties: +7 DC on acrobatics checks and +5 DC on Stealth)
Huxwren
Taariik
Grunyak
Eldrin
Drusilla
Priestess
Mog Lathar
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Coming back to himself, Eldrin takes in the seen of rapidly rising water and Huxwren nearly braining himself. Remembering his hastily studied spell he launches straight into reciting it.
Completing the spell, Eldrin will stat moving toward the tunnel and the way out. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
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"Torag, keep him alive." "Well at least he can't hurt himself. Probably better to sleep it off."
To Dru, Grunyak says, "Sorry, I let the crisis go to my head. I did not mean to offend. I will get the next round if we can just get everyone the heck out of here." Seeing she is more than capable of carrying the load, he moves to see about Taariik.
Grunyak moves to Taariik maybe a little in front of him towards the door, "You alright, big guy? Just follow me. We need to get out of here."
Grunyak waves his hand and Huxwren's bleeding stops, allowing Drusilla to put away her weapon and grab them up just in time to prevent the rising water from drowning them.
Eldrin gets himself together to attempt to test his magical power against that of the priestess, unfortunately he falls slightly short and the effect remains. Even more worringly, the water continues to rise in the room, reaching to knee level on Drusilla and Taariik, but no water has yet reached the raised tunnel.
As Grunyak walks past Taariik and tries to guide him he pokes himself with his greatsword, no mean feat for such a large weapon. Meanwhile Eldrin babbles again.
Active Effects:
Knee Deep: Difficult Terrain , +5 DC on Stealth and Acrobatics checks (small creatures instead take the following penalties: 4 squares of movement per square, DC 10 swim checks required, +10 on acrobatics checks, tumble impossible)
Huxwren
Taariik
Grunyak
Eldrin
Drusilla
Grunyak and Drusilla make it to the raised passage, but look back anxiously at Taariik as he rants and cuts himself. The water continues to pour in, remaining mostly knee deep.
Taariik gets a moment of lucidity to wade through the fast-filling chamber and makes it to the stairs, water pouring out of his armour as he steps up, while Eldrin continues to babble.
The water rises to about 3 feet deep in the room and yet Taariik and Eldrin continue to babble. Huxwren and Drusilla loiter, not sure whether they need to run for the exit to save themselves, or if they need to stay to help if Taariik and Eldrin take to attacking each other or themselves again.
As they are all standing there though, both Eldrin and Taariik return to normal, and you all look at each other for a second. The water starts lapping at the steps and you hear the sound of glass breaking in the domed chamber and the sudden rush of water, the small elevator seeming very far away down a long tunnel. Almost simultaneously you all shout.
"Run!"
You're running down the tunnel, which didn't seem nearly as long when you arrived. You can see the elevator at the other end, but then the worst happens; a rush of icy water floods past you as the whole tunnel begins to flood!
You continue splashing through the water. It's filling slower than domed room, but not as slowly as you'd have thought given its size, the sea must be freely pouring through one or more panels now.
You arrive, breathing heavily from the exertion. The elevator has been lowered into a recess in the shaft (and so is completely underwater), exposing rungs carved into the stone shaft on every side, a precaution that has allowed the cultists to ascend before you. Looking up the shaft you can just see the last of them exiting 40 feet above you, sounds of panic and evacuation echoing down the shaft.
As you take this in, the water has risen to about 18 inches. At the current rate you probably have about 5 minutes before the whole tunnel is submerged.
Grunyak channels the holy energy of Torag at the bottom of this waterlogged shaft, bringing Huxwren round, mercifully free of the confusion spell at last, but drenched in seawater. He then starts climbing the shaft back to the house above. Snatches of conversation echo down.
"They killed Myra! They destroyed our God, we have to leave, regroup!"
As an artifact it will have an overwhelming magical aura.
The water poured in as Taariik studied the room, eventually deciding that the only magical aura is that of the huge spider. The aura was a blinding white light that was hard to look at, overwhelming in strength, suggesting the spider is a major artifact and not destroyed, only disabled.
By the time you get to the tunnel you're wading through 2 foot deep water, but no-one is in danger of drowning. You can make your way up the rungs of the shaft while the water level slowly rises below you, and flop out into the gallery where you were recently lowered by a cultist.
The dilapidated is eerily empty, but you can hear the sounds of thumping feet and muffled voices from the ceiling, echoing through the sagging floorboards of the old house.
Huxwren
Taariik
Grunyak
Eldrin
Drusilla
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Grunyak will pull out his wand as Taariik heals and work on Hux.
"Well take a look at her. We need to use speak with dead, but I don't have it today. Tomorrow or from a scroll are our two options. I would need to purchase the scroll."
"Does she happen to have any money? That might at least offset the cost."
As you pause to heal the sounds from above start to recede and go quiet, leaving you alone with the sound of the slowly filling elevator shaft. As far as you know you are above sea-level here, so it shouldn't get as far as the room.
Looking over the body of the priestess, the first thing you find is a silver and mithral key worn on a chain around her neck. It is large and ornate, very cold to the touch and seems to have a permanent haze of condensation around it. Huxwren and Taariik both immediately recognize it as being tremendously charged with psychic energy.
Keeping up the search, Grunyak finds 52 gold pieces, silver dust worth around 25 gold pieces, 2 potions, a masterwork spider-leg sickle, a magical breastplate, a magical cloak, and a magical headband. She also has a jeweled sceptre and holy symbol that look valuable.
Alone in the cold room, you can see the archway leading into a stone tiled room, and stairs leading back the way you came.
While Eldrin studies the other items, Huxwren quickly wraps their hands around the strange key before anyone else can disrupt the psychic impressions left upon it.
Huxwren takes the key and prepares to begin the process of opening themselves psychically to the subtle emotional imprints left on objects by their users. The instant they begin to open themself, a flood of energy and images fill their mind, extinguishing their physical senses and bathing them in rich imagery.
A flash and suddenly you are in a room of an old house (possibly this one), one that has been mostly destroyed by some calamity. The floor is almost totally collapsed, revealing the room below, and scorch-marks mar the walls. You see a young man creep in, looking nervously around as he skirts the edge of the room in order to pick up a couple of objects wedged into the corner; a book and the key. As soon as he touches the smoking key you know him to be Frell Tann, whose animated corpse you encountered on first entering Korvosa. He picks up the book and the key and scurries away, joining the company of several other black-clad young rogues who look rather like the members of Barvarsi's band you encountered.
Another flash and you find yourself in the same room, but apparently before its destruction. Its decor does suggest that it could be in this house, and a number of cultists are performing a ritual around a floating black stone the size of a pumpkin that appears to be on fire. They form a circle around it holding hands, save for the leader who is a stocky middle-aged bald man holding a book and the key, and whose name you know to be Nahum Caligaro. The stone draws your eye, and somehow you know it holds immense power. The vision is silent, but you can feel the rhythmic power of their chanting as if it were rippling though time. You see Myra enter suddenly, shouting words you can't hear, though as the vision plays out in slow motion her lips clearly mouth "Mog-Lathar commands you-". Nahum spares her a glance, but focussed on the ritual as he is he can't prevent her from scratching out a glowing sigil with her spider-leg sickle. As she retreats out of the room the cultists struggle to maintain the dangerous energies of the ritual that bubble and spiral out of control. Even in slow motion the explosion is near-instantaneous, spreading black and purple energy throughout the room, collapsing the floor and creating a rip in space near the stone. The stone is sucked through at once along with the cultists, and though Nahum drops the book and the key to grab onto a torn floorboard as his feet dangle horizontally toward the tear, he too eventually loses his grip and is sucked through, mouthing a silent "MYRA!". The book and key come to rest at the edge of the now empty room where you saw them picked up.
Flash again and you see yourself in an old temple, a beautifully aged glass mosaic of a butterfly spreads its wings between weather-beaten marble columns adorned with an astrological motif. An archway leads into a wooden room, and you can't shake the feeling that if you went through it you'd see yourself holding the key, surrounded by your friends, frozen in time. At the northern end of the temple is an altar, again surrounded by cultists holding hands and chanting as the black stone rises from a recently unearthed shaft dug into the ground. Both Nahum and Myra are among them.
Flash, Nahum is studying in a dusty library. He is poring over the pages of the same book you saw him with in his fateful ritual. Suddenly he gasps, and starts to laugh with excited glee. He looks around for someone to celebrate with, but is alone. Over his shoulder before the vision has time to fade, you can just read the text "resting place of the Dreamstone"
You awake from your vision knowing that the key is called the Clavis Somnus, and knowing its magical properties.
After a minute frozen holding the key, not even seeming to breathe, and looking especially doll-like, Huxwren sucks in a breath.
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Finding a clear space on the floor away from the opening into the lift shaft, Eldrin settles down cross legged with the items retrieved from the priestess arrayed before him.
Picking up the potions, he holds them up before him and softly speaks the words of a minor divination spell.
"These are healing potions, quite potent ones". He sets the vials aside and hauls the breastplate closer; struggling slightly to lift it.
After a few moments and another incantation he says "This has a lesser magical enhancement, similar to that of the armour some of you are already wearing". He slides the breastplate away and pulls the cloak into his lap.
"Ah, this cloak carries the same enchantment as my own. It will protect the wearer from various forms of danger". He folds the cloak neatly and sets it atop the breastplate. Finally picking up the headband, Eldrin carries out his normal examination.
Looking over at Grunyak he says "Hmm, this might be of use to you my friend, this headband will enhance your mind and give your prayers a bit extra potency". He lays it on the pile of items and reaches to his belt drawing a wand.
He places it on the ground in front of him, closes his eyes and reaches out his left hand to hover over the wand. He stays like that for some time. After a minute or two the wand begins to glow with a soft white light which steadily grows in brightness over the course of the next ten minutes. Small wisps of radiant white smoke seep from the wand and curl up to Eldrin's out stretched hand.
Once the wand returns to its usual quiescent state, he tucks it back into his belt and stands ready to proceed.
Huxwren blinks once, twice. "Why wouldn't I be fine after being squashed by a giant fossilized statue and chopped in half?" they answer slowly.
"But imagine, if you will, an old guy named Nahum doing some research in some old library. Crazy, I know, but stay with me. Now imagine he finds the location of some rock called a 'dreamstone' and gets really excited. Imagine he finds some friends to help him dig it up - and imagine if they dug it up right over there." They point at the doorway behind them before continuing.
"Anyway, imagine if our dead friend Myra was with this old guy Nahum when he dug up the stone with a bunch of friends. And then imagine if later Nahum and those friends were doing some ritual with the stone, but then Myra stormed in yelling about Mog-Lathar and drew some strange sigil and ruined the ritual before fleeing and Nahum and all his friends and the 'dreamstone' got pulled into somewhere. That would be weird, right?"
"But then imagine that this Nahum left some stuff behind when he got sucked into the void - a book and a key like this one." The halfling twirls the tool in question around their fingers absent-mindedly. "And what if our young friend Frell found them and gave them to our other friend Greeley, who then gave the key back to Myra? Wouldn't that be some sort of crazy coincidence?"
Standing, they dust themselves off and tuck the key into their pocket. "Anyway, who wants to see what's in that room now that the stuffy chanting people are gone?"
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"The coins here will cover about a fourth of the cost of the scroll. Probably better i just commune with the mighty creator tomorrow to have that divine power. He will answer. Plus that will give us time to think about the questions. The dead can sometimes be evasive with there answers."
"Never had an eye of values. This sceptre and the holy symbol could be priceless or worthless. I can't tell."
Grunyak looks confused as Hux explains about his key inspired vision. "Yes, imagine indeed..."
"Let me put on this cloak (if no one else objects), and I'll be ready to help in the next room." He looks around to see if anyone else cares for the cloak.
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Taariik looks at Hux with a confused look on his face.
“Ehh Hux ... I have no idea what you are talking about! I mean, I can open the door if that is what you wanted? But if this has anything to do with the key you just touched or some book or with these people that were trying to hurt us then I did not follow at all! So is this woman doing these bad things to the city or not? And did we do the right thing to attack all these poor people or not?“ he asks with some hope and guilt in his voice.
Following Huxwren's lead, you pass through the archway and find an old temple. Stone tiles tile the floor, and butterflys are worked in, particularly striking in a beautifully aged glass mosaic on the floor between marble columns, as well as stained glass to the west behind a wooden stage with an altar. Just behind the altar the boards of the stage seem to have been torn up. To the south, an archway opens to a room covered in a thick webbing, and to the east is a large set of double doors.
As you move to investigate, you all notice a strange breath of wind, as if someone had moved past you, but see no-one around. A fraction of a second later Grunyak notices something rather more concrete, the feel of getting hit in the face with something blunt!
Though nothing is visible, Grunyak can tell that something attacked from the west
Taariik
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Drusilla
Huxwren
Grunyak
Eldrin
Taariik conjures some shadowy copies, and Grunyak feels another pair of invisible slams.
These just slam into his plate though, making him ring like a struck bell.
Taariik
?
Drusilla
Huxwren
Grunyak
Eldrin
Taariik
Eldrin conjures another burst of glitter that explodes over the corner of the stage, and after it has dissipated you can see the outline of a strange flowing form, like a humanoid creature made of air currents.
It screeches in rage, but doesn't seem to blinded as Greeley was. Taariik then steps up to it and slams his sword into it. Despite apparently being made of air, the sword seems effective. It cuts off an arm which diffuses into nothingness, and though the creature almost instantly reforms another, it seems smaller than before.
Eldrin
Drusilla
Huxwren
Grunyak
Taariik
Invisible air-creature
Huxwren ducks behind Drusilla to approach the now-visible stalker from the other side. Dagger in hand, they too attempt to cut away part of the elemental.