Bella went to Wrin's shop to report their findings so far. "There's a surprising amount of activity in the old keep. There were a number of mitflits there; they have been driven out of their home in the subterranean levels below the keep, by something their leader described as 'mushroom-eyed people', which seem to be pale and gaunt, with gangly limbs and stringy hair. That was after the mitflit boss attacked us and we killed some of his minions! Then he begged for mercy and was more forthcoming with information."
After talking to Wrin, she headed over to the Dawnflower Library to see if Vandy knew anything about the levels under the keep, or recognized the description of the "mushroom-eyed people".
Wrin offers Bella a cup of coffee as she sits and listens to the report. ”Mitflits and mushroom-eyed people! Oh, my! I am glad you have been able to the dangers you have encountered so far. Did the boss know anything about the strange lights or what might be causing them?”
Bella accepted the coffee from Wrin and replied, "He didn't seem to know much; I think his tribe fled from the lower levels very recently. But maybe the mushroom-eyed people have something to do with it. The mitflit leader said their king can cast spells that make your head hurt.
"The boss had a dumb notion of his tribe attacking Otari, mounted on giant flys, but we convinced him that was a very bad idea!"
On the way back to Otari, Zetty downplays the risk the party would have taken by staying, calling it "Definitely worth it!" and generally bemoaning the chance that some of the more unusual creatures might be gone by the time the party gets back. By the time she's back in Otari though, the rest of the party's arguments have generally won her over. She joins Bella in heading to Wrin's shop.
As Bella relays the findings, Zetty adds "There was also something he said about a swamp dragon! Ever heard any stories like those Wrin? Seems like if there really was a dragon, someone would know about it." She scratches her nose with the back of her pen, inadvertently widening an earlier ink smudge "Oh, and supposedly a bunch of people went into the 'dragon''s lair and didn't come out. I wonder if any groups came to town recently and then disappeared..."
"Or maybe that mitflit was just spinning stories."
As usual, Grem is rather stoic about the whole ordeal, but adds some small details here and there when Bella or Zetty leave them out. "So far, we've only really managed to talk to this so-called-king before a fight broke out, but he seemed like he wanted nothing to do with the lighthouse. So, I suspect that we will have to keep digging into this mystery of yours." He gives the elven woman a friendly, if perhaps slightly sarcastic, smile.
Once they've done giving their report, Grem goes out to his usual clearing to put in his daily practice, though he takes it easy for a change, having spent the morning fighting, and still recovering from some of the wounds.
After talking with Wrin, Bella tended to Grem's wounds again. However, they were proving troublesome.
"A swamp dragon? I would think that if an actual dragon were lairing somewhere near town, we would know about it!" Wrin declares. "But it is possible a lesser draconic creature may be lurking in the ruins. A drake, perhaps. You'd better keep your eyes peeled!"
Seeing Bella struggle to patch up Grem's injuries, the tiefling murmurs a spell. Her fingertips sparkle with light as her magic takes effect.
"There you are, right as rain. Take some rest while you can. You can visit me tonight for another star reading. And you may want to consider going back to the ruins of Gauntlight tonight. Since the glow seems brighter then, you may be able to learn more clues than you did in the daytime!"
***
After meeting with Wrin, Bella heads to the Dawnflower Library. Otari’s largest temple stands at the town’s westernmost edge, atop an upraised shelf that juts out far below the clifftop. The library is constructed in the Qadiran style of Sarenite temples, with two smaller minarets flanking a golden dome. The building’s position allows it to catch the rays of the rising sun, which transforms the dome into a brilliantly glowing testament to the sun goddess—at least, on days that aren’t fogged in or overcast.
A dozen acolytes of various faiths attend to Dawnflower Library. Shrines to Cayden Cailean, Erastil, and Gozreh can be found in the western portion of the building, while the primary shrine to Sarenrae takes up the eastern portion. The rest of the building contains the stacks. Dawnflower Library has a wide range of books ranging from fiction to history, satire to textbook, and even includes a sizable collection of (mostly) tasteful erotica.
Bella finds the Library's high priestess, the halfling Vandy Banderdash. She smiles warmly at the rogue. "Bella! Good to see you, as always. Read any good books lately?"
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Vengis groans as Wrin mentions going back to the Gauntlight--at night!
"Are you confident the ghosts haven't been dispelled?" he asks. "The others passed over this, for the most part, but we did encounter some kobold ghosts that we dispelled. Couldn't that have been what caused the disturbance? Perhaps you should do your reading again--maybe it's done with."
When the others have departed, he reluctantly asks Wrin about selling his trinkets and oddities he had acquired as trophies over the years.
"I know it's only been a day, but how much time do you think you need to sell my collection? I'm happy to help you with this--situation. But perhaps you could let me know when I should check back with you."
Wrin gives Vengis a dubious smile. ”I will look to Gauntlight again tonight, but I get the feeling there is more at play here than a few kobold ghosts. In the meantime, I will get to work selling your curios, my friend. I am certain I will be able to find buyers within a day or two!”
"Hi Vandy!", Bella greeted the High Priestess cheerfully. "A bunch of us were over at the Gauntlight ruins this morning. I was wondering if one of your books might have information about the vaults that lie below the keep?
"We met a mitflit who said there are extensive passages and chambers down there. His tribe used to live there, until a bunch of creatures drove them out a few days ago. He called them 'mushroom-eyed people'; he described them as pale, gaunt humanoids with gangly limbs and stringy hair. Have you come across tales of such creatures?"
When asked what prompted this trip to investigate the ruins, she explained, "Wrin Sivinxi says she's been seeing lights in the old lighthouse. She thinks it could be something sinister."
”Hmm... I think I’ve seen something like that before.” Vandy searches through the stacks for a few minutes before producing a book entitled Into the Darklands by a Pathfinder named Koriah Azmeren. She flips through the pages before settling on an illustration.
”Here it is. This could be your mushroom-eyed person. It’s called a morlock.
“I don’t have any books about the keep itself, unfortunately. Not sure what those lights might signify, but I doubt it’s anything good!”
Bella studied the pages of the Pathfinder's account, "What does it say about the morlocks? If they're involved in something evil, we might have to fight them."
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Wrin gives Vengis a dubious smile. ”I will look to Gauntlight again tonight, but I get the feeling there is more at play here than a few kobold ghosts. In the meantime, I will get to work selling your curios, my friend. I am certain I will be able to find buyers within a day or two!”
Vengis nods. "Again, your help is much appreciated. I am willing to wait longer to find a buyer that will pay more. This is no fire sale," he adds.
Though, perhaps, if this Gauntlight thing continues to yield treasure, I may be able to save some of my more treasured items from being sold. Let's see how things turn out tonight--if we keep finding valuables, perhaps we will alter the agreement. My companions seem competent enough, though certainly overzealous.
Vandy reads from the book. ”’Originating from humans long lost from the world of light, morlocks are brutal monsters that dwell in the tangled tunnels of the upper reaches of the Darklands. Their wiry frames mask the strength of their limbs and their swift reactions, and their arms are long enough that they can drop into an uncanny, four-limbed shuffle for speed or stealth. They no longer remember the lives their ancestors led on the surface, although many morlocks still dwell in the shattered ruins of their ancient homes.’”
Bella thanked Vandy and went to find Zetty, "There's a book at the Dawnflower Library that you should have a look at. It's called Into the Darklands; it has an illustration of a morlock, which might be Boss Skrawng's 'mushroom-eyed people'. The book is by a Pathfinder called Koriah Azmeren, so there's going to be some first-hand information in there."
While Bella heads off to talk to Vandy, Zetty spends a few hours canvassing the town's taverns for leads. She's interested in finding out if a small group - likely treasure hunters or adventurers with a boat - had been around town about a week ago and then disappeared and didn't come back.
When she crosses paths with Bella once more, she says "Lucky! If morlocks are from the darklands, then maybe we'll see other things from the darklands down in the basement. I wonder if Vandy'd let us borrow it? Might be helpful to have it on hand for reference." She thinks about what else she knows of morlocks, and then stops by at the Dawnflower Library to see if she can borrow the book.
Eyenia shakes her head sadly at the mention of the morlocks, ”Poor souls, lead astray from the sky’s grace and warped by the darkness.”
Zetty’s asking around leads her to Crook’s Nook. Crook’s Nook serves several purposes: it’s a public bridge over the Osprey River, a tavern known for serving the best seafood in town, and a cheap place to stay for the night. Its attic serves as the guildhall for Otari’s thieves’ guild, the Osprey Club—a function that’s perhaps the town’s worst-kept secret, as evidenced by the edifice’s very name.
The owner of Crook’s Nook is a lanky woman named Yinyasmera. While she’s never run for mayor, her influence in town remains as strong as that of any publicly elected official thanks to her position in the Osprey Club.
Yinyasmera admits that four of her “employees” went missing several days ago after taking a boat into the Fogfens. She promises a 50 gp reward if you can find out what happened to them.
***
Vandy is happy to loan you the book for a few days, provided you promise to return it undamaged!
Zetty thanks Yinyasmera for the tip and openly says "We'll be checking the whole place out, so you can expect us back here to pick up that reward! Even if it means we have to kill a swamp drake to do so." Zetty's vaguely aware that drakes are very dangerous creatures, but her confidence in Grem and Bella after seeing them fight is rather blind.
She promises Vandy to take care of the book, just saying "You're the best Vandy. See you soon!"
You take a day off to allow Wrin the chance to transfer the rune from the morningstar onto Grem's handwraps. The next evening, the tiefling performs a star reading for you before sending you on your way.
You return to the ruins of Gauntlight. Now that it is dark, you can look up and see a faint hint of a blue glow around the top of the lighthouse above you.
You enter the keep and head to the doors marked with the symbol of Nhimbaloth to see what lies beyond them. The air in this large chapel feels colder and damper than elsewhere in the ruins. Condensed beads on the walls run in rivulets across the countless skulls carved into the stone. A moldering human corpse lies slumped against a wall, his hands wedged into a crack as if he died trying to pry a brick loose. A secret door is slightly ajar beside the corpse.
The corpse has several items of value, including a +1 rapier, four daggers, a silver ring worth 5 gp, a minor healing potion, and a lesser darkvision elixir.
Three short flights of steps lead upward to a wider chamber to the north, where a semicircular dais supports an altar of white stone. Beyond the altar loom four stained-glass windows, each twenty feet tall and depicting four haunting scenes of ghosts rising from overgrown graveyards toward a four-pointed orange star above.
Bella worked her shift at the mill, and then told the foreman that she needed to take a few days off. The Guantlight ruins seemed to be much more extensive than she had first thought. She knew this could cost her her job, but she couldn't turn aside from a chance for adventure.
When they reached the ruins that evening, she lit her lantern, holding it aloft to provide some illumination in the forbidding, dark ancient keep. She led the party though the doors with the strange symbol and spotted the corpse by an open secret door. She carefully picked up the rapier and tested its balance; the blade seemed to be of excellent quality. "Does anyone mind if I use this for a while? And can someone carry my old sword for now?"
She advanced cautiously towards the alter, searching for traps on the steps. When she was close enough for her lantern to properly illuminate the details on the stain-class windows. She stopped and tried to identify significance of the chilling images.
As Bella approaches the altar, she can see a pair of mossy skeletons sprawled along the eastern edge of the northern chamber. As she watches, the skeletons stand, emitting a sickly blue light from their empty eye sockets!
The skeletons shamble towards the rogue before she can react, clawing at her! She manages to nimbly dodge the first undead, but the second one rakes its nails across her chest!
Gaah! Undead!", Bella cried. She stabbed twice with the rapier, then retreated down the steps back to her companions.
Grem experiments with the new wraps as they traverse the halls of the light house once more, making sure that they won't come loose. He offers to hold Bella's sword secure for her while she uses the new rapier.
At the mention of undead, Grem rushes forward to deal with the threat, happy to test out his new magical aid.
◆ Stride
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Flurry of Blows
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When the group finds the skeleton with more valuables, Vengis begins to get excited.
Perhaps I will save my collection, rather than sell it. If we can continue to find free coin, perhaps this could prove a profitable endeavor.
Once the skeletons attack, Vengis maintains his position at the back, hurling a stone toward any still standing after Grem's assault.
Zetty alternates between rampant artistic enthusiasm and trepidation as the group enters the chapel. "Creepy!" is all the analysis she offers before the skeletons stir. "Oh, its just skeletons. We can deal with these no problem!"
She offers her encouragement and then telekinetically raises and tosses a nearby rock at the skeleton still standing after Grem's assault.
Eyenia casts a blast of holy light at the most injured skeleton.
While Bella and Vengis miss, Grem pummels one of the skeletons, then Zetty shatters it with a hurled projectile. As it falls, a cold, blue glowing sphere of spongy wetness emerges from the broken body. It is shaped vaguely like a skull, and it lets out a strained shriek!
Before the spirit can do anything else, though, Eyenia blasts it with holy light, destroying it!
The second skeleton echoes the shriek, emitting a sickly blue beam of light from its mouth and eyes!
Success: The creature takes 1d6 negative damage.
Failure: The creature takes 2d6 negative damage and is frightened 1.
Critical Failure: The creature takes 4d6 negative damage and is frightened 3.
Grem tries to power through the painful sound, but it overcomes his senses somewhat. Regardless, he continues his assault on the strange undead creature.
◆ Flurry of Blows
His face gets red with embarrassment and anger. "Let's see if you like it!" The dwarf seems to suddenly explode with a burst of actual fire erupting from his body like some kind of living volcano.
Struck by fear but enduring the attack through sheer curiosity about the strange blue spheres within the skeletons, Zetty calls out "Hold on, when the next one pops out, just hold it still for a bit so I can see it!" She focuses on her magic on bludgeoning the skeletal casing first.
Bella winced as the foul energy washed over her. She climbed back up the stairs and circled around behind the remaining skeleton, trying to destroy it.
Weathering the blast of deadly light, you retaliate against the skeleton. Zetty inspires the group as she smashes it with a rock, then Bella stabs it with her blade. Grem pummels it once and unleashes fire upon the weakened undead. As before, the ghostly spirit animating the corpse emerges as the skeleton falls, and as before, Eyenia dispatches it with a beam of holy energy!
With the threats dispatched, you are able to search the room. The skeletons have little remaining that hasn’t rotted or rusted away to uselessness with two exceptions: one of them has a gold tooth worth 4 gp, while the other still wears a channel protection amulet around its bony neck.
Bella discovers a secret panel on the altar's northern side, which has a shallow nook that contains a scroll of restore senses and a 1st-level wand of heal.
After alerting the others to the secret panel Bella said, "We'll need to stop here while I heal the damage from that battle. A few of us are suffering significant wounds."
She took out her healers tools, and started bandaging up her own wounds, followed by those of Zetty and Grem. She spent extra time on Zetty's injuries, which seamed the most severe.
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With the others taking time to heal, Vengis looks around. He examines the alter, wondering if it might reveal any secrets beyond the secret panel.
As they find more valuables, his eyes linger on the gold they have found.
Perhaps this venture will serve me, after all. This place, though its guardians are fierce, holds unclaimed wealth. Perhaps I will claim it.
"Well, the prediction we would find ghosts is more like prophecy. May the Light guide our path," he says wryly.
"আপনি কি মনে করেন যে এই জায়গাটির কোনও বিজ্ঞাপন রয়েছে?"
Eyenia studies the altar too, hoping to understand more about it.
Based on Zetty's previous knowledge, you can surmise the altar is dedicated to the Outer God Nhimbaloth. Beyond that, there is no other indication as to what sort of rites were practiced here.
Zetty closes her eyes as the fight concludes, trying to fix in her mind the exact appearance of the wispy blue lights. "Didn't they look a little like will'o'wisps?" She ponders out loud, disregarding the blood leaking out of her nose. When Bella offers to heal her however, she nods "Thanks Bella. Those things were pretty dangerous."
"Not sure if those were definitely ghosts Vengis. There's some air-aspected creatures that look kinda ghostly." She taps her pen against her nose "I guess Eyenia's holy magic worked against them though, so that does make them seem ghost-ish."
Once everyone is patched up she suggests "So, maybe we should take a look at that secret door the previous adventurer died at. Careful about any traps though!" Following her own advice, she inspects the area around the adventurer and secret door to spot anything that might've killed the hapless fellow.
Zetty thinks the creatures were most likely related to Will-o-wisps, though she can’t recall specific details about this kind of wisp.
There doesn’t seem to be any traps around the door. The man’s corpse is too decayed to tell what might have killed him.
Bella didn't want to hold everyone else up by healing the last of her wounds, so she opened the secret door all the way and explored beyond.
This triangular room might have once seemed comfortable, but after years of rain and exposure to the elements through the two arrow slits in the northwestern wall, the room’s divan, armoire, and tapestries have fallen to decay.
A rusted ring of keys sits under the divan. Rust has ruined six of its iron keys, but two bronze keys remain usable: one is decorated with a lighthouse and the other is decorated with a book.
The ceiling of the room to the south collapsed in the southwest corner. The walls bear several shelves, but the books and papers once kept here have rotted to ruin long ago, as have the desk and chair in an alcove to the northeast.
Searching the room locates a secret door in the east wall, where a rotating shelf functions as the door’s handle. Beyond, a flight of stairs leads down.
You also find a hidden drawer that has fallen partially open, revealing a few still-potent alchemical elixirs: a lesser comprehension elixir, a minor elixir of life, and a lesser skeptic’s elixir.
Once again, Grem thanks the skilled halfling woman for the medical care, but is quiet while the others examine the altar room. "I know little about this 'Nhimbaloth', but this whole place strikes me a wrong in a way that I can not explain." He leaves his comment at that and makes his way into the next room with the others.
After looking around what seems like a bedroom or small study, Grem pipes up again, "It seems that we are nearing the point when we either have to choose between the lighthouse, or the shadowy places underneath."
Bella said to Grem, "I'll have to ask Vandy about Nhimbaloth. Someone has set up this chapel, so we have to assume that the faith could still have an active presence here." She didn't know much about Nhimbaloth, but she guessed that it was a malign entity.
When the dwarf brought up the choices for their direction of exploration she replied, "Yes, we seem to have investigated the ground level fairly thoroughly. Wrin asked us to investigate lights in the lighthouse, so I'm inclined to go there. What does everyone else think?"
"Its so run down, I can't imagine anyone's still worshiping here. If they are, they're doing a bad job of showing their respect. Or maybe this is how its supposed to look?" Zetty shrugs. "They definitely didn't do anything good to this library, at least." She takes some time to look around the shelves and their piles of rotted paper products.
"So, we've probably got some keys to the lighthouse itself. I think that's a sign we should go there next. Maybe we'll even see the source of the mystery lights! If we don't though, there were some buildings behind the fort. Maybe we can see what's hiding there?"
Zetty spins the ring of keys until she has the one with the book and tries it on the southern door, checking if its for this room, or another library somewhere else.
The key does not fit in this door, which is already unlocked.
You head back to the keep's main room and to the door that leads into the lighthouse. The door is stuck shut, but with enough heavy shoves, you are able to open it, causing it to fall to sodden pieces.
The smooth walls of this circular room are painted a light gray with no indication of seams between blocks of stone. A set of iron stairs winds upward along the curved walls before terminating at a trap door in the ceiling nearly a hundred feet above. A red bloodstain glistens on the floor at the room’s center, as though a human-sized creature bled to death on the floor very recently, despite there being no body in sight.
Zetty stows the keys when they don't turn out to be helpful "Hmm, that means these keys are for somewhere else! I wonder..." She follows after the rest of group as they push into the lighthouse.
She pauses at the sight of the bloodstain. "Little weird." She examines the stain magically first and then ponders the nature of the bloodstain. Given the supposed haunting in the area, she tries to think about whether this is some kind of ghostly manifestation.
There are no magic auras nearby. However, as you enter the room, a ghastly image of a woman, seemingly composed of fresh blood, rises from the bloodstain on the floor and rotates in place like a lighthouse. Beams of cold blue light shine from her eyes and open mouth, causing blisters and decay to spread across flesh!
Success: The creature takes 1d8 negative damage.
Failure: The creature takes 1d8+6 negative damage and is dazzled for 1 round.
Critical Failure The creature takes 2d8+6 negative damageand is blinded for 1 round then dazzled for 1 round.
Grem doesn't let much more than a gasp of air escape his mouth as the light burns his skin, and he forces his way into the room to punch the ghost woman.
◆ Stride
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Flurry of Blows
Bella was overcome by the necrotic energy and collapsed.