Bella thought there was something a bit odd about the 'wispy-ghost'. None of the undead they had met so far had spoken to them, and certainly not in this manner! She looked around for the source of the voice, and tried to figure out if the floating light was the result of a spell. "Oh, you ARE scary, Mr. Spookywisp. What are you doing out here on this island?"
"There is a shiny in the next room! I want the shiny! But there is a mean, blank-faced doll who will try to stop me from getting the shiny. Bring me the shiny, and I will tell you three secrets!"
The light appears to be the result of a simple dancing lights cantrip...
Grem looks at the light with some doubt, but doesn't know much about these things. "This... shiny. Can you be more specific? What does it look like?"
”You’ll know it when you see it!” the voice says with a hint of frustration.
”I told you, I am Spookywisp! OoOooOooOOh!” The light flies in circles around the room.
Picking up on his companions' concerns, Grem starts to look around the room to see if he can find any hidden creatures controlling the light.
Grem spots a small humanoid creature crouched under a table in the room. He is 2 feet tall and wears a skirt made of grass and leaves. With big black eyes and exaggerated features, the creature appears rather comical.
Bella replied to the voice, "Hmmm, sounds dangerous! What sort of secrets are we talking about?"
Grem squats down an peers at the strange little creature under the table. "Hello there," he rumbles. "Why don't you come on out of there and talk to us."
”Ack!” the creature startles. The dancing light disappears and he crawls out from under the table. ”Okay, you finded me! I am not a wispy-ghost, but I still want the shiny! I want, want, want! So get it for me and I will tell you the secrets that I read in the books here!”
A cold fishcake stuck in her mouth, Zetty approaches "Spookywisp's" room quite a bit later than the rest of the team, just in time to see the creature come out from under the table. She stows her inkpen, takes the fishcake in the now free hand, and gives an energetic greeting "Nice to meet you Spookywisp! Wasn't expecting to see anyone out here that didn't want to kill us. You do not want to kill us, right?"
She peers at the creature, trying to recall if she knows what it might be. "Some secrets for a shiny? Well, for it to be a fair trade, those secrets are going to have to be something really special, you know. Considering how wonderful you're making this shiny out to be."
She waves the fishcake animatedly "How about... we go get your shiny, then if your secrets are good, we'll give it to you? If they're not, we'll keep it?" She takes a bite.
Bella introduced herself to the creature, "Hi, I'm Bella. You say there's a mean doll in the other room? I'll go and take look for your shiny, but I don't want to kill someone for it." She wondered if the doll might be some kind of construct.
Zetty recognizes the creature as a fey known as a brownie. When facing danger, brownies rarely engage in combat, preferring instead to confound and confuse their attackers in order to buy enough time for escape. Content with honest toil and the love of their kin, brownies maintain a pacifist nature, harassing creatures only to run them off or punish them for an insult.
"Spookywisp is not my name. Call me Tangletop!" the brownie says to the gnome. "I do not want to kill you, I only want the shiny." He turns to Bella. "You do not need to kill the doll, but I don't care if you do! Just get me my shiny and I'll tell you the secrets! They are good ones, I promise!"
Bella said to Tangletop, "Point me to which room has the shiny. I'll see what I can do." Once she got precise directions, she sneaked forward to try to spot the bauble, while hopefully remaining hidden.
Tangletop points to the western doors. "Through there and down the hall!"
A series of four tall paintings hang on the northwestern wall of the hallway past the doors, although layers of mold and decay have severely damaged them.
The first portrait depicts the city of Absalom in flames with ghosts rising from its streets. It bears a bronze plaque that reads, “So Shall the Fools Suffer.”
The second portrait depicts Gauntlight Keep as it appeared before its upper floors collapsed, and its lighthouse emitting a pale blue light in which ghostly faces sneer and grimace. Its bronze plaque reads, “Let the Light Shine Forever.”
The third portrait is now shredded and unrecognizable, but its plaque reads, “The Artist at Work.”
The fourth and final portrait depicts a smirking woman dressed in a long, green gown—an image of Belcorra herself. Its plaque reads, “The Lady of the Light.” Something has been scratched in Aklo into the stone next to this last painting.
Bella makes her way down the hall and quietly pushes open the doors at the end, peeking into the room beyond. This once elegant workshop has fallen into shambles. Soggy strings of dripping moss hang through cracks in the wooden domed roof above. Below it, a carpet of broken glass glitters dangerously. Workbenches and shelves, armatures and displays—all formerly used in crafting or repairing immense lenses for a lighthouse—lie in ruins. Only a bejeweled spyglass sitting on a display rack near the southern wall has survived the devastation.
An odd-looking doll with a raven's head and wings sits in the center of the room. It doesn't seem to have noticed Bella.
Bella retreated to her comrades and told them what she was going to do, "I'm going to try to pick my way through the broken glass, grab the spyglass, and get back out. Wish me luck!"
She wrapped her bare feet in some cloth for some protection, and returned to the door. She opened it a crack, and prepared herself. After she had mentally picked out a route across the floor, she committed herself, opening the door and navigating through the broken glass as quickly as she could. Trying to avoid the raven doll, she snatched up the spyglass.
As Bella crosses the room, the doll stands up and asks in a warbling voice, “Is Master Azrinae coming back?” But when she takes the spyglass, it squawks and leaps into the air on flapping wings!
"I'll find out for you!", Bella answered the raven, snatching up the spyglass. She quickly retraced her steps back out of the room, dancing around the angry guardian!
"Come back here!" the doll squawks. It clumsily flaps through the air in pursuit of Bella, but it is not quite as fast as her.
Bella ran out the door and slammed it shut! She didn't want to have to fight the animated doll. "I wouldn't go in there," she warned her friends. "There's an angry bird!"
Eyenia reads the scratching in the stone with concern, "Something still serves Belcorra, and was here at one point. An ill omen, even more so given the tongue it writes in."
She shoots Bella a puzzled look, "I thought that Tangletop said it was a doll?"
"Doll-bird then?" Zetty looks up from her just-started rendition of the four portraits. "Did you see any other ways out from that room Bella? Maybe it'll go around if it can't go through."
If it looks like the Doll-bird is trying to break through the door and making some progress, she says "Hey, stuff that spyglass in your bag Bella. I've got an idea on how to confuse it." She starts drawing a detailed depiction of the spyglass in Bella's hand.
Grem follows along as Bella heads down the hall to find the 'shiney' that Tangletop wants so badly. Trusting in the halfling woman to do what is needed, he stands near the doorway, ready to help if needed. Seems that she is much faster than she looks as she is back in a flash, something in her hands, and slamming the door behind her.
"Successful, were you?" he asks, a bit of a stunned look on his face. "What exactly was that?"
Bella stopped outside the door, panting from the exertion. "It's a jeweled spyglass!:, Bella told Grem, holding it up for him to see, before hiding it again as Zetty asked.
"There was a door on the far side side. I don't think it's open."
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Vengis smiles as Bella retrieves the jeweled spy glass. "A good find! Well done! Perhaps we will put your skills to use in the future--I mean when we're done here. I occasionally find myself in need of someone with your skill set."
When Bella describes the bird-doll, he says "That is something we should avoid, if possible. Perhaps we should try these other doors we bypassed. At least, after we get the secrets from that--creature. Assuming it's worth the trade. That looks valuable."
Nalfeshnee stares at Bella with his one bulging eye.
The doll pounds on the closed door, but it is unable to open it. Once Zetty is ready, you crack the door open and she uses her magic to create an illusory copy of the spyglass. The illusion seems to placate the doll, at least temporarily, and it returns to its previous spot on the pile of debris.
Tangletop is overjoyed when you give him the real spyglass. "My shiny! Mine, mine, mine! Thank you! Now I will share the secrets!
"First, this building used to belong to someone named Volluk Azrinae. Second, Volluk was an apprentice to someone else named Belcorra, and even though this Volluk seemed mean and dangerous, Belcorra seemed much worse! Finally, the spooky magic lighthouse can do more than just shine an eerie light; it can also shoot a beam full of ghosts! Spooky!"
"The raven construct asked whether Master Azrinae is coming back," Bella related. "I presume that Volluk is long dead?
"We've seen first hand what the light can do: cause the dead to rise up out of their graves, and also conjure or summon aberrations! I don't suppose you've know anything about how to shut it down?
"Do you know why the light started shining again. Did anyone else visit the ruins in the last few weeks?"
Once she had finished talking to Tangletop, Bella checked the remaining two doors in the outbuilding.
Tangletop has no further insights to offer. He busies himself admiring his new shiny!
Shelves laden with tools, lumber, and planks line the walls of the 10-foot-square room beyond the first door. Searching this room uncovers a large silver key worth 10 gp.
Beyond the second door is a staircase going down. Moss and fungus coats these stairs. From the state of the growth, clearly no one has gone this way for a long time.
"Another way down." Grem muses. "Seems that we have a choice to make. Through the lighthouse, under the docks, or here in this outbuilding."
"I already told you, I read them in the books here," Tangletop says, gesturing to the room around him.
Zetty busies herself with finishing her renditions of the paintings in the hall, but comments "So if Volluk left that message under the painting, he survived after Belcorra got offed! Still, that was a long time ago, it's be really darn weird if he was somehow still alive. More likely, he's a ghost." She looks up from her work "I'd put a gold piece on it if anyone wants to take me up on the bet."
"I kinda want to see that dragon. Lets go for under the docks!" Heedless of the danger, Zetty puts a finishing touch on her renditions and turns the page over.
Bella said to Zetty, "Alright, we can explore the flooded cavern. I'm interested to see how you're going to keep your drawing paper dry!"
Chapter 2: The Forgotten Dungeon
You climb down into the cave beneath the boathouse, swimming through the deep water. Tangles of roots hang from the low ceiling of this flooded cavern, the roof of which is a mere three feet above the murky water. Muted sunlight filters in from outside, but the room is still only dimly illuminated.
As you proceed deeper into the cavern, the water stirs in front of you as a large, reptilian creature emerges! The beast has glistening scales and sleek, finlike wings. It lets out a shriek as it prepares to attack!
With her writing slate and inkpen securely stowed in an oiled pouch in her pack, Zetty is woefully unprepared for the drake to pop out while the group is still swimming. She puts getting to a safe and dry-ish position as her highest priority and decides to risk swimming past the drake to get to dry land.
As Zetty climbs onto the shore, she can see a few ruined rowboats lie in heaps on the floor of this cavern, strewn next to tangled coils of rope. Remnants of a pulley system hang from the ceiling. Several swaths of disturbed earth litter the muddy floor, tracks left behind by the movements of the drake!
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Not able to fight in his usual manner, Grem swims up to the drake and attempts to keep it from attacking his companions.
◆ Swim (5 ft.; Provokes)
"Get to the shore!" he belows to that others.
Eyenia sloshes along behind Zetty, not quite making it to shore.
Grem gets the drake in a headlock and tries to punch it, but it reacts by lashing him across the face with its tail! Undeterred, the dwarf returns the favor, delivering a crushing blow to the back of its head!
As Zetty and Eyenia splash past, the drake twists its neck around to bite at Grem. Its fangs sink deep into the monk’s body, and he falls back into the water!
Bella knew she had to act quickly, of Grem would drown! She quickly healed his wounds, then drew her rapier and swam forward.
Eyenia is able to get fully onto land before she turns around and sees the bad situation Grem's ended up in. She takes a deep breath and shoots a beam of soft, pale light at the dwarf monk, healing his wounds when it hits him.
With Grem rapidly getting brought back from the brink, Zetty slides her writing slate out of her pack and taps her inkpen to get some ink flowing. With a couple rapid strokes, she outlines the sweep of the drake. "It probably doesn't have that same kind of energy in it for a second round. We've got this!" As she offers encouragement to the group, she also thinks about what she might know about this particular type of creature.
Sputtering swamp water out of his mouth as he regains consciousness, Grem lashes out at the drake, focusing his Ki into his attacks to make them stronger, letting out a gravelly yell.
◆ Ki Strike (Flurry of Blows)
Zetty recalls that river drakes are actually distant relatives of the black dragon. They resist acid and can spit caustic mucus at their prey.
The drake shrieks as Vengis's magic missiles batter it. It lashes Grem once more with its tail before the dwarf lands a final blow to its jaw, breaking bone and putting the dangerous dragon down for the count!
Once the fight is over, you take some time to search the cave. Amid a tangle of roots in the southwestern cul-de-sac, you discover a chest containing 36 gp, a retribution axe, a wand of magic missile (1st), and a wayfinder.
"If that's just a drake, I sure wouldn't want to fight a real dragon!", Bella declared. She took out her healer's tools and patched up the battered dwarf once more. "This is gonna take a while."