This large open area is a filthy mess, even beyond the collapse to the south that clogs part of the room with rubble. Half-eaten fish, cat-sized beetles, and bits of waterfowl lie strewn about in a tangle amid gnawed bones of larger creatures.
Four morlock scavengers are present here, fiddling with a partially ruined ballista. The morlocks snarl and hiss when they see you!
"Well," Wan says, brandishing the new, shiny warhammer, "here are FOUR reasons that our Osprey Club member was bludgeoned to death!"
Wan races forward, knocks the elbows of Proto's suit together, and with a blast of fire, takes off into the air, leaping high over the shocked appearing morlocks! He lands with a less-than-reassuring clunk to the left of one of the lead creatures, swinging down with the warhammer.
"The path is clear, marauders of mine!" the tengu squawks with bravado.
"Cover your eyes Wan!" Zin cups his hands together and releases a very brief flash of bright starlight into the mass of morlocks. "Could have been them or could have been that worm."
Zin nearly begins to float off the floor as his steps become so light.
AC 17 ; Curse Stage: Moderate
HP 22/22 | Resistance Physical 3; Harm 5
Hero Points 2/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 1/3 |
Wand of Heal (1st) 0/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 3
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate - (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Mazul grabs her rapier and rushes towards the new enemies. "Thanks Wan!"
She's a little too far away to get behind the morlock Wan is distracting, so she settles for stabbing at its side. She can shift position later, after she sees what the enemies do.
Wan closes his eyes behind the Proto mask at Zin’s command.
In contrast to Mazul’s rush forward, Akkaboo slowly inches closer to the fray. ”Don’t them gang up on you!” she yells as sparks dance between her fingers.
One of the morlocks completely avoids Zin's spray of stars, but the others are scorched and dazzled. Akkaboo zaps the two lead foes with lightning as Wan leaps into the fray. While the tengu misses with his attack, Mazul moves in to stab the most wounded of the enemies.
The morlocks shriek and scuttle about. One steps up to Zin and attacks him with its dagger while the others circle about to flank Wan and Mazul.
”Don’t them gang up on you!”
"Dearest Akkaboo," Wan replies with a grimace as he gets stabbed, "your timing needs some calibration, my sweet. Mazul, I await your actions, but rest assured I shan't provide you an enduring flank for long!"
Akkaboo nods in acknowledgement, waits a moment, clears her throat, and yells again, ”Don’t let them gang up on you!”
"Thanks again Wan, you're so sweet." Mazul practically purrs as she steps behind one of the morlocks. She looks at it for a second, then says, "You know, I think you're the one that just stabbed me. Mind if I return the favor?"
Zin quickly slashes out with his curved blade before tactically retreating. "They are everywhere!"
AC 17 ; Curse Stage: Moderate
HP 20/22 | Resistance Physical 3; Harm 5
Hero Points 2/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 1/3 |
Wand of Heal (1st) 0/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 3
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate - (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Toska scampers past Zin to begin hacking the Morlock attacking him.
◆ Stride
◆
◆
Toska scores a glancing blow on one of the morlocks. Zin's attacks come up short. Akkaboo is unable to recall anything else useful about morlocks that she doesn't already know. She zaps two of them with electricity. Mazul and Wan take down the morlock they are flanking, then Wan slices the other morlock attacking him and moves around it.
Snarling and hissing, the three remaining morlocks attack Mazul, Wan, and Toska. Luckily, Toska is the only one who takes a hit.
”We have this one in the bag!” Wan calls out with needless bravado, swinging down with his new warhammer in rapid succession!
Maybe now? Akkaboo thinks, distracted from trying to remember if she'd seen pictures of naked white human-creatures in any of the bookseller's books by all the yelling and the nagging thought that Wan wanted her to work on her timing.
”Don’t let them gang up on you!”
Mazul moves towards the morlock attacking Wan, taking advantage of its exposed back. She does take a second to throw a quick glance over her shoulder. "Akkaboo, it's okay, Wan was just being Wan. You don't need to keep telling us about them ganging up on us; just keep hitting them with that electricity thing." She gives an encouraging smile while she stabs the morlock in the back.
Zin quickly moves in ,sashing his blade at the morlock as a small orb of light hovers in front of him offering meager protection.
AC 17 (18 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Moderate (-2 AC)
HP 20/22 | Resistance Physical 3; Harm 5
Hero Points 2/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 1/3 |
Wand of Heal (1st) 0/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 3
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate - (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Toska lands another glancing strike on the morlock in front of him, then Akkaboo finishes it off with lightning, zapping another morlock as well. Zin moves up and slices that second morlock, then as Mazul takes out the one attacking Wan, the tengu moves in to deliver the finishing blow to the final morlock!
"They were quick, I hope that was all of them. The Chief didn't happen to mention how many drove them out from down here." Zin flips the morlocks over to examine what they are carrying.
Wan peers about the room.
The morlocks only have daggers on them. There doesn't seem to be much here for Wan to investigate.
"Nasty little things." Mazul helps Wan search the bodies, sighing in disappointment when they don't find anything valuable. "Unfortunately I doubt that was all of them. All the mites together could have probably taken these four down, particularly if their pet maggot got involved. I doubt they would have abandoned their home unless they were overwhelmingly outnumbered."
"I'd say we circle back around and check out that secret door we found earlier. Secret doors usually have good stuff behind them. We can decide whether to go east or west from there."
”I’ll just need a moment, darling,” Wan says, popping Proto’s helm. The tengu gets out a small tool and begins tinkering inside Proto’s innards.
The plain, circular room beyond the secret door is empty. A single image of a moss‐caked skull adorns the eastern wall.
Akkaboo detects magical auras here. The skull seems to be the trigger for a magical elevator! If pressed while the secret door is closed, it should take you down to a lower level of the dungeon.
"Oh my," Wan sighs. "Further levels lower, eh? Maybe we sort out the murderous entities on this level before we go deeper?"
The Proto-suit seems to be running smoother, or at least, not chugging out puffs of smoke anymore.
”I’ll just need a moment, darling,” Wan says, popping Proto’s helm. The tengu gets out a small tool and begins tinkering inside Proto’s innards.
Wan takes another ten minutes to tend to himself with his healing tools.
Wan sighs. "Or at least, until I can be healed a bit. Can a bird get some help?"
Mister Legs wriggles happily from his perch atop Akkaboo’s head as the pair investigate the skull-button. ”Imagine if this was still downstairs...” she says distractedly. ”Do you think the door would be locked, or we we just have a big pit?”
"I suppose an elevator could be considered good stuff. My calves would appreciate fewer stairs in this place." Mazul examines the skull image with a raised eyebrow. "I wonder who designed this? 'You know, I don't feel like my Evil Dungeon of Evilness is obviously evil enough. Let's make the elevator button in the shape of a skull!' If I ever make an evil lair, I'm decorating it with flowers and puppies. Heroes will be too confused by the décor to try and defeat me. It'll be the perfect camouflage!" She coughs. "That is of course if I were planning on making an evil lair. Which I'm not. Obviously."
Seeing Wan pull out bandages reminds her of her own injuries. "Right, healing. We should probably do that." She struggles for a moment but can't quite seem to get the bandages in the right place. "Or not. You know, the majority of my blood is still inside my body. I'm sure it's fine."
Zin seems to have exhausted his supply of bandages and instead reverts to his limited magic that the night provides him.
He shows the empty bag. "Seems I am low on supplies and out of magic. Should we rest for a bit?"
AC 17 (18 w/ shield); Curse Stage: Moderate (-2 AC)
HP 20/22 | Resistance Physical 3; Harm 5
Hero Points 2/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 0/3 |
Wand of Heal (1st) 0/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 3
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Moderate - (Enfeebled 2; -3 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Wan preens his feathers and shivers comfortably at the burst of positive energy from Zin.
"Yes, that's the stuff, my sweet elf," Wan murmurs absently. The tengu's eyes pop open at Mazul's words. "Camouflage...distraction...redirection....of course!" He doesn't immediately share his source of epiphany, but instead, begins fastidiously searching around the room with the moss-caked skull.
Further investigation doesn't reveal any more clues here.
"This place is a cornucopia of secret doors and hidden passages," Wan explains after coming up empty-handed, "but what I presuppose is: what if those secret doors are there to distract us from the REALLY hidden stuff?"
The tengu's argument - out loud in the bleak arena of public consumption - seems a bit flawed.
"Thanks Zin. Your healing may be more limited than bandages, but it's far more reliable." Mazul sighs in relief as the worst of her injuries close. "I'd be fine to keep going, but I understand if you need more spells. Akkaboo, what do you think? And if we rest, should we do it here or head back to town?"
”Oh, didn’t someone say they wanted to poke around on this floor for a bit before heading down?” Akkaboo answers distractedly. ”Something about clearing out this floor? Though we’re going to need more brooms if we want to clean it well...”
Mazul smiles. "Clearing out this floor does seem like a good idea, even if we don't clean it." She pulls out her satchel of bandages and double-checks them. "I've still got plenty of supplies, even if I'm apparently very bad at using them. Maybe we can check out a few of the eastern rooms before we rest? It's still pretty early in the day."
Several wide alcoves adorn the walls of this L‐shaped hallway. Each alcove contains a small diorama of the same city facing different perils—a massive fire, a devastating tsunami, a thunderous earthquake, an attack by an enormous tentacled monster, and an invasion of an army of undead.
Each of the scenes in the alcoves depict the city of Absalom in a different fanciful doom. The stone dioramas are enhanced with minor illusions; flames flicker, water ripples, and so on. A tiny Gauntlight, as though miles distant, sits at the edge of each scene.
Double doors stand at the end of the hall.
”Someone has a hankering for Absalom to burn,” Wan muses as he inspects the diorama critically.
”What’s the story of the cantankerous crone that was supposed to have had her evil lair here? She’s long dead, right?”
Zin looks over all of the picture within the diorama. "Long Dead." He agrees. "This gauntlight doesn't appear to be a lighthouse at all. Certainly seems quite deadly from all these pictures. Wonder why the town just didn't tear it down?"
"Maybe they thought it looked nice?" Akkaboo offers, peering at the illusions with interest. Mister Legs wriggles enthusiastically from his perch atop her head, though it's difficult to say if the slime is also looking at the dioramas or simply enjoying life as only a mindless ooze can. "Or maybe the Gauntlight was supposed to stop these things from happening?" She shrugs, unsure.
Wan remembers that Belcorra Haruvex was a powerful sorceress. Her family was exiled from Absalom when she was very young. She returned to the Isle of Kortos years later and constructed Gauntlight. The Roseguard, a group of heroes headquartered in Absalom, set out from the city to confront and vanquish her. The Roseguard faced Belcorra within Gauntlight Keep and killed her there. Five hundred years have passed since her death.
"Maybe they kept it as a monument to Belcorra's defeat? People back then were impressed enough by that to name an entire town after one of the guys who killed her." Mazul lightly traces her fingers across the miniature Absalom being menaced by undead. "They also probably figured it wasn't dangerous anymore after she died. Which it wasn't until, well, now."
"The army of undead attacked Otari though, not Absalom. Admittedly it wasn't much of an army, but still. Hopefully the other dioramas aren't realistic examples of what Gauntlight can do, or Otari's in even bigger trouble than we thought."
"Undead, eh?" Wan grimaces. "Well, it's good that we haven't encountered any of those, have we? OH WAIT."
Wan laughs at himself.
You proceed on through the double doors at the end of the hall. This large, low-ceiling room has a cross-shaped table at its center. Ten chairs stand around the table. The walls, floors, and ceilings of the chamber are completely covered with thick layers of webbing.
The table in the center displays an illusory map of the city of Absalom as it appeared hundreds of years ago, but the spiderwebs in the room obscure this illusion. A horrid, spiderlike creature squats atop the table, delighting in examining the web-choked city. When he sees you, he rises up to his full height and chitters something in Aklo.
Mazul spots a pair of hidden web nooses within the room.
Wan shriek-squawks at the thing, then titters a chuckle.
”It says that it’s the ‘King of the Ghost City’ and demands our offerings. I’d just as easily kill it and eat some of the yummy spiders in those webs, but we might be able to parlay like we did with the mitflits.”
Wan tries to place the creature, buying time for his group as he does so.
Wan recognizes the creature as a web lurker. Web lurkers, known also as ettercaps, are evil monsters that not only dwell within the lairs of spiders and swarms, but actively cultivate and shepherd such vermin. They are skilled at constructing web traps and have venomous bites.
The creature chitters and waves its arms again.
”He’s getting twitchy,” Wan warns his colleagues. ”He’s a web lurker; they’re evil things that like setting web traps and poisoning things. Oh, and herding spider swarms. There may be some burning that needs to happen.”
Wan waves blandly at the monarch of Ghost City in some form of a convoluted royal salute as he clues in the others in Taldane.
Akkaboo nods, her face set in a serious expression.
"What sort of offering is it looking for Wan? Zin asks curiously. As much as he would love to burn the spiders he wasn't looking forward to it.
”Hang on, Zin. I’ll check.”
The tengu gestures the arms of Proto’s suit widely.
The web lurker seems to be getting frustrated. He chitters again.
"Webby is getting angry. We might need to do something." Wan scratches his helm idly.