After the fight with the undead, the group decides to rest and head down south. Mary scouts ahead. She soon comes to a small cliff, about 10 feet off the ground. She can barely make out a door up above.
Mary looks up the small cliff at the doors above. ”Another cliff in the middle of a passageway? Whoever designed this place is an idiot.” Giving the rise a closer look, she says, ”This one looks easier than the last one at least. Stand back!” She then spits in her hands and takes a run and jump to climb up the cliff.
From the top, Mary calls down. ”Pretty easy really. You shouldn’t have any problems.” Turning to the doors, she examines them closely for traps and to find the mechanism by which they might be opened. She also puts her ear to them to see if she can hear anything on the other side.
Ezren looks up at the cliff after Mary climbs up. "I did not sign up for an obstacle course!" He holds one of his hands up. "Do you see these hands? They were made for writing impossibly tiny, cramped script and turning delicate pages, not for digging them into the dirt and grabbing roots and rocks!"
Despite his words, the wizard rolls up his sleeves and, with a huff, tries to follow Mary up the cliff.
The group easily climbs up the cliff. There are various handholds that make it easy - so easy that even Ezren can do it!
Mary pushes the ancient wooden door open and it creaks as it opens on rusty hinges, revealing a ruined chamber. Mold and rot stain every surface. On the far side of the room is stone statue of a giant squid, its tentacles reaching toward an altar in the center of the chamber. The scum covers almost everything, but it hasn't touched the silver bowl sitting atop the stone altar. The water in the bowl is perfectly clear.
”Yes indeed Kyra; a temple to Gozreh it is. I recognize it from my days of riding the waves. He’s a favorite of sailors, and many of the ships I hitched a ride on had a mini shrine to The Wind and the Waves on board.” She follows Kyra’s lead and helps search the room thoroughly.
She then approaches the altar and looks closely at the pristine silver bowl and water. ”Does it seem odd to anyone else that this room is covered in scum but this bowl and water are pristine? Hey, Ez! Come over here and tell me if it’s magical. I think it would fetch a pretty penny in Otari or Absalom, but I’d hate to have Gozreh curse me if it were to accidentally end up in my backpack.”
”Hey, Kyra, do you think the bowl is to make offerings? I think I have a copper here somewhere.” Fishing out a copper coin from inside her clothes, she puts it in the bowl. ”There’s not much wind or water down here, but it can’t hurt to get the the old guy’s blessing for the rest of our little escapade.”
Beyond the tentacled monster statue, the bowl with water, and the scum everywhere, there is nothing else of interest in the room.
Ezren examines the room for anything magical. The bowl seems magical, yes. But the water in it seems magical too.
Kyra, being a cleric, knows a bit about Gozreh and his blessings. Though the Wind and the Waves is benevolent, he also can be wrathful like the sea. Drinking the water can heal you. And depending on Gozreh's will, he can bless you with the power of the ocean. Or he can curse you with seasickness.
Ezren glances at Kyra. "Should we remove the bowl? Or simply leave it here? It would seem to be able to resist rot to the rest of the place."
Mary looks at the silver bowl and its clean water with her copper piece lying at the bottom. ”Healing water, eh? But with a random blessing or curse kicker. Not sure I like the sound of that. Good thing I’m not injured. Hey, Kyra, maybe you could try a sip to fix up the last of your injuries.” Mary wonders if she should remove her copper from the font, but decides otherwise. ”I dunno Ez. I’m thinking we should leave it alone. There must be a good reason why it hasn’t already walked off with someone else by now.”
Valeros feels blessed by Gozreh and can feel the power of the ocean surge through him.
Mary looks askance at the bowl of water. ”Ehhhhh... I don’t think so. I’m feeling just fine right now without pushing my luck.”
While she waits for her friends to drink or not drink, Mary makes one more round of the room in case they missed something. Finding nothing more she heads to to the doors. ”Don’t look like there’s much else in here for us. Time to move on?”
Beyond the scum, the bowl, and the squid statue, Mary finds nothing else in the room.
Kyra did impress Gozreh as The Wind and the Waves blesses her.
Ezren shakes his head at the bowl. "No thanks. I won't trust my health to Gozreh if I don't have to..." He turns around the room. "Wait, is this is? Do we have to go back down the cliff again?"
Once Kyra and Valeros feel energized, the party decides to continue down the corridor. Mary scouts ahead, looking for any traps or creatures lurking about. She hears a few hushed voices ahead, speaking in a language that she can't understand. But it does seem like they are arguing about something.
Sneaking ahead, Mary realizes that the large room looks like it was once a storeroom for a building above. At the far side, she can make out what might have been a cage or cell at some point, but it is now full of crates and barrels. Four lizardlike creatures the size of human children are clustered around the door to the cell, trying to pry it open. All are so busy trying to pry open the cell that they don't notice anyone enter!
”Looks like we found Val’s mini lizard men. I wonder what they’re up to?” Mary turns to the rest of her colleagues and puts a finger to her lips to indicate they should remain quiet. ”Mini lizard men ahead. Probably unfriendly. Prepare yourselves.” With rapier in hand, she sneaks into the room silently and moves along the back wall to make room for the others to enter. Then from the shadows, she tries to draw the attention of the lizard men away from her friends by calling out, ”Hey fellas! What’s up? Anything I can do to help?”
Mary sneaks in to the room with rapier in hand. ().
The kobolds turn around, obviously confused at who is speaking to them. Immediately, they spot an elf in the corner of the room.
"Intruder!! Intruder!!". The kobolds all start to draw their spears and attack.
----------------
[u]Round 1[/u]
Kyra (17/21 hp)
Mary (15/15 hp)
Ezren (16/16 hp)
Valeros (21/24 hp)
Green
Blue
Yellow
Red
Mary rolls her eyes at the kobolds’ reaction. ”Sheesh! Why is everyone so super unfriendly down here?” While the kobolds are getting their acts together, Mary slides past them and into a more defensible position in the corner.
Once positioned behind the kobolds, she takes her rapier and slides it into the nearest mini lizard man a couple of times for good measure.
Ezren enters the room, conjuring arcane energy. He points to the one Mary is confronting and the one in front. Lightning arcs between the two of them.
Mary dashes in and stabs at the yellow kobold small lizardfolk man. She pierces his skull and the creature drops to the floor.
Ezren runs in as well. An electric beam of energy flies between the red and green creatures.
And the red kobold explodes in a burst of energy! Blood and guts paint the room. The green one withstands the pain!
----------------
[u]Round 1[/u]
Kyra (17/21 hp)
Mary (15/15 hp)
Ezren (16/16 hp)
Valeros (21/24 hp)
Green (-3 hp)
Blue
Both Valeros and Kyra slash at the two creatures. But try as they might, the small lizardfolk are too agile and dodge out of the way!
The green one dashes around Kyra. ()
Both blows glance off of Kyra's shield! Sarenra is protecting her today.
The creature with blue scales looks at Kyra and attempts to strike her.
And the Dawnflower is definitely protecting Kyra today! None of the spear blows hit her.
----------------
[u]Round 2[/u]
Kyra (17/21 hp)
Mary (15/15 hp)
Ezren (16/16 hp)
Valeros (21/24 hp)
Green (-3 hp)
Blue
Mary is a little miffed that the remaining kobolds decided to ignore her completely. "Hey! What am I, chopped liver?" Seeing that Kyra and Ezren had their kobold under control, Mary decides to help Valeros out with his.
As she approaches, Mary dodges left to catch the creature unawares...
... but the creature is not fooled. ”Ah, screw it!” she says and lunges at the perceptive little bugger with her rapier.
Between Mary, Kyra, and Valeros, the last two creatures collapse to the floor, bleeding out blood all over! You can move the bodies away before inspecting the bodies then the cell. Each of the creatures carry some dried fish stolen from the fishery. Clearly they were involved in the thefts, but more fish are missing than can be explained by four lizard-creatures.
To open the cell, a set of thieves' tools is needed as well as a DC 15 Thievery check. Alternatively, you can force the door open with a DC 25 Athletics check.
While Mary and the others work on the cell, Ezren tries to determine who and what these little lizardmen are.
Ezren knows these are kobolds, reptilian humanoids. Some believe their slight frame belies true, mighty draconic power. They are ingenious crafters and known for trapmaking.
"Kobolds!" Ezren exclaims. "Scions of draconic power if you believe some. But if they are here, we should be careful of their traps, Mary. They are notorious for crafting deadly traps."
When the last of the kobolds hits the ground, Mimi wipes down her rapier and puts it away. "I guess we know where that mini lizard man of yours came from, Val. Now let's have a look at this lock."
Mimi starts pulling out her thieves’ tools as Ezren warns her about the kobold penchant for trap-setting. "Kobolds eh? Don't worry about it, Ez. This ain't my first rodeo." Mimi first examines the lock for traps.
"Looks like a plain old lock to me. Shouldn't be too hard to crack." Mary then gets to work picking the lock.
"Pfft, what a cheap lock. Whatever is in here probably isn't too valuable." She then moves into the gated section looking for additional traps before trying to look inside the boxes and barrels.
The kobolds looked like they were unsuccessful in their attempts to open the gate to the cage. But Mary immediately swings it open - a true natural it seems!
Immediately she's hit by an awful stench. Opening up most of the boxes, she finds long spoiled food and stained cloth. But one of them barrels in the back, she pops open to find a smile pile of treasure: 200 sp, a gold ring worth 5 gp, and a beautiful +1 shortsword - a magical weapon that increases your attack rolls by 1!
When Mary comes across the barrel of riches, she says, "Now, that's more like it. Let's see... some silver, a gold ring, and.... ohhh isn't she beautiful?" She pulls out the shortsword, looks at the rune, and swings it around to test it. "Nice balance. She moves like a dream."
Looking over at the rest of the group, she says, "If no one minds, I think I'll hold onto this pretty thing for a while. I've got some ideas on how to use her with my rapier."
Mary takes the shortsword and sheaths it. The blade is smooth and sharp! Perfect addition to her collection. But the smell in the room is getting to her - the rotten food is definitely moldy.
The group decides to head north (). Opening up the door, the short hallway has smooth walls of worked stone with a door at either end, though the door at the far end is closed. The floor is tiled with large, square stone tiles.
Ezren seems to still be counting out some of the coins as they look out into the next room.
And Valeros spots it: something is strange about the tiles just south of the northern door. One of the tiles is a little loose! And knowing kobolds, it's probably trapped.
Mary methodically works her way down the hallway looking anything odd, especially traps, while simultaneously keeping her ears open for any unusual sounds nearby.
Mary stops short of the opening ahead and raises her hand sharply. "Whoa there guys! These floor tiles are a little loose right here; probably a trap. Let me check it out." She then carefully examines the trap looking for ways to disable it so they can pass safely. "Hold on. Almost got it"
<Click!> "There it is. It's all good now."
Mary shares whatever information she found out about the operation of the trap. She then looks into the room and listens for any noises originating therein and draws both her rapier and new shortsword in preparation for entering.
Mary easily disables the trap by jamming it! She draws her weapons then continues into the next room. The door to the chamber silently glides open to reveal a long room. Two stone statues of priests stand in the corners along one side of the room, facing a towering statue of a man holding out both of his hands, palms up. In front of this statue is a stone altar holding nine golden coins. A voice booms out from the statue.
"In my hands I judge the value of all wealth, raising up whichever is greater. One of these coins is a deception. Find it using only two judgments and receive my blessing."
All the coins look identical and they all weigh exactly the same. Placing coins in the statue's hands, whichever hand has the higher value will raise up.