Tchokito relaxes fractionally when the illusion disappears. "Sadly, it seems that they value treasure more than their lives, so we have no choice."
He cocks his head to one side and taps a talon on his beak in thought. "We'll not want to take the obvious route. Stick to the sides as much as possible. Stay spread, as we have evidence they have spellcasters. And be wary for illusions."
Looking to his familiar, he speaks in their shared language. "Cheok, can you continue to scout ahead? I know the weather is ill-suited for flight, so be wary."
The raven agrees, pretending he doesn't mind flying in bad weather. Of course he does, not that it was much dried riding Tchokito's shoulder. Both the wind and rain have picked up by now and as they head toward the peak, it promises worse. On one hand probably makes setting an ambush harder for the fetchlings but it also makes spotting anything harder.
They start to climb.
Having to avoid the smoother, obvious paths makes things much more difficult. The ground is an uneven layer of cinders and loose gravel, turning to slippery mush in the rain. All of them slip and fall, and soon they are all stained a soft gray, as if their colors had been wrung out of them. In fact the entire world seems to be shifting into a strange misty twilight, between the color sucking of the Shadow Plane, the rain and the general bleakness of the landscape. Even judging distance was difficult and several times they nearly run right into a burial wall or tomb site.
Their only advantage is Cheok ghosting ahead of them, sifting through the air. Even with the rain, his sharp eyes see much and animals tended to gripe less about the weather Tchokito has noticed.
After one round Cheok flutters back and says in their private language. "They are ahead but facing the wrong way."
Sneaking past would be tough but it was also a chance to ambush the ambushers. Does he even tell the others? The last thing he needs is another voting session.
Tchokito bows his head in thought for a moment. He'd tried to find a peaceful solution, but the fetchlings had made it clear they were willing to kill for the treasures here. Little as he liked the idea, they couldn't leave them in their rear. Even if they evaded them now, the chances of them noticing they'd slipped by and then ambushing them later were just too high.
Not to mention, if they were so ready to kill here, who else had they killed? Who else would they kill if left to their devices?
The tengu's arguments were almost enough to assuage his guilt about what he was about to do.
"Thank you, Cheok. We'll be fighting them soon," he murmurs to his friend, then turns back to the rest of the group.
"Cheok says we've gotten around behind the fetchlings. Much as I dislike the idea, I think our best choice now is to ambush them as they are trying to ambush us. I can be fairly stealthy--Oddný, Findeladlara, how close do you think you could get before they would notice you? If we can get in good spell and bow range, then attack them before they are aware, we can cut down their advantage of numbers before they can respond."
Tchokito is not surprised when his Ulfen companions heartily agree with this plan. During his time among the Linnorm Kingdom, the tengu quickly realized that sneak attacks and ambushes are considered a fine art form among them. This is not purely due to bloodthirstiness and immorality however, but because Ulfen warfare is largely born out of hunting. Witness Oddný's career. In hunting a well laid ambush is, of course, often the greatest sign of skill. No wonder Ulfen don't like warning their enemies. Does a hunter warn a deer? Or a fisherman his catch? Foolish.
So Tchokito is only disappointed, not shocked when Hjalte gives him a grin. "Birdman makes sense! Great day."
Findeladlara is, also not shocking, in favor of blasting first and asking questions later. Oddný merely nods, as if this is natural. Tcokito is geeting to set out when suddenly Eliyyah speaks up.
"No." His voice is soft but lucid, the man standing in the rain. He looks gray and washed out, like everyone else, stained with wet ash. Hjalte rolls his eyes and Findeladlara says, "Surely we aren't going to listen to the crazy one..."
"This is not right," Eliyyah says, seeming to grasp sanity by sheer force of will. 'This place...is for death, not murder." Oddný raises an eyebrow at this distinction but the cleric goes on, "Dark ways ahead, if we attack first. Bad choice. We must go around and up. To the top! " He points to the spear-tip summit, quite close now.
Tchokito turns his head swiftly to look at Eliyyah when he speaks, surprised the cleric would speak up. He narrows his eyes as he listens. Once Eliyyah is silent, Tchokito takes a moment to think, then looks to the rest of the group.
"We are here because we need Eliyyah to guide us to the next beacon. If we trust him in that, I say we must trust him also in this. I have been surprised not to find more defenses here, given what this place is. Perhaps what he alludes to is that the defenses would be roused by bloodshed?"
"We will go around. But we will watch our backs. Oddný, can you trail a little behind us stealthily to make certain we are not followed? Do not engage if you spot them unless they attack you, but warn us as soon as possible."
Tchokito change of mind causes a considerable amount of grumbling. Oddný thinks he is too nice, Hjalte says the birdman is going soft while Findeladlara bluntly calls him a fool, but the discussion doesn't last long. Tchokito isn't sure if they actually agree or just don't want to sit around bickering in a cold, rising rain. Even the Ulfen love of debate has limits.
Oddný agrees and takes up a rear guard, the huntress vanishing among the piles of ancient slag and burial mounds. Cheok flies ahead but the worsening weather reduces his effectiveness. Still, they slowly work around the fetchling hiding spots, toiling up steep slopes and scrambling over half-ruined walls when needed.
Ahead the summit looms, very close now. Except Tchokito soon encounters a problem. Due to a combination of fetchling ambush spots, sharp mountain cliffs and un-smashed dragon walls, any hope of advance will be through a seemingly untouched burial vault. While part of the tengu would enjoy such a sight (as well as getting out of the rain for a bit) another part of him is quite aware this place is likely to be trapped and dangerous. There is no sign that the robber bands have plundered this place.
Tchokito is relieved that there isn't more argument over the decision, even though he knows he hasn't convinced them. It's sufficient for now that they move.
He's somewhat relieved when they manage to evade the fetchlings for the most part, though he knows there aren't free of danger yet. This is brought home to him when they halt in front of a vault. The tengu tilts his head to one side, eying it warily.
"It is no doubt warded or trapped," he murmurs. "Wards I can try to detect. Traps... we will have to keep our eyes open."
He carefully leads the way into the vault, scanning it with detect magic before entering.
Tchokito enters into the vault very carefully, scanning for traps both arcane and mundane. While the vault is very old, it is obviously far newer then the mere ruins that lay closer to the beach. The writing on the walls is still visible and Tchokito leans closer, both to examine for traps and simply to read it.
To his surprise it is a very old form of Chelish, well proto-Chelish, Taldane. It is a strange mode he can't quite read but it seems to be the account of the life and achievements of a mighty blue dragon who ruled near the Arch of Aroden. The tengu sees reports of armies led, fleets sunk, palaces built. Curiously the dragon's name seems to be missing, replaced with grand epithets and titles. Still, the way seems safe enough so far.
They travel down a short stone passageway and down a short flight of stairs. Around them, arcane lamps shudder to life, giving forth a pale blueish light. Clearly some of the magic is still working. Tchokito isn't sure if this is a good or bad thing.
Soon, they reach their first check. At the base of the stairs is a small space of floor tiles. Past them is a small but very dark pit, hungry looking. On the far side are more tiles and then a closed metal door. Arcane lights hang from the ceiling bathing the room in a dim blue glow. From here, Tchokito detects no other magical dangers but the far side of the room is quite some distance away.
Tchokito tilts his head to one side thoughtfully. This complex, for all it was built for a dragon, had been made by land-bound people, as far as he could tell, so there should be a way to bypass the pit. But it would be cleverly hidden, no doubt...
His dark eyes scan over the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Perhaps there was an order to stepping on the tiles? A hidden lever in the walls? The tengu realizes he should tell the others his thoughts.
"The builders would have had a way over or around this. We simply need to find where they hid it," he states aloud before returning to his examination.
Tchokito sees nothing of use. No hidden panels, no pressure plates no magical spell auras. He even tries a few words of Draconic, hoping to spark something, but his words just echo into the stale musty air of the chamber. The other shuffle around but see nothing.
Cheok however does offer something, 'What if it is on the other side?" The raven flutters over the gap and circles the far side. The witch realizes the gap is quite narrow, only ten feet or so. Very jumpable. While he considered it strange the builders would require everyone to jump, perhaps the mechanism on the far side? Reachable by a sole jumper or flying creature?
Tchokito eyes the far side. It was true... it could be on the other side. A pity he'd already used his flight for the day. And of course, jumping could well lead one straight into a trap--he'd encountered instances of an obvious trap used to lead an intruder into a hidden one.
The problem was that they were running out of other options. If there wasn't anything on this side someone would have to jump, as he doubted whatever mechanism there was would be triggerable by a raven. As for jumping... well, while he was fit enough, it would be a near thing. But he's not certain one of the others would know what to look for.
"It must be on the other side. I can only use my flight once in a day, so unless Findeladlara has a flight spell prepared, I'd appreciate having a rope tied to me when I jump across. I would not at all be surprised if jumping across triggers a trap, and having the option to jump and have you pull me up before I hit the bottom of the pit might save me from it."
"Birdman, wait." Hjalte says, pressing the tengu back with one meaty hand. The Ulfen stomps up the stairs, leaving them alone int he vault for a moment.
"I though you'd have flight covered, being a bird and all." Findeladlara says, rather unhelpfully.
Hjalte shortly returns, carrying a large chunk of dragon rib, white and crumbly. Without preamble he tosses it across the gap, watching it closely. No lighting bolts attack it, or hidden arrows lash out. No traps at all. The bones hit the far side with a dusty crackle, shattering across the tiles.
The raider nods, "Safe."
Rope tied, Tchokito jumps the gap, with Cheok flying over around him. No danger erupts s he lands with a clatter of talons. Yet the far side is as empty of levers or switches as the other. All that he has is the closed metal door, carved with the shapes of jewels and gold.
Tchokito decides not to mention all the ways in which a trap could be designed such that a thrown object would not trigger it while a jumping tengu would. After all, the concern, such as it was, was... not exactly touching, but something, at least.
Still, he doesn't relax until he's landed on the other side and nothing has visibly happened. Not that a trap must be immediately obvious... but it seems, for now, that nothing has triggered. The lack of anything to make the pit safe to cross is odd, however. Is he simply not seeing it? Or might they have just... had a scaffolding that they removed when the work was done? Not that the pit alone was much of a barrier...
...wait. It wasn't a barrier. What if it were actually the path on? He casts a simple light spell on a shard of bone and drops it in the pit.
"I see no sign of a lever... but something occurs to me. This pit is too easy to cross. What if there is something in it? Where better to hide something than in a 'trap'?"
He watches the glowing shard drop carefully.
The bone shard glows with a warm golden light, reassuring in the otherwise unwholesome arcane blue. The tengu drops it into the gaping pit, watching it carefully. At first it falls like normal, gathering speed through the dark air.
But then it slows, the plummet reduced to a gentle glide. Feather Fall? Some related magic reaches out and gently caresses to the ground. The light reveals a soft landing on well-made tiles, no sign of spikes or danger. And then, at the edge of the halo of arcane light was a door. An open, normal looking door.
Quite clearly it was the way forward. The tengu glanced back at the metallic obstruction near him, carved with jewels and gold. What might would happen if it was tampered with? Would that activate a trap? Peering closely he notes many magical auras about it, some of them quite potent. Dangerous indeed.
The way forward was down.
Tchokito nods to himself, satisfied. "Sometimes the best hiding place is in plain sight, with the appropriate misdirection. Now, based on the behavior of our light, I believe it's safe to jump, but... perhaps keep that rope ready just in case."
He waits for confirmation that the others are ready, then jumps into the pit.
Everyone nods and with that, the tengu jumps into the pit. His fall is instantly arrested by the rope so it is more of a lowering, then an exhilarating fall. Cheok flutters by his side, circling downward with him. As usual the raven is quite amused at the concept of ropes and pulleys since 'depth' doesn't really exist for flying creatures. Going down is just another axis of direction, something to be chosen when wished. Not an imperative like it is for ground-dwelling people.
But soon Tchokito reaches the bottom. Arcane lamps flare to life around him, lighting a small landing area and the door ahead. Upon seeing everything is safe, the others are lowered down, one by one. The last is Hjalte who ties the rope off on a jagged bit of rock and clambers down, hand over hand. The raider, despite his size, is surprisingly nimble and Tchokito guesses the man could have made the climb using only the rough handholds in the rock wall.
This leaves the rope in place but no matter. The Linnorm's Breath has lots of rope to spare and besides, they may need to leave in a hurry?
They venture forward, Tchokito taking the lead. They do not go very far.
Passing through the door, they find themselves at the front of a long room. Eighty feet long, a hundred feet? The ceiling is not overly high but there is enough room for Cheok to flutter over their heads. The walls are oddly rough, seemingly unfinished.
In the center of the room, on the floor, is some kind of marking or circle. In another place Tchokito might assume decoration but here and now? Obviously some kind of trigger or trap. Odd though, that it is so obvious and easy to avoid. It only takes up a few feet.
More important, there is information close at hand. In front of the party, across the floor from wall to wall are labeled tiles, big enough to stand on. Ornate Draconic is carved into them, art turning to words and back. Luckily it is a form Tchokito knows.
Each tile is marked with a...substance?
Wax, Blood, Bone, Lead, Sand, Steel and three more the tengu can't make out. Magic hums around these tiles. Conjuration and transmutation. Dangerous....It might be possible to hop the tiles, but the transmutation magic seems, if anything, stronger on the far side.
Curious!
Tchokito taps a talon on his beak thoughtfully. "I can see two ways this might work. The obvious solution is that there is some sequence of tiles that need to be stepped on, then... perhaps the central one. The other is that this is all to trap those trying to figure out the puzzle, while the true solution is simply to walk through."
"Considering the way we've come, it seems less likely that they would repeat a deception, so it is likely this is a true puzzle. So what is the key? We have here wax, blood, bone, lead, sand, steel..." He points out the tiles as he lists them.
Tchokito considers a moment longer. "The problem, of course, is that we would have no way of telling what the pattern would be..."
A few more taps on his beak. "Would any of you happen to have something long enough to push one of these tiles without being in danger? I suspect we will trigger the worst result if we try to simply walk past. Perhaps... a weak substance? Try wax... and hope it does not flood the room with molten wax."
It's hard to tell if this last is meant as a joke or not.
Oddný, who is still a walking armory after that stone island, pulls a spear off her back. 'Hopefully," the huntress says, stepping up gingerly toward the marked tiles, "It does not turn the person into the thing. I don't want to become a wax statue."
Hjalte laughs, "Birdman change you back."
With this wildly overoptimistic assumption of Tchokito's powers out of the way, the Ulfen woman presses the 'Wax' tile with her spear.
Instantly there is a arcane glow around the tile, a buttery white light. Conjuration auras flicker and dance. At the same time that summon circle out in the middle of the room starts to glow. Out of it strides three lumpen shapes. Humanoid but large and bulky, crudely formed. For an instant Tchokito is reminded of the constructs from the last island, but no. No machines but golems.
Three large wax golems stand silently in the middle of the room. Servants? Engineers? Guardians? They seem to simply be waiting for something. The conjuration auras fade but the transmutation triggers remain. This room still has something else going on...
Tchokito's feathers prickle upwards just a bit. Did it... actually summon the golems? Or was it simply teleporting them in from elsewhere? But what did that transmutation aura do? It still seemed unwise to advance while it was still active...
"A good thing we did not try steel first," he says aloud. "There is still another magical aura ahead. Probably best not to have it targeted on us... and also best to still avoid stepping on a tile. Oddný, if you would--I think sand would be the next less-threatening substance."
When Tchokito suggest poking another tile, Oddný seems unsure. "Are you sure? I mean, we might have to fight these things after all. Aren't they likely to be guardians or something?" Still, lacking any other ideas, she gently prods the sand tile.
Another arcane flash here and another lumpy figure emerges from the circle out, in the center of the room. Another golem, this one made of compact sand, crudely human shape as well. Like a child's version of a man. It joins the others in silent waiting.
"No!" Hjalte grabs the spear, snaps it like a twig and tosses it behind them. 'No more tiles, birdman! Hjalte like to fight, but not hat much!"
"That was a good spear," Oddný grumbles.
But there is no need. Even as Tchokito watches the magic drains from the other tiles, the conjuration fading away. Somewhere, far across the room, past the golems and the summoning circle, there is a dim flash. Only a second and then vanished.
Yet the transmutation auras remain, suffusing the floor in front of them. Maybe he would get that floor of hot wax yet?
Tchokito winces as the sand golem appears. He'd misjudged the conjuration aura--thought it was too faded for another summons, so that any trigger remaining would surely be the transmutation. Well, it was too late now. Since the golems seem content to wait for now, he examines them.
"I misjudged the magical auras. Now we shall have to deal with the consequences of that. fire magic will work on the wax golems, but otherwise they are immune," he states. "The sand golem will be difficult to harm with anything but blunt impacts. This means few of my spells will be effective."
He draws his blade. "While there shouldn't be more energy for another summon, it still seems best to avoid the tiles. The sand golem will be a dangerous enough opponent. Is there anything further any of you can think of to prepare?"
"Then the wax golem is mine." Findeladlara says, rolling up her sleeves until she pauses and looks at Tchokito, "Unless you'd like to summon some more? Maybe conjure up a few steel golems or something?"
Oddný is more helpful, "What we need is a plan. There is too many for just Hjalte to tackle while we attack from afar." The huntress speaks from experience and while Tchokito is experienced in many things, tactical combat is not one of them. She eyes the silently waiting golems. "I can cast an entangling spell on them. Not sure how long it'll hold them, but it should help. I'll stick with arrows, Findeladlara can blast them with fire and Hjalte can cut them with his sword. Tchokito, whatever you have at range, use it fast. We might be wrestling them before long."
The others shrug at this when she turns to Eliyyah. "Eliyyah, this was your idea. Got any help?"
"Quocirca vivite fortes, fortiaque adversis opponite pectora rebus" Is all the cleric says. But then the man leans forward and touches Tchokito's sword. It bursts into dancing golden flames, running down the blade.
"Well, that is something." Findeladlara shrugs.
Tchokito nods his thanks to Eliyyah. He's never quite certain what to make of the cleric...
He turns back to the golems and considers. "We can handle the wax golems easily. If we can slow down the sand one and finish them off before facing it, we will have a better chance. The sand golem will be the real problem here, even without them. None of my spells will work on it."
"How can we separate them... Oddný, your entangling spell could well help with that, though it may be less effective on the sand golem." He glares warily at the still-present transmutation aura. "So we burn the wax golems... what can we do about the sand golem? Do any of us have blunt weapons? We may have to try to entangle it and then escape around it."