Between all of you, this thing howls in pain as each face screams! But whatever you guys did, it seems to fade out of existence.
With the Haramil vortex thing gone, the Pathfinders can now get a better look around this room. There is a jet-black pedestal to the north, carved out of the bedrock.
Aiyana sighs and sheds a tear. "That pedestal is perfectly sized to hold something of the Cradle of Night's dimension. I think that means it's no long here. I really hope that doesn't mean the Reborn have taken it..." she trails off, scared at the implications.
"Maybe it's elsewhere in this tomb?" she sounds slightly hopeful, but still not fully convinced it is.
Farrar looks around the room, sheathing his sword as he does so. There was a set of doors upstairs we didn't open, perhaps it is in there? All these undead, I never planned on this - sorry I can't be of more use in these fights. Is there a way to get back upstairs?
He pokes around, looking for a way to move them back up to the main level, and satisfied they'd searched everything here, heads back upstairs with the group, moving toward that set of double doors in the previous chamber they hadn't opened.
Akku detects magic around the room and searches behind the tapestries, nooks and crannies...
"We should be thorough while we are here. Even if they have taken the Cradle, perhaps they left some clue to their motives or location behind."
Aleks looks around, but he isn't much help.
Examining the tomb, the Pathfinders find nothing more of interest. No hidden rooms or secret items strewn about. Beyond the tapestries, it's all rock and stone. Farrar does easily figure out how to get them back up to the main room upstairs and leads the group to the set of doors to the west.
With Leon and Kal Drak up front, the door slowly opens to the west. Three sets of large, stone doors loom in this room, one to the east (the door you just opened), one to the south (the one leading to the trapped room), and one to the west (unknown). The doors to the west is partially sealed with stone spread across the door like clay.
A short pedestal bearing pale blue shards of shattered crystal occupies the center of this room, surrounded by a circle of runes carved into the floor. An alcove at the north end of the room contains a stone statue of a human man. The statue wields a lance and wears hide armor, but strangely has been turned away from the center of the room to face the blank alcove wall to the north.
Leon and Kal Drak notice the shadow of the statue flicker. As they step into the room, the shadow lurches forward, ready to attack! The shadowy figure sways with erratic grace!
(burn heightened awareness)
===========
[u]Round 1[/u]
Kal Drak (63/63 hp)
Galadhan (57/57 hp)
Farrar (57/57 hp)
Leon (74/76 hp)
Aiyana
Aleksander (84/84 hp)
Akku (51/51 hp, 16/16 temp hp)
-Siiska (52/52 hp, -6 strength)
Shadow
Leon strides forward to engage the shadowy (undead?) creature.
Farrar, seeing the shadowy creature emerge to threaten his allies, immediately breaks into an inspiring song! He quickly unslings his sword and shield and takes up a defensive posture.
Aleks draws his shadowy rapier and moves to flank with Leon, then attacks.
Crit?
Both Akku and Leon know that this shadowy creature is a Greater Shadow. Try to avoid it's touch, as the shadow can easily sap a living creature's strength (Strength damage on a successful touch). Like many incorporeal creatures, this one is immune to crits and precision-based damage (unless using a ghost touch weapon). In addition, this shadow only takes half damage from corporeal sources (unless you have an ability such as ghost touch).
The bard Farrar is quick to react! He starts belting out a song, with Aiyana lending some harmony. Magic echoes throughout the chamber and everyone feels inspired to defeat whatever this thing is!
Leon charges right in to the room, eager to engage with the shadowy creature. With a flick of the wrist, his sword swiftly passes through the shadow ().
The fetchling Aleks follows Leon, dancing around the shadow to help flank. With his magical, shadowy rapier, Aleks is able to poke several holes into the side of the shadow ().
===========
[u]Round 1[/u]
Kal Drak (63/63 hp)
Galadhan (57/57 hp)
Farrar (57/57 hp)
Leon (74/76 hp)
Aiyana
Aleksander (84/84 hp)
Akku (51/51 hp, 16/16 temp hp)
-Siiska (52/52 hp, -6 strength)
Shadow (-50 hp)
Akku informs the others about the nature of the creature and attacks.
Siiska also attacks.
Akku comes in and swiftly swings his scythe, cleaving the shadowy figure in half. The shadow fades slowly until nothing is left.
Now, the Pathfinders can better examine the room. In the center of the room is a short pedestal bearing pale blue shards of shattered crystals, surrounded by a circle of runes carved into the floor.
To the north, there is an alcove containing a stone statue of a human man. He wields a lance and wears hide armor, but has been turned away from the center of the room to face the blank alcove wall to the north.
The door to the west looks magically sealed, almost as if someone cast stone shape on it - the stone door magically blends into the walls. To open it, one will probably have to smash open or break it open.
"Someone didn't think much of Haramil," Leon says as he gestures toward the statue. "They placed the statue backwards to shame him and in the hopes that doing so would frustrate his ambitions in the next life."
Farrar takes in the scene for a moment, the vestiges of the spell he laid upon himself an hour earlier flickering, and he thinks...
Akku's right, these shattered crystals were a trap for incorporeal undead, it attracted them and sucked them in, like an incorporeal vortex. But it's broken, so its not doing anything anymore, which is maybe why there were so many non-corporeal undead in here. But someone broke that.
He listens a moment to Leon's assessment of Haramil's statue, That would make sense with the false offerings we found in that first chamber, where it was a dishonor more than an honor for him. People really hated this guy and when he died finally were able to express it. I suppose that is his lance we found?
Finally, examining the sealed door, I don't have an easy way through this, but if we had tools, we'd start right here... he taps the stone in the top of the doorway, marking it with a piece of chalk. a stone doorway is always at its weakest at the keystone, right there. I think we should try to open it, just don't know how...
"Well, a lockpick is one thing I can't make. And I doubt that'd be much help anyway." Aleks says, reshaping his rapier into a variety of different weapons as he speaks.
Farrar looks over at Leon, Come on Leon, let's try to break this down, I can help? I mean other than singing the inspiring song of our triumphs through this horrifying tomb... and the bard begins working a dagger into the stone masonry to try and pry loose the sealed door.
Siiska begins to laugh, and simply walks through the sealed door. Her thin, short frame remains outlined on the sealed door with a thin coat of silvery mucus after she passes through.
Akku puts his index to his right temple and frowns.
Telepathically, to Siiska, ***"Nice trick, sister. Pray tell, what do you see out there?"***
Leon was lining up his shoulder to try to knock the door down when Siiska slipped through the barrier instead. "Let's see what she can find."
Aleks shrugs. "Fine with me."
But as Siiska looks south, she briefly catches a glimpse of a humanoid figure briefly struggling with a wand before it *poofs* out of existence.
As hard as he may try, Farrar simply cannot move the barricade, almost as if the stone door is molded into the frame.
Akku concentrates on Siiska's telepathic comments about the slugs.
"Let me see through your eyes, sister..." says Akku, out loud, as well as telepathically, to his sister...
{TELEPATHICALLY} ***There was some fool... fumbling with a wand over there... he disappeared... I'm coming back...***
Yeah I've got nothing on the door, I hope Siiska's okay in there. the bard leans back from the stone door, listening to see what he can hear through the obstacle.
Akku tells the party what Siiska (and him) saw.
Farrar considers Akku's report for a moment, Well, we cannot enter this way, should we try the hidden door to the south? Perhaps the rooms connect? I'm unsure of why a person would be hiding in there, but we can look that way? he looks to the others, seeing if they agree with his suggestion.
"Understood. Good idea!" agrees Akku. He nods at his sister...
...and she happily glides south to look for a secret door in the other room.
Aleks helps out with the searching.
Leon isn't opposed to the current plan of looking for another passage but leaves the task to those more suited for it. "Siiska, you said someone was moving around past the barrier, right?"
"Yes! someone either went invisible or teleported away from there! I'm not sure which, okayyyyyyy?!?" replies Siiska, the picture of an angry child...
Siiska can roll a Knowledge (local) check. Or if she describes it, another character can attempt the check at a penalty.
Akku describes the small humanoid Siiska saw.
Aiyana immediately recognizes the description Akku and Siiska give.
"A dark dancer! It couldn't have been in there too long, unless there is a food source of some sort. Our type still need to eat. Why would he be in there I wonder..."
Farrar considers a moment, before looking inward. His dull eyes flash with blue energy as he considers what he's heard of Dark Dancers...
Dark Dancers, oh of course...
Farrar knows a thing or two about dark dancers. Dark dancers are a type of caligni (or dark folk). Typically, they are chaotic neutral and act as intermediaries between different caligni clans and factions.
Killing one is considered a bad omen - when a dark dancer dies, its body combusts in a flash of bright light.
They also have an innate ability to entertain, like a bard (bardic performance).
----------------
The group follows Siiska through the secret door in the trapped room. The stone door here slowly *creaks* open. The sound of *drip drip drip* comes from the north as water slowly flows through rubble in the north. Across the walls, glistening slime trails left by pale grey slugs cover etchings of mounted warriors charging across a wide battlefield against one another. The walls all bear signs of ancient damage, but should seem stable for now.
There is no visible sign of the caligni dark dancer in this room, but the remains of half eaten slugs and a refuse pile in one corner indicates that someone might have spent some time in here recently.
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Galadhan furrows his brow. ”Hmm…I think I’ve heard of these dark dancers somewhere before…”
"D-dark dancer? do n-not be afraid! we come in peace, and we have defeated the evil spirits... my s-s-sister here is a friendly spirit.. she... just fights monsters with h-her umbrella... we come to help your people... I think...." says Akku, in an almost crippling shyness, looking back at their guide for confirmation.
"Ah, yes. Dark dancers. Natural bards, they are."
As Akku calls out, there is no audible response from the dark dancer. At least not yet.
As the group explores the rest of the caves, there doesn't seem to be anything else of interest. The murals are slowly being eroded thus being hard to identify. No secret exits here unfortunately. The slugs are still doing their slug thing.
Aiyana pipes up, "Are you sure you saw a dark dancer in here? I don't think they can innately vanish. But maybe if he was part of the Reborn... well I don't want to think what sort of items they can provide."