As you head towards the pool, you pass by the hallway that leads to where you fought the beetle and its babies that you fled from. You Do remember that there was another door in that chamber.
As you pass the entry room you pass by the bodies once again and by now you begin to have a sense of the beginning of rot in the flesh around the wounds.
You make your way into the chamber with the pool. Aldmus would remember that he did not detect anything magical about the pool or the fountain and up to this point, no one has had any negative reactions from being in the water the previous day. You can refill you waterskins as needed.
* The Half-Orc Convo *
Aldmus arches an eyebrow and then turns to Herskor and speaks in Orcish "Dammit man. We hardly have the ability to carry you out of here if you fall down in combat due to your damn ego. Take the potion, heal up, so you can protect the weak ones here...myself included...and lead us to glory!"
He pauses, then adds in the Common tongue, "C'mon, Herskor. We're just worried about you..."
* Now... *
The half-elven magic-user fills his canteen just like the others do, and says, "So...what now? We could always go back to deal with those beetles. There was another doorway there. Or we could wander back through the maze...there was that door at the end of that long hallway..."
Esgean shares her ration with Rejke, who drinks straight from the pool.
"There were two other doors leading from the room with the statue. One of them seemed to lead up in the direction of the room with the beetles, but did we check the door to the south?"
"So...what now? We could always go back to deal with those beetles. There was another doorway there."
"It would feel satisfying to not leave that swarm behind us, but it seems like your fire was the only thing we had that was effective on them. How many times can you do that?
"Because if we can't burn them out, it might be better to just leave them be. Of course, there could be something important behind that door."
”Would ordinary fire work or is the magic the important part here?” asks Jhessa. ”I don’t love the idea of a loose end and, as you say, we don’t know who or what may lie beyond. We do have other routes to explore too though.”
Aldmus arches an eyebrow and then turns to Herskor and speaks in Orcish "Dammit man. We hardly have the ability to carry you out of here if you fall down in combat due to your damn ego. Take the potion, heal up, so you can protect the weak ones here...myself included...and lead us to glory!"
He pauses, then adds in the Common tongue, "C'mon, Herskor. We're just worried about you..."
"I'll be fine" - Herskor insists stubbornly, then adds proudly in orcish - "No one needs to ask for my bow or shield to be there to defend them. It just is. Why should I need to ask for healing when I am wounded?"
"We have four flasks of oil so we could toss one on the bugs" at this he gives a little shiver before he continues, "and then use one of the fire spells to ignite it or light it first and toss it. But, there are two routes out of the statue room which do not require us to fight anything. I think that route would be better. I doubt the baby beetles will follow us."
"Because we're all new at this, and I'm sure that our healer doesn't want to damage your pride by assuming you're hurt and in need of help." Aldmus continues in Orcish, crossing his arms across his chest and then sighing.
Herskor ponders Aldmus' words for a few seconds, then nods and silently moves to approach Esgean and Jhessa - "I... I am wounded" - the half-orc stammers, his head low - "I would accept any healing you may have to offer"
"And I will gladly taste one of those magical berries" - he added to Esgean specifically.
While Herskor is talking to the healers, Felix puts his hands on Aldmus' shoulder and nods at him.
"Good work."
He then resumes putting the rest of his armor on.
The group fills their water and finishes donning their armor. Possibly even washing off their face and necks off. All the while talking about the best way to dispatch the swarm of tiny beetles that attacked the group from the nest.
Herskor, after some persuasion, decides to eat some of Esgean’s magical berries.
"Since we are standing here, shall we try a key or two on this overly protected door?" Kevan asks gesturing to the door that has licked him.
Esgean says nothing more to her proud friend Herskor, but approaches him and channels the energy of the natural order, quietly calling on primitive forces to bind his wounds and heal his spirit.
Her own spirit is still troubled, however, and the result of the spell is not what she hoped. She reaches into her waterproof bag and produces three goodberries.
"These will fill your belly and sustain you as well as work some small healing power. You may have the rest, if you like. I'll make more later."
As Herskor is being healed, Kevan tries his hand at some of the keys that Herskor brought up with him. None of which work.
Esgean moves forward and heals Herskor through her druidic powers and magical berries.
Once everyone is ready, the group moves slowly through the hallway with the statues that swung their swords. Even though they don’t come alive, one slipup could find you impaled on the ones whose blades aren’t covered up.
Arriving at the door, Kevan again checks it for traps and for locks. He finds none. Trying the handle, the door pushes open into the room.
The light that was barely visible around the cracks of the door flair up like a firework minus the explosion. When your eyes adjust you see a small chamber that has a large wooden table in the center of the room. Around it sits six high back wooden chairs.
On the table is what you could only call a feast. Roasted pig and quail. Fresh fruit and vegetables. Cheese and breads with spiced jams. Along the wall are two cask each with a spout. The aroma draws you in, almost irresistible. You haven’t seen anything like this since last year’s Winter Week.
Going into the room you see a finely crafted backpack in each of the high-backed chair. Each one has branded initials
The backpack is a Masterworked Backpack.
Opening the bag, you find a Potion of Cat’s Grace and an Oil of Magic Weapon.
The backpack is a Masterworked Backpack.
Opening the bag, you find a Wand of Produce Flame (10 Charges) and a Scroll of Barkskin.
The backpack is a Masterworked Backpack.
Opening the bag, you find a Potion of Eagle’s Splendor and an Oil of Magic Weapon.
The backpack is a Masterworked Backpack.
Opening the bag, you find a Scroll of Lesser Restoration and a Wand of Cure Light Wounds (10 Charges)
The backpack is a Masterworked Backpack.
Opening the bag, you find a Scroll of Web and a Wand of Mage Armor (10 Charges)
The backpack is a Masterworked Backpack.
Opening the bag, you find a Potion of Cure Light Wounds and a Potion of Invisibility
Jhessa nods thanks to Esgean as she calls on her nature spells to mend Herskor's wounds. Good work, girl, she thinks, laying a hand on Esgean's shoulder as she surreptitiously inspects her spellwork.
* * * * *
"Woah! breathes Jhessa, as her eyes adjust to the lighting change in the room Kevan has just unlocked. "What is this place?" she asks, not necessarily expecting a reply. Despite having broken fast not long ago, her stomach rumbles at the delicious-looking spread on the table. Clocking the bags on the chairs and connecting the initials to each member of the part, she says "Clearly we were expected." She moves round to the chair with the backpack initialled with 'JF'. "Look, there's one for each of us." Excitedly she undoes the clasp and pulls out a spell scroll and a wand. "Look at this!" she exclaims, holding up her new items. "Gifts! It would appear we have some generous benefactors."
She suddenly freezes as a horrible thought occurs to her. "Unless this is too good to be true?" she adds, concern in her voice.
"Probably. Though, who can tell? Give Kevan and I a moment to check it out...and please stop opening things." Pushing into the room and coming around to stand near the chair where the bag with his own initial sits, Aldmus summons his Detect Magic cantrip, and scans the room with amber-glowing eyes.
Aldmus detects magic filling this room. Powerful Conjuration magic.
This is a strong and powerful spell. Well above any of the magic users you have learned from in Kassen. You are unsure of where it could have come from. It is from the Conjuration sub-school Creation.
The magical effect that is filling this room is called Heroes’ Feast. A spell that conjures a great feast that could include a table, chair, and service.
Kevan was about to grab a turkey leg when Aldmus spoke up. He stops, gives a sheepish grin and says, ”Of course we have to check it out first.” He then begins to work his way around the table, taking his time and trying to be thorough. (Take 10 if available Perception +7 to find traps)
”You know,” he says as he works his way around the table, ”This reminds me of the time Dr McCaskill and I hunted down a bog witch. She tried to distract us with a spread like this. Evil witch but boy could she cook.”
Jhessa has the good grace to look abashed at Aldmus’ admonishment. Like a kid on their name day she had got carried away, though she balances the thought against her belief that life needs joy in it, and pleasures should be taken where they can, however big or small. She lays her presents on the table and waits to see what the others might learn.
Esgean stops short when she sees the unbelievable presentation in the room before them.
"This can't be real. We've been here for days. We know from Roldare that almost everyone from Kassen who was sent here to prepare for us has been killed. This must be a trap of some kind. Meant to further darken out spirits, and if that is the intent then it is working."
The very sight of so much good food and finery makes her heart sink. She's almost willing to push aside reason and indulge in this fantasy, consequences be damned.
Nevertheless, she finds the backpack with her initials. Finding the wand and scroll therein the says, "I don't understand what's happening here."
Aldmus makes a face, obviously frustrated. The half-elf shakes his head and says, "There's something off about the room. Strong...very strong conjuration magic at work, filling the room. I feel like I should know what this is, like it's on the tip of my tongue, but...dammit, I don't know."
A pause, then, "Don't trust it. Or at least, be wary of...well, everything. You might very well be right, Esgean. It might all be a trap." With that, Aldmus crosses his arms and frowns at pretty much everything in the room.
Normally never one to turn down a feast (magical or otherwise), Felix is also wary of this being a trap, especially considering it was preceded by two other deadly traps.
The paladin carefully picks up the pack off of the chair closest to the door they came in and just as gently places it on the ground. Then he drags the high-backed chair over to the door the group just came through, and tries to use the chair as a doorstop to block the door should it decide to suddenly close.
He joins the others staring at the feast and packs.
"Roldare said that he and the others never came this way, so this isn't from them. But... how else could whoever know our initials?"
Kevan puts on the breaks as he remembers the other chambers of this tomb and takes a moment to look for traps. There are no traps to be found.
Esgean disbelieves what she is seeing, but as she picks up her pack and pulls out the gifts within she finds that they are very real.
Aldmus is very wary of this room. Rightfully so because of everything else this tomb has thrown at the party that had resulted in some near fatal endings.
Felix props open the door to this chamber with one of the highbacked chairs as he brings up the fact that Roldare said they had not come this way. Who would know the initials of the group. The party thinks back on their childhood, which was not too long ago, and no one recalls this in any of the very secretive stories told about those who have done this rite of passage before.
"I didn't find anything. I think it's safe. Even the bog witch didn't poison us. Maybe one of the more experienced casters from town came here earlier and prepared this? I mean if a traveling magician can make a rabbit appear, why couldn't a real mage make a dinner appear?" Kevan removes his pack from the chair and sits down. "Let's eat. Of course, there is the story of Jason and cargonaughts who ate a magical dinner and all of his men turned into pigs. If I turn into a pig, don't eat me please?"
"These will fill your belly and sustain you as well as work some small healing power. You may have the rest, if you like. I'll make more later."
"Thank you Esgean" - the half-orc nodded, eating the berries, one a at a time.
-----
Herskor checks the contents of the backpack, then transfers his own possessions into the new, much better one. Once done, he approaches the table, grabs a quail and sniffs it - not finding anything 'off' with it he shrugs, and takes a big bite - "Unless someone is moving ahead of us to make our life easier if we get into trouble? If this is part of some game..."
Seeing as how the group is set on trying the food, Felix doesn't want to seem like he's waiting for them to test the food for him. He tentatively takes a few bites.
Afterwards, if he hasn't died from poison or turned into a pig, he'll also combine his backpack with the new one designated for him.
Begrudgingly Aldmus opens the pack with his initials on it, examines the contents, and then sits. He sips from his own water flask, and observes the others who have decided to eat. His stomach growls, not so quietly, but still he watches, looking for signs of poisoning or delusion.
To Kevan, he says, "I could be wrong, but I'm not sure that whatever," he waves his hand arbitrarily about, "THIS is would be something that anyone local would be able to do. Possibly not even my master."
Jhessa shrugs at Herskor's comment. "It's hard to know any more - we know from Roldare some things have been done to make our life easier and some things in here have got out of hand; some of it is a game and some of it isn't. Exactly what this - or anything else we encounter I suppose - is, is anyone's guess."
Despite the suspicions of certain party members, nothing has been spotted or divined that suggests it is anything other than what it appears. That doesn't mean it isn't, she concedes, but the quality of the feast proves too appetising. Jhessa makes a show of seating herself daintily, and unfurling a napkin with a flourish. She helps herself to some of the bread, cheese and chutney and it proves to be as delicious as it looks.
"Point taken," she says to Aldmus, after swallowing a mouthful. "But if this is magic beyond anything we could see in town, then it's power well beyond our capabilities. If they have malicious intent, what's stopping them simply wiping us out in a more direct fashion?" She gestures to the spread. "Otherwise, what's the game plan with all this? It's a lot of effort to make things look like some kind of accident and there are more effective ways to do that. The personalised bags don't make much sense in that context to me, it just doesn't really add up." She shakes her head before breaking into a smile and looking at Kevan, "Besides, as we know from all good stories, those who succeed and trials and tests tend to get their rewards."
There is hesitation to trust this room, but slowly everyone begins to eat what they feel comfortable with. All but the exception of Aldmus who watches for signs of poisoning or delusion. None of which shows itself.
As you spend time in this room, you also notice how it has a warmth to it that is unlike the rest of the tomb you have explored. Jhessa mentions how things don’t add up, but you all know that Roldare wasn’t even prepared for whatever it was they stumbled upon.
Over the course of the next hour the group eats, and drinks more than they might have expected, but not to an uncomfortable stuffed level. But looking around the table, you still see the wounds that Esgean and Herskor still have from this rite of passage gone wrong.
When the last of the group exits the room, there is another flash of light and all the treats and drinks have vanished. The light in the room is no more, and the aroma slowly fades back to the damp musty smell of a tomb.
Those who might have packed extra food or drink into their backpacks or waterskins feel their equipment get lighter as they are no longer in your packs. Thankfully, you still feel as if you ate a delicious meal.
"To the steps my friends unless some diehard wants to go clean out the beetles." Kevan says and walks toward the steps after getting his stone lit up.
As badly as she wants to fill her belly with the fine meats and breads laid upon the table, her mind tells her it is not natural - nat of the earth. And so it should not be put into the body.
I can create water magically, she reminds herself. That's different, she goes on, but she can't really figure out how. Her mind wanders back to the brief conversation with Aldmus earlier - how magics from different spheres achieve the same result. She decides to think on that point more later.
Rejke looks up at Esgean with wide, accusatory eyes. "Go ahead," she says, giving the bobcat permission to take her place at the table.
Satisfied beyond all earthly desire, the cat licks its whiskers for hours afterward.
The party gathers their belongings and watch the food and drink vanish as the light fades from the flash. They all climb the stairs leading east from the statue room and see that it goes up and back down and ends in the room with the beetles.
Once in this room , there is no sight of the swarm of beetles, but the man’s body and the corpse of the beetle are still where they laid originally. In the north west corner of this chamber, near the body, is a pile of whatever this beetle found to make nest.
Looking over the door that leads south, you discover no traps and it is unlocked.
"Looks safe enough. Burn up the nest or just go through the door?" Kevan asks those following behind him.
"Can we please leave the nest alone this time?" Esgean wants no part of the beetle swarms.
Jhessa shudders, recalling the previous hasty retreat and concurs with Esgean. "They're doing us no harm so much better to leave them be if we can avoid stirring them up."
"If this were a more populated area, I don't think we could ignore the danger those beetles pose. But if we can get to the door without drawing them out, then we can respect their wishes," Felix indicates Esgean, Jhessa, and Herskor, "and leave them be."
Some of the group has spoken up for leaven the nest and beetles alone. They have not shown themselves since a few have started to enter this chamber.
As Kevan opens the door, those who are near it can see that there is light coming from within this chamber. Opening the door a bit more, it reveals a hallway that turns east. Coming from within is a horrible aroma of something burning and some smoke begins to pour out into the chamber with the beetles. The only sound you can hear is the familiar sounds of a popping fire dying down.
The remains of a small fire smolder in the center of this broad chamber, letting off a plume of oily smoke. Fed by a heap of burning gear, debris, and even the horrific sight of the charred remains of an unrecognizable body.
The fire cast a flickering light across the walls of this room, partially obscured by the veil of smoke.
The sickly smell and smoke forces you to cover your eyes and face. You think if you spent much time in here you could become sick.
With his burning Hands spell ready for an appearance by a swarm, Aldmus heads into the 'beetle room' with the others, and stops short at the scene revealed when Kevan opens the door and they move down the hall. "Omigod. What the hell..??"
Coughing, the mage staggers back a few step. "ok...somebody...cough...something...must have done that...cough... recently. "
"Backup, backup. Anyone have a bucket? We could get some of that pool water and hike it over here." Kevan says as he walks back out of the room.
As Aldmus moves in and sees the horrific sight in the chamber, his eyes catch something from across the room. Or he thought he did. It could be his eyes playing tricks on him in the smoke and the fading fire, but for a moment Aldmus could have sworn he saw someone across the room behind the pillar.
Besides the east side of the fire, you see a scorched key. The smoke and it becoming blackened made this more difficult to see.
Felix wants to be up front to be able to face any threats, but others have gone before him, and he doesn't want to be pushy about it.
"I don't have a bucket," he answers Kevan from back in the hallway. "The mayor didn't include any in our packs.
"How is a fire still burning in there? Unless someone started it recently? We should be on guard."
Felix makes sure his flail is in hand.
"Perhaps if we allow it a moment, it will waft away?" - Herskor grunted from the back - "I don't remember seeing any bucket"
"Does anyone have any water magic?" Jhessa asks, looking primarily at Aldmus and Esgean.
"Not at the moment," Esgean replies. "Is there no way around whatever is in there?"
As the group continues to talk, from the flickering of the light a smokey shadowy creature appears besides Aldmus and reaches out with its smokey hand. It appears as if its hand reaches through your equipment, clothing, and any kind of armor. You feel the cold touch in your bones as you feel your muscles begin to atrophy.
Those standing besides Aldmus only catch a glimpse of a hand swiping through the mage.
You know that this creature is a shadow, and incorporeal undead being. It is said that a shadow can produce other shadows of those it kills, but they can also be birthed when someone dies in a horrifically evil way.
Initiative: Round 1
All of you
Creature
When Felix hears Aldmus react to being attacked, the paladin starts pushing and shoving people out of his way to get to the mage.
"Out of the way! Let me through!"
He mentally berates himself for trying to be polite regarding the others disregarding the established marching order. He should have done better.
When he enters the room, and he spies the shadowy creature, he invokes Iomedae's name and their shared opinion of demons and undead.
"By The Inheritor's will, you do not belong in this world!"
He prepares to strike.
"Wait here," Esgean says to Rejke while she advances behind Felix. The young druid rounds the corner to see Aldmus stricken and sullen. She raises her hands and quickly casts a cantrip on him.
Move and Cast Guidance on Aldmus.
She cannot see what has attacked Aldmus but it is easy to see that whatever it was has inflicted a grievous effect on the wizard.
"We should run and regroup!" she says with fear in her heart.
"Nnnrruurghhh!" Aldmus literally goes weak in the knees as his legs shudder and he almost falls to the ground in agony. Ashen-faced with tears running down his cheeks, the half-elf staggers 5 feet farther into the room to make space for Felix and the others.
The magic-user summons his Mage Armor and then says (with far more difficulty than his oh-so-clever-mind knows it usually should) mutters out, "It's a shadow...undead...Very dangerous...births more...by killing mortals..."