Herskor struggles to get to the top with so many keys in his hands that he begins to drop a few of them. Arriving back at the top he shows Aldmus the keys he was able to hold onto. Seven of them in total, none of which detect as magic to him. Still holding the spell, Aldmus can see that the magical key is down below at the bottom of the pool.
The group gives Aldmus a rope to help him swim back to the top.
Aldmus jump in and there is an instant rush of cold that hits you, almost to the point of gasping for air. It’s the end of harvest season and winter is near, this water must be flowing from an underwater spring with how cool it is.
You retain your casting of Detect Magic as you swim down. You can swim down with ease.
As you reach the bottom you look back up and see odd looking shapes in the waves of the water. It’s your party looking back down at you.
There is nothing special about this pool outside of the near 100 keys blanketing the bottom of the pool. All different shapes and sizes.
You quickly hone in on the key detecting magic and pick it up. If you’d like, you can also snag a few extra keys in the same general area. With a pull of the rope you hang on tight as the group pulls you to the top.
It takes you a few tries going up and down from the water collecting fist full of keys. It takes a few tries but eventually you do come back to the top with the correct key that detects as magical.
The half-elf mage narrows his eyes, inspecting the bounty that Herskor has retrieved, but after a few second, shakes his head. "I"m afraid not. None of these."
Aldmus sighs and leans on the lip of the fountain, gazing downward into the watery depths. "Wait. THERE! I can see it. Can you see me well enough from up here for me to point it out to you through the water, Herskor, or...damn. I'm going to have to go get it, aren't I?"
"Ok. Somebody tie that rope around me, and be ready to pull me back out. I'm not the best swimmer..." The magic-user looks rather nervous as he starts removing his pouches and equipment, pulling his robes off over his head and stripping down to his beeches.
"This is so peculiar. It'll be like fishing with wizard bait. I wonder what we could catch with a wizard on a string?" Kevan says continuing to watch with obvious delight.
Aldmus steals Esgean's attention away from her fiddling with the doors. He seems to be on to something. She watches with interest.
Despite himself, Aldmus chuckles at Kevan's comment, all the while securing the rope around his waist.
"Wish me good fortune. Be ready to pull me back out...please."
Aldmus takes a deep breath and then jumps into the water. There is an instant rush of cold that hits hard, almost to the point of pain, having him gasping for air. It’s the end of harvest season and winter is near, and the half-elf realizes that this water must be flowing from an underwater spring with how cool it is.
With his Detect Magic still in effect as he swims downward, the mage is surprised that he makes his way to the bottom with ease. Actually, down is easy. Gravity works. Getting out of here might be more difficult.
As he reaches the bottom of the pool, Aldmus looks back up and sees odd looking shapes in the waves of the water. Obviously, it's his party looking back down, but the half-elf is still momentarily distracted by the sight.
Aldmus notes that there seems to be nothing special about this pool outside of the near 100 keys blanketing the bottom . All of different shapes and sizes. And so, he quickly grasps the key revealed by his detecting magic and picks it up. On a whim, the mage snags a few extra keys in the same general area.
With a pull of the rope, Aldmus hangs on tight and starts kicking his feet, trying to swim upward and hoping the group pulls him to the top.
Felix helps to pull Aldmus up swiftly.
"Did it go okay? Were you able to get the key?"
Sputtering and breathing hard as he's pulled out of the water, all Aldmus can do is nod as he holds out the 'proper' key.
"Well done!
"We'll wait for you to get dressed before we open these doors."
The group takes a bit of time allowing Aldmus and Herskor to change out of their cold wet clothes into something, anything that might be a bit dryer. With Kevan checking the doors already, you know that they are not trapped.
Testing the key against both doors, it only unlocks the western door.
This long corridor is flanked by a row of human statues, set into alcoves on each side. The statues look like Kassen, and each one holds a longsword out in front of it. The blades of roughly half the statues are wrapped in leather padding.
45-feet the opposite end of this hallway is a shut door.
"Great work," Jhessa applauds the diving efforts of first Herskor and then Aldmus. As they dry off and change she watches with interest - not exactly brazenly but not surreptitiously either. She follows her goddess' tenets of looking for beauty in all things, and to her mind that clearly includes the human(oid) form.
As the party readies themselves to go down the new corridor, she takes a look at statues lining the way. "Does it seem odd to anyone else that some of these blades seem to be wrapped and others don't? A bit like the soft landing in the pit, perhaps? I think we should proceed with caution."
Herskor is surprised as Aldmus suddenly decides to get in the pool of water, instead of him making a couple more dives. With a shrug, the half-orc pulls himself out of the pool, then takes out the only piece of clothing he was wearing - his loincloth - and twists it to get as much water out of it as possible. Then he puts on his clothes, and hands the wet piece from a strap on his backpack to dry.
"Maybe they did not have time to finish padding them all?" - he adds in reply to Jhessa - "Why are they padded in the first place though?"
His breathing still labored from his physical exertion, Aldmus dries off as best he can using his cloak as a towel, and then pulls on his robes and pouches.
Not having seen the hallway yet, he calls over, "Padding? I agree...it's odd. Likely to do with more of the test and ceremony. We should be on our guard. Expect an attack from some of these statues, I would think."
Then, as an afterthought he adds, "Once we're all ready, maybe we could throw something at one of them, and see from here what happens. That way, if it is indeed a fight of some sort, we could bottleneck them here in the doorway?
Watching the mage return with the magic key, Esgean feels a new admiration for Aldmus. Her cheeks flush at the sight of his wet body and she has to turn away to avoid staring.
"Yes, err, hmm? Oh, I see, those blades do resemble some kind of mechanical trap, don't they. At least we know somebody came through that way, and if they did then there is a way to do traverse this passage safely.
"Kevan, this is your area of expertise but if you prefer I could send Rejke ahead to sense for possible danger."
Felix snaps his fingers as if he's just thought of something.
"We should have asked Roldare about any other traps or features in this complex that he knows about that we will face."
"Let's see what can be done." Kevan says and jumps to. "Interesting," He says as he looks into the room. "This reminds me of one of the training rooms in Sir Beskor's castle." He then moves cautiously through the door checking the floor and sides for any means of springing a trap. Once he finds it, if he does, he then disables the trap. He continues moving forward in a cautious search pattern as he goes. "Sir Beskor is perhaps the greatest knight there is. He chose me to be a squire of his but my sister couldn't bear the horrible racket of the castle so we had to leave. He once defeated an ogre at arm wrestling. It was very impressive. I'm sure Felix here will surpass old Beskor one of these days. He seems to have the right stuff."
"Wow, do you really think so, Kevan? I feel like I've finally found something that I'm good at, so it's great to hear that sort of encouragement!"
Felix hovers close to the halfling, ready to step between him and any threat that may appear.
"I wish we had, Felix..." Aldmus finishing drying his dark hair the best he can with his makeshift towel and then wrings the saturated garment out and folds it away into his pack.
The magic-user calls down the hall to the rogue, "How's it going, Kevan? How bad is our situation?"
The party begins to move forward defensively through the hallway, Kevan taking the lead.
Cautiously, Kevan begins making his way through the hallway passing the first set of status, second set of statues. At the third set of statues Kevan almost sets his foot down when he pauses and halts those behind him.
Kevan just sees a pressure plate before placing his foot on it. Taking his time, Kevan disables the trap successfully. The party can make their way through this hallway. Passing the point of the pressure plate, you see that the non-padded swords are deadly sharp. If you look closely, they are built into the statues themselves and are not able to be removed.
You make your way to the end of the hallway and discover that this door is unlocked. Kevan scans the door and finds no traps.
Looking into the room with your light sources, you see that one half of this lofty chamber has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing opposite the door is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “Home,” while the other reads “Family.”
You also see a door next to the wooden statue of Kassen, also there is a stairway heading east up into darkness.
"Could I have one of you magic types cast a light spell on this please?" Kevan says holding out a pebble in his palm. Once he has light he can carry with him he says "In I go." and slips in through the door. He works his way to the right following the wall up to the steps before turning north. His intent is to search the upper level before moving down toward the statue.
"Be safe," says Esgean, covering Kevan's hand with hers and uttering the cantrip to illuminate the pebble.
She kneels beside Rejke. "Follow him." She casts Guidance on her feline friend.
The bobcat slinks behind the halfling, senses alert.
Aldmus moves forward enough to be able to see, and gives Esgean a nod and a grin when she casts her spell. "You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to the intricate differences between the divine and arcane disciplines. Garnering essentially the same effects at times by way of vastly different methodology. Fascinating."
With another small nod, he once again casts Detect Magic and peers down the corridor.
When it seems that Kevan has started traversing the room without issue, Felix moves just inside of it so that he can keep an eye on the halfling.
Herskor stands watch at the back of the line, in case of a dastardly ambush.
Jhessa's face lights up at Aldmus' comment, she enjoys this kind of philosophical discussion at the temple. "It is. Not to mention the fact that Esgean's spells and mine aren't the same anyway. Different sources of power and yet we can all produce the same effect, at least to some degree." Although she knows it's completely unnecessary, she can't help demonstrating the point by uttering a quick cantrip and producing a light of her own.
Suddenly concerned that while they have been talking she is blocking the way, she follows Kevan and Felix into the room. The statue looms large in her view, clearly the focus of the room. "Whoa," she breathes.
Aldmus follows, ready to continue the discussion, "You know, I hadn't considered that there might be some difference in divine casting between the clergy and naturalists, but it does stand to reason..."
But the half-el is brought up short as he now sees the statue as well. "Hmmm. Well."
Kevan takes the lead heading in with his light souce making sure everything is safe on the upper level. No traps found, Rejke follows close behind and does not sense any animals.
While the casters in the group discuss the nuances of arcane vs divine spells, Jhessa shares they can produce the same effect to some degree.
From on this upper platform the group can see that the eastern entryway leads to a set of stairs that go up into darkness. If investigated further, you would see from the bottom that it levels off eventually and appears to descend.
Herskor doesn’t see anything that would cause an ambush.
"That's... impressive," Esgean says of the massive statue.
"Honestly, I really did not understand until just now how important Ekat Kassen was to this area. To build all of this in his memory... There are gods that don't get this much effort."
She approaches the statue for a closer look.
"It's odd that this statue has him with two shields, though. Generally, it's a weapon and a shield. Sometimes a weapon without a shield. I don't think that this is accurate.
"It is impressive, though."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"That statue reminds me of the story of Herk and Lee. They were on a great quest and had to cross the river of the dead but there was this giant statue that was straddling the thing. When they approached it attacked them. Little did they know it had been washed in the water of the river which made it nearly impossible to hurt. However, the fellow who washed it got tired before he got to the feet and so Herk was able to bash in its heel causing it to lose balance and fall in the river. Then Herk and Lee both got splashed and become impossible to hurt. I heard they went into the south to find a dragon with a golden leash." Kevan says looking at the statue. Then he shakes his head as if coming out of a reverie and goes to check the eastern (bottom) stairs.
Aldmus begins picking his brain about Kassen and if he used some kind of fighting style with two shields, and nothing that he had studied would say this is how he fought.
Esgean and Kevan both descend the stairs to the lower level. Once they read the floor something changed with the wooden statue, and it comes to life. It takes a step towards Esgean and attacks out with its shield. In a violent slam, Esgean takes a tower shield to the head and instantly drops the druid.
At the same time as the wooden statue stepping off of the platform Kevan sees the floor raise up just enough and he would realize that the statue was on a pressure plate. As the plate rises there is an audible click followed by a grinding sound as the stairs shift and turn into a 45 degree slide.
This is no statue, this is a wooden golem. A construct that is driven by arcane magic.
You also notice as the statue moves towards Esgean that there is a key hole on the statues back.
Initiative Round 1
Statue
All of you
Rejke hisses and springs to defend Esgean.
"It's got a keyhole on its back!" Kevan calls out as he jumps into the fray. Fighting defensively, he stabs for any spot that looks like a weak spot. "Little help, please!"
"Whoa! Whoa!! It's got a what...?! Aldmus's eyes go wide and he almost panics as he sees Esgean collapse, her body bashed aside by the wooden statue.
"Grimble! Protect her! Distract it!" the mage calls out, sending his dark familiar flapping towards the creature, circling and tenatively pecking at the wooden golem.
Summoning his arcane talent as he moves to the ledge, Aldmus calls out "Acidum spiculum!" and launches a pale lavendar globe of acid at the statue.
Felix leaps into action even before he realizes that Esgean has been knocked unconscious. He runs to the ramp leading to Esgean and her Rekje, and slides down it, trying not to collide into either.
He tries to use his momentum to gracefully bring him back up to a standing position, but stumbles and doesn't quite make it. When he regains his feet, he positions himself over Esgean as he faces the statue.
As Esgean continues to bleed out , Rejke springs to attack this wooden statue that has come to life. It’s bite and claws leave deep grooves in the statues form. From the opposite side, Kevan lunges in with his rapier which leaves an opening for the statue to turn and find an opportunity to hit the halfling with its tower shield. But because of the halflings size and defensive stance he tucks under the swinging shield and with the thunk the rapier finds a home. But as quickly as it landed it is pulled free and doesn’t seem as effective as it could have been.
From above Aldmus sends Grimble in to distract the statue, but it seems that the statue has bigger fish to fry than a pesky berd. Aldmus’s Acid Dart attack flies wide and hits the wall behind the group that is face to face with this large sized foe.
Even though Felix falls down the stairs that are now a slide, he is able to stand up with our any difficulty.
Initiative Round 1
Statue
All of you
"A keyhole?" shouts Jhessa to Kevan. "Can you put a key in it? The one we just used, maybe? If it's one of the others in the pool we're never going to find it." She lets out a shriek as the statue smashes Esgean to the floor and she moves next to Aldmus before whispering a minor prayer to stabilise the druid's condition.
"Good idea. That'll be easy...I'm sure the killer statue will cooperate..." Aldmus mutters with a sarcastic tone.
Jhessa moves forward to the stairs that has shifted into a slide. She is unable to keep her balance and falls prone at the bottom of the slide. She cast stabilize on Esgean.
Herskor double moves to get to the edge of the platform and draws his bow.
The wooden statue moves again and attacks out at Felix and Kevan swinging around with its shields, but both attacks miss.
Initiative Round 1
Statue
All of you
Rejke lashes out at the monstrous wooden statue with extreme violence, snarling and biting, then swiping with her sharp claws.
Slightly hurt by Aldmus’ tone, Jhessa bites back, ”So we just let it beat us to a pulp?” She pauses a second before continuing, ”Sorry, this is just, you know, a lot right now.” Wishing she had something more to offer she recites the words to a prayer and a faint rosy aura briefly illuminates Kevan. ”Shelyn protect and guide you, Kevan,” she says.
"Who's got the key? I can give it a try. It's like poking a tree." Kevan calls out as he lunges at the thing again looking for something more vital than an armored plate.
sneak attack thanks to the flank
Pleased that he's not dulling one of Braggar Ironhame's blades or axes, Felix swings his flail at any part of the statue he can hit.
"If you want to try the key, I'll try and hold its attention!"
Felix hopes he doesn't step on Esgean or her cat.
On the edge of the manufactured bowl, Aldmus blinks with sudden realization that he in fact, still had the enchanted key, clutched in his left hand. "Eh...er...ah, Jhessa, that's not what I meant, I...dammit."
The half-elf gauges the distance, and for a moment considers throwing the key to Kevan, but swiftly discounts that plan. Yeah. Couldn't hit the HUGE statue with a spell...not going to be able to hit the halfling with a small, unweighted piece of metal.
The mage speaks a couple of arcane words, "Magus Armaturam", summoning a pale, emerald burst of energy that momentarily sheathes his entire body in Mage Armor, before fading from visible detection.
Aldmus then shakes his head in quiet disbelief at what he was about to do...aiming to end up near the statue and Kevan. And then, not allowing himself the option of backing out, he exhales and charges over the lip and down the incline to where the combat was ongoing.
...and promptly slips, slides, and falls prone.
Kevan then pats his vest with his left hand, "I'm such a fool. I have the key." He drops his rapier and runs at the wall leaping up and using that to spring himself onto the statue. He looks impressive coming off the wall but can't find purchase on the machine's back and goes skidding off.
this one is for climb or CMB as necessary Climb +4 CMB -1
Rejke continues to successfully attack out at the wooden statue. With Jhessa’s blessing, Kevan’s rapier strikes true, but it doesn’t look as successful as it normally could have been. Felix swings around with his flail, it strikes true but it bounces off the wooden torso not appearing to be as effective. Aldmus cast Mage Armor on himself before slipping down the slide stairs leaving a pile up of the group.
Herskor draws his bow and loosens an arrow at the wooden statue of Kassen. The arrow goes wide.
The wooden statue swings it’s tower shields at Felix and Rejke, both miss.
Kevan takes the key and flips up off the wall but doesn’t grapple the wooden statue
Initiative Round 3
Statue
All of you