|
Zarnel translates for his friends the two sets of Hallit script, the one on the wall and the other at the statue. He notes that the script says "Servants shall grovel at their master’s feet," and Valais' demon-parts are demanding that they cower at their feet. Similarly, the statue's script encourages supplicants to serve their masters while the demon demands obedience. He points these things out, and concludes that there is too much similarity. "This temple is clearly for the worship of a demon - likely the one trapped within Valais which is why she is drawn here - and not a leftover local god," he states. "See no evil, Abide no evil. Vildeis would not allow this to stand."
He peers around the statue to see if there's any weaknesses or vulnerable points,
But seeing nothing, he draws his hammer again and strikes the statue to tear it down.
Zarnel destroys the statue with little effort. Doing so reveals a compartment with a set of magical manacles.
Valais examines the flail in the statue's hand and reaches toward it. Despite it being lodged in the grip of the stone fist, she is easily able to remove it.
To the north is an armed trap; the south, apparent safety. What now?
|
|
"There's still a bit of a hoof here..."
Bask enthusiastically encourages Zarnel's destruction of the statue, and then examines the manacles and the flail
"Both are magical, but the enchantments escape me"
Watching Valais behaving strangely, he now might be a good time to give a blessing of Sarenrae to his allies. His hand glowing with divine radiance, he places a hand on the shoulders of his allies and whispers a prayer to Sarenrae under his breath.
"While her light bathes the world, may the glory of the Dawnflower guide your steps"
"Lead the way Merisiel. Salim! To me"
|
|
Not wanting to be left out of the action, Corona kicks a piece of the shattered statue and sends it skittering back down the hallway.
"Yeah! Take that!"
She's also surprised to see that the statue contained a hidden item - two, really, including the flail. "Enchanted, huh? Let me see..."
"Oh...those are Manacles of Cooperation, New & Old Friends. And the flail is a +1 Flail. Huh."
The party continues to the north. Nothing explodes or jumps out at themas they pass the area Merisiel identified as dangerous. There is a door to the east and another to the west.
The hinges are damaged, so you may be able to force it open.
"This door," Merisiel points at the door to the east, "locked but not trapped." She takes out her tools and tries to opent it, "but I have no idea about that one."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Well, this is how I survived, for longer than you will ever live," Merisiel answers while she pokes her tools into the keyhole. "a lot of time maybe, but I have time to spare."
Merisiel has no issue opening the door to the east.
Pale white walls covered in seemingly random splotches of pastel paint comprise the only decoration in this otherwise empty room. In the center of the room is a pedestal with a single glowing shard lying atop it. A dazzling bright light shines from nowhere in particular.
|
|
"This doesn't look strange or suspicious at all, New Friends," Corona smiles as they peer into the room. "There's probably magic in here so I wanna see if I can figure out what kind before we go in and start touching things."
From her position just outside the door, Corona uses her power to scan what she can of the room for magical auras.
______________
There are three magic auras that fill the room - strong enchantment, faint abjuration and faint necromancy. the crystal also has two auras - strong varied and faint evocation.
There are definitely two traps in the room, but their magic is beyond Bask's ability to do anything about them.
|
|
Zarnel watches quietly as Corona and Bask survey the room. At the mention of traps he hangs back to let Merisiel "do her thing." Though he's curious about the shard, his realization that this whole place is a temple to a demonic usurper means he's willing to be cautious. Ultimately, though, the whole place will need to be razed to the ground if it can't be cleansed and consecrated to Good. So for now, he waits.
Upon hearing "traps", Merisiel takes a closer look of the room, quickly finding her work to do.
Merisiel finds and removes the traps in the room. It looks like one would incapacitate you while you relived your happiest memory, while the other would curse you as the hallucination was turned to a nightmare.
The Pathfinders enter the room, and Valais begins muttering . It sounds like she is speaking to people who aren't there, reminiscing about past adventures.
The door is locked, but Merisiel has no issue opening it.
The hallway leads around in a circle, eventually opening back to the door you saw earlier and another to the west.
Crafted of iron and bone, a massive door blocks the way west. A mural of human and animal bones on the walls depicts humans and woodland creatures in a forest. On the left side of the door, humans kneel before a massive tree. Between them is a thumb-sized hole. On the right side of the door, a man slits his own throat, blood pooling on the trunk of the tree. In the carving of the bloody pool is another thumb-sized hole.
As you approach the door, Valais says, “We’re so close now. We need to find a way to open this door. TOUCH THIS DOOR AND I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES.”
The crystal you took from the previous room looks to be the right size to put into one of the holes.
"Looks like there should be another of this somewhere, but I don't think we missed any room in this structure," Merisiel frowns, "though I can try to open it anyway, this does not seem easy." She stares at the door and starts to figure out the mechanism of the lock.
The door to the southeast is neither locked nor trapped. The one to the northeast you examined already.
...southwest and northwest...
"I say we go to the north room first."
The room to the northwest is clearly unfinished. Some of the walls have been carved to flat surfaces, while others are still bare stone. A quick check reveals nothing of interest here.
The Pathfinders head for the door to the southeast, but as soon as Bask steps into the hallway it fills with phantasmal swords.
|
|
Zarnel walks cautiously with Bask and Salim, keeping a close eye on Corona but without letting her know that he is. Or at least he tries to not let her know. He's not actually fooling anyone.
But he is distracted just enough that he doesn't notice the phantasmal swords until it's too late.
He pulls out his wand and takes half a minute to heal himself, then offers it to Merisiel also.
|
|
Bask throws himself back and narrowly avoids the force blades.
"Careful friends, there's something here..."
After he catches his breath, he turns to Merisiel.
"Merisiel perhaps you could find a way to disable this magical deathtrap? I can't see a trigger, but it happened as soon as I stepped just here"
"Nice dodge, Bask."
Merisiel squeezes to the front of the party and observes the trap closely, "Magical traps makes no difference to me when it comes to disabling them, " moving her hands at the same time.
Merisiel usually has less things trying to stab her while trying to disarm traps, so makes no headway. Good news, she can't set it off more.
You do realize that the barrier will disappear after 10-15 minutes, but it may reappear when you enter the area, depending on how the trap is set up. You can wait it out and hope for the best, run through and accept some damage, or try disabling again.
|
|
"These demonic traps are getting tiresome," Zarnel says in frustration. The usually patient aasimar counsels waiting for the barrier to subside. He volunteers to test it out then, as is consistent with the First Tenet of Vildies' code: Sacrifice defies the selfishness of evil. I will not shy from a sacrifice that would help the greater good.
"I appreciate your will, Zarnel, but let me be the one handling these things." Merisiel crouches down and starts working on the trap again. "Give me some more time..."
The blades disappear after a short while. Zarnel cautiously enters the area once it seems clear and... nothing happens. Merisiel can tell that the trap will reset, but at least it's not immediate.
The door in the southwest is neither locked nor trapped. Following his credo, Zarnel passes through the door once it has been opened.
The walls of the chamber are smooth black marble; a fist-sized black stone set in a niche in the eastern wall seems to absorb light. A small crystal shard glows with an eerie purple light at the apex of the angled ceiling. Shades of faint movement skitter across the far wall, and one of them peels out of the wall and stares across the room, its hostile intent clear.
The creature seems humanoid, with broad shoulders and long, flowing hair. Dark lines on its arms are reminiscent of scars, and it carries a greatsword.
Round 1 - bolded may go
Bask
Merisiel
Zarnel
Corona
???
|
|
Bask rushes in, emboldened by Corona's spell. His muscles bulge as he takes on an aspect of the bull
"Salim! To me!"
Salim follows but due to the close confines of the corridor makes slow progress.
Up close all Bask's thoughts of offering quarter disappear as he sees the strange beast before him, and strikes to kill instead.
|
|
The creature seems humanoid, with broad shoulders and long, flowing hair. Dark lines on its arms are reminiscent of scars, and it carries a greatsword.
This ... thing ... seems eerily familiar, Zarnel thinks as he warily follows Bask and Salim in. There is certainly some demonic magic at work here, but I can't be sure right now that it's evil.
In spite of his uncertainty, he strikes the shadow of himself(?) anyway.
Zarnel moves into the room, recognizing a similar-shadowy form but still chooses to attack. He cuts a wide arc with his greatsword.
As he does, the shadow creature advances, a malicious grin the only aspect of the enemy that does not mirror Zarnel. It attempts a mighty blow of its own.
Both blades pass through the fray without harming their targets.
Bask follows Zarnel in, and as he does, another shadowy form emerges from the wall, this one in the shape of a feral-seeming half-orc. Their scimitars fall on each other simultaneously.
Once again, neither combatant is injured.
One of the shadows still on the wall takes on a feline aspect.
Round 1 - bolded may go
Bask
shadow Bask
Zarnel
shadow Zarnel
Corona
Merisiel
Merisiel approaches shadow Zarnel and throws a dagger at it.
Merisiel throws a dagger, which bounces off the wall. A shadowy elf emerges and throws a dagger back.
It also strikes the floor.
The shadows mimic all of your movements, but have no ability to affect you.
Round 2 - bolded may go
Bask
shadow Bask
Zarnel
shadow Zarnel
Corona
Merisiel
shadow Merisiel
|
|
With everyone else in the room, Corona is able to move up and step inside as well.
She blinks at seeing all the shadow-duplicates of her friends and as one in her own likeness begins to peel from the wall. "How strange!"
She wastes no time in attempting to afflict Shadow-Zarnel with a bout of bad fortune.
______________
"Those are mere illusions that mimic our movements! They cannot affect us." Observing the strange situation that no one seems to really cause any damage, Merisiel concludes. She steps back to the entrance of the room to comfirm the fact.
Valais rushes into the room, and a shadow Valais appears. The two claw at each other ineffectually.
Zarnel detects no evil in his copy. He swings at it, and it swings back.
Again, their blades fail to harm each other.
Corona casts a spell from the safety of the hallway, and the shadows do not respond.
Merisiel figures out that the shadows are more like mirrors, and as she backs away, her clone does as well. Now that they know that there is no danger, the Pathfinders can reach the gem easily.
It appears to be loosely attached to something else.
You can also look through the rest of the room.
The party has now explored everything except for the locked door to the east. The two stones look like they will fit into the indentations on that door, or you can try to open it in another way.
|
|
Zarnel backs away from his shadow-self, sword held high at the ready in case Merisiel is wrong. She's been right about everything so far, and a godsend for her skills. Hopefully she can extract the gem as Zarnel, like Bask and Salim, isn't going to be much help here.
As he keeps a wary eye on the shadows, he reads the scrawled writings in the room. He points them out, but explains them only as demon-tainted gibberish.