Demonica moves up and lets loose with her greatsword, now crackling with electricity.
plus 1d4 persistent electricity if wearing or made of metal
Puddins uses the flank to her advantage, or at least tries to!
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Demonica brings her energized sword around and down in a mighty arc, smashing the clockwork figure into a scattered heap of twisted and broken components!
Looking around the room you have a chance to look more closely at the adornments. Looking at the large statue, you recognize it as depicting the same rust-clad demon as the figure in the murals in the last room.
Looking at the columns, you see they depict several types of demons.
You recognize abrikandilu demons, babau demons, vrock demons, and merilith demons.
As you look around, both Henry and Demonica notice what looks like a secret door in the wall behind the statue!
"Good work, Sissa!" he says as Demonica fells the construct. He helps search the room but finds nothing particularly useful.
"Hmm that head looks like Dispater, one of the lords of hell. I remember reading about that in a book that Nana would read to me when she was in a feisty mood. Not sure what the demon-looking things are, but something seems off about them. Like maybe they aren't actually demons at all but some kind of dark gods? Anyway, let's take some time to patch up those of you who are hurt."
Demonia can't help smiling a little at Bireli's praise.
for head
for demons
"Oh those are pretty normal demons; demons are just kind of weird-looking. There are abrikandilu demons, babau demons, vrock demons, and merilith demons. Do you think we'll see a vrock?" She doesn't hide her excitement at the thought very well.
Otoro tries to follow Demonica's demonic exuberance, but clearly doesn't follow.
"How about the secret door, the one behind the big statue? Shouldn't we check that out?" asks Otoro, as he tries to change the topic.
Agreed. Once everyone is healed we should go through the secret door.
"What do you think, Henry? Do you think your mom is downstairs?"
"Probably, we haven't seen much sign of her on this floor." He thinks for a moment. "Let's check out downstairs."
"Alright then. Let's go downstairs and look for her."
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Deciding that Henry's mom is most likely further you, you forgo exploring the rest of this floor in favor of descending the spiral stone stairs. They descend, encased within a vertical shaft of ancient masonry, opening into a rough cavern below. The rectangular column containing the staircase is only the second most impressive sight in this natural-looking cave. The most impressive is the remnant of an ancient bridge that once crossed the vast chasm to the north . The chasm fluctuates between thirty and forty feet across, growing larger to the west and narrower to the east. Three passages exit this chamber to the east, west, and south. A curious ring of stones has been placed at the entrance to the southern passage.
Otoro glances around nervously and tosses a pebble over the edge into the chasm.
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Otoro's pebble falls....and falls...and falls into the inky darkness of the chasm. Perhaps you hear a small *plink* of it's impact...eventually. Or maybe you imagined it, and the pebble is still falling...At the very least, you can discern that the chasm is very deep. Looking at it more closely, the walls of the cavern near the top are riddled with small ledges and handholds, but seem to be smoother farther down.
Looking more closely, you can make out some of what is on the other side. On the far side of the ruined bridge to the north, you see a worked stone tunnel leading to a massive rusted door. To the northwest, a skeleton clad in chain mail and clutching a rapier lies slumped on a small ledge. To the east, you can just catch a glimpse of a smaller, intact bridge spanning the chasm, though you don't have a path to it.
"Hmm looks like lots of people have passed through here but not so much to the South. It looks like it hasn't been used much at all."
"I can get to the other side!" Bireli says confidently. He shrugs off his pack and unfastens a coil of rope.
Demonica looks down at the chasm and back up at Bireli. "Mom's gonna be so mad if you die."
Bireli flashes his sister a grin as he ties the rope onto a grapple. "That's why I definitely won't die, Nica!"
He moves over to the edge of the chasm and looks down. "Anyone else have rope? It'll be easier if I take a second coil over."
While he waits for an answer, he whirls the grapple in big loops and then tosses it toward the remnants of the bridge on the other side.
Otoro digs through his adventurer's pack for a 50ft coil of rope for Bireli.
”Thanks, Otoro!” Bireli says and accepts the rope. He pulls the first rope taught and ties it to the bridge remains on this side. Then he ties the second rope around his waist and to the bridge post. ”Puddins, could you guard that end just in case?”
He hooks his leg around the taught rope and flashes a grin at his sister, ”See you soon!” Then he swings out with his full weight onto the rope in order to shimmy across.
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Working slowly, Bireli is able to shimmy across to the other side . Arriving at the other side, he can get a better look at the door, which looks remarkably like the large, spiky, rusted door you saw on the floor above.
"Now what Bireli?" Henry cups his hands around his mouth and calls out. "Do we all come across?"
Bireli holds up a finger and then unties the rope around his waist. He ties it off on the bridge post before heading to the grapple. He tosses the rope with the grapple back to the other side of the chasm.
Then he pantomimes tying the rope around his waist and makes a beckoning motion.
Puddins casts Helpful Steps to conjure a freestanding 40' ladder. If it will span the gap, she will cut it down at the base and tip it across.
If not, she will use the ladder as an anchor for the ropes, forming a makeshift rope bridge.
She has 50' of rope to contribute as well.
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Bireli watches with a solemn face as Puddins conjures a wooden bridge. He raises his eyebrows. The he holds his belly laughing. "You let me do all that work first?" He grins at the dwarf. "Can I borrow that extra rope? I want to go get something while the others cross."
He ties off Puddins rope on the old bridge post at roughly thirty feet before tying it around his waist. "I'll be right back." He starts feeling for handholds on the rock wall.
"Piece of pie!" Bireli says as he climbs out onto the rock face.
Then he makes it look easy, finding hold after hold.
He slows as he disappears around an outcropping.
He hangs on the wall staring at the ledge and trying to figure out the best way to land. Finally, he secures a hold and drops onto the ledge.
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Bireli makes another harrowing journey, arriving after several tense moments at the outcropping with the skeleton. As he lands on the ledge, one of the skeleton's legs jerks to the side!
It only takes a few breaths on the edge of panic for Bireli to realize that it moved because his foot nudged it upon landing. The skeleton moves no further, and Bireli is safe to examine it. The body seems to be that of some long-dead adventurer, and most of its gear is rotted away. Remaining, however, is the still-functional suit of chain mail armor that seems to be made of cold iron, as well as a rapier with several runes engraved upon it.
Demonica looks at the other rune.
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Demonica takes some time examining the other rune on the rapier, recognizing it as a +1 fiend bane rapier.
Having a close up view of the rusty door, it bears a striking resemblance to the one upstairs. Remembering the trap you disabled on that one, Puddins and Bireli notice signs of a similar defense on this one.
"Let's give this door a try. Can someone take care of that trap?"
Bireli draws the blade partway from its sheath and raises his eyebrows. He unfastens the sword from the skeleton's belt and affixes it to his own. The cold iron chainmail merits a second thought, but he thinks better of trying to remove it from the skeleton on this narrow ledge or hauling back the entire body.
He climbs back the way he came and hops down with the others.
"This is a proper blade for a knight, don't you think, Nica?" he says.
. . .
Once they turn their attention to the door, he looks it over. "It's trapped the same as the other door. So... slightly harder than Granny Whit's fancy clock."
He removes his bundle of tools from his belt.
Otoro does their best to help Bireli out.
Henry watches with curiosity. "Where in the Abyss did you all learn to do all that?"
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It takes a little tinkering, but Bireli eventually gets the trap disabled. Once he's confident it won't set off, he pushes the door, expecting it to swing freely like the one above. It seems, however, that this one is locked! Thankfully, though, it only takes a few more moments for him to get it unlocked .
"Dad insisted on keeping me busy helping our neighbors, Henry," Bireli replies to the other youth. "And you can't learn to fix something without learning how to take it apart. He was also worried that if a boy didn't keep busy, he'd do something reckless like summon a demon." He poorly conceals his mirth as he looks at his sister.
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Pushing open the door, you find yourself entering a large rectangular chamber. Fibrous, vine-like coils of fungus grow on the walls, their tendrils clinging to the numerous cracks in the ancient stonework. A carpet of pungent, rust-colored mold coats the ground. Three skeletal remains, petrified from the mineral-rich water dripping from the ceiling above, lie slumped against the walls of the chamber. A shimmering, mostly transparent field of reddish-brown light blocks access to a larger room to the west, behind which you can see several figures moving around. Seven veins of metal seem to feed into the wall of light. Five of the seven pulse with varying shades of energy, some of which look familiar to you. This light feeds into the wall cordoning off the inner room, and seems to bathe the figures within. Two of the veins have gone dark.
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Demonica huffs and rolls her eyes at Bireli's dig.
"Undead!" call out Otoro as he slips into the room and presses both of his hands together and unleashes a tidal wave against them.
The moisture around Otoro quickly dries up as his gate closes.
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The mineral deposits covering the bones seem to deflect some of the blast, though it does crack and chip away a little bit under the load .
In a rasping voice, the lead skeleton calls out to you as its hands begin to glow with a ethereal, rust-colored flames.
It moves for a better angle, then points toward the doorway where a burst of necrotic damage washes over all of you!
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Otoro withers under the assault.
Puddins grits her teeth but takes some damage.
5 points of damage.