"Dang it! I've got to do better than that".
◆ Load Hand Crossbow
◆ Strike Hand Crossbow
Crossbow
Bolt
◆ Take Cover
Tol misses with his attacks, but Ed's projectile strikes the sinspawn, as does Hess's bolt. Turac and Reknar both deliver powerful blows, and the monster falls!
The desk-like arcane device here is larger and more intricate than those found in the main lab, as if they were merely prototypes to test a theory, with this device being several iterations more advanced. Unlike the devices in the previous room, this spire doesn’t gather energy—instead, it refocuses the energies from this level down into whatever chambers are below.
Lying on the desk is a scroll of mud pit, a scroll of dispel magic, a scroll of resist energy, and a wand of grease.
Ed quickly gathers up the scrolls and wand storing them away for later. "Should be handy to have! Now let's see about deactivating this spire here..."
Ed succesfully deactivates the device, cutting off the flow of arcane power to the level below.
Breathing heavily, Tol points at the stairs down.
”Well done everyone….Shall we….?”
"I need a moment" - Reknar ploped himself down.
Turac calls upon Iomedae to heal Reknar's injuries.
"Thanks Turac!" - Reknar nodded at his companion - "That is truly prodigious" - he smiled as his wounds closed.
"I say we circle back here," Ed suggests, "Make sure we didn't miss anything."
Tol frowns, but nods.
”I’m all for completion for completion’s sake, and I definitely don’t want any cultists or their wyrd pets coming at us from behind.”
"Sure, let's make sure the place has no more threats on this level" - Reknar agrees.
"Wasn't there a door in the previous room that you heard something behind"?
Tol’s eyes brighten a little.
”Yes, yes there was. And there was at least another door in the hallway from Ranulf’s room that led to the north - Reknar heard nothing, but who knows what could be behind it…” he offers. He pauses momentarily, seeming to focus on the remains of the sinspawn.
”Listen, now that we’ve….made a bit of a mess of…various chambers and….people…and…things…we should really be on our guard.”
Sister Vanda takes one of the sinspawn's halberds and nods her readiness. You head to the south of your current location and open the door to that room. A different forge stands in the east, west, and southern wings of this room, each accompanied by an anvil of a different size. A hammer sits atop the largest anvil. All three forges burn hot, filling the room with a dry heat. Large, shaped plates of iron litter the room, leaning against various walls.
Two demonic creatures are here, playing with the furnaces, seemingly heating and pounding metal for fun while wearing protective gloves. The small demons are vaguely humanoid in appearance with awkward limbs and slack lumps of skin hanging from their frames. When they spot you, they heft mace-like lengths of twisted, red-hot iron! One shrieks at you in the Abyssal tongue.
"Hey wait! I don't even know who Theiltemar is... and I could care less if you work.
◆ Draw Hand Crossbow
◆ Load Hand Crossbow
◆ Strike: Shoot
bolt
Surprise attack.
[ooc] Note: this is assuming he is not in the front of the group.
If so he'll draw, load, and move away/take cover.
Hess quickly fires a bolt into the nearest demon, scoring a critical hit! The fiend hisses in pain, then both of them lumber forward to attack Reknar with their red-hot weapons! Reknar fends them off with his shield.
Ed withdraws his newly found wand and targets the closer dretch, "Think you can still get a grip now?"
Tol yells to Vanda:
”Concentrate on one at a time Vanda!”
…then moves to the back of the foul creatures’ position to flank with Reknar, then leaps into his Tiger stance before striking…
◆ Stride ◆ Enter Tiger Stance ◆ Flurry
Reknar focuses on the creature already attacked by Hess and Tol - "What are these things?!"
◆ Load Crossbow
◆ Strike (If he can set up flanking he will.
◆ Recall Knowledge
Crossbow
Bolt
Sneak attack if possible.
"Heck if I know. Let me see if I get a better look at them.".
Tol moves around to flank one of the demons, striking it from behind twice. Reknar brings his hammer down in a powerful critical hit, crushing that demon's skull and slaying it!
Ed greases the remaining demon's weapon, but it manages to maintain its grip. Hess scores a hit on the fiend, but Vanda misses. Turac blasts it with holy power, causing the demon to howl in pain!
Hess recognizes the demons as dretches. Among the lowest and least powerful of all demons, dretches are just as vicious and cruel as their more powerful brethren. Born from the souls of the slothful, their lot in life is to suffer at the hands of more powerful Abyssal predators.
The slothful demon lets out a long, slow yawn. It blinks its eyes before lazily swinging its mace at Reknar.
Tol cackles to himself, finally feeling like he is getting the hang of things. He moves to flank again before unleashing…hell…
◆ Stride ◆ Flurry ◆ Strike
Ed decides to switch tactics here and attempts to daze the dretch before ducking out of harm's way!
Reknar snarls and attacks!
Tok slices at the demon, scoring a critical hit and following up with another powerful strike. The fiend reels as Ed dazes it, then Reknar finishes it off with a hammer blow!
The hammer resting on the anvil is a low-grade cold iron anvil. There doesn't seem to be anything else of value in the room.
"We can check out the doors we skipped past back in the entrance room," Ed suggests.
Hess takes his crossbow... but just as he decides he has an opening he sees the beast fall.
"Damn Dretches! Lowly little demons but full of spite and fury as the rest of them".
"Sounds good. I do believe we had one door on the left down that long hall as well. Might want to take a look in there first".
Tol nods generally to the planning, making sure to take the cold iron hammer.
”What is cold iron…good for? Or against?” he asks the more knowledgeable members of their little band.
”Might be useful if my punches and kicks don’t work mebbe?”
Since you heard noises from beyond the door Hess suggested, you go first to the two small rooms east of the entry hall. The first chamber is a storeroom covered with shelves on nearly every wall. Several crates and some barrels sit on the floor. The crates and barrels contain food and drink supplies for the cultists. A search of the shelves uncovers a decaying leather pouch that contains 45 cp and a single platinum coin, dozens of empty potion and elixir bottles (and many more that have shattered into fragments), a single lesser healing potion, a pendant of the occult entirely caked in grime, and a dust-covered crying angel pendant talisman.
The second room are modest chambers that contain a small dusty mattress,
a chest of drawers, and a writing desk. Standing upon the desk is a rusted iron sculpture depicting a mountain with a dagger buried in its side. A key lies on the desk. The dagger can be removed from the sculpture; while rust has ruined the blade, the weapon’s +1 weapon potency rune still functions and can be transferred normally to another weapon.
The key seems to fit into a padlock on the northwest door in the entry hall...
Ed claims the (fascinating) Pendant of the Occult for his own then eyes the talisman closely, "That should be gifted to Turac."
Once the rest of the loot has been distributed he decides to regain his focus spell here for the next combat....
Tain seems vaguely interested in the odd pendants, but not knowing what they do he’s more showing professional interest in “adventurery loot”. He even says “adventurery loot”. He shows less interest in the magical dagger.
”I mean, it would be fine to have a magical rune on my trusty favorite throwing aklys, but I am sure someone else has a weapon that could benefit with more frequency.”
The young tiefling makes claws of his hands: ”I’m all the weapon I need - can’t exactly put a rune on these…”
”But most interesting of all is this shiny key! Hess - you want to do the honors?!?”
You unlock the door and open it. The stench from over-full chamber pots is overpowering in this vast, dusty chamber. The remains of archery targets, practice dummies, and wooden training posts lie sprawled around the room—it appears that components taken from these old furnishings have been used to build a few rickety‑looking beds to the north. A feeble oil lamp glows from the center of the room, perched on an old sawhorse. There are no other exits.
The chamber is currently empty, but a search of the room uncovers a note hidden in one of the beds. The note is written in blood, and it is in Elder Ordwi's handwriting! The note reads, "Ragnulf has fallen to cult; warn Osprey Cove! I fear they'll soon take me below."
"I think we are on the right track!" Ed notes excitedly here, "I say we backtrack to the room with that secret door."
Tol smiles at the mention of Elder Ordwi.
”Yes! More proof she was here, and likely recently. I mean…I hope. And…well…we haven’t been parted that long, so relatively recently. And…um. Well. Yes Ed, good thinking. Let’s go!” he finishes, obviously slightly anxious and keen to find their lost friend. His smile fades.
”That she was writing in blood, and mentions soon being “taken below” is worrying though, right?”
Hess eagerly accepts the key, and unlocks the door.
Hess likes the pretty pendants, but is a bit hesitant to take one as he doesn't know what they do.
He also attempts to slyly take the platinum piece for his own, but plays innocent if anyone catches him.
Thievery (Slight of Hand).
Roll off
The secret door in the hidden laboratory opens up into the back wall of a storage room. The stone shelves of this storage room are largely empty, with only a few empty bottles, rusted metal tools, and blank stone tablets now sitting on the musty shelves. Muddy footprints trail from the eastern door to the shelves on the western wall, where the secret door is located.
Searching the room reveals that one of the "empty" bottles sloshes like it is full. The bottle turns out to contain an invisbility potion!
The door to the room exits out into a hall, which appears to be on the north side of the central room you haven't explored yet. Another entrance to that room is here, while to the east, you can see the hall opens into a room lit by a dim bluish-green radiance. You can hear croaking noises coming from that direction.
Ed passes on the invisibility potion here, allowing one of the sneakier types to use it. On hearing the croaking noises he motions to Hess, "I think now would be a good time to put that potion to the test."
”Perhaps. Though I would like to check the central room first - at least we know something croaks that way. I want to know what’s in the room we know nothing about, and that lies right in the middle of everything.”
Tol smiles unevenly.
”I just…do not wish to be hasty, nor use our new found resources immediately…”
"By all means Tol," Ed nods slowly, "I defer to your experience here."
Tol blinks, a puzzled look growing on his face.
”I…have no experience Edoveus. At least…none more than you!”
"Lets check that room then" - Reknar nods, moving to the closed door, listening, and checking for traps.
Hess grins, wraps the rusty dagger in a rag, and joins the others in moving forward.
You find no traps on the door. You can still here sporadic chanting every so often coming from the other side.
Opening the door reveals a large chamber. A glowing Sihedron rune is engraved on the ground to the north. In the southern end of the room, a vast copper cauldron, green with age, stands on thick iron legs over a blackened fire pit. Crumbling books line the shelves in the southeast corner, while worktables are covered with potions, oils, and salves that surely expired several centuries ago.
Two robed cultists stand around the rune, concentrating on maintaining its power. Atop the rune wriggles a single bloated maggot with a human face!
Upon spotting you, though, the cultists break their concentration and reach for their daggers! The rune stops glowing, and the maggot-thing starts to writhe in your direction!
It flops up to Reknar and bites him twice, the second a critical hit! The cultists hurl their daggers at the fighter before drawing new ones from their robes. One scores a critical hit as well, impaling Reknar through a chink in his armor!
Ed stares at the hideous beast here before he hurriedly raises his defenses! Grasping his newly-found pendant he grants Reknar some extra Guidance here!
◆ Arm Hand Crossbow (Interact)
◆ Load Crossbow (Interact)
◆ Strike
Crossbow
Bolt
"Ay! Kill it! It's ugly".