"Should we look for traps" the bouncing lilt says she hopes they find one.
"Our temporary host suggested as much - and despite the spiderwebs here, they might have recent information..."
Kazumi doesn't detect any magic in the area. A search of the cavern as you walk reveals several mundane traps hidden in the webs, but as long as you step carefully, you are able to avoid them.
The secret door opens up into a cavern in which a shimmering, softly glowing pool of unusually blue water ripples and shines. The water is also unusually clear, revealing a depth of five feet—and the ancient skeleton clad in shining silvery chainmail clutching a softly glowing starknife in the pool’s depths against the northeast wall.
Both the pool itself and the starknife register as magic.
"Pretty," Nadja comments as she looks at the pool of water and its occupant.
"Pretty... and powerful. Let's not play with it or the starknife until we understand them better."
"Really? So no dunking my head under the water?" Nadja responds sarcastically. "It looks so cool and refreshing. It's not like Mr. Skeleton there isn't serving as a warning or anything."
Jeni reaches out with her hand, turning and mimicking scooping. A small glob of water rises out of the pool as if she was cupping it. "We could test the water on Jeff, to see if it is acidic?"
Studying the magic in the room, Kazumi quickly comes to understand how to harness it.
Critical Success: The drinker is affected by a restoration spell (heightened to 4th level) and has 4d8+32 Hit Points restored. In addition, the next time the drinker sleeps, they experience wonderful dreams of flying, and when they wake, they are blessed with Desna’s favor, which grants them a +5 enhancement bonus to their speed for the next 24 hours.
Success: The drinker has 4d8+32 Hit Points restored, and the next time they sleep they dream of flying, but are not blessed with Desna’s favor.
Failure: The water is cool and refreshing, but the next time the character sleeps, they have unsettling nightmares of being chased through dark caves by unseen monsters. The dreams have no lasting effects.
Critical Failure: As failure, but the character becomes cursed, and the dreams of being chased by monsters occur nightly. As long as the curse persists, the character suffers a –2 status penalty against sleep effects, and requires 10 hours of sleep each day rather than 8. This curse is permanent until it is removed (the curse is 5th level with a DC 20 to counteract).
The pool's magic is a result of the starknife's presence, a powerful relic in its own right. Removing the weapon would cause the waters to immediately go stagnant and forever lose their magic.
Unique, Air, Divine, Relic
Aspects: air, celestial
Usage: held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Monarch is an ancient starknife, once wielded by a priest of the Desnan sect known as the Order of the Starless Night, an organization devoted to protecting Golarion from the horrors of the Dark Tapestry. The weapon is made of low-grade silver, and its blades gleam with soft light, equivalent to that of a candle (the glow can be extinguished or activated by the weapon’s carrier by activating Monarch as an envision action). The blades bear etchings of monarch butterflies in flight.
When discovered in the Pit, Monarch functions as a +1 striking returning starknife that can’t have additional property runes, as it’s a specific item. Monarch deals an additional 1d6 damage to creatures with the aberration trait, provided the creature isn’t disguised as another creature. Rules for relics and their gifts appear in the Gamemastery Guide.
Minor Gifts: wind barrier, word of faith
Major Gifts: propelling winds, righteous call
Grand Gift: azata's grace
When the PCs first recover Monarch, one of its minor gifts becomes active as chosen from the above options by the first PC to handle the starknife. More gifts will unlock as you overcome specific challenges in the adventure.
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"It's... not acidic. It's much more dangerous than that. In a good way though, for us." They nod at Jeni. "A good church-going gal's got the best shot of a happy outcome, but I'd rather not forego the chance for a peek into Desna's head either. Once we retrieve the relic, the water's power will ebb."
They stoop and cup a small sip in their hands and after a barely perceptible pause, swallow it down.
"Oh... Hadn't noticed how sore my feet had gotten wandering around this place all day."
"I..." Jeni starts to deny her faith, as she often does around her highly intellectual friend, but sighs. They know, they all do, cause they know her. "It's complicated" she decides on, then pulls the hovering ball to her lips and drinks from it.
A sense of peace rushes though her like silk through lax hands, making her bounce up to her tip toes then back down. "Amazing."
Once the others are done with sipping or passing, she'll clean her feet with some of her pure water, then step in the pool to get the starknife. "Should we bury owner, or leave him in his pool?"
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Nadja interposed herself between the possibly-acidic water and the taxidermied bat-scorpion-rat-spider. "Don't you dare!"
Kaz's assessment that it was much more benign caused her to relax, though she eyes the water dubiously.
"All right, I guess if everyone's doing it." She takes a drink of the skeleton-water, bracing herself for an incoming smite.
"Mmm. Refreshing." She forces a smile as she wipes her mouth.
At the question of what to do with the skeleton, Nadja shrugs. "I dunno. Whichever one's going to most likely cause it to rise up as some sort of vengeful undead, let's do the opposite."
Zen drinks some of the water and smacks his lips. "It's wonderful."
Answering Jeni, he nods gravely, "bury him - I think, but let's take both to Father Zantus and talk to him about what we found, eventually." He has a serious look on his face, as if he's thinking about something, but it passes.
"Well, burying him means we got to fish him out. Jeni, you're good with getting wet, right?" She smirks while staying light on her feet to dodge the inevitable splash.
There is a splash, not a normal one but one that moves like a snake after a baby chick. Unfortunately Nadja is both ready and quick, so instead Zen gets a face full of it.
Surprised, Jeni's water tentacle released into a big sploosh, finally getting Nadja in with a tiny bit. "Zen... Sorry?" the girl up to her hips already the water lifts her shoulder in a please forgive me gesture.
Returning to Lord Longfingers' domain, you discover two doors set in the far southern wall of the cave. One of them is barricaded from the opposite side. The other door opens into another cavern. This circular cave has an acrid stink to it. Nearly a dozen one-foot-wide holes open in the cave walls near the floor, widening into tiny tunnels. The cave itself is littered with dozens of little heaps of gravel and dirt and what must be over a hundred bent and broken spoons. A particularly large mound of gravel sits in the middle of the room, into which a shortsword has been jabbed, its bejeweled hilt pointing upward toward the ceiling ten feet above.
A single long-eared gremlin sits on a gravel heap to the south, picking through the bent spoons for one that still has some dig left in it. She shrieks in excitement upon spotting you, and a chorus of other shrieks answer from the tunnels. Seven other gremlins clamber out of the tunnels from all directions with little spoons sharpened to wicked points!
"Oh, no, Not today." Jeni says with iron in her voice (to cover the sudden quiver of potentially being eaten). Her hands come up and open in a stance, her waters form as two rolling mass of pure blue water, which open with fingers of its own "We. Are. Not. Dinner!"
Then the waves crash on the oncoming spoon holders.
The sharpened spoons in the hands of the gremlins were so bizarrely incongruous, Nadja couldn't decide whether to be amused or creeped out. Regardless, it was fight or be the subject of those wicked utensils.
She spins her blades in a dramatic and fascinating flourish as she moves up to strike!
Kaz considers unleashing one of his most puissant spells to turn the very earth against the gremlins, but upon watching Jeni sweep the tiny fey away, they change tacks and use simpler, more reliable magics.
"Akhun Leytonon"
Zen moves so he can intercept any who attack Nadja, and just tries to hit her target with a strike and raise his glass shield. He seems confused by the spoon-based attack, and even a little nonplussed.
Jeni's tidal blast takes down two of the gremlins and wounds two others. Kaz tries to finish off the injured ones with lightning, but one evades completely and the other one is only lightly burned. Nadja and Zen move up to finish those two foes off!
Their numbers have been cut in half, but the remaining gremlins shriek eagerly as they scurry forward. One pair each flanks Nadja and Zen, stabbing with their broken spoons! Nadja takes a hit.
When one of the gremlins gets greedy with an extra stab, Nadja is ready with a riposte. As her blade drops one of the two flanking her, she turns her attention to the remaining one on her.
If that attack finishes off her foe, she dances over to flank a gremlin on Zen.
With the combat boiling all around them, Jeni shifts from brutal waves to precise slices. A palm strike with water spikes, and round kick with a water scythe.
Kaz keeps up the electrical onslaught, picking on the already wounded where possible and shrouding themself with a bit of force in case one of the gremlins gets cheeky.
Zen reduces Nadia’s damage but keeps up the assault, swinging at as many as he can reach
But he doesn’t do much.
The remaining gremlins don't last long, as you slash, punch, and zap them to oblivion!
The shortsword sticking out of the gravel here is a +1 ghost touch shortsword. The tunnels that the gremlins emerged from are too small for most of you to traverse.
"Astyanax? Go take a look."
Jeni was looking at Nadja, arching a brow at the small holes, as if to suggest that the smallest of them try it out. But Kaz spoils that by making a logically suggestion.
When someone tells her what's special about the sword in the gravel, Nadja considers the pair of sawtooth sabres in her hand and the cold-iron rapier on her hip. "I guess it helps in case we have to touch ghosts, but really? I'm going to need more arms." She spins her sabres once to again flick the blood off them.
The tunnels wind their way through the rock in a maze. One of the tunnels leads to a peephole opening into Tunch's taxidermy lab, while five of them lead to similar peepholes opening into the Pit itself. In a small chamber deep in the tunnels, Astyanax discovers the jinkins' treasure. This stash consists of 340 cp, 23 sp, 9 gp, 1 pp, a tiger eye gemstone worth 6 gp, a mesmerizing opal talisman, a sleep arrow, a sneaky key talisman, a ventriloquist’s ring, a primeval mistletoe, and the jinkins’ greatest and most wonderful treasure—a low-grade cold iron serving spoon worth 20 gp.
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As Astyanax ferries out a steadily-growing pile of treasure from the tunnels, Nadja's eyes grow wider and wider. "There's still more?!?" she exclaims at least a dozen times when the familiar goes back again and again.
When the treasure pile has finally been fully retrieved, she gestures back to Longfingers' room. "There was one more way out of there, but let's figure out who gets what of this treasure. I have one of those key talismans already. That mistletoe looks like it would help if I needed to use a weapon other than my sabres, but maybe one of you would need it more?"
After the distribution of the treasures, Nadja is ready to test her strength against the barricaded door. She takes a couple steps back, then rushes it with a forceful kick.
Nadja kicks open the barricade, revealing a flight of stairs leading down to a lower level of the complex.
As you ponder the stairs, you consider your recent experiences, feeling stronger for them...
Nadja's eyes go wide at the discovery of a flight of stairs leading down. "Well. That beats climbing down the pit, doesn't it?"
She takes a tentative step towards the way down, feeling the thrill of discovery and danger. "Let's step lightly, okay?"
Chapter 3: Footprints on the Roof
The stairs lead down into a long, curving cavern with an unusually low ceiling that is barely four feet high. Furthermore, the air is uncomfortably moist and clammy and carries the heavy stink of body odor. To the east, a large alcove is strewn with four nasty-looking heaps of moldy, rotten cloth. A thick curtain of poorly-tanned hide hangs on the southern wall to the east. A second set of four filthy rag nests lies along the southwestern wall. The nests are occupied by small humanoids swaddled nearly head to toe in dirty robes. They do not notice Nadja.
Doors lead to the north and south, and another flight of stairs to the southwest continues down.
Not having any idea what these beings are, Nadja scampers back up the stairs to report on what she just saw.
"...I have no idea what you're talking about, Naj."
With the barest hint of a smile towards Zenobius they ask, "I assume we'd rather say hello rather than introduce ourselves via evocation?"
Jeni bounces a little on toe to heel, while wrapping her arms around herself. She doesn't say anything because her inclination when it comes to messes is to blast the entire area with torrents of water until there is nothing left.
And that seems wrong when it includes living beings.
[dice=Society]d20+11
"...I have no idea what you're talking about, Naj."
"Well, I don't know what to say! They're down there, in rags, so yeah. I didn't bother saying hello, since I don't even know if they speak Taldane. Grr. I should have just kept going down."
"...I have no idea what you're talking about, Naj."With the barest hint of a smile towards Zenobius they ask, "I assume we'd rather say hello rather than introduce ourselves via evocation?"
Zen nods slowly, "not if we can avoid it."
Zenobius recognizes the description of the humanoids. They are calignis, descendants of humans that fled underground long ago and were warped into new forms. They see perfectly in the dark but are sensitive to bright light, and when they die, their bodies dissolve into darkness or release bursts of energy. They are not overtly hostile to surface dwellers unless provoked.
Indeed, once you all descend the stairs and enter the cavern carrying light sources, the calignis creep out of their filthy nests and scurry over to greet you, mumbling and muttering in their own language as they attempt to guide you toward the stone door to the northwest.
Nadja smiles and nods at the babbling of the Caligni.
"They have an idea about which door we should take, don't they?" she comments, glancing at the southern door and the stairs continuing down. "I wonder if they're pointing to where their leader is, or if they're pointing us toward the thing that's going to eat us?"
Jeni holds her cleanliness prejudices tight inside, keeping her eyes on the Caligni instead of their nests. "Do you understand them, Kaz?" she says with plenty of hope.
"Hmm," Kaz tries a few languages without much success, then tries to get across some sort of question about what's behind the door using whatever linguistic crossovers they've been able to glean from the unfamiliar charter.
Kaz manages to establish a baseline of understanding with gestures and pantomime. The calignis are indeed attempting to guide you to their leader, who apparently can speak Common.
Nadja watches the pantomime with tested patience. "So far, so good," she mutters to Jeni. "But if they try anything, we'll make them show us first-hand that dissolving body trick of theirs."
When Kaz gives them the all-clear she leads the way into the next room.
Jeni looks over at the gnat for a second, unsure if she is kidding or not. Dissolving into bursts of energy does sound more efficient than burial or burning, but... Jeni shakes her head, unsure where she is going with that. They've had to kill plenty of things, but rarely after they started a conversation.
If that is what this was, the pointing, nodding, signing sound stuff.
Zen stands by placidly and watches the discussion for a few minutes before nodding and following along.
"Their leader speaks upland tongues; that's where they're trying to lead us. Best to finish any jokes about their rapid decomposition before then."
This roughly circular cavern has a smooth floor. Another stone door is set into the eastern wall. The door is adorned with a carving of a complex, twisting rune, while a pair of filthy rag heaps sit to either side of the door to the south. A long curtain of moldy sheets and ratty hides hangs between two stone pillars to the west, while to the north stands a large stone basin filled with some sort of strange, dark liquid.
A trio of calignis await you here, two males and a female. The female steps forward and addresses you in Common. "Welcome. I am Nithiss. Have you come to serve the Remnant? He lies beyond that door. I will come with you to speak to him."
"Greetings, Nithiss. We are all about the Remnant. Can't wait to speak with him." Nadja speaks up, hopeful that an enthusiastic-sounding voice will bluff the caligni.
Jeni opens her mouth to ask what is this Remnant but then snaps it shut and nods, not wanting to spoil Nadja's ruse.