The crack in the wall is too narrow to pass through, so you follow the tunnel to the north. The low-ceilinged, wood-braced tunnel comes to an end at a stone wall through which a four-foot-diameter hole has been burrowed. The rectangular room beyond is lit by flickering flames at the center of seven-pointed star carvings on the east and west walls, while to the south, a pile of stone and rubble lies on the floor in front of a wooden door and under an open trapdoor in the ceiling. Goblin arms and legs protrude from the rubble.
Jeni sees the rubble, focusing on the hands, and then sighs. "Zen are you okay with helping me with this. Kaz and Nadja can keep a lookout, in case more ghouls or other things are coming."
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"My greatest talent for manual labor is supervisory."
You clear the rubble and move through the south door. It opens onto a 5-foot-wide hall that runs west and east. Several doors exit the hall to the west, while to the east, the corridor opens into a small room which should be on the other side of the room you spied through the crack in the wall.
The north and west walls of this chamber are carved with hundreds of runes, all radiating out from a seven-pointed star with a flickering flame burning at its center. Now and then, a little sputter of sparks showers out of these flames.
A wooden door in the northeast corner of the room has been adorned with a single rune carving that looks vaguely like a horned, fanged face. The runes on the walls are prayers, written in Thassilonian, to Abraxas, the demon lord of forbidden lore and magic. Kazumi and Zen both recognize the rune as Abraxas's symbol.
Jeni eyes the candle and the hundreds of runes "What does this mean?" the young woman asks with trepidation.
Nadja accepts the healing then keeps lookout during the excavation. She coughs a few more times, trying to get the last of the demonic smoke from her lungs.
She blinks as the high of combat fades. "We just fought a demon. We fought and killed a demon! How cool is that!?!" She giggles a little.
If the body of the demon is still there, she checks it for anything of value. If there's nothing of note on the demon, she'll cut off a small tuft of its beard as a keepsake.
Once they reach the room with the pointed star, Nadja stays quiet and alert.
Zen heals himself and takes advantage of Jeni's heals, and then takes a few deep breaths and meditates. Eventually, Jeni adds that they want to excavate, and he glances at where the fire-scarred ghoul escaped, but nods again, only noting, "if that ghoul goes after your Dad, can he defeat it?"
To Nadja's excitement, Zen is a little more circumspect, "demons aren't that interesting," but he takes stock of the demon lord. "Hmm, the runes are prayers to Abraxus... one... one of the demon lords." He whispers the last part, and adds, "ancient enemies of the Redeemer Queen, I think. They hate her because she was able to slay them." The young man makes a sign of blessing on himself, shakily, "I'm a little worried - maybe we should go back to Zantus to let him know what we found?"
Nadja sighs. "I can run back and check on him. Just don't go exploring more without me!"
If she gets the assurance, she'll rush back to the beginning of the warrens and call out to Zantus, climbing out of the exhumed grave if need be.
"And here I thought the Redeemer Queen's followers were supposed to help bring out the beauty in the every day," Kaz muses wryly. "Go ahead and buzz on back there, Gnat. Plenty to look at through the doorway."
They resume their notes. "[smaller]Abraxan symbology with appropriate prayers... Thassilonian as the language of choice... No longer as dispositive of origin now that Varisia's latest neighbor has made the language more commonly known, but the Sihedron Star lends its own weight to the likelihoods..."
Kaz quickly chants a simple divination and peers in further. "Let's see if anything of substance is still active within the chamber."
Once Nadja rushes back, easing a small knot in Jeni's chest at the thought of having to go back herself, Jeni clarifies to Zen "It isn't that demons are interesting, it is that we, four kids from Sandpoint, DEFEATED a demon." she keeps her face neutral but Kaz and Zen know her well enough that inside she is just as excited as Nadja was about that fact.
Once the more cerebral members of their party start muttering and pointing, Jeni leaves them alone. She moves away a little, to the door Nadja took to head back, listening for her quiet footsteps as best as possible, and worst case for the sounds of fighting if she gets into trouble.
"And here I thought the Redeemer Queen's followers were supposed to help bring out the beauty in the every day," Kaz muses wryly.
He shrugs, "I don't know everything about her, but I know some. You can ask me if you're curious." He closes his eyes, "she clawed her way out of the abyss - giving hope to all of the fallen. Proof that no one is beyond redemption," and opens them again, "the act of creation itself - that's all that matters. It... it doesn't have to be good. But it's the first step in... being better." He opens one plated hand, while keeping the other closed, "creation - not destruction." And then as he sees people watching him, he freezes up and mumbles, "I mean. I don't know..."
Jeni turns slightly from her guard stance at the entrance, and looks to Zen, giving him a quick encouraging smile.
When Nadja returns to the surface, Father Zantus helps her clamber up out of Nualia's grave. The priest is relieved that you were able to recover her remains so quickly. "Thank you. When you bring her bones to me, I will ensure that they stay safe until Audrahni arrives."
"But the demon's presence is most troubling! I would ask that you keep exploring the other chambers you have discovered. If you can map out the complex beneath the boneyard and ensure there's nothing dangerous still within, I would be most appreciative."
***
Down below, Kazumi peers more closely at the room ahead. They realize that the sparking rune is actually a trap. The magic is faltering but still dangerous.
Nadja returns from her errand carrying the long, wrapped bundle she'd brought with her from the theater and left up top. "Father Zantus is fine. The ghoul didn't go that way. And he's glad we found Nualia, and he wants us to keep exploring to make sure there's nothing else dangerous down here," she reports. Glancing at Kaz, she says, "Oh, he wants you to map it out."
Kaz raises an eyebrow at Nadja's parcel. "A snack for if our excursion proves lengthy? Or a baguette with which to assuage even a ghoul's hunger?" They smirk a little to themself. "I'm happy to provide Father Zantus with a copy of my public notes. In the mean time, do you see that slightly defective rune? Now, three runes to the right of it and one row down there is another one - they send over a ball of light to hover. There should be other similar trigger runes along the wall if you could deface them. Beginning closest to us of course."
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Nadja stares blankly at Kaz's guesses about what her pack could contain. "Uh, no."
She looks at the defective rune they point out, shrugging. "Is that what's spitting out demons? Why do you want to shut it down? We could get really good at fighting them." Her smile returns.
"All right, fine. I'll take care of your little rune problem."
"Oops."
"There. Better when I didn't have someone yammering in my ear."
Nadja safely disables the trap. You open the door to the room the demon had been in, now able to fully search the chamber.
The silver bowl on the altar is worth 5 gp. The knife sitting on top of it is a low-grade cold iron dagger with the rune of Abraxas etched on the blade. Within the bowl are six smooth garnet beads, one worth 2 gp, two worth 5 gp, and three worth 10 gp..
A search of the dagger reveals that its pommel can be detached—a seventh garnet sits inside the dagger’s hollow handle. This garnet is of higher quality and is worth 25 gp.
The other small door here leads to an ancient cloak room that once contained raiment sacred to the worship of Abraxas. Most of these robes have long since decayed away, but a green and orange cultist cowl currently emblazoned with the rune of Abraxas remains draped over a peg in the wall.
"These look pretty. Pretty valuable," Nadja appraises when inspecting the garnets.
She shows no interest in the cowl once she learns what it does.
"There are a few more passages we haven't checked out yet. We should check those out." She gives her pack a look like it might come alive, but tentatively throws it over her shoulder anyway. She looks eager to resume exploring.
Zen doesn’t comment, but nods his thanks at Nadja. He takes a look at the hood, and places it on his head, curious about what colors are appopriate. Once the color changes, he takes it off and hands it to someone else.
Jeni looks down at the cultist's cowl that Zen was handing her, then back up at her friend and says "No." The flat single word has plenty of disgust in at the thought of putting that thing on her head.
Nadja breaks her stare at Jeni the moment she looks in her direction. She also shakes her head at the cowl in case Zen offers it to her. "Nuh-uh," she grunts.
"Come on, more ancient ruins to explore!" she then urges taking the lead and going quiet and stealthy.
"Goblin Ghouls and a Goat demon... what could be next?" while she attempts to keep her tone dry, she fails to hide the interest in her voice. She of course follows Nadja in exploring.
Kaz seems surprised that no one wants the knowledge-expanding cowl, but doesn't overly question their good fortune. Some quick magic cleans and neatens it to make sure they don't end up wearing anything moldering, and the cowl shifts to a divided clean black and crisp white as it settles.
Nadja moves quietly along the passage, checking doors as she goes. The first one she finds is locked.
The presence of a locked door is too much of a mystery for Nadja to let pass by untested.
She jimmies the lock and it pops open on the first try.
Thick layers of ash cover mostly empty weapon racks in this room, although an old sword and a small stack of arrows sit on a shelf in the southeast corner. A single seven-pointed star is carved in the ceiling. At its center flickers a strange blue fire that periodically trails what appear to be snowflakes that melt away to nothingness before they reach the floor. What appears to be a scorch mark radiates from under the door to the south, as if a great explosion sometime long ago burst in the room beyond.
As soon as anyone enters the room, the Sihedron’s blue flame flashes brightly and for a split second, everyone in the room feels the temperature drop alarmingly. The fire then sputters, only to fizzle out forever, plunging the room into darkness.
The lone remaining sword is a +1 cold iron rapier, while six of the arrows are beacon shots. A seventh arrow that looks identical to the others unless it is cleaned of the thick layers of dust is a single storm arrow. Finally, two striking runes sit, covered with dust, on the floor in the northwest corner.
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Kaz scribbles furiously, trying to preserve these impressions before this singular failure of ancient magics loses its vividness.
"I'm so glad they stole her body."
Jeni lets out a sound of annoyance as the light goes out. A few moments of rummaging later, she lights a torch. After everything is collected and cataloged, Jeni asks "Want another sword, Nadja?" poking the loot with a boot, but not reaching for any of it.
"Yeah!" she answers with enthusiasm. She snatches up the ancient rapier, switching her current sword to her off hand. She gives it a couple test thrusts, parries, and ripostes against an empty weapon rack.
"Nice! You can never have too many swords. The metal of this one is strange, though."
Her attention soon gets drawn to the scorch mark on the southern door. "What do you think? Another of those goat demons on the other side?"
Zen nods solemnly, ”it could be anything.” He watches as Kaz scribbles down the runes and comments, ”can we show Brodert those? He’s not able to get around easily…” Thinking to himself, he retrieves his sketchbook and draws the layout of the rooms, as well as a few perspective drawings, quickly.
"I think likely not; though if we see another one the cold iron of that blade should be useful...
Nevertheless, let's see what's through that door."
The walls, floor, and ceiling of this long, pitch-dark hall are blasted black with soot, and a fine layer of ash covers the floor. Scattered here and there are heaps of ash from which a few fragments of bone protrude. The tunnel heads further to the west into darkness.
Kazumi deduces that a powerful blast of magical fire tore through this area ages ago.
Searching the hall, you discover two secret doors in the east wall. One is caked with soot and somewhat tough to locate, but the other one is more obvious, as there is a door-shaped ashen patch on the wall.
"This... this is far beyond what a brimorak could accomplish." Eyes alight with interest they hurry over towards the ashen door outline. "Well? the other door must have been closed when the flame swept through here, so the answers should be through here."
"Sure thing," Nadja says, appraising the ancient rapier in her hand with more appreciation.
The discovery of the two secret doors changes her priorities, however. "Wait. Before we go into the fiery blast room, why not check out these secret doors first?"
"Fiery blast room is a secret door. It just doesn't look very secret because of the fiery blast."
As soon as you touch the ashen patch that was a door, it crumbles! This room’s walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with a thick layer of dark soot and ash. A five-foot-wide, two-foot-tall slab of red stone stands in the middle of the room, its top etched with the image of a seven-pointed star. Surrounding it stand five more slabs of red stone. These red pylons and the central stone are curiously devoid of any ash or soot, and occasionally seem to shimmer with faint fiery energy.
When you enter the room, though, three burning undead guardians rise up from separate piles of ash and bones to attack! They wail in agony as they stumble towards you!
Before you can react, the undead are upon you! They swing on Zenobius with their flaming fists, battering him and setting him aflame! The heat radiating from their burning bodies is intense.
Kazumi pulls a pair of bones out of a hidden pocket, and with a flick of his wrist he sends one of them spinning through the fray to plant behind the undead. Gesturing like a conductor, they fill the bone with necromantic thanergy, doubling and redoubling it until the rest of its remembered skeleton stands ready to do battle.
The skeletal soldier stamps its polearm to the ground in a quick salute to its recreator and then sets to in a rearward assault!
Nadja weaves her blades in a spinning dance to distract one of the flaming creatures. She then darts in and jabs at the one threatened by Kaz's summoned skeleton while trying to avoid the heat.
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Jeni rushes forward, sending a cascade of water to disperse the blanketing heat, followed by a hammering wave of fist-shaped waves.
Zen grimaces as he's assaulted, and steps away before raising a magical shield. He swings once at one of the enemies that is within reach.
He then tries to pat out the singes in his clothes.
Jeni's waves batter the burning undead, causing them to thrash and scream in agony!
Zenobius steps back and delivers a critical hit before raising a magical shield. Kazumi's summoned skeleton appears flanking the more wounded foe with Zenobius, slicing it twice. Then Nadja springs into action, scoring a critical hit to finish off the injured undead!
The two remaining foes reel a bit before they recover from being stunned. One of them steps up to attack Zenobius again but misses. The other hurls motes of flame at Jeni, scoring a critical hit!
Jeni's water makes the fire creatures howl, which is both exhilarating and disturbing. The ball of fire flung at her gets past her defensive wave, making her hiss in pain.
So no matter how disturbing their pain is, they are trying to kill her and her friends, so Jeni steps to the side of Kaz's pet skeleton, and blasts both the fire people again with great waves of water.
Getting the kill exhilarates Nadja despite the waves of heat roiling off these undead. She darts in again fla king woth the skeleton, hoping her quick movements will keep her from burning or catching fire.
Kaz fires a spiraling beam of cold over Nadja's head into her new dancing partner, trusting to Zen and Jeni to keep the one closer to them from breaching the line.
On the other side of the fray, Kazumi's creation continues to swing, safely outside of the shimmering aura of heat that its fellow undead emits.
Zen steps away so that he can potentially swing the most damaged one targeting the most hurt one first.
He then casts his glass shield cantrip again.
Though Zenobius misses with his attack, Jeni's wave batters and stuns both undead! Kazumi hits the more injured foe with an icy beam, the cold damage also proving super effective! The skeleton and Nadja both strike the burning skeleton and it collapses.
Only one foe remains. Once it shakes off its stun, it screams in agony, causing all around it to burst into flames!
Being in her element, Nadja shrugs off the worst of the fire and again moves in to try to stab the remaining foe with a finishing move.
Flame washes over Kazumi's skeleton, but it has little to burn and less to fear as it continues its grim work.
Caught off guard by the undead's sudden tortured scream, Kaz's aim is a little shaky as they try to quench the flames for good.