Kaz nodded at his cousin’s idea. ”Might as well see what will happen,” he shrugs.
"Garidan, you weren't part of the group when we battled the soul in this gem, so maybe it would respond better to you than any of the rest of us?" Jon suggests.
Garidan wonders again about the strange findings in the tower. Then he checks out the papers and the book.
[dice =RK] 1d20 +8-2Not sure about the contents he investigates the Goblin corpse.
[dice =RK] 1d20 +8-2
If Garidan opens the tank and gets his arms and armor wet fishing for the goblin, he finds the corpse quite devoid of life.
"If you think so, Jon. I just don't know if it's worth the risk? What do we need from it exactly?"
Jon shrugs, "We need all the information we can get about what's going on in here. We don't have many informants, especially ones that won't attack on sight."
You slot the black soul gem into the back of the incomplete goblin doll and after a few seconds, the doll animates to life. It tilts its head down, as if viewing its "body", its incomplete arms and legs, and begins to sob, speaking under its breath in some unknown language.
The goblin doll looks up from his sobbing, but appears not to understand what Pen is saying.
"Well, that's a bummer."
The same reaction as before. The goblin does not appear to understand and continues sobbing.
"Pen or Jon, if Volluk was the raven doll's master and we know he was a drow, maybe try Elven. And please get him to stop sobbing..."
Hagrym couldn’t help but feel bad for voting to animate the massacred doll. He stood by silently and observed.
"We might as well try Dwarven or any other language anyone else can speak," Jon says, clearly uncomfortable with the sobbing. "Otherwise, let's remove the gem. We at least know that the soul in each construct isn't the same one in the gem, since the raven doll could speak and understand Common."
The goblin doll looks up and momentarily stops sobbing and griping in goblin. In elven, he says, "The master's tongue, I hear. The words so sweet...yet that bastard betrayed me...putting me in this pathetic body! He promised me immortality, but not this...I hate you, Master Azrinae! Why you do this to Borbo??" The goblin goes back to sobbing inconsolably.
Due to his sobbing, Borbo only catches brief words that Jon says and fails to understand the gist of the message and he continues sobbing even louder.
Hagrym didn’t speak elven so he didn’t have any way to help the others try to talk the doll down.
Seeing the seriousness and steel gaze of Pen's eyes, Borbo stops sobbing immediately, looking downright scared. He looks around at the other party members. Stammering, he says in Common, "Uh...I do speak your language though I prefer Elven. I'm sorry for deceiving you...it..it's just that...I mean, look at me! This is not what Master Azrinae promised me. That dung feeder!" He holds out the stubs of his arms and legs. After a few seconds, he continues in Common, "Uh...by the way, how do you all happen to be in the Master's workshop? Does he know you're here? Are you guests of his? He does not like guests....no, that, he does not like."
"Aha! He does speak our language! What's your name? We're trying to find out what happened here. I doubt we have the ability to reverse what your master did to you, but if you want revenge on him, we will make sure he faces justice. What can you tell us about your master and what he did to you and anyone else?" Garidan repeats what Jon tried to say before, yet much more friendly.
The doll speaks, more calmly, reassured by Garidan's soft tone, thankful that the party is not angry with it. "I am Borbo. Master? He is a....". Borbo pauses, as if recalling something he was forced to rehearse and say, "A powerful mastermind drow occultist artist craftsman." Borbo seems happy with himself that he remembered. He continues, "I know he had a relation with a book lady down below and that he worked for...." Borbo pauses and looks around and whispers, "Mistress Belcorra, who is very frightening and absolutely none of my business. I remember that he did research for the Mistress on some lenses in room up above, but he never shared details about it with me. Said it was very secret. He also experimented on transferring of souls...he said he wanted to live forever. He liked to torture any who displeased the Mistress before he killed them."
Mac snorts, "This Master of yours does not seem like a nice fella. Was he at least nice to you, Borbo? You know, we met a brownie on the level above who shared secrets with us. Would you happen to know any secrets that could help us?"
Borbo nods his head, "Master Azrinae was not nice. e was mean and cruel to all. And vain, extremely vain. He thought he was the most beautiful elf that ever was. There was a portrait of him before on the level above in the Hall. It was titled "Artist at Work". He could not stop talking about it. Did you see it? His vanity was his weak point. He would get really mad and lose his composure when I would call him ugly or imperfect. He once got so mad at me when I told him about ugly he would look if he transferred his soul to vermin. He could not handle that. Said that he had to do it because his lifespan would end soon. Is Master still around?"
Borbo pauses to consider Mac's other question. "Well you all have treated me so nicely. There is a secret door in the SW alcove that leads downstairs. Also, in my old room, down the hallway, to the north, there is a loose brick that has treasures you may enjoy. Do those count as secrets?"
”Thise sound like pretty good secrets to me,” Hagrym snorts.
Borbo looks over at the party and notices the floating goblin corpse in the tank. He says in a somber voice, "If there are no more questions, I would appreciate you destroying my gem and letting me rest eternally. I do not want to remain in this condition. Please."
Mac grabs his hammer. "Thank you, Borbo for the information. I am sorry for your lot in life and hope your soul finds the peace and rest it so richly deserves." Mac pulls the gem out of the doll and then smashes it with his hammer.
After a second, he puts away his hammer, grabs his pick, and moves to the secret door in the room. "Okay, let's move on."
Mac opens the secret door in this room to find:
This room shares features of a bedroom and a study, although the decor is devoid of any touches of personality, as if anything of sentimental value had been removed.
A search of the room reveals a scrap of paper listing the book titles: What the Worm Knows, Grave Feasts, and Secrets of the Grave, along with a note at the bottom indicating that: "Transcription will take months, but I'll try to have these books back to you as soon as possible, my love!"
From this room, you move back west and north, to Borbo's room and the loose brick in the wall, where you find:
A shard of jade worth 15 gp
Silver statuette of two succubi worth 15 gp
Oily-looking Slick armor rune
The only area left to explore is south.
”To the south then? It looks we have almost explored everything on this level. We finish this and we can run to town and get some proper dinner.”
You head south through a door to find:
A large metal table fitted with leather straps and iron bands sits in the center of this room. A strange contraption that seems to be part spyglass and part mechanical drill sits near the head of the table. A sparkling black gemstone glitters in a metal framework built into this machine’s side.
As you move forward to examine the machine more closely, a 6' long leech with sharp teeth sprouting from its mouth, rises up to attack the party!
Garidan relays his information and then ◆ moves past the group and past the Bloodsiphon. Then he strikes the leech once, sprinkling some shavings of a recently sharpend blade on his spear tip.
◆
Mac silently thanks Pharasma for the boon.
Round 1: Mac
Hagrym uses Torah’s favorite ranged weapon, Divine Lance to fire a bolt of good energy at the horrid leech.
Spell attack
Damage
Round 1: Bloodsiphon
Seeing that Mac inflicted the most damage, the undead leech focuses its mouth attacks on him! Mac manages to avoid most of the attacks, twisting away at the last possible moment.
Jon draws his pistol and whip.◇
Jon heads towards the commotion◇
Seeing the undead creature, Jon swaps◆ his whip with his final remaining ghost charge and lobs it◆ at the leech.
Then Jon shoots it with his pistol◆.