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The pale lady creates a light breeze that blows against her to help with the stench.
"I truly wish that we could meet under more pleasant circumstances. Alas, our mission calls for an apparent sewage dive in the Emerald Spire, it seems. The name is Raiden Mei Rosenthal, or just call me Acheron."
Purple lightning appears in her hand in the shape of a katana, then quickly dissipates. "They call people like me, those who wield elemental energy, kineticists. In other words, I disintegrate those who stand in our way with electricity."
"Also, my mom was a vampire, or was bitten by one when she had me I guess. That being said, I would prefer not to have someone poking their trusty Cure Light Wound wand at me unless it is an emergency. Thank you."
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A dark-skinned, middle-aged tiefling man with more features of beast than human - curved horns, wickedly sharp teeth, and goat-like legs and tail - enters the room. "I am called Papa Òxọ́lé," he says in a deep, gravely voice, "I am a collector of tales, and occasionally maker of same when called upon - as it seems I have been today." He leans against a wall and withdraws a quill and book from his pack. He opens the latter, revealing hastily scribbled notes and maps. "Before we subject ourselves to whatever this stench portends, I wonder if one of you would be so kind as to regale me with a story of your past exploits?"
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Anyone who fails the save ((DC 13)) is affected by Stench.
Assuming you all descend, the stairs descend to a small chamber of smooth, hewn stone lit by a dim greenish light from two strange, torchlike devices on the walls. A metal door with a simple latch mechanism glows with a dim green light in the middle of the north wall. The walls and ceiling are decorated with drawings and writings in bright colors. The depictions are abstract but somehow alien and disturbing.
A creature stands in front of it. He wears a colorful leather garment and carries a walking stick.
I am Slaagh. We welcome you to Godhome. You wish to make sacrifice now, or visit? Take holy grub maybe?
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From behind you come another set of footsteps: Light, yet echoing with a certain sepulchral heaviness, and framed by the glide of silk across the stone.
"Ah, to be in the fabled Emerald Spire at last," begins a mellifluous, somewhat sandy, somewhat sibilant, ever-so-slightly lispy, and eerily resonant voice, with only the faintest Tian accent...
...which then erupts in pained wheezing.
"Oh. Oh dear. It seems this floor may be a little...too full of life."
Blue-and-black robes hang heavily from this man's rail-thin body (which also happens to be a slightly lighter shade of blue); despite his present handicap, he moves as though he were a finely-articulated mannequin. He carries a formidable crossbow, a fine but imposing silver staff tipped with a sort of built-in lantern, a few magical odds and ends, a shimmering silver icon that defies description as resembling either a moon or a skull, and...a doll???
It is difficult to explain, but you feel as if everything near him is simply more still and silent than it ought to be, and as he catches up with the rest of you, you increasingly sense this subtle...deadness around you: The air is more still, yet colder. Dust in the air seems to drift more slowly. Sounds seem more hollow and distant. Even the physical proximity of your other companions feels further than it is.
"Yes, yes, greetings one and all," He finally says between heaving gasps as he finds a place to sit and rest his weight upon his staff while cradling his doll with his other arm. "I am Saturn Samedi Arundhati Balthazar Krishnamurti Fumanchu Maitreya."
He looks over at Acheron with interest upon hearing her story. "Fear ye not, my child; life and death are simply sides of a great coin; you are that coin upon its side!" He oscillates his icon between his fingers as if to illustrate his point. "It shall be my honor to assist you as you require."
He then looks over the others; he gives a perfunctory bow of his head at Impedance for his introduction, nods cryptically at Papa Òxọ́lé, barely acknowledges Oloch, and stares with wide-eyed intrigue at Tusk.
He concludes his ocular-tour of the room by returning his gaze to his doll.
"What is that you say? Why no, I am not certain...Oh, very funny. How'd you like to have a working nose right now??"
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So, presumably you allow Slaagh to guide you. He opens the door and beckons you through. Inside, you can smell the lingering scent of troll.
He first takes you through the antechamber:
Two light-sticks are mounted on the walls of this chamber, and every surface is adorned with crudely rendered paintings. Passages lead north and east. A short corridor in the north wall leads to a larger room. In the middle of the south wall, there is a large door made of a copper-colored metal. It glows like the light-sticks.
then to the Room of Food:
This room contains a large stone vat in the middle of the eastern wall. It seems to be filled with a pasty, pink substance. Just north of the tub, a tall door made of lustrous, coppery metal leads east, and passages exit
the chamber to the north and south. Three torchlike devices in the wall glow with a soft green light, as does the metal door.
Two other troglodytes are here touching up a mural.
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Oxole doesn't have a clue what it could be.
Ah well. This way please And Slaagh leads you to the Home of the God.
A hexagonal, metallic structure about ten feet wide and almost twenty-five feet tall looms in the center of this high-ceilinged room, emanating a greenish-white light. All kinds of gears and armaments are stuck to its silvery sides, including dozens of weapons, shields, and pieces of armor, as well as lanterns, buckles, and tools. To the north and south of the object stand two large stone statues, each depicting a troglodyte with its arms upraised in adulation. Four copper-colored metal doors lead out of this chamber, one from each corner of the room.
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By now, your disturbing blue companion seems to have acclimatized to the stench...and when offered the food, he accepts!
In fact, he even takes a small extra helping for the doll....
"Oh my! A most peculiar god indeed, but," He jingles his own macabre icon. "Who am I to judge?"
Seeing nothing amiss - only wondrous! - Saturn moves into the room....
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Saturn manages to hold down the food and is not sickened. The food is freshly ground meat of an indeterminate nature. While this is wonderfully tasty and nutritious food from the troglodytes’ point of view, the meat is nauseating by other races’ standards.
The strength of the magnetic field from the Godbox depends on distance
Beyond 15 Feet (corner or doorway): The field is easily resisted, but belted items lift up, pointing toward the room’s center.
Within 15 Feet (other squares not adjacent to Godbox): The magnetic field attempts a combat maneuver check (+5 CMB, or +10 against targets wearing full suits of metal armor) against each character that begins its turn at this distance or enters a square within this range. Any bonuses to CMD the target has that apply against a bull rush also apply against this combat maneuver. A character that fails is pulled 5 feet closer to the Godbox. If a character resists the pull, the magnetic field attempts a second combat maneuver check to disarm her of the largest metal object held by her, carried by her, or sheathed on her person. The field is strong enough to break straps and pull weapons out of sheaths.[/i]
Adjacent Square: An irresistible force pulls all ferrous metals into contact with the Godbox, where they remain immobile.
Anyone within ten feet of the Godbox, please make a Perception check
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Saturn manages to hold down the food and is not sickened. The food is freshly ground meat of an indeterminate nature. While this is wonderfully tasty and nutritious food from the troglodytes’ point of view, the meat is nauseating by other races’ standards.
"Oh my, how...entropic! You are most gracious hosts, we knew not what to expect down here, but this is a fine surprise!"
He looks down at his doll again as he presents it with its share on a small saucer.
"What would you say?"
All of Saturn's most prominent metal possessions are of silver, so it seems the Godbox takes little interest in him...
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Since at least three of you are covered in magnetic material, I'm redoing the CMB checks.
((metal armour and weapons))
((metal full plate etc))
((just a nail)
((metal breastplate and your weapon))
The other two are out of range.
Papa's dagger gets deflected and is now stuck to the Godbox. Papa is also pulled to the Godbox and is now stuck to it because of his armour.
Impedance resists the pull but the attraction tries to pull his kukuri out of it's scabbard.
The kukuri flies out of it's scabbard and onto the Godbox
Saturn stays where he is but the force attempts to break the string holding the nail
... and so does the nail.
Tusk barely stays put, but does his weapon
and that too is stuck to the Godbox - along with all the other metal objects on it.
Slaagh looks pleased as an eerie hum begins from inside the box, and two distant metallic clicks sound from the northeast.
The sacrifice has been accepted. The exit is now open.
metal armor, and must spend 2 rounds removing his armor to escape. If held by smaller metal fittings such as buckles, the character is grappled, and can get free by cutting or releasing all scabbards, chains, and buckles as a full-round action.