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“As the storm’s fury bends the strongest tree," Mercutio recites from the stele, "so can the wrath of man turn aside all obstacles.”
As he hears the telltale clicks and scrapes of Arioch's handiwork, he turns and smiles. "For behold; Ecce Homo!"
The half orc doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He realizes there no undead in the area.
*shifts with uncharacteristic discomfort*
Mercutio keeps apace (or nearly so).
"Before we go any further," He suddenly announces, "I've brought...a sort of party-favor."
He draws what appears to be a pristine wand: A fine and elegant, if somewhat rococo, stretch of solid gold set with a series of small precious stones known for reputed correlation with the Cosmic Caravan, each cut with numerological runes. He wave it toward everyone in turn, and as he does so, you each experience a peculiar, vague premonition...
Then, as if an afterthought, he draws a vial of murky black liquid, and two wands: One a twisting length carved of solid bloodstone and covered in complex runes inscribed in vitrified molasses, the other a polished branch of blackened poplar tipped with a small blue onyx. He shows them clearly to present company, and offers the last in particular to Narka.
"I ought to mention" He explains. "Should I come to harm, *do* stick with these to heal me, or similar magics if you know them. I have...an old family condition, you see."
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This massive room’s most striking feature is its thirty-foot-high
vaulted ceiling, decorated with faded frescoes of storm clouds.
Motes of flickering light occasionally flash into being within
the painted thunderheads, giving the imperfect impression of
watching a distant storm.
Centered on the north wall of the chamber is a massive
sculpture of a wrathful feminine face, mouth open in a silent
roar. The sculpted curls of her wild hair seamlessly merge with
the painted storm clouds above, creating the impression that
the howling face emerges from a storm-filled sky.
On the room’s south side is a similarly positioned face,
resembling an ancient, bearded man. From between his
defiantly clenched teeth issues a trickle of murky fluid, which
runs down the knotted coils of his beard to pool onto the
stone floor, which has been cut to resemble a fanciful variety
of coastlines and islands, each raised an inch above the rest of
the stone surface.
The fluid pouring onto the floor fills the low-lying areas
between these “islands,” which function as eccentrically
positioned steppingstones across the center of the room. The
water and islands create another illusion—that of looking out
across a great reflective seascape from the peak of an incredibly
high mountain.
The grandeur of the room is somewhat undone by the two
makeshift worktables positioned in its center, surrounded by
benches and stools. The worktables are littered with a variety
of small objects, statues, bits of pottery, and assorted relics.
On the east side of the room, a split staircase leads to a wide
platform ten feet above the floor, where a similarly cluttered
worktable stands. Sturdy wooden doors are set into the east
and west walls.
As the party opens the door two men reach for weapons. One shouts "Intruders" the other "Magenta!". Six kids, male and female cower at the wall or duck under the tables.
combat
Pathfinders up
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As the party opens the door two men reach for weapons. One shouts "Intruders" the other "Magenta!".
"Columbia!" Mercutio shouts in reply, followed by a quizzical expression.
Wait, what does that even mean...?
He snaps his fingers, the resultant sound much louder than it ought to be, and once again you all feel an intense sensation in your weapon-arms, and see comely specters in your peripheral vision...!
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"Why, goodman Gangtee, it appears you've won a door-prize! As they say in Rahadoum, mazel tov!"
"Pardon, pardon, coming through...!" Mercutio mutters as he literally dances his way past Benson and his new "friend" to get at the man in the back.
"How do you do?!" He gives the man a quick fencer's salute with a sword so alarmingly long that it seems to have no business being wielded einhander, let alone with the ease Mercutio does...
...before he !
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The thug is stunned as the dhampir runs his blade into the man's throat. He expires quickly. Arioch is left to strike the corpse.
The elemental vanishes.
combat over
The kids were removing dirt from a variety of archaeological items. On the tables are a set of white jade figurines, an ancient bronze sacrificial dagger studded with chunks of roughly cut obsidian, well-preserved
Taldan tapestries, and several darkwood Mwangi masks.
"Don't hurt us please!" one says.
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"Wasn't planning on it," Replies Mercutio as the specters disappear, and he withdraws his estoc and waves it in front of his nose for just a moment before cleaning it with a prestidigitatorial wave of his hand.
"Swill from a swill specimen...ANYWAY!" He turns around with a flourish and takes a seat on the bench next to him. "What brings you here? You're a bit more than we bargained for...not to mention these!" He adds as his gaze turns from the boy to the assorted treasures on the table, a conspicuous gleam in his coin-like eyes. "What's going on down here, do they tell you anything, or is it like the old joke about mushrooms?"
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"Wasn't planning on it," Replies Mercutio as the specters disappear, and he withdraws his estoc and waves it in front of his nose for just a moment before cleaning it with a prestidigitatorial wave of his hand.
"Swill from a swill specimen...ANYWAY!" He turns around with a flourish and takes a seat on the bench next to him. "What brings you here? You're a bit more than we bargained for...not to mention these!" He adds as his gaze turns from the boy to the assorted treasures on the table, a conspicuous gleam in his coin-like eyes. "What's going on down here, do they tell you anything, or is it like the old joke about mushrooms?"
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+13
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The kids were removing dirt from a variety of archaeological items. On the tables are a set of white jade figurines, an ancient bronze sacrificial dagger studded with chunks of roughly cut obsidian, well-preserved
Taldan tapestries, and several darkwood Mwangi masks."Don't hurt us please!" one says.
"No one is hurting you. Instead, as my friend said, you're rescued." Daenerija replies and turns to items on table and uses detect magic on them
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Narka can help heal Arioch with his heal stick and assists with the Detect Magic afterwards.
"We are not hear to harm you. We just want to know what was going on here and what you were forced to do."
"We're with the Twincandles but these new guys seemed more interested in collecting these old things, preserving them and then selling them for money. We were helping clean but them but they aren't nice all the time." One of the kids points to the stairs to the east. "There's a few more up the stairs in the back room. Can we leave now?"
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When the children ask to leave, he says, "We want you to return safely to your families," Benson assures the children. "We'll escort you to keep you safe if you wish."
One of the kids straightens his back. "Thanks mister but we got it! We're Twincandles after all!" A few of the other kids nod in support.
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No enemies remain in this stone room. The Pathfinders hear mumbling from behind the door.
These stained stone walls conceal actual sepulchers.The heavy stone lids that seal the tombs are each approximately 3 feet square, and etched with the name and rank of some departed sailor. Virtually all of the cells have been unsealed, their lids now lying cracked on the
stone floor.
Jumbled, crumbling skeletons lie heaped within each
cell, recently looted of any valuables. Nothing of value
remains in the graves. One lid remains intact, on the chamber’s western wall at floor level. It swings open on visible hinges, no longer adequately disguised as a secret door. It leads to a curving passageway scarcely larger than the dimensions of the doorway. Harsh chemical fumes
emit from the opened hatch, and the sound of voices and
the flicker of movement in front of a light come from the
passage beyond.