"Where'd you end up putting your bomb? Surely it won't hurt telling us if you're so confident in your plan's success."
Yosiduin waves a hand vaguely towards the city above. "That task was handled by another, that whining fool Gildais, some years ago. He obtained the knife, but it fell to me to ensure it slides through Lastwall's ribs--and I have done so."
Silvia wrote:
"If all you wanted was to die, why go through all this trouble?"
"Immortality through death," the elf hisses, leaning forward. "A death so great, so momentous, that even our capricious tyrant will be impressed enough to grant me power eternal." His lips curl into a cruel smile. "Perhaps I will tell him of your efforts, and he will grant you the same boon. He always did love bending his enemies to his service."
Suddenly the room shudders, the stone above your heads and beneath your feet vibrating as a rumble grows into a roar that drowns out even Yosiduin's mad, victorious laughter. A crack snakes down one wall as dust and flakes of stone rain down from the ceiling...and then the shaking passes as suddenly as it began, the room visibly damaged but uncollapsed, and you don't think the rest of the cavern collapsed either or you'd have heard and felt it. Yosiduin's laughter fades into a frustrated scowl.
"Alas, it seems I must kill you in the traditional fashion," he snarls as he rises to his feet, hefting that great maul as though it were little more than a toy. He points toward you all. "Slay them."
You both get a sense of divine power from the otyughs, radiating out from those black orbs. You've heard stories of divine casters being corrupted in undead and their magic corrupted with them--it seems that this was the fate of these unfortunate otyughs as well.
Mechanically: they have oracle spellcasting, with their Streets Mystery now swapped for the Apocalypse Mystery. No additional defenses beyond standard undead traits but as ghouls they have a Stench aura.
Ketra:
Ketra doesn't know much about morhgs, but she recalls that these monsters are more offensively focused than defensive; other than the usual undead resistances they don't have anything special making them harder to destroy.
Ketra wrote:
I'm especially curious about what you're still doing here, letting yourself get backed into a corner. If I was you I'd be a little upset if the Great Tyrant predicted that part for me."
Yosiduin rasps out a laugh. "Backed into a corner? Perhaps so. This little bolt hole has served its purpose, and there is no harm in revealing your doom a trifle early. There is nothing you can do to stop what's coming; it is out of all of our hands."
Garret wrote:
”True, we only know bits and pieces—a necrotic bomb here, a missing artifact there—what terrifying evil has the Tyrant unleashed upon us?”
"The culmination of inevitability, for not even destiny could entrap the Whispering Tyrant forever. Somewhere in this city is hidden one of the Seals imprisoning my master in Gallowspire. Where? It does not matter," The armored elf chuckles darkly, spreading his hands. "It will be destroyed with all else in this accursed city, and the the Great Tyrant will be freed at last. You will all die with the ashen taste of failure on your tongues, and I will finally be released from this wretched, damnable existence."
In the aftermath of the not-a-trap's quick but noisy dispatch, the party regroups and moves to stack up on the door at the other end of the hallway. Listening at the door hears multiple voices speaking, to quiet and muffled for the words to be made out. Zsofia protests at being asked to poke her head through, arguing that Silvia's gun means whoever's on the other side definitely had forewarning and time to be prepped and she would just as soon keep her ectoplasmic shell intact thank-you-very-much. With no other options besides forward, or back, you throw open the door.
The room beyond was clearly once an audience hall, dominated by a long rug with an elaborate lotus petal motif that runs the length of the hall. Staining the run are a pair of otyughs, their bulk filling the hall and their rubbery hide grey-green with the pallor of death--the eyes atop their tentacles glow a sickly green, and a pulsing orb of darkness can be seen inside their massive, slack mouths. They are clearly undead of some kind.
At the far end a pair of short steps lead up to a raised section of the room, and upon that is a throne of twisted and warped wood that seems charred and blackened by fire. Standing before the stairs is a tall and heavily muscled human, his face concealed by a half-mask and a barbed and bladed whip in his hands, while his sleeveless vest sports numeous blades and darts strapped across his chest. Flanking the throne are a pair of warriors in Seal Breaker armor, their skulls flensed free of any flesh at all save that of the slowly wriggling, toothy worm that rises from the breastplate and snakes up the skeletons' necks before emerging from their bony jaws.
Religion DC18 (Otyughs):
It seems likely that these are the otyugh "priests" you had been told about before, though sadly it appears they are beyond help now. They are ghouls now, with all the attendant dangers those creatures pose--worse, there is a palpable sense of power radiating from that black orb within their mouths.
These otyughs are now ghouls, and retain their spellcasting abilities from class levels. All the usual question apply.
Religion DC19 (Skeleton Knights):
Far from mindless skeletons, you recognize these horrors as mohrgs--stealthy, cunning, and relentlessly murderous undead.
All the usual question apply.
Upon the throne itself sits another figure in Seal Breaker armor--an elf, his face sallow and haggard looking. Were he to stand he would be quite tall, and his right hand rests on the haft of an ornate maul that rests across his thighs. His eyes are fever-bright with malicious triumph and his voice is a rasp that nevertheless carries across the hall.
"Be welcome, Vigilites. I am please to have company now, at this final hour. All is unfolding as the Great Tyrant predicted...as you have doubtless realized."
Reacting with blinding speed and shocking accuracy, Silvia's shots punch through the metallic "skin" of the monster, ricocheting around its interior. The horror lets out a shriek like tearing metal, shudders, and collapses to the ground like so much scrap iron.
We'll assume surprise round for Garret's spell, for ease of resolution
Though he washes the not-a-trap creature in a searing blast of fire, the sorcerer feels a split-second of resistance as the creature attempts to shrug off his spell, but Garret's power proves the greater! With a rumble and creak of metal the "trap" unfolds from the wall and ceiling and takes a much more mobile--and menacing--form!
Arcana DC23:
This bizarre creature is an urannag--Living, ambulatory, naturally growing Abyssal hazards that resemble nothing so much as predatory plants made of metal and filled with hungry malice. Though scholars argue over the exact classification and nature of these "living traps," it is broadly agreed that urannags have no need for sustenance and are driven to trap & flense prey out of innate sadism.
CE Construct with the Extraplanar subtype, all the usual questions apply.
Sanduro heals up Rosalind and Zsofia, using another 5 charges on his wand
As the party gathers up on door, Ketra tests it and finds it unlocked. Sending Zsofia through there's a pause and a muffled "Huh!"[/b] before she invites you all in.
"So uh, what's that about?" Zsofia points at what appears to be a set of rusty black iron bars that have been installed into the broad hallway, creating a large cell fifteen feet to a side. A padlocked gate is set into each side of the hallway, theoretically allowing someone to pass through the cell to get to the rest of the temple beyond. Perhaps most alarmingly, dozens rusty foot-long spikes have been driven into the walls and ceiling, menacing enough but still leaving plenty of space to walk through if one had a mind to. It's hard to imagine what it could be other than a trap, but if anything it's worryingly obvious.
Perception DC29:
Something isn't right. You definitely saw a few of those spikes quiver, just a little bit, and the spikes are glistening slightly...like it's drooling...
The central cell, once opened by one of the keys from the departed Nox's set turns out not to be a cell at all but apparently a torturer's private room. A bedroll and pile of blankets sits against one wall, and a few racks with metal hooks hold various serrated blades and similar instruments of torment. A pair of iron maidens sit open in the room, its spikes dull with crusted old gore, and an alcove in the wall holds a wicker basket that shakes slightly; the muffled squeaking of rats can be heard from inside.
"That's Roscasco's room. Told ya he's a piece of work." Kili mutters.
Nothing in the room pings as magical; unless you want to head out to the lake tower through the trapped door in Nox's room the only other exit is the doorway on the east side of the room you're currently in
Not even bothering to hide her sour expression, Kili's answer is an annoyed grumble "No, they wouldn't talk about that in front of me. They seemed excited though, like whatever they're up to is really important. As if you needed me to tell you that."
Anyone else have anything they'd like to add? If not, ready to move on?
Kili grumbles when told her rescue has to wait, but still answers.
"There's sixteen of them, I think. We killed two of them when they raided the dyeworks, and the grunts seem to work in pairs or quartets when they're on duty. Mostly those armored soldiers, and Yosiduin's the one in charge. Nox--that's the bird lady you roasted--was his number 2, and there's a real sadistic piece of work called Roscasco who thinks he's number three but I'm pretty sure he's the other two just think he's a useful idiot. He's their, like, professional torturer or whatever." She considers.
"You're already here so you probably know but there's some kind of fungus druid living in the temple--the guards said they'd attacked it a few times and it was mean enough to fight them off but didn't counterattack, so they've left it alone. And there's a dragon in the lake, they had a bag over my head at the time so I didn't see it, but I heard them talking to it." She spreads her hands in a that's-all-I-know gesture.
In Silvia's divine sight the gnome's aura roils with a vicious cocktail of avarice, ego, and sadism.
When Ketra confronts her, Kili's expression goes all to confusion and hurt--she's definitely a talented actress, but she drops the facade with a sign when you don't budge.
"Okay, okay, I'll talk--but only if I get the paladin's word that you'll release me if I tell you everything I know."
Going off of Silvia's acquiescence in the Discord...
Kili talks quickly, matter-of-factly describing how the Wise Crows evaded capture from Vigil's authorities but mostly going about their lives separately, only coming together when one of them gets wind of an opportunity and the group convenes on whether to take a job or not. On those occasions when they decided to pass on a job themselves they could pass the information on to other criminal groups, like Zsofia and her gang, for a finder's fee. The "shield theft" as she dubs it was a major score--with such a massive payday the Crows would be able to lay low for years, or even leave the city and retire...though none of them did.
"Now I wish I had--Gildais' goons came back a few weeks ago and told us we were sloppy, left behind clues and witnesses and we had to clean up our mess or else. Kili's momma didn't raise a fool though, once all the other threads were tied up nicely there would still be one left, about three feet tall with pink hair, and I wasn't interested in playing along. They got the jump on us though, and hit us before we'd actually finished cleanup. And now there's you lot--you're the ones who nabbed Dondun, right? I bet that wrinkly old s*$$ sang like a canary, but I can sing too." She seems completely unbothered at the idea of murdering several people, moreso just annoyed at being threatened into it.
She professes no recognition of the name Quietus, though if asked about the letter signed 'Y' she scowls. "That's Yosiduin, or I'll eat my boots. He's the leader of these fanatics; an elf with a mean streak and a death wish too. No sense of humor either. He's got this big hammer and must be stronger than he looks because he pulped Onthur like it was nothing." She pantomimes pouring with her right hand. "Rallidan and me got captured, he was in the other cell until a few hours ago when the hauled him off. I figured they'd work him over close enough for me to hear the screams, but nah. I'd call them amateurs, but then again I'm the one chained up." She jangles her manacles again.
Ketra discovers several masterfully crafted weapons amongst the racks, and a hand mirror polished platinum that's doubtless worth a pretty penny even without whatever historical value it might have. Amongst the tengu's belongings she also turns up a small sandalwood box with incense--she's no expert, but this seems to be high-end stuff, and Garret can confirm that one of the sticks is Incense of Corporeality.
After Ketra reaches in to remove the gag, the gnome makes a relieved sound and works her jaw a few times. Her hair and outrageously long eyebrows are dyed a vibrant pink with purple highlights, and she's got the slender but muscular build of a gymnast or dancer. "Oh! Great job frying those a&++!@*s! I told them, I told them I was too cute to die, but did they listen?! NOOooOOoo, of course not! And now look at them, they look like s$&@ and smell like pork rinds. That's no way to go through life." She flips a rude gesture at the charred bodies of the cultists and then turns an exaggerated pleading expression on Ketra.
"Could you finish freeing me? I'm not a princess, but you don't look much like a knight either so I guess the bards were full of it. Name's Kili, but my friends all call me 'ugh not her again.' What's your name?"
Seal Breakers:
[2] +1 glaives
[2] +1 heavy crossbows
[46] +1 ghost touch crossbow bolts
[2] +1 heavy steel shield
[8] javelins
[2] +1 full plate
[2] +1 breastplate
Tengu Priestess:
Divine wand of Bull's Strength (5 charges)
Wand of Cure Light Wounds (18 charges)
Wand of Invisibility Purge (14 charges)
+2 breastplate armor
Mswk short sword
+1 heavy flail
Cloak of Resistance +1
Headband of Inspired Wisdom +2
Silver holy symbol of Groetus
weathered map of Castle Overwatch
ring with three battered old keys
In the battle's aftermath you take stock of your wounds and the fallen; though much of the furniture has been destroyed by Garret's spells, it's clear that this was the main living area for at least most of the Seal Breaker contingent. Several hammocks against the wall are screened off by hanging sheets to form a rough sleeping area, and enough barrels or crates remain around the hearth's makeshift kitchen to make the room's current purpose clear enough.
Poking your head into the room the tengu priestess emerged from, you see the room was clearly an armory now repurposed to her private chambers. wire frame arming stands and metal weapon racks have been shoved up against the walls, clearing space for a prayer mat decorated with the scowling moon-face of Groetus, the Harbinger of the Last Days. In the opposite wall stands a stone door--you recall that through that door would be the tower rising from the lake, and you recall the geist's warning that the door is magically trapped. Of the geist himself, there is no sign--you don't think it got destroyed, but might have been injured or banished.
As you explore, you pick up a cheeful, if muffled, humming coming from the furthest of the two barred cells set into the southern side of the living hall. Investigation reveals a gagged gnome in her smallclothes, arms shackled to the far wall by iron manacles, tapping her heels against the stone to keep time as she hums. Despite the bruising and swelling on the left side of her face she gives you all a cheerful little wave before rattling her manacles questioningly.
Garret detonates another fireball in the room, sculpting his spell to avoid his allies and leaving the two remaining Seal Breakers nothing but charred corpses! Only the tengu priestess survives, but even she is badly burned and staggering from her wounds.
The instant the flames clear Rosalind is rushing in to join Ketra, a sudden sweep of her heavy blade opening the priestess' throat and ending her life!
Ketra flows towards the tengu priestess with a deceptive grace, her knives suddenly whipping out to slash the cultist even through the heavy armor under her robes. She squawks in outrage at the affront and Ketra feels a sense of malicious power ripple through the air as the tengu brings her heavy flail around, adding supernatural strength to a crushing counter-blow! (33dmg!)
Sanduro and SilviaBOT push into the room, taking aim at the remaining Seal Breaker with the polearm--the paladin's aim is true, but unfortunately Sanduro and Zsofia are each too busy worrying about the other to put all their focus on the enemy.
+ ROUND SIX + Seal Breaker Red
Seal Breaker Gold (-44hp, -3Con)
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Tengu Priestess (-58hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Purple (-47hp)
Garret
Rosalind (-19hp)
Garret maneuvers for an angle and then releases a devastating fireball! The detonation catches all four of the remaining foes, leaving them scorched and wounded--but none of them fall! Rosalind follows her companions into the breach, closing in on the burned and wounded crossbow Seal Breaker and finishing them off with a swift strike of her no-dachi. Seeing this, the other crossbow Seal Breaker (Gold) takes aim and puts a bolt into the Watchknight's leg!
+ ROUND SIX + Seal Breaker Red
Seal Breaker Gold (-44hp, -3Con)
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Tengu Priestess
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Purple (-38hp)
Garret
Rosalind (-19hp)
As Ketra opens the door Zsofia lets out a war-whoop and rushes the door! The [i]crack[i/] of Silvia's rifle heralds the end of the polearm Seal Breaker and he collapses to the floor. "And stay down!" Zsofia taunts as she leaps over his twitching form to deliver a vicious but punch at the crossbow Sealbreaker. Unfortunately the cultist's stagger from the hit carries them out of the path of Sanduro's covering fire, the arrow shattering against the far wall.
As Ketra hurls herself into the room, rolling and coming back to her feet beyond a point where the party could be bottled up in the doorway, she sees another pair of Seal Breaker guards--one with a polearm, the other with a crossbow--and she notices immediately as the latch to the door nearest her rattles. The door swings inward and out steps a tall, slender tengu with predatory eyes and a long, vicious-looking flail.
"Must I do everything myself?!" the tengu complains in an avian croak, turning a murderous stare on Ketra.
+ ROUND FIVE +
Seal Breaker Red (-49hp)
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Tengu Priestess
Seal Breaker Blue
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
+ ROUND SIX +
Seal Breaker Red (-49hp)
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Tengu Priestess
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Blue
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
The heavy door is shoved open, just ahead of the Seal-Breaker halberdier who has turning back to brace himself against it!
Ketra has used a Move Action to open the door but otherwise everyone bolded is still up.
+ ROUND FIVE +
Seal Breaker Red (-32hp)
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Blue (-68hp)
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
Zsofia gives a nod of acknowledgement to Ketra's signal, and busies herself with shoving the dozens of caltrops against the wall and as out of the way as possible
It occurs to me that with her DR Zsofia isn't actually at risk from caltrops so it makes sense for her to clear them.
While the phantom works on the caltrops, Sanduro and Rosalind move into the hallway and join Ketra in stacking up on double doors. The shouting in Necril continues as the geist stirs things
Necril:
"Don't let it get away!"
"Damnation, it's in the walls!"
"Chaplain Nox! It might be headed for the Chaplain!"
"It won't have long to regret it, if so."
"You too--forget the geist, brace that f%+*ing door!"
Assuming everyone goes with Ketra's plan to regroup, that would eat up the Round 3 + 4 actions so I'm jumping us to Round 5 in the tracker. + ROUND FIVE +
Seal Breaker Red (-32hp)
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Blue (-68hp)
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
Garret's spell slams the visible Seal Breaker pikeman, but he shrugs off the worst of its effects. Zsofia shoulders open the door and dives out of the way of the "ogre" as it bulls into the room--and absorbs a pair of crossbow bolts that vanish into its form and shatter on the stone wall behind it.
"It's a fake!""Illusion!" the Seal Breakers guarding the door shout, but Zsofia takes advantage of the momentary distraction to lunge forward and smash the closest Seal Breaker in the side of his helm. "Looks like our geist buddy is really going for it, but I think he's catching the worse end of it. They've got ghost-killing bolts, ugh." From inside the room you hear continued shouts and the geists shrieking imprecations against the invading blasphemers. Leaning out into the hall, Silvia fires two shots at the visible Seal Breaker but between the cover and Zsofia's wild brawling the paladin can't get a good shot off.
Rosalind and Sanduro are continuing to delay while you keep taking shots at them from down the hall.
+ ROUND THREE +
Seal Breaker Red (-32hp)
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Blue (-68hp)
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind [delaying]
+ ROUND FOUR +
Seal Breaker Red (-32hp)
Seal Breaker Gold (-6hp, -3Con)
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro [delaying]
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-63hp)
Seal Breaker Blue (-68hp)
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
Just a general note Ketra but the deck of illusions generates a Major Image, which you can actively control if you maintain concentration on it.
Garret's burst of holy sunlight blasts both Seal-Breakers guarding the doorway, but perhaps their helms shield their eyes enough to prevent violence. The glaive-armed cultists slashes through the doorway at Zsofia, but the nimble phantom dodges the blows with a derisive laugh and lunges forward with a vicious uppercut on the injured Seal Breaker. The crossbow-armed cultist steps behind the corner, and the sounds of battle and your shrieking geist "ally" can be heard somewhere out of sight in that room.
As the illusory ogre shimmers into view, Rosalind and Sanduro glance at Ketra and wait for her lead. Both of them will Delay since the hallway is looking pretty full right now.
+ ROUND TWO +
Seal Breaker Red (-32hp; Dazzled 1/1)
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-40hp)
Seal Breaker Blue (-46hp; Dazzled 1/1)
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind [delaying]
+ ROUND THREE +
Seal Breaker Red (-32hp; Dazzled 1/1)
Seal Breaker Gold (-6hp, -3Con)
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro [delaying]
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?) (-48hp)
Seal Breaker Blue (-46hp; Dazzled 1/1)
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
With a maddened howl, the geist following your group plunges through the stone wall followed a few seconds later by alarmed shouts muffled by stone and wood. Rosalind grabs the latch of the heavy mahogany doors and hauls one of the open before falling back to open a space for the party's ranged attackers.
"Zsofia! Get across the spikes, then take cover!" Sanduro calls. As soon as the phantom complies, drifting over the caltrops before huddling up against the barricaded door at the far end of the hall, the druid closes his eyes in concentration as Zsofia gains solid ectoplasmic mass once again.
+ ROUND ONE +
Seal Breaker Red
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?)
Seal Breaker Blue
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
+ ROUND TWO +
Seal Breaker Red
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?)
Seal Breaker Blue
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
In the aftermath of the fight Sanduro pulls out his wand of healing and tends to the others' injuries, then returns Zsofia to her incorporeal form. With a few wary glances at the statue-still golem, your party forms up again on the mahogany doors. With a roll of her eyes Zsofia slips through the doors. You head a muffled shout of surprise and pain then the phantom yells, "There's a jerk with a crossbow, and it can hurt spirits. F**! me, it can hurt spirits! There's caltrops on the ground too--Garret, pretty please burn them all to death."
+ ROUND ONE +
Seal Breaker Red
Seal Breaker Gold
Silvia
Ketra
Sanduro
Zsofia (-13hp)
Geist Ally(?)
Seal Breaker Blue
Seal Breaker Purple
Garret
Rosalind
The statue freezes in mid-windup for another punch, turning away from Ketra's retreating allies to face her instead. For a few seconds nothing happens, then the golem turns and steps back onto its pedestal. It resumes its previous pose, now sporting some new cracks and chips from its crystalline form.
You have 8 in total, one from each of the Seal Breakers you've killed. I don't know it was ever established exactly how many you gave to the troop but I assume at least half.
Ketra brandishes the wooden holy symbol and shouts at it even as Silvia sends a fusillade of additional gunfire into its torso. The golem's head snaps around to orient on the holy symbol before shifting away from the dancer to focus its attention to pummeling the rifle-toting paladin instead, striking her thrice in retaliation.
"Silvia, hold your fire! I think Ketra's on to something," Sanduro pleads. While the construct is distracted by Silvia, Raesilia moves past Garret to start mending the paladin's wounds. (Incredible Healer for 41, undoing half of the golem's damage) Zsofia hesitates, waiting with one fist cocked back and looking back and forth at the rest of the party.
Ketra's blades clatter off the golem's form as the thunderous report of Silvia's rifle fills the enclosed space. The shots are devastatingly well-aimed but the crystalline statue is extraordinarily sturdy. Instead of shattering, the bullets send shards of crystal spalling off in every direction.
Rosalind falls back a step, but the golem's size and the closed door at her back limits her options. She sets to tending her injuries with a will--not even a backhand from the golem is enough to stop her from resetting her dislocated arm with an audible pop.
Zsofia leaps in with more kicks and punches, managing another modest crack in the halite statue's form. "This is not going well!" the phantom shouts in frustration. "Anyone have any better ideas before it beats us all to death?!" The question is punctuated by a grunt as the statue clips her with another punch; a second blow is evaded by the nimble Ketra.
"We're causing damage--but I don't think my arrows can do much to it!" Sanduro answers, hesitating as he looks between Rosalind and the golem. Delay
"Uh oh, Zsofia you can break this one," Sanduro concentrates as the phantom's body solidifies into its ectoplasmic form--but this time with a metallic sheen sheathing Zsofia's hands, the effect disappearing up her sleeves. With a grin, Zsofia jukes forward and punches the golem twice. Alas, it's mass and the hardness of its crystalline form mean Zsofia's blows leave a lot to be desired, and she manages only a minor crack.
Corporeal Form + Strong Jaw & a 5ft step + Full Attack
Groaning through the pain in her head, Rosalind narrows her eyes at the hulking construct before stepping in to strike it--but the pain breaks her focus and the swing is ill-aimed, rebounding from the golem's side to no effect!
Study Target, 5ft step, Power Attack into a nat 1 :(
The golem retaliates against its attackers, throwing slow but bone-shattering punches. It only manages to glance Zsofia, but you all hear the crack of ribs and a gasp choked with pain as Rosalind catches a blow squarely in the torso.
Garret knows that while crystal golems are unsubtle combatants, primarily beating their targets to death with their massive fists, they also possess a gemstone core that acts as a reservoir of psychic magic. This crystal lets the golem draw upon offensive ranged powers like Mind Thrust or Explode Head--indeed, he suspects this latter power is that hurt Rosalind, though it seems the tough Watchknight shook off the worst of the mental assault.
They have a pool of Power Points and can spend them in any combo on either of those two spells.
Ketra's examination of the altar doesn't turn up anything of note--the stone slab was probably carved out as part of the temple's construction, and whatever decorations or relics it once hosted are long gone.
"Touch not the altar, nonbeliever!" hisses the geist from its spot in the hall where it paused. It seems oddly reluctant to draw closer, perhaps even ashamed.
Meanwhile Silvia examines the crystalline statue of Arazni that dominates the center of the chamber; it shimmers in Rosalind's light, but seems to be nothing more than a statue. Sadly no ancient treasures or secret doors reveal themselves, leaving just the heavy mahogany doors inlaid with halite crystals arranged in decorative patterns, leading eastwards. Rosalind takes it upon herself to examine this, peering closely and leaning in to listen at the door without touching it.
"Looks clear. Ready?" the Watchknight waits for your signal before reaching for the heavy metal rings that serves as the doors' handles. The second she touches it, the halite crystals in the doors flash with light, a flash echoes by the Araznan statue--which turns its head to stare directly at Rosalind. With a cry she clutches at her head, a trickle of blood flowing from her nostil and ears.
Arcana DC21:
No statue at all, this is a crystal golem--a guardian construct with all the brutal power of the rest of its kind, plus enhancements of divine or psychic power!
Standard construct traits and golem magic immunity, otherwise all questions apply as usual
The crystalline doors swing open to reveal a stone tunnel with a few sets of stairs leading upwards into the darkness, each ending at a pair of landings.
At the first landing, Ketra immediately spots a line of faded chalk on the stone floor, which turns out to be a rectangle nearly the width the whole hall--only a foot or so is left on either side. Looking closer, she realizes the chalk is outlining a pressure plate built into the flagstones! With the danger now recognized, it only takes a few careful shuffling steps with your backs pressed to the wall to bypass whatever awfulness might have been unleashed.
From here you proceed to another set of halite doors, which a careful check shows you is untrapped and unbarred. After Zsofia pokes her head through and gives you the all-clear, you push the doors open and behold a T-shaped chamber; the western arm hosts a stone altar, and at the intersection looms a 10-foot-tall halite statue of a winged woman in elegant platemail. At the end of the eastern section of the T stand a pair of mahogany doors, strangely untouched by the centuries in contrast to the rest of the temple complex you've seen so far.
As Garret reads the inscription aloud, there is a deep thud from the door, and a line of white light briefly flares appears where the red crystalline doors join. With hardly a whisper of sound, the doors swing open...
Some people write their password down on a sticky note, others carve it into the stone over their doors!
"Make them pay!" Hissing and grumbling in Draconic, Cleverquill gathers up its treasures--even the supposed fakes--back into its jars and net and scurries back down the bridge's columns to the water, leaving your path clear. You stride across the bridge, under the crossed swords of the statues and find yourself at a tall gate whose doors are formed of that same reddish crystal, the ring-handles gold with crystalline lotuses at the anchor point. Carved into the stone above the door is faded engraving in Celestial:
Garret for sure can read this, maybe others: THE RED CRUSADER SHALL SHIELD THE JUST
Ketra doesn't spot any traps or ambushes lurking, but the geist floating along behind you hisses a warning. "Here, it is here! The guardian of the temple gates!"
"Beads?! Fakes?!" Cleverquill's quills rattle with fury and whips about to face the temple structure on the other side of the bridge. "YDERSIUS! YOU DECEIVER! NO ONE MAKERS A FOOL OF CLEVERQUILL!" Hissing his displeasure, the draconic creature turns its glare back on the group of you. "Cleverquill will allow you to pass, so you can punish those rotten knights. The hallways are too small for my enormough might, and you will give me half the treasure you fi--say, is he alright?" Cleverquill blinks at Garret, following the halfling's gaze to the fifth clay jar. Hissing again, the creature covers it with one clawed hand and gives you all a suspicious glare.
"You can't have it, it's mine!" Cleverquill snarls.
You struggle to suppress a wince as the overwhelming aura of Necromancy slams into you--whatever this jar is, it's power is intense beyond any magical device you've seen before. It may well be artifact-tier.
"Fake...treasure...?!" Cleverquill blinks several times, then its quills rattle and it hisses and leans its head closer. "Stay. Here." It turns and clambers back down the bridge columns, head knifing into the water and emerging a second later with the ruins of a fishing net in its jaws. Scrambling back up onto the bridge the creature lays the net down--tangled in its ropes are several old-looking clay jars. Muttering angrily, Cleverquill pries the lid off one of the jars and knocks it over, spilling dozens of silver and gold coins along with a few small gemstones onto the bridge.
"Are these fake? Which ones?!" the creature demands frantically.
Silvia:
The creature's retrieval of its treasures gives you enough time to invoke your power, showing you that wickedness stains this creature's soul. You don't know what crimes it may have committed but their mark is visible to your divinely aided sight.
Perception DC19:
There are five clay jars--the one Cleverquill just opened and three more that look much like it, the jars seemingly quite old and water damaged, a dark grey in color. The last one though, is strange--it's a ruddy tan color, slender and under two feet tall with its lid shaped like a tusked dragon skull. Despite having been underwater it seems to be crusted with dried blood around where the lid would seal...
This creature is a peluda--wingless four-legged cousins to wyverns. Though more intelligent than wyverns peluda are no less dangerous, as their curiosity and cunning can give way to a catlike cruel streak, and the long barbed quills that cover its back and neck store a nasty venom.
All the usual questions apply!
"Oh I am! Polite, that is. But also powerful and probably erudite too, whatever that means. And of course the bridge isn't forbidden to everyone...just you!" An odd croaking sound comes from deep in the creature's throat, and you realize it's laughing. "I don't know about any death cultists, just some knights who wanted to explore the temple. They were very respectful and gave me a lot of shiny gold and glittering gems! A whole awful lot..." The creature's lips peel back in a satisfied smile.
"So of course you must turn back or face certain death at the claws, and teeth, and tail, and fire--of mighty Cleverquill! Or the poison, can't be forgetting that!"
Proceeding on to the red crystal bridge, you have only a moment to take in the strange beauty of the structure and its ornamental statues with their crossed blades forming an arch over the smooth glittering walkway. With a splash, something large heaves itself from the water, claws clicking and scraping as it scrambles up onto the bridge to block your path.
"Hello!" it says in a surprisingly squawky voice. Its yellow slitted eyes take you in and the rows of long barbed quills on its neck and back rustle as it moves. It cranes its neck to take you all in as water drips and dribbles off of a sleek muscular scaly body larger than that of a horse. "Ydersius says: NO ONE MAY PASS! And he gives me plenty of shinies so you must go away now. Goodbye!"
"The prayer, yes, I know it well, I must know it! It was...written?" the geist subsides into incoherent muttering for a few moments, then falls silent. "We are wasting time," it hisses finally, turning to drift out through the stone walls towards the tower.
Whenever you get around to identifying it, the rapier is a unique +3 rapier.
You follow the Araznian priest's shade and retrace your steps, down to the tower's base and the rowboat you'd tied off to the little island. Sailing back, you carefully skirt the haunt around the shattered statue. The geist hisses a mocking laugh as it comes into view of the fungus-shrouded building. "It seems the Gardener was sufficiently chastened. It does not spread its despoilment any closer to my goddess' fane. Nor has it challenged the lake hunter. To think such a weak thing once sought to claim this cavern!"
Silvia knows that geists can be difficult to injure as incorporeal undead; they are resistant to channeled positive energy and their touch drains the life-force from their victims (Negative energy + Constitution damage on each touch, no save). In addition to their abilities to control haunts, their shrieks or laughter can instill an animal panic in those who hear it, sending them into a terrified headlong retreat.
"Yes, we should waste no more time. The gate prayer..." the geist wavers uncertainly at Garret's query. "It has been so long...surely it will come to me soon...
It seems to get sidetracked by Ketra's question. "For those of thee still shackled to the limitations of flesh and blood and bone, the tower's other bridge is the swiftest route to the greater temple. Be wary though--the raven priest has worked a magic on it, a ward against intruders that will rend body and spirit with profane blades. Thine other option is the halite bridge, unless thous hast potent spells at thine disposal."
The geist turns to look at the bed, seeming puzzled. "Rapier? I have no use for such a thing. Take it if thou must, but be swift. There is cleansing to be done."
At Ketra's question the geist hisses in frustration, and seems to have difficulty recalling specifics. "The halite bridge, and the gate--it defends itself unless the proper prayers are spoken. A guardian of crystal that does not eat, nor sleep, or nor fear. A creature has lived in the lake for a time, since before the slaves of death came, but it knows better than to go too near the gate."
It hisses hatefully when asked what capabilities the Seal Breakers have. "Few weapons can harm me, but the elf's hammer is a terror and very nearly claimed me. He commands the rest and wears armor like they. The raven-headed priest is a trickster whose spells can fog the mind. No doubt they have other capabilities, but I could not get close enough to kill."
Sense Motive DC16:
The geist, likely once a priest of Arazni, seems to be in denial about its unlife and unwilling to admit that a cleric or other divinely powered being could turn or even command it.
A 26 tells Silvia everything in that spoiler. In addition, geists are Medium CE incorporeal undead, and you get two additional questions!
A hissing laugh slides out of the geist, the sound of a creature that knows violence is coming and relishes the thought. "Good, good. The foe is not numerous--less than a dozen, though they are led by a raven-headed death priest, and an elf with a great hammer. We clashed briefly when they first invaded, I assure you they are not weak. What few defenses survive in the temple have been disabled or bypassed by them as well--be cautious that you do not fall afoul of them yourselves."
The chill in room abates for just a moment, and you all can sense the presence scrutinizing you. "Foes of the death worshippers? Ah, but thou art...I can smell the Everlight's touch upon thee, and the wrathful Blade of Heaven--and even the Judge of the Fallen. That does not make thee allies, but I would see the warriors of death driven from this holy place..."
In the corner of the room, hovering near the ceiling as far as it's possible to get with your little band filling most of the room, a figure in ragged but billowing crimson robes appears. The face inside the robe's hood seems human and male, but gaunt to the point of starvation, with weeping wounds where his eyes should be, and the edges of his figure are wispy and semitranslucent. It's hard to tell with the warping of face and attire, and you suspect this might be the same 'person' that hurled themselves from the tower window, and their robes are similar to those worn in the haunted vision back by the shattered statue.
"The long war nears its end, if the foe has reached even here--but I will not surrender this temple to such as they. I will see their bodies stacked to the ceiling ere that happens, and drag down the stone to deny their flesh and blood and bone to that dread necromancer. Thou wilt aid me in this final tempest of defiance, yes?"
Religion DC19:
This being is a geist, a form of incorporeal undead that forms a strange symbiosis with haunts. Indeed these creatures are often formed from the same events that create a particular haunt, and can often control or even move haunts around with them, making the latter much more dangerous and unpredictable.
Garret:
You catch a glint of light off of red steel, and realize there is a sword underneath the bed--a rapier, nearly fully concealed beneath the detritus of ages but still seemingly intact.
Moving eastward, the stone door is sufficiently heavy that only Rosalind's strength is sufficient to get it moved, with a solidified Zsofia helping after she incorporeally checked the next room and reported it empty.
Once the door is open, you all behold a moderately-sized square room that was clearly a bedchamber/office, its furnishings sagging and crumbling and the smell of mildew hanging heavily. Engravings in Celestial line the wall near the ceiling, reading "Hold The Line" and "Trust Only The Worthy" over and over again around the room.
An open doorway, the door having long since rotted away, leads off to the north in a long stair that you think might lead toward the fungus-overgrown temple...except the hall terminates early in another cave-in, the piled rock impassable to anything exempt magic or incorporeal beings.
As you contemplate where to go next, you realize something is in the room with you. The temperature suddenly drops, black frost creeping along the stone walls and limning the furniture. A sourcless, sibilant whisper full of hatred rises, speaking in archaic Taldane:
"Heretics! Despoilers! Thou art not welcome here...thou has ignored mine warnings, and so thou shalt be sent to the death thou dost treasure so dearly!"
Storming up the stairs, Silvia and a Garret see Rosalind jerk as the force pulling at her relents as suddenly as it started, but all of you can feel the haunt's spiritual energy building for another attempt. Nearly simultaneously the two blast off powerful bursts of positive energy--with a despairing wail the haunt's gathering power is dispersed!
You all know it will return sooner or later, unless laid to rest, but for now the danger is past. Ketra pulls herself up onto the island after consuming her potion, injuries all healed save (perhaps) to her pride.
We are out of initiative, though there's no telling how quickly the haunt will reform. It could be weeks or could be minutes--though the latter is rare and usually reserved for extremely powerful haunts. Hours to days is most common.
With Ketra taking point, your group creeps up the rusty iron staircase to the empty second floor, just as dusty and bereft of decoration as the one below it. With nothing of interest here to delay you, you press on to the third floor. A faded fresco adorns the wall of this chamber, depicting armored knights charging on horseback across a field with a black tower rising in the distance. At the intermediate compass points are four stained glass windows, the grime not quite obscuring the armored angelic woman depicted on them--all except the north-western window, which is shattered, a few dusty glass fragments littering the floor but not enough account for most of the window's size, suggesting it was broken outwards. Against the stairway's iron banister rests an altar of pale stone graven with words in Celestial, and a pair of open doorways in the western and southern walls reveal the bridges Ketra had seen before, each ending in a stout stone door set into the cavern wall.
As Ketra, Zsofia, and Rosalind precede the others into the room, none notice the noiseless swirl of dust on a nonexistent breeze, swiftly and silently taking form in the outline of a robed priest, bent over the altar. It's only when his wracking, grief-stricken wails fill the room that the three even realize the danger!
"What hope can there be?!" The dusty phantom sobs, tearing at phantom robes. "Even the gods perish at his hands! We are damned, worse than damned, doomed to eternal slavery in body and soul while the lich's darkness spreads. He cannot have me!" This last ends in a despairing shriek as the dust-form turns and hurls itself towards the shattered window. Somehow, an unseen force grips Rosalind and Ketra, their boots sliding across the stonework with frightful speed towards the window as though pulled by a riptide in the long-dead priest's wake! The Watch-captain shouts wordlessly and snags the railing of the stairwell, but her attempt to grab Ketra falls short as the dancer is flung by invisible forces out the open window!
Despite the glass being gone for centuries, Ketra feels the impact of her body hitting the window, feels the cut of a hundred broken shards as she flies out of the tower to land with a painful splash down into the lake below.
Ketra takes 12 slashing damage, 4 falling damage, and then 6 bleeding damage as the haunt hurls her out the window.
You're exactly right--the third floor of the tower has a pair of bridges that extend over to the side of the cavern, 30 feet up from where you are now. One bridge goes east and one south. Ketra wouldn't have seen the south-oriented bridge until she did her circuit.
Ketra carefully picks her way over the wet rocks of the tiny island, barely any larger than the tower itself. While she spots no traps, she does catch a glint of light off a pair of eyes atop a reptilian wedge-shaped head. It didn't look much like a gator to Ketra, but when she tries to get a better look it slinks back beneath the water.
Cautiously piling into one of the rowboats, your group pushes off from the shore and paddles the short distance over to the tower's outcropping. "We'll hold here and await your word then, ma'am?" The Vigilite lieutenant confirms, his troop holding position at the antechamber after taking a few of the Araznian holy symbols.
The tower was likely once alabaster in color, but time and the humid air and lapping water have stained it a rusty brown. The doorway hangs open, the apparently wooden door having rotted away and the hinges rusted to nothing more than a stain on the stone. The interior of the tower's ground floor is equally empty, whatever furniture once decorated it having decayed into nothing. A rusting iron spiral staircase climbs up towards the second floor, but no traps or ambushes greet you...yet.
Both rowboats seem to be crude but functional, and the lake itself is far from enormous--though still large enough that the far side is little more than a vague impression. What she can see is a slender tower built atop of tiny outcropping rising from the lake, not twenty feet from the shore. Rising forty feet into the air, narrowing as it rises until its tip just barely stops short of the cavern ceiling. Ten feet from the top Ketra can see a narrow bridge extending from the tower to a door set into the cavern's walls.
