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The group starts to pile on some damage, but the martials at the front are still unable to land all of their blows. The creature scoffs, "So Torag and Erastil enter the fray. But their light does not shine here." He raws, summoning more dark creatures to his side. The vampires come creaping from dark corners of the tunnels. The gargoyel tries swiping at Borgol once more.
With the first claw, you notice something metalic prick your skin, as a toxin enters your system Borgol.
At first glance, the rubble seems like it has taken with it the majority of the contents which was in the room. However, at closer inspection, Deluge is able to uncover that a small relief in the stone. Putting his hand through, he is able to reach for and bring out a bruised diamond key. The spectral hand stops following you, and goes back to the elevator.
Once again, only Remy is able to connect her blow that round, merely scratching this creature. He gins, "You're a sturdy one, aren't you, monk? What about your friend?" He flies down slightly, and then swipes at Borgol.
As you return to the elevator, you notice the spectral hand still points down at the device, ushering you to keep going. The next key slots effortlessly into the machine. James once again turns the large device, slowly allowing the group to descend further. Eventually, you find yourselves on another floor, only to discover that a cave-in blocks the passageway that once accessed this level.
The creature casually blocks the first kick, but Remy is faster on her second roundhouse, clonking the creature square across the chin with her foot. Sumsarru snarls, reaching his large claws at the woman before him, "I do like it when they fight. You are a monk, I see from your training. And, such a familiar likeness. Interesting." His claws extend to where Remy is holding the runestones.
Reaching for the runestone, he somehow connects with the energies within the artefact, causing it to burn Remy's insides.
Fergus's bolts are ineffective. The creature's wounds heal rapidly, as he wipes the blood from his chin.
With the last few swings, the team is able to take out the remaining fae, and the room grows silent again. There are several valuable trinkets scattered about the room, including the gold coins that the unseen servant handles and a pair ofbeautifully crafted platinum scissors bearing a jinkin curse, just of in the corner of the room. More importantly, on the body of the large creature you find a hexagonal elevator key.
"So be it." Initiative:
With his bow in his hand, the creature unload a few arrows into Remy.
Remy dodges the first arrow, but the second is perfectly places where the monk is moving, clocker her in the shoulder and getting stuck in the bone.
Merisiel rushes forward, throwing her dagger, which pierces the small creature through the chest - and with a dramatic fall, he drops.
The rest of the group collapse on the creature, knoking him over prone. The creature snarls, and then begins casting a spell, defensively.
Round 3 - Everyone may act!
The red jinking shoots at the large body of James.
The gargoyel shrugs, and floats up into the air. Hovering just below the ceiling, he bellows, "I see you are set on fighting. So be it. But with me dies any chance you have of finding a cure to this, plague. That choice is yours."
He looks anxiously at one of the walls to the north, a passing glance perhaps.
The creature shakes his head, "Nuh-uh. That was a question." giving Flik no where to go with his question. The gargoyel rubs his hands together, "Maybe you dont have anything little girl, but she most certainly does."Pausing, "I am sure you have found something on your travels which you found inquisitive?"
James moves up, and slices one of the samller gremlins in half. The flaming sphere comes in, and burns another, while Merisiel finish it off. Laughing, the hideous multi eyed creature casts glitterdust on the group.
Looking at you curiously, he uses his tail to scratch the bottom side of his monstrous chin, "500 gold coins, you say?" After a brief pause, he spits out laughing, "Ehehe...ehe...EACH!" Rubbing his hands together, he flies high atop a shelf, picking up a large tome, which you realize now is a ledger. "Including you Aiyana. This is what you get for bringing poor customers into my shop."
Fethril enlarges his friend, before the smaller jinkin start pepering the giant with arrows. They then skitter away into the corridors.
One of the arrows pierces James shoulder, and lodges itself in his collarbone, pain rushes through the mans body. You hear laughter echo through the chamber.
DC 22 KN (nature), Wedderwark (blue-eyed, oily-haired creature):
This is a fey known as a nuglub. It has DR/cold iron and spell resistance. It has a climb speed, can grab with its bite, and this one apparently is trained in magic. Their natural spell like abilities include prestidigitation, heat metal, shocking grasp, and snare. DC 17 KN (nature), Orange toothy creatures: These are known as jinkins. They have DR/cold iron and spell resistance. They have sneak attack, can dimension door once an hour, and six of them working together for an hour can tinker with a living creature to create a bestow curse-like effect.
As you stand at the entrance to this place and discuss the dark gods that might have dwelled within, something stirs in the darkness. There are several things of note moving about the room. Out of the darkness, come four fey creatures moving about the room. The largest is a hideous, hunchbacked creature with three glowing blue eyes and oily hair growing from its head and back covering it like a cloak. It is attended by three lean little bat-eared horrors with mouths full of needle-like teeth and with glowing orange eyes. Also of note is a frayed length of rope which seemingly knots and unknots itself. A bag of caltrops fills and then empties itself. In another corner a nut and bolt seem to screw and unscrew themselves. And last several coins seem to be floating in midair moving back and forth in another corner. Much more relevant for the moment, however, are the four creatures which do not look happy to see you. Initiative:
I'd be thinking it has a fair amount of worth to you, that is assuming you like your current station, and not being under the heel of others. Will offers a counterpoint to the man's negotiations. "Don't play smart with me boy. The tide of power rises and falls more quickly down these parts, then where you're from. And those with power understand the value of information, unlike yourself. If you have nothing of value, or coin to spend, then be on your way."
The gargoyel grins, "A monstrous plague, you say? A cure, and ideas..." He looks about the party, eyeing all of you. "You all look like formidable fighters, to have made it so far through this sanctum. And I can feel an interesting energy amongst you. I propose a trade. For each oddity that you can offer me as a gift, I’ll agree to answer one question — I ask only that the you fully describe what your gifts are, their history and quirks."
"FIRE? If you set fire in this establishment, you will have much bigger problems on your hands then vermin!" Growls the voice from behind the doors, "Mmmm, a foot-sausage is a real delicacy in these parts, the bigger the toes the juicier meat." With a silent incantation, the doors swing open, and you find a ray-like creature opens a toothy maw and leers with glaring red eyes. Behind it whips a menacing tail of segmented bone. He wears an incredible gold necklace around his body. He quickly spots Aiyana in the group, and shakes his head, "Oh it's only you, little girl. How many times have I told you, don't go bringing unwanted attention into my shop." "Come, into the office - make yourselves confortable." This chamber is just as cluttered as the rest of the shop, but contains no furniture. Instead, items are stacked haphazardly across the floor or in teetering piles against the walls. A few tapestries featuring abstract mixtures of texture and color adorn several of the walls near iron hooks, and two incredibly lifelike statues lean against the south wall. Hovering, he answers Telos, "Everyone is looking for someone, halfling. But just like everything in life, nothing comes free - especially information. How much is this 'council' worth to you?"
Choosing to follow the instructions of the magical hand, you decide to test the contraption. With the first key turned and James working the wheel in the center, the room slowly begins to turn, corkscrewing down to a lower level. Eventually the elevator clicks in place a large stone door appears before you. It is easily rolled to the side to reveal a room. Whether due to partial collapse or by intention, the floor of this fifty-foot-square room slopes gently down from the western entryway. A second set of walls creates a smaller space within the room, and cracks riddle the inner chamber’s walls, obscuring what might have once been intricate carvings and offering glimpses of the corridor that rings the walls’ perimeter. A variety of tools lie scattered and abandoned about the room, and to the east a few of the heaviest implements are arrayed in a half circle around the base of a highly polished and unused anvil. Religion, DC 18: The tools spread around the anvil are a final homage left to the god Droskar.
Before opening the door to the east, a piecing headache crunches in Remy's and Maddie's minds. The east doors pushes open onto a long room that has a vaulted ceiling rising to thirty feet. Scrapes on the floor suggest that other furnishings once adorned the chamber, but now the only decorations here are five coffins—four child-sized ones in alcoves to the east and west, and one for a much larger creature to the north. Several strange but valuable-looking objects have been arranged in a semicircle on the floor just north of the largest coffin. A white-skinned gargoyle crouches by the objects, but as he notices you, he turns and spreads his arms and wings wide in greeting. "Welcome, visitors!" he says in a deep voice. Long canine teeth protrude from his grin. "You seem like discerning folk. Tell me, in your travels, have you happened to collect anything... strange? I am a collector of curios, you see."
Fethril cleverly deduces the purpose for this contraptions, and shows Merisiel where to use her skills. However, there is still no clear way of knowing which of the slots she needs to activate. Just before the party begins to turn the wheel to head down, suddenly the ghostly image of a hand appears behind Merisiel's head. DC 18 Spellcraft:
helping hand The ghostly hand taps him on the shoulder and then floats over to the control panel to point at the sixth slot. Unfortunately this slot does not have a key.
Getting Merisiel out of the hole is easy, and you simply walk around the trap to the other side for some healing. The next room, has a three-foot-diameter iron wheel mounted horizontally on a short stone pedestal is the only feature in this large, circular room. Spaced evenly around the pedestal are six hexagonal keyholes, each a slightly different size, and keys protrude from four of these. DC 20 Engineering:
There is a narrow break in the floor at the entrance to this room, indicating that it is an elevator. Operating the elevator is as simple as turning the wheel clockwise to move up or counterclockwise to move down. The elevator, however, will not descend to a floor unless its key is placed within the corresponding keyhole.
With the last attack, the creature crumbles. Maga greedily peers towards where Remy is hiding the runestone, but eventually comments, "This is not the first time we've heard Yamasoth uttered by some pretty evil entities." The door to the east is in the room is adjar. You also find a secret latch which opens from the inside, the secret door leading outside of the complex to another small alcove.
Fergus rushes forward, smiting the creature for a huge blow, while the casters fire their spells from a safe distance. Borgol, concerned for Remy's safety also puts himself in the way. Maga shakes his head, and takes out some bombs. "I'm sorry, but it seems the only cource of action is to destroy this sentury."
The creature rawrs, and goes to swing at Fergus.
Pietro, from the sheer pain coursing up his left and through his body, takes a wide swing and completely smashes through the outer shell of this vermin creature. There is nothing left of it, other than black smudge on the floor. The other two scream wickedly, terrified now of both the large man and the singing man. They hurry back into some small holes which they chewed their way to get inside along the walls, and out of your sight. A few moments later, a dark thick voice beckons from behind some doors ahead in the corridor. "Oi! What's all this ruckus about? You know, i just cleaned by shop a few days ago! If you're causing a mess, i swear on all that is unholy I will smite you with all my wrath!"
Convinced that the way forward into the next room is clear, Merisiel is very suprised when after a few carefully placed steps into the round room - a pit trap opens under her feat and she plummets into spikes.
The party watches, as their rogue falls into a 50ft hole in the ground, with no good way of getting back up, or around it. Merisiel, only: You get the feeling that this could only have been a magical trap. This is definately not mechanical in nature.
"Eeee! Why is our food so scary!?" They all scramble as Will frightens them. Aiyana shakes her head, "Poor creatures, maybe we should just let them be?" She starts her bardic performance. They pounce at Pietro. "Eat the fat one?"
Only one of the creatures is able to get through, biting at Pietro's boot, piercing the old leather and reaching and biting off his big toe.
Pietro's voice echoes down the halls but is met with no response. Rather, peering around the corner, you find a collection of spider-like creatures with front legs which end in immense, grasping claws. Its mouth sports a pair of huge vertical mandibles, but chitters comprehensively, "Food? Looks like food, smells like food, must be food!" Initiative:
They chitter aggressively, and look very hungry.
Merisiel is able to swiftly disable all of the traps in this large hall. Satisfied, she pushes forward and peers into the next space. A few broken chairs complete with moldering cushions line the outer walls of this circular room. Four sconces sit lonely and empty around the room's perimeter. To the west, a short passage leads to another circular room. The floors of both rooms are unbroken but etched with a geometric pattern that sharply contrasts with the flagstones to the east. DC 20 Engineering: There is a narrow break in the floor at the entrance to the next room, indicating that the further room is an elevator and the first circular room is a waiting chamber. Operating the elevator is as simple as turning the wheel clockwise to move up or counterclockwise to move down. But we'll get to that in a minute after the waiting chamber room is dealt with.
Maga prepares to fight, and replies to Maddie "I dont think so, my dear." The creature recoils, "Blasphemers...yoo shall deee by hee hand of Yasamoth." Flik, noticing that this creature is a Morgh, suggests to avoid getting hit by this creature, as its touch might cause paralysis. Initiative:
The undead craeture rushes forward, and lashes it's togue at Remy.
You let Merisiel do her thing. The party watches as a grapple bolt flies past and lands on the floor, when she tries disabling the trap. It then slowly clinks across the ground as the rope is automatically winched back in. The grapple bolt now dangles loosely from the far wall however, as it would need to be manually reset.
You are able to collect the arrows, and procees further around a narrow winding hallway into the next chamber. The central feature of this nearly square room is the wide set of shallow stairs that leads upward to a pair of passageways on the eastern side of the room. A row of ancient and splintered desks lies at the top of the stairs, and an empty room is visible beyond. Fethril, this time, is able to notice an empty arrow trap (on the right) but also two more loaded arrow traps (solid yellow lines on the left) as well as a two grapple bolt traps (hashed lines) down either hallway. The left grapple bolt trap would drag the victim over the plates for the two armed arrow traps. The pressure plates appear to be in working order.
The alchemist rushes over, "This is Kalyn, we worked together before i left to seek answers in Hollow Mountain. He, was a friend, I suppose. I left him in charge, hoping he would keep these ruffians at bay untill I returned. What a mess this is..." He shakes his head, "This is obviously more serous than anyone of us though, master Flik. I wonder though, why the five of you are unaffected." He curiously glances towards Remy, who's runestone in her poket has been growing warmer and warmer with every passing moment they are inside this structure. "Leave him here, we should come back to him after we search the rest of the places round back." You follow the alchemist over to the next space and open the door, a few tables fitted with straps sit in this room, but they, like the shelves along the walls, are empty. An undead monstrosity, stands in the middle of the room. A thick tangle of discolored entrails clings to this lurching skeleton’s torso and winds upward to loll from its jaw like a clawed tongue. It rolls its head to one side, "Whhhoooo doo you ssserrrrve?"
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