Valessa, having taken a moment to secure her gear – including the mithral plate she had been looking at before she dozed off – is a few steps behind the others. She watches in relief as Rokko yells out the phrase to disarm the ancient trap.
As Beren walks towards her, she throws her arms around the shifter in relief – before hastily disengaging – and punching him in the arm. “That’s for almost getting yourself killed – again,” she says, before the conversation about Jyra being missing begins.
“Knew she was up to something…” Valessa muttered – kicking herself for not keeping an eye on the woman after her warning to Sari and Beren.
“Um, yeah, about those doors Professor,” she says in response to Ruuz’ idea, dragging her eyes away from the sight of Ghorkin crying on the floor. “I’m not entirely sure I can do that trick you did … I can give something else a try…”
Barely restraining a sarcastic comment to my employer I turn to Brick and ask "Brick, did you see Jyra go anywhere while we were sleeping? Where was she while you were on watch?" holding little hope.
Ruuz walks up to the next door and once Valessa speaks the Giant phrase he gathers his energy and places his hand on the mirror plate.
Ruuz waits but knows that he didn't gather enough to make it work. "I don't think I got it this time."
Barely restraining a sarcastic comment to my employer I turn to Brick and ask "Brick, did you see Jyra go anywhere while we were sleeping? Where was she while you were on watch?" holding little hope.
"Jyra? Who's Jyra?"
Ruuz walks up to the next door and once Valessa speaks the Giant phrase he gathers his energy and places his hand on the mirror plate.
Ruuz waits but knows that he didn't gather enough to make it work. "I don't think I got it this time."
Valessa sighs in frustration. "This could take a while. And I don't like the thought of that woman being in one of those rooms, being able to see us through the door..." She makes a rude gesture at the doorway, just in case.
Valessa glances at Brick in exasperation. “You know! Jyra. The professors’,” she waves to Ruuz and Ghorkin, “girlfriend.”
She turns back to the door, then slowly turns around again to look back at Brick. “Hang on Brick … you could see her, right? She’s the one we,” she indicates herself, Beren and Sari, "were talking about earlier. She …um… she suggested the way to open the door, when we came to the sleeping room earlier. Remember?” Valessa really hopes this is just Brick being eccentric, and not something more sinister…
"were talking about earlier. She …um… she suggested the way to open the door, when we came to the sleeping room earlier. Remember?” Valessa really hopes this is just Brick being eccentric, and not something more sinister…
Beren stands near the door his companions are currently attempting to open. His blades are in his hands ready for combat.
Ruuz moves to the next door and tries again, placing his hand on the mirror and pushes his will and magic into it.
"Damn, this is going to take a while. I am guessing that she is not in one of these rooms because if I can't do this she probably couldn't do it before we noticed she was gone."
"Mabye she went back the way we came?" I say, looking around the chamber, looking for Jyra or any clue to her where abouts.
After she and Ruuz fail to open the second door – and the changeling suffers a mild electric shock, Valessa shakes her head in dismay, gazing up the corridor at the row of doors.
“Yeah, you’re probably right prof,” she says, sighing. “Unless she’s got still more tricks up her sleeve – but either way, we’re not going to find her with this hit and miss method. Merrick could be right, maybe she went back to the main corridor – I don’t think she could have gotten past us the way that Beren and Sari went, could she? Ah, Ruuz, can’t you fall for a nice girl for once?
“Beren, this dust collecting magic is confounding your tracking skills – but it didn’t seem to be working properly out in the main corridor remember? Let’s head out there, and Beren and I can see if we can pick up any trail. If we can’t find anything out there, no sense in wasting more time – she could be anywhere in this place – we’ll head back and look at the statue Beren and Sari found. Or come back here and rest properly if Rokko hasn’t got his spells replenished yet.”
As the group prepares to head down the passage, Valessa draws close to Beren. “Beren, try to keep an eye out behind us as we go – if Jyra’s lurking around in one of these rooms, she might try to make a break for it when we’re gone.”
Valessa keeps her own eyes peeled.
|
Ghorkin's blubbering continues unabated for some time, puntuated by occaional spasms and twitches.
Sense Motive: 15
He is genuinely upset about Jyra's disappearence, but there may be something more sinsiter at work.
Know: Arcane: 25
You realize that Ghorkin is suffering from a very rare condition you have ehard about during your studies. It is a form of withdrawal brought on by repeated applications of charm spells.
---
The passage you are in decends slightly as it cuts into the wall, and is lined on both sides by doors. You count a total of twenty doors.
"Hmmm. Valessa, chaps, it seems to me the Ghorkin is suffering from Charm withdrawal, that is, he has been repeatedly subject to Charm spells and they are wearing off. See, the emotional volatility, the spasms and that strange smell of lemons - first time I've seen it, but it's unmistakable."
"There is something quite sinister here. Ruuz, you and she seemed to get on well. Did you notice anything that you haven't mentioned yet, other than the fact that you wanted to get inside her pants, which we all knew anyway."
"Hmmm. Valessa, chaps, it seems to me the Ghorkin is suffering from Charm withdrawal, that is, he has been repeatedly subject to Charm spells and they are wearing off. See, the emotional volatility, the spasms and that strange smell of lemons - first time I've seen it, but it's unmistakable."
"There is something quite sinister here. Ruuz, you and she seemed to get on well. Did you notice anything that you haven't mentioned yet, other than the fact that you wanted to get inside her pants, which we all knew anyway."
Sari looks over to Ruuz and gives him a devilish smile. "Must be horrible knowing that a girl must put a spell on you to make you valuable to her. And here you thought you were the all mighty love god when actually she was just using you" "You know Ruuz, I just like to give you crap".Sari then looks towards everyone else. "I feel safe to assume that Jyra was placing charms on Ghorkin for the same reasons she was putting one on Ruuz. There must be something she was wanting down here and figured that one of these two would get her what she needed."
For DM
|
|
For DM ** spoiler omitted **
Ruuz:
I would think not. You failed your save, and she was very subtle about it. She never did anything that would have provoked a second save or anything.
You could be quite confident that she didn't cast a spell on you at any point, in fact you would be right.
"Ruuz, you and she seemed to get on well. Did you notice anything that you haven't mentioned yet, other than the fact that you wanted to get inside her pants, which we all knew anyway."
"No I was not charmed, only weak willed whelps like that blubbering thing over there could fall to her spell. She was attractive and rather smart but there couldn't have been any other influence."
Ruuz starts passing up and down the hall, "Either she need us to get her down here in one piece and has now left to get the prize first or she has led us down here as a trap."
Ruuz stops and turns to the group, "I would think that she is after something and she wants it before we can get it. Valessa is right we should just head in the direction we think she has gone and see what we find."
"So who's Jyra, and what did she do to Ruuz?"
I sigh and look exasperatedly at Brick and say "Jyra, you know, the whorish red-head with Professor Ghorkin who Ruz seems to have grown rather fond of? Oh, by the way Ruz, you seem to have excellant taste in women."
“Oh stop blubbering and be a man Ghorkin,” Valessa says to the professor, almost – almost – feeling sorry for the man.
“I think you’re right Rokko, I’ve never known Ghorkin to treat pretty girls as anything more than amusing playthings – sorry Mishelle. He wouldn’t be so cut if there wasn’t something else going on.”
“Right, so what do we know. She charmed the two professors – don’t argue Ruuz, whether it was magic or a quick flash I didn’t catch it, but she got you good – so she was after something she thought they could give her. Control of the expedition? Access to something she was hoping to find down here? Knowledge – or the withholding of knowledge?”
“So, why would she ditch us now? Either she got what she wanted – access to this place, knowledge gained from something we found. Or she figured we were onto her and decided to cut her losses. Either way, she’s probably on her way to whatever it was she wanted here.
“Let’s quickly check the main corridor for prints, if not, we’ll hurry back the other way and check out what Beren and Sari found.”
|
|
Ghorkin continues babbling on the floor, until after a moment, he seems to collapse from mental exhaustion.
"I can watch over him, if you help me get him onto one of those beds," Mishelle offers, "besides, if I stay in the room, I can always open the door for you when you return."
She says the last with a twinkle in her eye that seems to say, 'and I won't have anyone else trying to kill me for a while.'
Searching the main corridor for tracks reveals nothing.
“Right, so what do we know. She charmed the two professors – don’t argue Ruuz, whether it was magic or a quick flash I didn’t catch it, but she got you good – so she was after something she thought they could give her. Control of the expedition? Access to something she was hoping to find down here? Knowledge – or the withholding of knowledge?”“So, why would she ditch us now? Either she got what she wanted – access to this place, knowledge gained from something we found. Or she figured we were onto her and decided to cut her losses. Either way, she’s probably on her way to whatever it was she wanted here.
Sari turns and smiles at Ruuz. "And no Ruuz, what you wanted to give her was not what she was wanting, so stop thinking what you are thinking. Well since the professor is being watched lets get back to what Beren and I stumbled across and see if we can figure what significance it has."
Valessa sighs, and pats Beren on the shoulder. "Yeah, no sign of the sneaky cow out here. Alright Sari, lead the way. Oh, and, er, let Rokko or I answer any questions in strange languages this time." She gives Sari a friendly wink.
Valessa sighs, and pats Beren on the shoulder. "Yeah, no sign of the sneaky cow out here. Alright Sari, lead the way. Oh, and, er, let Rokko or I answer any questions in strange languages this time." She gives Sari a friendly wink.
"Can't say that I will have a problem remembering that this time" Sari says to Valessa. Sari heads back the direction that Beren and her found the statue.
I cautiously follow Sari with my crossbow at the ready, staying alert for any danger that might be near by.
Brick babbles to himself, apparently lost in some fantasy world.
"No, why did I not see her? Who is she? A plot hook? Or my creation?"
Approaching the intersection where Beren and Sari were snared by some unseen force, Valessa indicates the group to halt, while she carefully studies the area for any sign of what she presumes was a magical trap that stopped them.
“That fourth statue, Rokko,” she says, indicating the carved figure with the hourglass, skein and shears, “what do you make of it? An anthropomorphic representation of Time is my guess – or some deity of such. Know much about ancient Giantish religion? Or whether there’s been any previous documentation of their arcane studies into time?”
|
|
Neither of you is familiar with any specific deity of time that the statue represents; however, the depiction and carving style leaves you absolutely certain that you are looking at a deific representation.
The other statues in the hall seem to represent heroes of the giant empire during its height. You also realize that the time frames represented by the dates on the statues are separated by hundreds to thousands of years.
"Right then," says Valessa, looking around. "Shall we continue?"
She takes a tentative step into the intersection.
Sari looks at Valessa "Girl, I would be more than happy to follow in your footsteps around these parts!" Sari gives Valessa a friendly smile.
I cautiously advance into the corridor, after the trap has ben disarmed of course.
Valessa is prepared for the question and answers accordingly. Once within the intersection, she looks around, trying to get her bearings.
Valessa begins searching the area, looking for any prints, bloodstains, sign of a trail, traps, items of interest etc.
|
|
The intersection with the statues is the first time 2 giant sized corridors crossed each other, which is about 40' past the elf sized corridor with the doors where you napped.
your choices include going further directly away from the circular chamber, via the main giant sized corridor. Proceeding right or left into the giant sized cross corridor, which curves as though circling the central chamber. Proceeding into the dark (elf sized) corridor. Exploring the other room in the corridor in which you slept, and/or exploring the end of that corridor. Returning to the central spherical chamber and exploring the other two giant sized doors.
Got it?
Sheesh, how hard is it...
Valessa tentatively continues past the intersection, towards the dimly seen ‘end’ (perhaps) of the main corridor the group has been exploring.
"From what I recall of ancient giant culture, the elf corridors were for the servants. Anything significant or intereting will probably be on or near the giant corridors. Maybe"
"I agree, I think we should stick to the main corridors and see what we can find."
|
|
Progressing further down the spoke of the main corridor, once again after roughly 40 feet you find another elf sized cross corridor.
Looking either way you can see larger archways instead of doors, and you can see areas that look like libraries, gardens, and even a cafeteria. Everything has seen obvious disuse for thousands of years, and the gardens contain the dust remains of ancient flowers and trees. The contents of the library has long gone to dust.
The first cross corridor seems to encircle the central chamber also.
Progressing further down this corridor, you find a second elf scale passage crossing the main corridor. The inner side of this circular cross corridor seems to connect to the same chambers as the outer side of the first. Meanwhile the outer edge contains similar doors to those you saw before, though much farther apart.
Progressing to the end of the main corridor, it terminates in a T intersection, a giant sized passage leading left and right from your current location. Doors similar to the elf sized portals you saw line the outer edge of the circular track, roughly 80 feet between them. High up on the inner wall, you see what look like windows, possibly for observing what ever lies between the outer track, and the last elf sized passage.
“Given that all these passages seem to curve back around, I would hazard a guess that all three doors from the central spherical chamber connect back into this complex,” muses Valessa. “Anyway, that by the by. Rokko, you’re right about the elves being the giants’ servants, but I’m not so sure that we can discount the smaller passages – after all it was an elf who left that message for us, they may have hidden the key.”
“So, in exploring this place, do we start from the outside and work our way in, or vice-versa? Since we seem to be on the outer edge of this place now, perhaps we should start from the outside … what do you think? Left or right? Hmmm, can anyone climb up to one of those windows…? I could give it a go, or Beren?”
"I can climb up there." I say as I eye the distance up the wall and begin to pull rope out of my pack. "Does anyone have a grappling hook of some kind? It'll make this much easier."
"I can climb up there." I say as I eye the distance up the wall and begin to pull rope out of my pack. "Does anyone have a grappling hook of some kind? It'll make this much easier."
“Not I,” growls Beren.
“Me neither,” says Valessa. “Brick, that pack that we picked up in the circular chamber that you’re carrying there, does that by any chance contain a grapple?”
“Anyway Merrick, Beren and I can give you a boost up.”