"I have a connection to the Emerald Spire. Or, at least, I have come to believe I do." Lilika remarks. She gathers her thoughts for a moment. "I have... What did the clerics call it...? Amneesha? Amnesia! Yes! I have amnesia," she pronounces the word very carefully. "I cannot recall where I come from or why. I cannot recall my family or friends. I know only my name--Lilika. Although I suppose it is not my whole name. People have two of those here, yes? I feel there is more I am missing." She shrugs. "The Hellknights found me outside Fort Inevitable unconscious. The only clue that lead anywhere was this."
She reaches into her tunic, as if reaching for a necklace, only to realize it's not there. "Of course. It's gone." she sighs. "It was a piece of stone, about the length of my thumb, green and clear, very hard. The scholar's I took it to said it was no regular gem, but most likely what the Emerald Spire is made of. And so I applied for a warrant and came here to find out what connection I have to this place. That's when the bandits came. I was travelling through the Echo Wood and was outnumbered. They took me prisoner for... I don't really want to know why. And brought me here, for some reason. And I fled up..."
"Wait! The bandits lair below us? Where are we in the Spire? How high up? Did you pass them? What have you found so far?" Lilika looks around in an attempt to figure out more from her surroundings.
Yirrik stays a safe distance back as Wymond hacks at the spider webs with his polearm, wincing everytime the large blade approached the squirming figure.
When she was finally revealed, he quietly let Wymond do the talking, merely nodding at his friend's introduction of himself, offering the dark-skinned half-elf some rations.
"We've only descended one flight of stairs in our explorations. Had quite the trouble up above and just enough down here. No bandits yet, goblins up top, spider and zombies here. We're after a necromancer." Yirrik blurts out, then realizing he'd been running off at the mouth , stopped, cheeks blushing in the dim light.
"Do you remember much of what's below? he asks, then remembers, "Oh right, amnesia...." he add, disappointed.
Wymond gives a small whistle at Lilika's description of her circumstances.
"Can't remember who ye were or yer family...that's rough...I'm sorry."
He nods at Yirrik's description and continues for him.
"We're only just below the surface, the "second" level of the place. We've been dealin' mostly with goblins in the ruined castle up above, and cut a deal with their boss, a bugbear name of Grulk, to get rid of the necromancer on this level. Honestly it was mostly because we were sick of havin' to fight in the dark up there. There's some kinda spell on the place that stifles any kind of light, so we could barely see the goblins we were fighting. So far we've only run into one undead, trapped in a cage. Most of our trouble's come from them spiders, much like yours. Were them bandits who caught you goblins?"
"Hello, Yirrik. Nice to meet you," Lilika replies slowly, as if she wasn't used to greeting people.
"Descended? You mean the Spire goes down, not up? ...That sounds.... right.... somehow." Lilika seems to think about that for a moment, but then shrugs, focusing on what Yirrik and Wymond are saying.
"A necromancer?" Lilika nods in understanding.
At Wymond's offers of condolences, Lilika pauses, clearly not sure how to reply. "Thank... you?"
"A deal, goblins, the dark," Lilika nods as Wymond speaks. Suddenly she stops. "Darkness? Why is that... bad? Can you not... Can humans not see in the dark?"
"Hmmm... Did I know that..?" She shrugs, clearly unsure.
"No, the bandits who caught me were human."
"You got elfy eyes. They can see better in darkness than human or halfling peepers," Wymond replies with a shrug.
Perfire stands to the side continuing to float the torch through the webs, clearing as much of the area around them as possible. Keeping a wary eye out for more spiders. When the other two have introduced themselves he turns and offers Lilika a small smile.
'Perfire, I'm largely here to find my fortune. I met Wymond and Yirrick on the road here and they've helped keep me safe so far.' He maneuvers over to her and shakes Lilika's hand while keeping his focus largely on the aerial torch.
Perfire has continued to burn as much webbing throughout the room as the group talks.
'We haven't found any stairs leading up yet. We did find a fascinating glowing fungus earlier, and a strange magical wall. I think it may have been part of the Spire itself. At this point I think we've found more questions than answers in our time here.'
"Greetings, Perfire," Lilika replies slowly as she shakes his little hand. "Nice control," she compliments, clearly referring to his torch levitation.
---
Lilika lets out a chuckle. "Isn't that the way of the world? Always getting more questions than answers?" she shrugs. "At least that's my experience."
Lilika looks around for signs of the green walls she expected. "The magic wall. It's green? Is it close? Can you take me to see it?" After a moment she adds, "I don't want to be a bother..." realizing that backtracking might be a pain in the butt for her new comrades.
"Which way are you headed?" Lilika asks. "I would like to join you, if that's alright."
'Yes, it's quite close. If the other two don't mind accompanying us for safety I would like to have another set of eyes take a look at it.' Perfire smiles hopefully at Yirrick and Wymond. 'We were heading more or less around this level, but it should be mostly clear back to where the wall was.'
Lilika smiles slightly. "Lead the way, then, Perfire."
Perfire begins to lead the way back towards the room with the cage in it. After the first doorway he points to the left, 'We haven't been through that door yet. We came from this way' and he leads to the North. Through the next door he gestures to the wall. 'This is the strange fungus I mentioned earlier. Those stairs lead up to Grulk's domain. He's offered us passage but for exactly how long, I don't know.' He leads on to the west.
'Mind the pit, that's where we fought off our first spider. Three so far, I think. There's a door on the other side but it's locked. Through here is the... laboratory? You'll see, the wall is through here.'
Wymond nods.
"No sense in letting you wander around this place all by yourself after finding you the way we found you. Of course ye can come with us."
Triath grunts in the affirmative. He follows the others to the "wall."
Lilika follows behind Perfire, taking in the sights in silence. She keeps her eyes open for anything she could use as makeshift equipment, (to use like a club or sling). She also keeps her eyes open for signs of the bandits passage through the area.
When she sees the magic wall, it is made of the green substance the surface part of the spire is, right?
Lilika approaches it warily and places a hand against its side. "This... this is it! This is what my stone was like!" She smiles happily.
---
When Lilika's done studying the stone, she asks them to lead the way.
"I'm ready to move on, now. Thank you."
Wymond shoulders his bardiche.
"Did it help ye figure anything out? Remember somethin'?"
After she's done studying the stone, he looks back the way they came.
"Up for some huntin'? We got a necromancer to cut down."
Lilika shakes her head. "Nothing... Still, I feel better here, in the Spire, than I did before, outside and in Fort Inevitable. Like it's... familiar or... safe." She shrugs. "It's hard to explain."
Lilika draws the short sword she scavenged and smiles. "I believe I am, Wymond." She follows Wymond's lead.
Wymond chuckles as they start to follow her.
"Careful, Yirrik. She may give you a run for your money in the scouting department."
Lilika eyes the door warily...
"I hate this place!" says Ilya. "Spiders and goblins and death and I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!"
After some discussion, the team escorts Ilya to the surface and sees her off in the direction of Fort Inevitable. Then, returning to the cellars, the team escorts Lilika to the green glass wall. She notes its impossible smoothness and differences from the ruined castle of green glass on the surface. She sees the symbol or sigil carved in it, but can not identify it.
Then, the team moves on to the passageway with the bars blocking your path:
Massive black iron gates bar the corridor, fashioned out of twisted, angular vertical bars that have sharp edges and are about a handspan apart, linked by welded crossbars. The gates have massive hinges set deep into the walls, and a heavy lock inside a welded box secures sliding bars that run into sockets in the floor and ceiling at the center of the corridor. Moreover, a black iron chain with links as thick as a human thumb wraps around the gates where they meet above and below the lockbox. The chain’s ends disappear into holes in the lockbox.
"Whoah! Who was THAT lady?" Lilika asks.
---
Seeing the absurdly secure gate Lilika lets out a whistle. "Wow... This feels to me like overkill." Lilika examines the chains and locks and lockboxes and hidden hinges to see how someone could even OPEN this iron gate at all...
"Can anyone... open this?" she asks hesitantly.
Lilika approaches the gate for a better look. When she does so, ghostly hands reach out from the gate to grab her!
The ghostly hands touch Lilika, freezing her flesh!
Lilika suddenly steps backwards. She grits her teeth, but doesn't exclaim in pain.
"I'd suggest another route."
When she's safely away, Lilika looks at where the spirit touched her, checking out the wound.
Lilika places her hands on the ice-cold patch of flesh and whispers quietly to herself, causing the frozen tissue to heal.
'What was that?' Perfire's curiosity has clearly been piqued.
"I have no idea." Lilika replies. "But it hurt. A restless spirit, perhaps... I have no knowledge of such things."
She offers her wound out for him to look at, but she's mostly healed it by now. It's still cool to the touch and rosy--which is particularly pronounced against her grey skin.
Perfire does a cursory examination of the wound but shakes his head.
'I'm not much for medicine, or spirits for that matter.' Perfire eyes the gate worriedly.
Lilika covers her wound back up and then leans back in to finish looking at the gate.
After deciding she can't get past it, Lilika turns to Perfire again. "It there another way you haven't tried, yet?"
Lilika glances around, then moves to the other door in this room, in the south wall.
Yirrik is gazing back towards the entrance wistfully, sad that Ilya decided to leave when he hears the commotion at the metal gate.
"Yeah, let's try to find another way..." he says simply, not bothering to remind Lilika that he usually leads the way.
"There's the door past the pit and the other clear door to the south, that we haven't investigated yet. I'd rather leave this gate for last..." he says.
Lilika happily lets Yirrik lead the way to the southern door.
Lilika clears some cobwebs and Yirrik checks out the door. Finding nothing amiss, he opens it, revealing another hallway, this one turning sharply back to the right.
Lilika looks into the hallway cautiously, wary of danger, hazards, collapse and wondering if the corridor's been used recently.
She doesn't move forward into the hall unless she and Yirrik are both sure it's safe.
What little of the hallway Lilika can see seems okay.
Lilika turns to Yirrik. "Seems safe... See any wayward spirits?"
---
When Yirrik eventually leads the way forward, Lilika follows him. After going around the corner she checks again, clearly paranoid after being kidnapped by bandits, nearly eaten by spiders and groped by ghosts.
Wymond follows after Lilika and Yirrik and keeps a wary eye out for any ghosts.
"Can't wait te put this nasty bastard down an' help these poor souls find rest."
Triath replies with an approving squeal.
"Spirits...heh...not my specialty..." Yirrik comments distractedly as he checks the stone work, looking for more pits...
'If it matters, I don't recall seeing any spirits so far. I'm sure there was something back at the door, but maybe it was localized.'
Lilika and Wymond see nothing amiss, but Yirrik, having spent a nearly-fatal episode in a pit recently, shoots out his arm to stop Lilika. He notices a faint outline on the floor, spreading from wall to wall.
Lilika stops and takes a step back, waiting for further insight from Yirrik
Wymond stops as the other two do.
"Trap? Want me to trigger it with me axe?"
Looking at Wymond in confusion, Lilika quickly steps back a few steps, not wanting to be anywhere near a purposely triggered trap.
"Is there not a better way?" she asks, looking at Yirrik.
She clearly is hoping Yirrik has some skill with traps.
Yirrik nods, his face grim, "Another pit...right there.." he says pointing at the floor.
He gets down low, scanning the surrounding stonework, looking for a way to disable the trap...
Yirrik sees no good way to disable this trap. It looks as though you could all backtrack and go around.
'Any spiders?' Perfire asks worriedly.