Yahirma continues to puppet the second Derek, twisting him about to reflect being hit. "Oooo…ha ha!" laughs faux-Derek as it flourishes a falcata in vaguely competent way that looks rather nice.
Frustrated at continually being hit by lightbeams from creatures it can't reach, but encouraged by the punishment it has evidently dished out to Derek's illusion, the elemental doubles its efforts and smacks down upon the laughing falcata-flourisher with a pair of devastating slams that threaten to break the walkway free from the wall.
***
"You know, he can take it, not sure if *I* could have however.
I'm begining to like this guy."
Round the Next
Appario continues delaying, not wanting to get in the way of the archons of doom.
Every single one of this round's lightbeam barrage strikes true, and their combined might tears the elemental apart, until all that's left is an ordinary pool of stygian water.
From his vantage point above the well, Xerath sees the waters draining away until only a few drops remain. At the bottom of the well, where the water disappeared, there's a small hole, or possibly the beginning of a tunnel.
Opposite the entrance is a door leading further, likely towards the last of these cooling chambers.
"There is a tunnel down there. Curious." Feeling slightly drained much like the water, Xerath will fly down and investigate the tunnel for a while.
Maddok nods in gratitude to the spirits for their aid and then gestures toward his companions. "This way. There's only one chamber remaining."
Xerath quickly discovers that it is in fact a tunnel, winding downwards in a generally southwestern or western direction, and growing wider as it proceeds . However, as the tunnel gets lower, it also begins filling with water. After about 30-40 ft or so, whatever remains of the tunnel is completely water-filled. The tunnel doesn't appear to be deliberately created; it's more likely that it came about via some type of accident or disaster.
When Xerath flies back up, he'll report his findings. "Well there is a tunnel down there is well. Though it looks more natural than man-made. Someone should check it out to be safe though."
Appario looks at Xerath and shrugs.
"Should we maybe contend with the exploding machines and soon-to-be-released Devil first? Or might that tunnel take us closer to our goal?" Appario asks, looking and thinking.
"Which way to the next machine?"
"That way", Maddok explains.
The last cooling chamber is much like the others, complete with steam and boiling water. The only difference is that the door on the opposite end of the chamber is a huge, reinforced one, rather than a plain iron door like before. No creatures seem to inhabit this chamber, and Appario can easily disable the chamber if desired.
***
Midway through the hallway towards the last chamber there's a short hallway leading south. While it may have once led to more storage chambers, the debris-filled hallway now suddenly ends, dropping off about 20 ft to a vast water-filled cavern; possibly the result of some kind of sinkhole. Splashing can be heard from somewhere down below, as if something swims in the underground lake.
***
"If the well water is infused with negative energy, I fail to see why we would want to go for a swim at a time like this," Yahirma remarks with some disdain. "Maddok, might your archons take a quick look about and ensure there is nothing of note that we're missing down there?" She motions toward the underground lake.
"As for this," she adds while looking at the large door, "I think we may be making some progress. Little says 'I guard something important' like a massive door. Is it locked? Trapped?"
Appario disarms the machine, because of course he would not forget that.
When finished he listens to Yahirma's plan and thinks it's pretty good.
When that is done, he'll go take his time checking out the massive door. Locked? Trapped?
Perception (+1 more for traps)
"One step closer...now from this point on, the REAL fun begins then."
The massive door doesn't appear to be trapped, but it's hard to say if it's locked, as there are no handles or keyholes.
The Mwangi changeling scratches her cheek in thought. "Strange…perhaps it remains sealed until each well is disabled?" Once Appario has finished his work, Yahirma gives the door an experimental push.
The massive doors instantly swing open at Yahirma's push, revealing a wide flight of stairs running down to a stone archway leading east. From the top of the stairs you can't see what lies beyond the archway, but you do hear what sounds like several women conversing and eating.
"Listen to this! Esmeralda's telling me she can taste the difference between a virgin's heart and that of a trollop! Now, I'm of a mind that any woman's heart tastes the same, but what do you think, Valoria? Yes, yes, of course you can answer too, Sibyl!"
"Really? Well, I always thought so, but.. I never tried both at the same time, for a proper sampling, right?"
"That's just boasting, Liliana. Esmeralda wouldn't know what a virgin is, let alone what the heart of one tastes like!"
"Now that's just mean, Sibyl. For your information, I made sure I had a proper virgin to go with my trollop, using magic to make sure she wasn't lying. So, there! What do you say now?"
"Alright, alright. There's no need to get upset. So, what's the difference, then?"
"Yeah! If there's a real difference, I want to know, too!"
"I'm not so sure I want to tell, anymore, now that Sibyl upset me!"
"Right, of course! There never was a difference, was there? You're such a liar, Esmeralda!"
***
Yahirma catches the eyes of the others and mouths the words "hags." She then hears more and mouths "fiends" with a look of skepticism. By the end of the discussion she revises her assessment to "fiendish hags?"
Maddok growls softly and clutches his hammer tightly. He shares a glance with Yahirma - Do we attack?
Yahirma motions to wait a moment. "I'll return in a moment," she whispers. "If I motion twice, it means we attack. Once means approach calmly." She then sits on the floor and concentrates for a moment before melting into a shadowy serpent and slithering through the wall to spy on the nearby creatures.
The sight greeting you beyond the archway is somewhat unexpected. A 10-ft-wide, 30-ft-long banquet table floats in the air five feet above a black cobblestone plaza in the middle of a bustling city under some sort of infernal martial law, as armies of devils dressed in iron march to and fro through the streets along the plaza's edges. The sky above is red with dark clouds, while the surrounding cityscape is composed of sharp iron towers and spires; a view obscured only to the east, where a churning wall of fire blocks the only street leading away from the plaza.
Around the table, seated on their own massive serpentine tails, are four beautiful women (looking just like humans from the waist up). They partake in the splendid feast laid out before them, eating, drinking, talking and bickering, apparently paying no heed to the scene around them. None of the four seem to have noticed you.
The creatures seated at the table are monstrous humanoids known as Lamia Matriarchs. These queens among the lamias, already a race consumed by bitterness and predatory instricts, move with shocking ease from silken-tongued temptresses to precisely striking dervishes. They're quick to covet, enslave, and overindulge; luxuriating in gory feasts, violent trysts, and bloody entertainment, reveling until their playthings are broken or they themselves tire and move on.
Lamia matriarchs are immune to mind-affecting effects, and otherwise also resistant to spells. Their melee attacks, whether by sword or touch, threatens to drain the victim of its Wisdom.
All monstrous humanoid traits are also revealed.
As above, plus: All lamia matriarchs are also competent spellcasters, able to cast spells like a sorcerer except they can also choose cleric spells. They also have a number of spell-like abilities, mostly themed around enchantment and illusion.
Lamia matriarchs can see in the dark, they climb and swim as easily as they move on land, and they can change shape (omitting the tail).
As above, plus: All spell-like abilities are revealed, as well as the most commonly known spells for lamia matriarchs, as per PRD/Bestiary 2.
You recognize the cityscape as similar to what one might see in Hell's iron city; Dis. Taking up much of the second layer of Hell, this infernal city provides a constant supply of soldiers to the other layers of Hell.
Oh dear…do I risk another encounter in which lascivious, evil, hell-aligned temptresses waggle sins in front of my comrades? the umbral serpent wonders as it bites its lower lip in consternation and hides among the dark towers in the mural. I…shouldn't…but creatures that can drain one's sensibilities at a touch could be so devastating to my comrades… The snake withdraws back into the wall, rejoins its friends, motions once to its comrades to travel toward the feast hall, and then creeps through the floor into one of the chairs.
They're sensible people, and it's much easier to start a fight than to end one that's already started. Now to introduce a fifth serpentine matriarch...
The shadow serpent coils on the seat and rises like a cobra to look across the table. Once she has been seen, she rematerializes in her feminine form, takes up a glass, and lounges against her seat's armrest. "Ladies," she purrs as her mismatched eyes meet the lamias' ophidian pupils, "to say that a heart's properties do not change with the life it fueled would be akin to saying that a soul's fate is not shaped by its actions in life. As you can see," she notes while motioning to the exquisite mural of Dis, "the truth is quite evident." As she speaks, Yahirma glances into the glass that she's holding, bracing herself for something grisly. "With each good deed committed on its watch, a heart grows more righteous; however, like the sweetest fruit, it is a mistake to tear it free before it is quite ripe."
Appario waits as Yahirma disappears ahead.
"So...Derek...did I mention that I might be getting married? With a real contract?"
Maddok blinks in disbelief. "Where did she go?"
"Why yes, I do seem to recall you saying something to that effect.
I'm still not entirely over it you know, but I suspect the lady has a very exhaustive purse, seeing as how you will probably want to throw one of the most extravagant wedding feasts this city has ever known."
***
***
The matriarchs look on with interest as snake-form Yahirma transforms into human-form Yahirma and joins in their conversation, the bickering at an end now that a new arrival needs to be judged. The glass Yahirma picked up appears to be filled with a reasonably fine wine, but the food on the table is somewhat more exotic. A nearby bowl of soup, for instance, has eyeballs floating within in place of croutons. Another plate seems to have been the cause of the recent discussion, as a human heart features prominently in that dish. Most of the other plates bear similar varieties of food, but there are also some that seem more or less normal.
"Perhaps," one of the women allows, "but it's rare to find a truly virtuous and unblemished soul within one who has lived a long life. While righteousness may grow with every good deed, bitterness likewise grows with every witnessed wrongdoing."
Another continues this train of thought. "That's right, Liliana, that's right! Only a soul that has never so much as witnessed evil can taste of sweetest innocence!"
Maddok enters the scene and furrows his brow at the sight.
"A trick..." the big shoanti mutters.
Studying the 'women' and their grisly feast, Maddok growls and tightens the grip on his hammer once again. "And what souls did this flesh once belong to?" he demands.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"Ah, but you assume innocence and righteousness are one and the same," Yahirma chides the second lamia. "Righteousness is measured by one's exposure to evil correlated with his ability to overcome the influence of that evil. Innocence is simply an absolute measurement of one's non-exposure to villainy and uncomfortable truths. Think of it like a grape," she continues, giving her drink a swish and a sniff. "Plucked from a wild vine, it may sting with the tartness of a toddler's tantrums or sour with the sadness of unfulfilled dreams. The rare fruit may be truly sweet, but these are rare beyond cultivated fields tended by the horticultural excellence of the mortal toil. A vineyard's fruit is all the sweeter for its coddled existence, just as the innocence of a child raised in a happy household is untainted compared to the feral upbringing of an orcish babe. Those carefully harvest grapes are a delight to be sure—just as you value the taste of innocence—but they are not the height of the farmer's craft.
"To reach perfection, a grape must undergo trials and hardship. It must be crushed underfoot, squeezed from its skin, and imprisoned for an age to make wine. If the vintner errs in his work, the grapes spoil; these are the hearts that cannot withstand evil and spoil as a result. Only the most carefully monitored stock ferments properly." She gives a half-smile as her analogy wraps up. [b]"I travel with several such righteous hearts whose deeds are not yet done; I expect they have several years yet. Drinking in their righteousness now would be unconscionable, as though one were to tap a wine barrel before it had finished fermenting. I expect them to join us soon, but they have more trials ahead that I do not wish to see interrupted."
Raising her glass, she proposes a toast. "Let us toast the fine feast we have today, and let the most righteous travel onward to *ahem* ripen appropriately." She then takes a sip of her wine.
Yahirma's analogy keeps all four lamias mesmerized, with the occasional glancing nod from one to another. At the end of it, one laughs. "Indeed! A most wondrous, refined analogy. Valoria, did you take notes? That's how they should be done in sophisticated company - your attempts are as a filthy tavern in comparison!"
Another raises her glass in answer to Yahirma's toast, then motions towards the dish of heart. "Have a taste of this fine heart, and give us your thoughts. Did it belong to a virtuous virgin, or to a defiled whore?"
The others murmur their assent to this fine suggestion, and all expectantly await Yahirma's verdict.
Their heads snap towards Maddok as he interrupts the proceedings. One addresses Yahirma, shaking her head as if disappointed in Yahirma's choice of company. "This must be one of your righteous travel companions? You should have taught him manners. One does not simply interrupt delightful dinner conversation with rude demands for answers."
One of the other snake-women answers Maddok directly. "Hihi! You wish to know? Come, have a bite, and I will tell you all about our luscious feast!"
Yahirma pauses as Maddok arrives, her hand just beginning to reach out to accept the dish. "Of course," she responds to the question about Maddok's identity. "Maddok, we were just talking about you in pleasant terms. I fear we may be interrupting these ladies formal taste-testing, which seems to be a ladies-only event."
Her quick head-shake and cautionary glance change to a sly grin as she continues. "Yes, quite a party, in fact. As you can see, they've put up decorations like this animate wall art, and so long as we provide a moment's entertainment, perhaps we might be on our way and leaving these gals to their gala.
"I was just telling them how brave and noble my companions are, and I could swear that Liliana here expressed some doubts that such virtuous folk could exist. Perhaps you would share with us a, ah, brief tale of one of your more heroic deeds to put the issue to rest?"
With that, she raises her spectacles and gives the heart an experimental sniff. She then scrutinizes the flesh, pauses, and then recoils a few inches in dismay. "Neither virgin nor vixen bore this heart. I fear either your supplier has fabricated a fib, or the original flesh has been filched; this is the heart of a pig."
Liliana considers Maddok, narrowing her eyes to focus particularly on the warrior's face. "I do believe I specified one that had lived a long life. This one can only be a third of the way through, halfway at the most. But if you can spin such a tale, please don't hesitate to share!"
Yahirma's revelation produces shocked dismay around the table. One exclaims "A PIG!", echoed by another, while a third drily comments "No wonder we couldn't reach an agreement, with a contaminated sample."
The last lamia laughs bitterly. "Oh, dear! Those Thrunish bastards! Not only did they cajole us into agreeing to their insane proposition, but when they asked us how we wanted to pass the time, and we said we wanted an eternal feast - favorite dishes specified, of course - they didn't even deliver! They really got one over on us, didn't they, sisters? Well, that certainly put a damper on my eternity."
"Bastards indeed" the big shoanti growls in agreement. "And what better way to exact retribution on those that have crossed you then abandoning whatever foolish task they set you on."
Yahirma's face brightens. "Say…that would be a fitting way to snub whoever put you up to this."
Appario listens to the conversation and tries to piece together what he knows. Understanding from Derek the need for *drama* and *acting*, Appario nods to himself, knowing exactly what to do.
Appario changes his glamored armor to "Blistering Goodness" and walks into the dining hall.
Will Save
Appario says with all the righteousness he can muster.
"AH! You were right, snakelady!! There is a great evil that must be dealt with! I see now that it appears to be spreading! HELL!!! I see it!!! Where must I take my holy blade of righteous smiting to fix this!?"
Appario looks to Yahirnaconda for guidance.
Xerath, puzzled by the whole thing waits until most of the party has had their say.
As he enters, hood and all he adds his two coppers to the conversation. "Or even better, take it one step further and work actively work against them. And no it wouldn't be petty and spiteful at all."
"Those are certainly good points, and great suggestions, but I'm afraid Esmeralda wasn't entirely truthful. She does tend to struggle with the concept. The fact is, we didn't really have a choice in the matter, did we?"
The other lamia matriarchs shake their heads, supplanting the gesture with a pair of muttered "No"'s and one "Can't say I remember any choice, that's for certain."
The one who spoke first returns her gaze to the newcomers. "The way I understand these matters - and please correct me if I'm wrong, Valoria - we can't leave until the one we're here to entertain is either dead or no longer within his own prison."
"Quite right, Liliana, quite right."
"Yes, and unfortunately that means we'll have to attack those who don't partake in our feast, won't we? Otherwise things would become most unpleasant for us."
"Afraid so."
Liliana smiles mischievously. "But we don't need to see them eat, do we? If we happen to look away and we hear sounds of eating from around the table, that should be enough. Wouldn't you say so, Sibyl?"
"Hihihi! Yes, quite enough, quite enough!"
***
"That sounds as tricky as the circumstances that unjustly trapped you here," Yahirma says with a growing grin, "Which is to say…just the right amount of deviousness mixed with a veneer of integrity. My friends and I shall partake for a few moments, then I'm afraid I must be off to…make some wine."
Yahirma waits for them to turn around before casting ghost sound to create the sound of half a dozen ravenous, feasting humans. She rattles a few dishes, stirs a few pots, spills a little gravy, and motions for her companions to move toward the far side of the room.
Maddok does just that, moving toward the far side of the room.
Xerath follows suite.
Appario follows Maddok and Xerath, still wondering who to mightily smite.
Once you've successfully traversed the room (or the plaza, as far as Appario is concerned), it becomes apparent that the only obvious way forward goes through the wall of fire.
Yahirma pulls out a piece of dried meat and holds it to the fiery wall to see if burns.
The piece of meat is quickly scorched as it's held to the wall.
"Looks real," Yahirma notes as the jerky turns an even darker shade of 'unappetizing brown.' "Well, my noble companions, let us undergo a trial by fire and overcome the evil that has unjustly ensnared our hosts." She strikes a pose and then leaps through the fire, exclaiming, "For righteousness!"
Maddok joins Yahirma's theatrics and leaps through the wall of flames.