“Do you know what they wanted with you?” Aith asks. “The entire palace seems to have gone mad. At least, as far as I understand it, the master of the place is long gone, but everyone here is … trapped, and jostling to get the balance of power and control? As you can tell, we’re not local ourselves, but people seem to be at once rather uninterested in our presence, and happy to steer us into making trouble for their rivals.”
“We mostly want to make sure that we, and anyone else who’s been unjustly imprisoned, can get out of here. You’re welcome to follow after us for a bit, but we haven’t found our exit yet, and we’re likely to get in a bit more trouble first.” She sighs, shaking her head apologetically. “I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be. We can chat as we go, if that would help? We seem to be working towards a colloquy of the elements, but we’ve yet to meet an efreeti who has much time for us.”
Neelah glares in Aithaloessa's general direction, but chooses to pretend she heard nothing. She watches the djinni carefully, distrustfully.
Yasmeena peers out the door, trying to decide where they should go next. "We should probably keep moving," she suggests. "I wonder if we can determine where that devil came from?"
"My best guess would be straight from hell. And even though this place seems rather close to that - temperature wise - I'd prefer not to explore further in THAT direction." Haleen jokes.
Bylo nods at Haleen's comment. "Interesting thought there. I was able to get here with a simple plane shift spell. I've used the spell some and have to admit that it isn't very accurate. But how is it that we can enter here with such, but find exiting with the same is blocked?"
Yasmeena laughs merrily at Haleen's wit.
"Well, a feat of most prisons. Way easier to get in than out. But where to now? There are still a few doors unopened, but how far do we want to go in this basement to find the flickering candle?"
Haleen pauses for a moment, and then adds "Or we go back to that giant and demand him to be more specific about what we are searching here actually."
Yasmeena nods thoughtfully at Haleen's suggestion. "We can at least report success in dealing with the denizens of the temple, and perhaps get more information about what remains to be done. I wonder if anyone knows what it is that is keeping everyone imprisoned here? As Bylo says, it does seem unusual that such blocks would be one-way."
So the group leaves with Iavesk in tow and returns to the large yard. The fire giant isn't too happy to be asked to fetch Karambagya again and only reluctantly leaves his post to inform the Bronze Giant about the request.
After a while the fire giant returns. "<Told him.>" he curtly states before he joins the patrol around the yard again.
Some more minutes later an equally happy Karambagya comes to the yard. He looks at the group with suspicion as it seems to have grown since the last meeting. "<What is it you want? Wasn't I clear about your job? I didn't hear a 'mission accomplished' from you.>"
“We’re working on it, sir,” Aith says quickly and humbly, channeling what she’s learned about mollifying people in charge from her time in Alkenstar, trying to do her job with the chiefs always breathing down everyone’s neck for more progress.
“We just thought we should escort rescued civilians someplace safer, and thought we should report in the interim to make sure we’re not missing something important.”
“Do we know how bright is – er, how many there are in the Flickering Candle? We defeated one of their number – an elf who, unlike yours truly, didn’t see the way the wind was changing – and then freed Iavesk here, who was captured by them, but put under a terrible enchantment right after, so he hasn’t had any luck remembering much more about them. On the way, we also dealt with a creature disgracing the name of priesthood, who also offended someone calling himself the “Master of the Haunted Palace.” If he’s one of the guards you mentioned, he didn’t seem to be very concerned about everyone poking about the place – ”
Aith takes a breath before getting to the nub of it, “ – but before we get in so deep that we need to start worrying about who’s hiding what and might turn on us as we track down the Candle and the last of the guards with misplaced loyalties, do you know of who we should be watching for especially? Apart from a barbed devil and a very slippery elf fellow, neither of whom will be a problem anymore?”
She keeps it quick and fairly serious, but there's a bit of a hint of pulling a fast one and making excuses as she tries to verbally shuffle around all the pieces of what's going on for her own benefit too.
When Aithaloessa is talking about the Haunted Palace the giant wonders "Which one did you deal with and which one let you roam in there, Shabendeh or Bagoas?"
"And what about all the undead and the crazy efreet in there?"
As the talk comes to the flickering candle the giant becomes tense. You wonder, if paling is a thing for giants with the teint of metal, or if the light changed. "And all those fire creatures that fill their ranks?" Karambagya inquires.
“Yes, Shabendeh was the one who took poorly to our explorations, so I suppose Bagoas would be his spectral rival? He – the latter, I mean – didn’t seem particularly concerned about anyone wandering around, so long as they don’t bother him.”
“We put down Shabendeh and his ghouls, and, I’m afraid, the mad efreet: they came at us too ferociously for us to subdue them, once they noticed us. It’s been that sort of thing, so far,” Aith explains, counting up the kills quickly in her head. “We open a door, get greeted by either hapless servants like kobolds, who we try to treat fairly, or a mob of swords and whatnot, or even summoned creatures, and those we deal with as you might expect. I think it’s been about, hmm, a couple of dozen or so lunatics so far, your lizardfolk, efreet, and salamanders.”
"Will Bagoas turn on us, do you think? Or try to slip some horrible deeds under our noses? Like we said, we can try putting everyone who deserves it to the sword, but depending on how many that is, we might not be able to do it in one single push."
In a mix of astonishment and disbelief Karambagya states "You wiped out the Flickering Candle, save the kobolds!?!"
"And in the palace only the ghost of that dwarf is left?"
He ponders the weight of those news, braces himself and adds "I'll have that confirmed by some of my guards. Until then, feel free to take care of your own business. I'll send for you if anything else comes up."
"Dismissed!"
Karambagya then leaves to go back where he came from.
Bylo glances at the others, and quietly says, "Ghost dwarf?"
"That translucent guy Yasmeena and Aithaloessa successfully sucked up to. Right behind that door." Haleen points to the main entrance of the palace that they used to enter the building.
Yasmeena lolls and smiles at the others. "What is our own business, I wonder? Should we rest, perhaps? I admit I could do with a bite to eat. Blowing out candles is draining work." She winks.
"That sounds like a lovely idea," Aith says. "Especially if we can find a place to get our bearings again, and see where we can poke our heads into to find what's holding us here. Perhaps our reflective vizier might put in another appearance someplace we might be undisturbed?"
This huge chamber is relatively empty, save for a few enormous bunks pushed against the walls in the eastern portion of the room and a pile of heavy crates that seem to contain military rations for giants. Several banks of murder holes decorate the floor to the west and south. Two fire giants are keeping an eye on the room.
Returning to the premises of the Flickering Candle to search for uninvestigated areas you find a door that doesn't open. Not only is it locked, but also blocked from inside.
With a slightly-guilty look at the others, Yasmeena tries to unlock the door, just to keep in practice. "I am not sure how we'll open it past the obstruction, but might as well clear one obstacle."
"Hello?" she calls through the door. "Is anyone inside?"
The inquiry is met with silence.
Yasmeena shrugs. "I suppose we should try to tear the door down," she says quietly. "Unless we have any other ideas for getting past whatever is blocking the other side?"
"Could you set fire to the inside of the chamber without us opening the door?" Haleen inquires from Aithaloessa.
Neelah snorts. "Not without seeing into the room beyond--unless you don't mind setting fire to everything between." She pauses as if to consider that option. "The magic of my efreeti ancestors would allow me to demolish the door in a ball of fire while protecting us from the blast. As it burns, it should spread to the contents of the room. Is that your wish, master?" She directs this last to Yasmeena with a sweet smile that reads as sarcastic.
Yasmeena shrugs. "If you can do it safely, my friend, of course!"
"Wait!"
Bylo tries to stop the group. "If the door is barricaded from within but nobody answers either the creature inside is dead or doesn't want company. If we're looking for a safe place to rest I think we should pick somewhere else."
"After all, we've found sufficient so there's no need to go looking for trouble."
"Could you set fire to the inside of the chamber without us opening the door?" Haleen inquires from Aithaloessa.
“It would be tricky,” Aith suggests. “The evoked flame starts in something like a seed, or a bead – bigger than a spark, that is – that has to get to where one wants to start a fire. As Neelah says, at best, it would mean peering through the keyhole, and then stringing the bead through it, if we don’t want to just blast through.”
There’s just a slight hint of wistfulness in her tone that suggests she might want to try it.
"Wait!"
Bylo tries to stop the group. "If the door is barricaded from within but nobody answers either the creature inside is dead or doesn't want company. If we're looking for a safe place to rest I think we should pick somewhere else."
"After all, we've found sufficient so there's no need to go looking for trouble."
“That said, there are other ways of looking for trouble,” she reassures (?) Bylo, “that won’t risk singeing anyone on the other side of that door. I can only take three along, until I get more practice, but so long as we’re not trying to leave the palace, some dimensional conjuration ought to do the trick, and we’ll unbarricade, or what have you, the door to let the last one in as soon as, assuming we’re not jumping down a dragon’s gullet. Hands, please?”
Haleen makes sure her hands are deep in her pockets.
"I'll go," Yasmeena says, "But I think we will likely want someone stronger than I to come along too, since I don't think I can easily move whatever is blocking that door. Perhaps our djinni friend would be willing to help? What do you say, Iavesk?"
"Whatever you wish." Iavesk replies.
“See you in a moment,” Aith nods to Haleen, hoping the fighter hasn’t got a gut feeling about a complication that Aith’s gut is missing. “Right!”
She extends her hands to Iavesk and Yasmeena, and lifts an arched brow to Bylo in question. Once everyone’s arranged themselves for going or staying, Aith feels out with her magic for the space beyond the door, and with a sudden cry of something that sounds a bit like very old Elven – <“Horsandhaettoc!”>
- gleeps with her friends into the sealed chamber.
Aithoaloessa finds an empty spot behind the door. The furniture of this once decadant parlor has been pushed unceremoniously against the two doors, leaving only a single oversized divan and a large stack of books in the otherwise empty northern half of the room.
A large humonoid creature jumps up from the divan. Four curling horns sprout from the giant’s head and an inhuman tongue flicks among sharply filed teeth. Covered with pale, pockmarked, and spiky flesh, this monstrous warrior stands fully twice the height of an average human, its rough hide barely able to contain the monstrous muscles eagerly twitching beneath. It assumes an intimidating stance as it effortlessly hefts a sword large enough to cleave a horse in two.
The creature looks angry and suddenly stones fall down out of nowhere on the intruders.
Surprised by the sudden rain of rocks Bylo casts a healing spell on the whole party.
Before she even has a chance to enjoy her successful magical manoeuvre, Aith flinches under a hail of rubbish, which she thinks is quite unfair, since she managed not to try to jump into solid stone.
After Bylo's spell, she's less likely to keel over quite yet, and the mage quickly tries to assess the barricades keeping the doors shut. How easy would it be to get them clear, so their friends who didn't ride her teleportation can come in?
Eyeballing the piles of stuff, she gives it her best guess and rather than using her magic to yank on space, tries her luck with force.
With a glance, a growl, and a sweep of her hand, the badly battered mage does her best to sweep the doors clear and, if possible give the giant a taste of his own rough music, hurling the piled furniture back at him.
Yasmeena, seeing that there is no chance of a diplomatic resolution, draws her longbow and begins her battle dance, shooting arrows at the horned creature.
Iavesk is brought within an inch of his life by the hail of stones. Bylo's magical healing brings him back to consciouness, but he doesn't look well.
Yasmeena turns another enemy painfully into a porcupine, but the effect of the arrows is greatly dimished by the hard skin of the giant.
Aithaloessa sends the inventory of the room flying.
Hearing the funiture move Haleen tries the door and opens it.
"Ha!" Aith calls as her spell sweeps the door clear. She hopes that she stands a better chance than not of hitting a barn door with, well, something closer to the size of one than her usual missiles (shame - that looked like a lovely cabinet), but then again, it's a pretty big giant too, and her mind races for what magic she could try next. What is this thing, anyway?
Aithaloessa finds that the furniture shatters at the giant, destroying the furniture, but with no effect on the giant.
With the door open Haleen and Neelah also get to see what is happening in the room.
Neelah moves next to Yasmeena and begins her Blazing Rondo performance (granting everyone the benefits of haste with a +2 bonus instead of +1).
The sepid steps back and throws a fireball at the group.
"I don't think I can hit hard enough to hurt that thing!" He again casts healing magic to help the party.
A fleeting thought to investigate larger ordnance crosses Aith’s mind as she’s forced to jump back from another blast from the sepid.
With the nudge of Neelah's performance, the mage's back-pedaling spares her the worst of the fireball.
"I don't think I can hit hard enough to hurt that thing!" He again casts healing magic to help the party.
“I’m trying to think of what I can do!” she calls back worriedly to Bylo, before pointing a finger trembling with outrage at the unearthly giant.
"Why, you - you stubborn, obnoxious ... goat!" she protests, furious, magic building behind her words.
Aithaloessa turns the mighty horned giant into a toad.
Yasmeena attempts to duck and weave away from the eruption of flame, and then resumes her battle dance to fire another volley, now aiming at the small amphibious creature instead of the large outsider.
The toad evades almost all of Yasmeena's shots.
Aith’s fingers twitch for either more magic or her pistol – maybe not the latter, seeing how nimbly the transformed sepid is hopping around.
“Iavesk, Neelah! Any ideas about pinning that thing in place?” she calls. Haleen - skewering it?”
It might betray a certain lack of imagination on her part, as a mage, but Aith did not wake up this morning expecting that she would have to ask her friends, “Get that frog!”