The lich shakes his head.
Gabriel takes his time, and studies the room carefully.
Vesta floats up and will attempt to enter the room through the ceiling.
"They never remember to ward the ceiling. " vesta says as she floats in way of explination.
Vesta is able to broach entry of the room through the ceiling and observes nothing out of the ordinary from a cursory investigation. The room has a writing desk on one side, and a cleared area used for meditation on the other. Given that the lich has no need of sleep there is no bed, though there is a small dresser that you'd wager holds a few changes of clothes.
Gabriel is waved in by Vesta telepathically once she establishes that there does not appear anything untoward. The writing desk contains several scrolls of relatively minor magics - nothing untoward. There is a warded and locked diary upon the table.
In the dresser is what you expected, a few differing robes that vary as to which rite of Urgathoa is required to be carried out... however Gabriel notices a curious thing... cunningly hidden on one side of the dresser drawer is a false space. The seams are nigh invisible to the naked eye, so unless you were very perceptive or knew it was there it is unlikely that a cursory inspection would uncover it. The hidden hollow however - is empty...
After gabriel point is out vesta detects magic and says
"it has a lingering transmutation magic upon the hollowed space, as though it was not an original part of the dresser and was instead magically added. I wonder what may have been stored in it? Not a bad place to hide a phalactry."
Turning to the lich, Gathroc asks "What was stored here?"
Moving into the chamber the lich puts up his hands defensively "I did not create that space... I have the ability, but I swear to you I had no knowledge of it's existence."
However there is no way of telling if the lich created it willingly, unwillingly or if it was fabricated by another.
Arcana
Spellcraft
"The magic is old. Several months at least. Long before his blackout. Of course I can't tell if he made it willingly, unwillingly, or if it is the work of another."
"This is disturbing, that something like this could have gone on this long undetected."
::Gabriel, what do you know of this lich? How long and in what capacity has it served your master?::
This is disturbing indeed.
"We could set a trap using the other stone." Vesta suggests
I guess that would work. How would we know when they would strike, though?
I guess that would work. How would we know when they would strike, though?
"We don't, but it's not as if any of us need to sleep or eat. "
The Shadow Claw's minions would be able to assist with some spellcasting if required.
Are you going to attempt anything special to bait the hook?
"They are outsiders, so we should probaly have some sort of circle trap and dimensional lockdown ready to go once they shift in. Past that do we have any idea what they were after the first time that we could dangle in front of them to prompt a second attack?"
We could leave apparent gaps in our defenses. Nothing too big, but a few minutes here or there where there's no-one readily apparent on watch.
"Yes, yes that was my idea all along, to set a trap, I can find the spells easily enough in the library most likely. We will have to dip into the Shadow Claws money pot in order to get some of the spell components most likely."
Daemon and Vesta find the Shadow Claw's subjects willing to assist, though they leave the details to your intent...
"Daemon, I've set plenty of traps in my day, and we're going to need bait. I know there are a few divination spells that could possibly be used to figure out what the fiends were after. We might need to learn what that is, before we carry out this plan"
OK, REALLY?! We have a Daemon in our party, while we're combating Daemons. Wtf guys?!
"For the trap I was thinking of some slightly modified combination of magic circle of protection (all four of them combined, focused inwards of course), dimensional anchor, charm monster, and permanency, and possibly lesser plainer binding, with the stone in the center of it. I could etch it into the floor of whatever room we use. Actually the liches room may make a good room to use, they may expect the stone to end up there again after their failure with the first stone. We will have to probably publicly "put the lich to death" for his discovered betrayal and announce that there is no way to breach the Shadow Claws defenses and this is what happens to those who try as part of the execution."
edit
Sounds good to me. Vesta chimes in. She generally only knows how her magic works. The greater theory evades her.
If you think it'll work. It's better than anything I could do regarding magicks.
With the aid of the Shadow Claw's spellcasters, Daemon prepares a binding trap that would await anyone who attempted to use the remaining locus to open a rift into the ziggurat. The trap is laid in the lich's room at Daemon's suggestion.
The lich under suspicion is placed in restricted custody for a short period, overlooked by Sssarvith's underlings and kept from his arcane focus. He is rendered powerless for now, the truth of his involvement is still elusive. You brief Sssarvith on the possibility of a public execution of the lich in an attempt to make the Crown more bold and potentially draw him into the laid trap and find no opposition to that thought process.
"And now we wait." Vesta says as she floats to a corner and disappears from sight in the shadows.
Invisibility+stealth
The trap is laid and an example made of the lich. Knowing that all within Geb will know that death is im-permanent for a creature such as he, the minion agrees to a spectacle where he is manacled to the tip of the Shadow Claw's ziggurat and killed repeatedly as he regenerates.
After the spectacle is enacted, it does not take long for something to occur. Not an hour passes before the locus rattles slightly and a rift opens. A being steps through and the reactive protections are initiated, when the glow diminishes you are able to see your quarry - a ball shaped creature of what seems to be mostly teeth.
Knowledge Planes
"A cacodaemon - the lowest within the hierarchy, I was hoping for something... Better."
I speak to the creature in Abysial (Or Infernal, I always forget which is which.) "What are you doing here in the house of my master?"
The ball of teeth floats just above the ground contained within your trap speaking in a high pitched and grating Common "I have been sent by my own master... one who is likely known to you... as you drove him to abandon his task set."
Gathroc chuckles, sounding like flame crackling "I have driven thousands to abandon millions of tasks, you'll need to be more specific"
Gathroc chuckles, sounding like flame crackling "I have driven thousands to abandon millions of tasks, you'll need to be more specific"
"Quite"
The ball of toothed flesh cocks slightly to the side as it replies "So you have failed so utterly as to allow those who challenged you to repeat tasks hundreds if not thousands of times without being able to affect them with finality?... perhaps you are not who master talks of after all..."
So then, who is it that you refer to as master?