Unwrought Souls
It's a long lonely road that has led you here, and it wasn't a pleasant walk. The whole trip was marked by thick cold rain that seeps through even the most weather-prepared cloak. The rain has turned the path to mud, and the path itself leads you through dreary trees that are spaced far apart from one another. All the better to let the rain in by. The trees themselves look morose, heavy with the rain that bears down upon their leaves and needles. Occasionally they let loose huge waterfalls of rainwater. So in short... it's been a very cold, wet, day.
By the time you reach your destination it's late as well. The is up there somewhere, lost in the clouds. But more importantly down here there is an odd slide of mud that seems to have revealed an old stone doorway. The doorway itself is marked with a small Z shaped symbol with circles set into the tines. It is half buried in the mud, and looks to be ancient. Likely completely deserted for years until this one mudslide revealed it to the playing children.
Morgan looks to the Z and says. "No not this guy again, too much weird stuff and not a damn thing to learn on how he made the said stuff."
Mel marches along with the group. He's not enthused by the rain, but he's marched through worse and this isn't bothering him too badly. "Huh?" he asks Morgan. "You know this place?"
Unlike Morgan, Rona had come here precisely _because_ of the connection to Zeheir, whom she has been investigating for some time... admittedly, alongside what seems like a thousand other things. When she heard about the exposed doorway, she had to come check it out, though. "Well," she says, "maybe we'll learn something more tonight."
Cautiously, she approaches the stone doorway, checking carefully for traps and other anomalies.
Morgan shakes her head "not persionaly, this is tied to the arch mage Zeheir he lived over 1000 years ago." she then says to Rona "I hope so, if we could find a book on what he did and how he did it would be my dream."
GAME: Morgan rolls perception: (2)+11: 13 GAME: Yelrona rolls perception: (16)+22: 38
Mel ahhhs, nods slowly. He tugs his collar up and will check for traps also.
GAME: Mel rolls perception: (13)+13: 26
As you look over the hill, and at the door itself. Some of you will notice that there is writing inscribed in different languages around the edge of the door in very fine writing. It says the same thing in every language. 'Speak my Name and Enter.'
Mel looks around to the others, who seem to know more about this. He just hired on because the offer of cash was too good to pass up.
GAME: Nadara rolls Perception: (7)+7: 14
Yelrona seems briefly disoriented as she suddenly understands every single one of those languages. "Zaheir", she says, curiously.
Immediately there's a rumbling noise, and the doors begin to shift. This causes the whole mudslide to slide also, creating another mudslide directly where you're standing.
GAME: Morgan rolls reflex: (7)+6: 13 GAME: Nadara rolls ref: (8)+9: 17
For her part, the goblin ex-pirate is movin' along, cheerfully whistling as she drums her three fingered hands on her pistol. She's just been bringin' up the rear, as it goes.
GAME: Yelrona rolls reflex: (16)+7: 23 GAME: Mel rolls reflex: (7)+9: 16
...aaaand then she's sliding and on her rear end. "AWK," is what the goblin says, next. Rather shrilly, actually.
Mel slides through the mud on his ass. "Another day in paradise," he sighs.
"Zahier was a mage, like Morgan said," Rona explains. "He specialized in golems and creating magical creatures and LOOK OUT!" she cries, leaping agilely to avoid a mudslide... which, perhaps foolishly, takes her in through the opening door, where the mud doesn't fall.
Morgan is surprised as the rumble starts as she moves back but her heel plants wrong and the momentive makes her fall backwards "sigh." is all she says. She stands up makes a motion of her hand and the mud goes away.
As you all clamor to your feet (except notably Yelrona who keeps her footing and is already inside), you will immediately notice that that the door is now open. It is /very/ dark inside, and there is a staircase leading immediately downwards in a large looping spiral that can only be seen for a short distance.
Mel pulls out an everburning torch, which he has just for this sort of situation. He squints into the darkness.
Yelrona takes a small gem out of her pouch that immediately bursts into flame, and tosses it into the air, where it starts to circle her head, lighting up the space along with Mel's torch.
Morgan was about to cast a light spell but the other two have that covered "Now watch your steps, this guy knew how to mess with time and was creative with traps."
Yelrona seems about to say something in response to Morgan, then thinks better of it and nods. "Definitely keep an eye out for traps.” Though apparently whatever this is, he welcomed visitors to it.
As you make your way into the darkness you realize that there is a pillar in the center of it which this staircase is wrapping around. Eventually you come to another door marked with a Z. This one is not inscribed with any words, but opens easily. This grants you entry into a surprisingly well-lit laboratory. Strange concoctions bubble and brew, lines of tables with white cloths covering what clearly seem to be bodies march down the center of the space. At the end of which is a massive metal suit of armor. Off to the left is a straight stone wall with another door set into the center of it.
Yelrona draws her bow and takes a step back away from the door as she enters. "Be very careful... Zahier specialized in golems and the like. It's quite possible that these bodies, or the armored suit, still pose a threat, even after all this time."
Mel winces as he comees to the lab and sees what all is in the slab. He shivers, but not with anticipation.
Morgan looks to the others "Golems are mage killers, due to thier defence against magic."
"...oh good," says Nadara. She's stopped dead.
A hand goes over her face.
The armor, that is, is the source of her attention.
"This can only end well.," she says.
That's sarcasm. In case it wasn't clear.
GAME: Yelrona rolls knowledge/arcana: (8)+7: 15 GAME: Morgan rolls knowledge/arcana: (10)+17: 27 GAME: Yelrona rolls spellcraft: (3)+9: 12 GAME: Morgan rolls spellcraft+2: (6)+20+2: 28
The mages search the room carefully, not touching anything, but their words are... not comforting. There is enough magical equipment here to make a small army of golems. It's an active lab too. One that's clean and neatly kept. Not something worn down or broken with age. They describe /how/ to make the golems. How this particular person went about it... and that's even less pleasant. Bodies dug up from graves. Some of the bodies show worse signs. Signs of experimentation before death. Some of them have an odd snowflake symbol on them, and those are the bodies most worrisome. The ones that were likely alive before being turned into bodies. Every one of these bodies on the tables is a golem. The thing in the back most likely is too, but telling whow that thing was made is currently beyond the ken of your mages.
Yelrona nods grimly. "Well. That explains where all the automatons are coming from, I guess."
GAME: Yelrona rolls survival+4: (10)+15+4: 29
For her part, Nadara is still casually eyeing it. She's smart enough to not approach any further. It should be noted she has her rune-lock dragonspitter out and she's casually loading it.
You know. Like you do.
Mel has no idea what's going on, so is looking around very nervously, and gives a start at every little noise.
The bodies lay on their tables, the suit of armor stays where it is. The liquids in their beakers boil and bubble.
"This is an active lab," Rona says. "Used just days ago. Which means there has to be another entrance," she observes. "Maybe if we find that, we can find out more about this Mistress of the orcs." Plus she doesn't want to spend more time in this room than she has to. "Morgan... do you have any idea if we can safely destroy this lab?"
Morgan says as she is looking over some runes "I don’t know anything about the one they were calling Mistress." She is about to answer Rona question with a positive one until she sees a lot of glass jars with a green tint to it "No if we destroyed this room it will blow the whole place up." she points to the jars "That is what we call Living essence it is very destructive."
Yelrona seems to be considering her options. "Blowing the whole place up might be a reasonable plan, honestly. You mean, if we set up some kind of delayed-action trap using that Living Essence, the whole structure would be destroyed?"
"Say waht?" says Nadara to Morgan.
"Living essence? The hell does that mean? Do I need to shoot it?" She's ready to shoot it.
Just so you know.
Morgan eyes goes wide "That stuff is outlawed back home and no shooting it, even your own kind does not mess with this stuff as its just not worth it." she looks to Rona "Trap making is not my thing. Think on it after we finish checking this place out, I bet there is a secret door here."
Yelrona hrms, and starts thinking about how she might rig a deadfall that would smash the jars with a tug on a rope from a safe distance, but agrees to hold that plan in abeyance for now. "OK. Trapmaking is my thing, magic is yours... what do you recommend we do with this place? We can't just leave it here for this 'Mistress' to keep sending golems to attack Alexandria."
Morgan says "We leave it alone and let the heads of the city and guild figure it out."
Mel says, "So wait, we just leave?"
Morgan shakes her head "No we have more to explore with that door over there, we should check that out."
Yelrona shakes her head as well. "We go back to the city and they spend the next six months arguing about what to do about it, while this Mistress grows ever more powerful. No... before I do that, I'll destroy the place. But, yes, let's check out the rest of the facility before doing anything hasty," she agrees, and checks out the door that Morgan points out. If it seems safe, she goes through it.
"...well, we have to explore it. That's what we get paid for. I'm ready," adds Nadara. She still has her gun out.
Of course she does.
After a moment a light goes on in the next room revealing... a wall of bottles. Bottles filled with liquids in every color of the rainbow and the ones outside of it too. The wall is covered in the glittering things. However as you open the door one of the things on the bed quivers and rises to its feet...
Morgan will follow if she does not hear screams or any one telling her to stop. "never a good thing to enter a room and wake anything up."
"Quick, inside!" rona shouts, gesturing. "If there's one arising there'll be more, and the doorway is easier to defend." She draws her bow and covers the doorway while the rest of the party steps through it. If she has time, she closes the door behind the party.
"...oh for fucks sake," says Nadara. "Tell me that that isn't moving." The quivering thing. She saw it out of the corner of her eye.
Mel runs into the room that Yelrona suggests running into.
Nadara does, in fact, go after Yelrona as well. Why not?
There is a thud-thud-thudding as the golem walks all the way around the room. Then after a few moment the thudding stops and there's a slick sliding and a softer one that follows.
"...well that's a relief," says Nadara, glancing towards the others. She lets out a sigh of relief, though. "Not having to face at least one golem is a plus."
"Melee fighters in front, ranged fighters in back, open up on anything that comes through that door!" Rona backs up and positions herself so she can follow her own advice. She also takes advantage of the pause to look around the room they are in for any tactically interesting features... other exits, weapons, etc... including ones that may not be immediately obvious.
GAME: Morgan casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 8 DC: 17
Morgan figures this is a good time to get protection ready as she says a word in strange language and a blue aura surrounds her like a armor for a few seconds before that fades.
Nothing comes in through the door, but nor are there any doors as an exit. The only thing in this room are rows upon rows of bottles. Set precariously actually on thin shelves.
-TBC-