The Necromancer's Pact VIII: The Rising Tide

[Dr._Bob]

Uneasily, you put away your weapons for the moment (or at least stop pointing them at each other).

Joining Aeroz, you cautiously choose to take the stairs upward, instead of downward. Hugging the curved walls (since there is no railing to prevent you from tumbling to the floor), you spiral up to the second level. As you leave the first level, you hear a soft grinding as the large door slides shut ...

The second level is a touch smaller than the first, but is similarly unadorned. The walls almost seem to absorb the torchlight, creating a dismal atmosphere. It takes a few minutes before someone notices something unusual - there are no wall sconces or other obvious light fixtures in this tower, despite its lack of windows. One imagines that the original builders of the tower must have been comfortable living in utter darkness ...

The third level is much the same, but the fourth is different. This fourth floor is divided in half by a flat wall, leaving you standing in a semicircular chamber.

A flat black door is set in the center of the wall. It is a smaller version of the main entrance. An embossed face is set in the center of the door. Its eyes and mouth are closed.

[blackfox]

(OOC: Crossbows have safteys?)
Katrin

Katrin slings her crossbow over her shoulder, keeping it loaded, and trudges up the stairs with everyone else. When they get to the fourth floor, she eyes the face in the door with a mixture of interest and suspicion. "Khazrael... is that face in the door magical? I don't trust it, for some reason, it seems... misplaced..."

[namo]

Adalmar

He remains at the back of the group, his face a mask.

[Koji]

Khazrael

To Katrin, he says, "My eyes are a little tired, but why not."

A gesture and a muttered phrase mark his third detect magic spell of the day, and he focuses on the door.

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

Tiriel stands quietly during the debate. Her understanding of magic is basic and the existence of an anti-magic is, while not unknown to her, still confusing. After everyone has finished talking she sheaths her sword and falls into step with Callos as they ascend the staircase. When they reach the third floor she gently pulls him aside and speaks in a hushed voice.

Spoiler

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"Tell me the truth Callos. Do you really believe that he killed Evendur for the sake of others? I understand that he may have thought that 'one life is a small price to pay,' but I don't see the elf's new powers wining us a war." As an after thought she adds, "He doesn't seem to regret his actions, and that angers me more than his actions."

[ooc: the only person she doesn't want to hear this conversation would be Elthan. She would stop talking if he came too near.]

[Phasm]

Lissa

Since Khazrael has volunteered to scan the door for magic, Lissa remains silent. Just as she has been since the standoff ended. She has made sure to stay behind Elthan, watching him like the proverbial hawk with those cold, empty eyes. The mercurial gnome has shown a rainbow of moods in the past, but this icy focus is something new.

The elders were right. Lumpy was right. Hells, even the spine-twisters and slick-talk men of Sembia were right on this one. I trusted too easily, and now look where it's got us. No, curse it, me. Lissa closes her eyes briefly, willing herself not to show the anger and pain she feels. Not to show anything. Nobody's on anyone's side but their own. No matter what they say, that's what it comes down to in the end.

What about Sedryn? Evendur? Raskoruran? Thokk? Lumpy? Trinark?
She squeezes the hilt of her rapier, hard, until her knuckles whiten even through her brown skin. Yeah, the first four cared, no doubt about it. And look where it got them. Dead, dead, dead, and dead twice. There's no telling with Lumpy; that man runs hot and cold. I thought I could trust him, but I thought I could trust Elthan too. Trinark... if he's such a faithful servant of Eilistraee, why in the Nine Hells didn't he support us back there?! Dunno that much about his goddess, but I don't think she'd like the Dark Sister any more than Baravar does. Lissa clenches her jaw briefly. He's a more powerful priest than I am. If he'd actually come out in support of execution, we might've been able to take both Elthan and Callos without hurting the necromancer. Why didn't he speak up?

Lissa squashes the question of Achkby before that annoying mental voice can raise it. Instead, she forces herself to concentrate on the door before them.

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

Elthan walks up the stairs in complete silence. Though he is not completely aware of the whispers and ill-thoughts behind him, he does his best to hide from their aura by shrinking into his cloak.

At the door, he turns to Khazrael. "I might have better luck with that. Allow me." Standing at his side, he cast the same spell.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

Why does this place give me so many jitters? I've seen plenty of more horrifying things then this place and it has me on edge. Maybe its because it's connected to the Shadow Weave...

His line of thought was interrupted when Tiriel pulled him aside from the others and began to whisper to him. Callos listened intently and took a long time to process everything he had seen in the past since his transformation back to human to the death of Evendur. Everything that he could remember about Elthan and those books in particular. Did the half-elf really regret what he had done or was he simply faking it? It was hard for the human to tell since he had been so sure that Elthan would tell him before taking any kind of big steps.

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"Its...difficult to tell. When he first consulted me about tapping the Shadow Weave I could have answered you without a shadow of a doubt that it was purely for our sake he did it. No question in my mind. Now?...I'm not so sure. As much as he denies it, I know that using the Shadow Weave is a corrupting expeirence and a very slippery slope to start down. I thought he could handle it if the both of us worked on it together but clearly that wasn't the case. As for his powers...its just as hard to tell. Elthan's trying to gain an edge on Sethra by having a greater understanding of necromancy then Sethra and it could make a good advantage if used right. All I know is I need to keep a much better eye on him then I did before. Preferably after I finish my own preparations which I need yours and probably Trinark's or Lissa's help for. Somehow I doubt Lissa will listen to me though, could you ask her for me?"

[Dr._Bob]

The door radiates the same inverted aura as the rest of the tower. As Elthan's gaze falls on the face, its embossed features animate in response.

At first the face blinks and squints, apparently annoyed by the light. After a moment, however, it seems to adapt to the illumination and it peers at your party, eyeing each of you carefully. The face spends an extra few seconds regarding Elthan in particular.

The face begins to speak. At first, its words are foreign to you, but within moments it switches to an archaic form of the common tongue. The face appears to be telling you a rambling story ...

... A fair maiden sits at a dinner table with a priest and a judge. She is surprised to see an unexpected visitor watching her from the doorway. Though frightened at first, the maiden did not cry out. Instead, recognizing that the visitor was hungry, she offered him some food. Gratefully, the visitor reached for the food only to be struck down and killed from behind. The maiden, satisfied, quickly disposed of his body and returned to her dinner. Neither the priest nor judge protested nor condemned the maiden. In fact, the three of them enjoyed the remainder of the dinner and conversation without commenting further on the death of the visitor. What justice is this?

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

Tiriel 'tsks,' before saying quitely to herself, "That was likely no maiden."

ooc: continuing conversation with Callos in the Private Conversations thread....

[Koji]

Khazrael

Seeing the face spring to life, he repeats his earlier gesture of turning away and spitting on the ground--an act which earlier seemed to be a bad habit, but now is quite obviously some sort of ward against evil.

As the face finishes its story, Khazrael smirks. "So what, is she smashing a cockroach or something?"

[Phasm]

Lissa

Lissa studies the carven face with cool detachment. "A mosquito, I'd say. Or perhaps a rat. Cockroaches won't come out if there's light." She thinks for a moment. "Mosquitos die in cold weather, so I don't know if the builders of this tower would know about them."

[namo]

Adalmar

He still stands away from the group.
What kind of question is that ? It's not justice at all ! Is it trying to justify murder ?

Listening to the comments, he reconsiders the story under a different angle. Is it a trick story like those of that troll ? Quite confusing...

[blackfox]

Katrin

Katrin regards the face with some confusion. "Whatever that means, I don't think it's something good, I don't trust it..."

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

Achkby elbows Elthan hard in the thigh.

"Don't just go on and use magic like that. You tell Callos and me first."

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

Elthan is taken aback by Ackby's force into his side. "Achkby, I did announce what I was about to do."

After taking a moment to ease the minor pain in his thigh and stare at Khazrael, he returns his gaze to the door and ponders alound, "I wonder, what is the purpose to this question? A riddle, a test to open the door, or just a curious question by a bored animation?

(OOC: As long as Detect Magic is in use, Elthan is curious as to what magical Aura's Khazrael has.)

[Dr._Bob]

The face pauses then continues ...

No justice at all, obviously, for the rat caught in a trap!

With those words, a stone slides across the opening to the stairwell, sealing you in. A grinding noise from above warns you of more sliding stone. The ceiling slowly begins to move downward.

The face opens its mouth wide and laughs ...

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

Elthan tense up as he sees the ceiling begin to fall down on the group. Nervously, he ask, "Tiriel, if I made you any stronger, do you think you could force the ceiling upwards?" He stops to pass a short glace towards Achkby.

"Would that be acceptable to you?"

[Koji]

Khazrael

Khazrael looks fairly preturbed, but tries to maintain his stoic chagrin.

"Got any more questions, face?"

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

"What justice? It's not justice... it's... it's..."

When Elthan speaks, Achkby looks at the sorcerer for a minute, and takes his question at face value.
"Callos, in this building, what could happen to that spell? Even his cantrips are doing odd things here..."

[Phasm]

Lissa

For a moment, Lissa's icy demeanor cracks. She snarls a rather nasty Gnomish curse at the face, then races over to the stone covering the stairwell. "Aeroz, help me out here. Check the walls for hidden passages or safety mechanisms." Lissa makes a hurried examination of the wall/door, skilled fingertips and sharp eyes hunting for a latch, a button... nobody with brains builds a trap without a failsafe in case of accidents. Right?


OOC: Dunno whether this is Search or active Spot, so I'm rolling Spot since I've got ranks in that one. I'll reroll if you want Search, Dr. Bob.

Spot - (1d20+8)[14]

[bhdrake]

Lumpy

He didn't want to give up on them so easily, that was his only justification for not walking out then and there. What use was his word to see them through this if they lacked the sight to see the obvious danger they left themselves in by letting the sorcerer live. They would be far more likely to see the iron lord without Elthan, he was certain.

Lumpy's face belies the nature of his underlying thoughts. Though his weapon is lowered, there is little doubt he's not entirely decided if he'll be using it soon or not. He follows the others woodenly as they explore the tower, drawing solace only from the fact that he was surely more adapted to work in darkness than the turncoat mage. But could he be that sure now? Damn Shar.

So distracted is he, the sprung trap almost fails to elicit a response from him. When he does move, it is directly for the faced door. It seemed to be the foacl point for whatever they'd managed to trigger. He glares at it for a bit, before prodding it expirimentally with the haft of his flail.

[namo]

Adalmar

He slumps to a sitting position ; he can't seem to muster the energy to fight till the last breath.

Spoiler

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This post may have to do with me sleeping 4h last night.

[blackfox]

Katrin

Katrin's training automatically kicks in. She begins looking for any sort of bypass or switch that could stop the downward slide of the ceiling, or any sort of hidden nook or passage where a person could huddle and avoid being crushed, but sees nothing.

((Search Check (1d20+6=7)
Meep. Assuming a natural 1 is an automatic fail...))

[Dr._Bob]

Immediately your eyes rove the walls, floor and ceiling for any switches or openings.

Lissa crouches by the sealed stairway, looking for a way to slide back the stone that blocks her escape back downward. Her keen gnomish eyes scan desperately around the chamber looking for any kind of opening that might hide a latch of some kind ...

The mouth? The face continues to laugh hysterically as Katrin and Lumpy examine the smooth stone door, its mouth open wide ...

The ceiling continues to drop ...

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

The mage was jerked out his own private deliberations with Tiriel as the ceiling slowly began to descend down towards them and by the talking head that adorned the wall. That was before an incredulous look turned to Ackby that switched to a withering glare pretty quick.

"How the hell would I know the answer to that, huh? I know religon and undead, not creepy talking heads in the wall of a Shadow Weave filled tower. So how about one of you, either Elthan or...er...anyone really convince the head to stop trying to turn us into paste. Intimidate idt if you need too!"

[Phasm]

Lissa

"The mouth!" It's a flash of intuition, a sort of sixth sense for hidden locks and devices honed by years of experience getting into and out of places where Lissa really has no legitimate business. She sprints over to that hateful laughing face, hand diving into her haversack. Lissa comes up with a lumpy roll of thin, battered leather with bits of metal poking out of the top- her trusty set of thieves' tools. Fortunately for her, the face's mouth is just about at eye level for a gnome. Lissa peers intently into the mouth, hunting for a keyhole, a lever, a button...


OOC: Spot - (1d20+8)[22]
Again, let me know if you'd rather have Search and I'll reroll.

[Dr._Bob]

A glint of metal catches Lissa's eye. Some sort of latch or mechanism lies at the back of the laughing mask's "throat". She also notes several small slits lining the sides of the opening.

She considers reaching in, but the opening is deep. Her arms aren't going to be long enough to reach the back ...

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

"****. Of all the rotten luck... You can cast what you want Elthan but I don't think I'll be able to stop that." Tiriel says looking at the ceiling.
**** **** ****.

[Phasm]

Lissa

"ARRRRGH! @#$%! tallfolk traps! Aeroz, Katrin, one of you get your rump over here!" Lissa steps to one side of the laughing face, glowering at it. If looks were spells, that door would be melted to slag about now. "I can see a device of some sort in the mouth, but it's too far back for me to reach!" She hands over the thieves' tools- a very fine set- to whichever of the two other 'experts' responds first. "And be careful sticking your hand in there. I saw little slits along the sides of the opening, might have poisoned needles or somesuch."