Gaer examines the creature critically: "I'm certainly no expert on fiends... I wonder if Quspira could understand something more? It has the monstrous features of a fiend - but there are also creatures that look ugly even if they are not fiends. Sahuagin are also called 'Sea Devils' - but that does not make them devils".
The tiefling ranger returns with Roxana to the others: "So? In which direction do you say we should continue the search? We still have a young man to save..."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Spira looks over the grey, sprawled body. "If he wasn't a fiend in this lifetime," she remarks drily, "he might be able to avoid that destiny in his next. But I'm not taking odds." She shakes her head, and turns to apostrophize the corpse as she begins a more careful examination. "Now let's see ... what in fact WERE you?"
Once she has as much information as she can gather about Fonkin, she turns to the next question which her brother has broached. "Well, unless we can find some tracks going in another direction, the best lead we have is still that Mival was last seen headed straight for the ruins. I'd say scouting those out should be our next move. See if we can find some footprints there, and then do a general recon . . . obvious and hidden entrances, possible ambush points, that sort of thing."
=========
Arcana (to identify Fonkin) 7
Survival (looking for prints) 17
Investigation (scouting towards and around Keep, if the group agrees on that course) 16
Darvin approaches and tries to take a look at Fonkin's body, discussing various hypotheses with Spira... but neither of them can come up with any certain elements. Both have heard of Doppelgangers - as Roxana hypothesizes that Fonkin was - but they know too little to confirm or deny.
The search for traces has better luck: despite several days having passed, the Sergeant of Arvandor manages to identify some clues of the passage of creatures... moreover, the clues suggest movements along the perimeter of the ruins, on the northern side.
Following them, the party comes into sight of a spiral staircase that, from the ruins, would descend into the underground... It must have been a spiral staircase that from the ground floor of the keep led to the basement. But at that point, from nearby sections of wall, two more of the creatures that Fonkin had used as 'security' detach themselves - and which, motionless and with their rock-like skin, initially seemed to be rough statues.
The creatures, with a short flight, take themselves to either side of the party and, grinning, order, in a labored Common: "Let's see if you... allowed to... here! Give... proof! Transform!"
Rash silently curses himself for not learning disguise self. Still... his armor of agathys is untouched (at 2nd level), and his ward isn't totally gone. He pauses and casts mage armor since he's pretty sure a fight is about to break out (again), bringing his AC to 14 and restoring 2 points to his Arcane Ward.
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Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Having made it back to the others, Roxana shares what she and Gaer saw with the devil-like creature. She agrees that they should be looking around the keep to try to find tracks to indicate where they should look next. As some of the group follows tracks to the spiral stair leading down, she is glad they have a place to start. But as to more of those 'security' creatures appear she grows wary. Keeping her distance, she watches to see what they do next. "Why do you suppose they did not help the others?" she whispers softly to Gaer.
Doubt is in Gaer's voice, as he keeps between Roxana and the creatures, drawing his magic silver blade: "Maybe they did not notice? We are about at the opposite corner of the ruins now... Or maybe they simply did not care?"
In the meantime, Anita whispers to Rash: "I know a little illusion trick, remember? Do you wish me to try to deceive them? I could create the illusion of a creature in my place... just as if I had 'transformed'. Is it worth a try?"
Anita looks at one and then the other of the two monsters with condescension: "Oh, 'transform', you say? I can as well transform, of course... but I wonder... what if you don't like what I can become?"
Rash's apprentice smiles maliciously, while pronouncing a short mysterious formula and manipulating with an elegant gesture what seems to be just a bit of fleece... after which... suddenly, where she was standing there is instead a monstrous demon-like gorilla sitting!
"Is that enough for you?" Anita's voice mocks them "Or do you also want to see me in action in this form? It's a form that makes you want... 'action'..."
The two monsters look at each other in confusion...
"She did transform..."
"The Lords from Below don't use that form, though..."
"...And they don't talk like that..."
"...But it's a big form!"
"You know what?" it shrugs "She did transform. I say they can pass through."
"Yes, she did transform..." it admits, not entirely convinced, but not doubtful enough to start a fight. "Maybe the other Lords from Below just don't like taking this form. Okay, you can pass through."
And with that, the two take another short flight, in the opposite direction to the one they had approached, and position themselves once again, motionless, on sections of wall, pretending to be statues.
It looks like the party can continue to... do as they please. Even go down the spiral staircase, if that's their intention.
"Wise choice!" declares Anita, suddenly returning to her former self.
"Transform?," Spira responds to the closest creature. She has managed to catch the whispers between Rash and Anita (PER in log = 21), and quite agrees with the Wrestling Wizard that it couldn't hurt to try a deception. Whispering a short koan (thaumaturgy), she calls on her goddess' power to cause her eyes . . . in appearance . . . to flow and change until they resemble the presumed (and now deceased) doppelganger's in his natural form. She slowly strolls forward to face the fiend she is addressing, pretending to be a new recruit to whatever game is going on around here. "Let me see now . . . what was the rest of the form that Fonkin said we were to take on if challenged? . . . do you remember, Anita?"
As she doesn't actually expect the group to be able to deceive these fiends for long once they see that only two members are transforming, her mind also is busy running over options for the probable fight ahead. From the beginnings of weariness in her mind and body, she knows she can only manage four more major channelings of divine power (spell slots remaining: 2 1st, 2 2nd). But she also knows that herSpear of Angharradh proved her best weapon against the previous 'security' detail; and so she begins mentally rehearsing the prayers and mudras she will need to summon it if (or more likely when) the need arises.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Spira breathes a sigh of relief to herself as the second 'security' detail accepts Anita's transformation. As she returns to her place in the group, she turns to the fiend she had been speaking to. "By the way, just out of curiosity" she asks, trying to make the question seem as casual as possible, "what forms do the other Lords from Below more usually take?"
=========
Persuasion 9
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
"They usually settle for more... common forms... humans... elves... dwarves..." the other replies "Creatures that are common here. Evidently, you all come from bad places. After all, you're a tiefling... you probably go to the Nine Hells, when you want a vacation! Don't you?"
"Why don't we head on down below now," Roxana says. "Great job there Anita. Well done." She glances to Gaer and proceeds to move forward past these apparent guards.
Anita winks in response to Roxana: "You know, it pays off, to build relationships with a powerful wizard appreciated even by the Harpells..."
Gaer meanwhile smiles at the ex-Zhentarim, but does not lose sight of the 'guards', just in case they change their minds...
...But in fact the statues do not hinder our heroes, as they begin their descent towards what must have been the lower levels of the Keep.
The spiral staircase is well preserved enough to be safe to use, and leads our heroes below, towards the unknown...
After a descent of about 20', during which the temperature becomes decidedly cooler and a vague musty smell becomes gradually stronger and stronger, the party arrives in a large room, barely lit by the extreme halo of dim light cast by the magical lights the spellcasters have provided. The floor is flooded with 2'-deep water. [[ OOC: this makes the terrain difficult terrain, if you walk - not if you swim, of course) ]]
The walls are made of large blocks of worked stone, covered almost everywhere with mold (the stench of which is practically omnipresent) due to the humidity. The ceiling is 10' high.
The spiral staircase used by the party occupies the northwest corner of this room, connecting it to the surface.
An ordinary 5' wide corridor to the east and a much more solemn 10' wide corridor to the south are the only other exits from the room.
The room is otherwise completely bare. [[ OOC: Really it is? Everyone interested can roll a Preception check ]]
A girl whose exquisite features and slightly almond-shaped green eyes are framed by a bob of short golden curls strolls idly near the east exit, occasionally raising splashes from the water as she playfully kicks it with her delicate little feet. She is dressed in a skimpy costume made almost entirely of shells; it is therefore easy to notice how her pale skin is so flawless that it gives the impression of being destined for eternal fresh youth.
Hearing the splash of the first members of the party entering the room, the girl turns, with an expression of genuine curiosity, and looks everyone over for a moment, before smiling: "Good day to you and welcome! What purpose brings you here? And what's the weather like upstairs?"
Playing off the title which the most recent guards let slip (and with her fingers crossed that the golden-haired girl is not actually a construct or spell left over from the Keep's glory days), Spira steps forward with a confident smile on her face. "And a good day to you! We heard that the other Lords from Below had ... invited another guest to join us; and we so look forward to meeting him too." She whispers her thaumaturgy koan again at this point, twice, and evil-sounding whispered chuckles echo from the shadowy corners of the ceiling as her eyes briefly change from their normal amethyst hue to a smoldering red.
"A young man, we heard, just come of age. JUST the sort of morsel I enjoy for an after-dinner snack." She reaches back to rest her hand on Darvin's shoulder, pretending that he is the one who's already slated for her 'main course'. Which, in a certain sense, is not all that far from the truth ... ;-> "Do you know where they've lodged him?"
The girl seems to instantly lose her innocence and good humor at Spira's words - she seems partly irritated, partly scared - but nevertheless she immediately steps aside, leaving free access to the narrowest corridor: "The Lords from Below are on this side... The only 'young man' who has joined them, is Blossom, one of them... but obviously the affairs of the Lords from Below are none of my business. I... I just wish you bon appetit, with your 'morsel' ".
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Gaer examines the creature critically: "I'm certainly no expert on fiends... I wonder if Quspira could understand something more? It has the monstrous features of a fiend - but there are also creatures that look ugly even if they are not fiends. Sahuagin are also called 'Sea Devils' - but that does not make them devils".
The tiefling ranger returns with Roxana to the others: "So? In which direction do you say we should continue the search? We still have a young man to save..."
Spira looks over the grey, sprawled body. "If he wasn't a fiend in this lifetime," she remarks drily, "he might be able to avoid that destiny in his next. But I'm not taking odds." She shakes her head, and turns to apostrophize the corpse as she begins a more careful examination. "Now let's see ... what in fact WERE you?"
Once she has as much information as she can gather about Fonkin, she turns to the next question which her brother has broached. "Well, unless we can find some tracks going in another direction, the best lead we have is still that Mival was last seen headed straight for the ruins. I'd say scouting those out should be our next move. See if we can find some footprints there, and then do a general recon . . . obvious and hidden entrances, possible ambush points, that sort of thing."
=========
Arcana (to identify Fonkin) 7
Survival (looking for prints) 17
Investigation (scouting towards and around Keep, if the group agrees on that course) 16
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Darvin approaches and tries to take a look at Fonkin's body, discussing various hypotheses with Spira... but neither of them can come up with any certain elements. Both have heard of Doppelgangers - as Roxana hypothesizes that Fonkin was - but they know too little to confirm or deny.
The search for traces has better luck: despite several days having passed, the Sergeant of Arvandor manages to identify some clues of the passage of creatures... moreover, the clues suggest movements along the perimeter of the ruins, on the northern side.
Following them, the party comes into sight of a spiral staircase that, from the ruins, would descend into the underground... It must have been a spiral staircase that from the ground floor of the keep led to the basement. But at that point, from nearby sections of wall, two more of the creatures that Fonkin had used as 'security' detach themselves - and which, motionless and with their rock-like skin, initially seemed to be rough statues.
The creatures, with a short flight, take themselves to either side of the party and, grinning, order, in a labored Common: "Let's see if you... allowed to... here! Give... proof! Transform!"
Rash silently curses himself for not learning disguise self. Still... his armor of agathys is untouched (at 2nd level), and his ward isn't totally gone. He pauses and casts mage armor since he's pretty sure a fight is about to break out (again), bringing his AC to 14 and restoring 2 points to his Arcane Ward.
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
Having made it back to the others, Roxana shares what she and Gaer saw with the devil-like creature. She agrees that they should be looking around the keep to try to find tracks to indicate where they should look next. As some of the group follows tracks to the spiral stair leading down, she is glad they have a place to start. But as to more of those 'security' creatures appear she grows wary. Keeping her distance, she watches to see what they do next. "Why do you suppose they did not help the others?" she whispers softly to Gaer.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Doubt is in Gaer's voice, as he keeps between Roxana and the creatures, drawing his magic silver blade: "Maybe they did not notice? We are about at the opposite corner of the ruins now... Or maybe they simply did not care?"
In the meantime, Anita whispers to Rash: "I know a little illusion trick, remember? Do you wish me to try to deceive them? I could create the illusion of a creature in my place... just as if I had 'transformed'. Is it worth a try?"
Rash gives Anita a little smile.
"Couldn't hurt to try," he whispers back.
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
Anita looks at one and then the other of the two monsters with condescension: "Oh, 'transform', you say? I can as well transform, of course... but I wonder... what if you don't like what I can become?"
Rash's apprentice smiles maliciously, while pronouncing a short mysterious formula and manipulating with an elegant gesture what seems to be just a bit of fleece... after which... suddenly, where she was standing there is instead a monstrous demon-like gorilla sitting!
"Is that enough for you?" Anita's voice mocks them "Or do you also want to see me in action in this form? It's a form that makes you want... 'action'..."
Anita's Transformation: 9
The two monsters look at each other in confusion...
"She did transform..."
"The Lords from Below don't use that form, though..."
"...And they don't talk like that..."
"...But it's a big form!"
"You know what?" it shrugs "She did transform. I say they can pass through."
"Yes, she did transform..." it admits, not entirely convinced, but not doubtful enough to start a fight. "Maybe the other Lords from Below just don't like taking this form. Okay, you can pass through."
And with that, the two take another short flight, in the opposite direction to the one they had approached, and position themselves once again, motionless, on sections of wall, pretending to be statues.
It looks like the party can continue to... do as they please. Even go down the spiral staircase, if that's their intention.
"Wise choice!" declares Anita, suddenly returning to her former self.
As she doesn't actually expect the group to be able to deceive these fiends for long once they see that only two members are transforming, her mind also is busy running over options for the probable fight ahead. From the beginnings of weariness in her mind and body, she knows she can only manage four more major channelings of divine power (spell slots remaining: 2 1st, 2 2nd). But she also knows that herSpear of Angharradh proved her best weapon against the previous 'security' detail; and so she begins mentally rehearsing the prayers and mudras she will need to summon it if (or more likely when) the need arises.
=========
Action: thaumaturgy to Help Anita's deception
Held action: Spear of Angharradh
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Well, let's pretend that Spira's post is before Anita's.
Anita then plays along and replies to Spira: "Fonkin said to impress them... and I have just the right transformation for that!"
After that everything happens as already narrated (except that the two guardians are a bit more convinced) and the party can pass!
Spira breathes a sigh of relief to herself as the second 'security' detail accepts Anita's transformation. As she returns to her place in the group, she turns to the fiend she had been speaking to. "By the way, just out of curiosity" she asks, trying to make the question seem as casual as possible, "what forms do the other Lords from Below more usually take?"
=========
Persuasion 9
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
"They usually settle for more... common forms... humans... elves... dwarves..." the other replies "Creatures that are common here. Evidently, you all come from bad places. After all, you're a tiefling... you probably go to the Nine Hells, when you want a vacation! Don't you?"
"Why don't we head on down below now," Roxana says. "Great job there Anita. Well done." She glances to Gaer and proceeds to move forward past these apparent guards.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Anita winks in response to Roxana: "You know, it pays off, to build relationships with a powerful wizard appreciated even by the Harpells..."
Gaer meanwhile smiles at the ex-Zhentarim, but does not lose sight of the 'guards', just in case they change their minds...
...But in fact the statues do not hinder our heroes, as they begin their descent towards what must have been the lower levels of the Keep.
The spiral staircase is well preserved enough to be safe to use, and leads our heroes below, towards the unknown...
After a descent of about 20', during which the temperature becomes decidedly cooler and a vague musty smell becomes gradually stronger and stronger, the party arrives in a large room, barely lit by the extreme halo of dim light cast by the magical lights the spellcasters have provided. The floor is flooded with 2'-deep water. [[ OOC: this makes the terrain difficult terrain, if you walk - not if you swim, of course) ]]
The walls are made of large blocks of worked stone, covered almost everywhere with mold (the stench of which is practically omnipresent) due to the humidity. The ceiling is 10' high.
The spiral staircase used by the party occupies the northwest corner of this room, connecting it to the surface.
An ordinary 5' wide corridor to the east and a much more solemn 10' wide corridor to the south are the only other exits from the room.
The room is otherwise completely bare. [[ OOC: Really it is? Everyone interested can roll a Preception check ]]
A girl whose exquisite features and slightly almond-shaped green eyes are framed by a bob of short golden curls strolls idly near the east exit, occasionally raising splashes from the water as she playfully kicks it with her delicate little feet. She is dressed in a skimpy costume made almost entirely of shells; it is therefore easy to notice how her pale skin is so flawless that it gives the impression of being destined for eternal fresh youth.
Hearing the splash of the first members of the party entering the room, the girl turns, with an expression of genuine curiosity, and looks everyone over for a moment, before smiling: "Good day to you and welcome! What purpose brings you here? And what's the weather like upstairs?"
Spira's PER check: 15
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
Playing off the title which the most recent guards let slip (and with her fingers crossed that the golden-haired girl is not actually a construct or spell left over from the Keep's glory days), Spira steps forward with a confident smile on her face. "And a good day to you! We heard that the other Lords from Below had ... invited another guest to join us; and we so look forward to meeting him too." She whispers her thaumaturgy koan again at this point, twice, and evil-sounding whispered chuckles echo from the shadowy corners of the ceiling as her eyes briefly change from their normal amethyst hue to a smoldering red.
"A young man, we heard, just come of age. JUST the sort of morsel I enjoy for an after-dinner snack." She reaches back to rest her hand on Darvin's shoulder, pretending that he is the one who's already slated for her 'main course'. Which, in a certain sense, is not all that far from the truth ... ;-> "Do you know where they've lodged him?"
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
The girl seems to instantly lose her innocence and good humor at Spira's words - she seems partly irritated, partly scared - but nevertheless she immediately steps aside, leaving free access to the narrowest corridor: "The Lords from Below are on this side... The only 'young man' who has joined them, is Blossom, one of them... but obviously the affairs of the Lords from Below are none of my business. I... I just wish you bon appetit, with your 'morsel' ".