Allister moves forward, flanked by Glimbul. Once the pair reaches the mid point between the two doors an event occurs. The skull’s jaws creak open, and a skeletal hand holding a crystal hourglass-style timer emerges from within. With a click, the timer rotates and sand starts to funnel into its lower globe at a rapid pace. The timer will end in mere seconds.
Quick and nimble, Allister dashes to the level and manages to pull it down before the timer runs out. Nenne and Boosey can only watch in sudden alarm as the entire hallway between the two doors splits down the middle revealing a twenty foot deep pit with black tipped spikes set into the bottom at varying angles. Lemon and Glimbul tumble helplessly into the pit while Allister makes a desperate grab for the lever and skull. The fighter manages to keep his hold on the skull, dangling off the side of the doorway. When the timer runs out, the door begins to lower itself into the floor. Allister is forced to transition his hold to a one inch lip of stone as the rest of the door comes down, revealing a passage that continues into the darkness.
Both Glimbul and Lemon land hard into the pit. A sliver of shaft finds itself embedded in Lemon's thigh, while a second pierces in through his back and out the side of his belly. Glimbul is lucky in the fact that only one area of the body is affected - two spikes find their mark on the gnome. One poked in and torn out the side of his left forearm, while a second, lower shaft pierced in and out near the same location. Both Lemon and Glimbul's wounds spider black lines out from the harsh wounds.
Glimbul: 11 bludgeoning damage from the fall, 2 and 2 piercing damage from the spikes, 6 and 4 poison damage from the black tips.
Lemon: 20 bludgeoning damage from the fall, 3 and 3 piercing damage from the spikes, 4 and 2 poison damage from the black tips. (Poison is already halved)
Allister pulls himself up on the ledge to find a moss-covered corridor extending beyond the second door. Tree roots hang from the sagging ceiling, and the air reeks of rot and damp. Bas reliefs of fish with their mouths open aim down as if they were once fountains above grooves cut into the stone to funnel water into small, overgrown pools on the sides of the hallway. Small fish are carved out of the bottom of each pool in a way that it would appear to be jumping out of the water if it were filled. Ahead, a bas-relief carving of a bearded devil’s face adorns the wall at a T-shaped intersection.
"Are you three all right?" Nenne calls to the two in the spikes and Allister, as he hangs from the ledge. She glances about before looking back at Eku.
"We need your aid, my friend. Would you hold a rope so the storyteller and I can lower ourselves into the pit? Also," a flush of regretful blue rises in her cheeks, "I fear this is indeed where our paths divide. If this passage leads us inside where the Soulmonger rests and Acererak sleeps, it may be some time before we are reunited - if at all. Any parting wisdom or encouragement you might have for us, I will gladly relay to the others."
Allister looks around the new tunnel while calling back „Close call, but I’m fine. You need me to come down and help?“ He finally turms around and shouts „Eku, you know anything about a place with many fish faces that look like fountains? Or anyone in Chultan history who was extremely fond of fish in the middle of the jungle?“
Eku relates that the fish are a mystery to her. To Nenne she says, "I fear that you are correct. I shall remain here for a time though and aid in any way that I can. Be careful in there. This is only the entrance and that sounded bad." Eku assists in holding the rope while Boosey and Nenne climb down into the spikey pit. Lemon and Glimbul are helped off their impaled spikes and the party emerges on the other side to join Allister.
After helping everybody to get out of the pit he packs his rope back and draws his flame blade. He admires the glowing rapier, turns around to see Eku and yells „This is awesome, I can’t thank you enough. See you soon, don’t let Ras Nsi catch you.“ He waves goodbye and walks to the intersection.
Allister gets ten feet down the passage and feels a pressure plate move under his left foot. Four darts come flying out from holes hidden under the moss growing in the water troughs on either side of the hallway. Two darts find their mark, stinging with poisoned tips (1 and 1 piercing damage 7 and 8 poison damage).
Boosey, once safely in the next passageway turns to Eku and waves. "Thank you," he shouts. "Stay safe, and we will meet again!." Looking at the carvings all down the passageway he says, with a thin smile "perhaps they are to mark this as the official entrance?" He looks back at the pit and says, "I'm beginning to like this place less and less. We haven't even got inside and the place is trying to kill us at every turn." His point is proved as he is speaking, as Allister, moving down the passage is struck by two darts. "Make that every step. Are you okay Allister?" he calls. "This is going to take forever if we have to check for traps every step."
Boosey moves ahead, searching for traps. He is nearing the end of the hallway near the devil's mouth when the same type of trap triggers. Four darts come out again, but only two find their marks sticking into the gnome's shoulder and hand.
Boosey, that's 3 and 1 piercing accompanied by 13 and 10 poison damage.
The devil’s screaming visage carved into the center of the intersection is strange in the fact that the open mouth is a well of utter darkness. The intersection to the right opens up into a larger room beyond a balcony's bannister railing.
The hallway to the left sports a rusted, iron grate in the floor and ends in a large piece of glass covering an arched opening. The hallway continues to be overgrown with vines, moss, and shrubbery here.
Nenne merely offered Eku a quiet nod and smile in farewell before following after the party. Upon seeing Lemon and Glimbul in poor health, she frowned.
After the party clambers up and Allister and Boosey begin to take damage from traps, the cleric pulls Glimbul aside. "I have a feeling we will require your skills to be at their sharpest, marksman," she says quietly. "In Kelemvor's name, be healed." Poking him gently in the forehead, she transfers some holy power to him to relieve him of his illness. (Lesser Restoration)
"Avoid that slab," she points to one on the right of the hallway. She ensures Lemon understands her warning and gingerly treads down the other side of the hallway after Boosey, shield up.
Having felt woozy from the poison Glimbul seems to perk up a bit due to nenne’s help. “Thank you. Going forward I can try being more careful and look for traps. I specialize in finding things, both traps and artifacts” he says while puffing out his small chest.
"I'm pleased to hear it," the cleric smiles. She gazes at the devil face. "Far be it from me to see patterns in things that aren't there, but is that perhaps the mask the obelisk was referring to? We cannot don it, exactly, though it appears we can crawl inside...As little as that appeals to me. Warrior, would you see if your weapon can illuminate this space?"
Glimbul waves for Allister to hold for a moment and runs his fingers around the face, taking care to feel behind the carved features. The gnome doesn't find any hinges, moving parts, or removable pieces.
Standing back after his inspection. “It doesn't look like we can remove it and I don’t believe it would snap shut on us. Although I have a bad feeling about the mouth. I can’t seem to look through it even with my vision accustomed to the dark. There could be other traps hidden inside it.”
Allister moves forward, flanked by Glimbul. Once the pair reaches the mid point between the two doors an event occurs. The skull’s jaws creak open, and a skeletal hand holding a crystal hourglass-style timer emerges from within. With a click, the timer rotates and sand starts to funnel into its lower globe at a rapid pace. The timer will end in mere seconds.
Allister pulls the lever.
Quick and nimble, Allister dashes to the level and manages to pull it down before the timer runs out. Nenne and Boosey can only watch in sudden alarm as the entire hallway between the two doors splits down the middle revealing a twenty foot deep pit with black tipped spikes set into the bottom at varying angles. Lemon and Glimbul tumble helplessly into the pit while Allister makes a desperate grab for the lever and skull. The fighter manages to keep his hold on the skull, dangling off the side of the doorway. When the timer runs out, the door begins to lower itself into the floor. Allister is forced to transition his hold to a one inch lip of stone as the rest of the door comes down, revealing a passage that continues into the darkness.
Both Glimbul and Lemon land hard into the pit. A sliver of shaft finds itself embedded in Lemon's thigh, while a second pierces in through his back and out the side of his belly. Glimbul is lucky in the fact that only one area of the body is affected - two spikes find their mark on the gnome. One poked in and torn out the side of his left forearm, while a second, lower shaft pierced in and out near the same location. Both Lemon and Glimbul's wounds spider black lines out from the harsh wounds.
Glimbul: 11 bludgeoning damage from the fall, 2 and 2 piercing damage from the spikes, 6 and 4 poison damage from the black tips.
Lemon: 20 bludgeoning damage from the fall, 3 and 3 piercing damage from the spikes, 4 and 2 poison damage from the black tips. (Poison is already halved)
Both of you are left with the poisoned condition.
Allister pulls himself up on the ledge to find a moss-covered corridor extending beyond the second door. Tree roots hang from the sagging ceiling, and the air reeks of rot and damp. Bas reliefs of fish with their mouths open aim down as if they were once fountains above grooves cut into the stone to funnel water into small, overgrown pools on the sides of the hallway. Small fish are carved out of the bottom of each pool in a way that it would appear to be jumping out of the water if it were filled. Ahead, a bas-relief carving of a bearded devil’s face adorns the wall at a T-shaped intersection.
"Are you three all right?" Nenne calls to the two in the spikes and Allister, as he hangs from the ledge. She glances about before looking back at Eku.
"We need your aid, my friend. Would you hold a rope so the storyteller and I can lower ourselves into the pit? Also," a flush of regretful blue rises in her cheeks, "I fear this is indeed where our paths divide. If this passage leads us inside where the Soulmonger rests and Acererak sleeps, it may be some time before we are reunited - if at all. Any parting wisdom or encouragement you might have for us, I will gladly relay to the others."
Allister looks around the new tunnel while calling back „Close call, but I’m fine. You need me to come down and help?“ He finally turms around and shouts „Eku, you know anything about a place with many fish faces that look like fountains? Or anyone in Chultan history who was extremely fond of fish in the middle of the jungle?“
Eku relates that the fish are a mystery to her. To Nenne she says, "I fear that you are correct. I shall remain here for a time though and aid in any way that I can. Be careful in there. This is only the entrance and that sounded bad." Eku assists in holding the rope while Boosey and Nenne climb down into the spikey pit. Lemon and Glimbul are helped off their impaled spikes and the party emerges on the other side to join Allister.
After helping everybody to get out of the pit he packs his rope back and draws his flame blade. He admires the glowing rapier, turns around to see Eku and yells „This is awesome, I can’t thank you enough. See you soon, don’t let Ras Nsi catch you.“ He waves goodbye and walks to the intersection.
Allister gets ten feet down the passage and feels a pressure plate move under his left foot. Four darts come flying out from holes hidden under the moss growing in the water troughs on either side of the hallway. Two darts find their mark, stinging with poisoned tips (1 and 1 piercing damage 7 and 8 poison damage).
„Damn this place.“ Allister pulls out the darts and inspects the wound which are not too deep. „Everybody watch out, there’s more traps here.“
Boosey, once safely in the next passageway turns to Eku and waves. "Thank you," he shouts. "Stay safe, and we will meet again!." Looking at the carvings all down the passageway he says, with a thin smile "perhaps they are to mark this as the official entrance?" He looks back at the pit and says, "I'm beginning to like this place less and less. We haven't even got inside and the place is trying to kill us at every turn." His point is proved as he is speaking, as Allister, moving down the passage is struck by two darts. "Make that every step. Are you okay Allister?" he calls. "This is going to take forever if we have to check for traps every step."
Boosey moves ahead, searching for traps. He is nearing the end of the hallway near the devil's mouth when the same type of trap triggers. Four darts come out again, but only two find their marks sticking into the gnome's shoulder and hand.
Boosey, that's 3 and 1 piercing accompanied by 13 and 10 poison damage.
The devil’s screaming visage carved into the center of the intersection is strange in the fact that the open mouth is a well of utter darkness. The intersection to the right opens up into a larger room beyond a balcony's bannister railing.
The hallway to the left sports a rusted, iron grate in the floor and ends in a large piece of glass covering an arched opening. The hallway continues to be overgrown with vines, moss, and shrubbery here.
Nenne merely offered Eku a quiet nod and smile in farewell before following after the party. Upon seeing Lemon and Glimbul in poor health, she frowned.
After the party clambers up and Allister and Boosey begin to take damage from traps, the cleric pulls Glimbul aside. "I have a feeling we will require your skills to be at their sharpest, marksman," she says quietly. "In Kelemvor's name, be healed." Poking him gently in the forehead, she transfers some holy power to him to relieve him of his illness. (Lesser Restoration)
"Avoid that slab," she points to one on the right of the hallway. She ensures Lemon understands her warning and gingerly treads down the other side of the hallway after Boosey, shield up.
Having felt woozy from the poison Glimbul seems to perk up a bit due to nenne’s help. “Thank you. Going forward I can try being more careful and look for traps. I specialize in finding things, both traps and artifacts” he says while puffing out his small chest.
"I'm pleased to hear it," the cleric smiles. She gazes at the devil face. "Far be it from me to see patterns in things that aren't there, but is that perhaps the mask the obelisk was referring to? We cannot don it, exactly, though it appears we can crawl inside...As little as that appeals to me. Warrior, would you see if your weapon can illuminate this space?"
Glimbul waves for Allister to hold for a moment and runs his fingers around the face, taking care to feel behind the carved features. The gnome doesn't find any hinges, moving parts, or removable pieces.
Standing back after his inspection. “It doesn't look like we can remove it and I don’t believe it would snap shut on us. Although I have a bad feeling about the mouth. I can’t seem to look through it even with my vision accustomed to the dark. There could be other traps hidden inside it.”
Nenne casts Light on one of her pebbles and tosses it inside the mouth. It disappears and does not make a sound.
"Magical darkness," she says. "And silence, it seems. That rarely bodes well, though it often can mean something of importance lies beyond."
Glimbul looks to Nenne with some uncertainty. “Are you suggesting we check inside it?”