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Message: <blockquote data-quote="VicsHacienda" data-source="post: 9889444" data-attributes="member: 6965574"><h3>Unseen Companions</h3>We climb down from Viggo's rope trick, refreshed and stronger for our troubles. We listen for any changes in the place. The door to the north is open. I notice the cobwebs on the ceiling moving slightly. It must be that little invisible devil that Viggo wants to make into a pet. I hear a whispery little voice: "You're still here. You killed them all. All of them. But that wasn't the hard part.""I suppose. You're still here too. What do ye want?" I say."Will they hurt me?""I guess not. Not if you're friendly and helpful."Osnald looks at me quizzically, unable to hear the tiny voice. "Are you sure it's real?""No, now that ye say so, I'm not. Anyway, I told it about Viggo wantin' to be its friend, so it can make its own decisions," I reply.Fafnir and Trevor go east into what seems to be a meditation chamber, and see a portrait of an unknown inquisitor in a mirror, on some other plane of existence. Some manner of scrying device. Trevor spits though he doesn't recognize the inquisitor.Viggo explores the library and finds a secret door, which is far more interesting. Osnald checks it for traps with his wand of secrets, then scans the meditation room. It's empty of both secret doors and traps. Trevor reads a journal he found in the library.A hallway opens through the library's secret door. Fafnir and Osnald find a rectangular room with symbols of Nuada. Mist rises from a quiet pool in the center. They inhale the mist's scent, finding themselves weakened and compelled to make an offering into the many bowls standing around the room. That's what ye get for bein' weak-minded, I reckon. They come out and admit as much.Viggo asks if anyone with more charisma than he possesses might speak with the imp and ask if it wants to be friends. Osnald offers it food, lifting a palm everywhere, not knowing where the creature is. "Well, just follow along, keep your distance if you like.""There's a guy here named Gorquith," says Osnald, "who knows about the place. The imp told me and it can lead us to him. But it's afraid of Fafnir."[ATTACH=full]433736[/ATTACH]"Tell the truth and it has nothing to fear from me," Fafnir says. "I won't smash him into dust."We believe the imp is honest. Its name is Pilmat. "All right, Mr. P, lead on," says Osnald. We leave the chapel and descend the stairs to the hallway of the dead. We enter the double doors beneath the balcony. A large carpet stretches across the floor. More double doors lie beyond, and doors to the north and south. The room is lined with marble statues of ancient warriors. The carpet, though burnt, shows old tracks of an elephantine creature that passed this way.A hallway stretches north and south from the doors. Osnald listens at them, and can hear music and general merriment beyond. The doors are locked, but unlock at a touch from his thieves' tools. Something blocks the doors, keeping them closed. Fafnir gives an experimental shove; they barely move. The music stops. After a few moments it starts again, this time with lyrics that tease us: "Dumb skeletons can't get in / got no meat on their bones / got no brains in their heads / they've got no meals for us!".We investigate the hall north of the stuck doors. Pilmat the imp follows. Beyond a small door the hall moves west and east, with three doors. Fafnir moves on through the leftmost. Charred remains of crates, boxes, a mechanical lift and a small staircase leading upward. We ignore it and move to the middle door.  A kitchen. Some food survived the firestorm. Pilmat snatches some snacks, and Trevor thinks it a good idea, so joins him. The third door reveals a meeting room with a table, a map lying atop. Viggo pores over it and Osnald finds a secret door."So you're a Strathmore, huh?" Pilmat asks in Infernal. Trevor answers yes in the same language. "Your family is known throughout the Hells.""I've sent a lot of you back home," he says."I'm just trying to survive this place," the imp says. "This fiery place feels like home, but not in a good way."[ATTACH=full]433735[/ATTACH]Something traplike in the map suddenly rises up to strike Viggo as he reads it. A wispy brown serpent bites at him. He waves it away irritably. He determines the map gives a misleading location for the defenses in preparation for Coaltongue's attack.Osnald opens the secret door, which reveals a short hallway which might end at the music room. Osnald works at that one, unlocking it. This one opens. He turns invisible and moves through."Hey, hungries," I notify Trevor and Pilmat. "We found another secret way."Osnald returns and whispers that the room contains undead: ghasts and a large, bloblike creature with tendrils.[ATTACH=full]433737[/ATTACH]"That is Lord Gorquith," Pilmat clarifies. "That large creature is what the Ragesians turned him into."Is Pilmat leading us into a trap?</blockquote>

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