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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1711934" data-attributes="member: 143">I do like Mole, even though I admit she's probably the least-developed character in my ensemble.  If it weren't for her, the party quite possibly might not have any treasure at this point... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  And I'm learning how effective a 3.5e rogue can be, when combined with high mobility skills.   * * * * * Chapter 201 They spent the better part of a full day in the cathedral, tending their wounds and slowly recovering their strength.  Morgan and Arun had both come close to death, only the quick application of a potion from Mole drawing the paladin back.  Zenna recovered consciousness, thanks to Dannel’s own healing bard song, and she was able to summon enough divine magic to bring all of them back far enough to be safe from the lingering temptation of death.  They secured the cathedral as best they could, and rested.Mole explored the side rooms, finding a few valuables of celestial origin in one.  Morgan frowned at her when he saw her examining an ancient oil painting of a winged celestial, but he didn’t say anything.  The other room contained a welter of animated books, flying tomes that launched themselves at her threateningly, but she was able to close the door before any of them reached her.  They had secured some other treasure as well; both of the spears they’d taken from the succubus and the salamander radiated strong magic.  Zenna took custody of the shorter weapon that the succubus had carried, for now; although she did not look very threatening with it, perhaps it might give a careless foe pause.  Morgan refused the longspear, so Hodge carried it, though he looked a bit foolish lugging around the cumbersome weapon.  It grew cool after the salamander’s death, indicating that the heat it bore was simply transferred through the metal haft, but Zenna insisted that the enchantment upon the blade was considerable, so they were not foolish enough to simply leave it. They slept at the far end of the cathedral, away from the statue.  The stone monolith was carved into the shape of a huge, bloated, roughly man-shaped figure with a head vaguely like that of a ram, clutching a massive mace with a skull for a head against its breast.  It was disquieting, and none of them wanted to spend much time near it. On the far side of the statue, they found a staircase that descended into darkness under the cathedral.  The location of the first test, according to Kaurophon, but none of them wanted to consider such right now.  They didn’t speak much of their confrontation with the salamander; well, all but Mole, who happily chattered about her triumphant defeat of the monster.  Finally even patient Arun sent her off to “search for hidden treasure”.  They rested, and slowly regained their strength.  They had little healing left, just a few potions and a handful of charges in their wands, and Zenna insisted on husbanding those resources.  The occasional shifts of their environment—Kaurophon called them “flashbacks”—were disorienting, but preferable to the wilds outside the cathedral, and Zenna even discovered that their healing powers were augmented during those brief interludes, facilitating their recovery.  They had almost nothing left in the way of supplies.  Mole had brought some of the bison-meat, which was nearly rotten, in her magical bag.  Zenna purified it with her magic, and they found some old wood and tattered parchments to serve as fuel to cook it, but the meal was poor, and they ate mechanically, without pleasure.Finally, their bodies restored, if not their souls, they returned to the stairs.       Kaurophon left them at the threshold of the staircase.  “There is a ward here, that I cannot pass,” he told them.  “It bars one of my ancestry.”For a moment, Zenna was afraid that she would be restrained as well, but only felt a faint tingle against her skin as she moved onto the staircase.  “I thought you said that you’d failed at the first test,” Morgan said, his voice tinged with a hint of anger.  “You said that there were two doors, a demon behind one, and a celestial behind the other, and that the tester has to kill once to win past.”“That is true, I promise you,” the sorcerer assured them.  “My knowledge of the first test is not first-hand, I admit, but I assure you, it is accurate!”“What, did you get another band of gullible fools to essay this far before us, only to be destroyed by the test?” the knight asked, his voice rising almost to a shout. Kaurophon vehemently denied the charge, and offered as a gesture of goodwill the loan of his wand of magic missiles to Zenna, to use in the first test.  Zenna took the device, but saw that Morgan was not convinced; in fact the cleric’s eyes shone with the same distrust that he’d evidenced on their first meeting.  Even though she had saved his life several times now, she wasn’t sure if he still felt that way about her now.  Did he still consider her little better than the sorcerer?  Or even better than the fiends they were battling in this place? Ultimately they had to press on; they had come too far to turn back now, in Zenna’s estimation.  In any case, their resolve to keep a wary eye on their “patron” had been redoubled, for all he’d proved helpful to their cause thus far.  Over the course of their journey, Zenna had covertly used her magic to scan the sorcerer, and she knew that he carried a variety of objects of power, ranging from minor to considerably potent.  They would be fools to trust him blindly, and yet there was a part of her that wanted to believe his claims, needed to believe because of the implications that Kaurophon’s quest held for her own mixed heritage, and the meaning of who and what she was. They made their way down the stairs, alert for any sign of danger.  Dannel conjured up a magical light to brighten their steps, although Arun’s glowing sword made that more a convenience than a necessity.  Morgan had the poorest dark vision of all of them, so the elf placed the spell atop Alakast, transforming in the staff into a beacon that guided them forward.  As they descended, the walls changed from the faded white marble of the cathedral to a dense gray stone, slightly slick with condensation.  The stairs gave way onto a bottle-shaped vault, the entry at its neck, carved from the stone in smooth lines.  The two doors they’d expected were evident, one to each side, but their attention was drawn to the elaborate desk situated between them, at the far side of the room. The desk was carefully crafted from a dark, almost black wood, and looked quite heavy.  A few random artifacts were positioned on its surface; some papers, a quill and ink dispenser, a few aged tomes, and some glass objects that were not immediately identifiable.  But of more immediate import was the figure seated behind the desk, who looked up as they entered. It had once been a man, perhaps.  Whatever it was, it was clearly dead, its flesh desiccated and sunken, clinging to its bones under a layer of funerary wrappings bound tightly about its limbs and torso.  It wore plate armor fashioned in an archaic style.  Its head was a terrible mask, a skull covered by dried skin, its eyes points of fire that fixed them with grim immediacy.  “Undead,” Morgan said, his hands tightening around Alakast.  For a moment she thought that the cleric would rush blindly into battle with the creature, for all that it had made no threatening gesture toward them, but then, with an effort, he mastered himself.  The mummy regarded them without concern for a long moment, and then it spoke. “Adimarchus, Most Potent Ruler of Occipitus, bids you welcome to the Test of the Smoking Eye.  If you are here, then Occipitus lies fallow, without a strong hand to guide its development.  Know then that you are pretender to Adimarchus’s throne.  If you are worthy, step forward and undertake the Test of Judgement.”A withered hand pointed to the door on their left.  “Behind that door lies Thatnak the bebilith.”  Gesturing to the other door, he went on, “Behind that door lies Halalia the avoral guardinal.  Choose one door, slay the occupant behind it, then pass through the door on the other side.  I will meet you there.”  With that, the creature waved its hand, and vanished. For a moment the five stood there in silence.  “Well, thus far, it’s as Kaurophon said,” Mole observed.  “But which door do we choose?”“I am not going to slay a celestial to pass some demon’s game,” Arun declared.  “However, destroying a demon does have its appeal to me.  Come on.”  He started toward the left door. “Wait!” Zenna warned.  “We have the advantage of being forewarned, for once.  Let us not waste the opportunity.”The suggestion was too reasonable to refuse, so they made their preparations.  Zenna considered going back up to Kaurophon, to beg a few spell protections from him, but ultimately rejected the idea.  The others were already too on edge when it came to him; no sense in provoking another confrontation between them.So she handled the preparations herself.  She’d adjusted her spell selections somewhat earlier, and she hoped that they would prove effective against whatever lay beyond the door.  Kaurophon had mentioned the bebilith, but the word had no meaning for her. If she’d known its significance, then she might have been less willing to pass the door. When they were ready, Arun opened the door.  The portal led to a broad platform, nearly thirty feet square.  To their right, the chamber opened out onto a great chasm, crossed by several oddly-fashioned bridges of wood and rope.  The bridges twisted and turned over the chasm, attached to dozens of mountings from both above and below, and connected with another ledge barely visible on the far side.  The area on and above the bridges were choked with thick webs.  A big, heavy shape, amorphous in Zenna’s darkvision, hung in those webs, filling her with a sense of foreboding.  The mystery of its identity was quickly revealed, as Morgan stepped forward, boldly presenting Alakast, shining the light at its tip out over the chasm.  The shadows withdrew, revealing the dark shape.  It seemed to fold outward as Zenna watched, long, slender legs reaching out to the surrounding webs, drawing out the body beneath.  It was a spider, but unlike any spider that Zenna had ever seen.  It was horrible, massive, maybe fourteen feet from where one leg touched to its opposite, with fangs like huge scimitars.  Its body was all plates and edges, as if it were clad in armor.  For a heartbeat the demon and the companions confronted each other.  Then, as the companions reached for their weapons, the bebilith rushed forward to meet them. The first part of the Test of the Smoking Eye had begun.</blockquote>

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