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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shemeska" data-source="post: 3121595" data-attributes="member: 11697">In the half-light of the freshly opened shaft, the symbols on the sealed door glittered like tiny golden constellations in the night sky.“Inva?” Velkyn asked, motioning to the script. "If you would."The tiefling stared at the symbols for a long, hard moment before shaking her head. “I don’t know a word of it. It’s a different dialect, or a code, something like that. I can’t help out here.”    Velkyn frowned. “There’s no magic on it. At least none that I can see.”    Meanwhile the others called up after them, curious what they’d found, and if they were alright or needed help.    “We’re fine!” Velkyn shouted back. “Just… give us a minute here.”    Unseen to them both, a tiny scry focus immediately appeared above them. The Thayan wasn’t taking the risk that once separated from him and his own people that his erstwhile allies wouldn’t simply loot to their hearts content, and he wanted to make certain that they were telling the truth about whatever it was that they saw when they came back down to report it.    “So do you want to open it?” They both asked one another at once.    Inva smirked. “I’ll take that as a no.”    “I have a bad feeling about it. And besides, we can always come back to explore beyond this point if we don’t find the Codex elsewhere in here.”    Inva nodded. “Alright, then let’s go back down and let the others know and see what they think.”    On the way down of course, Inva deliberately flicked the tip of her tail and smacked the tiny glassy orb of Odesseron’s scry focus. Not that she necessarily held it against the man to not have implicit trust; no, on some level it was just a wise idea to know what they were doing up there, but it was rude and she simply didn’t appreciate being spied on, she preferred the other way around thank you very much.    Odesseron was smiling when they climbed back down from the shaft. “So what did you find?”    “Not much.” Inva said. “A sealed door and some runes I can’t identify.”    “And no traps.” Velkyn added. “And no magic.”    “That doesn’t sound right.” Phaedra said. “Everything else so far has been trapped all to hell. If it’s important it just stands to reason that the original builders would have done so up there.”    “Exactly.” Odesseron said. “Care to wager on the idea that there’s a trap just beyond the door?”    Marcus shrugged, “Not really. I’d rather just know if it’s safe or not. Victor?”    The cleric nodded and began to pray a simple, but very useful augury. ‘Is it in our best interest to pass beyond the sealed door above?’ A straightforward question, and the answer from his deity was just as direct: NO.    “Uhh… I don’t suggest we go that way.” Victor said. “Something definitely isn’t right up that way, given the tone and intensity of the response.”    Victor’s divinely inspired foresight wasn’t questioned in the least. Something had seemed suspect about the door already, and the response to the augury had confirmed it as more than simple paranoia. And so casting one last, baleful gaze upward, the group progressed deeper down the passage.    “Well at least we won’t have to worry about that dead end or any traps beyond it.” Marcus said, looking back over his shoulder.    Odesseron scoffed. “Keep in mind that I’m not looking for just one thing. Leave it behind now, I won’t complain, beneficent man that I am, but eventually I’ll ask for your help when we go back there.”    Garibaldi tried to change the topic of conversation. “Well Victor, at least we can count on your brother to find out those hidden chambers.”    “Speaking of which, have you ever been dowsing?” Inva asked, glancing up from where she’d been looking for traps.    Victor paused and looked down at the tiefling. “What do you mean?”    “The elf thing.” She said. “You know, we get garibaldi to grab you by the head and hold you up, and when we get to a spot with a hidden door, you tug to one side… at least that’s what I’ve heard. Doesn’t it work like that?”    Victor chuckled with as much good humor as he could manage. “Your ears are just as pointed as mine. You and Velkyn both actually.”    “Oh I’ll still tease.” She said. “And in any event, it got everyone to stop and laugh at you rather than continuing, which is good because there’s a spell trap across the hall.”    “Eh?” Victor asked. He hadn’t noticed anything.    Inva pointed to a small series of runes cut shallow into the walls. The runes were unfamiliar to any of the spellcasters, but the intent seemed obvious since the same runes were cut into the opposite side of the passage as well.    “Lovely…” Phaedra said. “It’s giving off a bit of an evocation aura.”    The tiefling nodded as she reached into a bag at her waist. A moment later she held up a squeaking mouse, the same one that she’d dropped into the tomb’s entrance shaft earlier.    “It’s a lucky mouse.” She said, looking at the glances she was getting. “He survived the first time, and he and his sister can tell me what this thing does and what the recharge time on the trap is, assuming it has one.”    “I doubt he’ll be lucky after this…” Victor said. “Not that I’m going to volunteer to go in his place mind you.”    “I assumed so.” Inva said, taking the mouse by the tail and gently tossing it across the warded stretch of corridor.    Blue-white lightning arced across the passage, temporarily illuminating it with a light as harsh as the smell of ozone. Where the coruscating bolts touched the runes on the other wall it threw off a shower of sparks and left a brilliant corona of lingering static in its wake along with trailing, slowly rescinding ghostly afterimages in their eyes. Of course the mouse was incinerated.    Inva chuckled and held the other mouse up, “Not so lucky indeed.”    The bolts continued for several seconds and finally abated, throwing the corridor back into relative gloom and the tiefling counted off several seconds as she prepared to throw the other mouse.    “Don’t.” Phaedra said.    “Excuse me?”    Phaedra stuck her arm across the gap abruptly and lightning coursed through her hand with no effect except for the static causing her fur to billow and stand on end.    “I’m immune.” She said, shaking her arm and brushing the fur back down. “Save the mouse for later. I’ll just walk through and find it out on my own.”    She paused and though about it a moment more. “Just so long as nobody says anything about the fur. It’s embarrassing.”    “Suit yourself.” Victor said. “Won’t your clothes and such… you know? Lightning can’t be good for that.”    Phaedra gave a polite chuckle. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Most of the magical bits are fairly well proofed.”    Victor shrugged and the others didn’t raise too much of a fuss at the half-loth’s partial evasion of the question. Why question her about the clothing issue, after all she was going to handle testing a magical trap for them; not a fiendish gift horse to be looked in the mouth. Of course Phaedra wasn’t concerned about her clothing, precisely because she wasn’t wearing any, all of her ‘clothing’, at least at the moment, was entirely an artifact of her own shapechanging abilities.    But without any further comment or complaint, Phaedra stepped through the ward and was immediately enveloped in a crackling cascade of lightning. Ten seconds later the spell stopped and she stood there with a mildly unpleasant look on her face, looking more like she was descended from some sort of planar pomeranian and a lightning mephit than anything else.    While Velkyn and Inva snickered slightly, they all quickly moved through the warded space while it was still busy recharging, returning back up towards its lethal potency. Once beyond the trap, the corridor began to ascend once more at a shallow angle, and in the process of their ascent they found and bypassed another latent spell and a pair of pressure plate triggered traps.    Once past the series of traps, and of course after some more giggles at a very static-poofed Phaedra, the gallery grew more and more elaborate in the detail carved into the walls, and rather than decorative gusts of wind, the stone seemed cut into the shapes of flickering sheets of windblown flame. It was disturbing, not only from the clash of aesthetics with the overall theme of the tomb and of Nergal’s portfolio, but also that some of the demonic servitors cut into the walls seemed to shine with the faintest reddish glow.    “Is that a light up ahead?” Phaedra asked, peering into the darkness and warily noticing a reddish glow, the same glow reflected within the glassy eye sockets of the snarling figures.    “Yes.” Inva said. “Yes it is but…”    The tiefling’s voice trailed off, and at the same time Phaedra’s ears perked. There was something moving in the darkness ahead of them, and they could hear them moving before they could see them emerge out of the gloom and into the range of their vision.    “What the hell is that?” The half-loth muttered as the sound reached her ears.    There were several things out in the gloom approaching them, and based on the sounds of their footfalls, they weren’t the same glassy, spirit containing statues that they’d fought initially when they entered the tomb. No, there was a rattling sound of bone on bone, a clatter of metal against metal, and one of the figures in the darkness was significantly heavier and larger, just based on the methodical plodding of its steps; whatever that latter one was, it was massive.    “Guys, be ready.” Victor said, preemptively taking out his bow and nocking an arrow.Moments later a pair of skeletal warriors strode out of the gloom, wearing ancient but still glittering ceremonial armor, and moving with the same disturbing agility that the earlier tomb guardians had possessed. But unlike those earlier constructs, their armor seemed more decorative than functional, and in fact, while one of them carried a gleaming kopesh, the other carried not a weapon but a glowing length of bluish crystal: a wand.True undead rather than constructs, they both abruptly stood to the side as another figure emerged into the light, the source of the lumbering footsteps and the grinding of bone on bone. A hideous amalgamation of dozens of mortal skeletons, the creature towered over its smaller brethren, looking down with a trio of grinning skulls as it brandished elaborate weapons in each of its six arms."What the hell is that?" Marcus asked.Inva grinned and began to cast a spell. "Something that hopefully has a high center of balance."Immediately the ground under the undead and their freakish compatriot shimmered with a magically conjured slick of grease. Whatever their own immunities or spell protections, they weren't protected from the combination of gravity, an incline, and the oily surface. The two skeletal warriors were already in the affected area and immediately began to lose their footing, the sword bearing one falling and dropping its weapon, while the wand holding one stopped and managed to brace itself against the wall.The bone golem was not so lucky as its fellows though, and as it lumbered forwards, largely oblivious of the slippery skein across the floor, it fell like a collapsing tower during an earthquake. With a massive crash the creature spilled forward with the momentum from its earlier movement and began to slide down the ramp, helplessly flailing its arms and legs like an overturned beetle.Rumbling down the incline and picking up speed, the golem's bulk obscured the one remaining upright tomb guardian."Best use of a first sphere spell I've seen in a while." Velkyn said as he watched the undead stumble and flail."Why thank you." Inva said, giving a bit of a bow as she stepped back, well out of the way of the sliding golem's arms.The golem would eventually careen past them, but so long as they were careful to avoid the reach of its weapons or being bowled over by it they were safe. The same could not be said of their having any sort of safety from the skeleton holding the wand though. With a sound best described as a rasping hiss punctuated by the staccato rattle of teeth only loosely tethered to their skull, there was a flash of light and the corridor plunged in temperature."Sh*t!" Velkyn shouted as the vapor in the air began to freeze and crystallize out as tiny snowflakes.With the exception of Inva and Phaedra, every member of the group was affected with the skeleton's freezing curse. Grunts of pain echoed through the hallway as ice crystals formed on or even underneath exposed skin, lips dried and cracked and eyes began to painfully sting.Grimacing through the pain, Victor moved first, recognizing the threat of allowing the skeletal mage to use its wand a second time. Taking out his bow and whispering a prayer to his deity, the cleric fired a pair of arrows up towards the top of ramp, striking the undead creature both times.Further back down the slope of the hallway, Odesseron stepped to the side and turned invisible. It was only a trio of creatures yes, and so his temporary companions could handle them easily. Let them use their spells, and he'd keep his. Plus, he knew full well that the golem was just that, a golem, and he'd be virtually useless against the lumbering construct.It hissed again but still remained standing, even with one of the bolts embedded into its sternum, and the wand continued to sparkle with evil intent in its outstretched hand."Hell with that." Velkyn said, fixing his eyes on the undead and stepping to avoid the oncoming golem.As the half-drow was chanting, a bolt of lightning erupted from Phaedra's hand and slammed into the tumbling construct, resonating through its form before discharging out and into the one fallen skeletal warrior. Unfortunately the electrical force seemed to have no effect on either of them, and nothing came of it except for an odor of ozone and a string of rather inventive curses in a pidgin of celestial and infernal.Meanwhile, still flailing aimlessly, the bone golem rumbled past them all, and immediately afterwards, Velkyn finished his incantation and his spell took effect. The wand-wielding skeleton still brandished its crystalline rod and the object still shed an icy luminescence, but the undead guardian was fixed rigidly in place.The next moments were more drudgery than danger, as both undead were fixed firmly in place, not moving on their own accord even as they were hacked to pieces by Francesca and Garibaldi."It's a convenient spell." Velkyn said, glancing up towards the two fighters and smiling as they nudged at the shattered bones with their feet."Well at least that's two dangers down." Inva said, glancing over towards a spot in the hallway. "So you can come out now. I think us lesser wizards have taken care of the problem."Odesseron faded back into visibility. "There is still the golem you realize. A fall isn't going to destroy it in all likelihood.""No." Velkyn said. "But the traps it'll fall into on the way down are something else entirely."And no sooner had he spoken then there was a resounding crash from the bottom of the passage followed immediately thereafter by a fierce electrical hum and crackle as the wards activated and enveloped the hapless golem.    “So much for selective warding.” Inva said as she watched the blue-white glow pulse and surge from below.    Victor smiled. “I doubt the tomb builders considered their own guardians being clumsy, or clumsy with help.”    “Anyways…” The tiefling said, feeling pretty good with herself. “It’s taken care of.”Cautiously moving up the ramp and joining Francesca and Garibaldi, they found no further tomb guardians, undead or otherwise. The incline continued forwards past where the guardians had been, but for the moment their attention was held more on the glowing sword and crystalline wand that lay where their former undead owners had fallen.Marcus picked up the sword and gave it a few appraising swings through the air. The sword was fairly heavy, though well balanced, and seemed to have been cast in some manner of magically hardened bronze, rather than any sort of steel."Not bad." He said, holding it up and offering it to the others.Inva shook her head. "I'm already preferential to mine. It's nice and all, but...""What she's trying to say is that it's money." Odesseron said. "Though that wand on the other hand..."Velkyn had already picked it up from the bones of its former owner. "It's an interesting little thing, but if you want to look at it after we're done here we can do that."A sudden loud noise resounded up the passage and a familiar tremble passed through the stone."You've got to be kidding me." Phaedra said as she slowly turned around and threw a minor light spell down towards the bottom of the ramp.Sure enough, standing fully upright, battered but not destroyed, was the bone golem, slowly clambering its way back up towards them after having survived its collision and the magical traps it had set off in the process.In truth though the construct had little chance of ever reaching them, slow as it was. For each step it took back up the ramp, and for each provocative slash of its swords on empty air, it was battered with a series of ranged attacks. Marcus and Francesca both fired time and again with their pistols, Victor fired arrows, and Velkyn used the opportunity to use the newly acquired crystalline wand.Eventually, despite its unnaturally crafted resiliency, only halfway towards them, the golem finally buckled under its own weight from the damage. Slumping over in a pile of diffuse bones, half of them shattering as its magical animation failed, it kicked up a cloud of dust, twitched one last time and then went silent."Well," Phaedra said. "Now that that's over with, let's move on to something I can feel helpful with.""Don't worry, I'm sure we can find some lightning traps up ahead you can test for us." Inva said with a chuckle as she passed the sorceress."Yeah." She replied, trying to make the best of it. "It's better than, oh I don't know, tossing Velkyn in to check them."Velkyn paused. "Wait. What? Hey, I've been more than useful so far thank you very much. It's not my fault you're immune to lightning and the skeletons were too."But with Inva snickering and Phaedra and Velkyn still bantering, the group carefully moved past the inanimate bones of the undead guards and casting one last look at the remains of the golem, they slowly began to walk up towards the top of the ascending gallery. All along the way the tiefling checked for any further traps but the tiefling found none, at least not till they reached the top of the ramp."Well guys," Inva said, backlit by a glowing green barrier of shifting ghostlike forms. "I didn't find any traps so we're safe to go."She paused for a moment and then turned around. "Oh dear, seems I missed one. So very well hidden..."Velkyn rolled his eyes and there were several chuckles behind him.The barrier glowed with a phosphor green light, a disturbingly cold glow that seemed to leech away at their body heat as they stood in its proximity. Wispy, like many steamers of thin mist, it was nonetheless opaque and looking at it, they gradually became aware of the faces writhing within, like entrapped and damned spirits within a glass prison, and even more, the faces seemed to whisper.Velkyn looked at the severe glow of necromancy the spirit wall exuded. "Well, it's got to go. It just doesn't fit with the decor. Sorry guys."    “Not a worry then.” Odesseron said. “I’m familiar enough with similar spells. It shouldn’t be difficult to dispel. Stand back.”    “Suit yourself I suppose.” Velkyn said, stepping back and giving the red wizard some space.    Odesseron began to chant, and very briefly reached his hands out, almost as if he expected someone to take them. But of course his apprentices weren’t there, he’d left them behind at the barrow’s entrance, and so his normal practice of thayan circle magic wasn’t an option. Realizing the mistake of habit, he resumed a more orthodox manner of casting and intoned the words of a powerful dispelling dweomer.    The glowing barrier wavered but did not fall.    The necromancer cursed in a guttural mulan dialect. “A rather powerful priest set it in place. This may take several attempts.”    “I thought this wasn’t going to be a problem?” Velkyn smirked at the other wizard’s failure. “Let me try.”There were some suppressed and muffled chuckles, nothing the thayan could hear, as the half-drow began to whisper the words to a spell to counter the barrier. A moment later and the stationary wave of necromantic force first guttered and then died like a match in a hurricane."Not bad." Odesseron nodded his head appreciatively. A wizard superior in skill to Velkyn had cast the ward, but the half-drow had dispelled it nonetheless.Velkyn gave a short bow and gestured them up the opened passage. "Thank you, it's what I do."    Beyond the spiritwall the corridor leveled out and ended in a single open archway, but there was something different about the hallway up to that point. The tomb had previously been swathed in darkness, embraced by the shadows and finality of Nergal’s death, but slowly they’d begun to notice a faint red hue within the glassy walls. As they approached the end of the passage, they saw the source of the glow.Spilling forth a dull reddish light, the archway at the corridor’s end yawned wide, opening into a room that was easily the largest they had yet seen within the central barrow, or any of the others."Nobody step inside..." Odesseron ordered from the rear of the party.    “Already ten steps ahead of you on that idea…” Velkyn muttered.The first inclination in their heads was that the chamber resembled that in which they'd found the succubus tethered and bound into the last, very much lesser mound. The floor was decorated with a massive, inset iron pentagram lined along its perimeter with the misshapen lumps of melted candles, while at each point of the star sat some manner of metallic sphere.But that wasn't the detail that dominated their attention.Hovering in the very center of the binding circle, suspended several feet above the ground was a melon-sized, blood red crystal glowing with a fierce internal light. The gemstone, some manner of ruby or spinel of obscene size, appeared to move with an almost frenetic excitation as they drew closer to the chamber. Rather than pulsing like a beating heart though, the gemstone flickered like a waxing flame, feeding on the air like a vampire on heartsblood.Phaedra felt a pressure on her mind, a telepathic weight, some presence holding its breath with anticipation at their approach."Victor?" The sorceress asked. "Would you mind checking the room..."I knew that you would come... The whisper trickled into the half-loth's mind in perfect time with the rise and fall of the tomb's omnipresent breeze like the exhalation of a god, the pleading of a fiend.She shivered but ignored the voice. "Please? I don't like this."The feeling was broadly shared, even if they weren't privy to the whispers of a True Tanar'ri licking at the base of their minds, and Velkyn and Odesseron were already going about their own divinations. Under their eyes the chamber was aglow with magic, virtually all of it directed inwards towards Severesthifek's prison, centered on the metallic spheres at the points of the pentagram.    The fiend sensed the moment of its release. It could taste release, and there so close to its unwitting saviors, its thoughts swum with its wishes and desires. A thousand bloody acts of violation juxtaposed with the purest ideas of freedom and choice and will. It only needed them to break the wards that it could not on its own, bereft of a physical body as it was.    Come closer, come closer… oh do come closer. For all the bindings and curses of Nergal’s forsaken priests, give me a mortal coil and a weak will and all their precautions will be for nothing… come closer, oh do come closer…</blockquote>

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