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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4866929" data-attributes="member: 198">After having disposed of the unfortunate yuan-ti, the Guardian Angels and Prine go on to explore the rooms on either side of the hall. One of the rooms is clearly living quarters, like the one they had seen before but with more sleeping spaces, evidently differentiated between the snake-headed yuan-ti and their more humanoid-seeming relatives. The other, smaller, room is an armory. Two dozen weapons of various descriptions lie on the crude racks and stone shelves within it, as do four mithral chain shirts. All of the items are magical, though not heavily enchanted.“Someone has a lot of magic,” comments Korm, examining the weapons.“Had,” says Gareth, collecting all valuable items and shoving them into a bag of holding. “The more stuff they have, the better for us.”Nameless eyes the paladin and the slowly-fading scar on Gareth’s neck from the wound which had almost decapitated him only minutes ago. “It’s good to see that looting revives you especially quickly,” he comments dryly, before leaving the room.The adventurers cautiously open the stone door at the end of the hall, seeing that there is a simple mechanism which causes it to roll sideways into the wall, and which can be blocked by inserting a rock into a slot in the door. Beyond the door is a corridor, which slopes downwards as it extends for thirty feet, before turning north to end at another closed door. Set to the right, just past the turn, is an open doorway. Looking in, the Angels see a large chamber with another door on the far side. This room has six serpentine pillars in the corners of the room, covered in carvings and apparently serving as decoration and possibly as sleeping perches. There is a large wooden writing desk on one side, and another one which looks more like a stone plinth with space for writing on it. Many papers lie on the two desks and a large map hangs on the wall. The Angels quickly begin to examine and search the room and its contents. They also check the next room to find it a small but well-stocked arcane laboratory. Besides some useful reagents, the main things of interest they find are two large lumps of mithral, weighing over a hundred lbs. in total. Gareth quickly stows them away too. Meanwhile, Nameless sifts through the papers on one desk and says, “They are all written in the yuan-ti tongue. I do not know it, but some of the lettering is common to archaic draconic. I could probably decipher the language with time and can work some of it out already. For example, this is a list of names, I think. And,” he reaches for another paper, “This says something about the Serpent’s Mask that yuan-ti mentioned.”“I can read it,” says Six, having produced a scroll of comprehend languages from his voluminous collection and used it. The warforged quickly begins to scan the various documents in the area and explain what they say. The map, for example, depicts the ruins of Io’vakas, with multiple areas circled and marked “Searched”, “To be searched”, “Useless,” etc. The papers are notes of the yuan-ti exploration of the area, which has apparently been going on for some time. The two most noteworthy things found in the first set of papers are references to the Serpent’s Mask, which the document says has made the yuan-ti completely successful in evading the dragons, and references to someone called Sura from Io’lokar. “Sura?!” asks Prine, looking as horrified as he sounds, “I know Sura! He’s a sage in the city. He’s been there for all his life – centuries, in fact. He’s one of us!”“Not according to this,” says Six. “He’s a disguised yuan-ti. I think he replaced the original Sura, but the paper’s lacking some details.”As Prine blanches further, Luna asks, “Anything more about this special mask these snake-guys have? What’s so special about it?”“Let’s see.” Six examines the second desk of papers, but finds no description of the Mask’s powers besides another reference to it protecting the yuan-ti from detection by the dragons. He does, however, find something about other yuan-ti locations in the ruins and the fact that there are multiple groups searching the buried remnants of Io’vakas, which pass the Mask from one to another regularly for safekeeping and to ward themselves using it. “Now I really want the Mask,” says Gareth. “Did you find anything else which is useful, Six?”“Just this. It is the same list of names Nameless found, but with a few more details. The yuan-ti are divided into what they call purebloods, half-bloods and abominations, I think, and it has names by group.” Six counts silently and says, “I think there are only six more left here, the abominations.”“Six abominations, six perches,” says Korm, pointing at the pillars. “Makes sense.”“They’re probably guarding the Mask now,” says Luna. “Let’s go find them before they get away. And then we can leave this damn place!”“Yes,” says Prine, “We need to stop the yuan-ti from escaping and I need to take news of this situation back to…,” he hesitates, “… whoever is best equipped to handle it.” The adventurers continue onwards, quickly reaching the door at the end of the corridor. As at the hall where they fought the half-bloods and their pureblood allies, they find it locked and hear faint movement on the other side. The Angels prepare themselves and then Six again uses a scroll of knock, enabling them to swing open the door. And as before, magical darkness promptly spills out, surrounding them all. Nameless’ magical vision lets him pick up a plethora of magical auras within the darkness, concentrated in eight spots. Two of them display exactly the same combination as the strange magical statue outside the tunnel complex, and as they flare into life, a blast of sonic energy emanates from each and strikes the Angels.Instinctively dodging the twin blasts as the alienist yells a warning, Six hurriedly reaches into his backpack and pulls out the lantern they found in Kallionaxis’ lair. When he flips up the hatch, a cone of light emerges from it, negating the magical darkness and revealing most of the chamber before them. It is large and square hall, sixty feet in length and breadth. On the far side of the room, against the two walls, are ten foot wide ramps leading up twenty feet to a large balcony which runs fifteen feet deep. In the center of the balcony is a large, closed door, ten feet wide, with a carving of a snake’s head on it. Near the middle of the room and equidistant from the walls and each other are two tall statues of giant snakes with hoods like cobras, but with a pair of large muscular arms each. These, Nameless notes, are the source of the magical blasts.Six more figures resembling the statues also occupy the room, but these are very much alive. Four of them are significantly larger, wearing nothing but mithral chain shirts and large harnesses which extend over their muscular, humanoid shoulders. They wield giant falchions as they eye the intruders menacingly from their positions – one each at the bottom of the ramps and one each at the top on the balcony. Between the two on the balcony are a pair of similar figures, smaller than them and wearing a collection of pouches and bags around their waists below their armor. Their clawed hands are already moving in the motions of spellcasting, and Nameless sees more magical auras join the many around them. “Get the casters!” the alienist snaps, his form changing horribly as he manifests the aspect of Cyäegha, and then casting a greater dispel to remove the darkness and strip away a protective aura from each of the smaller yuan-ti.As their enemies rush in, the large abominations level their falchions and blasts of psionic energy shoot forth. Two are aimed at Six but the agile warforged dodges aside, partly due to the aura of shadows that emerges from his armor and makes his form indistinct. Korm and Gareth are not as lucky, being blasted backwards by the energy and slammed painfully against the walls behind them. The Gatekeeper growls angrily and takes clumsily to the air, muttering, “Try this on for size!” He unleashes his most powerful spell, the horrid wilting striking two of the large abominations and especially wounding one of the smaller yuan-ti.  “I’ll get them,” growls Luna, lumbering into the room in the tendriculos form she assumed before the attack began, but Nameless snaps, “No, Luna – we need healing first! Gareth, you take him down.” Luna growls even louder but doesn’t argue, casting a mass cure light wounds on her allies.As she casts, Gareth zooms forward and up, carried by the Endless Blade. The wounded psion recoils, bringing up a shield of translucent energy, but it is to no avail, as the paladin smites it. The Endless Blade cuts inexorably through the shield and the figure behind it, dropping it with a cloven skull.The other psion backs hurriedly away, taking shelter behind one of its larger compatriots and then firing a burst of energy missiles from its hand, wounding Nameless and Luna as well as Prine, who has somersaulted in to stab a large abomination at the bottom of the ramp. A second later, Prine hurriedly drops to the ground at Nameless’ order, just below the edge of a cone of cold that blasts the two large abominations and the psion. Nameless’ spell is instantly followed by invisible ripples of energy from the two statues, one sonic and another cold, which strike the Angels still between them and the door. Realizing how they work, Nameless calls quickly, “Get up to or past the statues and they won’t attack!”While he is correct, the abominations have no such problems and they concentrate their attacks, three moving into position and hurling dark bolts of energy that leave Gareth almost out on his feet. Another, unable to reach the paladin, takes to the air and slashes Nameless badly, also critically wounding the alienist.For an instant, the yuan-ti seem to have the edge, but while they might be able to match the Angels in offensive power, the two druids’ healing abilities make the difference. Korm, using his amulet to double its effects, casts a heal on Nameless which also affects himself. And Luna, reaching some fifteen feet with her gigantic tentacle, shrouds Gareth in a healing and protective cocoon.From that point on, the battle is never seriously in doubt, though the abominations give a good account of themselves, fighting with sword and psionic power to the bitter end. One, with Prine and Six teaming up on him, cuts down the Io’lokari scout with its last blow before Six’s spiked chain rips open its throat. Another two combine forces to almost kill Luna, leaving the giant tendriculos lying in a pool of green gore*, before Korm rips one’s throat out. The other ends up paralyzed and dissolving slowly inside the maw of the revengeful tendriculos when she is revived. The last large abomination, striking Gareth as the paladin emerges from the cocoon, is blinded by his divine aura but stubbornly fights on till Gareth decapitates it.Only the psion, hurling energy missiles furiously, survives. But when Nameless – whose spells it manages to disrupt once – manages to summon a pair of his elementals, it finally gives up and disappears, using some form of psionic teleportation to flee.As silence falls over the battlefield, Luna chews meditatively on what remains of an abomination and says tiredly, “I really hope that’s it, since I’ve had enough for the day.”“That’s a first,” says Nameless dryly, flying up to the balcony. “Let’s get everyone healed and find the Mask. Who knows if the yuan-ti will return with reinforcements?”The alienist examines the door minutely and then moves out of the way before ordering the two huge elementals to open it. As one touches the door, it slides open, revealing a small square room beyond. Its walls are covered with large metal plates which seem to be made of lead, each of them etched with the serpentine symbols of the yuan-ti. In the center of the chamber, a mask of some dark metal, depicting an angular semi-humanoid and semi-reptilian face with slitted eyes, floats suspended in midair. Nameless flies backwards and away, just in case, and then commands the elementals to enter and fetch the mask. One does so, and though faint whispers fill the room and the mask begins to glow with a faint green light on being touched, there is no other evident effect. Taking the mask, Nameless then orders the elementals to destroy the chamber the mask was in. While they proceed to do so, he examines it carefully, first with his arcane sight and then using a magical monocle to decipher its powers.When he has done so, the alienist says, sounding faintly – and for him, unusually – impressed, “This is very old, and equally powerful. It is called the Serpent’s Mask. One must don the Mask for a minute in order to partake of its power, and it can affect up to six creatures per day, with no limit to the total number of creatures that can be affected. Its power lasts for one month. Throughout that period, thrice a day, a character that has been granted its power can make himself undetectable to dragons for an hour at a time.”“Undetectable? How undetectable?” asks Korm.“Completely. Dragons cannot see, hear or smell a warded creature, even with their blindsense ability. It seems that a warded crea¬ture could dance around the most perceptive of dragons and not be attacked or even noticed. But the effect ends if one touches or attacks a dragon in any way.”“Damn!” says Gareth. “And sh*t! I wish we had this when we ran into Xagygyrag. Then we would definitely have kicked his ass!”“Perhaps,” says Six, “But right now shouldn’t we take it and leave?”“Yes,” grumbles Luna. “Let’s go!”Prine too is in a hurry to leave, so the Angels carefully store away the Mask and then retrace their steps to the entrance. They climb the stairs and emerge into the sunshine above – to be greeted by the form of a huge gold dragon lounging expectantly outside the building.The dragon promptly rises and says, its long neck extending over the group, “Greetings. Who are you? What business do you have in the ruins of Io’vakas? Are you from Io’lokar?” Its tone is polite but firm, brooking no argument.I’m an idiot! thinks Nameless, I should have teleported us back to the city. He glances at Prine, but the Io’lokari scout says nothing for the moment, striving rather to hide his alarm and the guilty expression on his face. The alienist sighs inwardly and replies, “Greetings. We are adventurers from beyond Argonnessen and Prine here is from Io’lokar. We were exploring the ruins for sheer curiosity.”“May I know what your name is?” asks Gareth, barely hiding his displeasure at being caught and questioned in this way.“My name is irrelevant,” says the dragon flatly, “It is enough to know that I am one of the guardians of this area.” Its tone shifts perceptibly as it says, “What then of the yuan-ti corpses there? What do you know of them?” The word ‘yuan-ti’ is spat out, as if the dragon finds the term itself distasteful. “We killed them,” says Korm proudly, before making a horribly feeble attempt to bluff, “They were bandits who attacked us.”“Really?”Disbelief and growing suspicion is clear in its voice and Nameless shakes his head. “Ix-nay on lying to the nice dragon with powerful friends,” he mutters in orcish, before replying to the dragon in its own tongue, “We did not know they were here, and when they ambushed us and we killed them. We found a lair of theirs below this area and slew many there too, at great risk to ourselves. Their bodies lie below. You may investigate and see the truth of our words.”The dragon looks quizzically at the alienist and then at the hole leading down into the darkness. “I will. But first, show me everything you found in there.” Nameless nods and begins to produce the various items. As he does so, Gareth steps over to help and whispers, “Don’t give him the Mask.” The alienist shakes his head. “I’m giving him everything.” Prine, having walked across to help produce the items, nods quickly. “Yes,” he says quietly, “Please do that.”Gareth frowns, reluctant to pass up the valuable item due to a combination of greed and the desire to have greater protection against any dragons they might battle in the future. After a moment, he looks up at the dragon and says suspiciously, “How do we know you are who you say you are? Maybe you’re just trying to fool us into giving you our valuables.”The dragon snorts in surprise, and perhaps disgust, and growls, “I would not lie to such as you. I am an eye of the Conclave, a claw of the Light of Siberys.” It bares its fangs as it speaks, but then hesitates for a moment, and finally says, a little more calmly, “You are clearly powerful, to have survived entering Argonnessen and defeated the yuan-ti. Perhaps your combined might can overcome me. But know this – if you do, the flights of Siberys will hunt you down, wherever you go.”“I have no intention of fighting you,” says Nameless quickly, and then glares at Gareth, “And if any of my companions do so, I’ll be on your side.” Having said that, he turns to address the others, “We have much bigger issues in Khorvaire and I do not have any intention of upsetting the dragons. Especially since we are waiting for a response from the Conclave. That’s more important than any magical item, however powerful – and however much you want it, Gareth. Remember, that Mask would only be helpful if they didn’t know we had it.”As a couple of the others mutter their agreement, and ignoring the fuming paladin, the alienist turns to the warily watching dragon and says, “In case you have heard, we are the ones who recently found Khesavuthir, the Black Well, and informed the Conclave about it. We also have a petition to them which has been brought by the Chamber. I should also mention,” Nameless continues, “That what happened here was nothing new for us. We can’t go get a newspaper without stumbling across an ancient conspiracy or having some dire menace attempting to kill us. As this discovery here shows, we make excellent stalking horses, so please keep that in mind when you report to your superiors.” The dragon says nothing for a long moment and then nods slowly. “I have heard something of your activities. But now, show me what you have – and what this mask that you mentioned is.”Nameless produces the mask and the papers he collected, and proceeds to explain what he has learned from them and about the item’s powers. The dragon looks momentarily surprised and then says, “Thank you. This is very important information.” After checking what else they found, the dragon leaves them with the rest of their loot, thanking them again but also warning them, “I suggest you leave these ruins immediately. And I hope that you have concealed nothing from me.” “We haven’t,” says Nameless, “And we will leave instantly.” As the dragon leaps into the air with a flap of its wings, the alienist gathers the others around and then teleports them away to the entrance to Io’lokar. * Actually took her below -10, which means Luna took something like 300+ pts of damage in the fight</blockquote>

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