Sic Pixie's Carrion Crown Adventure Path

[Sic_Pixie]

A new job ...

The next morning they all stump downstairs; eyes gritty with lack of sleep and are rewarded with a hot breakfast of freshly baked bread smothered in butter along with a cold pint of frothing beer to wash it down with. This wakes them up somewhat and they are soon planning what they should do today.

Finally they decide that they would take a walk to Crown Manor and see what the crier was on about; looking outside they see that the storm is still running rampant over the city; crows are flying circles within the storm not wishing to alight upon the sodden rooftops. With a sigh they wrap their cloaks around themselves and head out into the inclement weather.

They soon find their way to the Manor and the two crows (the local guards are called crows just to confuse us) that look decidedly despondent soon perk up as they see the approaching party. The flicker of hope seems to kindle in their eyes and the party; now very nervous and cautious at the strange response follow them inside to a meeting with the mayor.
Sitting in a large room in a tall backed chair is the mayor of Carrion Hill; Vanton Heggry is a distracted and worried man. Upon seeing the party enter he straightens in his chair and a flicker of hope kindles in his eyes. Gesturing for the party to be seated he stands and starts pacing the room. “I thank you for attending in our hour of need; Carrion Hill has a long history of battle, yet always before its enemies have attacked from outside our walls. We are fortified to defend against such attacks, but now we face an entirely different threat. Our enemy is already here, dwelling in the tunnels and catacombs below and surfacing to strike without warning.”

Looking around the room at the assembled people, flunkies and the party; checking out the assorted equipment and armor gracing them. The party actually looks like a successful adventuring group; Zordlan strikes an impressive front line fighter wearing full plate and a large curved sword while Nashkar is a solid appearing cleric well armored with many weapons. Grembor is the shifty archer with the abilities they never advertise but every party needs and Pringle is the typical wizard dressed in robes with a distracted look. Guess the graceful woman with the large breasts is some kind of amusement for the group or some kind of bard; she moves like a dancer regardless. He is not one to judge their tastes …

Continuing his speech “As you may have heard, the first of these attacked occurred early yesterday morning, when something huge came up from below in a part of the Tangles called Slipper Market. It partially destroyed a building and killed half dozen locals before retreating back into the ruined structure. The Crows were swift to reply, led by our very own Commander Garus, but when they arrived they were slaughtered to the last.” Looking round the group to see if there is any obvious reaction to this; he see’s nothing and so continues.

“Since then the thing has moved on, surfacing no less than three times in different parts of the city, crushing buildings from below and slaying anyone it finds inside. I’ve got the entire force of the city watch in reserve and with each new event they respond quickly but the damage is always done by the time they arrive. Already there is talk of war and invasion but I believe that what we face is a single horror. If we can only figure out what it is we may be able to defeat it. This my new friends is where your group comes in. The Horror has moved on from its initial point of entrance but if you can explore the ruins in Slipper Market perhaps you can find some sort of clue to tell us what it is we are facing. I cannot spare any more of my Crows as they are required to keep order in the streets should the worst happen. If you can find anything about this monster from below I will be happy to pay the sum of 1,500 gold for some solid information. Twice this if you assist in defeating the horror.”

Scanning the faces looking at him his heart is lightens by the nods and smiles that greet his now less worried gaze; as surely this competent looking group will have this sorted in no time at all.

Some few questions follow; what does it look like and suchlike. Unfortunately it seems to be either comprised of shadow or it’s invisible so he is unable to impart any more information on that point so a pair of crows escorts them to the scene of the crime.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Investigating a crime scene.

Investigating a crime scene.

Judging by the complete lack of bystanders it seems this crime scene is either so horrible that no-one wants to see it or so trivial no-one is bothered by it. Grembor’s money is on the former and he wins as they approach the sodden dripping rope that bars passage further. This rope is raised to allow the party through by a Crow who nods solemnly at the party as they pass; they see a partially destroyed building before them which Grembor quickly approaches while fending off the cobbler from across the street that seems to want to talk. Sayuri and Nashkar enter the nearby tent which holds the three recovered bodies of the victims. They are each in severe states of disrepair one having been twisted around at least twice; that’s while wearing chain armor. They soon leave and follow Grembor who is examining the ruined house from an alleyway down the side of the building where there is interesting piece of bloody artistry upon the wall opposite.

Calling over Pringle to have a quick look at the most likely magical in nature if not in subject symbol Grembor steps into the partially destroyed building. The aroma which is a pungent mix of every stomach churning smell that he has ever had the misfortune to come across soon has him vomiting onto the broken bricks and roof tiles strewn upon the floor. Pringle examining the artistry recognizes it not only as a symbol commonly associated with both magical portals and the Dark Tapestry but also as one of many symbols tied to a specific deity known as Yog-Sothoth and entity associated with gates, portals, time and space.

Retreating they look towards the anxious looking cobbler who is silently wringing his hands while his face goes through several different emotions; they approach and ask him to relate his tale of woe. He looks them all up and down and seems to come to a decision. “As every morning, the Slipper Market was awake early. The merchants set up stalls in the two hours before dawn and prepare their wares, this is when a terrible something came crawling out of Marshan’s house. There was an awful lot of screams and the entire house shook as if some great invisible hand had taken hold of it and was trying to push it into the ground or crumple it in its fist. I ran for the watch but by the time we came back it was all queit. Weren’t more than a few heartbeats after the guards entered Marshan’s home that the shaking and screaming began again. Some of the guards ran back into the street only to be lifted into the air by something unseen and crushed most horrifically; it left behind only a few bodies, whatever it was. The house has been quiet ever since but that don’t mean the monster’s gone.”

After listening to this tale they look at each other and wander off to investigate the ruined building some more; Grembor has recovered from the stench but the rest are assailed by it as they check out the various rooms. The party is ready to leave until Grembor checks out the back room and finds a dark stairway heading down into the depths.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Grembor gets lucky ... no not like that.

Figuring it for a basement he takes a cautious walk down a longer set of stairs than he expected and it opens out into a mausoleum. Several sarcophagi are propped up in niches in the walls while one has been disturbed; the skeleton still dressed in tattered rags lies stretched upon the floor a rusty longsword beside it. He cautiously approaches and pokes it with his sword before taking a scout of the rest of the room. The rest of the group follow him down and Pringle ever the cautious sort since his small accident that resulted in his death remains upon the stairs well out of the way.

The skeleton remains an inanimate object much to the parties relief and they more to examine a door they have found which reside opposite a dark stairway which they briefly examine and find it goes for a long way beyond their limited vision in this oppressively dark place. Nashkar elects to use him axe on the doorway as pushing it discovers it’s barred from the other side. A few minutes later the door is in splinters and a small room is discovered along with the remains of a camp; another door also barricaded from the other side is soon in splinters as well and they enter. However this room is not empty as they soon discover as three short figures coalesce from the shadows and try to stab them. Grembor strikes out at one who expires and then explodes in a burst of bright light which blinds the others. The dark folk blinded by the bright light are no match for the party and they are soon disposed of. Nothing of any interest is found in either room.

They approach the staircase carefully; Grembor and Sayuri decide to investigate leaving the remaining party members hanging around in the oppressive tomb all alone. They both sneak down the steep staircase which extends a long way down; fully 1000ft later it opens up to a large room, half of which looks like it opens into a natural cathedral and the other is worked stone and filled with pillars. The Cathedral is filled with softly glowing fungi while the remainder is only lit by the sunrod Grembor is clutching in his cold tight grasp. Seeing that it has opened up into a room which they will need to investigate Sayuri runs back up the 1000ft long staircase to gather the rest of the team while Grembor stands terribly exposed to what ever denizens are residing within the large room.

A couple of minutes later Grembor is hearing strange noises coming from the large natural room; noises of stone upon stone and the creaking of wood upon wood and stone. Suddenly a ghoulish figure appears from the darkness and attempts to claw Grembors face off. Surprised Grembor only moves a fraction in response but it’s sufficient for the dirty fingernails to score upon his shoulder instead of his face. Grembor can feel the lethargic effects of the strike but manages to throw it off with a shrug. Whipping out his sword he strikes a couple of times but fails to make a good hit while the ghoul unleashes a pair of claw attacks followed by a vicious bite; Grembor again feels the effects of the ghouls touch trying to overwhelm him but his Elven blood saves him. Grembor strikes again scoring a cut along its brow which fails to bleed; the ghoul knowing he would probably fail to kill the elf strikes once again causing a nasty jagged cut along his forearm before retreating into the comforting darkness. Grembor however being the vindictive sort pulls out his bow and fires three arrows at the retreating figure; two of which hit as it leaps into the murky waters of a nearby cave pool.

Grembor spends a worrying amount of time scanning the surroundings waiting for the ghoul to return while also wishing Sayuri and co would hurry up as he does not wish to spend any longer alone in this place. After a few more minutes he spies the ghoul trying to sneak up on him again and unleashes an arrow in its direction. The arrow misses but its enough to discourage the ghoul from any further thoughts of sneaking up on the watchful archer and again retreats to his pool.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Summon's gone wrong ... Oh dear that's confusing

Soon afterwards Sayuri returns and quite a while after this the rest of the party wheeze and clatter into the room; spreading out watchfully yet resting after the exertion of the decent. Grembor advises the party what happened and Sayuri starts summoning some water elementals to investigate the pool and flush out the ghoul. However the nature of the place distorts the spell wrenching control of the spell from Sayuri’s grasp as she screams in pain as the power of the spell is ripped from her mind as it takes on a life of it’s own. Instead of three small portals to the plane of water appearing; three portals which seem to have stars in them slither open, purple energy rimming the portals as lurid lightning crackles between the unstable portals. Three fleshy lumps undulate throught he portals and drop to the floor of the cave with sodden wet sacks of puss and teeth. The party looks at each other cautiously as they have not seen Sayuri cast this version of the spell before.

Glancing at Sayuri and seeing the pain and fear on her face the group back up a step as the three lumps of flesh turn themselves inside out showing hundreds of gnashing teeth and weirdly moving eyeballs. A cacophony of gibbering comes from each one causing everyone to scream in pain as it assails the mind; they all seem to be fine until Grembor unleashes three arrows in rapid succession into Nashkar’s back. Nashkar is caught understandably by surprise as the first two penetrate deeply spearing his kidney and liver; the last arrow thankfully bounces off his heavy armor having missed the sweet spot. With a cough of blood matting his beard Nashkar drops to one knee one hand dropping to the floor to support himself. The rest of the party look on in shock as Grembor stares down at his hands; hands which only seconds ago tried to kill one of his friends. Looking up he can see the wondering gazes of the group looking his way; shaking his head in denial he backs away from the group. Two of the creatures undulate forward moving a surprising distance for sacks of gibbering teeth and eyes; one hanging back, gibbers and moans in a very disconcerting manner.

The group retreat from the strange creatures knowing without being told that they are not under Sayuri’s control. Sayuri fires off some force missiles while Pringle follows with some scorching rays of fire. Nashkar heals himself up with a powerful spell while Zordlan fires off some arrows all of which causes one of the strange creatures to gibber some more; they all advance with another of the creatures hanging back and gibbering causing the party to clutch at their skulls in anguish as Zordaln drops his bow and draws his sword slicing open Sayuri’s back with his first blow while the second one misses her surprised but still gracefully dodging form. Grembor shoots Pringle at point blank hitting him a couple of times but thankfully for the nervous Pringle Grembor is unable to find a vulnerable point to press home his advantage.

Sayuri stepping up fires off a lightning bolt through two of the creatures causing the closest one to explode in a devastating circle of teeth and eyeballs; Sayuri is covered in gore as she spits the offending detritus from her mouth onto the floor before her. Nashkar channels positive energy through the party healing up many of their wounds as he pulls out his axe and advances upon one of the creatures. Zordlan looks at the sword in his hand and wonders how it got there; noting the presence of fresh blood on the blade he looks around for who is injured but no-one seems to be adversely effected. Random images of striking Sayuri enter into his mind as he strikes out at them trying to banish the demons but instead strikes Nashkar twice causing yet more damage to the poorly treated dwarf. Sayuri unleashes another lighting bolt blasting the life from another one of the creatures as it detonates into a gore fest of teeth, blood and eyeballs. Pringle looking cautiously at Grembor advances and fires off some force missiles at the remaining creature which strikes out with several of it’s mouths latching onto Nashkar and gnashing it’s teeth. Grembor manages to act on his own and pushing the madness to the back of his mind shoots off a trio of arrows at the creature impaling it to the wall as it slumps to the floor it’s life seeping from it’s body.

The group look at each other as Nashkar channels more energy through the party healing up their many wounds; Grembor starts apologizing to everyone as does Zordlan as they both feel guilty about the damage they caused; some more guilty than others of course as one of the pair is quite used to shooting party members in the back without the aid of a confusion effect.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Corruption grove.

After making sure everyone is healthy they explore the cavern and discover the likely reason for the corruption of Sayuri’s summoning spell; three magically grown trees stand guard on an altar to some forgotten god. The trees are festooned with bones and other fetishes which make this place a focusing point for summoning something alien from the Dark Tapestry. Upon the altar is a large tome with bloody pages; Pringle can feel the Tome calling out to him; promises of power and destruction are floating through his mind. His mental fortitude however is sufficient to the task as he resists the urge to run up and start reading right away.

Walking up behind the book he flips it closed; the intricate locking mechanism starts whirring as hundreds of combinations and small locking devices interlock closing the book until someone of sufficient mental acumen activates it again. Pringle slips the book into his backpack and it’s just his imagination which makes him think the leather of the book caresses his hand as it slips into the darkness.

They check out the trees and wanting to spoil the whole Dark Tapestry Ambiance of the area they set Nashkar the task of chopping them down as he is the only one who has an axe. This takes a few hours to accomplish as the trees bark is close to the hardness of stone. The others in boredom investigate the corridors leading off from this room. One leads to a room which looks like a hastily abandoned camp. They find several pages of writing which is in a code; they pocket these for later investigation but find nothing ore than an interesting collection of book on entities of the Dark Tapestry. Another corridor has some wet footprints leading from the pool of water into the corridor and they assume the ghoul went this way. The corridor peters out after a few hundred feet so they waste some time searching for some non existent secret doors.

The third corridor leads to a fairly recent collapse; by recent in the past several days not hours by Grembor’s reckoning. The last corridor is blocked by large steel bars that have been fixed to the floor and ceiling. Sayuri squeezes through which makes impressive adjustments to her figure but once on the other side she quickly scouts out the corridor and returns to advise that it stretches off into the distance. Nashkar takes out his Adamantine war hammer and proceeds to reduce the obstruction in the noisiest way possible. Once through it’s unsurprising to find they don’t discover anything more. Exploring they are advised by Nashkar that the ceiling here is unsafe so they retreat back to the main room and double check what they may have missed.

 

[DayTripper]

Is this a home grown adventure now or are you still running pre-written stuff?

 

[Sic_Pixie]

This is an adaptation of the Carrion Hill adventure written by Richard Pett. It fits into the adventure path nicely; It's written for 5th level so some changes had to be made. The next adventure Wake of the Watcher delves into Cthulhu mythos quite deeply. The corruption of the summoning for instance I added due to the alien focusing of the Sunless Grove. So to answer your question yes this is off the adventure path and yes it is a pre written adventure but it has been changed a little to fit.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Pringle gets a boost ...

They come to the conclusion that they need to check into the other sites before they sit down and decipher the documents they found. They make the long walk back up to the surface and exit out into the rain soaked streets. Accosting one of the Crows they make their way through the suddenly busy streets which seems to be teeming with people trying to leave the city. Apparently word has been leaked that the buildings are not safe after all; the stables are very busy. They check out the two other sites and find that something pulled the buildings down from below; foul smelling slime covers the area but no strange symbols adorn these buildings. They head back to the sloppy rune inn and sit in the relatively dry taproom before the fire to dry off before Pringle pulls out the notes they picked up leaving the Tome for later.

Reading through the notes takes a few hours to decipher the code but he finally gets the information out of them which he writes down. The notes refer to the five who toiled here in the “Sunless Grove;” it was a site of the used by an old cult in ancient times to contact entities of the Dark Tapestry. Studying the notes reveals that this group “The Keepers of the Oldest” hoped that by opening the portal anew using rituals they had found in the Pnakotic Manuscripts they would be able to learn potent secrets of magic and more from those on the far side of the portal.

While this is all very interesting they however don’t have much more useable information than they had previously. Pringle pulls out the large solid tome which he has identified as the Pnakotic Manuscripts with shaking hands and sets it upon the rough wooden table before him. Sayuri, Zordlen and Nashkar all back away to the other side of the bar and order some wine while Pringle and Grembor struggle to open the tome. Pringle considers briefly smashing open the book but logic thankfully prevails and he attempts to manipulate the devilishly complex locking mechanism which comprises the lock. After an hour he gives up and hands it to Grembor who with his advanced knowledge of locks, traps and devices manages to figure it out; his nimble fingers glide over the slots rearranging the puzzle lock to conform to a rune Pringle identifies as a combination of an ancient rune for the school of Conjuration and an obscure god of knowledge that died out several millennia past. With a distinct whirring sound over the space of 20 heartbeats the many locks along the books edge disengage and like clockwork retreat into the locking mechanism. Pringle with a smile takes the book back and with eyes aflame with desire open the book to the first page.

The inside cover of this book has an inscription which may hold the key to the source of the problem. It reads “May we the Keepers of the Oldest, prevail over the scourge of simplistic thoughts and lesser men.” Beneath this weird phrase are five signatures; Keeper Baskerwhel, Keeper Crove, Keeper Hyve, Keeper Marshan and Keeper Myre. Each it seems has a hand in the recent disturbance in this fair city.

Proceeding with the actual book Pringle turns the first page and finds it’s written in an obscure dialect of Aklo; several hours later after he has deciphered the dialect and stored the strange cipher away he starts reading the marvelous tome. Pringle discovers several spells some vastly out of his current ability to even consider casting; several of which are closer to his abilities but still beyond him. With shaking hands he turns each page taking care not to get the delicate pages dirty.

One part of the book is marked with a silken red ribbon; flipping the pages to this location he finds the beginning of a rather lengthy discussion upon how to use special rituals to open portals in key locations. This section has been heavily annoted in the same spidery script as on the inside cover. An hour of study later Pringle leans back and takes a long pull from his wine glass and nibbles at a wedge of cheese which seem to have dried out somewhat. Drawing the attention of the rest of the group he quickly outlines the predicament they are currently finding themselves in. Apparently these “Keepers of the Oldest” were hoping to use the ritual described in the book to try to open a portal in the Sunless Grove to contact “spawn of the Dark Tapestry” and further enhance their knowledge of forbidden magic and arcane secrets.

However a section close to the end of this chapter cautions those who would attempt such a thing stating that the action of forcing open such portals causes the life force of the casters to be drawn forth and absorbed by the creature so summoned. Any entity so contacted can make “hideous use of this essence by consuming it, growing more powerful in the bargain, such that only the end of such essence can challenge the intruders rights upon your world.” Pringle with growing horror understands that opening a portal in this manner links the souls of all concerned to a creature on the far side, the creature will grow more powerful if it can kill those who conjured it. Conversely if some other agent kills the conjurers then that spiritual energy will be lost to the conjured creature. In this way making the creature weaker; which if all the conjurers are killed before the creature does then it’s sent back to the space between the stars.

With many Oooh’s and Ahhhh’s to this the rest of the party goes back to drinking while Pringle remains curled up by the fire with the Pnakotic Manuscripts. Several hours later when the party is solidly into their cups Pringle sets down the book; he can feel energy surging from the book into his body while also the pain of something is pulled forcibly from his mind and into the book. His eyes widen as otherwise uncastable spells coalesce into useful and understandable formula within his mind. New methods of casting and a more efficient style of storing and using magical energy causes his eyes to widen in surprise. Pringles eyes glow with a lurid purple/silver glow before returning to their somewhat normal silvery colour. It is at this point that Pringle becomes a follower of the path of the Alienist as his mind is warped with strange and alien thoughts.

DM Note: Pringles player is back with us for the summer holidays so Pringle is promoted from Cohort to full player status once again. This book is the medium through which this is being done. Pringle gains the first two levels of the Alienist prestige class and can now cast 5th level spells as he is now casting as a 9th level wizard. However these levels are only in effect while the book is on his person so should he loose the book in say 10 weeks he may very well become a cohort once again; we will have to see what happens.

Pringle in a power crazed frenzy joins the party after carefully putting the book away and enters a drinking contest with Nashkar and Zordlen. Pringle looses and it’s unclear who the winner is come morning as the rooms they share is bathed in a sea of vomit as all three of them emptied sufficient vomit onto the floor to have come from nine normal people’s stomachs.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Mayoral Visit

Staggering down the stairs come morning Grembor accosts the barman asking for baths and a cleanup crew in his room. They are charged an extra twenty gold for the privilege and stagger out of the inn at mid morning into what feels to them to be exceedingly bright sunshine. However the rain and stormy clouds that actually dominate the sky has different idea’s and sends another torrent of raindrops and wicked winds in their direction which is actually quite refreshing to the green members of the troop. They make their way to the Mayors place of work and stump up to the door having been shown in by the pair of guards standing outside. Mayor Heggry is very happy to see them and requests they advise on what they have found. Handing him the list of names he provides a little information on each one of them.

Keeper Baskerwhel: Glem Baskerwhel is a hunch backed hermit who lives in the Wrythe about a days travel east of Carrion Hill. The Swamp Druid is well known in the city as a potent potion maker and he visits often and commonly stays with his friend Arlend Hyve at the Elm Way Church.

Keeper Crove: Waldur Crove is well known as the warden of Crove’s Asylum, a building located in the crown that the crows have long used to dispose of lunatics and the insane too dangerous to keep in regular prisons.

Keeper Hyve: Arlend Hyve is an authority on regional history and lore, a sage who dwells in an abandoned church of Aroden on Elm way on the southern slope of the Tangles. There are whispers that he dabbles in the black market poisons and drug trade.

Keeper Marshan: Sulm Marshan is a goggle eyed man said to have moved to Carrion Hill recently from the costal town off Illmarsh; he owned and lived in the house in Slipper Market which was destroyed recently.

Keeper Myre: Rupman Myre is a middenstone baron. He owns a large vathouse down in the Filth along the river banks and is rumored to be involved with illegal Necromancy. To date the Crowns have been unable to find sufficient evidence to arrest him.

Asking for a guide to the Closest they head out for the Church on Elms Way where they are rewarded by an old church dedicated to Aroden. It’s looking a little worse for wear and it also looks like it’s been several things other than a church since the fall of Aroden.

 

[Sic_Pixie]

Nashkar tries to open a door.

They walk into the building without even attempting to knock and find themselves in an impromptu library; books are on shelves all around the walls; Pringle is all excited once again, not only has his magical reserves grown in might recently but they also have a load of books they may be able to appropriate should they kill the owner of said books. Pringle does a little happy dance before heading to the bookshelves. The rest of the party look at each other strangely; they all look a little green around the edges from their bout last night except for Sayuri who only now drinks in moderation.

They quickly scour the rooms and find nothing more of interest apart from one locked door. Grembor after fiddling with it for a few minutes kicks the door in irritation and instructs Nashkar to cut it down; Nashkar pulls out his trusty axe and setting his feet takes a swing at the obstinate door; his arms swing forward and nothing happens for the briefest of seconds before Pringle screams in pain. Nashkar staring at his hands finds them curiously empty when moments before they held his prized axe. An axe that is now curiously sticking in Pringles shoulder; Nashkar with a shake of his head walks over to Pringle and wrenches the axe out of Pringles shoulder and turning back to the door heads back to start hewing the door again. Grembor stops him indicating that maybe he should heal up Pringle before going back to his axework and then proceeds to spend some more time working on the stubborn lock. Nashkar heals up Pringles shoulder with a shrug of an apology.

With a click the lock practically falls apart in Grembors hands as he finally manages to master the lock upon the door; no longer requiring the tender application of an axe to open the door Nashkar puts away his trusty axe much to Pringles relief. Opening the door they find the room beyond is empty except for a wooden trapdoor in the floor which looks like a relatively recent addition. Opening this up Grembor slips down the ladder dropping to the floor 20 feet below with an audible thump; this in turn alerts the resident of this room who turns in surprise. Unlimbering his crossbow he loads a poisoned bolt into the groove and fires a wild shot at Grembor which luckily for Grembor misses by quite a large margin. The second bolt however sinks into this shoulder scoring a deep wound which immediately begins to fester and rot as the poison eats away at his flesh. Grembor returns fire wincing in pain as his muscles and skin objects to the punishment; only one of his arrows hit the mark the others flying wide. Sayuri leaps down the hole landing gracefully on the ground 20 feet below glancing around the cavern below she notices the figure in the shadow of the natural pillar reloading his crossbow and fires off several force missiles his way which impact with meaty sounding thumps; Nashkar stumps up to the trapdoor and starts descending but his stubbly little legs don’t move as fast as the others and he only gets down partway; blocking Zordlan’s decent to his annoyance; Pringle hangs back behind Zordlan also blocked from helping out.

Keeper Hyve loads his crossbow and with a parting shot at Grembor hitting him in the stomach he dives into a nearby sluice disappearing from sight. Grembor growling is disgust pulls the bolt from his stomach and winces as the poison effects his system and throws it to the floor; scouting round the rest of the room he finds no other assailant. Sayuri casts invisibility upon herself and heads to the hole the keeper dove down and takes a look; it looks to be some kind of sluice with smooth sides and an oddly glistening look. With a sigh and a smile considering the spare sets of clothing she has she dives down the sluice to try catching the wayward Keeper. Nashkar finally makes it down the ladder closely followed by Zordlan who seems to again have lost his charge; he frantically searches the area for signs of Sayuri but no-one seems to know anything. Pringle makes it down the ladder and immediately heads to the Alchemy set the Keeper was working on and inspects the pending poison being produced.