04.09b - "Piggy blak ride"

Blak called from the hallway. "Is it safe...er...to come back in now? Was Able, able?” He looked around and saw A'postrofae less clothed and all wet, Bismark with a weapon out, and no Able. "Oh my. Did the fae he bound attack and drag people in?"

Bismark eventually picks up Able's bag, cinches it, and puts it in his own. "I'll carry zis until ve get out of here, unless one of you vants to"

Apostrofae reached to open the doors. As she did, she heard Bismark murmur something behind him and the door lurches slightly open, causing Apos to stub a finger. "Knock it off Bismark. I broke a nail!" she said,  looking at her hands with 10 broken and dirty nails. Bismark shrugged

The stone doors etched with the visage of the sun open up into a flooded hall in an L shape. The water cold water stood about 3 feet deep, and seemed to become shallower to the north as it approaches a set of stairs that rise up and lead to a set of bronze doors.

Apostrofae called back. "I think maybe this is the way out!” then muttered to herself “or where the rest of us die..."

"Don't want ter mebbe wait a bit 'n see if tha lad comes back?" Brynne asked.

Apostrofae pulled out the items she found in the grotto to check them out. Opening the two scroll cases she found remnants of paper that had been destroyed by the water they were submerged in. The cases still looked valuable for sale though. The fingerless gloves she found gave off a magical aura to Blak and Apostrofae admired their deep blackness with a design of an arrow in flight on each palm. The silver idol is itself was not magical, but was giving off that same type of aura, you find a plug near the bottom easily and open it, and a scroll falls out, kept water tight and legible.

"can i see those scrolls?" Bismark asked.

Apostrofae poured out the scroll paste into Bismarks hand. "That smells disgusting. Smell this Brynne! It's gross!" Bismark helds the scroll in his right hand and puts the two lodestones in his left hand, then began to cast mending, bringing the two lodestones together in his left hand. In his right, the paper formed back together, but any writing that had been there once was lost.

Brynne watched, muttering to herself, "No idea tha kid knew how ter bind water demons"

"Did Able have his book with him?" Bismark asked.

Apostrofae nodded, then tossed the gloves with the arrow on the back over to Brynne. "What do you make of these Brynne?"

Brynne looked startled as the gloves slapped her in face. Clearly she had been lost in thought. She bent over, groaning and muttering, and picked up the gloves

"They have an arrow on the back", Apostrofae told her.

Brynne eyed the gloves. "Uhhhh...they look fancy. You find these in tha' water trollop's dresser?"

"sort of" Apostrofae answered.

Brynne sniffed the gloves. The thin material of the gloves felt oddly padded in the palm. They smelled of lake water. A bit unpleasant. Brynne wrinkled her nose and said, "On'y way ter find out is ter put 'em on, righ'?"

"or have someone identify them" Apostrofae pointed out

Brynne thought a moment and said, "Wha's tha catch fer jus tryin' em out?"

"They might be cursed" Apostrofae said, then grinned. "But what are the chances of that?"

"I like ter live dangerously" Brynne said, pulling the gloves on. They seemed to almost meld into her hands when she donned them. Brynne frowned and chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, then  takes the gloves off. They seemed to resist for a moment, but then came off freely.

"Sometimes it takes a bit for the magic stuff to show up" Apostrofae told her.

Brynne shuddered. "Nah, it ain't tha'. Just felt funny for a moment." She looked around and coughed. "Welp. This is shit, ain't it," and gestures to the spot where Able got yanked in.

Bismark looked back at the water. "Do ve vait for him to come back or do ve need to get out vhile ve can?"

A'pos briefly considered being the hot fae's slave..."He's probably fine. I don't think he's coming back though"

"how do we get out?” Brynne asked. “If tha's what we're doin?"

Apostrofae pointed to the open doors, "That way goes up." Brynne glanced through the doors and screwed up her face.

“people wearing heavy clothes might want to lighten up” Apostrofae told them.

Brynne began eyeballing the party and looking for whoever had the most body fat.

"vhy not just hold a rope on both ends and you can hand valk over?" Bismark suggested.

"Looks deep" Brynne commented.

"It's about 8' at the deepest" Apostrofae said.

Brynne spat out something in dwarven that sounds suspiciously like a curse. "I like tha rope idear"

Blak chuckled. "Well, Brynne.  2 baths in one week.  Keep this up and you'll make it a routine." Brynne glowered at him while Bismark pulled out a rope from Able’s bag

"What would you give me if I told you I could float you across through the air?" Blak asked.

Brynne snorted. "Tha's no funny. I dinnae like ter swim." Blak just smiled.

Brynned eyeballed the drow. "Whaddya want?"

Apostrofae bundled all my stuff inside her coat and rolled it up into a ball so that it can be tied to the rope at some point. Then she took the rope and swam over

Blak explained his plan to Brynne. "I can take you, the pack, and me over there. Assuming you don't weigh 300 lbs?” Blak said, looking her over more critically

She shrugged. "Dunno...probly no"

"Oh right, you probably weigh in Stone, right?" Blak realized. “You don't weigh 21 stone do you?"

"Stones sink you know" Apostrofae casually commented from  the other side of the beach.

"Nah, closer ta twelve, las' I checked" Brynne said, glaring at Apostrofae.

Blak invited Brynne to piggy back onto him, then levitated himself near the grabby wall and she pushed them along the wall while he holds onto her legs. He oinked for fun every so often, causing Brynne to snort a laugh despite the recent loss of Able.

Hearing this idea is discussed A'pos stands there with a "Really?" look on her face. Seeing her, Bismark shrugged

Brynne caught Apos' look and said grumpily, "How many dwarves ya ever see swim? Or hear 'bout it?  I ain't saying it's impossible, jus' more likely I'd drown. Plus, me flour'd get wet. Cannae have tha.”

"You brought flour?" Apostrofae asked looking surprised.

"Bought it at tha' las stop" Brynne said, making sure all her gear was strapped on tight.

Apostrofae shrugged. "I just figured you'd leave that back with the caravan"

Brynne waved a hand at the elf. "Hell no.  They'd play in tha flour an' eat all tha honey. Plus, it's dead useful in dungeons. An' underground"

As they prepared, Bismark went back the hallway a little bit to find Gamble and make sure he came with them.

Blak offered to float anyone else over that doesn't want to wet themselves as he floated the dwarf over the water.

Bismark mouthed "What in Helm . . ." as he watched Blak randomly start making piggy sounds. The party and their belongings made their way across the lake and enter into the very slippery hall with three feet of water, cautiously approaching the stairs and a set of bronze doors.

"When pigs fly....huha!" Blak said, laughing at his own joke

The group turned the corner and passed through a set of bronze doors into a large hallway. I was about twenty feet wide with piles of rubble and debris scattered along it's length. Its walls were covered with frescoes - the east wall displayed scenes of a battle between natives and invaders. The north wall, people questing for a new land; their experiences during the journey included crossing mountains, sailing stormy seas, and receiving the guidance of the gods in their battles to keep their homeland free from invasions. In the center of the wall was  a painting with a temple atop it and the sun shining over the land. There are double bronze doors standing in the end of the wall. Down the hall, an archway was carved in the form of twining serpents. Beyond it, the corridor continued into shadow.

"Did zis used to be a temple of Lathander? a lot of sun imagery." He thought about it a miinute as he looke dat the frescoes. "probably not. zese guys vere just worshipping ze sun i guess."

Blak searched through the debris in the halls.  “Sun god worshippers tend to emboss stuff in gold after all… May be other secrets throughout this place also.” he said when the others gave him a funny look.

Bismark looked for traps as he made his way down the hall toward the serpent arch to look at it.

While blak was glancing to the sides and walking down the hall looking for anything to catch his curious eye he ended up walking straight into a wall and stumbling back, blinking and very confused. It took him a moment to realize that the mural is actually very cleverly painted to give the illusion of depth and reality. Up close he absolutely admired it. "That was....brilliant.  Look at this craftsmanship.  Fantastic. Held the test of time as well"

"Zis hallway DEFINITELY has no traps in it" Bismark said as he neared the end of the hall and stepped to beside the archway, hearing a click from the tile under his foot. "um... I may have spoken a little hastily zere." The room began to fill with the same yellowish gas the party had smelled in the tomb room, their eyes and mouths becoming irritated. Hector’s torch began to sputter and glow more red.  "Ze gas! Ve need to move!" The second he said those words, they heard the unmistakable sound of the bronze doors closing.

Bismark tried to open the doors, but they would not open. They seemed to have a lock engaged by pistons at the top and bottom of each door. Bismark started looking for a lock that he coul dpick. Gamble laughed at him… then coughed in the gas, his eyes watering.

Blak looks around the wall, to see if any of the gas seemed to move with an air current or otherwise seep through walls. Meanwhile, a frustrated Bismark kicked the door.

The painting of the pyramid and the sun in the middle of the western wall seemed to have the yellowish gas move in weird patterns near the ceiling. Blak, giving the golden sun another glance noticed how it seemed to protrude slightly from the wall now, but was pretty sure it was flush when he looked at it the  first time. He tells the others about the sun, held his breath, went over to it, and then pressed it in.

Pushing the sun inward revealed and opened a secret door in the wall. The floor of the passage is 8 feet above them. Everyone could audibly hear the pressure plate reset up to be flush with the floor and the pistons on the brass doors retract. The gas began to dissipate.

Blak levitated back down before even thinking about breathing deep. dropping down about the same (8 feet) into the next room, which is a high ceilings corridor decorated with sculptures of various animal gods.

Realizing he didn’t have a rope. Blak says, but not loudly, "Someone toss me a rope.  I see wall mounted animal head statues. A bird of prey, a wolf, a bear, a buffalo...I can anchor a rope to the nearest one on the other side so you all can more easily climb up and back down."  One he had an end of the rope, and if still not seeing anything remiss, he'll float down the other side and tie it off around one of the closer more secure looking animal heads after he gives it a few tugs to be sure of its stability.