Session 27 - "Hidden Motives" Report

Jundar 27, 1246

In the Tower Between Worlds, the smell coming from the "aquarium" where the mermaid corpse was found is unbearable. The party cannot continue their exploration with this environmental hazard, and so Micaiah Louvre takes out a bit of lavender meant to make tea, while Foenix Stolnent uses the beeswax they've collected to make a sweet smelling paste that the party smears below their noses to mask the smell. This done, they begin to examine the body of the mermaid.

Mermaids are known for their magical properties - though Micaiah is unable to note any specific uses. But as the body is investigated, there is no sign that any bits (hair, eyes, teeth, scales) have been removed. The motive for its death and slow decomposition in this place still unknown, Jacob Sterling backtracks towards the jail cells, towards the body of the decomposing half-orc.

It is obvious at once to him that the body was struck by lighting - more intriguing, the scorch marks across the walls seem to radiate out in an arc from the body.

Micaiah notices a gleaming silver chain, half-hidden under the corpse's shirt. She moves it down, where the amulet on the silver chain lands perfectly over the wound from which the lighting entered the corpse. Jacob panics, and tells Micaiah not to touch it further. But without another way to remove it, Micaiah takes one of her scarves and uses it to carefully maneuver the chain off from around the corpse and hand it over to Foenix for safe keeping in the bag of holding.

The Fate-Steppers consider this amulet, and when Dharma mimes giving the amulet to Thais Argyri, they wonder if perhaps whoever owns this tower is running experiments, and that this amulet was meant to call down lightning to help the wielder but backfired.

With few clues, the party continues onward, going back to the room they first fell into. The statue of the king still stands guard, catching Thais's eye. She approaches it, asking Foenix to show her the mechanism he had noted earlier. Upon him pointing it out, she pulls down on the arm. The entire statue and podium rotate, taking her into another (hidden) room. She resets the arm, rotating back to the first room and waiting for the rest of the party to pile onto the pedestal before once again pulling on the arm-lever, taking them into the hidden room.

Inside is a hidden treasure room, with a statue of a gnoll that stares down at the party sternly - it's gaze has an intelligence they are unused to seeing in such creatures.

At its feet, a greataxe and a greatsword lie awkwardly across the long dimension of a large wooden box. The greataxe has beautiful stark lines without embellishment. The sword is its opposite, excessively decorated: the hilt is covered with dozens of tiny figures in warlike activities and many small gems, while the blade is inscribed with warlike phrases everywhere but on the cutting edge.

Lying partly under the axe is a longbow of yew and a leather quiver painted with game animals, holding nine arrows. Beneath them are a pair of very dressy black leather shoes for a middle-sized person, a fluffy green wool scarf and matching mittens, and a small box.

The box is silver with raised designs in gold wire, circling four small green gems. Inside, the box is divided into four sections.

In one are five small but perfect silver pearls; in another is a rough powder. The third holds a bit of clean sand, and the fourth is empty. The final item in the box is a tall blue glass cylinder that holds a variety of coins: gold pieces from across the known world, some quite old silvers, some of them so worn they can tell nothing of who minted them, and coppers large and small.

In addition to these items is one magical weapon: a mace with a head in the shape of a rose. When Foenix picks it up to show to Thais, moving out of the direct light of the sconces, the mace's spikes retreat, causing it to resemble a bud rather than a bloom. He places it with all the other items found in the bag of holding for further research at a later date.

The Fate-Steppers leave the treasure room, heading down the hall to the last locked door (leaving Dharma at the healing fountain). Micaiah asks to take a shot at this door, and so Foenix acquiesces, even gifting the tiefling a set of lockpicks. Unfortunately, Micaiah's talents do not extend to coaxing the tumblers, and Foenix has to yank her out of the way as Thais's weapon smashes into the lock, busting out the handle and allowing them entry.

Inside is a hallway that leads to another long shaft, but as they glance upwards there is another opening about 10 feet above them.

Foenix takes point, using his climbing kit to scale the sheer wall to the next floor up in this tower and anchoring himself before hoisting Olena up (though it's not easy). Then the rogue and barbarian work together to get the other members of the party up. First Micaiah, then Jacob, who nearly falls when the rope snaps.

Thankfully, Thais is standing by for just such a case, and is able to grab Jacob's collar and redirect him back into the floor they started on rather than further down into the seemingly bottomless shaft.

They choose to, instead of continuing as they were, have Jacob lashed to Thais's back as she climbs.

This goes without incident, and soon the entire party stands on the threshold of a new room, one covered in arcane runes.

The threshold itself has a confession written in Common:

"I traveled far, hoping to claim my birthright. But all I found was death, and now I must pass along the fruits of my labor to those who follow in my footsteps."

The purpose becomes clear, as Olena gets a flash of insight from the Urðr, and she points out a handful of runes upon the ground and interprets their meaning.

The rest of the party goes to work as well, cobbling together their knowledge of runes until they have enough of a picture to figure out the correct tiles to stand on and in what sequence to gain passage (they figure out quickly that the wrong sequences cause the floor to become like quicksand, as they sink further and further into its muddy depths).

A door to the right of the room catches their attention, finding an elf corpse speared to the wall there with four spears through its body. Foenix immediately notices four holes in the wall behind it, indicating more that are triggered to spring forth should the body be disturbed.

Using his mage hand, he pulls the body off and collapses it forward on the ground.

The spears shoot forth, but no one is near enough to be even scratched, and the party then moves forward to the body itself. On its body, they find a polished bone jewelry case inlaid with a golden knot motif would fit in a petite woman's outstretched hands.

The clever latch opens with a soft click to reveal the case's gleaming contents. A necklace of tiny seed pearls rests on the pink velvet lining. Its center pendant is a mother-of-pearl circle inscribed with a good luck symbol. Beneath the necklace, they discover a pair of simple silver loop earrings affixed to the case by small bronze hooks.

Four small gold half-coins rest at the bottom of the case. The coins have been carved to resemble the rising sun; they are simple half circles decorated with ray-like lines radiating outward from a central point.

In addition, they find a piece of white silk, with hair's-breadth copper wire tracing lines of religious tenets, that in Elvish seems to be a prayer to a "Lady of Fire."

Finally, there is a crystalline bottle that Micaiah recognizes as a potion used by Brillantan nobles as a fun party game: a potion that changes one's biological sex. It is empty, however, suggesting that this elf drank it soon before their death.

Micaiah takes the necklace, and swaps it out for the one he was wearing previously as Foenix exits the room and continues down another hallway.

As he does so, he stops when he sees a treasure room in front of him: a carpet of glittering gold and gems, and a wooden treasure chest is invitingly open on the far wall, away from the door.

Suspicious, as the owner of this tower has been shown to be quite protective of his treasure in the past (even hiding it behind false doors), Foenix attempts using his mage hand in the room. Though it is able to mess with the treasure and the chest as though everything is real, he is still unconvinced, especially when Thais uses detect magic and senses not only evocation, but illusory magic in the room.

He tells the party to give him a moment, and soon returns dragging the elf's corpse. He asks Thais to throw it into the treasure room, which Thais reluctantly does, throwing up a prayer to Syria for forgiveness.

It turns out that his instincts were correct, as when the body is thrown into the room it only takes a moment for the illusory treasure to disappear - and the floor along with it, plunging the body into a well where it lands with an uncharacteristic squish for a body landing at the bottom of a well.

The Fate-Steppers look down into the well, and are met with a gelatinous cube, trapped within the stone walls. The elf's corpse has landed squarely within its body, and is slowly being consumed.

Foenix makes a disgusted face, and sets a torch alight before drizzling accelerant down upon the cube. He drops the torch, and the blaze that begins to consume the ooze is the last light in the room as he and the others turn to leave, to explore further into the tower....