(I/C)
“Back to see cavern den,” Wyn suggested. “When we git there Dwarfriend, would you check de statues and tel me what type of stone dey be? I curious if dey be like de calcite we say in de dinin’ room. More we go through ‘ear, the more I tink dere ain’t be no gorgon. Could be doze calcite elves were sacrificed similar to the mummy elves in dis here room.”
“I KNOW there was a Gorgon,” Lyra affirmed. “Or at least I strongly suspect there might be.”
The group left the Lower Barracks, heading north and back up the stairs. Abraxas clapped Lannis on the shoulder, sending the slighter man stumbling forward. "Excellente trabajos, amigos. We should all go to this place now. ¡Vamonos! We go there, and group up. ¿Then the scouts can check further in, si? Brilliant plan. Let's go!"
“Holy shit,” the Magic User swore, “do you only have two volumes, loud and shut the fuck up?”
“Senor, you are mucho worry, no?”
“Yes, I mucho worry, yes.” Lannis straightened his flopping hat. “Shut. Up.”
The party arrived at the steps and then proceeded down, Abraxas closing the door behind them. By Kovid’s lantern light they went down 40’ until finally arriving at the bottom of the natural cave. “THOR'S TITANIC TALLYWACKER this cavern is interesting!”
“What part of SHUT UP, don’t you dumb fucks get?” Lannis whipped his hat of his head and whapped the dwarf on the shoulder with it twice. “Please, my nipples can’t take it.”
“Speaking of ze nips, Monsieur,” Wyn pointed at the statues, “There you go.”
The group looked around the room from the three large elven women deity figures, to the broken stone benches and pulpit, the abundance of lichen, the pools on the far end of the chamber, the passage south, the slow steady drip of water. Discussing it quickly, they fanned out. Brendon returned to the stairs, bow out and arrow at the ready, looking around. Kovid, Lyra, and Lannis approached the statues slowly and reverently. Abraxas and Wyn made their way across the chamber towards the pools of water, the lichen, and the huge stalagmites.
The Fighter and Elf took their time, looking carefully at the ground. “Senor,” Abraxas asked, “Is this eatingable?” The Fighter (>Wis, Blue 17) had scrapped up a thin ribbon of the lichen, sniffing it carefully.
Wyn (>Wis +2 elf, Orange 14) took it cautiously and felt it. “I would say it is normal lichen. It feels…soft and spongy, no?” They then looked about the ground, seeing odd smudged and smears, but unable to tell who might have been through here and how long it might have been. Pointing at the pool, Wyn asked, “Shall we check the water?”
“Si. Very slowly, Senor.”
The pool was barely 3” deep and seemed to be natural in its formation. A slow steady drip from above fell into the pool, very slow – 1 drop every 20 or so seconds. Wyn crouched low, looked at the water, Abraxas at his shoulder, nodding. (<Int +2 elf +1 help, Orange 9) Smelling the water, seeing it, eventually touching it and bringing a drop to his face, Wyn very carefully nodded to himself and let his tongue get wet, rolling it around, and then smiled. “The water, is good and clean.” He looked at the pool, a larger one about 15’ diameter and a run off smaller one about 4’, and only 3” deep – there wasn’t a lot of water here – and therefore not enough to take care of a castle full of kobolds, goblins, and hobgoblins. Although it was fresh – this was NOT the water source for the monsters living here.
Meanwhile, Kovid was giving the statues a once over. Tapping the base, running his hands along the carving, feeling the grit between his fingers. (Stonework check: Yellow 1) “Hmmm,” he mused aloud. “Oolitic Limestone,” he rapped the statue with the back of his hand. “Very nice. Twice as hard as alabaster.”
“Is that local to here?” Lannis asked.
Kovid nodded. “Yeah, have to dig a little bit for it, but common enough. Big piece too. See, no join marks on any of these. Not dwarven hand, but elven sculptor. You can tell by the feathering they do on the clothing edges. Makes them weak, but pleasing to the eye. If I had to guess, 4-5 centuries easily.” He went to get closer to see some of the damage, using the blade end of the shovel to move some of the loose scree of stone aside (Yellow 20! Perfect) and frightened a giant centipede from under the rocks. Almost 2’ long and dozens of legs, it scurried away from the light and dwarf, ran to the wall behind the statues, and scampered up the surface until it found a crack and slipped in, disappearing. “Huh! Would you look at that.”
Lannis was wordlessly bobbing his jaw up and down, trying to get something out before gasping, “What the FUCKING hell!?”
“Hey,” Brendon and Abraxas called out together, “Lannis! Shut! Up!”
The group laughed while the wizard grumbled. Kovid finished getting closer to the statue and poked around the damage and rubble on the floor. “This isn’t from 30 years ago, I’d say under a year tops.” He looked at Lyra and nodded. “I’ll go check the crack. Keep mister brave over here a bit quieter if you can.”
Brendon had been at the stairs, listening (no roll needed) hearing nothing, but he was also looking around the room and from his vantage point (<Wis +2 thief, Red 9) was able to see that some of the smudges on the floor were regularly spaced and even in their placement. “Hey guys,” he said after a few minutes of pacing them out, “There are some footprints here. Booted, decent sized. I’d guess Hobgoblin.”
“Fresh?” Wyn asked from the pool.
Brendon shrugged. “Not very, 1-3 weeks would be my guess. I assume they don’t come down here or this way often.”
“Just long enough to mess up these beautiful statues,” Lyra replied forlornly (<Int +2 Cleric, White 3). She pointed to the smaller left one showing an elven woman, 10’ tall, hunched slightly forward, arms low as if reaching down. “That one is Morrigaan, she is the elven goddess of wheat. Aine and her are aspects and sister goddesses. Look at the damage those bastards did to her.” Morrigan had numerous chips broken off her fingers, knees, and someone had climbed high enough to hit her face a few times and crumble part of her nose off.
She then pointed to the smaller 10’ one on the right. “That is Theystra, the Elven Goddess of the Moon.” This one had the elven woman down on one knee, both arms upraised as if lifting something over her head. Her shirt was carved as if thin and rode up high on her midriff. The damage to her was also scattershot and defacing, the fingers on her right hand missing.
Lyra then indicated the center one. “And that one, the big one here. That is Ishtari.”
Lannis nodded (<Int, Pink 15), “This one I know. She’s the Goddess of Sex and Magic.”
“Why am I not surprised you know that,” Kovid grumbled.
“Um…Magic user?”
“Um…incapable of getting laid?”
“Hey!” Lannis barked, getting a raised eyebrow and a hissing “Shhhh.” To follow. “Seriously,” he continued. “She’s one of the major magic gods for elves, but her followers are often persecuted.”
“Because they empower their magic with sex, idiot.” Lyra answered. “Literally, they would open brothels, run them, and all the fucking going on in them would be used to power some pretty fucked up spells.”
“Hmm,” he replied, “And she’s the biggest one here, meaning that Halgafar was freaky in his own way. What if…what if his arcanist was also a follower? And when they did that spell, that rainbow ward, somehow it was powered by Ishtari?”
Lyra shrugged. “No way of knowing from here. We’d have to find out where the spell was cast and see the area there. But,” she continued, “based upon what you said upstairs and what I’ve seen – the spell drew its power from the elves in the castle – the kind of fucked up stuff a sex spell that went haywire from a follower of Ishtari would do.”
“And there is a natural sulfur area we found here.” Lannis nodded his head slowly. “This place has a lot of the hallmarks of a natural magical battery and focal point. It would seem that Halgafar and his ancestors had picked this place for a reason.”
“All the more reason we don’t let it stay in the hands of the dirty goblins and their ilk,” Kovid growled.
“Senor, let’s get the crown first and figure out what to do after that, no?”
Kovid had been looking at the far wall near the crack and felt confident that this area was not under the castle – but was most likely in the area south and west of the well. “That water you see there, that’s from the same aquifier as the well. It’s natural and seeks its own level. Probably wasn’t here before the castle shaking spell, but it hasn’t gotten any larger or worse in 30 years.”
At this point (Kovid/Wyn Detect Secret Doors: Yellow 3, Orange 3) Kovid had turned back to head over to Brendon when he stopped, looking at the northern wall of the cave. “Thor…you marvelous bastard,” he said, drawing out his mining pick.
“What?” the scout asked.
Kovid pointed at the wall. “There. Glint in the stone. Straight, repeated twice. Didn’t catch it at first. But if I was a betting dwarf, I’d say there’s a secret area right behind this wall.” He spun his mining pick and gave the head a kiss. “And from the amount of grit, gypsum, and sediment around it – I’d say it hasn’t been noticed OR opened for, oh…30 plus years.” He looked at the party, pick up, “Shall I?”
Time is 8:10
(OOC)
Ok, lots to be learned, lots told. And secret area found. Kovid to pick at the wall and open it or not?
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