Aric is weakened and can barely move but the two monks decide that they will not flee from shadows. Casting Mage Armour on Chile they creep back to the pillared room and make their way into it, keeping their eyes peeled. As they near the far end the shadows emerge again but this time they are met with stiffer resistance.
With his Mage Armour and unnatural agility Gol’den Chile seems almost invulnerable to their attacks and with his fists imbued with the power of Arcane Strike he can even damage them, albeit lightly. He engages all three undead freeing Bother to blast them with his bursts of positive energy. Nevertheless the pair don’t seem to be doing much damage and for a while the fight is a stalemate. Eventually Bother’s positive energy overwhelms one of the shades, but the others strike back at both monks and they are considerably drained of strength. When his positive energy runs out Bother falls back on his electric bolts and finally, helped by Chile’s weakened blows, the shadows are defeated.
A search of the room yields no treasure but Bother does notice some odd lines in the western wall. After a bit of head-scratching they eventually figure that this is a secret door and they manage to open it. Beyond, a short passage branches into two staircases heading down. Doors at the bottom of these both lead into a room which has partially collapsed into a tidal pool. What remain of the walls of the room are covered with detailed and impressive carvings of incredible treasuries filled to overflowing with coins, gems, jewelry and other riches. On the east wall is depicted a towering mountain, its peak carved in the shape of a stern face just above a great palace, with an immense city of spires in the valley below.
Even more interesting is the content of the pool – shattered urns, crumbled stone chests, rusted bits of once-beautiful armour and weapons. Even more interesting than that is the giant-sized, coral-encrusted golden war helmet, five feet across, that sits in the water. This becomes more interesting still when it turns to face Gol’den Chile.
The monks are taken aback but do not flee straight away. Noting that spindly legs appear to stick out from the bottom of the helmet and that it moves slightly when they stir the water, they decide that anything big enough to move that is not to be argued with when they are both so desperately weakened. Retiring with Aric to the round room again they rest for the night, although the morning brings only a small recovery of their strength.
Ignoring the strange helm for now, Chile searches the sarcophagi from the shadows’ room while Bother investigates the pillar of gold coins. Eventually he spies that on either side there is a tiny coin-sized slot. Inserting silver pieces into these simultaneously achieves nothing but the loss of money, but repeating the trick with gold coins causes the pillar to begin sinking into the ground with a loud rumble. Beyond it is revealed a large anteroom with three pairs of double doors.
Bother enters and scans for magic, finding a slight aura of abjuration to the south and a moderate one of illusion to the north. He tries the southern doors but finds that they have no handles, just an indented outline of a seven-pointed star, its shape covered by hollows and slits. Joined by Chile, he instead tries the eastern door. The three low tables in here are covered with a chilling selection of tools – saws, long-bladed knives and objects whose purpose is not apparent. On one table is a strange collection of bones that seems to be a skeleton of a two-headed man with a smaller man growing from his back. Ignoring this, Chile searches amongst the tools and finds one that strikes a chord – a silver and gold seven-pointed star, one surface studded with nodules and blades.
The monks take this straight to the southern door and fit it into the matching indentation. With a twist, the doors swing open.
The large room beyond is lit by a ten-foot wide pit of flickering fire which emits a strange humid heat and the smell of burning hair. The southern wall bears an immense carving of a seven-pointed star – a recurring theme – but before it crouches a large, terrifying-looking beast that seems to be a foul cross between an ape and a wolf. It snarls and bares its fangs. Bother immediately hits it with an electric bolt, at which point it vanishes into thin air. He doesn’t believe he has defeated it so easily however so he quickly slams the door shut; a moment later something heavy thuds against the other side with an infuriated howl.
Somewhat spooked, Bother and Chile listen instead at the northern door; they can hear very faint speaking but decide to enter anyway. Throwing open the door they see a marble throne on a dais, flanked by more statues of the stern, glaive-and-book-wielding man. In the throne sits a ghostly simulacrum of the same man, addressing the room in a faint unknown tongue. Every 15 seconds or so the speech starts again at the same point.
Unable to make sense of anything they have found, the group retreats to Nualia’s lair again. After some pondering they realise that they have not yet looked at Nualia’s copious notes, so they settle in for a few hours’ reading …
Experience: 800 each.
Session maps:
