Smiling At Last
Session V
General Summary
The Party realized they were likely near to their quarry, and after some quick strategizing, elected to provide Murmus with the paralysis poison Lilli Longshadow had lent them. From there, they descended the spiral staircase before them, adding a measure of claustrophobia to the miasma of hopelessness and decay continuing to hang over them. Upon reaching the base of the stairs, they found themselves in a stone room with cracks and fissures running throughout the floor, apparently originating on the far side and getting wider near the closest corners. In the room's center was a large casket and at the far wall were two large doors between two humanoid statues, all made of stone as well. This space seemed to be almost castle-like in its design, as though it were constructed with security and defense in mind.
The Antechamber
Grihymm Phrahdrandon investigated the cracks in one of the room's corners, dropping a torch down into an apparently enormous cavern. It seemed as though this building were built into a cliff of some kind, but he was unable to discern much from the small flame as it descended down into an apparently infinite dark.
After investigating the door itself, Johann noticed a black rod apparently jammed in place between the two door handles at an angle--evidently some attempt to augment whatever other security was in place to keep these doors shut. With some cursory investigation, he found that this was an immovable rod, which he deactivated and placed in his bag. After this, Johann investigated the statues adjacent to the doors and discovered them to be the likeness of drow. Each stood atop a plinth containing the "keyholes" the party had come to recognize from the rooms above. Inserting their key into one of these holes did not yield any result, and Algernon the Tall was disappointed to find that his own conjured copy of the key was unsuccessful in activating any mechanism.
Murmus Bigtoe completed a Detect Magic ritual and Johann performed another for Comprehend Languages. Murmus learned that the statues were most definitely enchanted, although the coffin at the room's center did not appear to be. Stonecunning would also teach him that the stone used for the coffin was very definitely from a different location than the stone used to construct this room.
Both Fae and Johann were able to decipher the Undercommon etched into the heavy lid of the coffin, but most of the words were lost to time. The words "librarian" and "archive" appeared more than once, but the core of the message--as well as the name of the interred--was illegible. Sliding the heavy stone lid ever so slightly allowed Algernon's Mage Hand to retrieve a second amulet from the corpse inside, allowing the party to place their two keys into the statues, and turning them slightly resulted in a deep rumbling sound from the depths of the Primeval Archive. Immediately after, the large stone doors began to glow a faint golden color, and the drow statues came slowly to life. Although they made no move to attack the party initially, they adopted defensive stances apparently to guard the now-glowing doors.
An Awkward Encounter
The statues seemed confused by the party's presence, if not immediately hostile. Brief conversation revealed that the statues were expecting librarians, but they were certain that the party themselves were not. When asked if the party could enter the room beyond, the statues refused, and Fae was unable to convince them that their librarian friends upstairs had sent them. Johann created the illusion of a voice--speaking in common--shouting from the stairwell that the party were totally cool to enter the room. This resulted in the statues attacking.
In a raucous whirlwind of spectacular ineptitude, both the statues and the party had a difficult time landing any blows. Johann had time enough to try to open the doors during the fight, but found that he would need the help of a second person. Eventually, the party managed to defeat the statues, and with a deep breath, they opened the glowing doors.
Rochenion
The room beyond was unlike anything the Party had seen in this building or elsewhere. It was a chaos of books all over the floor, along with many tall bookshelves arranged along the sides of the circular room. Apparently carved in large letters into the far wall of the room was the phrase "MY DEAR ROCH-----, SMILING AT LAST," with several of the letters in Rochenion apparently scratched out. More immediately concerning, though, was the swirling vortex of dust and detritus that obscured most of the room's ceiling, out of which kept falling additional books.
The party advanced into the room, and a sense of wrongness immediately permeated their brains. Whatever the purpose of this room, it was evident that they should not be here. Every aspect of their psyche screamed at them to leave, and their dragon friends refused to enter at all, preferring to cling to the far wall of the antechamber near the stairs.
The party was each required to make a Deception check as they approached the center of the space, and soon after were greeting by a voice that somehow managed to seem out of place even here. It was that of a kindly old man, and almost had the quality of a dear grandfather. Apparently sourceless, the voice called out to Murmus first:
"Gillath has already forgotten you. So has Moradin. Your name will be lost forever; turned to dust with every weapon you ever forged."
Johann was next to be accosted:
"Did you change your accent because no one could stand your voice? Quite the bard you've turned out to be."
With a strong Perception check, Murmus was able to spot the source of the voice clinging to the ceiling above the vortex of dust. Although difficult to see through at all, the glowing green eye stood out. Murmus asked if this creature was Rochenion, and the question seemed both to confuse and delight the creature, who ultimately answered in the affirmative. After some brief attempts at conversation, Rochenion shouted something in a language no one in the room understood, but Johann's ritual allowed him to decipher the phrase "It's time to wake up." Shortly after, four humanoid creatures carrying javelins emerged in formation from beyond the furthest bookcases and began to advance upon the party.
With this, Grihymm Phrahdrandon Commanded the creature to Drop, and failing his saving throw, Roach did just that--falling down through the spiraling dust and onto the floor before the advancing guardians. Everyone entered initiative, and the battle began.
The Nothic and His Toys
Fae connected with an arrow shot at the prone creature, which in itself was remarkable at her distance, but it sadly didn't quite do the critical damage she thought she deserved.
Roach turned his gaze on Johann, who felt an overwhelming sense of sick and discomfort at the stare. Immediately after, Roach hid behind some bookshelves, leaving the sentinels to advance on the party and attack. They did so with javelins, doing unremarkable damage initially. With all four standing in a line, Grihymm let loose a breath attack that connected with each, and managed to down one. With some additional attacks, the party was able to quickly dispatch the remaining three and turn their attention back to Roach, who by now had begun climbing back up the eastern wall of the room.
Murmus sprinted across the room and held out the poison, Commanding Roach to "Drink." However, Roach was able to overcome the compulsion initially. Algernon the Tall cast Mage Hand, but was required to wait for the casting to complete before he could fully control the hand, which would take more than six seconds. The situation complicated when the four fallen sentinels rose back to their feet, apparently unharmed, and again began attacking the party. Furthermore, spending time in this room began to take a toll on the Party, who kept having to fend off a madness that threatened to consume them with every move they made in here.
With the Mage Hand now in his control, Algernon delivered the paralysis poison to the easy grasp of Roach, and Murmus again Commanded the creature to drink. This time, the compulsion overcame him. With two sentinels in position to see this exchange taking place, each threw their javelin at the vial, but neither one was able to connect. Roach removed the stopper from the bottle, drank its contents, and fell immediately to the floor once again, totally paralyzed.
The Vortex
Moving the creature out of the room, however, proved to be a greater challenge still as whatever dark magic effused this room began to take hold of the party. Each in turn staving off uncontrollable muttering that left them incapable of spells requiring their voice, or otherwise being deathly afraid and running deeper into the room. On one occasion, Murmus even retreated into his own mind, totally paralyzed and unable to act at all.
The sentinels continued to rise after they fell, and continued to attack the party as they attempted to drag the 6'4 Rochenion out of the room. With some clever thinking and teamwork, the party managed to get Roach out, but Murmus was still stuck inside. Before the party had to face the choice of leaving him behind, he managed to literally throw himself out the door, falling prone but managing to get his head across the threshold, where the madness seemed to recede. Morale was further improved after Johann literally threw a book at one of the sentinels.
Grihymm and Johann were able to shut the doors, but found that they'd need to two others to remove the keys from the plinths that opened this room in the first place. The sentinels inside made efforts to force the doors open, but were not able to outmatch Grihymm who held them shut. The keys were removed, and the party found themselves in the silence of the antechamber, with Roach lying paralyzed at their feet.
Mission Accomplished
Lilli had instructed The Party to meet her at a nearby location in about four more hours, but told them the poison's effects were unlikely to last for more than two or three. With this consideration in mind, the party prepared for their trip back out of the The Primeval Archive.
Rewards Granted
- Roach
- Immovable Rod
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