The Forbidden Ward: Isolation Center
As the Wrenjers examined the room with the statues, they could smell the burning of rock coming from Zetwuzadi’s waist. She had tucked Ansible’s rod into her belt while she was away and the smell always came before the smoke. Slowly Ansible emerged and they informed her of what she had missed and where they currently were in the dungeon. Not wanting to disturb the 18 inch statues made of solid gold, they fall back to investigate the Isolation Ward.
One their way down and back to the entrance, they stopped by the sealed refuse room. Even though they had closed the hatch like door, the smell was still permeating around the area. Zetwuzadi and Te’Leyuura volunteered to enter the terrible smelling room. The smell was atrocious but they worked their way around the room with the paladin doing the physical labor. They found plenty of destroyed medical items; however, they found 250 gold and a rather beautiful bowl with the pantheon of life inscribed upon it. While they were in there, Artem with Enya’s help thought about the smell and the potential toxins Zetwuzadi, Te’Leyuura and Sindragosa were inhaling. The spores gathered in their lungs with Sindragosa instantly looking like it’s hard for her to breath. Upon inspection, the familiar looked to have four distinct variations of the pestilence. They hold off healing the familiar to save resources. It was hard to watch Sindragosa suffer but they understood that they needed to cure the pestilence and she would be needed to scout.
Some wonder what was here before this group of Menders set up shop, and although currently corrupted, this part of the dungeon could have been susceptible for increased healing. Disarming the pit traps and the portcullis, Artem and Jarvis move ahead of the group. Looking around the corner they found a dead end with a left hand imprinted into the wall and Isolation Center written above it. They ponder if the left hands were taken due to a cruel payment or to keep them from this area. The wizard sits down in the hallway and starts casting her
Identify spell while Ansible and a couple others walk back into the main entrance. The warlock hadn’t been present when they investigated the earlier rooms. Artem shares that when they turned the corner of the stairs the floor looked like a living rug of roaches. Examining the main room, they found that there would be nowhere for the tiny bugs to go and that made them think of a couple different options.
Sometimes when an area is corrupted, the area can be sort of possessed and the bugs could be part of the unnerving effect or sometimes demons can change their form and those roaches could be all the pestilence demons, watching them. With those terrible thoughts, they all move back into the hallway where Te’Leyuura had discovered that the magic is meant to teleport one spellcaster with one rider through the stone, similar to Dimension Door, exactly 50 feet It also did not matter which hand was placed. After informing the others, the wizard resettles herself for another ritual casting of
Detect Magic.
While they wait patiently for their companion to cast her spell, they talk about their options. Some were afraid that they would be trapped on the other side as it wouldn’t allow the infected back through. But their only other options were the teleporting demon face or the area with the fountain that Zetwuzadi had found a few minutes ago. After a small discussion they decide to head through the wall and into the Isolation Center. They could feel themselves being pulled through the stone and after a rather short time they were standing in a perfectly square room with four left hand impressions. A small table was at the center and lying underneath was a skeleton in the tatters of Mender robes, missing their left hand and holding onto a scroll of
Lesser Restoration. Each wall had a similarly magical left hand impression and where they would head written above. The northern and eastern walls indicated they would head to observation rooms, while the southern wall would lead them back to the hall in which they had just emerged. Choosing the western wall, Zetwuzadi touched the impression while holding Jarvis’ hand.
After taking the initial trip to the square room, they knew that it would take some time to use the returning transportation impression. The room where the artificer and paladin emerged looked to be a workshop or library. There were cabinets around, on the northern wall another transportation hand that had Fountain above it and on top of the central workbench table, an orb sitting in a metal fixture. As they popped into the room, the orb sizzled and cracked with energy launching a lightning attack at the paladin. Jarvis touches the eastern hand impression and returns to the others letting them all know that they set off a Mender’s protection device. With some of the Wrenjer’s grabbing others before they touched the magic, they all made it to the workroom. Meanwhile Zetwuzadi was handling the situation rather well and only worried that it would explode upon its death. Hearing this, Jarvis moved across the room and pulled the orb to them as it became shrapnel landing safely against his shield.
They thoroughly investigate the room and the five cabinets. Each of them contained something different. The first one had high quality paper, dried ink, quills, and fine sand. While the second cabinet contained a copy of the medical books and hidden among them a book about various demons. Five of the pages were turned at the corner; each page described a Glabrezu. It was starting to make sense, the Menders were convinced to summon a Glabrezu, a demon who served the Inaethri of evil who loved to corrupt. The third cabinet contained a variety of potions, some rather useful. Before fully opening the fourth cabinet, Artem called Enya over and through the combined fire damage of the fire druid and the wizard they were able to kill the green slime before it leaked out. In the last cabinet they found a couple scrolls of
Lesser Restoration and a locked black leather bound journal. Upon opening it looked to have been used as communication between some of the Menders. It discussed their ill fated plans on summoning a demon to help them. It seemed that this book was a way to get past their vow of silence on the topic. There was also a simple cypher of numbers scrawled into the book: 1-26-9-18-1-24.
Quickly solving the cypher, Artem shares that they know the name of the demon the Menders must have summoned. However, not speaking the name out loud, they all learn that the Glabrezu they must have summoned was named Azirax. Pulling their brains together they also figure out the strengths of the demon. Before continuing on, they have the Paladin move into each of the observation rooms. Only the northern room had a body and as they leave, she says a quick prayer for the fallen. Knowing the only way out of the Isolation Center would be through the Fountain transportation, all but the paladin consume the antitoxin potion they had found in the third cabinet.
Upon using the teleportation hand, the Wrenjers found themselves standing in the side reading room behind a couple streams of pure pestilence. Apologizing to her familiar, Te’Leyuura sends Sindragosa into the fountain room to scout. Every moment she remained near the pools heightened her suffering but they were able to scout the room. The fountain spewed up the pestilence that reeked of disease, rot and a visual miasma of filth. The area could once have been used as a temple to the pantheon of life and now was horribly contaminated. On the northern wall, they could see a large white statue of the Menders covered in Pestilence and around their neck all the left hands of the Menders. Somehow Sindragosa survived the area and made it out safely. Their only hope of finding a cure or solving their predicament was to enter that fountain area. Using a table as a block, Zetwuzadi scraps the table into the stream, hitting some creature within.
Zombies rise and a battle ensues. Trying to keep them away from popping onto the group, Jarvis and Zetwuzadi step into the infected area. The others tried to fight them at range and after grappling the plague zombies into Leofric’s pink tinged Moonbeam, they were able to clear the area. Unfortunately, some of the pestilence demons joined the action. From the fountain room, they could hear three casting spells. Now if they decided to walk down the hallway they would have to fight wind and if they made it past that, two of them laid down some
Grease. These demons were assholes.