In the aftermath of the life or death struggle the less bloodied of our four nobles investigated the further chamber that had disgorged their foes, finding nearly a dozen female and young dog-men trying to avoid detection. Young Hiram was unable to bring himself to do the deed that needed to be done, (Dietrich: "you keep saying 'women and children' as if that somehow ameliorated 'chaos beast'. They're breeders and future threats") so Dietrich, schooled as he was in the nature of the republic's enemies, took it on himself to dispatch them while Hiram tended to their allies. Once again calling on the arts of Dramaturgy the actor was able to wipe away the wounds that had so debilitated Melas by the battle's end, restoring that fearsome swordsman to nearly his full strength. He then climbed into the Vulture beast's alcove but declared it devoid of anything of value after a quick glance at its slovenly state.
With an exasperated sigh the wounded Cybele clambered up after him and shoved her hands through the beast's bedding-come-nest, revealing a handful of gold coins and a pair of gems of unknown value. "I can't believe you were willing wear the armor pulled off a corpse and you won't get your hands dirty," she chided him.
"That was out of desperation!" he insisted as the pair returned to aid Melas in looking through the saddlebags that had made up the giant vulture's nest. Inside one they found a collection of household goods; in the next were several packages of herbs labeled for Lord Ambleer. The third produced some curiosities - a vial of honey colored liquid carefully packed to avoid breakage, a second, equally fragile glass tube containing a liquid that changed colors from green to red based on the light and a flat, locked lead case - that the lady Floriane's sorceress-sight revealed as being either magical or, in the lead box, so distinctly non-magical that it must be magic inside. Not wanting to risk anything now they repacked and shouldered the saddle bags.
There were three exits from the room - the way they came, the path that the dog-men had charged down (which the map showed led back to the vulture's nesting area) and a path that might be nothing more than a waste disposal tube (Tom: Oh good, we needed a place for the Otyough. Brian: No, it's a Neo-Otyough. Different political philosophy. Jim: A Neo Otyough is an Otyough with a stronger interest in foreign policy. Tom: as in 'what's in the midden next door?') Indeed, the passage had been carved to include gutters down the sides so that the rainwater that washed through the caves might carry out wastes without the soldiers’ feet getting wet - not that the dog men had bothered to maintain them. Halfway between the vulture-man's chamber and the opening onto the cliff was a guard room - or what might once have been were it not also covered with detritus.
Melas's keen elven sight revealed a rope hanging from the shadowed ceiling to a spot further down the corridor that someone had tried to make match the color of the room. He stepped cautiously into the room, keeping an eye both on the rope and on his feet to make sure he didn't somehow trigger whatever trap the rope was attached to. It was then that he heard someone around the bend in the passage pull the rope taut, and glanced up to see the shadow-hidden cross hatching of supports slip as hundreds of pounds of stone groaned and shifted before its descent to bury him in the uncaring earth!
Seeing that the trap was a manually trigged way to bring the ceiling down on the chamber Melas hurled himself back the way he came, sending himself and Cybele into a tangle of limbs in the passage. "Ha! Missed!" he yelled, and the answering bark of the dog people along the passage gave Hiram and Dietrich a target as the dust cleared. Lord Von Eisenwald's training in maintaining his footing let him all but dance across the now uneven floor, reaching their two dog men assailants far faster than the creatures had expected, quickly dispatching one. Hiram's arrival seconds after that let the pair double-team the chaos beast, making short work of it.
Melas had tried to recover and charge in to assist but the rubble proved more of an impediment to his unbalanced limbs, so he and Cybele more cautiously worked their way across the room to join their companions. The passage continued, as predicted, to a balcony that overlooked the road to Emirikol, and all of them lamented the loss of the army garrison at this obviously strategic point. This overlook had a second passage that worked back into the cliff, and this our heroes took.
The passage was steep, but with less evidence of effluvia flow down the gutters. This was revealed to be in part because of a second, parallel passage leading out to the cliff and in part because the large chamber deeper in, which must have once been the soldier's dining area, is again cluttered with detritus, some of which had blocked the flow of water, creating a stagnant pool on in part of the floor. The difference between the chaos beasts and civilized men were on stark display in the room - the rank pool and slimy rubble on the floor countered by the carvings on the ceiling. The soldiers, obviously having had some time on their hands, had gone to work on the ceiling with hammer and chisel, creating arches, buttresses, patterns and gargoyles in the living rock.
Beautiful as it might have been in the light, in the shadows of their lantern the shapes were more than mildly ominous, and the nobles were equally concerned that the pool might be home of some future threat. With Dietrich keeping his eyes turned upward Cybele and Hiram inched forward to explore the pool and the passage beyond it with weapons at the ready. A tossed rock created a sucking sound as the stone passed through the thick water, but no immediate threat. Meanwhile, Melas said he would examine the other exit, which led back to the vulture's nesting room. With everyone so concerned with other potential threats, Melas sudden disappearance went unnoticed . . . until the screaming began!
Melas, his eyes trained towards the passage rather than the floor, was caught unawares when the debris fell out from underneath him, another cunning trap! The drop was an indeterminate distance, but rather than a hard rock surface he was caught by a springy net before being pelted by the rubble his fall had unbalanced. Glancing under him from his supine position he was grateful for being caught rather than hitting the spikes below, but that feeling was short lived as eight glittering points of light detached themselves from the wall and approached him, envenomed mandibles clattering in arachnid hunger.
Melas struggled for position as the enormous spider approached, but realized quickly that his swords were trapped under his weight and his crossbow had discharged in the fall and was useless. Lacking any other clear option he let the creature come closer, and closer still, until its bulk was occluding the dim light from above, and then unleashed a mighty yell and a devastating punch into the creatures eyes. The silent killer's own attack was thrown off and it retreated quickly, turning its back on the distressed noble.
To Melas' relief he could make out his companion's faces looking down from the top of the pit, but before they could act the spider moved, its spinneret creating a mass of webs that bound the malformed noble into its web before again starting its deadly dance. Melas was unable to move this time as the creature approached, and he felt its weight rest against him in a trio of points as its thin legs further pinned him down. The envenomed mouth was inches from his face when a second stinger sprouted from it - one of Dietrich's well aimed crossbow bolts, transfixing the beast's head!
Fighting down his disgust at having the beast's bulk across him Melas managed to carefully extricate himself from his predicament, and Cybele and Hiram lowered a rope to pull him back to the surface. "I think I need to find someone a little rougher, perhaps a keen eyed street urchin, to bring with me and keep watch for these sorts of things" Melas stated, again showing his grace in his willingness to offer employment to the disenfranchised and putting their natural talents to work.
This pearl of wisdom proved the last treasure of value located in Vulture Point, and after quickly checking the giant vulture's nesting space the wounded, wearied and in some cases befouled quarter made their way back to past the vultures - which, while angry, did not possess the animal nature to attack such vigorous foes - and to their horses. As expected, it was not yet mid day and their task was complete! Now back to Lord Ambleer's manor and hospitality that they might return to their host his stolen belongings and recuperate from their myriad wounds.
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