[X] Risk the Complex
What sort of explorers would you be if you just took the easy route? Alive ones, quite possibly, but that's beside the point! Ancient, possibly cursed temples aren't a thing you come across every day, so maybe you should do some extra poking around. Who knows? You might find treasure! Or your grisly demises!
"Hallway of skulls. Uncertain doom. Hallway of skulls. Uncertain doom." you can hear Max muttering to himself. "Well! Let's go with uncertain doom! What could possibly go wrong?!" he shouts, sounding ever so slightly hysterical.
"C'mon, Maxie. If Donald made it through here okay, there's no reason we can't too!"
"Dad. Saying it like that does not inspire confidence."
Oh dear. He just had to go and tempt fate like that. You sigh and turn around from the shortcut. "I'm certain that our employer will show his gratitude if we were to return with greater riches in tow."
"How're we gonna get 'em through customs?" Goofy questions.
"We'll deal with that problem when it comes up."
According to your scribbled map, you need to go… left. As you leave the hallway behind, your foot passes over another runic array in the floor, which lights up with a bright golden glow.
Occult Check: Deal with the… magic thing?
DC 50 needed: 18-5=13
Critical Failure!
You've got absolutely no idea how to deal with this! Thinking quickly, you use your foot to scuff one of the outer lines of the runes.
That was probably the wrong decision to make.
The hallways of the temple light up as golden runes trace their way over the ancient stone, all leading off towards where you think the center of the temple would be. In the distance, you can see a brilliant glow of white and gold begin to creep around the corner.
"Uh oh." Dennis notes.
"This is probably a good time to run." Max adds.
Agreed! You put your sixty-seven years of running to good use as you tear through the hallways, inadvertently leaving your companions in the dust. You're just not used to people who don't move that fast, so you're forced to go back and run along with them at a more sedate pace. Unfortunately, you can hear the sound of pounding feet behind you, growing slowly closer and closer as you rush over the rough-hewn stone.
Without much time to react, you end up running over yet another magical trap! This one glows purple as it prepares its insidious mystical discharge...
Occult Check: Deal with the other magic thing!
DC 60 needed: 67-5=62
Success!
Fortunately, you're all running far too fast for it to do anything! A pillar of flame erupts from behind your group, just barely singing tail feathers and causing whatever is behind you to squawk before turning a corner in a different direction.
"Gawrsh!" Goofy yells as he continues running along the tunnel. "What're we gonna do?!?"
"Oh I know! We could hide like cowards!" Dennis suggests happily.
"Wait! The treasure!" Max shouts. "We can hide from the evil thing in the treasure room!"
"Where the devil is the treasure room!?" you shout in response. It's not a terrible idea, especially since the only way you know of out into the jungle is currently being trodden upon by whatever is chasing you.
Martial Check: Avoid the trap!
DC 80 needed:85+29+25+21+7=167
Critical Success!
A massive hammer swings down from the ceiling. Goofy grabs the three of you before tumbling to the ground. Through sheer luck, the hammer swings over you, taking Goofy's hat off and shearing a few hairs from your scalp.
Behind you, a massive figure rises up out of the dust cloud. You have the chance to gain an impression of a massive, parchment-white bulk.
"Halt interlopers! You shall delve no further! For I am-"
The pendulum hammer slams into your pursuer with the force of an oncoming train, sending him flying backwards down the tunnel.
In front of you is a large, ornate door, covered in dozens of minute carvings of ducks either paying homage to a massive cloaked figure, or dying horribly, surrounding a central carved script. You can see a few golden coins resting on the floor, indicating that this is probably the room you're looking for.
"Alright before it comes back, quick! How do we get inside???" Max asks.
Checking the walls reveals a long passage in Latin that describes various relations between objects. You're pretty sure that you're supposed to give certain items to certain figures, or be bloodily smote. Or possibly bloodily smite certain figures in order to gain items.
Stewardship Check: Find the best way to enter the treasure chamber
DC 90 needed: 60+22+16+7-5=100
Bare Success
You look over the writing with an expert eye. "Ahh yes, a zebra puzzle. Fear not my compatriots, I shall have this solved momentarily. Let's see, yes. The purple warlock must be holding the blue orb or the yellow staff, yes, yes…"
You hear a loud noise coming from down the hall.
"Think faster!" Max shouts.
"You can't rush genius, boy." You reply. "Now, if the chartreuse tower holds the aquamarine gargoyle, then that means…"
The massive figure turns the corner again. You can just make out the shape of a bill amidst the billowing dust cloud.
"He's comin' pretty quick Mr. Coyote!" Goofy says.
"And so the orange orb and the green dragon… yes, I have it!" You smile. "Now just four more sets to double check the first against and-"
The lock clicks open.
Max blinks. "Wait, how did…?"
"There was a key under the doormat." Dennis says blankly.
You all stare at him for a second. Then the figure looms up behind you. In a flash, the four of you rush into the room, slamming it shut.
"Oh drat." You can just make out from the other side. "I never was any good at Athena's games."
The treasure room is exactly as spectacular as the name implies. Heaps of glittering gold are strewn about the floor, along with hundreds of jewels, some of which are as large as duck eggs. Amidst all the splendor are items that have an arcane look to them- puzzle boxes, shining staffs and swords, bejeweled goblets, and dozens of other trinkets. Some of them are probably cursed, or trapped, or decoys, but you'll bet your bottom dollar at least a portion of it was genuine.
You were never all that fixated on material wealth, but the scene still sets you back for a moment or two. Even Goofy is staring at the jewels in slack-jawed wonder..
Occult Check: What items are magical?
DC 70 needed: 53-5=48
Failure!
Who knows? You'll let Doof's weird creepy intern take a look over things when you finally get a qualified team down here. For once, you listen to the little voice in the back of your head telling you your current course of action is likely to result in extreme pain. Right now you can just take a few things that look cool to bring back, and maybe a handful or two of gold each. You positively shudder at the thought of lugging the entire trove back through the jungle, all the way down the mountains, and through customs. But the temple's not going anywhere, so Doof can organize an actual expedition at his leisure.
"So." Max notes after a moment. "Anybody have any ideas on how to get out of here?"
"Maybe there's a secret passage again!"
Intrigue Check: Is There a Secret Passage Again?
DC 100 needed: 65+16+12+7-5=95
Bare Failure!
You are just about to inspect a suspicious wall sconce when, out of nowhere, the Araquan bird appears and screams yet again directly behind you. You leap, landing on a particularly unpleasant looking gilded rug. Well, not landing on, exactly, more like… fall through. The rug crumples into the ground to reveal a long, deep tunnel leading towards the heart of the temple.
In deference to tradition, you hang in the air just long enough to recognize your predicament.
You sigh. "Goodbye, everyone."
You plummet.
"Gawrsh!" Goofy says. "And there's the passage. Lucky us!"
"Yeah." Max says, looking down the pitch black shaft. "Lucky."
---
You make a hard landing on the floor of a new room, filled with a dense mist. As it clears, you are treated to the sight of three grotesque statues, each of them disgorging a brightly-colored stream of liquid into channels on the ground. The swirling colors seem to be held down by a tight web of white light criss-crossing over them. At the obvious focal point of the ritual chamber is… nothing. It looks like a stone plinth was once meant to hold something, but some vandals have defaced it with graffiti written in Greek.
There is a disquieting greenish glow in the air, the exact same color one would expect radioactive materials to take on. You bring up memories of your correspondence course for ACME EZ Nuclear Disarmament and realize that there is no radioactive material in the room. You're not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, there's no chance of horrible mutations or explosions, but on the other… just what is causing that unpleasant glow?
You pull yourself to your feet to take a closer look.
It is of course at that exact moment that the rest of your team comes falling out of the passage after you, squashing you into the ground.
"I'm ok!" Dennis yells. "Something gangly and uncoordinated broke my fall!"
Very briefly, the temptation to eat Dennis returns for the eighth time this voyage. You push it away like all the others.
As Max groans in agony and tries to extricate himself from the pile of limbs, you see the Araquan bird jump gracefully down the passage and land on Goofy's head. With a joyous cry, he bounds across the room, landing right next to something that looks like an urn covered in glowing golden script. The lines of white energy flowing around the room, identical to the ones that summoned the thing in the tunnels, all flow from it.
Ari raises a finger.
"Oh no." Max says.
Ari leans forward.
"Little fellow, please, I beg of you-"
Ari wiggles his fingers over the urn.
"NOOOOO!" the four of you yell in unison.
Ari draws his hand back and cackles. He slaps his knee a few times, squawking and shrieking in glee. After a moment he sighs in satisfaction, putting his head in one hand and using the other to lean contentedly on the nearest…
Urn.
Ari stops laughing.
The vase shatters as surely as a pane of glass during a high-speed police chase. Ari nervously tries to fit the pieces back together as a blinding white light fills the room.
"Halt, evildoers!"
The light fades from blinding to a mere uncomfortable radiance.
"The horrible evils of this temple shall not be unleashed! Xandra warned me that whoever crossed the threshold would bring about the DOOM OF ALL DUCK-KIND! And maybe other people too! She wasn't totally clear! This I cannot allow! I have given ye many chances to turn back, and now at the HEART of DARKNESS, I must stop you here! For I am the greatest of all eudaemon! I am the spirit of heroes and adventures past! I am the righteous guardian of this place of evil!"
The figure poses. Standing before you is the most unreasonably ripped bird you have ever seen. Ankle-high sandal straps lead up to a cream toga, half-covering a pair of pecs bigger than your entire body. The ensemble is completed with well-coiffed blond hair, along with a golden headband, bracers and pin.
"I am-!" The figure declares as he charges forwards, "STORKULES!"
