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| You can sense great magical power in the pit. |
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| You start at the red X. |
Rising from the energy pit are four stone columns. Topping each one is a iron statue of a warrior contemplating a skull in his gauntlet-plated hand. A force bridge connects the pair of western columns and another connects the pair of eastern columns.
At the very northern end you see a raised dais. At the center of the dais is a small, bare tree up on which a dwarf is suspended from in a nearly crucified fashion. A figure garbed in black, purple, and red is slowly tormenting the dwarf, although exactly what he's doing is difficult to discern from this distance. You see a sparkle of two somethings floating near the tree, hovering just above the chamber floor.
Looking up, you see a horrific sight. The ceiling of the chamber above the pit (about 30 feet up), is littered with hundreds of humanoids, suspended from 10' long hooked chains. They move and writhes in futile attempts to free themselves, but judging by the decayed, rotted looks of them, they couldn't possibly be alive...?Distracting you from the horror above is the smell of faint smoke. You realize that the smoke is coming from you, or more precisely, your equipment. Within moments, all of your non-magical gear disintegrates to dust... with exception of your clothing. For some odd reason, your cloaks are not damaged.
OOC: Please delete all nonmagical items you have out of your inventory, except your cloaks. Yes, your coins are gone. The ritual dagger is not disintegrated. If you have any questions about what stays and what gets disintegrated, just ask in the OOC tab.
I look forward to your posts. There's two ways out of here, and one of them is TPK!
MilwaukeeJoe
OOC: Oops, hit PUBLISH when I meant to hit SAVE! Ah well, no worries, it was ready to go anyway. You get the post one day early.
ReplyDeleteMika feels horrified by the new chamber. It was already traumatic enough that he was pulled away from town with this random group of people. Mika grumbled something about trying to find a way out and makes his way along the southern ledge to peek into the first southern alcove.
ReplyDeleteOOC:
ReplyDeleteOkay to get Ambrose level up to you tonight? Looks mostly HP and 3rd Level atk power selectio is primary updates.
Anyway for Ambrose to use the Maralith armor is someone else doesn't want it? has cloth and leather armor proficiency but not hide which the armor has all three in its description?
The center of the first southern alcove contains a misty red pillar of smoke about 5 feet tall. At the very back of the alcove, you see a small brass trapdoor set into the wall.
ReplyDeleteOn the floor underneath the trapdoor is a pile of bleached white bones.
Ambrose takes initial actions to move about and scan all he can for arcane +11 checks to help determine what they are magically up against. Discussing quickly his findings with the others, he will aid another or continue by his own with dungeon +6, insight +6, history +6, and perception +3 checks, whichever is most productive for analysis and share his findings with the others.
ReplyDeleteOOC: You want to wear the Marilith armor (and nobody else objects), you can wear it with the proficiencies you have.
ReplyDeleteAmbrose can sense some kind of magical ritual being done by the robed figure on the crucified dwarf.
ReplyDeleteFor the red smoke column that Mika saw, Ambrose is getting Teleportation auras off of it.
>> Ambrose takes initial actions to move about and scan all he can...
ReplyDeleteI didn't take you too far, since your post was a bit vague. If you want to search specific places, name them. Thanks!
Mika examines the trapdoor, smoke column carefully, before turning once more to the strange man and the dwarf. He also glances warily at the people on the ceiling again, trying to puzzle out the room.
ReplyDeleteOOC: Perception +5, Religion +7, Insight +10, History +7, possibly even Heal +10 (for the people on the chains). Let's see if Mika can get some good information on what's going on here.
Mika recognizes that the purple-robed figure is performing a religious ritual on the dwarf, but you guys are still too far away to really see what's going on over there.
ReplyDeleteThe trapdoor appears to be locked, and the smoke column is a short-range teleporter. Walk into the smoke and you are teleported to another location.
As for the ceiling, they seem to be zombies or ghouls, stuck on the hooks and unable to free themselves.
OOC: how easy is it to go around the teleporting smoke to get to the trap door?
ReplyDeleteOOC: There's plenty of space to maneuver around the teleportal smoke column if you wish to get to the trap door at the back of the alcove.
ReplyDeleteAs you are getting a bearing on your situation, focusing your attention on trying to pick out details of the chamber, you hear a conversative voice next to you. "Hey guys, what's the next move?"
ReplyDeleteIt takes you completely by surprise. Standing among you is another dwarf! Where did he come from? He looks calm, is wearing a simple brown cloak, and doesn't seem to be armed or armored. You react, and he says "Hey, can you guys actually see me? Wow!"
He steps back and gives a gestures as if to say, "Do I look familiar?" And indeed he does. He looks surprisingly similar to the crucified dwarf at the far end of the chamber, as least for those of you with keen eyesight.
"I'm Jonar Redhammer, or I think perhaps I'm the out-of-body-experience of him. That dwarf on the tree is the actual me. I think I'm close to death over there. That robed figure standing next to me, slowly draining my life blood... that's actually a woman believe it or not. Uglier close up, even for a human, no offense."
He looks at each of you, then something clicks, "I recognize you guys from town... Hey, have you come to save me? Nice!"
With eyebrows taunt and upwards in couriosity and amazement, Ambrose proceeds to question the dwarf spirit. "Jonar, yes we are here to save you." Looking around the chamber, he continues, "What's the fastest way we can get to you? We don't have magic ourselves to just pop over to your body. What else can you tell us about these alcoves, central pillars and those (pointing upward to the ceiling ghouls)?"
ReplyDeleteJonar responds to Ambrose, I drifted in and out of consciousness, so not sure how I got here exactly. But I can tell you that Big Bertha over there is chatty, and she's been telling me about how my lifeblood is going to feed that creature down there."
ReplyDeleteHe points down into the pit, at the glowing plasma. "She told me that's the HEART of a chaos beast, and that this very dungeon around us is its BODY. This chaos beast is still an infant, and as it grows the dungeon will spread across the entire world. I guess my blood will sustain it into maturity, something about my lifeline being special, blah, blah, blah. Big Bertha has really awful breath."
Looking up, he frowns, "I hope I don't end up like those guys up there... Sheesh..."
"We'll try our best not to all end up there (glancing up at the things suspended above.) We need to get to you fast, before your friend finishes her loving."
ReplyDeleteLooking across the pit toward the dias, Ambrose estimates how many of them can stand on top each pillar together with the statue at the same time. Also, which direction is each statue facing on each pillar?
Mika whirls at the sound of the new voice, raising his holy symbol, ready to lash out. After seeing that there was no immediate threat, Mika lowers the symbol, flashing a smile at the new comer.
ReplyDelete"Indeed. We will have to stop her loving soon." Mika says, trying to be friendly.
"I suppose one of us should try out this...smoke here." Mika says, before moving on to examine the other two alcoves.
Ambrose estimates that 3 medium-sized people could fit on a pillar. Also, each of the statues are facing south.
ReplyDeleteJonar says, "Please stop calling it 'lovin'..." and shudders in disgust.
Mika examines the other two alcoves and finds each one to be identical to the first. A teleporter and a trapdoor in the back.
"Sorry, humor of the fey coming through." Ambrose attempts not to torment the dwarf any more than he already has been. "Was there a couple of something else near you? They seem to be hovering above the floor near your tree. Very strange, more ghosts?"
ReplyDelete"Do you think you can assist us determining where these teleports lead too? Not sure they will affect you though. Would hate to start splitting us up yet."
Trying to cheer Jonar up, the mage recites the parchment message found on Aramagan, with detailed instructions to guard this location until, "the blood of the last of the prophetic line can be drained fully. (smiling) So you must be some true blood. Prophetic line mean anything to you?"
Jonar thinks, scratches his dwarven beard and says, "I have a great great grandmother on me mom's side who supposedly was one of the ones who bargained with the old gods to keep them from drowning the world in seawater. And a few other ancestors that had oracle abilities, true.
ReplyDelete"As for those floaty things, Big Bertha pulled them out of her pocket. Sort of cross-like symbols, they enlarged and started floating nearby, like they were guarding something."
Watching his armaments go up in literal smoke, Smudge grunts a distressed greeting (in dwarfish) to the spectral dwarf and starts thinking of a way across and out. "Those statues," he asks of Jonar. "They're not going to be just statues, are they?"
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough, the Jonar by you seems as solid as you are. No spectral ghosty thing here.
ReplyDeleteJonar says, "Yeah, I don't like the looks of those statues either. No dwarf in his right mind would build a place like this."
Do the other two Southern alcoves have the bone pile in front of their respective trap doors like the first?
ReplyDeleteOOC: No, they do not... Peculiar!
ReplyDeleteSmudge walks across to get closer to one of the pillars bearing a statue, and tries to get a better look at them, and what they're doing.
ReplyDeleteTech: Perception +9, Insight +11.
The pillars and statues seem to be static. No movement, no activity. The statues look quite heavy, made of iron.
ReplyDeleteJoryn pauses and reflects for a moment.
ReplyDelete"I'm not afraid to go through the smoke first if necessary. I do not fear the fire. Although, I'd rather send my proxy if I might."
He looks out across the field of plasma and eyes the gauntleted statues. He looks to the the skulls for a possible clue to navigating this chamber.
Tech:
I'd like to see if the skulls look different from the statue, is there anything out of the ordinary with them.
I'd also like to move over to bones and see their source (what kind of creature they come from)
The skulls look to be made of iron, just like the statue. They don't look to be separate from the statues, instead the skulls are part of the sculpture.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the bones, they look slender and humanoid, possible Eladrin or Elven.
About the statues: Being adjacent to the statue and searching might give different results. The exact details are tough to pick out from the ledge.
ReplyDelete"Joryn, if you have a proxy, let's start with the second or third alcove on this end see where it may lead. We shouldn't expose ourselves unnecessarily if other options exists. We need to start moving, somehow to get overthere (pointing to the dias)." The mage is talkative so far.
ReplyDeleteAs you strategize your next actions, you feel a dull ache settle into your bones, joints and muscles. This is the feeling of pure evil saturating you, and you get a strong sense that your time is running out.
ReplyDeleteTech: This chamber is a strong source of evil. Each dungeoneer gains 2 points of TAINT.
Smudge rubs his face as the ache sets in. "We need to get moving." He considers the gap between the ledge they are standing on and the nearest pillar. Would he be able to leap across?
ReplyDeleteTech: can I use a perception or dungeon erring check to see what the chances of leaping across successfully would be? Is there room for a running jump?
OOC: There is enough room for a start, if you start within an alcove. For the rest, I think you can look up the Jump rules in the Athletics section. ;)
ReplyDeleteOOC: Fair warning, this game WILL end on January 31 (or sooner). You've already taken on 2 points of taint, and will be taking on much more very soon.
ReplyDeleteMika frowns at the situation, and continues to explore along the ledge, coming to the end. "Someone must do something!" he says, giving a tone of desperation to his voice. "The proxy, whatever it is, sounds like an excellent idea!"
ReplyDeleteOOC: The DM is going to kill us if we don't get moving. At least that's what I think. Mika will explore the last bit of ledge. I think there was a corner that he hadn't looked at yet.
Mika's not one to jump in first, if he can help it. I think we may be waiting for Joryn to send in the demon.
"I agree, Joryn, your proxy first?" Ambrose nods.
ReplyDeleteThen the mage takes out the Soul-Trapped Gem from the Convector Chamber and throws it into the ground. He intends to break it and free the trapped soul. Maybe they will earn some more assistance.
Ambrose wears the Marilith armor and has the fiery wand in one of his hands too.
ReplyDelete