Vulnerable to lightning you say? I have just the thing says to Millsy, and no one else… Because he’s a cat. You go to the right and I’ll take the left but wait for the storm, and only attack if you need to.
Finnrick moves forward quietly and peers back at the others.
Marzela double moves forward.
Carrakas runs to keep up with Marzela.
Jaed will wait until the skeletons move forward and if there is an opportunity to flank them he will move and attack. Otherwise he will stay put.
Lily casts chill touch in preparation to sending her spectral hand forth.
Jaed delays until the skeletons move forward as the rest of the group either prepares or moves closer. The skeletons, however, seeing and oncoming group of hostiles remain where they are, holding their halberds at the ready.
These things have taken their orders to guard the gate literally. Looks like I'll have to make a run for it.
Jaed dashes between the large skeletons confident in his ability to dodge the halberds.
As Jaed approaches, one of the golems takes a swing at him with its long halberd.
While he had expected the golems to strike as he ran past, he didn't expect them to move quite as quickly as they did, and the long weapon manages to knock him in the shins tripping him. As he falls, he rolls to soften the blow and spring up on to his feet.
The rogue now finds himself standing, but currently facing the two golems alone. The first golem attempts to trip the rogue once again. Seeing his companion fail, the second one takes a step closer and attempts to do likewise, also failing.
The rogue makes a second attempt to go through the skeletons:
If he gets to his destination behind one of the skeletons he uses his sword against it:
Just before Jaed moves the storm coalesces and a bolt of lightning shoots down and strkes the skeleton.
Then a second bolt shoots down and huts the other skeleton.
Both get a DC 18 REF save for half.
Jaed just barely managed to get behind the statues, but he's slightly off balance from dodging their halberds and his sword merely slaps harmlessly at their armor. Meanwhile Finnrick calls down bolts of lightning, striking both creatures. They growl in pain but remain standing.
Marzela moves up and draws her mace.
Marzela and Carrakas continue to charge forward, Carrakas stopping just at the edge of the skeleton's reach. Lily sends her spectral hand out to touch the skeleton Jaed is currently facing down. The hand however, simply flies above its head, missing entirely.
The first skeleton makes a move as if to hit the charging Carrakas, but then switches the direction of the attack to hook under Jaed's leg, knocking him prone. The second skeleton then steps closer, attempting to emulate the move and trip Carrakas. Unfortunately for the tiefling, the large body of the skeleton blocked him seeing the move used on Jaed and rushes to catch up on a what looks like a devastating blow on the rogue, only to get knocked down by the other side of the halberd.
Marzela steps in and swings at the skeleton.
Lily launches her spectral hand toward one of the skeletons and lashes out with a chill touch.
Jaed jumps off the floor while doing his best to avoid the halberds.
And then he attacks the skeleton to the North.
As Jaed nimbly flips upward, Marzela steps forward to hit at the nearest skeleton. Unfortunately, though well timed, both her and Jaed's blows harmlessly bounce off the creature's thick armor. Lily's spectral hand passes effortlessly through the metal and the skeleton shivers briefly before shaking off the effect. Meanwhile, Finnrick calls down yet another bolt of lightning to hit the southernmost skeleton. Steam seems to hiss from the creature as the bolt hits, doing a sizable amount of damage, though the creature remains standing.
Not being as nimble as Jaed in his armor, Carrakas attempts to stand up. He manages to deflect the first blow with his shield but grunts heavily as the second blow hits him him square in the stomach. With a growl, he returns with his own attack, managing to destroy the southern skeleton.
Now alone, the remaining skeleton nevertheless remains faithful to its job, taking another swing at Carrakas before stepping back. And once again, the tiefling finds himself staring up at the ceiling while flat on his back.
Marela steps in and attacks again,
Lily launches her eerie, insubstantial ghost-hand toward the other skeleton.
Finnrick gives a primal roar of satisfaction as the first enemy is toppeled then calls down another bolt of lightning.
Millsy moves to within striking distance but stays back.
Carrakas grunts in frustration as his back hits the ground again. You've got to be kidding me - again? This is getting old... He gets back up again, risking another swing from the skeleton. Once up, he takes a small step forward, and tries to give a good swing in return, but gets over-eager and misses.
Jaed takes a step to the right and attacks with both swords.
Lily's spectral hand once again passes through the skeletons armor to instill a chill into its bones. It begins to shiver, the halberd dropping from its undead fingers. The unexpected clatter gives Carrakas the opportunity to stand up unbothered, but distract's Marzela's blow. Similar's Carrakas trying to shield himself from a heavy blow that never came knocked his own off balance. Just as the skeleton turns to flee, another lightning bolt comes down from the sky. The skeleton dodges most of the blow, but the electricity causes it to trip and fall right into Jaed's well-placed blades. It does not get up again.
Just beyond the gate to the second ring, the group can see that the buildings here look more intact than in the first ring with many buildings standing two or three stories tall. The line of gold also only goes up about 20 feet, meaning that some buildings have not been completely covered. There seems to be a gentle slope upwards towards the center of the ring, towards where the currently out of sight wall separating this ring from the third would be. However, perhaps the most eye-catching thing in the group's immediate vision lies not too far beyond the gate. Immediately ahead, the gold-plated road reaches a crossroads and disappears beneath a mound of partially melted treasure. Gold coins, weapons, armor, and glittering gems cover the entire intersection in a mountain of wealth that reaches ten feet high.
Marzela casts Detect Magic to see if anything in the pile is magical.
Marzela is able to detect one faint aura that appears to be towards the edge of the nearly 20ft square gold pile. It's possible there are other magical items further in, but the sheer volume of metal seems to be getting in the way. A closer inspection allows you to see a hilt of some sort sticking out slightly, though whatever it's attached to obscured from sight.
Carrakas stares at all the treasure, a slight look of awe on his face, though he tries not to show it. "That's a lot of gold..." Shaking his head slightly, he turns to Jaed. "This place likes to hurt with gold; this a trap, you think?"
Finnrick lets out a roar and a bolt of lightning strikes down on the pile of gold.
Jaed first impulse is to start running towards the pile of gold. Luckily, after just a couple of steps, he sees the gold-plated skeleton and stops dead in his tracks.
"Definitely a trap," he replies to Carrakas just before the lightning strikes. "But that skeleton has a Razimir mask. It may not be part of the city defenses."
Finnrick calls down a lightning bolt on the skeleton. When the bolt strikes the potential undead, a spray of molten gold shoots up from below, spraying everywhere in a large, 20 foot radius. The liquid is so hot that it turns much of the gold around it into liquid slush, including the item that had detected as magical before as well as a variety of weapons and what looked like several sculptures. After a moment the torrent subsides, streams of molten metal finding their ways to drains and disappearing down them.
The skeleton still seems to be intact, though its mask has melted away. It remains still as a skeleton should be, with no indication that it plans to get up and attack you.
Carrakas looks startled as the lightning rains down. "I think you got him..." he says with a grin at Finnrick.
"Woah! Better safe than sorry, I suppose. Anyways, that pile looks like a big golden trap. Shall we continue?"
If no one objects, Jaed will head South.
Marzela looks disappointed, but follows Jaed.
The group carefully moves around the large pile of gold and continues south towards the next intersection of the middle ring. The ground slopes gently upwards as you head towards the wall separating the second and third rings. As it does so, you begin to notice buildings that haven't been completely covered in gold plating from the floods of the molten metal. Despite this, every once in a while there's a flash as the light from Finnrick's spell seems to reflect off of something on some of the upper floors. Soon enough, you all find yourselves at the next intersection.
"Let's look for another gate."
Jaed follows the street to the West.
Marzela follows Jaed.
The group heads west. You soon begin to notice that while in the first ring sounds almost seemed to be muffled, here they seem to echo and sometimes amplify. The footsteps of the more heavily armored members almost make you cringe and occasionally you hear what sounds like rocks falling some unknown distance away. Despite this, nothing appears to interrupt your journey, and you soon find yourselves at another bridge. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have fared well over the years as the middle section has collapsed completely. Unlike other bridges you have seen thus far, this one appears to have once had ornate pillars lining it, and you can still make out the delicate patterns engraved in the golden plating of the parts that are still intact. The two pillars flanking the front of the bridge appear to have once been elegant statues, though neither have anything left above their waists save for a detached golden head sitting among a pile of rubble at one's feet.
Marzela examines this bridge to see if it is possible to bridge the gap with something in the rubble, or with rope, or any other way she can think of.
The canal itself looks to be about 50 feet wide, the broken ends of the bridge making the distance you'd need to travel slightly shorter. However, since the molten gold is opaque, it's impossible to tell how deep it is just from looking. Despite that, given the size of the city and how many ruins are about, so long as it didn't melt or get swept away, a bridge probably could be built, but it might take quite some time. Perhaps the bigger issue is that approaching the bridge, the temperature quickly rises to extremely uncomfortable levels for most of the group.
Well, here's hoping that there is another bridge.
"It will probably be safer to backtrack and try the opposite side of this ring."
If we all agree Jaed will lead the group. Clockwise direction this time.
The group backtracks back the way the came. They pass the intersection they were at not long ago and continue onwards, footsteps echoing off of the golden city. Eventually they all make it to where the map had indicated there was another bridge. Luckily, this one is intact, though it lacks the ornate pillars or any signs of a statue that the broken one had possessed. It still appears stable and secure and the group crosses without incident.
On the other side of the bridge, the scenery changes drastically. Where before there were mostly intact buildings resembling houses or shops, the entire area east of the road seems to have been one, very large structure. It's also in noticeably worse condition than the other buildings of this ring, with large holes punched in the sides of some of the walls, upper levels collapsed, and the occasional small crater where a large rock seems to have impacted. But perhaps the most eye-catching difference is the literal hundreds of golden skeletons decorating the outside walls of the building. They all hang motionless from where they were nailed, though every once in a while a partial skeleton can be seen on the floor from where it came loose. Many seem to still be wearing the broken remnants of now gold-plated armor.
The group has gone a little over halfway to the next bridge, all the while accompanied by this gruesome sight when a woman's voice rings out from the darkness, bouncing around the ruins and causing a few people to jump in surprise. "Lay down your arms, heretics and traitors, and we shall spare you! You are surrounded! Hundreds of Razmir’s faithful beg me to kill you—but I will spare your lives if you surrender to the Living God. Make your decision!"
Lily mutters, "Obvious bluff is obvious."
(Bonus to find something hidden or concealed)
Can I see where she/they are?
"She expects us to stop, we should probably not do that" Carrakas says, as he picks up his pace, urging the others to do the same.