"Do we want to fall back and prepare some protection against the cold or push on?"
"I think Silas is right. It'll take us some time or a sustained fire," he glances at Holys, "to open that up. Let's regroup and see what this book is. Besides, if we're going for a cold swim, we might want to prepare for that."
Tilver judges the direction of the water and tries to work out what direction it might be heading out under the city streets.
An ominous rumbling occurs deep underground, like a distant earthquake...
We go upstairs and begin reading through the book.
Dain pulls himself up the rope until he reaches the room above. After a brief, happy reunion with Magill, he turns back to the rope to help the others up.
The shaking gets more pronounced. You're obviously not going to get the time to read this here.
"We gotta get out of here! This whole place might come down on us!" Tilver quickly climbs out of the hole, intent on heading to the entrance.
Silas will help boost the others up the rope before climbing out after them.As they go up he says, "Head for the courtyard!"
(1) The ground is shaking - not in a continuous earthquake way, but like something big is stomping around (a la Jurassic Park)? And it seems to be coming from beneath the ice cave? Is that right?
Somewhere below, anyway.
Sure.
Not real close. It's every ten minutes. That freezing water is another story, though.
The ice has no hardness. Just do enough damage and you'll get through. Slashing weapons will do more than piercing or bludgeoning, though.
"We should find out what is moving around. If we woke something up and then left now it might be very bad."
Silas takes his large blade and begins shattering the ice with mighty blows.
Two minutes later, the team has broken through the thick ice. A pool of frigid water leads down into a dark tunnel before you, heading directly below the center of Pythoness House!
Dain bends over, puts his face near the surface of the water, and tries to peer into the murky depths of the tunnel. After a moment, he slowly moves one hand toward the surface, sticks one finger in, then quickly removes it - blowing on it for warmth.
"It's just as c-cold as it...uhh...looks." He wanders over to the rope, looks up through the hole in ceiling, and starts quietly talking to himself. After a a few seconds, a plump, pure white rat scrabbles down the rope. It reaches the icy floor and stands up on its hind legs, looking up at Dain with two pink eyes that almost seem to glow. "In there, please," Dain says quietly while pointing at the hole in the ice. He sits down and closes his eyes as the rat disappears into the water with a soft sploosh.
Through the spirit rat, Dain can see that the tunnel proceeds underwater for some thirty feet before rising to another plug of ice that blocks all passage. If you enter that water, you will need to hold your breath long enough to pierce the ice at the far end.
It's seven or eight feet wide. Two or three of you can gather at the end.
"It took a couple of minutes to break through the first ice cap. Slashing at the ice under water is going to...maybe double that time. And we will probably need to break it up into three or four chunks of time so we can come back and get air." Silas scratches his chin and considers the frigid water.
Holys raises his hand. "Let me try something, here..."
He gets to the other end of the tunnel and attempts to cast Burning Hands to conjure steam to melt through the ice quickly.
(+4 level, +4 CHA vs DC 16 for casting underwater)
He tries again, steeling himself against the cold.
(+4 level, +4 CHA vs DC 16 for casting underwater)
(+4 level vs DC 21 for casting underwater)
(4d4 base + 4 bloodline; damage becomes steam as underwater).
He examines his handiwork and then returns to the others, gasping for breath and shivering.
Lesser Selective Metamagic Rod uses remaining/total: 2/3
Spells remaining/total:
2nd (0/4)—scorching ray
1st (3/7)—burning hands (DC 17), mage armor , protection from evil, ray of enfeeblement (DC 15), vanish
0th (at will) —acid splash, arcane mark , detect magic , flare (DC 16), light, open/close (DC 14), prestidigitation, read magic, resistance
Tilver pulls out an extract and pours it over his longspear head. The spearpoint begins to glow like a torch. "Ok, lets do this." He dives into the water after Holys and swims down the tunnel with strong strokes.
The ice at the far end is thinner than at the first end, but still formidably thick. Holys's blast of steam does some damage to the ice, but it holds. The sodden, freezing sorcerer climbs out of the water, shivering uncontrollably.
Tilver dives in and swims strongly to the other end.
Tilver stabs at the ice sheet with his spear, hoping to break through.
Silas jumps in and swims to help bash in the ice.
Velika rushes over to Holys when he emerges. "Oh, my friend, you're turning blue! A nice shade but still... "
She immediately casts Prestidigitation on him to begin to dry his clothes for him.
Silas and Tilver break through the ice in two rounds.
Beyond lies a frost-covered room in which lie six iron chests bolted to the ground. An ice-rimed steel door lies beyond.
Status
Holys - 1 damage (need Fort save to avoid 1 nonlethal damage)
Tilver (Mutagen (+4 Str, -2 Int, +2 Natural AC); shield (+4 AC), protection from evil (+2 AC), feather step) - (16 damage)
Velika
Silas (feather step, shield) - 6 damage, 1 nonlethal damage
Dain (bull's strength (+4 STR), shield of faith +2 AC (total AC 20), feather step)
Tilver pulls himself out of the freezing water. After checking for any enemies, he pulls out his healing wand and taps himself a few times. "Silas, tells the others, it's safe. I'll check out these chests." The ex-gladiator begins examining the chests for any traps.
Holys shivers. "Thanks, Velika. Well, I made a start, but we need our friends' stronger arms to finish the job."
vs DC 15
Tilver cures himself while he shivers almost uncontrollably in the frosty room, his sodden clothes freezing to his skin and weighing at him.
Tilver will have to scrape ice off the chests to see anything.
As he examines the chests he hears a thunderous, echoing boom from close by! Whatever is shaking the earth is just behind that door!
Status
Holys - 1 damage (need Fort save to avoid 1 nonlethal damage)
Tilver (Mutagen (+4 Str, -2 Int, +2 Natural AC); shield (+4 AC), protection from evil (+2 AC), feather step) - (1 damage)
Velika
Silas (feather step, shield) - 6 damage, 1 nonlethal damage
Dain (bull's strength (+4 STR), shield of faith +2 AC (total AC 20), feather step)
Tilver shudders at the shaking. He returns his attention to the chests. He pull out his swordsword and begins scraping ice off the chests, being careful around the lock in case he triggers any traps.
Let's find out what the others are doing before proceeding with Tilver and the chests.
Velika is hoping that her companions will be able to bring whatever is on the other side back. But just in case, she puts her gun in the bag of holding to protect it from the water and prepares to cast Resistance on each of them just before they dive (back) into the water.
Silas goes back to wave the others through and then climbs out and moves to stand in front of the door while Tilver deals with the chests.
(ADDITIONAL +1 IF THIS IS FOR SWIMMING BACK AGAIN AS AT THAT POINT VELIKA HAS CAST RESISTANCE)
Holys swims through to rejoin the others, again, and then climbs out, staying away from the door.
Dain removes his backpack and leaves it leaning against a wall in the ice cave. As Velika casts her protections on him, he looks up to the hole in the ceiling and gives Magill a wave. "We'll be back in a few minutes. Keep an eye on things here." Spear in hand, he jumps into the icy water and quickly swims for the far end of the tunnel.
Velika swims through last. When she gets to the other side, she uses Prestidigitation to dry her robes and those of her companions.
The team arrives, shivering, wet and frigid, on the far side of the frozen tunnel, to find Tilver scraping away ice from six large iron chests bolted to the floor.
Revealed on the chests's surfaces are six legends:
1) This six-foot-long chest bears the inscription: “Twinned weapons sure to deal death to the oppressor angels.”
2) A chest four feet long carries this inscription: “A blade to slice the flesh of any foe of freedom.”
3) A narrow chest eight feet long bears these words: “This is sure to pierce the heart of an overwhelmed tyrant.”
4) A small chest, three feet long, is marked with the following admonition: “Hear the word of chaos, fools, and despair.”
5) This small chest has inscribed upon it the words: “Tools of the fearsome chaos priest.”
6) Another small chest bears this inscription: “No chains can bind us, and no lock can resist the magic of this key of freedom.”
Over the steel door leading onward is another inscription:
The Greatest Threat to the Stalwart
Kings of Order, Created by
That Ancient Elven Champion,
Vaiod the Slayer
Status
Holys - 1 damage (need Fort save to avoid 1 nonlethal damage)
Tilver (Mutagen (+4 Str, -2 Int, +2 Natural AC); shield (+4 AC), protection from evil (+2 AC), feather step) - (1 damage)
Velika (2 damage, 1 nonlethal damage)
Silas (feather step, shield) - 6 damage, 1 nonlethal damage
Dain (bull's strength (+4 STR), shield of faith +2 AC (total AC 20), feather step) (6 damage, 1 nonlethal damage)
Does Velika know anthing about the Stalwart Kings of Order or the Elven Champion Vaiod the Slayer?
Tilver points to the last chest. "This would sound like the all-key. I don't know about opening up the others though." He turns back to the inscription on the door.
"I think we should deal with what lies beyond the door before we play with the chests." Silas says as he eyes the door in case something large decides to come through it.
Dain furrows his brow, "Mmmm...I don't know. We might need that," he points at the chest Tilver had indicated, "to even...ummm...get through the door. Amd we might need the rest of them to...uhhh...deal with whatever giant thing is stomping around in there."
"We came here for the...mmm...All-key. We should take it while we have the chance."
"We might need whatever is inside to face off with whatever is behind that door. Much as I would hate to be using chaos magic, it could tip the scales." Tilver checks the chests for traps again.
"There also may be cunning traps that weaken us before we face what is on the other side of the door." Silas shrugs and keeps guarding the door as Tilver works.
Dain calls on the spirits to grant him aura sight, and takes a good look around the room, focusing on the chests and door.