Sure Eris, but please convey to all the others caster to stop trowing spells around. We went from a situation where we faced a dozen goblin to having huge elemental and what not
as she tries to see a clear path away from the huge elemental
as she hits a nearby creature (if there is one to kill)
She then jumps on Nemo (move action) ending her battle dance (free)
Ride Nemo, Ride Nemo ! she encourage him as they head for the opened door
As the monastic chant sung by the voices of dogs and horses in the two goblin tongues (the familiar and the alien) continues to sound across the land, outside, audible even over the deafening storm, as the hail increases in severity and harshness. The rain of flies has stopped, and the wind begins picking them up and moving them away from their "resting" place and out into the depths of the storm, as the (now extreme) sheets of water begins washing much of the detritus, blood, and even snow and other particulates down and away into the gaping maw of mists below. A cacophonous breaking sound, as if all of reality is nearly torn asunder issues from high above, as the tremendously large skull, and the vastly larger dragon continue to square off against each other, sending horrible curses, and strikes of terrible arcane power, causing weird ripplings to move through reality. And, you know, as if things weren't weird enough, it begins raining big, bright blue poison frogs, electric eels, fish, and maybe a few household mammals - it's hard to say, though all the chaos.
Events in Action
- As Shaedo sings her song to create dancing lights, the lights break apart into enormous streams of butterflies fluttering through the air, composed of the color blue! She stands at the edge of the overhang in the storm watching the dancing butterflies and watching for her allies as the screaming death's head far above manages to rake scars across the dragon's side with it's vile jaws, as a different glistening rain soon begins falling on the ramp below - blood and scales of a particularly beautiful blue color from a creature far too real and physical to be a mere apparition.
Dice Roll:()
() - Dijiron (and his familiar Taq) carefully enters with Lulu into the strange, enormous chamber beyond. The familiar's keen sense of smell seems to shy away from the door straight ahead and left - Dijiron gains the strong impression of Danger! Yucky! from both of them, although he can tell they are different from each other somehow. While everything bears that terrible scent you're left with after a wet filthy goblin dries, the door to the right smells the 'oldest' to Dijiron's nose... and Taq certainly seems less nervous in that area (though still nervous... ew, goblin).
The snaky Ray of Frost jerks out of itself, seemingly eager to respond to Dijiron's commands, both gently spoken and unbidden, despite being so very far away. It flies out of reach of the enraged ice elemental, slithering into the darkness of the hill, not entirely dodging the raining creatures, leaving various ones of them mildly frost-bitten in its wake. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Dijiron senses his spell coming toward him, attempting to sniff out anything
- Eris stands and move herself and her mount up the ramp of the place as best she can in the raging storm, calling for Beylinda to come after her.
- Layla quickly commands everyone into the room, as she skims as many of the colorful jewels into her bag as she possibly can, gathering a surprisingly large number of them with a single mighty sweep. She pauses to look out from the safety of the doorway to see if those further down needed aid...
- Ooze cackles with glee and stands, his outline still blurred making it hard to ascertain where he truly is. He dashes into the central chamber and glares around, ready to loose into any lesser goblin that happens to show its face... .
- Ceru, uncertain of the vast, dark room beyond, heads in, ready to shoot at anything that jumps, but finds herself a little jumpy as it's hard to tell true foes from empty shadows.
- Vitreous struts or saunters (who knows which, exactly) into the cave, swirling his gun impressively, and aiming wildly at nothing in particular in a shot that would surely be almost offensively weak, if it were even to hit anything (which seems un-guaranteed)...
- A mighty elemental rears up, looming large and powerful through the mists, staggered no more, and filled with hatred for all that is not it's kind. "Iiiccce-Ice el-e-ment, ice ! it shrieks in its own tongue, as an enormous fist slams down towards Beylinda nearby. It misses only by an inch, but crushes the earth between them, making difficult terrain in the basin that she must pass through to attack it.
The sounds of combat emanate from the depths of the mists below, and a hideous spew of sickening blue acid bile rises into the air, as screaming and pain is heard. The hidden warm glow of a fire elemental can be made out, moving through the mists, contrasted by the bleak cold glow of the badly twisted rhinoceros, and the shadows cast upward by both light sources from the large stone elemental towering above them, but still engulfed invisibly in the mists.
Finding little else in terms of target, the snow elementals assault Beylinda in a flurry, both actually connecting, though Beylinda only takes 2 points of damage.
- Lulu and Pix hurry inside the large, echoing chamber, the little Pix searching around despite the warnings from Layla, its curiosity too powerful to overcome by mere fear! Lulu and her mount Rainbow follow, the little Faen's glowing staff guiding the way.
- Stone moves his mighty steed Stone down a hair to be adjacent to his commander, and valiantly flop his far-too-large helmet in her general direction. "SQUAD COMMANDER ERIS, M'AM!" he screams, "ALLOW ME TO COVER OUR TACTICAL RETREAT, M'AM!" He aims and fires at the tremendously over-large elemental, singing the monastic chant with military gusto, and partially doing semi-strip-tease moves to the music and . The bolts chink into the ice, but the elemental seems uncertain from where they originate.
- Sunny gathers up B-rat (as large as Dijiron or Layla!), packs him on Horse, and heads into the room beyond the door with Layla.
- Beylinda leaps atop Nemo and rides up out of the mists, coming alongside Eris and Stone.
A mighty wind sheers across, the mists some ways beyond the tor, and, briefly, a minor army of boiling partially-skeletal monsters come into view, intent on destroying each other and everything else nearby.
The hail begins pounding ever more powerfully in the region, ending the lives of many of the small creatures instantly, as the powerful rain of frozen water continues unabated; it strike the ice elemental, as does the snow, which begins to clump to it and cling, causing it to stagger a roar and grow even a bit larger and more dreadful still, nearly breaking beyond the surface of the mists.
Powerful magical effects whirl through the air and ripple across the ground, lightning nearly striking Eris, enough to leave her feeling charged, if not damaged; most of our intrepid band have finally achieved the top of the hill, though three are not there yet as the elementals slink down into the mists, ignoring anything not within easy reach; the storm churns powerfully and terribly, and the baleful sickening blue waves deep within the mists moves close enough to smell the stink through your eyes, and it's a very powerful (visual) stink...
The room beyond the bizarre door is enourmous: ninety-feet by ninety feet (and still twenty tall), with the entry door you peer from smack in the middle, vast, pitch dark... and dry. There appear to be all manner of fantastic arcane engravings in every piece, many dark, and brooding, others rambling and strange and, most oddly of all, no small amount of defacing - purposeful and recent - with strange scribbled images, similar to those goblins use. Oddly, the... inaudible hum as it were... of the storm seems entirely absent in this room. A new, more malevolent and purposeful kind of (still inaudible) "hum" comes from deep within the structure instead.
Upon closer inspection, the doors in this chamber seem to be in better shape than the door leading out, although it's unclear if they're locked or not.
Layla (somewhat reassured by Eris's mental communication that she and the others are fine and on their way, and pleased that so far no enemies have come bursting through the inner doors, but worried by the loud noises outside), holds her position by the outer door, keeping an eye out in both directions, ready to attempt to close the door behind the others if they all arrive, and possibly making another scoop at the gems, if she has the extra time.
to pull the door shut from the inside (or aid another in doing so) IF Shaedo, Stone, Eris, and Beylinda all manage to run inside this round. If they don't this round, but do next round, then this check may apply next round...
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"We're out of range of the elementals, my friends, but the storm's intensity is increasing exponentially!" An electric blue kitten falls from the sky, lands a few paces away, meows in confusion, and vanishes with a sound like an echo of nothing. "Hmm. Were I not currently subject to the storm's whims, this might actually be fascinating to watch. But I'm inclined to believe that at the moment, shelter is of greater importance than the pursuit of knowledge."
To her companions on the ramp, Eris speaks aloud. "Thank you very much for your support, Beylinda, Stone." She points up the ramp. "We're not far from the entrance, but our approach is littered with the detritus of the storm. Please don't step on a fish and fall over the side." With that, Eris begins to cautiously hustle up the ramp, leading her mount.
Shaedo watches invisible from the edge of the cavern as her dancing lights fly away as very blue butterflies. "Pretty... though a little sharp." Shaedo tells the tempest with a playful smirk.
Shaedo follows her friends' and allies' progress up the ramp, holding her action until they seem out of the worst of the storm.
Hurry Eris, hurry!
Every so often she glances up at the battle in the sky, dreading what would happen should the dragon fall.
If they are pursued by a powerful enemy, Shaedo tries to mislead it with an illusion of a silver dragon cast from her wand of silent image. The "dragon" looks more like a hazy image of a dragon, and circles the enemy, threatening.
If someone gets stuck, Shaedo sounds the alarm via telepathy, takes out a rope and begins tying it to Ramsy. She next speaks aloud to Ceru.
"We need to help them! Shall you go, or I? If I fasten this end to a donkey, maybe we can keep us from flying off at least!"
"OOooooh... shIIINYyy!" Any one in the cave hears Shaedo's exclamation; however, she is no where to be seen. It is as if the donkey Ramsy has no rider. There is only a floating orb of light without an obvious source, hovering over the donkey's saddle.
Shaedo hops off her donkey and immediately begins scooping a handful of the shiny things into an empty pack, giggling somewhat hysterically while doing it.
The gems on the ground that Shaedo collects only seem to vanish as if into no where, as the little orb of light hovers and circles slightly lower to the ground.
(dm did you want a will & reflex ?)
Round 5
Vitreous, not seeing anything to shoot, decides to reload his vial launcher. This time with acid. This process is amazingly complex and involves a lot of grunts and whistles. There are several loud clicks and a ratcheting sound. Continuing on his lady's man routine,"I'm sure that Beylinda is a little to quiet and possibly scary for me to pursue, and while Squad Leader Eris is an attractive choice, can't have romance in the ranks, that just leads to all kinds of troubles according to my nephew Trendicular Bogsworth."
Gnomes generally aren't raised in a normal family structure, and they change and add names as they go along. Therefore no one can ever be truly sure what any relationship between gnomes might actually be. As long as they don't bleach, gnomes are effectively immortal so relationships and bloodlines are a mass of confusions!
Also, Vitreous is a bit of a name dropper, He doesn't have time or interest in actually figuring out his family tree, so he events relationships to other gnomes that end their name strings with Drimplegatto.
Probably overhearing Vitreous's musings from her position in the open doorway, Layla makes a mental note to remind him of her official (according to him) Assistant Squad Leader status, should the need arise to gently rebuff any gnomish advances. :)
Careful with those spells, Shaedo, Ceru thinks to her foxy companion. In this weather things are going all kinds of crazy!
Deep down, Ceru really wants to cast from her meager collection of cantrips too, just to see what would happen, but decades of memories of blowing up, burning down, embaldening, shrinking, growing, and other catastrophes that were her father's magic lessons keeps her in line -- those things happened when she wasn't in the middle of a magic storm, after all!
Instead, more practically, she pulls out her folding pole and unfolds it, sticking out onto the doorway and using it to clumsily sweep away any debris on the ramp that might hinder their allies' approach, trying to stay out of the rain herself as much as possible.
Shaedo sighs and fiddles with her wand of silent image longingly. You're probably right... even singing seems to have a wild effect in this tempest! Shaedo leaves the wand in her adventurer's sash. I wonder... could I create a real dragon with an illusion in this storm? Maybe keep it as a pet. Tehehe! ...Still... Best not to risk it. Shaedo thinks, thankful for Ceru's presence.
Shaedo mentally prepares her battle-dance song for bardic performance, and shall begin inspire courage should her friends get attacked. She quietly hums the tune. Though song seems to affect the moods of the tempest a little more predictably, she thinks to her gnomish companion, glancing up at the skull in battle with the dragon, and then at the veiling mists at the base of the ramp.
Watching the storm, her allies fly up the ramp towards safety. "Oh, Ceru, we've just made it to the Tower, and already our journey in Wastes shall make a song to remember!"
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Unfortunately due to the needs of battle, my arcane power is nearly depleted leaving me with only one spell and my cantrips. My usefulness however is *not* depleted. Taq and I have our keen noses which indicate that the door on our right is the least hostile way to go so I suggest we head that way. I am no coward but I am still not quite that handy with a dagger.
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The storm pours. Reality is sundering around you. Madness reigns supreme. Death and strange annihilation looms close... very close. Dogs and horses continue monastic chants in goblin in the wind...
Events in Action
The snaky Ray of Frost slithers its way into the caves where it suddenly alights to the right, out in the storm, but then back into the cave, slightly confused... Dijiron can feel it getting closer and confused about "what right door?" (although not in so many words), as it hurries into the overhang...
[/list]
The bizarre hail continues its transformations into spells, objects, and creatures of all shapes and descriptions, though now hard enough to kill as it does so, as the monastic goblin chants (with the voices of dogs and horses) continue loud into the night.
You bear witness to strange magical emanations roiling across the landscape, as the mists and blue haze grow higher and closer, respectively. The haze has fully overtaken the places you once were, as the last of Gob Smash One successfully achieves the entrance cave.
Then, with horror, you realize... the skull comes down, out of the sky, diving with a terrible purpose towards the earth, in a desperate bid for... you.
The hideous terror of the vile monstrosity - you can feel the unholy presence, as if devoted to some evil god - rages toward you shrieking curses almost lost into the wind, nearly upon you as it swarms with the hideous flies you saw raining dead before, but now apparently recently refreshed and alive, the massive death's head ready and willing to consume all of your souls!
With a deep-seated cry unlike any you've heard, reverberating deep within the bones of the closest members, a mighty tremendously enormous glittering silvery-blue dragon slams into the skull, it's mighty claw slamming it into the Tor's earth-and-stone ramp away from the entrance, visibly cracking the strange and terrible thing and sheering one of the bat-wings off; then searing the skull with the powerful breath that makes your flesh shiver with goosebumbs, your hair stand on end, and your ears to feel intense brief pain over the skull, leaving it terribly cracked and broken... even as the skull's cursed dark magic flares to life within the dragon, punishing the mighty blue-scaled being's efforts to stop the unholy creature.
A mighty bite from the winged skull the size of an ogre shatters some of the shimmering silver-blue scales, and rips through draconic flesh; draconic flesh that, surged by the speed of song, with a mighty reflexive lash, throws the fractured unholy undead - seemingly unable to fly with only one wing, deep into the mists... and near the blue haze, before the dragon collapses, and shrinks rapidly to the form of a medium-sized humanoid person.
The room beyond the bizarre door is enormous: ninety-feet by ninety feet (and still twenty tall), with the entry door you peer from smack in the middle, vast, pitch dark... and dry. There appear to be all manner of fantastic arcane engravings in every piece, many dark, and brooding, others rambling and strange and, most oddly of all, no small amount of defacing - purposeful and recent - with strange scribbled images, similar to those goblins use. Oddly, the... inaudible hum as it were... of the storm seems entirely absent in this room. A new, more malevolent and purposeful kind of (still inaudible) "hum" comes from deep within the structure instead.
Upon closer inspection, the doors in this chamber seem to be in better shape than the door leading out, although it's unclear if they're locked or not.
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Layla gasps as the formerly Draconic person falls unconscious to the ramp.
"Shaedo, here, secure this."
As she passes, she quickly tosses one end of a rope from Scrappy's saddle toward the invisible-but-ioun-torch-circled trickster.
"That dragon-person saved us, now we hafta save them!"
Holding the other end of the rope tight, Layla darts out into the storm...
(+5 more vs. poison or disease, which we should all get from our murderous training)
...presuming she can, Layla, hurries the 10ft. down the ramp to the collapsed figure, finding herself unconsciously singing along to the rallying Gob Smash tune floating through the air.
She makes a quick check to determine whether the person is dying, and stabilize if so.
Then, she ties the rope to the person's wrist and she picks him/her up, possibly with the help of anyone else who immediately arrives. Gripping both the person and the rope, Layla carefully brings this person back up the ramp under cover.
Round 6
Beylinda will rush also toward the fallen creature and will grab him by the torso while she directs Layla to grab its legs. Once she does she starts heading back toward the entrance of the cave using the speed granted by hast she can accomplish most of this in a few seconds
While hearing vaguely, a rightly moral call to arms to assist the dragon who is now a person, Ceru is completely distracted by the amazingly carved doors with all the fascinating writing and such.
She stands about 15 feet from the doors, sending a mental warning to the others, Stay back for a second...
She then, just in case the arcane carvings are actually arcane-as-in-magic writings, casts read magic, hoping the effects of the storm do not penetrate within, and tries to see if she can decipher the writings.
As the writings seem to be nothing but GOBbledygook, she considers trying her comprehend languages spell, but waits to see if her read magic cantrip has any effects first. Plus she might need it later!
No need to feel ashamed Ceru. I might be able to aid you in your research. I, too, am fascinated by this place.
He casts read magic and moves to decipher the same text.
Round 6
With the extra speed, Vitreous manages to finish loading up the vial launcher. With gun in hand, he approaches the door that Dijiron indicated was safer and checks it for traps. If he doesn't spot any he will attempt to open the door. "I'm going to check the door that Dijiron thinks is safest route for us to proceed"
for traps on door
if needed to push open the door.
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Shaedo maintains her bardic performance vocally, weaving into the song personalized verses about each member of the party. The fast-passed battle dance is now about the members of Gob Smash One! The first of such is about the mighty halfling warrior who, with incredible speed and strength, carried the draconic defender against utter evil back to the safety of her new cavern.
As Layla gets near the entrance of the cave, Shaedo helps drag'n the fallen dragon-person back into the cave, or maybe hoist'n her onto a donkey's back.
While singing, Shaedo decides it is as good a time as any to share her thoughts about everything- happening around them.
I thought she didn't seem like a creature used to being on the ground... Floating... immune to the magic of the Wastes as if she were a magical creature herself. And I recognize a fellow shape shifter when I see one.
My brave friends, I believe our dragon is Amita Narahari!
Dijiron, we really are in the story of Volke and the Dragon!(tehehe!)
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Eris staggers into the entrance cave, looking pale. Her skin tingles where the blue frog brushed against it, and a cottony heaviness fills her head. She suddenly feels curiously tired. She looks longingly at the far wall of the entrance cave, envisioning how nice it will be to lean up against that cool stone, slide down to a sitting position, and just rest...
...but the sudden rush of noise from behind her draws her attention. She watches in awe, heavily befuddled by the poison, as the dragon and the skull clash with titanic force. "I still have the darnedest feeling I've seen that skull somewhere before," she mumbles.
Eris winces sympathetically when the fight ends and the blue-scaled dragon crashes into the ramp. "Oh! That probably cracked a rib or two."
When Layla and Beylinda dash out into the storm to help the fallen dragon--How convenient! It's travel-sized now, she thinks, muddled by the poison--Eris turns and starts to head down the ramp to aid them.
And immediately falls to one knee, dizzy and nearly swooning.
Kallisti scurries up to her mistress, chittering anxiously. Eris smiles. "I'm alright, little fox. Just a bit under the weather, shall we say?" Eris tries to smile bravely, and Kallisti rubs up against her hand, concern evident in the familiar's eyes.
"Layla and Beylinda, darlings, please be careful out there! I believe I've been mildly poisoned--No, no, nothing to worry about, I'm fine! But I'd advise against touching those little blue frogs. Horrible little beasties."
Eris jams her torch into a crack on the cave wall, illuminating the entrance with a soft blue glow. She slaps her donkey on the rump, sending it into the main chamber with the others. Finally, she retrieves her wand from her belt, ready to provide healing to either her squadmates (should they be damaged by the storm) or the fallen dragon person. She tries to stand tall and appear confident, but the poison leaves her woozy, her vision blurring slightly.
Eris takes several deep breaths, trying to calm down. It's fine, she thinks to herself. It's alright, it's just hair! Just hair. It doesn't matter that I look like an old woman now. Like an unspeakably ancient, withered old crone. Like an decrepit, toothless witch, clinging to--
Eris stops her wayward thoughts. Enough of that! There are more important things!
Opening her mind back up to the group, Eris thinks, "Disregard that panic there, everyone. Ahem. You have a good point, Shadeo--that dragon could well be our mysterious benefactor, Amita Narahari! If so, I think she may be able to answer some questions for us, yes?"
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+5 more vs. poison or disease
As Shaedo's song continues, the next verse is about the noble fox-friend champion, and her brave vixen companion, enduring the vicious onslaught of frog and winged skull alike, and managing to find shelter in the cave from the raging tempest of both undead and amphibious horror.
You're alive.
The light of the ioun torch seems to flicker as Shaedo shudders at the thought of the alternative. She then, with a breath, converts her emotion into even greater passion and spirit for her song.
"I wonder why Ooze blurry? What is meaning of this?"
Ooze looks around the room grasping his bow in anticipation of further madness.
Ceru is distracted from her ruminations by Eris's mental freakout at her hair and literally jumps into the air a good foot or so. She looks, and seeing Eris slumped on the floor, scurries over to her.
You don't look so good... and I don't think it's shock at your hair, which looks just lovely. My cousin Annamae Rainbowcaller had hair like that and she was quite pretty... Ceru kneels down beside her, unshouldering her backpack and pulling out from it a black leather case that opens on a hinge in the middle. "Let's see if we've got something you could use to make you feel better, you really do look very pale..." She pulls out a bottle of alchemist's kindness, looks at her, "No?" then goes back into the bag and pulls out a few more till she settles on a vial of antitoxin. "There!"
Lulu managed to get Pix under control before he started any real trouble.
Heading to the least smelly door Lulu looks it over. do you think it will open to a room full of candy?
Lulu looks for a method to open the door.
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"Get on out of there, greedy guts," Eris says, smiling. She playfully swats Kallisti on the nose, then looks over at Ceru. She smiles, but her skin is pale, and it's clear the poison has left her feeling somewhat weakened.
"Oh, Ceru! Outside, the sky is falling, dragons and demons are clashing in epic battle, reality itself is taking a vacation--and all Kallisti thinks is 'Where can I find some apples?'"
Eris accepts the anitoxin gratefully. "Thank you, Ceru. I'm sorry I reacted so strongly to the hair thing. I was caught by surprise. Frankly, I should be grateful I wasn't flattened by an elephant, or something equally ridiculous!"
"But I also wanted to say, Ceru, that I have noticed how well you kept your head during the battle. You were cool and reliable, and I most certainly appreciated your presence."
She pauses for a moment to listen to Shaedo's song. "Hmm. That's an interesting song, darling! Make sure to write that down... That could be quite a big hit back home."
Ceru actually blushes at the compliment, for she is seldom used to being told she has done something right. "Th-thank you! I learned a long time ago panic during disaster only makes things more disastrous!" She reaches out to pat Kallisti on the head. "Later!" she promises the fox, then turns back to her mistress. "There's other healing stuff in here, but I don't know if I am the best person to try to use it... we should be sure you are okay before we move on!"
Some of the Members of Gob Smash One dart out of the relative safety of the entrance cave into the storm to help the mysterious armored figure. Grabbing it, tying it, and dragging it back is finally accomplished by the efforts of Layla, Beylinda, Stone, and Shaedo, the armored figure is dragged back into the cave. Though Layla steps on an electric eel the valiant members manage to make it relative safety themselves, as well.
Events in Action
- Shaedo sings a mighty song, holding and hauling a rope, while her allies pull a woman to safety, and she chats with Eris about hair…
- Dijiron and Ceru both attempt to decipher the magical scripts in the other room, but seem too distracted by the strange goblin writing to truly be able to read them… though after some time, Dijiron pushes away the strangeness, and begins to notice that he's itching something fierce. Still, he focuses () and learns that there are indeed ancient arcane wards here in all the doors, spells, patterns, and protective measures of several different kinds, placed in an unusual pictographic pattern. They clearly predate the Nex or Geb conquests, though they seem to be pretty basic information now-days. Still, a mage (or alchemist) could learn a few things studying this room long enough, probably.
The snaky Ray of Frost slithers through the air all the way to Dijiron, where it proceeds to crawl over the walls, leaving trails of frost wherever it touches… Dijiron thinks it’s trying to… read… them…
- Eris organizes her crew, and chats about her hair, as well as sending Inconvenience to the safety of the large room. She accepts an antitoxin from Ceru, and drinks it eagerly.
- After rapidly dashing into the rain and hauling the mysterious armored figure toward the entrance, Layla steps on an electric eel for a surprisingly uncomfortable jolt, though she is ultimately fine, ultimately, with the help of some friends, getting the figure into the relative safety of the cave…
- Ooze continues to be confused at his speed and blurriness, but is prepared to kill anything that needs it! EEEEEHEEHEEHEEheehee…!
- Vitreous tries (and fails) to open a door after he’s ascertained that there seem to be no traps, or lock… but repeated attempts (take 10!) suddenly enable him to push the door open, revealing a tunnel sloping forward and vanishing into the darkness...
- You hear more sounds and screams of battle, and behold a surge of glowing awful in the mists near the base of the ramp before a sickening squelching and crunching sound cuts off anything…
- Lulu and Pix light the distant hallway, revealing a curving passage that seems that it ends in stairs that go down.
- Stone charges into the storm, and bravely hauls the wounded armored figure that was so recently a dragon into the entrance cave with his comrades in arms!
- Sunny quickly gets ready for anything as Vitreous has opened the right-hand door, and peers eagerly into the darkness…
- Beylinda aids Layla in getting the strange armored figure into the entrance cave… but as she reaches the figure, she undergoes a mysterious and terrifying transformation! She feels sick and weak and smaller, as everyone sees her transform into a hideous weird kind of goblin! Still, she hauls the armored figure toward the entrance cave and, as she exits the storm into the safety of the overhang, she suddenly feels her features shift again, returning to a semblance of what they had been…
The bizarre hail continues its transformations into spells, objects, and creatures of all shapes and descriptions, though now hard enough to kill as it does so, as the monastic goblin chants (with the voices of dogs and horses) continue loud into the night.
Although those who entered the storm hurt a little, they managed to re-enter shelter relatively quickly with their unconscious charge. The mists reach up to nearly where the figure had previously fallen, and the sickening blue haze is close enough to hear the wrongful color of blue…
The room beyond the bizarre door is enormous: ninety-feet by ninety feet (and still twenty tall), with the entry door you peer from smack in the middle, vast, pitch dark... and dry. There appear to be all manner of fantastic arcane engravings in every piece, many dark, and brooding, others rambling and strange and, most oddly of all, no small amount of defacing - purposeful and recent - with strange scribbled images, similar to those goblins use. Oddly, the... inaudible hum as it were... of the storm seems entirely absent in this room. A new, more malevolent and purposeful kind of (still inaudible) "hum" comes from deep within the structure instead.
Upon closer inspection, the doors in this chamber seem to be in better shape than the door leading out, although it's unclear if they're locked or not.
The one on the right proved to be unlocked as Vitreous first tried (then failed, then tried again) to open it... and did so! It curves away into darkness for a ways, before ending - you think - in a set of stairs going down...
Layla, stung by acid, shocked by electricity, battered by the storm, and running on a mix of adrenaline and fear, lugs the armored figure into the cave with Beylinda and Stone.
She's speechless at Beylinda's temporarily hideous transformation, Eris's blanched state, and, well, mostly the everything. However, fortunately, actual speech is not required, and she has the presence of mind to think,
"It ain't over 'til we get inside and shut the door! Let's move it, people! That horrible blue haze is only 20ft. away and approaching fast. Go, go, go!"
Layla drapes the armored figure over Scrappy, urges Scrappy and the others inside, barely remembers to sing a few more words of the Go Gob Smash chant, and prepares to give that final all-out tug to close that outer protective door as soon as everyone's in.
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Eris, grinning and swaying back and forth, welcomes her squadmates as they drag the armored figure out of the storm. "Very good, all of you! I absolutely agree with Layla-we should take our little dragon friend inside and fortify the doors, before the storm blows anything in after us." She begins to make her way inside, leaning on the wall for support.
"I'm feeling fine, really," she claims, "but the poison has caused mild hallucinations." She tries to stifle an attack of giggles and partially fails, leaving her looking as though she's having an uncomfortable sneezing fit. "I thought I saw Beylinda turn into a goblin!"
Once inside the main chamber, Eris finds a corner and takes a seat against the wall. "I have a wand," she says, in a serious tone, "and I will use it. To tend to the injured, that is. Please step forward if you were injured by the storm!"
Eris sits, waiting for patients, and allows Ceru's antitoxin--Oh! Cinnamon flavored!--to course through her system. She calms her mind and takes deep, slow breaths, willing her body to detoxify itself. "Aaahhh. You know, a brief rest is just what I needed. I think I'm starting to feel better."
After a quick, interest satisfying peek through the newly opened door. Sunny skips back to make sure that the mounts and other stuff is all okay after the weird/terrible storm every one experienced.
She does her best to aid others with any thing they might need. (Helping pack/carry etc) though upon seeing the new comer amongst their ranks she bounces over and looks at them.
"Who be this?" She asks.
Round 7
Currently No one we really need to concern ourselves with right now. Lets go deeper inside shall we?
and with that simple statement Beylinds continues to help carry the armored woman to a safer zone
Sunny nods and offers to help offset the load of the armored woman,
"Here...if'n we's take off all'a this heavy stuffs..?" She suggests, glancing at the armor...and the helmet....and the weapons...and the other stuff.
"Jus' sayin', it in't like tha' lass can be usin' it right now, like."
Dijiron looks up from his intensive study to see the Ray of Frost he once generated scurrying about the walls.
How is that thing still active? To the ninth with this storm and its impenetrable magics! Was is it even doing? It's just hovering over some of the text. Is- is it reading it? Have I created a sentient construct? What is going on?
Dijiron attempts to gain some control over the ray and make it come down.
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Shaedo brightens at the praise of her song, and continues her bardic performance with heart. The next verse is about a gentle, talented gnome, whose skills with spices and alchemical substances enables her to heal a fox-friend in need. And a sly fox in eager pursuit of spiced apples!
As she sings she watches Eris' actions with some concern.
Eris... are you... you seem alright. You must have given her some good stuff Ceru! Tehehe! Kallisti, being the sly vixen she has her priorities set straight! I could go for some tasty apples myself. However, perhaps we should wait on food and further healing until we are out of sight of those mists.
Shaedo's song strikes a worried minor key as she sees Beylinda's transformation, and then restoration to something close to her original form. The next verse tells of the cruelties of fate reversed by fortune, as a graceful, dancing warrior is taken, but then given back!
I wonder if the same happened to Stone, except he was never restored...
The song then arrives at a chorus about the flight of the party of intrepid heroes out of reach of deadly, killing mists and magical rains.
As the kitsune sings she guides her mount, Ramsy behind the door, looking back and waiting for the others to follow.
I agree Lalya! Everyone, use the speed of my song to move swiftly behind the door! With this speed, you could even tie ropes to the door, and fasten them to the donkeys!
I say leave nothing to chance! Tie ropes to donkeys and use their and our combined strength to close the doors! Let's close the doors with our asses!
This tunnel isn't exactly secure, while nothing is coming out, it still feels rather omniscient... hmm, that's not right... umm... omnipresent... no. possibly wrong. Vitreous stumbles for the right word forgetting to keep those thoughts to himself. He advances about 40 feet down the tunnel and looks around then walks back up to just outside the door and readies an action to shoot any hostiles that approach within his range of 20 feet.
The last of the members of Gob Smash One duck into the presumed safety of the large room, carrying the unconscious woman.
Events in Action
- Shaedo sings a song of healing, as Eris experiences and the fox nimbly steps into the large room!
- Dijiron is distracted by the sudden appearance of his Ray of Frost! And how he can (kind of) feel it or tell what it's up do or something! He quickly asserts his control of the magic, suddenly feeling a potent bond between the two of them, suddenly connecting like a shock... or a Familiar... it quickly comes down and "curls up" (looking like nothing so much as a freezing cold coiled "ring") at his feet, obediently.
- Eris manages to - with Ceru's antitoxin help - shake off the effects of the poison, recovering some amount of herself more fully. She takes a seat in the large chamber, and prepares to heal folk who come near...
- Layla manages to get everyone into the door, but is unable to close it. Following Shaedo's proffered advice, she nearly instantly ties the donkeys to the door, and they haul it closed instantly... almost as if it were really easy, like it was finely balanced to be of no difficulty at all for someone a bit taller than Layla, Ooze, or Vitreous due to hinges and pressure systems...
- Ooze remains blurred and exceedingly rapid! He is ready to kill any lesser goblins that show up! AAhahahahah!
- Vitreous walks down the tunnel a short ways, but can't really see well due to a lack of light. It still seems that it ends in some stairs going downward...
- Just before the door is closed, some of you see in the distance outside a gigantic ice elemental, levitating sickeningly out of the mists, confused, mutated, and angry, just before the blue haze moves over it and it begins to warp, and twist, and rip apart like a wet piece of paper...
- Lulu and Pix light the distant hallway, revealing a curving passage that seems that it ends in stairs that go down.
- Stone quickly gets himself and his stuff into the great room!
- Beylinda and Sunny get the armored person into the great room, the latter suggesting that its heavy armor be removed!
- Beylinda finishes her strange transformation with a few minor cosmetic changes, but she over-all feels herself again!
As the blue haze moves rapidly up the slope, the door closes with a final-sounding *thud!*, and suddenly, Shaedo's song stops, and, though the storm can still be heard, it suddenly feels, looks, smells, sounds, and tastes... better. The door seems to have shut out the wildest of wild magic effects. The ray of frost continues to persist, as does Ooze's blur (and B-rat is still royally blue), but other than that, it seems the preponderance of bizarre effects have entirely subsided.
Being in this room, with the door close, you could almost think there was a "normal" hurricane-cum-thunderstorm raging out there...
The room you are in is enormous: ninety-feet by ninety feet (and twenty feet tall), with the entry door you came from smack in the middle; the room is vast, pitch dark... and dry. There appear to be all manner of fantastic arcane engravings in every piece, many dark, and brooding, others rambling and strange and, most oddly of all, no small amount of defacing - purposeful and recent, mostly over the lower sections - with strange scribbled images, similar to those goblins use. The... inaudible hum as it were, the pressure, smells, and general wrongness... of the storm seem entirely absent in this room, apparently being shut out by the strange gray-yellow metal of the door you entered. A new, more malevolent and purposeful kind of (still inaudible) "hum" comes from deep within the structure instead.
Upon closer inspection, the other three doors in this chamber seem to be in better shape than the door leading out, the right one having been opened (swinging inward toward you) by Vitreous, although it's unclear if the other two are locked or not.
The right-hand door that Viterous opened leads to a long, curving dusty hallway that, from what you can tell, ends in a set of stairs that descend into pitch darkness. There are footprints going both ways in the hallway, but they're relatively old.
Layla staggers away from the finally closed door, and collapses into a sitting position, leaning against the wall next to Eris. She is still keeping all communication mental for stealth purposes, as she suggested/ordered before.
"Yes, please," she mentals, nodding at Eris's ready healing wand, and accepting any healing that is forthcoming, up to 10 hp.
"We made it. Good job, everyone!
Beylinda, are you yourself? Eris, are you okay?
Oh, I better check on our armored ally. He or she could probably use some healing from your wand, too, Eris!"
As Layla stands and looks around for the unconscious person, she notices Beylinda carrying him/her towards the open door at the far right side of the room.
"Wait, where are you taking that person, Beylinda? Why is that door open? Were there more hostiles incoming?"
Layla braces for attack and glances around, suddenly expecting to see slain goblin corpses near the open door, but somewhat confused to find none.
Sunny helps move the unconscious woman to where the healers are.
"I still be sayin' peelin' her out'a this heavy stuffs be tha' way ta' go." Sunny re-affirms.
Ceru manages a mental nervous laugh. If you have the means to add to the stock, that would be wonderful! But... I don't know if I would be much help to you... She mentally trails off, shielding her thoughts and memories of disasters she caused under her father's tutelage. Of course, what in Ceru's mind is reluctance could come off as humility...
Ceru returns to the rest of the group in the big room and still looks in wonder at all of the things. There are scribbles on walls! There are unopened doors. Which are the state doors should never be in. There is a mysterious savior who may be their most beloved emergency general! She ponders what to look at in what order and decides.
Ceru hands her chirurgeon's kit to the folks tending to the woman who was once dragon. If you need help let me know but you can probably make use of these on your own. I want to look at the doors!
Closed things, closed things. Things should never be closed. She is delighted to see Vitreous open the first, but, We should see where all of them go and then pick the best way!
Ceru starts at the left-most door, examining it carefully for any entirely unfair things people put on doors like traps--she checks the usual trigger points like touch points/pressure plates on the door knob or reaction triggers on the hinges, and of course she pays attention to the scribblings and carvings save any glyphs of warding or other such things are hidden within.
Seeing very clearly, it cannot possibly be trapped, Ceru reaches for the doorknob to see if it is locked.
Shaedo takes a moment to sip water from her water skin after her performance and reflects on the party's survival.
Such... silence. After all that excitement. Shaedo sighs and trembles. She further reflects for a moment how the silence after the noise of the storm seems to have almost physical substance.
She then shares some of her other thoughts by telepathy, preferring to rest her voice the time being- though she knows she could go for another several verses!
Although there was certainly risk and much danger- that was AMAZING! I have never been out in a mana storm before! Shaedo thinks with genuine enthusiasm. How many people can say they walked through the Mana Wastes and lived to sing about it?
Shaedo begins to wander the large room, seeking out and determining the location to each party member, and giving a brief vocal greeting. She doesn't dismiss her invisibility yet.
As she looks about the room, Shaedo feels her ears flattening against her head and the hairs on her tails standing up.
This room is huge- too huge... We went UP into the tower, not down under it... was the tower this big from the outside?
Does Shaedo remember, was the tower big enough to theoretically fit this room as it was seen from the outside?
When was the tower built, and by whom? Does it pre-date Nex and Geb?
As Shaedo jars her memory for insight about the party's present location.
As Shaedo helps Ceru look for traps, inspiration strikes.
Dijiron, you mentioned a door that smelled less foul- Ceru, once we've chosen our way, I am going to lay caltrops by the two bad doors for now- we can remove them later- just to slow down anything that might come out of them and take us from behind.
Shaedo begins poisoning caltrops. Once Ceru has looked past each door, and the party has chosen the path to take, Shaedo lays a set of poisoned caltrops in front of each "bad" door, telepathically informing everyone in the party exactly where the caltrops are so that no one steps on them accidentally.
Everyone hears a ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!! sound, and you all realize that Ooze is clamping his teeth shut.
The Tor definitely predates both Nex and Geb. It was used by all manner of folk - whoever happened to be nearby at any given time - as a hideout and fortress against bandits/by bandits. Eventually a number of distant but local tribes set up some sort of unofficial system of mutual protection by staffing the place with bandit hunters. When those tribes moved away, it became a common "base" for various bandits and monsters, all of which eventually abandoned it or were kicked out by another group. Eventually, either Nex or Geb - you don't recall which - nominally staffed it, but when Nex took it over (after it changed hands a couple of times) they transformed it into an "actual" base, complete with working doors, rooms, etc. by magic. It traded hands frequently during their war, though Nex held it most of the time, and after the Mana Waste became a thing, it was, eventually, abandoned, as no traffic came here, and the guards often died badly and mysteriously. It's again become a temporary base for. Artois groups of humanoids and monsters off and on, but the mana wastes don't make it appealing to any but mutants, and they generally don't have enough prey to live.
You are above median "ground level" although, being a Tor, you're kind of below "ground" by default of simply being inside it. It's like a natural cave turned into a building.
It's certainly possible that this is on another plane or demiplane! but you didn't notice anything like that. It's probably still the prime.
You don't find traps and are able to poison caltrops. The doors do seem locked, though.