Straehan glances at both corridors in turn, curiosity always being his master, "I think Orin needs to upgrade to Talking Bats next time... I mean it couldn't hurt to get a slightly closer look at those statues, right? Just to see where the corridor goes?"
Ushari slips silently behind the others not making a sound. "It seems to me a good idea to check out that south corridor bit I would NOT go in there. We know the dimensions of this place are larger inside then out, so it would not surprise me if that corridor leads to a different place entirely." She slides next to the scuff marks and peers at them. "Jofram, what do you make of these?"
Ushari examines the scuff marks closely. To her untrained eye they appear to be the streaks from numerous shoes or boots.
While Ushari and Jofram check out the floor, Jayse makes his way over to the southern door. He stays a few feet from the nearest figure, but gives it a long, close inspection.
"Strae, you see any arcane trickery from these guys?"
The bats flew towards the south, then landed in a row. Suppose they saw those statues move to their current location. What if they are constructs of some sort, lying in wait for us. I wonder...
Orin looks at the statues from a safe distance, concentrating on any magical auras that might be present Detect Magic .
he draws an arrow (a construct bane one), closes one eye, exhales, and fires at the statue.
Strae shadows the larger monk. "Looks clean. I'm seeing nothing above the residual magic this whole place exudes... and this area doesn't look trapped." He can't help but run a speculative boot across the scorch marks both men are standing on.
From your position at the entrance, you can see the end of the corridor - nearly 60' away. Every 5' section of wall - 24 in total - has a figure emerging from it. Each one stands on an engraved plinth bearing Shaudran characters. The people are intriguing. They appear to be human in size and build but with sharply defined and angled features. It could just be the art style or a fair representation of how the Shaudran appeared. From your vantage point, you can see three or four of the statues clearly. Aside from wearing the same sorts of flowing robes, they all appear slightly different in terms of height, features, even their facial expressions. And each carries different equipment. Two have wicked looking narrow-bladed swords, one carries a set of keys, and the fourth holds a heavy stack of books. Glancing down the corridor, it seems each figure is unique and there are a fair number of women as well as men.
Orin looks at the statues from a safe distance.
Orin looks at the statues from a safe distance.
Jayse regards the statues, "These guys don't look so bad." He gives a pause to see if his words bring some form of terrible retribution down on him before he shrugs. "So we have swordsmen, key-bearers, and book-worms. If they come alive, I'd say we need to neutralize the book-carriers. If they're somehow figurative, I'm most interested in the guys with keys." He gives Jofram and Ushari a glance. "You think we should wait to see what they come up with before we head in?"
Jayse waits for retribution to fall and...
...is slightly crestfallen when nothing happens.
"Jofram, what do you make of these?"
"If they come alive, I'd say we need to neutralize the book-carriers."
"I think if two dozen statues come to life and attack us, we're better off with a strategic retreat."
Jofram is like a hound on the scent as he walks around the scuff-marked area, which is made easier to see by a healthy layer of fine, sandy dust. He follows several harder to spot trails that criss-cross the room as well... eventually winding up back at the heavily scuffed area. A frown creases his face...
A team of perhaps seven to nine adventurers enters through the wall crack. They cautiously scout the room, much as you have done. One or two even take a quick look up the northern passageway while others look to the southern one, much as you have done. Then something happened. There is a scrambling retreat from all corners of the room. Beneath the glow of the lamp, the team makes their stand, forming a tight circle, facing outward. From the footwork and scorch marks - it is a vicious battle both arcane and mundane. Poofs in the dust show where more and more of the teammates fell. In the end, only two are left and they flee towards the crack in the wall. They make it no further than halfway to the exit before their prints vanish - without even the marks of a falling body. You can only conclude that none of them made it out alive. Worse, there are no prints or indications of their assailants. Whatever happened, only the efforts of the doomed team shows on the floor - and they never lived to penetrate deeper into the complex.
"There was death here - a group of eight or so. They were exploring, then suddenly were fighting - back to back. Most fell here. Two of them ran for the crack before they... vanished. Their attackers were either very good at hiding their tracks, or they didn't make any."
Jofram straightens and summons his bow, peering into the darkness for trouble.
When you send in dah GNOME, ya get dah GNOME. :)
Orin thinks back to what the others told him about the Shaudran ruins. A Shaudran ruin, deadly creatures good at hiding? Shadow creatures, perhaps?
He draws an arrow from his quiver and casts Light on it.
Ushari's blood chills when she hears Jofram's clinical explanation of the origin of the scuff marks. And we are in the exact same situation they were in...
Stepping closer to Orin around the hanging lantern, she chants a quick prayer and holds her finger out, her birthmark glowing softly.
Let's see if undead spirits lurk here...
Jofram's news sets Jayse's skin to tingling, and he can't help but fight the urge to adopt a combat stance. It occurs to him that there's one place in the room that they haven't searched. Doing his best to be circumspect, he gives a quick look toward the shadow-shrouded ceiling.
Jayse looks back down, seemingly looking at some of the scuffs on the floor as he pitches his voice low -- just loud enough for the whole group to hear. "Does anyone have the ability to see the ceiling in here? Whatever killed those eight adventurers didn't leave tracks. I'm concerned that that means they were killed by something that flies or doesn't have much of a physical form… a creature fitting either of those descriptions could be hiding in the ceiling shadows above us."
"What do you think, Vaelos? Dark things lurking about? Go see."
Murmering a few elvish words, Jofram sends the red eagle aloft, listening for a sound besides the beat of Vaelos' wings.
"A likely place for them to lurk..." Ushari mutters to herself.
Straehan looks around nervously, his instincts telling him to step away from the statuary as the most obvious potential threat. Nevertheless, he remains with his scouting partner.
Ushari casts her spell and the truth springs to her eyes in auras of livid green...
ORDER:
Map: Dancing in the Dark
70|70
79|79
72|72
52|52
60|60
~None~
Bad Guys
~None~
"Ohhh...S***! Incoming guys! Incorporeals and closing fast!"
Reacting to Ushari's warning, but with no clue as to the direction of the threat, Jofram moves to toward the edge of the room. "Backs to the wall!"
Upon reaching the wall, Jofram pivots, senses reaching out for any sign of the invisible beings.
"Ushari - where and what are they?!?!"
"NO! Get AWAY from the walls, they are coming through the walls!"
Jofram rolls towards his teammates, his voice rallying their courage while Vaelos launches into the air with a shriek of concern.
Straehan parses the information at a breakneck pace. Party of eight ambushed and killed... at least one Wizard judging by the scorch marks... incorporeal undead... only our destiny weapons are strong against creatures like these.... Better to overestimate than give too little too late.
Despite his abiding desire to fall back, leaving Jayse without an ally is a losing proposition. The gnome holds his ground and works a spell. Unfortunately, the ranger at the party's rear is just a hair out of range...
ORDER:
Inspire Courage - +2 to ATT/DAM ; +2 Saves vs Charm/Fear | Rnd 1 of ???
Haste (except Jofram) - +1 to ATT ; +1 Attack on FULL attack ; +1 AC (Dodge) ; +1 Reflex Saves ; +30' MOVE | Rnd 1 of 7
Bad Guys
~None~