Varkata Steeleye |
Wait, I did roll last round. Ok, I'll use that this round, then.
Varkata wills herself still and then lashes out with her blade again, driving it with all her strength, trying to get through the unnaturally thick hide.
Ebon Flame: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 12 + 2 + 1 = 17 I'm assuming that's a miss.
Ebon Flame (Hasted): 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 12 + 2 + 1 = 30 for 1d8 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 2 = 16 and frost: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Sheik Voodoo |
Kzrira backs a step away from the groping giant and fires a full barrage of adamantine arrows. These pierce his golden flesh as if it were mortal meat. The shaitan howls. Varkata follows this up with a slash from Ebon Flame. Sand sprays from multiple wounds.
Amir shakes the sand from his eyes to find himself lifted from the shifting dunes, but still some seven yards from the others as he dangles helpless in midair.
R5
Karethas
Zulficar
Karethas ibn Faradin |
Karethas pulls up from his ascent and hovers for a moment, "Be ready old man! You'll be coming in fast." Karethas descends quickly, skimming close to the shifting sand before swooping up and pushing Amir strait at the shaitan. As the thief gets close to the djinn Karethas causes him gently fall to the platform, hopefully giving him enough forward momentum to aid to his blows.
Can I get a +2 for a charge and his full attacks for a well worded teamwork stunt?
Sheik Voodoo |
Karethas swoops to catch up his suspended friend and deposits him safely back on the platform. Now outnumbered and sorely wounded, Zulficar retreats past Varkata (another AoO) into the passage at the back of the temple. A wall of stone suddenly appears blocking the way behind him.
Round 5
Kzrira
Amir
Varkata
R6
Karethas
Zulficar
Varkata Steeleye |
AoO: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 12 + 2 + 1 = 25 for 1d8 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 2 = 13 and frost: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Varkata Steeleye |
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Varkata says, "No idea. Other than chipping our way through it, that is. I'm sure our little friend is back there getting healed."
Varkata Steeleye |
She flew off.
Karethas ibn Faradin |
Karethas snaps his fingers and pulls out the wand of Stone Shape that the dragon's skull had given the party. He casts the spell and creates an opening in the stone wall. "Voila!"
Didn't write that one down, although no one claimed it at all so I am just assuming I have it. Amir, don't forget the potions given to you by Obherak. How many charges does the wand have Voodoo?
Sheik Voodoo |
How many charges does the wand have Voodoo?
wand of stone shape now at 31. wand of restoration is at 18.
The wand makes the stone as malleable as clay and a large hole is easily punched through the conjured stone wall. After a short passage, you find stairs. Descending the stairs from the sphinx’s platform above, you enter a darkened corridor 10 feet wide. Scattered around the far end of the corridor are seven squared archways opening into 5-foot corridors leading deeper into darkness.
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata steps in behind the archer, then starts floating off the ground again with her sword ready, "It's too bad the wand doesn't work on the Shaitan."
Kzrira Maiwith |
Kzrira glances over her shoulder at Varkata before looking over at Karethas.
Would it work? Might it make the weapons get through his think skin easier?
Amir Awad Hajjir |
Amir prepares to lead the way but pauses as the conversation turns to tactics, better we figure this out before we proceed...
Karethas ibn Faradin |
"No, but we have two doses that will give someone the same effect that I have been saving for a big fight. I believe Amir has a potion to do the same thing. The two doses will last two hours. Amir's will last about 80 minutes. The wand can be useful in other ways, and the shaitan will all be able to create stone walls, so we will need it for that. I just wish I would have thought to have Varkata memorize Detect Chaos, so we could find that Protean more easily. I also wish I would have memorized Invisibility to have Gen scout around a bit." Karethas uses his last Pearl of Power to recall Grease and then casts Mage Armor using the Ramskin cloak.
Amir Awad Hajjir |
Should we take them now or should we wait? Who knows how much work we will have to do to get to our destination... I can pull the potion from my satchel quickly enough but will sacrifice a few seconds of fighting ability...
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata says, "He's probably not alone, though, so let's try to keep on our toes... Or just off them if we can stay off the ground."
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata motions to the passages and looks to Kzrira, "Which way to the wounded one, O Huntress?"
Kzrira Maiwith |
Somehow I missed that there were 7 passages.
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Still holding her bow, Kzrira kneels down trying to discern which passage the genie might have gone down.
Sheik Voodoo |
Amir and Kzrira search the archways looking for tracks and note something unusual; some of the light golden sand outside has blown around the area, but none of the dust that has drifted into the passages is disturbed. It does not appear that anyone has passed through any of the passages recently at all.
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata says, "I have a spell that allows me to locate creatures... but with this many passages in weird directions... I don't know if it'd help."
Amir Awad Hajjir |
I agree, I am not sure it would help if he somehow magic'd himself away without leaving a trace. Another consequence of his earthen affiliation. Well no sense in standing around. It seems we should do something...Start on the left? The classic maze strategy?
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata shrugs, "I don't know the protean, so the spell won't work. Can't just find 'a protean'."
Sheik Voodoo |
Varkata shrugs, "I don't know the protean, so the spell won't work. Can't just find 'a protean'."
spell desc- "The spell can locate a creature of a specific kind or a specific creature known to you". So I'd say it works.
Varkata prays for a bit of guidance and surprisingly someone up there is sober enough to give her help. She feels the presence of a Protean about a hundred yards beneath her feet.
Karethas ibn Faradin |
Does it look like any passages head downward? Are any cooler than the others?
Karethas examines each of the passages. He crouches down and studies the dust. "I can use the wand to create a stairway down. Honestly, it could be that none of these passages leads to him with the shaitans' ability to shape stone."
Kzrira Maiwith |
Kzrira shakes her head.
Your guess is best. I have no clue how to get through this stone. We can just search each passage, but this will give him a lot of opportunities to waylay us.
Sheik Voodoo |
I'll assume that you are now taking '20' to inspect the chamber.
After careful inspection, the seven passages seem identical. The air within them is stale and warm. Walking just a little ways in each reveals that they turn sharply and likely compose a maze. There is no hint that any descend.
However, close inspection of the floor of the entry chamber reveals a 10 x 10 section of stone floor that does not seem to have the same texture as the rest. There is no seam to signify a door, but it may have been shaped or summoned to cover a passage down.
Karethas ibn Faradin |
Karethas smiles and nods as he rises from his crouch over the strange section of stone. He pulls out the wand and waves it over the floor, hollowing it out to see if it leads to a passage down.
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata seems a little surprised that her spell worked, chuckling, I am definitely too sober for this place.., pointing the way and following.
She shakes her head, "They can all just reshape the stone, can't they?"
Karethas ibn Faradin |
"Pretty much whenever they want. They basically can do whatever they want with stone, including traveling through it like the earth elementals I used to be able to summon."
Kzrira Maiwith |
With the hole formed, Kzrira looks at Amir.
Downward it is old man. Lets find this stoner and get us a protean.
I assume Amir leads down with Kzrira close behind as usual.
Varkata Steeleye |
Varkata says, "Not exactly reassuring, that thought.", then makes her way toward the hole.
Sheik Voodoo |
I did mention that it is a shaft... I'd say that enough time has passed that the fly spells have expired.
Faced with the deep dark pit, Karethas quickly fashions a projection with the wand's assistance and Amir ties off a rope. The old rogue leads the way down, flaming sword handy to provide flickering light. Kzrira is next, then Varkata and Karethas.
About fifty feet down, the sides of the narrow shaft suddenly spread away revealing a bizarre, sixty-foot-wide chamber which suggests the interior of a six-stepped ziggurat. Set in the center of the chamber
forty feet below you is a block structure some twenty feet across, covered in an intricate lacework of tiny, glowing, golden Terran runes, giving a dim light to the entire chamber. At the widest point of the room’s perimeter at the base, stand four large stones.
Yet in this strange chamber, perhaps the strangest sight of all is the figure imprisoned in that floating stone block—a snakelike creature with a feathered reptilian head and delicate humanoid arms seems to have been fused into the block, coils of flesh and lengths of arms protruding here and there from the stone, its head partially encased with only one closed eye free.
Varkata Steeleye |
Boo, my beloved fly spell!
Karethas ibn Faradin |
Karethas signals everyone to stay in place as he examines the Terran runes on the block structure. He casts Detect Magic and examines any auras in range.
KNOWLEDGE ARCANA CHECK:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28(7 rank, +3 class skill, +4 Int)
SPELLCRAFT CHECK:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17(7 rank, +3 class skill, +4 Int)