The Darkness Below Maure Castle....
Game Master Lord Thasmudyan

The post above Chirinide was what my action is going to be. Maybe I'll add a Knowledge Religion check to see if the gargoyle heads have any religious significance.

Knowledge Religion 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

You need to do a Combat Maneuver to grapple Malcom and another to drag him back...

Luca taps Aelaeron with the wand of protection from evil

Go get him, boss!

Aelaeron cries out to Pendin, Be ready to restrain him when I get back!

The wizard shifts into the room, directly behind Malcom.

Will Save: 1d20 + 10 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 10 + 2 + 2 = 21 +2 from protection from evil +2 elf resistance to enchantment spells and effects

Once inside, he uses his dimensional steps ability to teleport back out of the room with Malcom, reappearing with Malcom adjacent to Pendin.

Oh man, I hope that's good enough.

sorry didn't realize that was the action you were wanting to do Pendin

Aelaeron you feel a tingling feeling as well as soon as you dimensional step into the room and you mind goes blank.

Everyone watches as Aelaeron walks over and removes his belt and drops it in the mouth of a gargoyle it crunches and like the previous one did to Malcom's shield and spits back out a ruined mess. Aelaeron face returns to normal as he seems to come out of what was effecting him unfortunately malcom still seems to have a blank look on his face.

Pendin nothing about this seems to be religious.

Chirinide and Nexumis what are your actions

Nexumis watches his two comrades become 'Zombies'

Get outta there! He screams at Malcom and Aelaeron,

Nexumis casts "Heroism" on himself, Hey Luca, a tap from that wand please? So I can help save your master? and prepares to enter the room to save his friends.

Only after gettin PoE cast on him will he enter the room himself.

Will Save: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 23

Hmm well I am not going in there

Nexumis will wait and see if they can get out themselves before putting himself in danger, and casting his Heroism spell...He really doesn't want to go into that room; unless he HAS to.

Malcom stands there motionless, not blinking and drooling a little.

"guhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

So does that mean you are not going to try and go in this round Nex?

Nex are you withholding your action for the round or not?

Aelaeron grimaces at the loss of his belt, but leaves it. He scoops up Malcom's ruined shield and holds onto the big man as he teleports out of the room and reappears, placing Malcom behind Pendin.

Luca wings over and taps Malcom on the head with the wand of protection from evil.

that should give you a new save at +2

Your action is going to have to wait till we finish the round I am waiting for Nex to state one way or another if he is waiting on you, also Malcom will be acting this round before you have a chance to step out of the room unless Nex has something he can do to prevent it before the end of this round

I will give nex a few more hours to post if he doesn't then we will skip him

alright well I guess we are moving along

Aelaeron you watch as Malcom walks over to another of the gargoyle heads and deposits his other shield in its mouth which it proceeds to crunch up and spit out seconds later. after this he turns back to you and the look on his face seems to no longer be zombified.

Malcom you come out of it and down at your hands and notice your shields seem to be missing and you have no memory of what happened to them except a sinking feeling the balls of junk in front of the gargoyles is possibly them both.

sorry dude you don't have any other magic items on you except for armor

"Malcolm, what happened in there? Why on earth did you...feed...your shields to those gargoyle heads?!" Pendin looks back at the group, "Maybe we should leave this room alone for now. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can get Malcolm's shields back?"

"Do not look at me, as I have no skill in those arts at all. Not even a flicker of magic runs thru these veins."

"Well glad to know I'm not the only person who thinks leaving this room is a good idea. It appears that a magical compulsion causes people to feed their magic items to the gargoyle heads. It may be fine to hang around if you don't have any magic on you. Gonna try it Drake?"

I can if you would like but I would ask that you hold my Items so that it doesn't get crushed.

If you would be so kind to hold on to these I will walk in there to see what happens. As long as someone would pull me out if need be.

She takes them and sets them to the side then hands Drake one end of a rope. "Here tie yourself off, if you go blank faced I can yank you back before you do something stupid. If you don't then you can untie yourself later."

Rope Use roll

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Ties myself off and then heads into the creepy room.

"Malcolm, what happened in there? Why on earth did you...feed...your shields to those gargoyle heads?!"

"What in the Nine Layers are you talking about? I didn't feed my shields to anything of the sort?"

Malcom looks at his arms.

"????"

Well that was the most expensive RPG disaster I've ever encountered, and I've played a 3.5 Artificer. 70 438gp!!!

I hear ya dude I seriously looked all over your character stats trying to find any other magic items as the curse or what have you that the effect causes intially effects the most expensive or powerful items. figured you loosing your armor would be a bad thing. They don't call Maure Castle the most f'd module for nothing....

Drake roll a will save

Aelaeron scoops up Malcom's ruined shields and walks out of the room. He shakes his head over the loss of his belt.
Well, it could have been worse, I suppose. Drake, would you grab my belt while you're in there?
Once Malcom steps out of the room, Aelaeron hands the ruined shields to him.
First, we still have the raw materials, Mithral isn't cheap, after all. he says with a grin.
Second, I have heard of a divine magic that can restore even the most potent magical items. The spell itself is simple enough, but it requires a very powerful caster, probably more powerful than Ms. Zarinde.
He purses his lips for a moment, deep in thought. What if we resealed this dungeon, using our own magic, and left to regroup, restore Malcom's shields, and possibly return with a more... shall we say focused, mindset? What say you all?

What spell are you referencing, Aelaeron? Wish?

Nope, make whole. It's specifically called out in the repairing magic items section.

will save

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Pendin nods at Aelaeron, "I agree with you we may be well served to resupply and come back. Much as it is a disappointment to Irori, but I had not the foresight to prepare properly for this place. Malcolm here cannot be left defenseless without his shields, although I am sure his martial prowess is worthy of song."

Drake walks into the room and seems unaffected by the tingling zombie curse that affect his previous compatriots. You look around all seems normal and quiet, Drake.

let me review the mod once I get home Aelaeron but I am not sure make whole will help in this situation at least not for the shields.

Your call Thas, you're the DM. Just trying to be helpful.

No probs I forgot how powerful Make Whole can be but like I said need to look over the mod one more time before I make a call on if it could work. The belt is more likely to be fixable cause it is not a high caster level but the shields are probably to powerful

I definitely agree on the weapon enhancements, that needs a 24th level caster on the make whole to restore. I'm not sure on the armor enhancements though. +2 only needs a 12th level caster, so maybe the spell can restore the armor enchantment but not the weapon enchantment. They're separate enchantments, so who knows? I'm glad I don't have to make these decisions anyway. But yeah, if the mod says that make whole doesn't work, then we might be in trouble.

"Well if you guys want to give a minute, I will make Malcolm some temporary shields. They will be wooden but they are better then nothing."

Assuming no one stops her she will go to the sun room clear a bit of space and cast minor creation to make a pair of wooden shields(Unless you will let me make them teflon, that is organic material and can be made hard as well, I am sure I have spider webs in my spell comp pouch) they will last 11 hours.

search for hidden items

1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29

If there are anything of use here I am going to tie them to the rope and have them pulled out so I am not carrying them

Though wood is nothing in comparison to Mythral I'd be greatful all the same Chirinide. I must admit I feel quite exposed without my shields. I still don't fully understand what just happened here as this is quite devastating to me. I worked quite hard to pay for those. They were made by the finest craftsman and enchanters in the land and are very much one of a kind.

Drake you search the cursed room and find nothing hidden any where in the room just gargoyle heads and dust it seems in this room.

I am sorry for your loss, Malcom. It is an expensive lesson to learn, but I think we must be more careful. I include myself, as I am also guilty of recklessly rushing into rooms. If I may suggest, let's watch over Chirinide as she kindly crafts your new shields. While we do so, we can discuss our tactics going forward. If we are going to press onward, I would suggest that we conduct a magical survey before we enter any other rooms, and if we are not able to determine what lies ahead of us, we search for a different path. Further we are blessed with excellent infiltrators and spotters, he smiles at Drake and Pendin. We can certainly make better use of them than we have to date. Finally, you and I must stop rushing into unknown danger. No one should enter a new area until we are adequately prepared and informed.

"Starting to see my wisdom eh?" Chirinide teases.

Pendin keeps an eye and ear out at the intersection of hallways leading to the room where the gargoyle heads are for any enemies that could be coming.

Perception to notice any enemies 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (3) + 20 = 23

"Regretfully too late, but yes, you're wisdom proved to be sagelike."

Don't take it personal, Chiri. The boss, well he's kind of a slow learner sometimes...

Luca gives Chirinide an exaggerated wink, then flits over to Aelaeron's shoulder and proceeds to make biscuits with his retractable claws.

I am going to walk out of the room and suggest that we mark the area and not to come back to it. There is nothin here for us at the moment let' regroup an get some new members since the gargoyles ate the other ones

Flynn and Moussa

Everyone else what are you doing?

Keeping an active lookout at the hallway juncture for any enemies.

Perception 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (16) + 20 = 36

Moussa signals for silence to his temple-mate. He moves along to investigate.

Pendin while everyone is talking you look toward the door and listen, you swear you hear the sound of multiple individuals coming down the hallway. What strikes you as odd is that the movement or walkIng is very deliberate in that it seems the persons is trying to be very cautious.

I am going to slip into the shadows and salk my way down the hallway towards pendin

stealth check
1d20 + 24 ⇒ (8) + 24 = 32

Malcom will monitor Chirinide's progress at a short distance.

Aelaeron is with Malcom and Chirinide, observing the creation of Malcom's new shields.

Flynn pulls his bow out, and sneaks down the hallway, keeping an eye out for anything that might be dangerous

Stealth: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (18) + 22 = 40
Perception: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (20) + 28 = 48