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"Nethys must be mocking me," Ralph growls bitterly when he recalls that Kurshu's only real vulnerability is acid.
Mindful of the need to save his strongest spells for Krune himself, Ralph considers his simpler options.
"Well then, if I can't burn it with fire, Exiel will just need to stab it for me."
He begins an incantation to increase Exiel's size so that the extra physical power might help him punch through Kurshu's damage resistance.
"He's resistant to fire, lightning, cold and sound-based attacks. If anyone has an acid spell, this would be a good time to use it!"
Nienna's attacks seem to seriously wound the creature, but she looks with greed upon Exiel, so close at hand. She reaches toward him, almost as a lover reaches for her beloved, or a glutton reaches for a ham sandwich...
Suddenly she speaks a word and a fireball erupts halfway between Exiel and his comrades on the ground!
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Naala is able to duck away from the fireball, allowing both herself and Alden to take less damage from it.
Alden will then make a rallying cry, giving his allies the benefit of Danger Ward.
Alden and Naala will continue to follow Exiel, hoping to prevent some damage to him in the next round.
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Exiel easily avoids the worst of the fireball, but is still singed by the blast.
"Seems you've got a thing for me. I'd say it was my charming good looks, but I'm not really wearing my usual face at the moment," Exiel quips.
He will delay his action till after Ralph's turn so he gets the benefit of the enlarge person for his action. hoping that Ralph will somehow be able to pull off his spell in the midst of a roaring fireball...
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With dogged determination, Ralph completes his spell and smiles in triumphant satisfaction as Exiel doubles in size.
Ralph flies up towards Kurshu and draws a net as he moves. Once he is close enough, he casts the net at Kurshu, hoping that his invisibility and the element of surprise will be enough to help him pull off his maneuver.
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Round 1
Mage Armor on self - duration 10 hours (anyone else want one?)
Magic Circle Against Evil - duration 100 minutes
Bless - duration 93 rounds
Mirror Image 5 images - duration 94 rounds
drink Potion of Owl's Wisdom - duration 25 rounds
Haste - duration 6 rounds
Greater invisibility on Nienna - duration 7 rounds
Vanish - duration 3 rounds
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HP: 2 of 62
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A rather panicy Lavode backs out of the area of 'fireball formation' since he obviously can't take much more.
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Alden and Naala move up, flying toward the snake-woman, as Nienna feathers her, literally, with arrows. Only one shot misses, but it's enough to knock the snake woman down, sending her tumbling to the ground in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Her blood splashes, curiously enough, into odd runes near her body...
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42 come back down the temple and looks at the body for a minute. Then he reads out loud, "Enjoy your victory, and I shall enjoy mine. In your righteousness you have sacrificed my life to assure the rise of another. May Runelord Krune skin you alive and use your flesh as the canvas for the scriptures of Lissala’s second coming!"
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"Thank you, Lavode, for casting greater invisibility. It made that battle much simpler!"
Everyone, please don't move further south until I scan the area for any... surprises."
Nienna detects magic on the southern face of the ziggurat, then carefully moves along the path drawn in purple. If she detects a trap, she will immediately stop, inform the rest of the party, and then attempt to disable it.
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"Runes are nothing to fear, Exiel. They are simply symbols of power, and power can be commandered or removed. In fact, I believe we were advised to do precisely that," Ralph replies to Exiel as he casts detect magic on the blood-runes.
"Thank you for the translation, 42. I believe Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed, employed a similar tactic by branding his giant servants with a sihedron rune that channeled their souls towards his own revival when they died."
Just as a precaution, Ralph will also check Kurshu's wounds to see if they are closing for any reason.
Once satisfied that Kurshu is well and truly dead, he will let Nienna and Exiel search for traps and exits. He secretly uses his wand of infernal on himself while Exiel is distracted.
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Mage Armor on self - duration 10 hours (anyone else want one?)
Magic Circle Against Evil - duration 98 minutes
Communal Protection From Energy Fire - duration 19 minutes
Bless - duration 78 rounds
Mirror Image 5 images - duration 79 rounds
drink Potion of Owl's Wisdom - duration 13 rounds
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Lavode begins to use his wand a tad desperately.
HP:60 of 62
Exiel and Ralph examine the body and are glad that they did: the wounds on the 'corpse' seem to be slowly knitting shut!
Between Lavode and 42's repeated acid splashes, the corpse slowly dissolves with a hissing sigh, leaving only an oily stain behind.
After the commotion and healing dies down, you can see a pair of double doors on the far side of the ziggurat, heading south. A flight of stairs ascends to the north from the stone ziggurat’s first tier, terminating in a large stone door. Carved into the door’s center is a large seven-pointed star, known as a Sihedron, with a palm-sized disk of blue-green metal inlaid into each point and a handprint embedded in its center. The disks glow softly with blue-green light, illuminating several runes that surround the handprint.
42 detects the fading threads of an alarm spell, already triggered. Other than that, no active auras present themselves.
The runes on the door seem to be Thassalonian in nature. No handle or key holes are apparent.
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Shrugging at the news that the alarm spell was triggered, Nienna mutters "well, I tried..." before stopping her patrol and seeing to her wounds.
One she is finished healing, she will actively examine the door.
And, given her sudden distraction, she activates her Crypt of the Ever-something boon to reroll.
Exiel does not detect any evil or any magic at the moment. However, Nienna examines the doors closely, almost stepping away from it, but spots something odd and looks again. It seems there is a magic trap on the door, probably triggered by touch!
Also, she gets a slightly sick feeling whenever she's near the strange blue-green metal.
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Ralph whispers to anyone he can outside of Exiel's hearing.
"I have a wand that heals in a...less savoury manner. Best my paladin friend not find out about it, but it will heal you up in a few minutes."
He looks on as Nienna disables the trap .
"Impressive. I for one am glad you are with us this day," he says as he gives her a nod of approval.
As Lavode and 42 study the metal, they realize it is abyssium, a sky metal known for sickening those in contact with it.
Nienna takes her time on the magical trap, and is satisfied that she has disabled it. In fact, in her machinations, the door sudden opens slightly; it seems the locking mechanism was tied to the magic in some way. Beyond the door the hallway is quiet and dark.
The door opens into a fifteen-foot hallway that extends to the northeast and northwest to create a heptagonal perimeter around a central structure. Great stone plates inlaid with bluegreen metal are built into alternating walls, each massive plate inscribed with its own immense rune. Framing each rune is a trio of extraplanar figures cast in stone, each one’s visage twisted in anger, agony, or despair.
The only other visible door lies on the eastern side of the central structure.
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Ralph sends Exiel through the door first to 'scout the area', and whilst he is gone, quickly uses his wand to cast infernal healing on Naala and Alden. He then follows the group out the door (still invisible and flying) and approaches the nearest stone plate.
"I wonder if this does anything important..." he muses as he casts detect magic on it and attempts to discern if it has any import.