Nevharath pockets the ledger for wacky psionic power use later, and returns to the party.
I wanna detect magic on teh ledger.
Nevharath will allow it to be detect-ed.
"Later, when I get more time, I can use this to learn more about him. Unfortunately, it takes quite some time and I fear we do not have the spare minutes at this moment."
"Let's head this way." Janosz heads towards the opening in the lecture hall's notheastern corner .
"Agreed."
"As long as it's not here, it sounds good to me."
"I think he put a hex on me", Janosz mutters to Rodergo. "He looked me in the eye, and whomp, I feel like refried s%~!." He gives the lecturer's carcass a vicious kick.
"If this is it, I'll be OK - I go through worse every Saturday morning. I'll let you know if it gets worse."
Gil will cast (or refresh) her detect magic and study the Shadow Marcher to see if she can see an ongoing spell effect on him. "Tell me what he did when he cast the spell."
The Kaarnathi wizard interrupts. "Forget it, Gil. Unless you can remove curses now, there's nothing you can do. The eyebite will have to be allowed to wear off. Gelb's affliction will likewise have to run its course. Effective choice of spells to soften up an advancing enemy."
I'm back I guess;
I can remove curse tomorrow, or dispel magic out the wazoo......trying to wrap my head around what works on what atm.
"I've heard of this one. It's unpleasant, but it should wear off in an hour or two, depending on the old boy's magical skills. Though, if he could cast this one, he had to be fairly talented. Probably at least two hours, now that I think about it. No permanent effects."
I guess the way out at BV 5 in the lecture hall.
The small doorway opens into what appears to be a store cupboard. In it are a series of jars with faded labels. Most appear to be spell components of various kinds.
Does BV 5 go anywhere? I guess we could go up that hallway.
Let's head back there then.
Gil will pick up a few things from the cabinet before exiting.
The adventurers head back to the room where they defeated the skeleton guards, and face the door the pukwudgie passed through to escape deeper into the temple. One of the double doors is now open, and peering down it reveals a corridor lit by widely spaced everburning torches, much like others in the complex. At the end is another set of doors, again left ajar by the pukwudgie's flight, but it is too shadowy to see what lies beyond.
"The puckwudgie leads the way. Anybody want to check this out for traps?"
Frowning, Gil checks. As she does, she comments, "He did not really pause here - we heard no passphrase."
"Better to check twice than to rush through. Gelb? Would you be willing to put the cleric's mind at ease?"
"Huh?" Gelb looks up shakily from securing one of his pouches he stuffed with spell components from the storage room.
"Sure you want to trust me after what happened?" Gelb asks as he looks at the passage.
"You're our best hope."
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The group moves up the corridor cautiously to the next doorway. Peering in, they see a chamber of a similar size to the one holding the font, although without the niches and the skeletons standing guard. To left and right are two open passageways, the openings roughly hewn and not covered with finished stone unlike the rest of the complex so far.
The floor of the chamber has a large mosaic of exquisite workmanship at its centre. It depicts a desert, dunes humped up and coloured orange and black amid the shadows cast by the setting sun. The only man-made feature is the head of a statue, a stone crown upon its head, half-buried on its side and gazing sightlessly into nothing. A legend around the edge of the picture reads, "Gaze upon his works, ye mighty, and despair."
know religion
"I did a senior paper on this.....how funny. There was this ancient king, named Ozzyozbourmandias; well,......."
damn I crack myself up
"anyway, the gist of it is, this king, so mighty, so great, 50 foot statues,.......massive empire,.....none of it matters; his kingdom is a desert and nobody remembers him except poncy Karrnathian poets. In essense, it's all bullox.
It led to a couple really bleak teenage years for me personally. Nothing seemed to matter when it's all ultimately marching toward an inevitable entropy.
But, see.....here's the crux of why nihilism is indeed bullox. Ozymandias, while he was actually alive, had 100 wives and 1000 children.
He's the most oversexed man that ever was. Here's a typical day!!! Wake up. Take a squat on the pot. Tidy up a bit. Immediately bang wife 25. Eat breakfast. Bang wife.....79 AND the servant girl. Take a midmorning nap,......it's sublime.
The poet was a git!!!"
And yet again, Aubrey is amazed at how well read his bizarre gaming cohort is
"It is good to be the king."
"There's gotta be a trap here somewhere, like when the skeletons animated in the previous room. What's the theme here, Rod? That all must, eventually fail? How would that serve as a trap?"
"Gil, Gelb... Let's check out the room before anyone else enters. Is the damned head movable, maybe?"
Sighing, Gelb steps forward and inspects the room.
"Can't find any traps but then again, I'm seeing two of everything," Gelb admonishes.
"The Halls of Inevitability...."
"Inevitably, the cycle must turn. The waking will sleep and the dreamers must wake..."
The mosaic look innocuous enough, if slightly gloomy in subject. Then a chill breeze flows through the room.
Suddenly, you are back in the room, looking at the mosaic.