Gelb gets hp healed.
Gelb gets more hp healed.
Gelb gets back to max.
Okay. Spells picked; I'm ready.
"Lead the way Froggy but I'll be in the back."
"But of course." Janosz takes a last swig of his sweet, sticky tea, packs away his skull-mug and gets up. "Whenever y'alls are ready."
Okay. Spells picked; I'm ready.
The spell-casters slot their spells into the minds, and the rest prepare themselves mentally. Then they grab their gear, check their weapons and head through the dark doorway and deeper into the mausoleum.
They pass down a short corridor which abruptly ends at an underground chasm. The corridor continues as a perilous-looking stone bridge without handrails or parapets. Across the drop, the far side is dimly visible at the furthest extremity of the light from their lanterns. To the left and right the chasm runs away into darkness, and the floor and ceiling are similarly lost in the gloom. But within sight, above, below and to either side, more bridges cross the gulf. Along the walls crawl narrow ledges, joined to each other by stairways and the bridges. Ledges and bridges slope up and down, creating a three-dimensional maze within the confines of the cavern. And festooning all of these are ropes of thick white webbing, hanging like vines in a jungle. The air is cold and still.
"This has to be the shrine of the Weaver. A question of tactics - do we want to try to sneak across the bridge, or do we deliberately attract attentin and deal with the guardians at a spot of our own choosing?"
"The latter sounds better to me. I cannot imagine us getting through this without being attacked, and I would consider myself an optimist."
Gil looks over the side of the path. "You assume the guardians are foolish enough to fall for it. I wonder how much of this scene is real."
Looking around the chasm, Gelb responds, "You just gave me an idea, my dear."
"We'll need your illusions to pull it off and trick whatever guardians are here so we can ambush them."
In a low voice dripping with sarcasm, she looks at the other changeling, "Do tell, sweetheart."
While Gelb offers his proposal, Ezreal begins casting. The color drains from his skin leaving it gray and the space around him distorts for an instant when he call up a protective field.
Do we want to cross the bridge? I'm kicking myself because I replaced all my flying/airwalking stuff for damaging stuff.
"Two illusions," Gelb lectures. "The first, of us, vigilant and ready for trouble, heading out to the bridge. When the attack comes, drop the first illusion and send another to ambush the attackers."
"More than likely whatever guardian is in this place will be suspicious of the first illusion but when we send the second one it/they will react normally. That'll allow us to study it/them and find a way across without too much trouble."
I like it.
"It could work. A little outside my skill set though. Gil? Is that something you could pull off?"
She considers. "Perhaps."
"Don't make the first illusion too perfect. We want the guardian(s) to be overconfident that they saw thru the illusion."
"That way, when the second one hits it/them, they won't hold back."
"Sounds good to me. Let's do it."
Gil looks at Gelb, "OK, so I'm thinking the first illusion will be intentionally less smooth and the second will be as accurate as I can make it. What do you want the second illusion to do? The first illusion will just be moving tentatively out into the bridge, right?"
know religion
"Hmmm. Undead are immune to illusions if they are mind affecting. Might be a problem."
She frowns, "This is not that sort of deception. Undead should perceive it - minus the life force - as you or I. I think."
"Gil- as much as I hate to admit it the weasel has a potentially viable plan to draw out the guardian. If this is the shrine it leaves us open to attack from all directions. Better to see what we are getting ourselves into before it is too late. However I am afraid the entire scenario is outside my skill set. I would suggest opening up with a credible figment, but not your best effort then follow up with the strongest decoy you can manage- covering all of the senses if possible."
"I will continue my preparations while you begin."
The illusory party moves acoss the bridge. They make it unmolested.
Whispering, "Perhaps the bridge itself is the 'guard' - a trap that the illusion did not set off - move forward, searching, or flight, perhaps?"
"Or perhaps the guardians could not see the illusions. They might be attracted to life force, thoughts, or something the illusions could not create."
"There is also the possibility that the illusions, having no weight, did not set off the guardian(s). This place is very similar to a spider's web. We need something to pluck the strings."
"Too bad the elf left us. He would have made a fine fly."
"I'll do it. Stay back while I find a good strand to cut." Janosz sneaks forward while pulling out his heavy-bladed knife.
Janosz moves out on to the bridge. Most of the webs are out of reach, but a few attach directly to the span. He drifts silently over to it and, with his big knife, begins to cut. The web is thick and elastic and quite resilient, and doesn't part as easily as he hoped. It is also sticky, and his knife begins sticking to the web.
Ezreal fidgets with a component pouch while scanning the few ledges, stairwells, and bridges spanning the chasm that he can actually see from his position. Finally he points at Janosz and whispers, "Careful Frogshanks. No need to get caught in the web to draw its attention. One might consider that overkill."
Janosz grips his knife and tries to pull it free, but it has got gummed up with the webbing and sticks fast. But as he holds the hilt, he can feel a vibration in the strand to which his knife is attached. Something in the webbing is coming closer.
Gil watches to see what Janosz might attract to their position.