Haydar tries to help Duriel by distracting the creature:
Aid another: ...fails.
Talin reloads his weapon and fires another bolt at it. Hoping at least this time he will hit
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Still looking horrified at the sudden transformation of the statue into a hideous monster, Inmir grasps the spiral symbol hanging around his neck.
Lady of Graves! Aid us I beg you, guide our hands and bolster our hearts.
Duriel takes another swing, but this time the sandlady is prepared and ducks out of the way. "My axe just seems to pass through. Maybe we need something blunt." Fortunately her riposte is nothing short of pathetic.
And you are all up again.
Fleur, frustrated, attempts to waken Luuther again, and keep him awake, shaking him continually, lol.
Ratchet flicks his stinger tail and tries to hit the sandlady with another acid splash.
Inmir looks left and right, as if gauging his options and then casts Guidance on Haydar.
Feeling Inmir's magic guiding him, Haydar drops his sword and flurries of blows with his fists at the sand creature.
Will Save
Luuther once again groans and mumbles at the attempts to awaken him, and seems completely content just to finish his nap.
Duriel takes another swing but misses, but Haydar manages to land a couple of blows, sending sand spraying in all directions and distorting the creature's visage even more. That catches her attention but fortunately he is able to duck out of the way.
You are up again.
Encouraged by Haydar's success, Inmir will cast Guidance on him again, hoping to repeat the previous round's progress.
Fleur tries to wake Luuther again while allowing her familiar to cast a spell on the sand creature in her stead.
"Wake UP! Luuther!" shake shake.
Ratchet casts acid splash at the sandperson, flicking the glob of acid from his tail, aiming it as best he can.
He growls as he reloads and takes another shot at the monster
Haydar flurries again vs. the sand creature:
Will Save
Luuther Yawns stretches, and leaps to his feet. "What's a guy got to do to get a descent nights sleep in this joint... Oh HO!
He then draws forth his trusty Warhammer and prepares to enter the fray.
Luuther wakes up just in time to see Ratchet finally hitting with a glob of acid that causes glassy drops to melt away from the monster. Haydar gives it another punch and Duriel finishes it off with his axe.
End of combat. You get 133 xp each.
Duriel then declares. "That's it. I am not going to be made a fool of by some pile of sand. I will go find some proper evil to fight."
Half-buried in the sand in the courtyard you find a set of masterwork scale mail, a masterwork light crossbow, five cold iron crossbow bolts, 10 regular crossbow bolts, a gold holy symbol of Sarenrae (worth 25 gp), 3 pp, and 37 gp.
"We will miss you Duriel... do be careful out there alone!"
Luuther grabs out his coin to flip for direction, when he hears Fleur's statement.
"Ah that is good. It is wise to keep Jing guessing as to how we choose to proceed. Sometimes the coin, sometimes someone else decides. Very good. How long did I sleep? It seems like I missed much action".
And as Duriel departs... "It seems foolish to leave now. We are getting somewhere, and I assume that your wished for evil falls on the ears of Jing, and will find you anyway. Having friends would be wise in that case... however I wish you safe journeys".
"If nobody wishes to take the crossbow and bolts, I would be pleased to expose them to the machinations of Jing".
This should be the link to my shiny new Google sheet for loot. Can someone give it a try and confirm you can see it?
You turn right and enter the room, where a large staircase climbs to the second floor. Sand and dust cover the floor, and painted columns stand in
all but one of the corners. Pieces of broken wood, shattered pottery, and disintegrating fabric litter the room’s perimeter.
"Oooh, what's this? Shiny!" She picks up a golden ring off the floor and casts detect magic on it. If it's not magical, she puts it on. If it is magical, she will try to determine what it is.
Inmir follows Fleur up the stairs. He also notices the ring, but as Fleur scoops it up his attention moves on to the rest of the room.
Interesting - looking at the mess here I wonder if this is where our unpleasant friend from downstairs came from? Or did she just wander in here and smash things up?
The ring is indeed magical, and Fleur discovers that it is a Ring of Protection +1. While Fleur is busy with the ring, Inmir picks up a silver anklet set with tiny gems and an ankh charm worth 150 gp, a tarnished silver serving tray worth 35 gp, and a small ornate vase worth 75 gp.
"Oh Everybody is finding shiney stuff. Let me take a look". Luuther heads up the staircase, looking for things on his way.
Perception
Inmir carefully picks up the selection of small items he finds among the wreckage in the room.
Our ancestors were capable of such delicate and beautiful work. Doubtless these things will be of great interest to the scholars and collectors that await us out in the city.
With that he packs them carefully away in his backpack.
"This ring will protect someone in combat, adding to their defense... someone who fights on the front line should probably wear it. I would suggest Duriel if he were still here... but in lieu of him, who wants to wear it?"
Inmir muses for a moment before saying...
That would suggest Haydar or Luuther as the best choices given Duriel's departure.
"Best you at the front line keep the trinkets. I will keep an eye out for those things that has a ranged advantage over us" hegives a toothy grin
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Jings fortune
Seems Jing wishes his most humble servant to wear this trinket.
As Luuther scampers down and picks up the ring something very strange happesns: a ghostly scene superimposes itself over the ruins of the room, as translucent furniture and decorations like potted palm trees and richly upholstered divans waver into existence.
In the center of the room, a ghostly young man clasps the hands of ethereal young woman. They speak in Ancient Osiriani, but you can all mysteriously understand them.
“I’m so sorry,” the young man says. “I can’t find the ring I bought you anywhere. I just had it!”
“It’s all right, my love,” the girl replies quietly. “It’s not the right time to tell my family anyway.”
“Come with me, Ariseti! Come across the river where we’ll be safe!”
“Not just yet, darling. My father says we’ll be safe here. You go, and when all this is over, you can come back for me, and we’ll announce our engagement then.”
She pauses, and reaches out to touch the man’s forehead.
“Are you feeling all right? You’re burning up!”
With this the vision ends, as first the figures fade from view, followed by the room and its furnishings. Luuther needs to make a Fort 16 save.
Fortitude Save
Luther feels a quick flush of fever, but it soon passes. You all get 160 xp.
Up the stairs then?
Inmir looks at Luuther in concern as the flush of fever passes over him...
Inmir touches his hand to his holy symbol reflexively as he scans around the room again.
Hmmm... we seem to have found all there is to be found here, he says up the stairs seems to be our next logical choice. Shall we?
"That seemed very odd.... someone tried to elope? Is it to do with the ring then?" he peers over the room quickly
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Inmir looks at Talin with a sad expression.
I do not think they tried to elope. I think they had become secretly engaged and had not yet announced it to their families. The ring, I imagine, was to seal the engagement. I also think it happened in the early days of the plague that wiped out so many here and turned this place into the city of the dead. Sadly I doubt they ever got the chance to marry.
He raises his hand to the holy symbol hanging around his neck and mutters a quiet prayer for the departed.
"Yes. Sickness. Less than we have now. But we can not dwell on the past. Or we will be stuck here forever"
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Agreed. Let us push on then. Time to head up the stairs?
After climbing the stairs and looking around, you find yourselves on a balcony. This balcony wraps around a twenty-foot-square opening in the floor, overlooking the inner courtyard below and connecting the rooms of the second floor. Above, a square skylight in the ceiling provides natural light to the ground floor and ventilation for the entire building. To the southwest, two small staircases ascend from a landing on the grand staircase between floors. Six different sets of doors lead off of this balcony.
Inmir looks around, taking in the sight of the area at the top of the stairs...
Well my friends, it seems that we suddenly have a wealth of choices before us... which way shall we go first?
"Maybe we should decide with a nod to Jing?" She laughs and shrugs, not having a distinct reason to make a choice... "On the other hand, we could just begin at one side and work our way to the other."
"Ah Fluer... you decide. It is wise that we keep our choices random and varied".
"Let's start with the left-most door and work our way to the right... Does that sound okay?
That sounds perfectly sensible Fleur. Let's do that.
"As you wish. I have your back in what ever the group decides... unless its to summon undead... have to put my foot down with that" he grins
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