City of Nine Stars -- City of Twilight (Inactive)

Game Master therealthom

Marius gives a wry look at the preparations of his Ladies and shrugs "I'll just have to rely on being able to avoid the worst when it comes"

"I am ready with what I can...but I am not sure what form this trial will take," Waifrin murmurs. "Let's give it a try, anyway."

A breeze blows, causing the candles to flicker.

Try how?

Zarabeta checks to see that the group has entered the room, and done everything they did to trigger the other three 'fear' tests (which is to say, nothing, that she remembers, other than entering the rooms...).

"We're here. Bring on the fear, little invisible imp. Or did we accidentally walk into the room of being scared of showing up too early for something and having to wait?"

Fiosa will cast Guidance on everyone before entering, as a precaution.

Step in, wait for reaction with action readied to blast away?

Zara has barely gotten the words out when all the candles blaze up creating a painfully blinding glare and a wave of heat.

Fort save DC 14 or be blinded for 1 round.

Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Fort 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Init 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Fort save, with Guidance: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 1 = 10

Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Fort Save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Initiative 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Fort save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

"Dammit, I can't see!" Waifrin stumbles backward, away from the heat.

But Waifrin can't back away from the heat. It is suddenly all around her, rising from the floor, beating in from the sides.

Round 1 Initiative:

Fiosa, 23
Zarabeta, 19

Fire Elementals, 15

Marius, 9
Waifrin, 9

Fiosa and Zara to act.

Dabbler, the text above is merely descriptive. You;ll be able to back away, if you survive the round, MWaHAHAHA!

Zarabeta hurls an acid dart at one of the fire elementals, and her conjured water elemental attacks the same one.

water elementals get -4 to attack and damage rolls on foes on the ground, so it's mostly useless here, but might as well have it do something, since there's no fire to extinguish

elemental attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
elemental damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Z's acid bolt, ranged touch attack, -4 for firing into melee 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
acid damage 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Zarabeta's water elemental strikes one of the fire elementals, unleashing a great gout of steam. Both creatures recoil and the fire elemental remains focused on Waifrin.

Water elemental takes 1d4 ⇒ 2 damage

Fiosa is up.

Hogarth?

Fiosa says "What's going on? I can't see anything. Is there anyone there?" She points her crossbow around and tries to hear any enemies approaching.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

Ahh. Sorry Hogarth. I misread your save on the blindness and thought you'd succeeded. That may take some of the heat off Waifrin.

3d2 + 1d8 ⇒ (2, 1, 2) + (5) = 10

Fiosa struggles to hear enemies approach, but what she experieinces instead is a hissing from all around and an intense wave of heat from her right and just behind her.

The fire elementals rise and plunge on the two blinded adventurers. Fiery limbs flail and flame breaks over Waifrin and Fiosa.

Waifrin:

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 ....damage 1d4 ⇒ 3 ... and Fire damage 1d4 ⇒ 4 Refl Save DC 11 for half fire damage

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 ....damage 1d4 ⇒ 3 ... and Fire damage 1d4 ⇒ 3 Refl Save DC 11 for half fire damage

Fiosa:
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17 ....damage 1d4 ⇒ 1 ... and Fire damage 1d4 ⇒ 4 Refl Save DC 11 for half fire damage

Waifrin's dress is scorched, but her bronze-tinged flesh is unharmed. Save or not, that's less damage than Waifrin's new-found fire resistance.

"Hey, it's getting hot in here, what's going on?" Waifrin asks as she tries to back away, scrubbing at her eyes.

Marius to end the round. Zara and a seeing Fiosa may also post to start round 2.

"A trio of lesser fire elementals are attempting to set us, and by 'us,' I mostly mean *you,* on fire," Zarabeta says, in reply to Waifrin and Fiosa's query, having hesitated for a moment after swallowing an initial comment about their size indicating a lack of power, that might not be tactful in the presence of Fiosa.

Her water elemental continues to batter away at its target, and she chooses to fling acid at the same one, hoping to at least remove one of the three. The greenish acid flicks off of her fingertips and coalesces in mid air into it's typical serpentine form, before nimbly curving around the various figures adjacent to its target like a thing with a life of its own.

elemental attack, including -4 to attack and damage 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
elemental damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

acid dart, ranged touch, including -4 for firing into melee 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
acid damage 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Ref save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Fiosa takes a step back and fires her crossbow at one of the elementals.

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 181d6 ⇒ 4

Marius lashes out at one of the Elementals with his swords

Attack 1 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Attack 2 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Marius is the first to lay low an elemental. His swords slip through resistanceless flame, but leave large holes. It kind of evaporates from the holes outward and is gone.

His victory is not without cost. As he punches holes in the fire it grasps and constricts his arm in a burning embrace.

Marius takes 1d4 ⇒ 3 fire damage. DC 11 Reflex save for half. If you fail the save damage will continue until you do save.

Zarabeta is the next to down one. Acid and water smother the elemental's flame.

Your water elemental takes 1d4 ⇒ 3.

Fiosa is left to face her foe alone temporarily. She adroitly dodges a swinging gout of flame and drills a bolt into the fire's center.

The elemental for it's part keeps coming at her.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7....damage 1d4 ⇒ 4 ... and Fire damage 1d4 ⇒ 3 Refl Save DC 11 for half fire damage

Marius and Waifrin to finish round 2. Zarabeta and Fiosa to start round 3.

Waifrin blinks, scrubbing the dazzled tears from her eyes.

"You little bastards!" she exclaims, seeing the ruins of her dress. Spinning about she unleashes a surge blast at the last fire elemental.

Attack (ranged touch): 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 6 - 4 = 5 Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5

Ref save 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Damage = 3

next save 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Damage = 1d4 ⇒ 3

next save 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20 Damage = 1d4 ⇒ 2halved for 1

Marius hisses as the fire burns him but turns his attention to the last Elemental

1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Zarabeta continues to attack whichever one remains standing, drawing a dagger and stepping forward to slash at her target.

elemental attack, including -4 to attack and damage 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
elemental damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

dagger slash 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
dagger damage 1d4 ⇒ 1

I swear I posted last night. Where did it go? This will be much shorter.

Marius kills the last elemental.

Gonna rule that catching on fire doesn't stack, so don't sweat new saves. You're home free.

The fire elemental is already dissipating as Zarabeta's water elemental strikes it.

So brave, and lucky too! The water elemental needs no save. The dagger misses, so Z needs no save either.

The fire elemental shrinks into a brilliant orange grape sized pearl.

Trust me the prose was so much better yesterday.

"OOOhh! You passed the tests! Give me the tokens and I'll pronounce you sane! The Master would be so proud."

Flitting in the doorway to the Observation Room is an imp. Zarabeta and Fiosa can easily identify it.

Waifrin closes her eyes, stills her mind and regains her focus. Then she opens her eyes again.

"We brought no tokens. This place has been disused for years. We came seeking something else."

"Of course you didn't bring them! Each time you pass a test it creates a token jewel. Give me the jewels."

Marius sighs rolls his eyes a little and tosses the jewels at the Imp's feet.."There you are oh infernal pest"

He remains wary of the Minor Devil knowing their reputation for deceit and trickery

The imp drops down, scoops up the four gems and coos over them with great satisfaction. "You're the first ones that I've cured on my own," she says. "The Master will be so very pleased and proud."

Then she she looks at the party. "The mental stress of madness can take a toll on the brain. You may be confused, or disoriented slightly upon your return to sanity. You might even suffer minor memory loss."

"I can help with that. Ask me six questions and I will answer to the best of my ability."

Waifrin gestures to the others and draws away from the imp.

"All right, we need to know where the crux thing is, and we need to know how to leave this dungeon," she murmurs so the imp cannot hear. "What else do we need to know?"

"Traps / curses / guardian creatures protecting the Crux, or that we might be unleashing upon the town, or ourselves, by removing it, might be good to know before we have them blow up in our faces." Zarabeta adds, attempting to phrase her statement in such a way that the imp cannot interpret it as a question.

"Agreed..and also it might be good to actually know how to reach our target with the least danger."

Hogarth posted vacation. Do you want to wait for him or formulate 6 questions without him?

I'm ok with waiting ..

I'm back now.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable asking for help from devils, guys, but you can go ahead if you like." Fiosa fingers her holy symbol nervously.

"All right. So, how do we leave this dungeon? Where is the crux? What protects it? How can we reach it with the least danger - assuming anything does protect it. What else?"

Marius wracks his brains.."Who put it here? and why?" he suggests..

"How about, 'What's that thing back there in chains?'" Waifrin suggests.

good question might as well know what else is down here.

The imp does aerial pirouettes while examining the party from a distance during their discussion. Suddenly she swoops toward Marius, flaring her wings to hover just in front of him. With each flap of her wings, he can smell a dusky odor reminiscent of the giant lizards that were sometimes used for novelty fights in the pits. She points at his swords.

"Are those Henderthane work? Master Vheed always said they were the best smiths in all of Cheliax."

Marius nods "Aye they are..oh hellish one." he slides the blades from their sheaths letting the light glint off the true-silver of the blades.."and they will stand me in good stead should you try and betray us"

The imp blinks out of view. A whoosh of wing beaten air and she reappears on the far side of the room.

"Oh pardon me, sir. It's furthest from my mind." The imp chuckles to herself. "I'm waiting for your questions."

And your first question is?

Marius lets Waif phrase the questions.

Waifrin takes a deep breath.

"All right...our first question: by what physical route we can travel do we leave this dungeon?" she asks, phrasing the question carefully to avoid answers like "death" or "fly up the slippery tunnel"...

The imp smiles. This effect is not pleasant as her teeth are long, jagged and have gone beyond yellowed to a sickly green.

"The same way you came in, I imagine. Or, if you are very clever, and can find a key, you can use the master's shortcut. There's a room with four doors. You enter through one and the other three are on the facing wall. Those doors will take you back to the Mayor's Manor."

She pauses and her gaze fixes on Zarabeta. "Maybe you could take me with you? I'm very helpful, very, very helpful, and its been so long since the master left me here. I am sure we could reach an arrangement."