"Kieran, wait!" Tebati warns him. "If you attack, the spell will be broken, and the snake will turn on you anew. Let me heal you first."
Ansha gingerly steps over the slumbering serpent and circles around the middle set of bunks. Voicing another spell, she extends the fingers of one hand toward one of the snakes coiled around Kieran. As she does so, an arrow-shaped glob of acid materializes and streaks through the air toward her target with an audible sizzle.
Akirra moved up alongside Tebati and sliced down at the snake at his feet...
Round 2:
Fighting off the snake's assault Qhude attempts to hold it against the door jamb with his bodyweight while ramming his cestus into it's neck...
Using his free hand to put pressure on his neck wound, Kieran is ready to raise his sword and strike at one of the large snakes but Tebati's warning stops him just in time. Turning to look at her and managing a smile, however weak, he nods and slowly lowers his weapon, still putting his blade between himself and the two beasts but not actually attacking them.
Realizing her own precarious position between three of the snakes and seeing Ansha also looking badly hurt, Tebati wraps her fingers around her holy symbol and channels Shimye-Magalla's healing energies into the room, excluding the three summoned serpents. She then cautiously slips off the lowest bunk, behind Akirra, back to the doorway.
Feeling his wounds close somewhat and the blood flowing from them lessen, the half-elf thanks Tebati with a nod and a smile before taking her place as soon as she moves and attacking one of the snakes, taking advantage of the beast's focus on Qhude to strike at it with a downward slash aimed at the back of its head.
Kn Nature to ID snakes?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
"NO!"
5'step to k, 41. Acrobatics to avoid AoO: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
The Oracle's cry slides into layers of Sylvan as fresh power reinforces limbs and spirits.
Casting Bless, should hit everyone. +1 to hit and fear saves 40rd duration.
Round 2 I.5
Jakob's spear probes for space between the door and the Bas'o but fails to find a way.
may have flank with either Kieran on Tebati please add 2 if He does flank, Not that it likely matters with that roll. .
The snake Akirra attacked reacted to his shadow at the last possible moment; a little too late. Its attempt to dodge his greatsword was enough to prevent it being decapitated in a single slash, but the heavy blade opened up its stomach along the upper half of its body instead. Badly hurt, the summoned aspect fought on...
Tebati scurried out of the bunk bed and healed her party, only for Kieran to seem about to take her place...
Kieran scrambled away from the two snakes and climbed up one of the four posts, linking an arm around it and locking his legs to maintain his balance. From his poised position, he lunged at the snake beneath him; his blade sliding in with the finesse of a duelist and leaving a deep, puncturing wound.
Qhude wasted no time taking advantage of the snake's brief distraction and smashed it with his wrapped hand; the damage inflicted was enough to send the aspect from the material plane and the snake vanished.
Spurred on by the success of his allies, Jakob passed Qhude and moved into the room, lunging with his longspear. The agile snake darted aside from the lunge; if only it was as easy to stab as the Ankheg had been...
Round 3-
Ordered Initiative-
Snakes- 21
Akirra- 11
Tebati- 10
Kieran- 9
Ansha- 8
Qhude- 7
Jakob- 5
Active Effects-
Map-
Notes-
Red dot denotes grappled, blue circle denotes prone, red circle denotes incapacitated.
Action-
The two remaining snakes fought with a mindless determination that usually only came from fanatics or summoned aspects. The one on the left side lunged to bite Jakob while the snake on the right continued to try and take down Akirra. Jakob's mithral shirt foiled an attack on his upper arm that he failed to anticipate while Akirra narrowly fought off a darting bite to his neck, only for the snake's tooth to drag on his chiseled bicep, drawing blood and latching on despite his efforts to shake it off.
Dropping down from the bed post with more than a little flourish, Kieran turns his attention to the snake facing Akirra and brings his sword to bear, slashing at the creature diagonally upwards the very second his feet touch the ground.
Akirra moved around the bed and opposite Jacob, placing the remaining active snake in a bad spot to avoid his attack...
Tebati follows Akirra for a few steps until she reaches the foot of the bunks. Presenting her holy symbol, she channels another pulse of healing energy into the room, excluding the final snake.
As the last of the summoned beasts is ended, Qhude lets the grip of range loosen and feels the cloying hands of fatigue upon him. Picking up his discarded guisarme he stays near the entrance to the room wardingly.
The last snake was swiftly dispatched, the summoned animal aspects driven from the material plane. Kieran was now free to search through the various chests in the room... finding each of them neatly cleaned out, containing only a small padlock and matching key in each one.
Still confused as to what occurred, Qhude seeks explanation from his companions "Ansha, Kieran.... what happened?"
"I..." His voice sounds rough, causing Kieran to pause and try to clear his throat. "I am not sure. A trap was triggered, which caused tripwires to activate. I managed to see that much and I was quick enough to avoid them, but then snakes simply... materialized out of thin air. I was not quick enough for those obviously..."
The half-elf shrugs. "The first was a mechanical trap, of that much I am sure, despite not being certain what triggered it. The second... well, Ansha may have something more to say about that." He then proceeds to check the room again, this time taking his time to do so carefully and exhaustingly. "The chests are empty by the way," he adds almost as an afterthought.
Qhude stays at the room's threshold, not yet moving within and narrowing his eyes as he watches Kieran at work.
"Whoever lived here took all their belongings with them when they left," Tebati concludes, with another glance at Akirra. "They didn't expect to return very quickly apparently."
Akirra places his sword back into his scabbard while retrieving his bow out in the hallway. They did not. As I was saying before the snakes appeared, the Order felt it necessary to abandon this place and hide it from everyone. Even themselves.
Scowl not deepening, but perhaps the lines of it becoming more stark Qhude muses out loud "Abandoned, hidden, mind stripped and left to live a deathless life of emptiness..." shaking his head before adding "I would fear to be honored by such a people."
I believed in the cause, still do, and did my duty when the need arose. Nothing more. Nothing less. My time in stasis passed in an instance from my perspective. It was not "empty" or "deathless" as you say.
Akirra pauses in thought. The mind wipe, now that is seems unlikely to ever be reversed, is... unfortunate. That I have lost my memories is something I now regret I suppose.
But I do now have an opportunity that none of my contemporaries could have ever dreamed of experiencing. There is that I guess.
"The cause, the order, the need, the mission, the ziggurat..." casting a glance to Tebati that shows a sense of pity directed at Akirra "You have an umoya-ze Akirra... there is nothing left of you but what you promised the ongasekho."
Akirra falls silent, unsure of how to respond.
Ansha casts a suspicious look at the northwestern corner as she rejoins the group. "The snakes were summoned as part of the trap- but I don't think we triggered it. Just before the trap was sprung, I saw a section of the wall move. I think that was what triggered it. And I'd say that whatever triggered it is probably what has been changing the linens- something invisible or at least unlikely to be noticed... and is still here," the elf replies.
Akirra pauses in thought. The mind wipe, now that is seems unlikely to ever be reversed, is... unfortunate. That I have lost my memories is something I now regret I suppose.
But I do now have an opportunity that none of my contemporaries could have ever dreamed of experiencing. There is that I guess.
"Well said, and don't give on those missing memories, after all most of us have no idea what else is in this ziggurat. We might find a way to reverse what was done to you."
"There are some people who would consider it a blessing to have the memories of their past erased and be given a blank slate with which to start over," Tebati points out. "I suppose it depends on what you suspect those memories might contain."
Ansha casts a suspicious look at the northwestern corner as she rejoins the group. "The snakes were summoned as part of the trap- but I don't think we triggered it. Just before the trap was sprung, I saw a section of the wall move. I think that was what triggered it. And I'd say that whatever triggered it is probably what has been changing the linens- something invisible or at least unlikely to be noticed... and is still here," the elf replies.
Tebati frowns with alarm at Ansha's words and looks around the room uneasily. "Is something is here," she asks, "why has it not already pressed its advantage to attack us?"
[dice=Perception]20 + 10
While Kieran eventually found the indent in the wall Ansha had briefly spotted; he could tell that the mechanism that had triggered the snake summoning was a single use. A skilled operator could definitely reset the wire-trip trap though, with the right tools.
Kieran was sure that some invisible presence was still within the room, but it was simply evading detection and quietly moving away from sources of movement. Time passed. It seemed increasingly likely there was nothing more to be gleaned from this chamber.
"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's a simple magical servant incapable of doing more than triggering that trap. I have nothing to pierce invisibility, and it's leaving us be for now, so let's check out the rest of this level," Ansha says. She moves for the western doors.
"Wait," Tebati holds up a hand. "Let him go first." She nods to Akirra. "If there are more of these invisible servants, perhaps they may recognize that he is one of the Order and not act against us as intruders."
Akirra nods at the logic of the suggestion. Stowing his bow he takes the lead...
Ansha smirks, halting at the western doors to await Akirra. "I would be surprised if there were more unseen servants about. More plantoids or other darker denizens, though...."
Akirra is unfazed by Ansha's comments...
Qhude doesn't object Akirra taking point, and stands second behind him.
Jakob brings up the rear, idly wondering what other instructions the servant had been given.
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Ansha opens the western doors and motions for Akirra to lead the way with an exaggerated flourish.
Moving out into the western corridor, the group could see it continued the same mosaic style flooring, the same stone walls, the same everburning torches set at regular intervals and the same style of statues. The corridor eventually went around to the east- but not before it met with a door leading east into an unexplored room.
Ansha looks over the statues as she slowly makes her way north toward the east-facing door. "Wonder if this is the library?" she murmurs.
"Let him go in first?" Tebati reminds the elf before she can open the door. "Unless you were hoping to make the acquaintance of more snakes."
Ansha gives Tebati a sheepish, guilty smile. "I haven't forgotten," she says.
Akirra shakes his head at Ansha's childish antics. You are very different from the elves of my time.
Ansha shrugs off Akirra's remarks, motioning for him to lead the way through the door in the eastern wall. "Even elves change with time--assuming you ever met an elf who wasn't a soldier or diplomat."
Perhaps... I never met one as... young... as yourself, he replies as he opens the door.
Qhude follows on in wary silence for the moment.
"Your friends seemed rather fond of statues."
Jakob pauses to look at the first statue in the corridor. Is it a likeness of a specific person or a more stylized (a warrior, a worker, a clerk etc) work?
Inspecting the statues, Jakob can see they are generally honoring warriors; although they do seem to occasionally seem to be depicting builders and architects instead. There is a distinct militaristic vibe even to these, though.
Akirra threw open the door and stepped in, revealing a medium sized room. The floor was mosaic-tiled and consisted of a slightly dark blue. Desks and chairs lined the room, with a much larger desk on the far end along with an empty bookshelf. Clearly, this room was a classroom, eons ago. Akirra felt a vague sensation that he should know this place, but the thought was frustrating, always at the edge of his subconscious.
Still cautious as they moved through the structure, Qhude did not let his guard drop. The sight of the desks and chairs momentarilly confused the Bas'o, as his learning was not carried out in such a place, but the empty shelves devoid of books he recognized.
Saying to no-one in particular "They took the words with them... the Order was not going to return to this place."
"Or they were afraid of who might find it in their absence and to what use their knowledge might be put," Tebati conjectures. "Perhaps they intended to carry the books back with them when they returned." She glances at Akirra, the parallel between his excised memories and the empty shelves too pointed to pretend to ignore.
Qhude gives a grunt and short nod, before prompting Akirra to either choose to look or continue to another place.
Ansha looks the room over for magical auras, then slips past Akirra to move toward the instructors' desk. "It certainly doesn't seem like they left anything behind...."