The woman Jakscar was fighting took a number of small wounds, each staining the pool even more pink with rivulets of blood. Angelica, not used to fighting in the water, and still enamored with the naked women, was finding it difficult to land a blow.
Helanda, finally having strapped on her armor and grabbed a sword, rushed forward and attacked the nearest of her former sisters, the one Shabbezz had been pounding with magical missiles. The woman struck back, carving a deep furrow in Helanda's greave and injuring the leg underneath. The others attacked Jakscar, who dove aside and wove an impenetrable defense with his dueling blades.
R3: shabbezz, jakscar, helanda, grey maidens, angelica, zaphomil
R4: shabbezz, jakscar, helanda, grey maidens, angelica, zaphomil
current status:
angelica 41/49 (-4 to attack rolls and saves)
jakscar 44/57
shabbezz 30/40
zaphomil 32/42
Deciding that as the naked women fighting him can't make contact, Jakscar slashes away again at the same maiden to bring her down.
His first blow is clumsy, but this allows to strike more accurately and more heavily with his remaining two.
Shabbezz takes a step forward and to the right, intent on backing up Helanda as she faces down her former squadmate.
Angelica maintains her flank with Jakscar, finally glad the women stopped moving, so she can as well. She takes advantage of her increased speed to stab multiple times. She has had a hard time connecting against their beautiful exposed flesh, wanting to do things other than fight them, but once she finally makes purchase, she finds it becomes easier to continue to do so. She even follows up her stab with a swipe of her nails.
In a flurry of blows and magic, three of the grey maidens went down. The last one swung at Jakscar, failing to connect, before she too was cut down.
Rinsing his blades in the water, Jakscar steps gingerly out of the water. Once out and happy the area is safe, he rummages through his bag to find something dry, which he rubs himself down with.
"I hate being wet, even when it is warm."
"And I'm just glad I was able to stay dry this time," Shabbezz admits. "Is everyone okay?"
"If not, they will be," Zaph says as he pulls out his Desnan holy symbol and raises it up high. He sends a pulse of healing energy across the group.
"There. How's that?"
Still oddly taken by the naked forms of the toned women, Angelica runs a single hand languidly across the body of the closest one. "Too bad they wanted a fight, it could have been much more fun." She realizes her state, and begins to retie her top that she loosened upon first entering.
She turns to Helanda, "Is this the last of them? Should we expect more, or that some sort of alarm was raised?"
Zaph shakes his head. "That was four more. Helanda said there were ten left after the mess hall. So six still to go, right?" he looks to their ally.
"I suppose we should press the advantage as long as we have it, but then again I'm not much of a tactician," Shabbezz adds.
"Perhaps. It is hard to tell. There should be at least six more, plus the Captain. Of course, that assumes that some haven't been lost or given to other creatures for their amusement as I was. As for the alarm, I don't think so...unless Sorshen has one rigged here that I don't know about."
"The way to Sorshen is through these doors. There are several statues. Touching the hand of each statue activates it, and then you step on the center plate. Only one person can go through at a time, and it takes several seconds for each statue to activate. So, given that there are five of us, it will likely take several minutes to send each of us through."
"There is also a hidden door on this wall here that leads to a trapped area. I've never seen that, but Ceris told me about it. Something about perfumes." She indicated the southern wall of the bathing chamber.
Angelica cocks her head and, with her usual mischievous smirk, suggests "Well, trapped rooms are a risk, but oh do they always offer a reward. I for one wouldn't mind seeing what treasures lie within, and haven't plied my skills on a good trap for a bit."
"Well I would be inclined to leave the trapped room until our way out, but I can't see that stopping you Angelica!" Jakscar's smile robs the remark of any malice.
"If they aren't likely to come and check on these guards, then here seems as good a place as any to rest, possibly even get the chance to ambush an extra one or two. I am alright to continue, but only due to the grace of Desna, so it depends on you two Zaph and Shabbez. Might give us a chance to plan an order to go through the statue portals."
"I could do with a chance to replenish my spells, if it's all the same to everyone else," Shabbezz replies.
"Okay, but mind if I stay way back here? I don't have any particular inclination to die today."
Helanda showed you the secret door, then led you down a winding hallway until you came to a set of double doors. Then, she backed way up to let Angelica examine the look. As far as the burglar could tell, the door was unlocked and not trapped.. Gingerly she pushed it open to reveal dozens of marble pedestals arranged around the walls, each holding one or more delicate crystal vials. The scent of expensive perfumes is thick in the room, wafting out into the hallway to tickle your noses. The room is lit by a glass orb that swims with amber liquid light, hanging high above in this arched domed chamber.
"Right Angelica, fill your boots! We might as well all stay back here until you find something important, ready to dash in and rescue you in dramatic, heroic fashion. Although, I am quite lazy really, so please don't mess up!"
Jakscar adopts an affected, relaxed pose, but is clear to see he is ready to leap to action if needed.
Zaph peeks past the taller folk, and lets out an appreciative whistle at the scene beyond. "Hang on," he whispers, then casts detect magic.
As has been the case in this entire place, the entire room radiates magic. Zaphomil is not able to pick out any one item or area that is different from the others in this sense.
Shabbezz leans on her staff from the safety of the prior room and watches Angelica work. The best she could do from back here is offer her covering fire, but hopefully nothing would happen that would require that to happen.
Zaphomil recoils a bit from the array of magics within the next chamber. "Whoa. That whole place is full of magic. Though I wonder..." He narrows his eyes and uses his gnomish expertise in illusion magics to try to pierce through the images.
She was promised traps, and as of yet, has only witnessed an unlocked door and a room full of perfumes. Her suspicion grows with each step that doesn't produce said traps, so Angelica takes a long hard look at the area, waiting to see which traps exactly lie where in relation to the room 'o' fume.
No matter how Zaphomil squints his eyes, all he sees is what he saw before. That, and maybe some bright flashes as he looked to long into the light.
Angelica carefully peered into the room, examining each of the perfume jars and their pedestals carefully. It wasn't until she looked up past the glowing orb that she saw it. The golden chain holding the orb suspended had a quick-release clasp near the ceiling. She would bet anything the others cared to wager that there was one or more pressure plates in the room that when pressed would cause that globe to drop and release whatever the glowing liquid inside it was. If she had to guess, it was likely the perfume pedestals that were trapped. removing any of the bottles would likely be the trigger. Sure enough, the first pedestal she came to had a pressure plate that she easily disabled. The bottle of perfume there smelled like heaven. Even though there were only a few drops in the vial, Angelica was certain the bottle in her hand would pull in 300 gold or more.
Angelica eyes each pedestal in turn, looking for the best way to ease them of the burdens she wants to steal. Her time and experience taking fancy things from rich people come into play. After each success, she steps out and adds the vials to her haversack, which she has placed just outside the door to the room.
Angelica carefully plotted out her route and managed to collect the vials from several of the pedestals. The others were just too delicate, their ancient workings decayed, even under the spells of sustainment that this entire facility must have been under. She was quite certain that even though she got away without harm, if she tried again, the mechanisms were even more fragile than before.
Deciding that touching the damaged pedestals was too dangerous, Angelica backed off and considered her haul. If all of the vials were of similar quality to the first one she checked, Angelica imagined she probably held 3000 gp worth of perfume in tiny, fragile, vials.
Angelica utilizes as many of the pockets of her cloak as she can. She removes the cloak first, wrapping and rolling it in a way to protect each of the delicate vials, before bundling the whole thing safely within the extra dimensional space of her haversack. "Okay, that's taken care of, so you guys wanted to rest before we go to the statue teleporter thing?"
Shabbezz shuts her eyes and rubs the bridge of her barely-there nose.
"If we can spare the time, it might behoove us spellcasters to replenish ourselves before the next fight. I certainly wouldn't mind a chance to rest up and memorize a new set.
"But if you honestly think that we don't have the time to spare, I'm not entirely tapped out. I suppose can cross my fingers and hope for the best."
"Alright, well we don't know what we will face the other side of this portal and it may not be so easy to come back if it proves difficult. Let's rest up, keep an eye out for anyone coming through and come up with a plan to go through the portal."
"Being that it will take several minutes to get us all through, I suggest I go first, shortly followed by Zaph ready with healing in case he has to try and pull me back, then Angelica, Helanda and Shabbezz at the end. Thoughts?"
Angelica does balk somewhat at the plan, "Helanda, did you say whether you've been where these statues lead? If you were all done up in the full armor of your order, would you be allowed passage? Do you know if anyone or anything is in the room where these lead?" She turns to the others to explain her line of reasoning. "If she can get up in the room without being accosted, then when the first of us gets in there, there will at least be a two man front that can try to defend the portal where the rest of us come in."
She adds as an afterthought, with a disguised intent, "Unless there are precursors which would invalidate the idea as an option."
"I have never been through here before. Only Oriana and her lieutenants were allowed. I am pretty sure that Sorshen lives in there."
Angelica cocks her head, "Like... THE Sorshen? The delicious looking Runelord plastered all over the place? Didn't we find her body back in that sarcophagus that spooked me and Zap something fierce?" SHe asks this last more to the others. "Maybe one at a time would be better if there was some way to get at least me and Whiskers in there invisibly first, so when Zap comes through, we can jump her from hiding if she moves on him."
Shabbezz gets the gist of Angelica's secret message, but makes an effort not to show it on her face.
"I still maintain that Sorshen--the genuine article that is--couldn't possibly be alive today, but it would be prudent to be prepared. If someone was able to impersonate her successfully, they would probably still prove formidable.
"Regarding the plan, I'm afraid that invisibility isn't is my repertoire, nor do I have a scroll of it. You may just have to rely on your own abilities of stealth."
Zaphomil shrugs helplessly. "Sorry; that's not a spell I may cast either. Although," he adds as an idea comes to him, "I could cast sanctuary on whomever is going through first. Unless the enemy has a strong will, they wouldn't be allowed to attack you unless you attacked them. It might give you a few moments of safety."
Angelica shrugs, "I guess there's not much more we can do. So we get some rest, then go with Whiskers' plan of order, but start with Zap using that spell on him." Turning to Jakscar she clarifies, "Now, you're agile enough to try and just avoid a fight as long as you can until we get everyone through. Do what you can."
Angelica
Jakscar
Shabezz
Zaphomil
group1
group2
The night's rest went uninterrupted, and in the morning you set out to use the teleporter Helanda had described. She went over the workings once more, to make sure everyone knew what was going to happen. When all four of the statues' hands are touched, the next person to step on the central plate will be transported to the next area. She does not know exactly what is beyond here, as she has never been called to go this way. Jakscar will go first, then Zaphomil, Angelica, Helanda, and finally Shabbezz. The limitation of needing to touch all four statues means that the first few people through will have to deal with whatever lies beyond on their own, until the others can arrive.
"Alright, alright Angelica, I know how to handle myself, you sound like my foster mother. I will stay out of the way."
Drawing his duelling blade and his silver dagger, Jakscar readies himself to head through the portal. " Come on then Zaph, you ready?"
"Sure thing," Zaphomil says once he's finished his prayers for the morning. He applies the spell sanctuary to Jakscar once he's ready to step through the teleportal.
"I'll be right behind you," he assures his friend.
Round 1
Everyone took their places near the appropriate statues, and then Zaphomil cast his spell. He ran to his statue and everyone touched the hands. The plates in the room glowed golden, and then Jakscar was gone.
You appear in an alcove to one end of an opulent chamber, richly appointed with marble walls, beautiful rugs, and velvet-covered chairs. The ceiling is done is a midnight-blue fresco of a starry sky. A stairway rises to a pair of double doors in the west, while a hallway leads away to the south. large alcoves decorated with golden tiles are to the north and south.
In addition to the glorious furnishings, there are four less visually appealing things in here. Female sinspawn, each carrying a guisarme, turn and rush towards you before you can get a moment to catch your breath. The first one to reach you swings its blade awkwardly, but the second one just stands there in confusion. Apparently, Zaphomil's spell worked!
"Ahh ladies, no need to be so aggressive, I really am sorry to have disturbed your morning."
Round 2
Everyone touches the statues' hands again and Zaphomil runs to the central panel. In a flash of golden light, he too disappears.
Zaphomil appeared in the place immediately behind Jakscar, and the catfolk shifted into defensive stance to prevent any attacks from coming through him. Of course, that didn't protect Zaphomil all that much. Fortunately, it did provide the gnome cover, and that was all he needed to avoid the slashing blades of the guisarmes.