Maddok drives himself into a frenzy before roaring a wordless cry and swinging his hammer at the southern mirror.
Semenya's magical missile streaks into the Shadow, but it remains mostly intact.
Appario's adamantine sword widens the cracks in the northern mirror considerably, while Maddok's hammer only barely dents the southern mirror.
1 Trait
1 Enhancement
3 BAB
-1 PA
Maddok growls in frustration as his weapon bounces off of the resilient surface.
The Shadow, feeling the effects of Semenya's magical missiles, shifts its attention to her with its touch.
It succeeds, and cold dark energy sucks 4 points of strength from the sorceress.
Realizing her influence over the shadow from afar is waning, Yahirma closes with it to try and freeze it in its tracks.
This Shadow seems to have a stronger control over its mind than the others, as Yahirma's attempt at reminding it of its former life fails.
Semenya will back up to R13, and cast magic missile at the unheld Shadow:
This is her fourth 1st level spell cast, four more to go.
Seeing how ineffective his hammer is against the otherworldly mirror and hearing Semenya's cry of pain, Maddok steps in to protect his allies and turns his fury on the active shadow.
Appario will strike again at the mirror.
on the mirror.
"Smashy smashy!"
Appario will 5' step into {O,-15} if it is open.
Flanky flanky.
Semenya's missiles fly into the creature, dissolving parts of its body, and Maddok's hammer finishes the job of destroying the Shadow.
Appario's Extortion widens the cracks yet further; the mirror now appears to be on the verge of breaking.
Two new Shadows appear, one from each mirror as if pulling themselves through. The one appearing from the heavily damaged mirror is noticeably smaller and thinner than those you've seen before, and also seems to struggle with getting through the cracks in the mirror. The other Shadow is the normal size, and it immediately strikes at Maddok once it's through.
The Shadow's tendrils come very close to Maddok, missing by a fraction.
Maddok looks around at the growing number of shadows, "Finish it Appario! Destroy that mirror!", before turning and swinging his hammer again.
This mirror is tough. Or maybe I'm just weak. For Abadar!
Appario tries to stab a shadow through the mirror.
damage to the mirror
Appario's final strike shatters the mirror, leaving black pieces strewn everywhere in the room. All of the Shadows look like they're caught in some sort of shockwave, tearing two of them apart and leaving the last one in a weakened state, making it easy for Maddok's hammer to destroy it.
Appario closes his eyes as the mirror shatters, keeping them closed until long after the final shards have fallen.
Appario will creak one eye open, look around, then open the other eye.
"That was interesting. Semenya, step aside from that mirror, won't you?"
When Appario gets to the mirror, he spends 3 rounds smashing it.
Smash!
Crash!
BIFF!
Semenya will hand Maddok her greataxe. "This might serve you better...and I'm out of scrolls of Shatter." She is having some noticeable difficulties swinging it around, with a STR of 6...
Yahirma will stand out of the way and let others break apart the mirrors.
After a barrage of swings, Appario's sword leaves the mirror considerably cracked, but not entirely shattered. Shadowy visages still float around in the intact parts of the mirror.
Maddok, roaring in fury, lays into the second mirror with all his strength.
Maddok's furious assault on the mirror allows Appario's final strike to destroy it, leaving Maddok's last strike unnecessary. This mirror also shatters into several pieces upon destruction, but some of the shadow-metal shards are large enough that Maddok thinks weapons could potentially be fashioned from them.
Maddok's broad shoulders sag as his rage ends and the pain of shadow-induced injury comes back to mind.
Drawing a vial he quickly unstoppers it and downs the contents "Hopefully this helps", Maddok groans.
Sorting through the shattered shadow-mirror Maddok fishes out a few of the largest pieces. He stares at it suspiciously. "I've never worked with a material like this", he says. "I wonder what I could do with it".
Shaking herself out of a linguistic funk, Yahirma steps over to take a look at the shards. "Some of the raiders who live near the Eye bear weapons known as macuahuitl. It is like a club studded with razors - most deadly. I could see no end to the shadowmen within those mirrors, so perhaps a cut from this glass would drain your foes of their vitality much as the ghostly warriors did."
Appario looks at the shards and shadows smoke with interest before bending down to retrieve his morningstar.
"That was interesting and I am glad it was not skeletons. Shall we move on? Was anyone overly injured by the shadows? I believe we have a wand that should cure most of their afflictions."
Appario will use a charge of the wand of Restoration (11 charges - 1 = 10 charges) on Semenya.
Appario crunches on the mirror glass as he exits the room.
"Which way shall we go next?"
"I am curious if it will be anything like the Skymetal used in forging Extortion", Maddok says nodding towards Appario.
Answering the Taldan, "You healed Semenya and I am well enough now. I believe we are the only ones they touched".
"Let's return to the spiral stair room".
Once outside Maddok address the celestial eagles again.
"Well, that was an adventure wouldn't you say? I wonder if those shadows were some kind of automated guards? IF the mayor or one of his staff comes down here at any point, they would probably notice their abscence. Better hurry yes?"
The eagles caw affirmatively, and fly into the southern staircase. If Maddok follows, they lead him to a place where the staircase extends like some kind of bridge over a seemingly bottomless circular pit; no ceiling can be seen, and neither can any floor be seen.
Halfway across the pit, the staircase turns sharply to the right, and continues past the pit for about 50 ft, where another circular pit can be seen. The staircase appears to do the exact same right-hand turn over the second pit.
An opening in the far wall of the pit can be seen about 30 ft below the staircase, and the Eagles fly down towards it. Strangely, they seem to fly in slow motion, as if something holds them back. Once they've reached the opening, they look back up towards Maddok and caw as if beckoning him.
Appario looks down over the pit.
"Interesting. I'll jump over, but I'll want to be tied to something in case I don't make it. Anyone have rope?"
Appario looks though his backpack, pulling out a set of scales, a jug of wine, thieves tools, and some chalk, but doesn't find any rope.
"Rope? Need rope. Did anyone remember any rope in the nearby rooms? Or the attic?"
Maddok follows the eagles up to the pit and watches them fly across.
He looks to Appario, "I'm afraid I brought no rope".
"Thank you, Appario." She flexes a bit, not feeling so weakened.
"I'm afraid that it was impractical to bring a coil of rope with me under my costume. I don't think there's enough of this false beard to make a difference. Even if I unlace the corset. I'd just as soon you didn't jump that without a belay line, Appario."
Maddok fishes around in his pack and a moment later retrieves a coil of rough hempen rope.
"It appears I was mistaken."
Appario slings his shield onto his back.
Appario looks at Maddok, but accepts one end of the rope.
"Hold this tight for me, won't you?" Appario begins to tie the rope around himself and checks repeated with Maddok to ensure he has the other end...and is braced.
Appario looks over at the platform he will be leaping to.
"Wish me well. For Abadar." Appario will make a running leap to the other landing.
Acrobatics
Appario leaps out over the pit, and finds himself easily floating down to the opening in the wall as if he's falling through water rather than air. Appario lands gently in the center of the opening, the rope stretched taut behind him.
In front of Appario, there's a hallway going forward briefly before turning to the right. At the point where the hallway turns, there's a wooden door on the opposite wall, with a narrow, barred window set at eye level.
From behind the door, Appario can hear something that sounds like insane mutterings in several languages, broken by long, keening howls at variable intervals. At one point, the howl seems to emanate from inside his head rather than from behind the door.
Appario will for a place to attach the rope.
"I didn't quite fall normally. I can't imagine anything going wrong. I'll watch the door...there is some muttering." Appario will whisper as best he can.
Either way, Appario will attach his shield.
Maddok nods and turns to the rest of the party, "Can one of you help me out of this armor. I don't know if I can make the jump with it on", the Shoanti explains.