Elaina doesn't seem to react to the injuries inflicted by the monster, but she's obviously worn out by the long day and night before, and maybe a little from blood loss. "Hold still. Let me *huff*... chop off an arm so you can be normal."
Her spinning dance imparts more velocity to her scimitar and she delivers a solid blow. Her shoulders droop as she stops her dance.
Elaina's blade cuts deeply into the goblin-thing, ending its twisted, deformed life. It stubbornly retains its third arm, however, refusing to comply with Elaina's demand.
"You're injured," I murmur to the dervish woman, "and battle-drunk. Angradd's blessing be upon you."
Cure light wounds used on Elaine (traded obscuring mist)
"Ewww! I don't want Angrabs anything upon me!" Elaina shies away from Togog, so not much of the healing magic reaches her. She sits down where she's at and pokes the three-armed goblin with her sword. "I think I read about somthin' like this in a book. There's monsters from another dimension at the bottom of these holes or somethin' like that. It's some guy named 'Charles' fault, he did this. If we let them out they'll eat everyone in the world."
Rumal just stares at the human, mouth agape, "Wha kina stories you readin? Tha's just crazy talk.", he makes his way down the stairs into the room, but despite his bluster he avoids and eyes the boarded holes warily. He too commences to poking the dead deformed thing, with the tip of his loaded crossbow. "Eww, it looks all gobliny. Thas worse en bein from nuther menshun."
Nover winds down from his battlerage and examines the creature. He kicks away the weapons but stops with the sword.
"Not my usual go to weapon, but a blade could be handy."
Picking it up he tests the balance.
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"You will learn that she tends to say things without any reason to them. She seems to be a barely controlled ball of rambling talks and witty one liners."
"NOVER, ENNA'S BEING MEAN. IT'S VERY RUDE!"
Nover finds that the longsword is extremely well-balanced.
Nover plays with the blade a bit, feinting and testing the length with a box.
"Elaina, stop complaining, nobody likes a crybaby. You do seem to be a bit all over the place sometimes though. Perhaps a curse from when you were younger? Eh, no matter, you are who you are. Hmm, I like the balance on this blade. In the meantime we should find a spot to rest for a while so Ms. Enna and Elaina can collect their magic. I am also feeling a bit winded from the constant fighting."
"Hmph!" Elaina gets up and pouts around the room. Dwarves are so mean. She tries looking for magic down each of the holes, but doesn't open any of them.
Elaina doesn't find magic in the holes, but does find a total of 11 holes and a shambling corpse residing in each of them.
"Welp, nothin' here but scary stuff." She heads for the southern entrance to the room.
"We should probably put the poor creatures down just in case." Enna looks down at a corpse and begins acid splashing it to death. "If nothing else it may help my aim."
After plenty of time and practice, Enna succeeds in putting the last zombie down. It's hard to tell whether her aim got better or the acid just pooled in the bottom of the pits and slowly dissolved the things to death.
"That was Angradd's work, lass," I tell her. "Well done. Let us continue on and bring righteousness wherever we tread."
Rumal wanders over to each hole as Enna repeatedly drops globs of acid into them. A few times, he teeters precariously on the edge, only to somehow regain his tentative balance and stagger away. "Whos is Grandad fellow? I no no about ressin down here. Loogs a little creepy. Though, we could prolly stack up dose hole covers *hic* overa doors if we haffa."
Nover strokes his short beard before taking a seat on the ground.
"If we do block off the doors we can get a decent bit of rest. All in favor?"
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"Innocent lives may yet be at stake." I gravel. "Angradd's fortune favours the bold. I counsel no delay."
"The dead can not save the living, I say we rest and regain our strength if possible."
"We're like five minutes from my floofy bed. 'Sides, it's icky down here. How big can this place be? I bet we're almost at the end."
Rumal just looks back and forth between the two sides of the discussion, eyebrows lifted too high, in an attempt to keep eyes wdie enough to take it all in. "I haf evvythin I need. Nod sure iffit helps you all or nuthin. I'm as fresh as a newborn daisy, an jus as eager to eat." Despite the nonsensical choice of phrasing, it seems he is willing to continue if they so chose.
"We seem to be split, but the majority head towards the path of continuing. Well then my friends, lead onwards toward our enemies. If you fine dwarven gentlemen would lead the way." Enna motions towards the unknown ahead of them.
Enna offers sage advice, and the group gathers around the southern exit of the room, Nover leading the way. The party sees that a passage breaks off to the east about 20 feet down the passage, and the passage itself ends at a closed door about 10 feet beyond the eastern passage. All is still around them, the zombies silenced in their makeshift graves, the freak lying motionless in the corner.
"Angradd favours the direct path," I murmur, slipping past Nover in the narrow passageway. At the junction, I peer down the eastern passageway, studying it, trusting in my stoneskill and darkvision.
Perception -2 if its not about stonework
Then, judging it clear, I continue on towards to door, pausing to listen for just a moment...
Perception
"What's in there? Is it Charles Dexter Ward?"
As Togog advances and peers down the eastern corridor, he finds that it is a stairwell, and can see a spiral set of stairs that lead downward. Finding nothing amiss in the room, he continues the other 10 feet and listens at the door at the end of the hall, hearing nothing of note on the other side.
"Who is this Mr. Ward? Some times I think you just make things up Elaina."
Rumal shakes his head, hoping to clear up any confusion, "No, a ward is sumpin to prtec *hic* protegd an area. Maybe she means a ward agins Charsdexxer." He stops, thinks for a moment, then scrunches his face, asking the woman, "So, who's Charsdexxer?"
Seeing the stairs, he grimaces, "We goin down nose? Sometimes they can hurt when *hic* when you *hic* whenu take too may at once. If you know what I mean?" He overemphasizes a poorly attempted wink, at Enna, being the closest to him.
"He who dares," I mutter, opening the door and stepping through, axe at the ready...
"He's real and he's probably down here somewhere, Enna!"
"Aye, we should be heading down. Lets just hope we can keep moving at a relatively swift pace. The faster we clear the are the sooner Ms. Enna can get some mu ch needed rest."
Nover is wielding the new sword and his trusty shield. It's saved him before, it will probably save him again.
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Togog opens the door, speaking of the wisdom of being bold to his comrades. Inside the doorway is a curious chamber that is shaped as a 15-foot diameter sphere. Several objects float in the room, spinning lazily in space - a ragged book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven surrounded by a halo of floating and writhing maggots, and a twisted iron rod with a forked tip. Yet perhaps the most unnerving aspect of the room is the walls, for they are plated in sheets of strange red metal that ripple every once in a while with silent black electricity that seems to coalesce into strange runes, or even words, far too often for the effect to be chance.
"Ewww! This room's gross!" Elaina sends her lights to spin with the creepy items and looks for powerful magics in the room.
"Angradd protect," I mutter. "This might be an arcane puzzle, or a test of divine faith, or simply a trap." I wrack my brains, considering if there is any religious significance to the objects...
Knowledge (religion)...
The dwarf thinks for a moment before looking around.
"I hate puzzles. I know they are part of the adventuring life, but I'm just not good at them. Too bad we can't just smash it or make it explode. But I'm afraid of what would happen if anybody tried to touch those probably vile artifacts."
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Enna will gingerly step in to the room and cast detect magic, trying to get a better view of things.
"NOBODY GO IN THERE I WANNA TRY SOMETHIN'!" Elaina exclaims. She concentrates on the bottle and tries to move it with prestidigitation.
When Enna steps into the room, she feels that leg lose its weight, as if there were no gravity. She casts detect magic, and is knows that the scroll and small rod are magical. In addition, the entire room has a faint magic aura about it.
Elaina's attempt to move things with prestidigitation ends with utter frustration for the eccentric bard, as she is able to move it not one inch.
"It's impossible, those stuffs are stuck floating there forever. We should light it on fire."
"It's not clear to me what the purpose of this place is," Togog gravels, "but it is clearly beyond goblin wit. The disciples of Torag can return in time. The followers of the Father of Creation will resolve this little puzzle," he pauses, "or smash it with his hammer, if they find its purpose to be some evil." He nods, firmly.
"For ourselves, we still have an innocent to rescue, and no time to waste here." So saying, Togog retrieves Elaina from the strange, bubbled space, pulling her back into the normal realm of the corridor, and closes the door behind them. So doing, he turns, and heads back for the junction they so-recently passed, determined to continue swiftly down the other corridor and the spiral-stair they found there.
Perception as I go... (+2 if it relates to stonework)
Nover and Togog lead the others away from the room, and down the eastern corridor a few feet back and the stairwell beyond. The companions are quickly dismayed to find that the stairwell seems completely choked with rubble barely a dozen steps down. Nover, Togog, and even Enna's dwarven eyes can see that the cave-in is complete.
"Wh-what? That's it? But where did the goblins come from!? Can they phase through solid objects?? Stupid goblins." Elaina goes back to the floaty room, determined to collect the items it held. Maybe it was a trap, but maybe it was a goblin summoning portal.
"The walls 'n stuff look dangerous. Someone hold on to me so I can get the stuff." Assuming no one comes up with a more sensible plan, Elaina floats giggling into the room on the end of a rope and, with a little difficulty, gathers the things.
If you wouldn't mind, I would love a chance to inspect the rod and scroll[/b] Assuming Elaina relinquishes the magic items Enna will read magic and detect magic to decipher the use of both objects.
Enna concentrates on the wand, but is unable to determine the magic locked within.
Nover fiddles with his belt, adjusting some of his new weapon scabbards while waiting.
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