You've rebelled against your master, Cardinal Adrastus Thorn. Can you kill him before he kills you? Who will lead the forces of Asmodeus in their final assault on the noble kingdom of Talingarde?
Okay, White Dress #1 is going Total Defense and floating away from Jax up into the ceiling. As she floats away, she begins to wail -- that same horrible keening as her sister's, though in a different key.
Jax, she's leaving your threatened area, so you get a single AoO. However, she has the Mobility feat, so that plus Total Defense means +8 to her AC.
While we're waiting for Jax to roll his AoO -- White Dress #2 will fly forward to attack Jax directly. (Since he's the only one in melee with them at the moment.)
Ulp seems to go off like a fireworks display, bombs everywhere, boom boom boom crackle! You can't hit White #1 (she's in the ceiling) and you can't see Blue, so all that destruction goes on White Dress #2. 3 out of 4 bombs hit, half damage for intangible, so #2 takes 41/2 + 38/2 + 35/2 = 56 damage.
Then Edmin.Edmin critted on that charge, doing 43 damage + 75 crit damage. -2 for being sickened and 1/2 for intangible... no, wait, you did the think that makes you hit intangible creatures with full power. So, 114 points of damage there on White Dress #2.
That's enough to destroy her. Her intangible form, already frayed, is simply sliced into pieces by the dark power of the Branderscar axe. Her shriek is quite abruptly cut off, and she dissolves into motes of floating light that one by one wink out.
Woot, finally. Okay, Edmin, mark off the effects of Hero's Feast, AND take 14d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 5, 4, 3, 6, 6, 2, 5, 5, 4, 1, 1, 6) = 56 points of negative energy damage.
At the end of her move, Blue takes a 5' step... straight down; she's now melded with the floor. So both she and her surviving sister are hiding intangibly inside the solid rock wall.
Male Human Oracle (FC) 15 Init: +8 Perc: +0 AC:24/14/20 F:+13 R:+14 W:+15 HP:124/124 Freedom of movement, Resist Cold/30, Air Walk 30'
Dren has earthglide going so he could potentially go after them with touch spells in the rock, but they can do the same to him. And then there is the 50% miss chance for not being necessarily able to see through solid rock. And that is if they stay in the same hex as they went into. Better bet is to ready an action to hurt them if we see them.
You all might want to disappear for a bit. I think that the ladies are a little annoyed. I will search through the chests and see if there is anything useful. If you stay here, I am sure that they are just going to come back and complain some more, which appears to be quite painful to you all from what I have seen.
The Judge will move to the first chest and begin to inspect chain and bell, and then will move on to the second sarcophagus with the elven curved blade.
Ulp, might as well check the third coffin. Seemed the ladies really got annoyed when you checked it out before.
The first coffin (trap already activated, Ulp saved) contained a bell. This was the real prize here: it's Master's Perfect Golden Bell.
The second coffin (Ulp disabled the trap) has a +1 Courageous elven curved blade made of living steel (+1 against fear and +1 to all morale effects; special material, repairs itself).
As to the third, a less kindly DM might note that the Judge's hasty greed came before Ulp's warning... but I'll allow you to dispel the trap. Your check succeeds. Inside the coffin are more elven bones, and a gleaming ring on one finger of the elven skeleton. It is a Scholar's Ring.
The necklace is what is referred to as a Master's Perfect Golden Bell. Seems to make getting through creatures from other planes defenses easier. Probably something for Dren to hold onto unless someone else wants it. If rung, it works anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or so.
The ring is a Scholar's Ring. Allows the wearer to read any text and once a week to gain magical insight into something. Seems useful.
The sword is one of those annoying elvish blades. It is magical and protects against fear effects. Might as well sell it as I doubt anyone here will want to use such a foolish elvish trinket.
With that he takes the equipment and begins to head out of the chamber. Before he does, however, he once more checks each sarcophagus for anything else that might be hidden therein.
If he does not find anything, he calls to the ladies hiding in the floor.
Nice meeting you all. As I told you before, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help free you from the eternal punishment you are facing in this frozen cave.
Then he casually walks from the room, although he waits for his companions to leave first so that the ladies do not attack any followers.
Init +4; Senses: low-light vision, darkvision 60 ft, scent; Perception +6, AC:32, HP:110/110; SR:10; Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +5; DR 5/good
Ragnar sniffs the ground where the elf women disappeared and raises his leg. A stream of sulphrr smelling urin splashes on the cave floor and the hound growls before returning to his masters side.
Shrieks of rage come from within the rock. However, for the moment, the two surviving ladies do not seem inclined to emerge and challenge you further.
There doesn't seem to be anything further of obvious value here. (The odd wooden structure in the center is the rotting remains of a huge gilded harp.) Hang around for ten minutes or so to carry out a thorough search, or move on?
The Judge shrugs:
I can wait all day, or all year for that matter. But, I suppose they can wait just as long and we should move on to find the phylactery and linnorm.
As you move to depart, the (very muffled) shrieks of rage continue; clearly the sisters are not going to forgive and forget.
As noted (way back when), you now have two other options. You entered this circular structure at noon, due north, and have since been proceeding counterclockwise down a passage going around the circle. The ladies' room was around 5:30. You can continue forward; from here it looks like there's another side chamber up there, around 4:00 or so. Or, to the north, an opening leads into another passage, which heads inwards towards the center of the structure.
Okay. Then if I don't hear otherwise, I will assume that Ulp once again floats forward, invisible and as stealthy as possible, to investigate the room ahead.
This room is some sort of tomb, but different from the last. It's full of the dead. There are great slate slabs everywhere, and niches have been carved into the walls. Almost all of them are occupied. At least a hundred ice elf bodies are in here. The bodies seem to have been treated with some form of preservative or magic; though very withered, they have not rotted away.
Otherwise, to a casual glance, this room seems dark and silent.
Hearing Ulp's comments, the Judge causally walks into the room, casting Detect Magic as he does, and begins to investigate to see whether anything of value has been left in this crypt.
Hearing Ulp's comments, the Judge causally walks into the room, casting Detect Magic as he does, and begins to investigate to see whether anything of value has been left in this crypt.
It's invisi-Ulp and the Judge, then. Okay. Judge, you're just starting to toss the first corpse (it looks like they used some sort of treated wrappings to preserve the flesh) when a ghostly figure rises up out of the floor.
Normal eyes would see only a tall (over 8'), vaguely humanoid shadow with two faint gleams of pale light where the eyes would be. The Judge's undead vision sees something else: an ancient elven warrior, pale as death, clad in rotting robes.
It hisses an imprecation in the elvish tongue and reaches out for the Judge. 1d20 ⇒ 4 That's an incorporeal touch attack, so it passes right through the Judge's armor and hits home.
