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?
Dragon lord, it lurks insanely in the center! To not see its lair. Know of us, so it does. Amuse it, we do.
Beyond us, shining singers the passage leads. Nothing to eat there. To not discuss of interest anything. To not philosophize. Beyond them, at the dragon closer to not go, we dare.
Of stone, the two-legs that walk betimes these passages. To eat, can not. To speak, do not. To not discuss in the least. To not philosophize.
Further of traps to know nothing. This place, so cheerful could/should be, but not! Rather dreary menace through presence of threats too powerful and also to eat, not enough or nothing. A place to philosophize, here not is. To depart we wish severely.
HP 169/169; AC:37/21/29; Saves: +22/+23/+20; Init +10; Per +28(See Invisibility), CMD 42
Misc:
Effects: Resist Cold 30, Fly 30', Telepathic Bond
Douglas Muir 406 wrote:
Dragon lord, it lurks insanely in the center! To not see its lair. Know of us, so it does. Amuse it, we do.
Evil dragon in the center, has some way of knowing what goes on within its lair.
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Beyond us, shining singers the passage leads. Nothing to eat there. To not discuss of interest anything. To not philosophize. Beyond them, at the dragon closer to not go, we dare.
Shining implies good outsider. Location implies that's impossible. Have an idea of what it could be OOC. Can someone roll a Knowledge (Planes), if we get..I think 10+CR, we can make a guess about what it is. Is that about right, DM? 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22 They don't eat and going beyond them leads too close to the dragon.
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Of stone, the two-legs that walk betimes these passages. To eat, can not. To speak, do not. To not discuss in the least. To not philosophize.
Stone golems--can we do Knowledge (Dungeoneering) to know that/their weaknesses or is that generic enough that we could guess? 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26 If it is arcane instead: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (5) + 14 = 19
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Further of traps to know nothing. This place, so cheerful could/should be, but not! Rather dreary menace through presence of threats too powerful and also to eat, not enough or nothing. A place to philosophize, here not is. To depart we wish severely.
Uuh...well s*&*. Okay they know nothing of traps..guessing the rest means that they like the place (cheerful=dreary/out of the way/cave?) but it has too many scary creatures for them to like it much and they want to leave.
They shine and sing, without end. To interrupt their song a painful disturbance may ensue. For us not relevant are they. Things of no philosophy, they, nor either to eat. For them not so much the less relevant are we, to know not how nor why, nor much to care. You, more like them, perhaps to fit more closely the drama in which they sing? Or perhaps also not. To know not more.
Similarly thus, two-legs of stone, to walk betimes, a thing or things without speech or philosophy. As well to speak with a rolling or falling stone. Creature or being elemental, on unknown mission or errand? Guardian constructed, yet of lost masters commands of patrol or watch to carry out? To know not what nor why, nor much to care.
Of aspect, massive and ancient. Of substance, inedible. Of purpose, unknown. To know not more.
The Judge turns and walks back to his companions.
Some kind of walking guardian, sounds like stone. Also, there is some shiny creatures which sing a painful song.
You call whether we kill them or let them go.
Sounds like the dragon knows we are here already, or so they think. Dragon is in the middle of the complex.
They don't leave through the front door. Instead, they go (slowly) to the left-hand passage, SE instead of SW from the opening at the north of the cairn.
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Southeast opens up into a large irregular chamber, maybe 70' x 50'. It is choked with boulders and stones and other fallen debris; if you weren't flying, it would be quite difficult to clamber over. It looks like this chamber has partially collapsed more than once.
At a casual glance there doesn't seem to be anything in here, and you don't see any other obvious exit. The place is such a mess, though, that there could be a ten foot wide passage right behind that big boulder over there... you'd have to poke around a bit.
As it turns out, there IS a ten foot wide passage behind that big boulder. It leads downward at an angle and goes on without branching for at least several hundred feet.
One of the creatures turns to you. To return now, to the Dark Below welcoming. Truly is it said the Over Bright a fell cruel realm of monsters and death full in fear and horror is.
To Nest-Mother, one should have listened, agrees another.
They slowly slime their way down the long passage, disappearing into the darkness.
Yes continuing on. Ulp takes the stealthy lead, until the room, he looks in the room, then telepathically lets the party know and judge can move in first.
The Judge will follow stealthily behind Ulp. If there is no wind in the tunnel, the Judge will take to gaseous form and follow Ulp by staying near the roof of the tunnel.
M DEAD!! KILLED BY EVIL EVIL DMDM!! Rogue1/Barb (Feral)1 temp hp 14/17 and 9 con (HP 24/25+4 when Raging; AC21/17/15(-2 Raging) ; CMD 16 (18 Rage) Fort +4(6); Ref +8; Will +1( 3); Init +6; Perception +5/6 for Traps; Darkvision
The passage begins to curve around to the southeast. Around the 7:30 mark, there's another side chamber.
This one looks very similar to the last -- lots and lots of bones, arranged by bone. One difference: here and there you can glimpse fist-sized spheres stuck to some of the bones. The spheres look vaguely organic, but it's impossible to say more without a closer look.
This is as far as Ulp got last time before the fight. Do you want to investigate this side chamber, or continue along the main passage?
Edmin follows in the main group. Shining singers. What in the hells does that mean? I am sure the dragon knows we are here now. We need to figure out how to bring this dragon to us, but how? We must strike him where he is the weakest but what would that be? It obviously does not care about its guardians, maybe this place itself?
HP 169/169; AC:37/21/29; Saves: +22/+23/+20; Init +10; Per +28(See Invisibility), CMD 42
Misc:
Effects: Resist Cold 30, Fly 30', Telepathic Bond
Jax will follow along, with Zoren, both of them stealthing. They are still flying so they will use crevasses in the ceiling, stalagmites and other things to hide.
Jax:1d20 + 30 ⇒ (7) + 30 = 37 Zoren:1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22
These odd spheres are the eggs of some sort of underground aberration. No way to tell how close they are to hatching.
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) DC 27:
They're roper eggs. When they hatch they'll turn into non-sapient larvae -- omnivorous sluglike creatures that will climb up the nearest wall. They'll attach themselves to the ceiling and grow a shell that looks like a downward-pointing stalactite. At this "piercer" stage, they can be a hazard to dungeon-dwellers. When they get big enough, they'll grow a brain and start looking for a roper Nest-Mother.
The larvae shouldn't be a serious threat, but a bunch of them hatching hungry at once could be troublesome.
The spheres seem organic, with a fibrous surface that is tough and rubbery. They're stuck to the bones with something that looks like dried mucus.
A few minutes of cautious examination of the spheres and the room don't seem to show anything else of interest here. Cut a sphere open, cut one loose and take it with you, or shrug and move on?
Cutting it open... reveals a greenish mass of jelly veined with black tubules. In the center is a squirming, slug-like creature as long as your hand, with stubby tentacles and what looks like a rudimentary shell. It writhes sluggishly for a few moments and then twitches and dies.
Okay then: you proceed on your way. The passage continues to curve slowly until it is heading due east -- you've now gone from midnight to 6:00, traveling counterclockwise.
To your left, an opening yawns to the north: there's another passage in there, also curved, apparently concentric to this one but closer to the center.
A little ahead, around the 5:30 mark, there's another side chamber. Even from 60' away, you can see that a glow is coming out of it, like dim moonlight. A faint sound comes to your ears: music. Someone is singing in there. Or several someones; it sounds like more than one sweet voice. First one sings, then another, then they harmonize, breathtakingly.
