for
With everyone safely up on the second floor, the party advances through the empty chamber and Faren opens the latest discovered door.
A javelin immediately pivots up from a spring on the floor, hitting the cavalier square in the stomach .
Beyond, racks for weapons line the walls of this chamber; above the racks
hang various shields, pieces of armor, weapons, and standards on display. Most of the racks are empty, but a few weapons remain in place.
A horrible stench fills the room as well, akin to the smell of rotten eggs mixed with the reek of an open sewer.
Two boxy-headed lizard-humanoid hybrids grip javelins and snarl, clearly betraying hostile intent.
Initiative:
Wincing through the pain, Faren discovers a surge of adrenline and total battle clarity as he gets the drop on the two troglodytes in the room beyond.
Round 1
18 Faren :
12 Trogs :
9 Silas :
8 Valkyrja :
7 Brigid :
6 Tyranius :
Now Up: Faren!
for
for
Faren's swing is heavy but wild as the trogs pull out clubs and move to engage the cavalier, their horrid stench filling the tower.
The trogs both step up and one manages to swing his club into Faren with a loud crunch .
Round 1
18 Faren : Swings and misses
12 Trog #1 : Swings and misses
12 Trog #2 : Clubs Faren for 3
9 Silas :
8 Valkyrja :
7 Brigid :
6 Tyranius :
Round 2
18 Faren :
Now Up: Everyone!
|
Silas'ra taps into the void of the Dark Tapestry and channels the energy towards Trog #1.
Faren's swing is enough to cut down the first of the trogs.
The remaining trog's eyes swirl a bit as his tongue lolls and he looks wildly about the room.
Still Up: Brigid (and Ty, if he wants to come off delay)
|
"Whiskey bottles, brand new cart... Troggy you're in our way... there's too much joke... and too much choke..."
Starting a raging song is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. A raging song cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the skald is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round to maintain it. A raging song counts as the bard's bardic performance special ability for any effect that affects bardic performances. A skald may learn bard masterpieces.
A raging song has audible components, but not visual components. Affected allies must be able to hear the skald for the song to have any effect. A deaf skald has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a raging song. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to raging songs.
If a raging song affects allies, when the skald begins a raging song and at the start of each ally's turn in which they can hear the raging song, the skald's allies must decide whether to accept or refuse its effects. This is not an action. Unconscious allies automatically accept the song. If accepted, the raging song's effects last for that ally's turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first.
If an ally has her own rage class ability (such as barbarian's rage, bloodrager's bloodrage, or skald's inspired rage), she may use the Strength, Constitution, and Will saving throw bonuses, as well as AC penalties, based on her own ability and level instead of those from the skald (still suffering no fatigue afterward). However, inspired rage does not allow the ally to activate abilities dependent on other rage class abilities, such as rage powers, blood casting, or bloodrager bloodlines; the ally must activate her own rage class ability in order to use these features.
The trog stands fairly stationary with a glazed look before babbling incoherently.
Round 2
12 Trog #2 : Babbles
9 Silas :
8 Valkyrja :
7 Brigid :
6 Tyranius :
Round 3
18 Faren :
Now Up: Everyone!
Faren cuts down the lone remaining trog, who seems to babble something in futility as he collapses in a pool of his own blood.
Most of the few remaining arms in the room have rusted away, making them useless in combat.
However, the following valuable items are turned up with a casual search - a masterwork silver dagger, a masterwork light steel shield emblazoned with a leaping dolphin, and a banner depicting a bird made of living flame.
Two doors exit the room. One, presumably similar to the first floor in the center stands between you and the stairs. Another leads around the tower's perimeter.
|
|
Brigid tries to see if she recognizes any of the items from song or story as she winds down from belting out that quick tune.
"A long time ago, during the Days of Steel, there was a most excellent hunting lodge called 'The Brotherhood..'" She pauses, shaking her head. Common isn't her first language. It's Dwarven. "Sorry. '*BAND* of the Phoenix, and they were quite famous indeed, so much that the tales of their legendry reached the Five Kingdoms, even! That banner hearkens back to their time!
Faren throws the door open.
Judging from the shelves lining the walls, this darkened room might once have been a storeroom, though its contents have long since succumbed to the passage of time. A crack in the northern wall has apparently let in some rainwater, which has collected in a large puddle on the floor.
Within, a lizard - electricity crackling across its skin nearly grins and begins to lope forward towards Faren, its tongue lolling to the side.
The lizard stops about ten feet from Faren and glances eagerly at his hand and then anxiously to the general area of the room. It repeats this a second time as saliva drips from its open, toothy mouth.
The lizard immediately turns and pounces on the thrown rations, his long scaly tale seeming to "wag" as it does so.
As it retreats to a corner of the room, it gives a growl, half playful and half saying "buzz off, I'm working on a meal".
The central staircase once again appears full of rubble, forcing the Pathfinders back to the ledge and to use their rope to once again ascend to the tower's third level.
As Faren steps first into the exposed room, he glances around.
The first thing he notices is that there appears to be no doors leading into the tower from this room exposed partially to the open sky.
The second thing he notices is a living, moving fabric seems to cover the ceiling of this half-collapsed chamber, which stretches northwest into darkness. The pungent smell of ammonia rises from the droppings that litter the floor.
Initiative:
The grey-colored living fabric seems to take form as hundreds of bats take flight, screeching and flying towards Faren.
21 Valkyrja :
19 Faren :
16 Silas'Ra :
15 Tyranius :
10 Brigid :
8 Bat Swarm :
Now Up: Everyone!
|
|
Silas'ra glances towards Valkyrja with new respect but tries not to show it. "Your fire burns hotter than this one has seen," he says before turning his gaze away towards something unseen to all but himself.
"Must examine the void deeper to find power like that, power like a dying star," Silas'ra whispers to himself.
|
|
Everything moved so quickly for Brigid. It wasn't like dealing with her adoptive family back in the Five Kingdoms... one could wait *days* for an answer to a question, with patience, stability, and a steady pace being the standard methodology.
So she's still kind of trying to figure out the shocker lizard and what might make it 'tick' (without intruding on its dining time) as the party progresses to the third floor, and then there's a bat shower as there is suddenly tons of fried bat.
"WHOAAAAAAhhhhh! That was AMAZING!" Mentally she composes some lyrics as she prepares to go up to the next floor, taking her turn and her time as she does so.
Valkyrja's hands of fire doth inspire... Hmmm.
Faren collapses back on the second floor landing, swiftly pursued by several hundred bats.
Whicih become several hundred burning bats that disperse into the evening sky.
Without the looming thread of a bat swarm, you all manage to ascend to the second floor and after spending a few moments discover the southwestern wall to be a carefully hidden sliding panel that leads back into the tower.
|
Faren slams into the floor as the bat pursue, the swarm is obliterated with a gout of searing flames and is silenced. Faren stands up and brushes of the dust as he catches his breath.
"I don't know what is worse, the fact that I was almost roasted to death or the smell of those bats have left. We are disturbing quite a large amount of nature in our pursuit." Faren looks a little ashamed of the recent actions. "I will strive to do better." Faren looks as if he has found his resolve and once again climbs the rope.
|
|
The visions he had a few days ago were confusing and unclear as all of his glimpses of the dark tapestry but foretold of power inside this tower. Power that I am meant to claim say the voices in his mind.
Ready to continue Silas'ra makes sure his crossbow is loaded and then follows Faren and the rest of the party forward towards his destiny.
Two stone altars, one black and one white, sit at either end of this large chamber, which takes up two wings of the tower on this level. The crumbling remains of wooden benches sag in front of each altar beneath rotting ceiling tapestries. Carved symbols and writings snake along the walls.
The burnt corpses of two troglodytes lie on the floor in the center of the room.
The sound of cracking bones quickly draws your attention as two humanoid skeletons, wreathed in auras of eternal flame move to attack - their jaws open in soundless screams as they raise their weapons and attack.
Initiative:
Round 1
21 Silas'Ra :
20 Faren :
16 Brigid :
15 Valkyrja :
9 Skeletons :
8 Tyranius :
Now Up: Silas, Faren, Brigid, Valk
|
|
Knowing little about the undead much flaming undead, Silas'ra falls back on his well-founded knowledge of self-preservation and casts a spell.
Cast Guidnace on Faren
Faren obliterates one of the skeletons while Valkyrja zaps the remaining one. His companions infuse Faren with even more power.
The lone remaining skeleton steps up to the cavalier [ooc](this provokes) and tries to claw at him but seems incapable of even scratching Faren's armor.
Round 1
21 Silas'Ra : Guidance on Faren
20 Faren : Destroys skeleton
16 Brigid : Inspires rage
15 Valkyrja : Zaps for 3
9 Skeleton #2 (-3) : (provokes) Steps up to Faren and waves
8 Tyranius :
Round 2
21 Silas'Ra :
20 Faren :
16 Brigid :
15 Valkyrja :
Now Up: Everyone!