"I would like to know what's inside... Let's search the cellar. Maybe the key is in there. I hope it's not in the room with the Haunt."
Zigil will lead down the stairs, alert for danger
Searching the cellar:
Slei will join Ziggy in searching the cellar.
Eldan approaches a few feet behind his companions into the cellar.
Zigil
Giles
Slei
Eldan
Tarakona
Zepfina
The stone stairs end in a stark subterranean chamber. Exits lie to the northwest and southwest.
Around the corner to the south, a lone statue has been relegated to a dusty corner behind the stairs
I will go and guard the intersection near the statue while one of the brainier types has a look at that statue. I have my sword drawn.
Giles heads off into the shadowy region at the limits of Eldan's light.
Eldan will move up to inspect the statue.
Eldan can see that it is another statue of Iomedae, standing in a peaceful pose with both hands gripping her grounded sword. The sword looks oddly askew.
As Eldan approaches with the light, Giles can see that the passage to the northwest is blocked by a lowered portcullis. A chamber is partly visible beyond, with a large symbol tiled into the floor.
"Hmmm, something seems up with this statue. Perhaps it has been moved recently."
Eldan begins lloking for sings that the statue has benn moved.
"Oh ya? Hmmm I reckon this thingy opens the whatsit over there."
Giles tries to move the sword as a lever to open the porticullis.
As Giles tugs at the sheathed sword, it comes loose of the statue.
"Ohhhh! Maybe it's magic! Do you think it's magic?"
Ziggy looks at the statueand the sheath where the sword is.
When she's done that, she'll look at the st the symbol on the floor and see if it's a religious symbols.
The hilt of the sword looks rather plain, as does the sheath it is in.
The granite symbol on the floor is that of Iomedae (Zigil's deity, and the one this chapel was dedicated to).
As Stardust approaches the portcullis to examine the symbol, she can see more of the room, including a ladder leading to the ceiling and a decrepit bookshelf. Other exits lead from the chamber.
Giles will give the sword to Zigil.
The sword is of superior quality, but has no magical aura once it is checked.
"dice=Knowledge(linux)"
Zigil will use the new sword for now. Assuming it fits in her old sheath, she'll transfer her old sword to the new sheath and tie it to her back (beneath the backpack).
She will then search for a mechanism to raise the porticullis.
If none is found, then she will suggest trying to lift it, and will request that others in the party try to aid her.
"Perhaps we should try some of these othe doors before struggling with that rather heavy lookinh gate."
Zigil finds no mechanism, and his struggles with the gate are futile.
"Right and what's behind this here door?"
Giles opens the door nearby.
Giles opens the door to reveal a chamber where the walls are pocked with cubbyholes about a foot or two across, each containing a clay or brass urn. Some of the urns have cracked or completely broken, but most are still intact.
A lightly coloured stone statue depicting a burning chariot wheel occupies the northwest corner of the room.
Giles also notices a few small items and a chain shirt floating in mid-air approaching him. A glistening sheen is a few feet in front of the objects.
Tarakona moves in front of Giles, and casts a spell. Waves of fire shoot out from her hands, and seem to hit some sort of flexible wall in front of the objects. Flames lick across the surface for a couple of seconds, and there is the smell of something burning.
Slei moves forward in front of Eldan and readies her sling-staff.
Eldan is barely able to make out the objects from his position, but he is still able to determine that they are floating in a gelatinous cube!
for the gelatinous cube.
Was that a magic missile? Any movement?
"That is a gelatinous cube. It will try to engulf you in its mass or slam you with pseudopods."
"I'll carve this beastie like butter! Stay back so it doesn't try to eat ya."
Giles moves up next to it but 10' from Tarakona.
"It can't eat all of us at once!"
Eldan's missile and Giles' bastard sword sink deep into the creature, spraying foul, sharp smelling liquid everywhere.
Zepfina hurries into the room, longaxe in hand.
Zigil rushes in beside Giles and swings her sword into the quivering mass.
,
He looks at Giles and says "Wow, you're pretty strong!"
The cube lurches forward, instinctively trying to consume all in its path.
"Aye a life of hard farming makes a man strong."
Zigil tries to evade the cube leap through the cube to the other side.
Zepfina also strikes the jelly in hopes of killing it before it engulfs half the party, but such hopes are in vain.
With a mighty GLOMPH the cube surges forward. Zepfina, Zigil, and Giles are completely submerged in acidic, paralytic goo, which immobilizes them and prevents them from breathing.
Ruh roh.
Ruh roh.
Giles feels his limbs go numb, and is unable to move.
On her turn, Slei will fire her sling staff at the cube.
Eldan will again cast Force Missile.
Tarakona steps back through the door and launches a flame bolt at the jelly.
Slei's stone strikes home, then Eldan's bolt takes the last of the fight from the blob. As it leaks from multiple punctures, it deflates and frees its captive appetizers.
"Yuck. That's a relief." Zigil looks down at herself with a grimace, and spends some time trying to de-slime, then starts looking at the remains of the over-grown jello shot.
.
"Nnnnnngh" is the best cursing that Giles can manage while paralyzed.
Giles' nose begins to itch, and he remains paralyzed for a bit over a minute.
The cube contained a number of coins (20 gp 95 sp, 144 cp), an amulet, a steel scroll case, a small-sized well-made chain shirt, and a falchion.
Once they take a few seconds to detect for magic, the spellcasters in the group discover that the only aura radiates from something in the scroll case.