"Getting out of the Knot and back out of the Folly is going to be Hell," Kev says with no trace of humour, or even recognition, of his bad pun. "But I don't see as we have much choice."
We can't go on. Fall back it is... Morghrim says, acting as rearguard.
Seeing the brief respite from the endless onslaught of shadow-creatures, Valeron continues to cautiously step backward, longsword in his hand (what good it would do).
The corridor... Back to the corridor everyone. It had a set of doors we can barricade, won't be much proof against the shadows but it should give us some warning time before anything else attacks. We'll have to lick our wounds there.
Kevorin nods wearily, struggling to drag his axe and borrowed mace along.
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The party returns to the entry corridor and closes the doors. Along the way a wary eye glances back toward the room with the pit, not seeing any sign of more shadows appearing.
"I wonder if time passes the same here?" Valeron wonders aloud.
"Perhaps while it's felt like an hour here, only a minute has passed outside? It would seem we should camp here, if we can, otherwise I'm unsure we'll get another chance to sneak past the mayor, his guests or his guards back here."
Aye, we're not leaving till we got what we came for. Wart... he would have wanted us to go on. Like I said, back to the corridor, its the most defensible spot.
"The room in which we encountered the shadows seems to have an active Lifesense effect - a common form of perception gained by the undead." Addie comments to her companions.
"I agree we should rest here in the Knot - we won't get a better opportunity for getting into this place. Valeron, would you be able to restore some of our reduced strength after we rest?"
If another DC 12 Will save is needed after another hour (with Guidance: - failed, Wisdom now at 11.
Next DC 12 Will save (with Guidance: - finally passed! Addie took a total of 3 Wisdom damage.
Addie helps her friends set up a makeshift camp in the entrance hallway of the Asmodean Knot. "Ol' Meg knew a trick that might help us get past those shadows," Addie shares with her companions as they rest. "I may be able to learn it when I commune with His Lordship after our rest."
During the course of the rest period Addie studies Drowned Jabe and His Miserable Brothers and Sisters for any clues that may be gleaned regarding the Asmodean Knot.
After her rest Addie awakens and spends an hour simply staring into His Lordship's golden eyes, communing with the spirit of her mysterious patron. During her meditation one question keeps chasing around and around in her mind, "Will we survive to escape the Asmodean Knot?"
At the end of the hour-long meditation she takes out her mother's ancient Harrow deck, draws a single card, and studies it intently for several moments.
"That doesn't bode well..." the young witch thinks to herself, replacing the card in her deck without mentioning it to her friends.
After a fitfull night filled with dreams of swarming masses of devilish figures swarming their group, Valeron awakens, somewhat surprised to find everyone relatively safe.
He promptly drops to his knees and begins his routine of prayer to the Inheritor, specifically requesting guidance through the Asmodean Knot for his companions and himself.
Groggy and weak, he feels his mind flood with the words to restorative prayers and begins to tend to the others.
Kev:
Addie:
Valeron:
Sitting back down, Valeron begins to work a whetstone on his longsword while opening up the discussion about how to next proceed.
"So, the room of shadow... did any of you see the source of those creatures? A portal? A cursed item?" The cleric's hands reinforce his words, as he gestures as if pointing to a portal or holding a small item.
"Whatever it is, we need to destroy it, or else we'll find ourselves pitted against every shadow from their Plane..."
"So, the room of shadow... did any of you see the source of those creatures? A portal? A cursed item?" The cleric's hands reinforce his words, as he gestures as if pointing to a portal or holding a small item.
"Whatever it is, we need to destroy it, or else we'll find ourselves pitted against every shadow from their Plane..."
"Before Wart fell, he mentioned that all of the shadows seemed to be coming from the far wall of the chamber, almost as if there was something behind that wall," Addie muses aloud.
"During my communion with His Lordship this 'morning', I was able to learn one of Ol' Meg's old tricks that had previously been beyond my ability. It's a spell that causes my skin to peel off my body and animate as a magical construct under my control. I can project my consciousness into my skin and direct it to perform any actions that I could normally take, although my skin's strength will be minimal. I could send my skin into the chamber to search that far wall for any secret doors that may lead to where the shadows are coming from - since my skin is a construct, it should be immune from the shadows' strength-draining touch."
"This spell is not without risks, though. When my skin leaves my body, my body will be helpless and its vitality will be reduced to the verge of unconsciousness. My body will be unable to heal damage naturally while I have no skin, nor will spells that heal damage work on my body. If the spell ends before I reunite my body and skin or if my skin is destroyed while my consciousness is in my body, then I will remain helpless until my full body can be restored using powerful regenerative magic. If my body dies while I'm possessing my skin, then I'll die when the spell ends. If my body or skin is slain with my consciousness in it, then I'll be instantly killed. Needless to say, if we agree that I should do this I'd appreciate it if someone would guard my body."
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Studying the book you find it to be a lavishly illustrated book in essentially brand new condition. The book goes into detail about a thief who stole his way into a place called the Asmodean Knot and drowned there only to "live" on after death as "Drowned Jabe". Basing your thoughts on the illustrations in the book, it would seem that his miserable sisters are the one's responsible for his death.
As you lay resting throughout the evening you have the most curious feeling that the book itself is not wholly real, almost like it has some sort of base intelligence of its own.
After Addie's long description, Valeron stands there looking at the witch for a few moments.
"Um."
Glancing downward, he kicks his feet uncomfortably.
"Your skin, it, uh..."
More shifting.
"Nevermind, that sounds, um... great. I'll guard your body while your skin explores?"
"Well then, gentlemen. If you'll give me a moment's privacy?" Addie requests as she fishes about in her magical haversack to retrieve the threadbare gray peasant dress that she wore when her companions first met her.
Once her companions' backs are turned, Addie disrobes and places her cloak over her body as she reclines on the floor with His Lordship sitting protectively near her head. The young witch begins chanting the words of a spell, and soon the ripping sound of her skin tearing itself away from her body can be heard over the sound of her voice. After nearly a minute the chanting stops, and Addie's skin rises to stand above her cloaked body.
With a momentary effort of will Addie projects her consciousness into her free-standing skin and instructs her creation to pick up the gray peasant dress. Skin-Addie dons the dress in an attempt to preserve a bit of modesty, then picks up Addie's recalcitrant wand of magical missiles before heading toward the doorway leading to the chamber of undead shadows.
"I recommend that you all remain out here," Addie's voice issues hollowly from the skin-construct. "This form should be immune to the shadows' touch, leaving me free to search the far wall of the chamber. If not, well... Don't sacrifice yourselves trying to avenge me."
With those words, Skin-Addie enters the chamber and heads toward the far wall.
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Her spell complete, Skin-Addie moves back into the chamber where Wart drew his last breath. Much as the young witch had thought, her skin construct does not garner the notice of the shades.
It takes her a while, but eventually Addie finds a fine seam in the wall and a few minutes later finds the opening mechanism for door in the form of a loose stone in the floor near the wall.
Opening the door, you see a odd trapazoidal shaped room. On the angled walls of the room reside a pair of silvery-black mirrors. Closer inspection of the mirrors show shadowy figures passing by.
Skin-Addie studies the silvery-black mirrors carefully, not surprised to see shadowy figures passing by on the other side of the reflective surfaces.
With a moment's concentration she returns her consciousness to her body to inform her companions of what she found. "A hidden room beyond a secret door in the far wall," she says in a weak whisper. "Within are a pair of silvery-black mirrors that appear to act as one-way portals from the Plane of Shadow. I saw several shadowy figures passing by within the mirrors. I'm going to try an experiment..."
Addie shifts her consciousness back to her skin-construct. Raising her wand, she fires a bolt of mystical force at one of the mirrors.
Encouraged by the effect of her initial bolt of mystical force, Skin-Addie tries to coax the wand to fire additional bolts at the mirror.
Skin-Addie returns to her companions. "The mirror-portals are destroyed. This wand came in useful after all. Now if you'll excuse me," the construct says hollowly.
Skin-Addie removes the the peasant dress and shreds apart, flowing under the cloak covering Addie's body to reattach itself. With a sharp intake of breath the young witch sits up, her face and body covered with hideous scars where her skin split apart. "Give me a minute to get dressed. A few charges from the curative wand and I'll be right as rain." Actually, it takes several charges from the wand to make the horrific scars mostly disappear. One long scar remains down the right side of her face, which she attempts to hide with her black veil.
"It should be safe to enter the room now. Let's see to poor Wart's body."
Aye, i'll take the lead... Some of ye seem to still be suffering from the shadows. Erm... good work Addie.
"Sounds good to me," Kevorin says, looking askance at Addie.
Valeron nods.
"I'm, err. Just glad to have you back to normal, Addie."
With that said, he follows closely behind Morghrim, holding his longsword and shield at the ready.
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The group re-enters the chamber to find Wart's body still laying the last place you saw it. Something seem a miss about the body, something more empty that most dead bodies you have seen in the past.
Traveling along the rickety wooden set of curved stairs, supported by creaky ropes above and a lattice of wooden boards below that make up the rest of the chamber pass through the center of two circular shafts. In each of the shafts, no floor is visible below and no ceiling above. In each case, an opening in the far wall beckons roughly thirty feet below the point where the stair curve.
Valeron kneels at Wart's body and recites last rites.
"I'm not a fan of leaving him here, but we can't exactly deal with the dangers of the knot carrying him around on our backs..."
Valeron stands and studies the hallway on the far side of the vertical shaft.
"Great... We have any volunteer willing to leap across and secure a more reliable means of passage using a rope?"
The cleric can't help but to allow his eyes to rest on Kevorin.
Kev's weary eyes lock with Valeron's, and he nods. "I can make it, and I know I'll have you three to hang on to the other end of the rope if I miss."
Kev unloads what gear he is still able to carry, and has Morghrim assist in tying the rope securely around his waist. Preparing to makes the leap, he says, "Any words or rates of encouragement?". He makes a running leap, if possible.
Acrobatics:
Kev makes the leap with grace and ease the belie his weakened condition.
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Kevorin gracefully leaps across the void, feeling an odd sensation almost akin to weightlessness as he crosses.
Landing on the stone floor across the pit, Kevorin looks around and sees a long hallway with heavy wooden doors, barred from outside. Each of the doors has a narrow steel barred window at what would be human eye level.
Something has apparently heard the half-orc's landing, as you hear from the first door on the right...
Perception:
Kev looks for something on which to attach his end of the rope. He checks the door handle of the first door on the left to see if it's sturdy enough to support Morghrim's weight if needs be. He'll tie his end of the rope down there if so. Once done, he returns to the edge of the pit, ignoring the shouts from the cell for the moment, and motions to the others to cross.
Valeron kneels at Wart's body and recites last rites.
"I'm not a fan of leaving him here, but we can't exactly deal with the dangers of the knot carrying him around on our backs..."
"Let's leave him in this corner here," Addie suggests, shifting Wart's body to a corner of the room and composing his limbs. She pauses as she sees the protective ring on his finger, the one that the group obtained from the Bastards of Erebus. "We should probably see if there's any of Wart's gear that we could use," she suggests pragmatically. "I doubt he would want us to die in this place if there was something in his possession that could have aided us."
Addie covers Wart's body with his cloak before the group leaves the strange chamber.
Kevorin attaches the rope to cross bar on the closest cell door, convinced that it will support his compaions weight.
"I'll try next. I'm the lightest," Addie says, praying to her otherwordly patron for guidance before attempting to climb across the rope.
Morghrim cocks his head as he hears the shouting, wondering if they should investigate. Looking at the rope in his newly donned full plate armour, he shakes his head in disbelief.
To think I packed up my breastplate... What a durn fool I am.
Climb check
Despite his worries, Morghrim clings on tightly to the rope, shuffling his massive weight across with apparent ease.