Allegra waits silently for Mara to finish her prayers, watching Ci Ci's display without comment. Before they set out, she kneels down by a nearby corpse and grabs the top of the head in one hand. She recites a short prayer to Asmodeus, binding the body to protect her. As she finishes, the scorched flesh sloughs off the skull as it floats off of the body to begin orbiting around her.
"I'm ready."
Allegra waits silently for Mara to finish her prayers, watching Ci Ci's display without comment. Before they set out, she kneels down by a nearby corpse and grabs the top of the head in one hand. She recites a short prayer to Asmodeus, binding the body to protect her. As she finishes, the scorched flesh sloughs off the skull as it floats off of the body to begin orbiting around her.
Dervak looks askance at Allegra's ritual. He seems vaguely repulsed by it, but not enough to say anything.
Oh, she's a necromancer too? This is going to be interesting.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Theophilus looks on as Allegra performs her spell. He looks sternly at The White Rabbit.
And why do we not have that one?
"We checked two rooms off the central intersection on the next floor down.
One had not much of interest.
The other had those Axiomites. That was not a good scene. Mara didn't see much of a reason to go back there, but revenge works for me.
Or a place other than one of the four central rooms? There is a room far in the northeast, and more to the south."
Mara replied to Dervak, "I'd just as soon go to the room to the northeast." She didn't feel up going near the axiomites at the moment.
When they reached the floor below, she checked the agreed upon door for traps.
Theophilus awaits the prolonged precedent of precision. He seems unwilling to volunteer to open any doors...
He does cast Guidance on Dervak before the door is opened.
“You know this place better than we do, as well as threats. I’m no trap expert, but I’m happy to take the look-but-don’t-touch approach.”
Pocky decides to help Mara check for traps.
If nobody finds any traps, then Dervak will use a charge from his wand of Shield (now at 34) and open the door.
Mysterium level 3 down
Like the previous levels of this library, this level contains hundreds of carvings of angels upon the walls. Those in this level are dancing and cavorting, but some of them hold sly expressions. The images seem to move on their own when viewed out of the corner of the eye. Unlike previous levels, the hallway is not cluttered with books, ancient manuscripts, and arcane minutia.
Preventing you from seeing very far is a pervasive fog that fills the corridors. Beyond your sight you hear the incessant turning of pages of some unseen book or tome.
As you round the corner of the misty hallway a chalk mark is drawn on the floor, a mark made by the departed Kat. Mara, Dervak, and Theo know what this means, a door. Dervak reaches his hand into the wall and it passes through as if nothing was there. Finding the handle he opens the door and passes through.
This room is crammed with cases, shelves, and cabinets, alongside a large number of preserved snakeskins and the skull of some sort of large fish.
The little nun’s sharp eye is on the lookout…
On the way, Pocky noticed the angel statues and wondered, What’s the significance of their poses, and why dance with such a look in the eye?
Mara moved into the room and looked around, scanning for magic auras and searching through the shelves and cabinets.
Theophilus cast Detect Magic, sweeping the Room.
Allegra will scan for chaos and fiendish presences.
Pocky ponders the meaning of the angel faces and the cherubs as they wander the misty halls. They could represent Nethy's benevolent half but that wouldn't explain why they seemed to squirm and twist so eerily. Maybe the artist suffered from some sort of madness, a blessing from their god.
As some of you enter to investigate, the sound of pages being turned grows and is joined by the murmurs of someone unseen. Mara and Theo detect magic but she's unable to determine the number of auras yet. Allegra fails to detect chaos and has yet to cast detect fiendish presence.
"I'm picking up magic auras," Mara announced. "There's something in here!" She concentrated causing her form to flicker, making her true position uncertain.
Pocky replies to Mara, “I sense a presence as well.”
She sinks into the stance of the jabbing master, intent on attacking if attacked.
Sensing a threat, Dervak will Dex-rage, cast See Invisibility, and take a step back.
Theophilus peers around nervously.
The Books within this chamber begin to tear from the shelves, their pages opening as ghostly images of screaming instructors and ranting fanatics emerge. They begin shouting a cacophonous diatribe.
Almost as quickly as they appeared the screaming apparitions disappear.
Pocky groans and dashes out the door.
“That was more thunder than I could bear. Be watchful,” she warns the others. “I do not understand the chaos that exists in there.”
Mara decided that this was not a good place to be; she quickly left, then healed Pocky. "Bad place, best to stay out!"
Theophilus looks around.
Is there anybody out there...
Pocky can actually feel her fractures mending.
“Oh, that helps quite a bit. Thank you.”
Allegra will back out of the room then begin healing herself with her Infernal Healing wand.
Everything happened so quickly that Ci Ci barely had time to move by the time it was all over.
"Is everyone...okay?" she asks tentatively. "I will happily incinerate everything in that room if it will help."
So... the warrior priestess prefers to rely on the 'gift' of Asmodeus rather than actual healing magic. I guess I have some time.
Dervak ends his rage.
He catches his breath (2 rounds).
He sits around and waits while Infernal Healing begins to work. He checks the wrapping on his sword's hilt. He polishes his armor.
"We can continue, I have other ways of healing myself."
"No sense moving on while you are still hurt. Looks like the others are quite hurt too."
Dervak is pretty nonchalant about it. His Shield wand needs to be re-upped after every room, but his See Invisibility and Mara's blessing will last for over an hour and a half.
Pocky heals the rest of her internal wounds…
…leaving just a faint bruise as evidence of the trauma.
She says to the tall warriors. “As long as the enemies aren’t rushing to us, please heal. Those of us not in need can watch the halls.”
Theophilus takes out the Wand of Cure moderate wounds.
He offers it to anyone else in need.
As the others heal, Pocky responds to Ci-Ci.
"Is everyone...okay?" she asks tentatively. "I will happily incinerate everything in that room if it will help."
“I’m better now, thank you. As for burning the room, I suppose it would prevent us from entering that horrid place again, though you might rather save your magic for an enemy that we can defeat. I can punch a ghost—you don’t want to know how I know this! But… I couldn’t touch those things that cracked our bones so easily.”
The ghosts disappear, the room grows quiet, even the fluttering of pages cease. You only hear yourselves talk and the sound of healing magic.
Mara healed herself and accepted a charge from Theo's wand. She told the others, "I want to see what those magic auras are about. I'm going to scan from just outside the doorway. You might want to stand back, just in case."
Allegra takes another drag on her wand of infernal healing and, peering in through the doorway, tries to figure out what in the nine hells just hit them.
Dervak will reactivate his Wand of Shield (to be then at 33 charges) after the injured party members are healed up and we are ready to move on.
He will also try to figure out what just happened.
Theophilus watch as Allegra, Dervak and Pocky all begin starring into the chamber of WTF! The gentleman looks down at The White Rabbit---who shrugs--then back at the trio hard at figuring. Walking just behind the trio, he also begins expounding on his figurings.
Pocky, Mara, Dervak, and Theo have encountered such phenomena before in their pursuit of the errant count; restless spirits or at least fragments of them. They have probably lain dormant for years, at least until Lowls kicked up enough energy to empower them to deadly proportions. It might be possible to put them to rest but how is not readily apparent.
Ci Ci stands well-clear of the door. "Do these phenomena have to regain their power after manifesting, or are they always active? Would it be safe to go in and look around for a bit, or are we just asking for more trouble?" she asks the others.
Pocky suggests, “We cannot harm the restless souls as efficiently as they harm us, even with a powerful burst of positive energy.
“We definitely want to stay out of there until those souls are laid to rest.” Pocky is not just spouting a theory. Of this she is certain. As for what she is uncertain about: “How we get them to rest, I can only guess. Perhaps their words, however harmful, are still an important message.”
Mara detects four magic auras from a few of the books and scrolls filling the room.
Mara pointed out the magic items to Theophilus, "Do you think Frederick could retrieve those? I don't think he would be affected if there's another moment of nastiness like we just experienced."
Theophilus looks down at The White Rabbit; raising his bushy eyebrows. The White Rabbit suddenly begins inspecting his nails. Theo grins a bit sheepishly at Mara.
Well, you see what happen was...
Theo then looks at The White Rabbit.
Ok. It seems the Unseen Servant Union decided that Frederick was due vacation time. I could summon something?
Mara offered, "I could try a prayer to make someone immune to fear temporarily. You wouldn't benefit from heroism at the same time though."
"I'll go. Just tell me what to grab."