"Told ya this would be a good spot to sleep," Cotton says, winking at Moira. "So, who's ready for some more adventure?"
"Five more minutes..." The dwarf says in a sleepy voice, perhaps joking
Moira stands in front of the man that shot at them earlier and contemplates tying him up before going to bed. Realizing that might make him panic more, she decides not to and finds a place to bed down. In the morning she gears up and stretches as usual and waits for the others. Both Vera and Sa'sori still look a little shaky from the unnatural cold of the ghost yesterday. She doesn't help them and lets them go at their own pace so as not to wound their pride. The dwarf is another matter, he is perfectly fine. "Wake up," she says annoyed and nudging him with a toe. Not enough to hurt but enough to be uncomfortable. "We have a girl to save."
Sa'sori wakes from a somewhat turgid sleep... dreams that are not dreams but memories that haunt her stirring her to fitful wakefulness.
She stands, stretches, and tosses her head of luxuriously long golden hair that though she looks somewhat disheveled still makes her seem appealing~ even her 'bed-head' hair makes her enticing to the eye as the lovely half-elven woman becomes fully awake.
She yawns and grabs for her 'Kassen' Elven Curve Blade... as she walks a little distant from the party... shapely hips swaying gentle with each step.
She goes into a graceful but intense kata of blade maneuvers piroettes and graceful slashes .. a morning practice with her weapon ... until she is beaded with a light sweat.
Sa'sori slumps slightly at the end of her brief exercise... commenting frustratedly, " No strength... I'm a weak as a kitten! All my training of for nothing with all my strength sapped! This sucks!!"
Weakly she slowly sheaths her curve blade across her back... and strap clearly out lining an impressive womanly figure...
She sighs, "Morning everyone... hope you all slept better than I!"
She then begins chanting a spell... and her tattoos instantly flare to life on her long slender legs and soft supple arms, lighting on her face and peeking out from under the plunging neckline of her silken Ceremonial shift on the flesh of her breast...
Sa'sori casts and a refreshing wind whips around her cleaning the dirt, grime and sweat from her shapely body.. unwrinking her cloths, shining her weapons, untangling her hair as if brushed 100 times and even perfuming her soft skin until she is clean and refreshed as if stepping out of her own parlor at home!
She turns to smile with lightly makeuped lips at the party the magic of the spell still buffeting around her clearly in effect... as she strides gracefully over to Moira ...
She asks her friend, "May I, freshen you as well friend ?"
Moira ogles the effect more than the woman. "That is so cheating. Do you know how long it takes to wash clothes, sharpen a blade, and untangle this," she says grabbing a handful of her unruly hair. She then looks accusingly at Cotton. "Can you do that?"
Cotton grins, snaps her fingers -- and what grime had gathered on her body turns into dust which just puffs away when she moves again, her hair a mass of clean, glistening curls.
"You mean you can't?" she teases Moira. Then she just makes the same magical gesture at Moira, and after that at Dyrm, the dirt sloughing off of both of them.
"Wakey-wakey, lazy-bones!" she chirps at the Dwarf. Then she winks at Moira again. "I thought everyone could do that."
The Gnome dissolves into a fit of giggles.
Moira looks a little shell-shocked. "All those mornings brushing. All those broken brushes."
"You never asked," Cotton says, suddenly contrite. "I'd teach it to you, but you had any use for magic. I'll be happy to do it for you from now on, though."
Dyrm looks sheepish as he's woken, "Sorry, sorry about that. Ready to go when you all are I suppose."
Where we off to?
"Right! This way... "
Sa'sori leads the way out of the campsite due north... past the first turn to the left to the end and turn of the corridor. She moves past the entrance to the right to the trap maze to head to the end of the hallway as it turn left, to the section they have not yet explored.
With her sword in hand she mutters an incantation... casting , her tattoos glowing slightly... as 4 spheres of light appear... all of a garish bright color {magenta, fluorescent orange, hot pink, and acid green} to provide a floating source of illumination [Each sphere 10'ft radius]. Which she gestures sending them forward to illuminate the unexplored hallways... Room {11}.
She concentrates for a moment and her bare back tattoo of her hawk familiar, ... glows to life and separates from her smooth flesh in a burst of glowing colors - flame reds and ember oranges to manifest and take flight.
The Reddish colored hawk circles once and lands to perch on her bare shoulder.
Hefting her curve blade in hand she proceeds ...cautiously...
The door is locked still, but the key you found in the room with the shadow fits it and unlocks the door.
A small stone bench sits in the center of this dusty chamber. On the far wall is a faded mural depicting the hero Kassen defeating the mercenaries at the entrance of this crypt with his blade piercing the chest of the mercenary leader. These figures stand alone in the center of the carnage, with dead villagers and mercenaries all around them. Down the hall and to the east is another door.
Cotton casts and repeats her cantrip as the group proceeds.
Nothing in this room detects as magic.
Dyrm tries to take in the stonework, cautiously looking for trapdoors or secret passages behind stone as they move.
"Let's head towards that far door. Moira, if you'd do the honors."
As usual Moira goes forth to scout for traps and other baddies.
Moria you push the door open and peek inside. A single pillar in the center of this room supports its wide domed chamber. The pillar is surrounded on call sides by a pit except for a small stone bridge to the south. Dozens of arrows jut from holes in the pillar, facing in every direction.
Well this screams trap. "Uh Sa'sori. Do we still have those tower shields? Gonna need them again. I think this room is lined with arrow slits all pointing to the center."
"How unimaginative," Cotton mutters as she peeks into the room from under Moira's arm, checking for magical auras.
Nothing in range detects as magic.
Sa'sori peeks around Moira, seeing the pillar of arrow traps and grimaces, "Er...yeah.. back at camp. I didn't tote one of those heavy things with me in my weakened strength state! Ask .. she's at full strength."
She ponders, "But.. there may be a deactivation switch somewhere in the room. With no magical auras... the arrow trap is likely triggered by pressure plates in the floor. could fly around the room without triggering it to see if he can spot a lever that might deactivate the trap... then I could it to 'safe'. Or and I could take the time to the pillar until all the arrowheads are destroyed? Which do you prefer?"
"Let's try not bring the whole crypt down on us. Let's try your friend then the shield if that doesn't work," she says moving aside for Sa'sori.
Sa'sori squeezes around Moira to the doorway and sends first her four floating orbs of garishliy glowing radiance into the room circling them around the pillar to remove ANY shadows from the room.
Then she strokes Red Wing with the back of her hand whispering soft affectionate words to the reddish hunting bird...
preens his feathers briefly before taking flight to fly around the pillar looking for a leaver or switch that might serve as a perch.
"Just for the record, I'm better, but nowhere near full strength." Vera says rubbing her sore arms. "Never thought my axe could feel so heavy."
"Sorry, Vera, healing such I fear is beyond both our powers," The dwarf says, while eying the bridge warily.
Do you have any way to speak with your familiar? 1st level is just an empathic alert.
Sa'sori you can feel the pure exhaustion of your bird as you awaken it for another task. It circles the pillar a few times before flying to the far wall and retrieving something. When it returns it drops an arrow at your feet.
As you examine the arrow you find the tips have been blunted much like the arrows you found outside yesterday. You also come to realize based off where he found the arrow it is more likely the arrows shoot from the pillar rather than at it.
Sa'sori considers the blunt arrow retrieved by her faithful familiar.
shifts from his perch on her wrist to her shoulder and... 'melts' into her skin... and reappears back on the supple flesh of her back clearly seen through the open back of her silken ceremonial armor.
Sa'sori yawns and speaks, "Right it seems the arrows on the pillar are blunted for non-lethal damage like the ones outside.. but I'll bet they still sting!"
She smiles an chuckles lightly, "But fortunately you have my beautiful presence to guide and show you a way past it!"
She winks at Moira then pulls from her backpack her rope and grappling hook. Turning to the wall she also pulls an iron spike.
Casting , she 'fires' the iron spike into the wall to secure it firmly, avoiding having to do the work of hammering it in... apparently mages and sorceress cheat all the time.
Then Sa'sori secures one end of her rope to the spike. She casts again.. this time to lift her grappling hook and fly it into the room to secure it on the edge of the stone lip to the door in the south of the room. Taking up the slack.. on her iron spike to lay out a secure line well above the floor to the door.
With that Sa'sori climbs the rope hanging from it, hands above her head and slender {now bare} legs hooked at her ankles on the rope so as not to touch the floor as she makes her way to the door. Hardly dignified... but effective.
"This, {grunt}.. would be much easier... {gasp}.. with a scroll of !"
The only place to catch the grappling hook is on the southern door's handle. You throw your grappling hook and it does catch. Pulling it tight and securing it to your spike holds the rope tight. Climbing up you crawl away taking your time and make it unmollested to the southern door. Upon closer inspection the southern door is locked with no discernible keyhole, switch, or level to unlock the door.
Sa'sori looks at the door in in an expression of 'ready to snap' anger and frustration!
"Do we even have another key? This door is locked and seems to have no means to unlock it..."
Turning Sa'sori looks at the pillar... in wonder.
"I'm REALLY getting tired of all this trap BS! I'm ready to just start blasting crap to scrap until nothing is in my way anymore...!"
On a whim... Sa'sori leaps, to jump over the five foot square behind her at the door [square with 11] to land in the square in front of the pillar.
First She looks to see how deep the pit surrounding the pillar is and then at the pillar to see if there is a key hole on it anywhere?
The pit is only 10 feet deep. Searching the pillar reveals no discernible keyholes or anything that could open the door.
"The pessimistic view is that we have to spring the trap to open the door. Any volunteers?"
Yep." Moira takes off when she sees Sa'sori moving slowly on the rope and returns with one of the shields. She memorizes the room layout before hunkering behind it and moving slowly into the room. She heads to the pillar first, always keeping the shield facing the pillar. If she spots them, she attempts to set off as many traps as she can. When she gets to the pillar she gauges her handy work and then uses the torch to peer down into the pit.
Moria, when you let go of the door to get the shield the door starts to fall shut and catches on Sa'sori's rope before closing. You enter the room with the shield and search, not finding any pressure plates or switches that would seem to activate a trap.
Sa'sori watches as Moira releases the door.. and its attempt to close, noting the fact there is no way to reopen the door from the inside.
"Ah.. Ha! Hey guys... I'll be the trap springs when you let the door close behind you, and the other door only unlocks when the door behind is shut. Hang on, hold the door open please~ I'm gonna pull this lion's teeth!"
Sa'sori waits for her friends to hold the door open... then she will walk over to the door handle and unfasten her grappling hook. Walking back over to the pit surrounding the pillar... she uses the rope to safely climb into the pit.
"Just give me a few..."
Casting ... from the cover of the pit she begins to pluck the arrows from their holes in the pillar and deposit them in the pit with her. She will continue until all the arrows are removed from their many holes in the pillar.
"Ok.. come join me down in the pit just in case a monster comes in from the other door when you all let the door shut. From here in the pit we will be safe from the arrows.. even if somehow the trap resets itself. Once safe in the pit with me.. let the door shut! We'll need you all on the other side of the door to reopen it. Once your door is shut will try to open the door to the south. If its unlocked then we'll know. So then I'll shut the south door and pound on your door to open it again then we can all enter climb into the pit and let the door shut so we can ALL pass the south door together."
Sa'sori waits for Moira to join her.
You are unable to remove the arrows from the pillar. They seem locked in there. They can only be removed with a Disable Decive check.
You are unable to remove the arrows from the pillar. They seem locked in there. They can only be removed with a Disable Decive check.
The arrows do extend down into the pit as well.
"Looks like using the shields is the best bet. I'm going to go get the second one just in case." Vera leaves to retrieve the second shield.
Sa'sori climbs out of the pit her expression one of apathy...
She coils up her rope and retrieves her grappling hook and walks back over to the west door.
"I'm officially 'Done' with this place... my answer~ from now on, is BLAST our way through. Destroy until there are no barriers in the way! I could care less if we leave this place a smoking hole when we're done..."
Clearly, Sa'sori has had enough of all the traps and merely wants to leave and get on living her life on her own terms. The half-elven woman, though pretty, obviously has something of a temper and she has reached the end of her patience...
"There are worse ways to clear a trap, but it carries risks of it's own. Be careful."
"Just get behind the shield."