Vael hurries forward and immediately sees the demon mid-spell. He weaves his own magic to counter the summoning magic.
"Tulia, Lykophos! Hit it so it cannot complete the spell!"
Tulia does her part, flying forward to sting the demon with her magic crossbow
Vael's spell withers on impact, and despite piercing the daemon's side, the bolt falls out without leaving behind a wound.
Round 1:
Crucidaemon: Uh-oh
Whistle Pig: Go
Ushyle: Move
Hamilton: DR negated
Vael: Nope
Raen: MM
Doxon: Go
Daemon: 22
Doxon charges the phantom steed ahead and closes with the demon. He swings Thunderbolt in a sweeping underhand strike.
Doxon hustles in as the party continues to try and disrupt her summoning. He connects the the Hammer, though her otherwordly endurance mutes even the Hammer of Thunderbolts! She takes thit with barely any notice and keeps on speaking to the Realms Below.
Round 1:
Crucidaemon: Uh-oh
Whistle Pig: Go
Ushyle: Move
Hamilton: DR negated
Vael: Nope
Raen: MM
Doxon: Hit
Daemon: 33
Whistle Pig, a bit worried that the others couldn't stop the daemon, hurls everything he can at her. He connects thrice, but none of his stones come close to breaking her concentration.
but her call goes unheeded! With a curse to frighten the dead she flies into a new plan, bladed violence! She lashes out against each of the supposed "heroes" about her:
for and
for and
MISS
for and
for and
Seeing the steady drip of lifeblood from each, she smiles and dances back, "Does it hurt? I hope it does." Her Taldane is spoken with hollow vowels bereft of the staccato timbre of devils, and the glutaral rolls of demons.
Round 2:
Crucidaemon: Violence
Whistle Pig: Go
Ushyle: Go
Hamilton: Go
Vael: Go
Raen: Go
Doxon: Go
Daemon: 60
Raen draws a wand from a pocket of her robe and waves it with a flourish and incantation.
A wave of warm feelings and confidence washes over the brawlers.
Ride Check to negate the hit on Sammi:... SWEET, SAMMI IS UNDAMAGED!
Hamilton deftly guides Sammi out of harms way and drops Heartspit. He pulls his hammer and guides Sammi forward, bringing the weapon to bear, and hoping that the Adamantine and Enchantments on the hammer will harm the vile outsider.
Adamantine Warhammer +1:, Damage on Hit:
Adamantine Warhammer +1:, Damage on Hit:
Adamantine Warhammer +1:, Damage on Hit:
Adamantine Warhammer +1:, Damage on Hit:
Raen bolsters the party, and Hamilton makes an immediate counter after protecting Sammi. Despite connecting though, his weapon seems wholly ineffectual against the daemon.
Round 2:
Crucidaemon: Violence
Whistle Pig: Go
Ushyle: Go
Hamilton: No DMG hits
Vael: Go
Raen: Good Hope
Doxon: Go
Daemon: 60
Ignoring the daemon's taunt -- yes, he thought, it does hurt -- Ushyle grits his teeth and steps forward, calling on the blessing of Milani to make Milani's Thorn more potent against this foul outsider.
Ushyle is more than up to the task. Using the distraction of Sammi and Hamilton, he slashes at her with supernatural alacrity.
The flurry is overwhelming, despite her expression of pleasure at the pain, it's a fatal flurry. She falls after the third blow.
The blood still flows among the party though.
Seeing the seeping wounds affecting many in the group, Doxon calls on Torag to heal his allies and staunch the flow of crimson.
Uninjured, Raen takes a moment to look about the forge with an eye towards magic.
The anvil is ordinary, though exceptionally well made and of Huge size. The cabinet contains Huge masterwork artisan’s tools for blacksmithing and silversmithing. Near it are six containers full of steel ingots. The steel circle on the floor is a summoning circle. Six dozen silver plaques are stacked atop the cabinet. The thick, rectangular plaques are approximately 1 foot square, 1 inch thick, and weigh about 30 pounds each. Each one is engraved with astronomical symbols and numbers in Giant (from 1 to 72). The plaques are worth 150 gp each in raw materials alone. In addition, a chest under the table contains 20 bars of pure silver weighing 100 pounds each, worth a total of 10,000 gp. None of it is magical.
Ushyle pauses as the party comes across the silver ingots. Finally he asks, What is the significance of these plaques? Surely their casting in silver has some rationale.
Raen puzzles over the same question as Ushyle and examines the detail of the plates.
"Hamilton's satchel can accommodate either the bars or the plates, but not both," she announces, running the elementary arithmetic in her head.
SUCCESS
Raen thinks these plates are components to the engine which powers this very sky castle! They look like replacement parts, a complete set by the looks of things.
"These plates are spare parts that power Zephyr Hall," Raen answers Ushyle. "I suggest that we take the silver bars for now, along with an assortment of the plates. Should we fail in our task, perhaps their absence would put an end to Volstus's ambitions before long."
Raen nominates plates 6, 12, 32, 37, 41, 48, 51, 57, 65, and 66 to be added to Hamilton's bag.
"Let us proceed west, before advancing to the center of the piping architecture."
The western path is a short one, and there's nothing of danger along the way. This square room contains steel shelves laden with enormous boulders. A round stone table holding oversized stonemasonry tools sits in the corner across the entrance. A large metal tray like a palanquin lies on the floor in the opposite corner. The rocks are easily 50 times bigger than a typical cloud giant boulder.
Raen looks over this room's inventory. Ammunition for a siege engine, perhaps, and a means of transporting it? Raw materials for sculpture?
Looks like ammo to dump off the side, and there is a balcony right next door. The tools look like they're used to improve the aerodynamics of the boulders when dropped.
Raen takes a moment to scan the room for magic, then the balcony.
She finds nothing in this room, so she moves to the balcony. Here she finds another one of the improved ballistae. This one also has a Scope of Stormsight. she also finds a half dozen +1 shock thundering heavy ballista bolts.
Raen sets about detaching the scope from the ballista while the others move the bolts into the bag. No need to leave these weapons in the Tyrant's hands.
"Let us continue east?"
While Raen works, Vael sets to healing Doxon...
... and Ushyle
"I think we're ready. Let's move."
With the party healed up, it's just a question of where to now?
Whistle Pig make shis way down the hall. As he turns the corner he spies a magical trap upon the floor. He gets the sinking feeling that it's something left over from the daemon....
Whistle Pig attempts to disable to trap, and accidentally touches something he shouldn't. Runes glow white, then blue. A shredding flurry of ice slivers erupt and hit the entire party for
As Whistle Pig ducks out of the way, the full brunt hits Ushyle.
Raen somersaults in the air to avoid the worst of the blast, coming away with fewer lacerations than the unfortunate half-elf.
Gah! Doxon shouts out as the cold sweeps over him.
Lykophos doesn't worry about the cold, as she's completely immune to even supernatural cold. "Ouch. That must've hurt. Everyone okay?"
Remaining Saves:
Vael
Tulia
Hamilton
Sammi
Reflex Saves! ... EVASION FTW! No Damage Chowdaheads!
And for Sammi... ... Damage but Cold Resistance eases it a little.
Hamilton is fast enough with his shield cloak and a deft move behind Sammi, who takes the brunt of the damage.
Whistle Pig slowly, but surely, scouts ahead.
Once he reaches the end of the hall, he realizes that he's stumbled upon something.... important. Two rows of three metallic pedestals each stand along the north and south walls of this room. The pedestals consist of two giant-sized, concentric hexagonal steps. Six large humanoid statues carved of bluish, crystalline stone stand atop the pedestals with their eyes closed. They ceremoniously guard a massive pair of iron doors.
|
WP rushes back to the group and reports on what he saw.
" Big room up ahead. Six large stones, blue crystals; three on each side. They seem to be guarding a a large set of iron doors. something big is behind those doors."[b] WP looks at the group with a wicked smile. [b]" and I just don't mean giants!" He giggles at his own joke.
Vael turns and balls up enough that his armor absorbs the brunt of the frigid blast. Tulia however is caught completely unaware. Though some of her wounds transfer over to him.
Brushing shards of ice off his beard, Vael says, "Hold a moment. Let me tend to the wounds we all have earned from that missed trap. It's important that we focus on what's in front of us, not just what giants we get to kill next."
He then goes to Whistle Pig, wand in hand. After a moment he notices that their trap spotter is the only one who dodged to rain of ice. "Well, I'm glad you avoided that blast. A bit of warning next time, maybe?"
The shaman then gets to healing the others.
Ushyle:
Doxon:
Raen:
Sammi:
Tulia:
Vael:
"No apology needed, little one," Raen interjects. "Even the best prepared must sometimes adapt in response to the atypical. Our wounds are cared for."
She takes this opportunity to cast cat's grace and , splitting into 9 iterations.
"Aye, we're ready. I've no doubt that Raen will have some kind of clue about them."
"I may," Raen replies quietly, peeking around the corner from her elevated position.
Raen turns the corner to see what's going on. Despite her attempts at stealth, two of the statues move to intercept her! She instantly recognizes them as stone golems!
Round 1:
Ushyle: Go
Whistle Pig: Go
Raen: Go
Golems: TBD
Vael: TBD
Hamilton: TBD
Doxon: TBD