Olivius carefully advances into the torture chamber with spear at the ready. As soon as he verifies that the room is free of foes, he says Clear. and really takes a look around.
Well, this is unexpected. What is a torture chamber doing in Haldren?
Feora gasps looking at the whole room. "What the..., why ever..., Light of the Lady..., what is this place?" Feora looks around transfixed by the scene, clearly not accustomed to hearing words like torture or pain in that manner. She walks over, running her fingers along the words, trying to think back to her days at the church to remember if she had heard anything like it before.
There is nothing visible in the room, but as soon as Olivius steps into the room he pauses for a moment.
Everyone sees Olivius pause for a moment and then sitting on the wooden table, a crow appears.
"Greetings, line citizens of our glorious empire! So good to have visitors, though I fear I have no refreshments to offer. I assume you are here for the treasure. Well, I'd be happy to assist, provided that you give me what I require! It has been so long since I was able to ply my trade. I require only that each of you shed your life's blood in this room-simply take a seat in one of my lovely chairs."
Olivius stiffens, straightens like a puppet on strings, and rigidly takes a seat in one of the razor chairs. His armor protects from most of the sharp edges, but not all of them. He groans as the few that get through do their work.
Horatio smiles warmly at Olivius as the door swings open. "What would you ever do without me?" His attitude slips when be sees the room beyond. "What in the...?" he mutters, looking around in disgusted fascination. The pain lingering in the air chills him, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Olivius sit, and yells out to him. "You silly bastard! What are you doing?!" He attempts to drag the warrior to his feet, wresting him roughly from the chair.
In his distraction, the appearance of the crow startled him. He turns sharply, rapier already in hand, free arm back in a ready stance. He relaxes only slightly, eyeing the bird warily. "I like treasure as much as the next man, but I'm not overly fond of sharp things poking my back and rear end. Who - and what - are you?"
Feora shivers as she watches him. "Olives..., wait stop! She then shrieks as she watches him sit on the chair and winces as the edges cut and the point parts stick him. She looks at the bird, a strange calm suddenly setting over her as she looks at him, genuinely angry. "Let Mr Olives go."
Trig laughs as Olives sits in the torture device. "What a dumbass!" she teases him. When the crow appears, Trig cocks her head and looks at it quizzically. Good question Horatio, what are you little bird?
"Harzogopas is the name, and I do not hold your friend, I merely offered him a seat and he graciously accepted. Unlike the lot of you, I might add!"
The crow caws as it watches them closely.
"Well, you ghastly, grim, ungainly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore, I'm not quite inclined to believe you." Horatio lowers his rapier a fraction of an inch, though the point never strays far from the bird. "As I said, I'm not too fond of pain. There's also the small matter of you being a talking bird, the like of which I haven't seen before. What manner of illusion is this? I'm sure you won't object to me finding out." With that, he twists the fingers on his left hand, whistles a few sharp notes, and narrows his eyes, focusing on the bird.
As shortly after Olivius sits the hold seems to break and be springs back up with a shout and a curse. The movement only aggravates his wounds, but they aren't severe enough that they can't be ignored.
He automatically drops into a defensive stance. That was... unpleasant. Guard your minds, my friends.
"Oh, are we friends now?" Though his gaze remains fixed on the crow, Horatio's lips twitch slightly, as if fighting back a smirk. "If I didn't know you better, Olives, I'd say you were growing fond of me. But that simply can't be the case, now, can it?"
I'm glad you know better then. I was talking to Feora and Fligg. He retorts. He pointedly glares at Trig for a split second before focusing on the foe at hand.
As for you, Harzogopas, why do you need our blood?
"That is for me to know and all that. Young sir, that is not very nice. No, not at all. I was going to help you find the secret door and tell you about how to open it and then you go and start casting spells at me...No, not nice at all."
At which point the bird casts a spell of his own and then vanishes completely from where he was sitting.
Feora looks quizzically at the little bird, trying to figure out who or what it is. She then marvels at the fact that it is capable of magic, trying her best to determine what it is doing.
"We mean you no harm, but if you try to hurt us, we will fight," Trig warns the air in a venomous hiss. Her lips curl back to reveal her teeth in a feline snarl of warning.
Fligg begins to search the room for the secret door mentioned.
Just before the bird disappeared it was clear to Horatio that there was some illusion magic at work. Feora is certain that it was an invisibility spell.
While this happen, Fligg easily spots the secret door.
"Here's the door!" Fligg cries out.
Feora looks around the room. "Guys, I think the birdie is still in here. I think he just made himself invisible. Not sure where it is at though."
Opening the door probably has something to do with each of us shedding blood. Or that could have need birdy being cruel.
"He was probably just bored, and thought it'd be funny," Trig replies to Olivius. "Let's just leave Harzogopas alone."
Agreed. Olivius takes a quick yet through look around the room before pressing on.
Feora nods, a bit skittish, holding onto her shield with both hands, and trying to cling to Olivius's back as he moves through the room, assuming they are moving to the secret door that Horatio found.
Horatio follows the others, but keeps his back to them. He continues glancing around the room, keping his eyes open for any sign of the invisible bird. "Hey, Fligg. Didn't you find a key near that iron maiden?" he offers, shifting his weight slightly from his wounded leg. "I'd much prefer trying that to bloodletting."
"I did! Let's see if we need it here," Fligg mutters to Horatio, still leaning over the hidden door and examining its mechanisms. "Should be just a sec.."
Apparently Harzogopas does not wish to be left along and as Fligg looks at the door, the creature makes his strike.
From out of nowhere, a stinger whips out and strikes at Fligg...
The stinger scratches Fligg but he rolls away easy enough to prevent the poison from harming him.
Round 1
The newly revealed creature cackles, "Harzopogas has been missing out on the fun as of late...". Standing beside Fligg is a small red creature with wings, a scorpion tail, and a devilish grin.
Once again, the creature's tail flicks out at Trigg for trying to open his secret door.
The tail flicks out again and does more damage to the small fey creature, though this time his body fills with poison.
HEROES GO!!!
Olivius slides into a strong stance, darts up beside the creature, and stabs at it with his spear.
Trig swipes her hand again, "Mr. Feathers, come back!" The portal opens once more, and the same majestic eagle as earlier comes swooping out to attack the imp from above. Trig backs away from the little fiend.
Flig lashes out at the imp with his claws, hissing in pain.
"Oh, but of course," Horatio says dryly, swinging his violin into place against his jaw. "Fiends and fiddles? How appropriate." That said, he plays the first few bars of a popular folk song he heard back in Varisia, a catchy tune about a young man who accepted a musical challenge from a fiend. As his fingers fly across the neck of his instrument, he racks his brain for any information he can recall on the strange creature.
Harzopogas laughs at Fligg's attacks..."Oh you pitiful little man...quit tickling me!" He doesn't even both to mention the other random waves at him.
Feora gasps at seeing the the terrible looking creature and quickly offers up a prayer.
Erigit mane, Virgo, si socios meos dirige in victoriam.
The imp growls and goes to finish the fey.
Only this time, the fey is prepared and the scorpion tail goes wide.
Olivius attempts to predict the pest's flight path and jabs again with his spear.
The imp screams out with pain as the spear tears into his flesh and he glares at Olivius. "Hey...I'm the one that is supposed to sting!"
Feora looks around, seeing Fligg a bit haggard and moves over behind him. "Hold on Fligg!"
"Fiat lux aperire viam."
"Don't worry, if I die I'll be back tomorrow. RAWR!" Fligg cries, attacking the imp again.
Trig readies herself to call another ally from the first world should it be needed, while the eagle continues to attack.
Seeing he has no way of reaching the fiend, Horatio hooks his fiddle back into his belt and draws his shortbow, ready to fire.
The imp looks a bit panicked, but still has plenty of fight in him. Seeing the fey as little threat, he turns his eyes towards Olivius and stabs at him.
As the imp strikes, he easily strikes Olivius in the neck, the stinger digging deep, but Olivius manages to overcome the poison, shaking it off.
Heroes GO!
The bard draws his bow and fires, an arrow whizzing through the air towards the fiend.
The arrow strikes true, but seems to not penetrate the imp's skin. DR got you :(
Olivius uses the opening created by Horatio's bolt and drives his spear home. He comes within millimeters of vital organs in the process.
The imp yelps, looking very much worse for the wear.
"Shit! This thing just won't die!" Trig complains, frustratedly. "Fligg, get back here," she mentally commands.
Looking at Olivius bleeding wounds, then at his own, he chooses not to press his luck.
"I surrender. You have me beaten!"
The imp drops to his knees before you.
Combat Continues...if you choose it to
Olivius does not attack further, but does keep his foe at spear point. So, lets be real, little Devil. Can we agree not to lie for a few minutes? Good. Now, what are you doing here in a torture chamber that seems very odd beneath a innocuous tower in the middle-of-nowhere Haldren. Oh, and the method to open the door. He pauses for half a second before adding sarcastically, Please.
"How do we know we can trust this fiend?" Horatio hisses to Olivius, cutting off the magic powering his performance. Oddly, the notes of his fiddle seem to linger in the air, echoing faintly around the walls in an eerie coda. "In case you'd forgotten, it's a devil. They tend to be deceptive little bastards."
Olivius glances at his ready spear. Do I look like I'm trusting him? Also, need I remind you where I'm from?