Teos opens the northern door to what must have been the master's bedroom. This spacious room has entrances in the southern and eastern walls. The aged remains of dressers, a large bed, and a divan lie in ruins. The husk of large hornet’s nest, gray, papery, and devoid of life, occupies one corner of the ceiling. The spaces in the northeast and northwest corners appear to be closets. Their wooden doors have all but fallen off their hinges, and heaps of disintegrated fabric mingle on the floor. Between the closets stands a single lacquered dresser covered in dust.
Teos looks with pointed interest at the junk.
Thus passes all wealth.
Teos points to the dresser and points to his eyes. He makes a sign, but nobody has the sign language to interpret what it means, so he writes in the dust fake
Ankhef nods at Teos and casts detect magic on the dresser, before checking it out.
+2 Stone.
Seherab makes a thorough search of the room, kicking aside the old fabric and testing all the walls and floor to make sure nothing is missed before leading the party around the stairs to another set of doors.
(+2 for unusual stonework, +1 for traps)
Ankhef notices no magic auras behind the fake chest, but there does seem to be something behind there. Moving the dresser reveals a bronze chest.
Meanwhile, Seherab notices a headband secreted in the old hornest's nest.
Teos will carefully observe the chest.
Teos examines the chest and finds that it is trapped.
He grunts, crossing his arms in front of him as a sign of warning. T-R-A-P he writes in the dust.
"Let me see what I can do about that."
Seherab tries to disable the trap, but his hand jars the pick into the side off the keyhole, setting it off!
A tiny bolt, a sticky residue on it's tip, fires out of the keyhole and sinks into Seherab's skin!
Ankhef quickly grabs a waterskin from one of his fellow Dwarves and tries to wash off Seherab's wound.
"That was. . . unsettling."
Seherab checks to see if the trap has reset. If it has not, he slowly tries to open it again. If it has, he says, "Maybe we should just take this with us and try it another day."
Seherab finds that the trap need to be reset manually and sets to work on the lock, opening the chest after a few moments. Within, he finds 20 small gold ingots, each bearing a seal.
As the party peers over the chest, suddenly a disembodied and bestial head covered in lashing hair and curling horns appears and attacks Seherab!
Ankhef will panic for a moment before casting bless!
Teos attempts to grab it before it can strike the honored Seherab again!
But his hands grab the thin air over the small creature.
"Ugh!"
Ankhef blesses the party!
Teos tries to grapple the head, but is thrown off but it not having a body!
The head turns and bites Teos!
Teos easily shrugs off the poison and this time aims a little higher.
Seherab gulps an extract after stepping away.
Teos reaches up and grabs the floating head!
Seherab steps back and drinks a healing extract!
Ankhef will cast guidance and step up to Teos and touch him with it.
Ankhef blesses Teos with guidance!
Harkuf swings, but just misses the grappled head!
The head tries to bite Teos, but misses the monk and he wrestles with it!
Teos goes for the pin!
Teos wraps his meaty arms around the head and pins it between his arm and his side!
With the head pinned, Seherab walks around and casually pokes at it with his sword.
With the head pinned, Seherab suanters forward and stabs it, but the weapon seems to do no damage!
Ankhef aids Harkuf's AC
Errr, tries to aid.
Harkfuf swings and hits the creature, but doens't seem to damage it on any way!
Ankhef tries to distract the head, but is distracted himself!
The head nearly wiggles free, but Teos holds it fast!
Teos squeezes with tremendous force.
Teos will... very slowly... squeeze the creature to death.
Teos squeezes the head, but it seems astonishingly resilient!
Aiding AC.
Ankhef gets out his rope and gives it to Teos.
"Tie it down." Ankhef encourages.
Disappointed that his pokey sword did nothing, Seherab drops it and slashes with a dagger.
"It's a doru div!" Seherab calls out, "We'll need cold iron or good weapons to hurt it and it won't take damage from fire or much from acid and electricity. Make sure your spells are powerful and be sure to watch out for its poison!"
Seherab stabs the head, but once more, does no damage. Luckily, he identifes the div, relating the information to his party!
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Harkuf, just about to light his hands on fire, catches what Seherab knows about this strange creature. "Oh, fire's no good?" His shoulders slump a little in frustration.
Unable to determine what to do, as he lacks any good-aligned or cold iron weapons and his spells are not helpful, Harkuf does his best to keep the head from biting Teos to hard.
The head continues to struggle, but can't wiggle free!
Teos attempts to hold the creature so the others can bind it.
Seherab drops his dagger and pulls out his bow, firing at the creature!
Teos continues to hold the head steady, while Seherab puts an arrow in it, drawing first blood!