Statue made of stone.
What secret do you hide.
More evil made of bone?
Or something deep inside?
Doreen climbs the stairs up to the statue, her eyes intent on it. Then she sits down before the monster thing and begins laying out her cards in a reading.
"No one touch it." Doreen says, softly. "There's magic here. An illusion. A message, maybe. Or it just wants us to think there is."
Laird hangs back, standing in the center of the room with Woodruff, letting the others look around. [i]Funny how the sense of adventure has waned in me. I almost want to go back to woodcutting but still...so many of us, clearly intent and knowing. Perhaps it is fine...[/b]
those shields look like they will come out. Sariel, after looking at the design of the shields and the statue moves toward it to remove the shields, as Doreen calls out, "No don't touch it" Sariel turns around looking at her.
As he begins to understand her explanation he nods his head, 'Glad she gave a shout out, if there is magic we need to be careful' Sariel steps back from the statue and answers "Thanks for the heads up." standing nearby sword and shield ready in case something bad happens, He watches Doreen.
Dealing out her cards and then reshuffling them, She seems frustrated, he encourages her "Take your time Doreen, no one's in a hurry."
Grasping his sword a little tighter, trying not to look upset, looking nervously at Calia. 'Except poor Dimira, she is in the hands of the evil undead, every minute may count, of course reminding Doreen of that won't help her any, and it is important if there is magic here.'
As Doreen sits down with her cards to begin her reading, and Sariel and Calia both investigate the handsome statue, Artemis goes back up the stairs to look into the stairwell.
That is when the statue begins to move.
It begins by simply turning its head, accompanied by an eerie creaking sound, to look at Sariel. The spell Doreen had detected earlier suddenly goes off, as the statue's mouth is suddenly replaced by some sort of animated orifice that cries out:
And then it steps off its podium in one smooth motion, swinging its arms- and the enormous shields carried within- at Sariel! The armor-clad youth's own shield just barely keeps him from being bowled over by the sudden attack!
And worse still, as the statue steps down, the pressure plate it stood upon clicks up into place, and the two sets of stairs that led down into the lower area both shift, the stairs sliding into a diagonal formation and forming steep ramps... effectively trapping Sariel, Calia, and Doreen down there with the wooden monster!
Calia lets out a little shriek as the golem begins to move and swings at Sariel; another shrill noise escapes as the stairs give way to near-impassable ramps. Subconsciously, she takes a step toward her comrade - and gets her small rapier in between the golem and Doreen, menacing its ankle with extreme prejudice and providing some small measure of protection for the harrower. Step back! she calls out to Doreen. I'll keep it off you! Sariel, be careful! I'm getting around behind it!
Of course.
I hate my home town.
Stupid idiots.
"Magic mouth." Doreen mutters as she steps back, perfectly willing to let the gnome cover her.
"Figures. We've got a real problem to deal with and the farking fake problems keep trying to hit us."
Doreen considers the problem.
"Keys of victory. What, friendship, honesty, laughter, kindness, and generosity?"
Artemis sees but barely believes the statue coming to life. The twin shields swiping at his companions and barely missing solid attack on Sariel. Then the juggernaut looms large over Doreen and Calia. Worse still, Calia darts in for the attack!
Wrapped in doubt and fear, he turns loose the fuel and grows the fire in the furnace and let's loose a raging battle shout. Dropping his spear and pulling his axe and charging at the edge of the precipice. He leaps into the air in an attempt to bury his ax into the depiction of his hero.
- Stats: 13 (+2) hp | AC 14
- Rage 3 / 5
-
- rage, charge, flank
-
"...you will only succeed if you understand the Keys to victory!" Keys to victory? There are many keys to victory! Solid defense, aggressive offence, knowing your enemies weakness, choosing your ground, working as a unit, hopefully we can stall this thing long enough for someone to figure it out.'
Taking the brunt of the blow on his shield, Sariel shifts slightly, keeping his shield high, slashing low with the sword, trying to distract the statue from the girls. "The key? I've got the key to victory here! A sharp sword!"
Forest watches in amusement and confusion as Artemis and Sariel charge in. If we just get everyone up here it can't get us... The animate statue actually puts Forest at ease. If it's part of the test it shouldn't be deadly, and between the locked door and the guardian, it meant those walking skeletons hadn't been through here yet. He looks at the wooden creature, then to the steel broadhead on the tip of the arrow in his hand. I've never cut a tree down with arrows.
"I think it wants all your wet keys from the other room. Someone should have brought them. Just climb back up here. This is a pointless battle and you're not going to kill wood." He calls out, then looks to Laird. "You wouldn't happen to have a rope?"
- - - -
Both Artemis and Sariel score hits on the wooden monstrosity, sending splinters flying into the air; their weapons seem fairly effective against its body, though overall they do little enough damage that the golem remains standing, despite the weight of Artemis flying off the ledge onto it.
The golem swings its shields- once at Sariel, then with the other toward Artemis- but its ponderous movements are easy enough to predict that neither of the youths are struck, dodging out of the way with time to spare.
- - - -
As the statue twists and turns Sariel, while ducking and bobbing, notices the keyhole in its back, I glad my outburst drew its attention away from Calia and Doreen, but with it facing me how do I get the key in my pouch into the keyhole in it's back? Sariel cringes as he drops his sword, as he reaches into his pouch to grab the fountain provided door key. "There is a keyhole in it's back we should try the key from the doors,"
'need to get this key in that lock somehow, don't think the shield will be any help' As the statue continues to twist and turn Sariel unstraps his shield dropping it to the ground calling to Artemis "Keep him distracted Arty" and begins to look for a way to grasp the duel-shield bearing emblem of their cities founder.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...
I have no words.
"A literal key." Doreen snorts. She almost smiles.
Almost.
"Of course it is."
Doreen calls a card from her harrow deck and focuses upon it.
"I've hexed it. Do it now!"
Hearing the shouts around her, Calia darts in again. I'll distract it! Go for it, Sariel! she squeaks, circling to get the golem between her and the pig boy and taking another vicious stab with her rapier.
Artie barely hears Sariel's call and blinders forward to harass the wooden foe...
...and flings his ax away as he stumbles in his blind rage, blundering into the chest of the thing.
MISS! Saved by the hex.
, missing.
- - - -
Forest, still not convinced of the danger, grabs his pack and begins fishing for a rope, finding it after a moment and preparing to lower it down to the sunken area.
The massive, wooden effigy of Ekat Kassen seems affected somehow by the strange power commanded by Doreen, its movements suddenly taking on a labored, jittery quality. It raises one of its shields high overhead and slams it down toward Calia, a loud bang rattling through the chamber, echoing off its walls again and again- a blow that certainly would have squashed the tiny bard flat, had something not caused its attack to pull off-center at the last second. It spins around and swings at Artemis, still off-balance from losing his grip on his axe after that wild swing, but also misses- though the shield comes close enough that Artemis can feel the strength behind the golem's blow.
It seems apparent that, even as a test designed by the elders of Kassen, there is nothing safe about the strength of this construct...
'Looks like Darleen's or Calia's magic is helping some, we need to get this key in there before this thing hurts someone' Relieved to see that Calia is not crushed by the other shield, Sariel ducks and bobs as the second shield comes swinging at him.
Sariel calls out "Keep it busy Artemis, I will try and get the key in the lock!"
Leaping toward the huge statue as he attempts to wrap his legs around the things waist, hanging on with his left hand, as he attempts to place the key in the keyhole.
Calia keeps trying to harry the golem from behind, attempting to distract it long enough for Sariel to get the key into its place.
Dark magic,
Hexing the unliving.
No more golems.
Doreen keeps herself flat against the back wall and focuses on her cards, not the fight, searching for misfortune. She doesn't find it. The fates won't let her curse the golem twice.
The golem thrashes about wildly as Sariel attempts to grapple with it, thankfully sparing the party from any further attacks. It fails to shake Sariel off, despite its best efforts.
- - - -
Laird motions to the creature with his hand but otherwise doesn't move...
Woodruff nods and begins moving to help the others attacking the statue...
The angel moves into the fray and lets loose a slamming fist that is surprising powerful...
But is exceptionally errant...
Woodruff dramatically leaps down and swings a heavy fist at the golem, but... misses spectacularly. To be fair, the golem is bucking and swinging as wildly as it can in its effort to shake Sariel free.
- - - -
this thing bucks worse than a colt that doesn't want shod ...Just need to hang on a little bit longer ...I hope this key works.'
Shifting on the back of the statue Sariel calls out "Good jump Woodruff, Keep it busy Calia, I'm almost there!" Sariel attempts to place the key in the apparent lock.
Artemis roars in frustration as his axe flies off to the other side of the empty pool. But he sees Sariel struggling mightily to disable the statue and surges forward.
"You're not Kassen! He wasn't such an a$$hole!"
His grip is easily parried by one of the twin shields and Artemis finds himself nearly knocked aside.
Calia keeps at it, knowing that just a little more distraction might give Sariel the chance he needs.
In her haste, she nearly trips over a crack between stones in the floor, but manages to right herself.
As the golem bucks and fidgets, its wooden body straining against its own weight, it nearly throws Sariel off. The young man shoves the key toward the keyhole, and feels the metal sink into the depression...
It clicks into place, and Sariel turns.
Despite Calia and Artemis' clumsy attempts to help, the golem continues to fight on, lashing out with its shields and nearly swatting both of them. Until, suddenly, it freezes in mid-swing; its fighting posture vanishes at once as it turns, stomps back to the pedestal upon which it once stood, and retakes its previous imperious stance, with but one major difference; it immediately drops both of the heavy wooden shields, which clatter loudly upon the floor. The pressure plate beneath the golem sinks back into place, and the ramps leading back up to the raised area of the room slide back upward to become stairs once more.
With a deep breath, Calia sinks to the floor, the surprise and the effort taking the wind out of her momentarily. Ev-everyone ok? she finally calls out, standing and walking (very cautiously) back over to the statue and bending over the shields lying on the floor. They're longer than she is tall, and suddenly she grins. What do you think, guys - one of them would fit me perfectly, right?
With a chuckle, she turns to the southern door, searching for signs of any surprises that could appear if they were to open it.
feeling the statue stop fighting and going back to it's pedestal Sariel releases the statue and quickly moves around the front to see how his friends are doing. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, 'Thank Erastil, there all ok.'
Chuckling as Calia jokes about the large shields, he smiles "They will do you as much good as me, those large shields are for a shield wall, I was never trained to use them, I learned knightly combat from Sir Dramott, not tight infantry defensive manovers."
Looking around the room he asks: "do we want to got south or east?"
Forest is impressed by the others. They work well together, even if some of them don't get along. Forest takes the stairs down. The shields were no use to him, even if they weren't so large. "The entrance is to the north, so south takes us deeper in."
Laird sighs as the situation resolves itself quickly, Good work everyone, very well done...
A few moments after the golem comes to a rest upon its pedestal and drops its shields, just as the party begins to settle down and find their breath, a heavy sound echoes through the Crypt- sounding very much like a heavy latch unlocking, or some sort of mechanism activating.
As Calia examines the southern door, she sees no tricks or traps upon it- a relief. The heavy stone door is locked, however.
Inscribed upon the door is a message:
"One to halt the sentinel's wrath,
One to claim hard work's reward.
Water and fire must be braved
To gain that which you desire."
- - - -
More riddles.
More traps.
More puzzles.
More crap.
Doreen stares at the message.
"Is that about what we have to do or what we've done? The statue could have been a sentinel. We've dealt with water. The rest is gibberish, though."
leaving the tower shields behind, Sariel stays near Calia and Doreen, Sariel shrugs his shoulders looking from Calia to Doreen, "Well getting the key was hard work, or did the pool have something to do with water and fire being brave? Your right Doreen, it seems like gibberish."
'Erastil help us. I hope that its not saying we have to do the same thing with fire that we did with water' Sariel waits near the door, his halo as bright as he can make it, "Calia, do you think you can pick the lock on this stone door?"
Calia stares for several more seconds. No...it's not complete gibberish. It's talking about another key we'll have to get. One to halt the sentinel's wrath...like you said, Doreen, it was that statue of Kassen, and we had to get a key to stop it. So, there must be some kind of reward behind this door, and to unlock it we'll need a key that we'll find through some kind of...trial by fire. Literal fire, it sounds like, she finishes with a sigh.
At Sariel's suggestion, though, she perks up. I'll certainly give it a try. It sounds way better than braving fire, anyway. Unfurling the tools she had borrowed from Jenna, she gets to work.
Laird stands by as the gnome works on the door...
Calia works her lockpicks for several minutes, and despite her deft hands and a growing confidence with the tools, the lock continues to vex her. It seems the locking mechanism is simply too complex to pick at this point.
'Guide her hand Erastil' Sariel watches carefully as Calia tries the lock, seeing her fail the first time he pats her on the back and tells her, "Try in again Calia, take your time. If you can't open it, maybe we should take the key out of the statue and try it before we go the other direction." turning to Doreen, shrugging his shoulders "Or maybe its key must be found with another test." looking at the other door, 'I hope it doesn't involve as much fire as the first key did water,"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
No...leave the big guy's key in place. I don't particularly fancy ducking giant fists while trying to test that key out, and the way that riddle sounds, I doubt it'd work anyway. I'll just keep trying at it...but it was a good idea, she adds with a reassuring smile at Sariel.
Sticking Jenna's tools back into the lock, she begins to work at it again. Although if it's meant to be solved with a puzzle, they've probably made it a really good lock, so questers would choose to solve the riddle instead. It's what I'd do, if I were planning this all out. And it'd probably involve just as much swimming and fire and crazy statues, too.
She giggles and winks, and suddenly her lockpick hangs up for a moment. Stopping with a hint of panic, she carefully extracts it, trying to avoid bending what could, after all, be their only way out of this mess. And...I'm kind of out of practice at this, she mutters as she gets back to working on the complex mechanism. Guard Captain Wissio wouldn't exactly be keen on seeing me practicing at it, even if it was just my own room's door at the inn.
Artie stares down at the shields, eventually electing to prop them up near the base of the now inert statue. "Seems a shame ta let such good woodworking jus' lay on the ground..."
He joins the party at the door a difficult eyes the words inscribed upon it. Eyes narrowing he hooks a thumb back the way they came. "Seems if one o' the keys from the pool shut down Kassen...wouldn't another open that door? It says 'one ta halt the sent...sent...eh...nils...wuhrat...wrath. One ta claim hard work's reward...'" He shrugs, covering over his red cheeks at his lack of reading aptitude by looking back towards where the pile of keys lay in the room beyond. "Want me ta go get 'em?"
- - - -
It takes time, but eventually- despite the best-laid plans of the designers of this trick- the second magical key proves unnecessary. With an ugly clunk, the door unlocks, and lurches slightly open.
The small chamber beyond the door has a large stone table standing opposite the door, upon which are a number of items, each with a note attached.
Upon closer examination, each of these notes are signed to a member of the party- well, the original party, that is. A beautiful masterwork longbow with a note from Jenna's father to his daughter sits alone on the table, as well as a single scroll and a small wand made of oak addressed to Damien: one scroll of barkskin and a wand of produce flames with 10 charges.
The remainder of the items are:
-To Artemis, a lovely new masterwork greatclub, fresh from the forges of Kassen.
-To Calia, a wand of lesser confusion (with 10 charges) and a scroll of cat's grace.
-To Doreen, a bone wand of mage armor, with 10 charges, and a scroll of web, as well as a strange human-shaped doll woven from yarn.
-To Sariel, a masterwork longsword made of cold iron.
It is clear that these items were selected by the party's loved ones from Kassen as a reward for getting this far on their quest.
Calia approaches the stone table with trepidation, grateful when no more surprises rear their ugly heads. She reaches for the note with her name - and gasps when she recognizes the thin, spidery handwriting scampering across the page. For it's handwriting intimately familiar to her - that of her adopted "aunt" and teacher Orena.
Calia,
I hope this note finds you nervous, terrified, and above all, excited. Before we left, I gave these things to Jocyn for safekeeping, and instructed him to give them to you when your own adventures were about to begin. I trust he's chosen his timing well, and you're about to set out on some sort of grand undertaking.
The wand is for foes you may encounter, to throw them off and keep them turned around. And the scroll is for you, for a moment when you may need to be especially light on your feet. But make no mistake - you don't require these things by any means. You already have the makings of greatness inside of you; these are simply tools to aid you in whatever excitement comes your way.
Remember everything Fenashretan and I have taught you. Use your tricks and cleverness to help, not hurt. Keep your enemies guessing and your friends laughing. Take our love with you. And write anything exciting down, will you? Fenashretan's stories are getting stale - he needs new material.
Take care, child - or should I say, adventurer.
Orena
Reading her "aunt's" last words, Calia could almost see her mentor's jocular wink. A few more lines follow the note, in a fanciful, heavy-lined cursive.
I thought the quest for the Everflame certainly qualified. Best of luck to you and the others! -Jocyn
Smiling, Calia folds the note, tucks it into one of the many pockets of her bandolier, and gathers her gifts. The wand is secured with a couple of small tie straps to her bandolier, the scroll stashed in another deep pocket. And the journal, with her name inscribed and gold-leafed on the soft leather cover, goes into her backpack, ready to be filled with stories of the heroes of Kassen on their Quest for the Everflame.
Breathing a heavy sigh as Calia unlocks the door, Sariel stand nearby sword and shield in hand, halo burning as bright as he could make it, as the bard opens the door. ’need to make sure I can stop anything coming at her.’
Relived that nothing came jumping out at them, Sariel looks around the room as he approaches the table. Seeing the gifts he smiles then his eyes setting on the beautifully made longbow and the single scroll and a small wand made of oak. ’How sad that they are not here to enjoy this with us, but at least they are still alive.
Seeing the longsword, Sariel smiles and picks up the note, it was written in his aunts hand writing but his uncle Renet must have narrated it.
nephew:
When the mayor told me you had been selected to be part of the festivities I knew that a gift would be expected. So I went next door to Ironhame’s to see if he could make a proper sword for you. Sir Dramott recommended this design, said it would match the ones he was training you with. Ironhame and I worked out a deal; I would make some parts for him in trade for the sword. Do not worry when you return home you can work over helping me with the parts.
Just remember, we could not be prouder of you, even If you had been born from our loins instead of a gift from Erastil. We love you!
Your family, Anelise
Sariel wiped a tear as he read the inscription, his uncle had never learned to read, but he made sure that Sariel had taken the time to do so. Sariel folded the note and placed it in his pouch. Then lifting the sword he tested the balance, It was exactly the same as the one Sir Dramott had given him, Ironhame must have had this one as an example, of course the new sword was make of finer steel.
Sariel quickly removed his pack and wrapping the older sword in his blanket he attached it to the pack, placing the new sword in his scabbard. Turning to the team, he watched as the others read their private notes and examined their gifts.
When everyone was finished he said quietly ”We will leave the Longbow, scroll and wand here, the mayor can decide what to do with them." Turning to Calia and then the rest of the team he asks ”Are we ready to explore the passage way to the east, we still have the cobblers sister to rescue.”