"Whoa! Kosei! Why are you attacking your intrepid leader? I think he thinks you're Inky, Zlich!" Stelle exclaims. "Zilch, let's take a step back, get him out of the Creeepy room. Maybe Florence or Nidhi can set him straight without damaging him!?"
Stelle coordinates Anubis's five foot step with Zilchus, should Zilchus choose to follow the suggestion.
The Knowledge Arcana is a free action, so you're moving up close enough to see Kosei (keeping in mind you might be 5' further back if Zilchus and Stelle back up a step) and then doing a heal check. No problem doing that in one round.
- - -
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Zilchus grunts from the unexpected acidic blow from Kosei, the blast taking the breath from his lungs.
Zilchus growls back, holding his blade and taking total defense.
Zilchus glowers at Kosei.
"Confusion effect?" Nidhi believes in Florence's assessment. "Well, hurry up and dispel it! I can help you if you need me to, but I trust in your powers." (link)
-
Nidhi casts Break Enchantment on Kosei.
"Back up!"
Under Zilchus' shouts and the others' fuss the Kosei elemental stops his attack. The winds surrounding the elemental roar as they spin around its inner body 5 feet over the floor, but the sound of the wind is just an incoherent babble noise.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Oi! He's under a Confusion effect!" Florence suddenly calls out as she at last understands the 'what' if not the 'why'. "Don't fight back, just protect yourselves! Maybe I can dispel it!"
Zilchus roars back at Florence, mad at getting acidicly slammed. He steps back at Stelle's request in case she wants to step up and get smacked.
"Now what? Kosei? Are you done hitting me?" Zilchus asks, hoping Nidhi has a solution to the confusion. "Nidhi, what should I do?"
The entire party may take a 5’ step out of the room as desired (excepting Kosei). Otherwise the party plans and determines what’s going on with Kosei, at least a little. But what to do about it?
To save a little time, Nidhi attempts her Break Enchantment, and feels that it failed not so much because the caster was more powerful than she, but rather because the magic is more powerful than Break Enchantment can resolve. Something has hooked itself deeply into Kosei’s psyche, and it’s not going to let go easily.
Please feel free to take another full round action in addition to the communal 5’ step.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"No, Fearless Leader -- but if you get behind me, I can hold him at bay with my Lance."
Stelle holds out her lance, just barely touching Kosei Air Elemental somewhere near his center, in much the same way an older child would hold a younger child at bay with a palm to the head.
Except, Stelle's lance is far more pointier than a palm.
"Now listen, Kosei. Don't you go slamming people -- you might just accidentally impale yourself on my lance, O.K.? We're your friends, remember?"
Without taking her eyes off of the air elemental, Stelle asks, "Oh, I wish I had paid more attention during pugilism class. Does anyone here know how to knock someone out? You hit him somewhere in the head, or face or something."
She peers carefully at Kosei Air Elemental.
"He still has to have one, in there somewhere."
Florence, Kosei is more than a 5' step away, and you've a move action to draw the scroll, and a move action to close with Kosei (if Zilchus moves out of the way). So you can read the scroll next round if all goes well.
You could enter the room if you wished, Kosei does not attack and is not (currently) treated as an enemy. I'm sure the pulsing glyph is nothing...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Zilchus takes total defense and moves back behind the party, letting others get slammed by Kosei, per their requests. After all, sometimes a leader needs to lead by letting his followers get smacked around. You might think that's cowardly, but no, that's leadership.
Nidhi, Kosei, you're up.
Kosei seems to ignore completely the others. The air elemental keeps hovering in the air but pushes against Stelle's lance hurting himself in the center of his air body.
Kosei hoists himself onto Stelle’s lance, though it’s likely the least amount of damage she’s ever done with that weapon, as the rest of the party moves into position and prepares.
Florence will cast Heal from the scroll, and the spell upon Kosei’s poor brain is lifted, and his minor injury healed! He can see clearly now, friend from foe. He, Florence, and Stelle, all then shift a few feet so Kosei is out of the room (to save a little hassle I’ve moved you all into the hall a bit).
We are no longer in rounds, though the glyph remains pulsating in the middle of the room. It doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
As Kosei hoists himself, Stelle cries out.
She blinks in disbelief.
She looks at Florence. "WHAT is he doing? Kosei -- ?!"
She looks at Florence again. "What's he doing? Are Air Elementals ticklish? Is there some way to just stop him from -- "
As Florence reads the scroll, Stelle slowly recovers from her own discombobulation over Kosei's bizarre and deliberate act of self-mutilation. She stops babbling and slowly withdraws the Lance from Kosei's center of whirl.
"Thank you, Florence!" she rasps.
Relieved that Kosei is healed, she echos Florence's query. "Yes -- Kosei?! Are you O.K.? What was that all about just now?"
Zilchus watches and waits, thinking that maybe he was doing a fine job at the front, especially compared to Stelle who had managed to allow Kosei to impale himself.
"Uh, do you want me to go in there? I'll go in there and I'm sure I'll be fine. Uh huh, totally fine."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kosei floats to safety very quickly as Florence finishes her spell "By all the gods of the desert past and future, th-that was confusing my friends!" the wind seems to howl with Kosei's voice.
"When I touched the ankh a fuzzy cloud took into my mind. It was very difficult to see through my friends..." the winds blow back and force past Florence "I owe you my life once more gatherer of all mighty magic and knowledge Florence" and looking at Stelle "I... I think it was just my fault. Fortunately I did not end like a shish kebab my powerful Knight of the Ancient Tombs Stelle"
Then turning back his attention to the room the air elemental says "Mmm... there was just a pulse but it did not reach outside the room. Perhaps if we make the ankh out of the room it will lose its confusing powers"
Just to be clear, the glyph popped above the ankh when it was touched. The ankh itself is not pulsing and did not cause the temporary insanity.
Do you wait out the glyph? Do you re-enter the room? Do you do something completely different?
"Does anyone know how to float objects? If we don't touch it, maybe it can't curse us."
Kosei keeps flying in circles around Florence "That sounds an inspired and bright course of action worthy of an attempt Florence my friend"
The air elemental awaits expectant and will offer himself to fly into the room and pick the ankh if the symbol is dispelled.
Florence is able to identify the glyph as a Symbol of Insanity. As such, she'll suspect it'll disappear on its own in a matter of a couple hours or so. Maybe three on the outside.
Do you proceed with dispelling it? Or wait the hours? The dispel will work, just checking.
Zilchus looks at the smart people, wondering what the plan was. He wonders if they are smart enough, and his fingers grasp his falchion even tighter in anger.
BEN! Ben you should be here for this.
"If we let it expire, will it reactivate when someone touches the ankh? Will it be gone for good if we dispel it? Can't we just knock it off its pedestal with a shot from an arrow, then pick it up?" Stelle asks. "I think that ankh might be the key we need for the first room. I am happy waiting, I am happy moving on. What do you all think? Are you ready to keep going?"
It's hard to say if it will re-activate. That rather depends on whether it was a recurring trap, or some other effect. Almost impossible to say according to Florence who's had the best look at it so far (magically speaking that is). If it is a trap, Nidhi should maybe take a look, though she won't be able to disarm it from a distance, which has its own complications.
It looks firm on the pedestal, resting in a slight notch, but sure - Kosei thinks enough force should knock it off.
"Fair. Let's dispel, if it resists, we can finish exploring the complex before coming back to see if it expired naturally "
The bard seems to have a similar opinion to Kosei. "I don't want to get cursed." Nidhi frowns, "I say dispel it if you can and we'll come back later if we need to."
Zilchus waits, wondering if they need to come back tomorrow to handle this or if they can get it done today.
Seems like the dispel shall be attempted - and it is successful! The glyph fades under Florences stern gaze, and winks out of existence. The way is clear to the ankh and chest.
"Great!" lauds Stelle. "O.K. now, should we try to knock the ankh off the pedestal before touching it, or inspect for traps first?"
Nidhi flashes smile, but it's hidden beneath her mask. With new confidence, Nidhi floats into the room and looks around. "Sure, I'll look for traps."
"Hmm. What do you all think?"
Nidhi enters the room, a little, and gives it a once over for traps. She doesn't find any, so perhaps it was a one time thing, in which case you should be safe to investigate and take the ankh.
Nidhi examines the ankh, then if nothing seems dangerous or off, reaches to take the icon.
Kosei awaits from the outside "I will better not enter this time. What if it was a Garundi air elemental what was triggering this mean symbol?" the elemental though keeps whirling around in the entrance "How is it the ankh Nidhi. Is it a good fit for your clothing? I guess this might make a good addition to your repertoire. What do you think it serves for? To move the trap in the first room as Stelle suggested? Do you also think that my friend?"
Zilchus returns to the head of the party now that his direct reports have handled the ankh situation.
"Nice work, Team Z!" Zilchus seems pleased with the teamwork, even if he was the one who had been smacked for no good reason.
Perception
"Do we move to the trap then? Is that it?" Zilchus echoes Kosei's good question.
"We should be good to just pick it up and take it with us."
For the love of Shelyn... what did I see? (link)
"OH! I'm not sure... Maybe Kosei can turn into a Haboob or something, and just knock it off so we can pick it out of the sand."
For some reason, Stelle is clearly nervous about someone touching the ankh while it is in its current location.
"OH! I'm not sure... Maybe Kosei can turn into a Haboob or something, and just knock it off so we can pick it out of the sand."
Nidhi focuses her emerald green eyes on her favorite bartender. "I'm touched you're so worried about me. I do bring a variety of talents to the party." Her words may or may not hold hidden meaning and she laughs in her own amusement, enjoying being audacious.
Having seemingly squashed the threat, Nidhi relaxed a bit. She holds the ankh and squints. "I think we should name ourselves something different than 'Team Z.' It doesn't explain anything about us. We should be the Saviors of Wati!" She moves her free hand through the air like she's reading a giant neon sign, her bracelets tinkling with the movement. The bard looks like she's content holding the ankh, since it looks intricately designed
When Nidhi touches the ankh, you all let out a communal breath as no glyph forms above it. In fact, everything seems fine, for a moment...
But then you hear, faintly - as if from a long way off, giggling. You are also pretty sure you heard a spell being cast, though there’s no immediate obvious effect. Clearly something is happening though, so let’s go to initiative, shall we?
Florence
Kosei
Nidhi
Stelle
Zilchus
Good folk
"Is that someone casting? I fear someone is trying to fool us my friends..." the air elemental whirls around Florence "Do you remember the hand I gave you before entering here Florence my friend?"
"If you wave it you will be able to see the invisible my friend! It's time now!" Kosei focuses on the area where the noise came and readies himself to cast, if someone appears or he can determine the position of an invisible enemy within a 5' burst area (perhaps helped by someone else), he casts faerie fire on there.
Zilchus was looking at his falchion, but his head swivels up when he hears the gigglecasting.
"Did you guys hear that?" He promptly faces where he thinks the sounds are coming from (but it's the wrong way).
As Kosei and Zilchus speak, they hear a bit of an echo, like there was something blocking the sound at the entrance to the chamber.
From within, Florence and Nidhi see Kosei and Zilchus speak - but they hear no sound. There must be an invisible wall blocking the entry to the chamber!
Round 1:
Nidhi begins to sing a countersong and puts the ankh into one of the deep pockets of her traveling cloak.
34 Bardic Performances: 16/34
7 1st-level: Remove Fear
7 2nd-level: Heroism
5 3rd-level: Good Hope, Good Hope
4 4th-level: Cure Critical Wounds, Greater Invisibility
2 5th-level: