The instant danger appears, a strange glint appears in Menedes' eye, and he drops into a stance indicative of a much more experienced warrior than himself. As he speaks, his voice seems to echo throughout the chamber, deeper and more authoritative than he's sounded before.
Drawing his blade, he enters a defensive posture, and with his other hand, gestures a prayer.
Marcus quirks an eyebrow at the sudden shift in Menedes' voice and posture, but quickly dismisses the thought and focuses on the creatures attacking.
"Darude! Destroy the moving dolls."
At Marcus's command, the sandy guardian staggers between one of the toys and Alayi, bringing its sandy fist down to smash the animated toy.
Marcus charges down the corridor to flank with his bodyguard, bringing the the ichor-slicked blade of his machete down on the construct like a guillotine. The blade gleams as Menedes's chant imbues it with additional magical power.
Letting out a yelp in surprise, Alayi swings her scimitar at the one that stabbed her.
Swinging as hard as she can, Alayi cleaves into the one she hit.
"Evil little dolls! I'll make you into splinters!"
After making her attack, she 5ft step back away from the evil toys.
The summoned eagle claws at a doll, but is unable to do any damage to the polished wood of the construct. Darude's fist is more effective, slamming into it and splintering the wood. Marcus finishes the job by hacking the doll into pieces.
Alayi finds her mark as well, catching a doll with her blade as she leaps back. The figurine presses the attack, jabbing its spear into the ifrit's calf. The second grapples with the celestial eagle momentarily before the creature blinks back to the plane it was called from. The remaining doll stabs at Darude, doing little damage to the sand man.
Alayi 5ft step to between Doll #2 and Neve.
"Oh no you are not!"
Alayi slashes at Doll#2 with her scimitar.
Looking a bit worse for wear, she looks around, trying to gain reason about her surroundings. "These little dolls are tough! And each time they hit, it stings!"
And when the first one attacks, she will attempt a opportune parry and riposte against it by spending a panache point.
At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the swashbuckler, she can spend 1 panache point and expend a use of an attack of opportunity to attempt to parry that attack. The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity; for each size category the attacking creature is larger than the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler takes a –2 penalty on this roll. If her result is greater than the attacking creature’s result, the creature’s attack automatically misses. The swashbuckler must declare the use of this ability after the creature’s attack is announced, but before its attack roll is made. Upon performing a successful parry and if she has at least 1 panache point, the swashbuckler can as an immediate action make an attack against the creature whose attack she parried, provided that creature is within her reach.
Realising that the creature she summoned had no effect against this foe, Ninevekhti changes tack.
Drawing a small vial of oil from her spell component pouch, she gestures with an arcane word of power and the ground beneath two of the dolls is suddenly slick with grease.
The sandy bodyguard topples to the ground, his stiff legs providing little support on the slick surface. At Marcus's command, he rises to his feet again.
He then turns to smash Doll #4, but his fists swing wide.
Marcus darts to the side and takes another swipe at Doll #2.
Drawing her longspear, Satati wuickly realizes that she'll be of no use in the cramped room. Instead, she jabs desperately at the doll in front of Salomae, trying to distract it.
One of the toy soldiers slips in the grease, but quickly stands back up. As Darude rises, the others try to take advantage of the sand man's lowered defenses, but their tiny spears do little damage.
Marcus's machete does little damage, but the acid covering the blade eats through the wood. Similarly, Salomae's rapier bounces off the wood of the construct she attacks. Attacks are landing, but the very nature of their adversaries makes damaging them difficult.
Alayi continues her assault on doll #2.
In her haste, she misses the doll.
If she is attacked, she will attempt the Opportune Parry.
Menedes maneuvers his way around his allies, getting into position to attack.
Marcus continues his assault on Doll #2, and Darude continues smashing Doll #4.
Uncomfortably aware that her magic hasn't been much good up to this point, Ninevekhti holds; her power is limited and there's no point spending it where it isn't working. She berates herself, furiously and silently.
Sasati takes another clumsy swing at the doll in front of her, trying to distract it from her companions.
Between Marcus, Alayi, and Salomae, the Circle is able to cut down the rest of the animated dolls.
After the dust settles, some things of interest remain. Three shields with different designs are displayed upon a rack against the east wall, while various weapons hang from another rack along the south wall. Arrayed around the room are five small chests and a clay urn.
In the hall, the masks of the various gods still hang. In the previous room, a brightly painted chariot sits in the center of the chamber. Beyond the chariot, a large canvas stretches between two stone columns. The skins of several animals-antelopes, great cats, and crocodiles - now faded and deteriorated with age, are tacked to this canvas. A wooden chest, lacquered white and trimmed with gold inlay, sits in the southeast corner. In each corner of the room a small stone shield is molded into the masonry at shoulder height.
"Yeah... Ouch!" Alayi says while she rubs where she was stabbed a few times on her calf. She slowly moves over to the lacquered chest and looks it over for any traps.
She whistles while looking it over. "This chest looks quite nice. Might be worth a bit too."
Marcus examines the figurines, picking up the pieces to one which was less damaged than the rest, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He collects the fragments of the dolls and stows them in his pack.
"Is everyone alright?" Satati asks, watching from the doorway as Alayi inspects the chest.
Menedes, after a short moment, seems to relax and come to his senses.
"What, exactly, just occured?"
Ninevehkti looks around purposefully now that the little figurines have been defeated. She examines the shields and weapons carefully, trying to see what they can tell her about this place.
Moving into the other room, she looks at the chariot with interest. "One wonders what that was like as a mode of transport."
"Animated guards, it seems," Satati replies to Menedes, not wanting to move into the crowded room. "Is there anything of value here?"
"This chest looks nice, just about to open it to check it out." She gets ready to open it the looks back to anyone that might be standing behind her. "You might want to stand back just a little bit more. I didn't see a trap, but that doesn't mean there wont be one." Alayi turns back to the chest, and after a few seconds, she lifts the lid to look inside.