"Such a waste of good food." Jezabel remarks with a smirk. With a glance to Wraith she adds, "And bones."
Dante sighs. He's already tired of this. "We're on a clock, remember?" he says. "I'm not sure we can afford to comb every inch of every room."
@Tatienne Wraith explains that both you and Balam are the close quarters fighters in the group and currently his minion is only good for such and wondering what he should have the creature due to aid them.
At the mention of looking for a weapon he asks if she's not using it to borrow her bow to give us a little ranged support.
------------------------------------
At the words, Wraith cast detect magic, "Not that BLIND isn't obvious but that can only mean two things to me, magic darkness to steal any light source and possibly blind those that can see in the dark or curses focusing on our sight."
As Wraith watches he'll study the door to see if any magic is involved there, waiting on the door being open before sensing into the room.
"What blinds us? If darkness blinds us.. maybe we need fire? or some thing else that lets out light?" Maybe there's somethign to break?
"I bet it's ignorance, or some basic s@@% like that," says Dante, eyes rolling.
With no magic, traps, or locks to be found on the door, you open the door to reveal...darkness. Impenetrable, black, inky darkness that seems to consume the light, forming a veritable wall that stops right at the edge of the doorway.
In the room you see that, once again, there is a single lantern hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. Directly below it is a stone plinth on which sits a stone sphere. The floor looks to have lots of tiny holes in it, as though it were a great.
Now that the door is open, you detect a magical aura of Evocation from the center of the room.
Wraith gives a discription of the room for those without dark vision and what he senses through detect magic.
After humming a strange tune under her breath, Jezabel's eyes glow bright green. She looks into the darkness, curious about its magical properties.
After she's done studying the darkness, the glowing in her eyes fades. She hums another tune and moves her hands melodically, causing three swirling orbs of green light to spring into being. She flicks her fingers, causing the orbs to fly into the darkness. Jezabel watches, curious if their light will be smothered by the darkness.
Dante sighs. He's already tired of this. "We're on a clock, remember?" he says. "I'm not sure we can afford to comb every inch of every room."
"A twenty-four hour clock. Nine rooms. One hour searching each room leaves plenty of time. Exercise your patience, as it is sure to be tested."
"So far, His Eminence has given us literal stagings of his parables. I would take him at his word, and have Wraith's skeleton--it can see in the dark--smash that sphere...or the plinth? The lantern? Whatever is magical. Also...remember the cone of fire I evoked against the warden's men? Try to keep the skeleton, and yourselves, out of my field of fire." Geborah steps into the dark room and stands by the wall right next to the door, ready to unleash the fires of Hell.
Jezabel is unable to identify the magical effect, but her green swirling orbs of light are swallowed by the darkness, nothing of them penetrating its inky blackness.
You can tell the magical aura emanates from the sphere.
"Why have a lantern in the room? That doesn't make sense. If all we need to do to see is break the sphere, why put in anything we couldn't normally see?"
Balam sighs and scratches at his head. Riddles hurt.
"Sounds apt, that orb is the source of the magic... I am curious about the holes in the floor as well."
Wraith quickly orders his skeleton to destroy the orb in the room, commanding it to use it claws for the moment.
After seeing its poor performance, Wraith commands it to attack again.
After the second round of attacks, if the orb is still radiating darkness, he'll order a third round of attacks.
After this, if the orb is still there, Wraith will go in himself....I need to improve upon this minon, his base attacking skills are lacking.
The skeleton paws at the orb, raking its claws upon it rather ineffectually. It is able, however to knock the orb off the pedestal, dropping it to the floor and causing it to shatter. Immediately, the darkness vanishes, the room lit by the single lantern in the ceiling. You can now see there are two doors - one to the north and one to the east. Both have heavy bars across them that would have been impossible to open in the dark. It also reveals Jezabel's dancing lights.
During the darkness, those of you with darkvision also noticed something seep out of the grating on the floor. Once the globe is shattered, it reveals a blood red mist. A tendril extends from the mist and lashes out at the skeleton. However, the skeleton appears to be unaffected by it, and the mist seems to hissingly screech in anger at its inability to harm it.
This is a vampiric mist. It is a type of aberration that can drain the blood from those it touches. Since it is a mist, it is amorphous and difficult to harm with conventional weapons. It is vulnerable to fire, although the lesson gave you quite the hint at that.
When a vampiric mist gorges on blood, it is said to gain heightened reflexes and move more quickly than normal.
Handing over her bow, Taty nods, thinking on the style of combat that she employs, as well as what she knows of Balam. "Of course, take the bow. I'm better suited to being in an enemy's space. As for your minion, I'd recommend you use it to flank one of us whenever possible. If not that, it can parry and feint to serve the same purpose."
------------
Luckily, one of Tatienne's favorite Elnora the Diabolic Explorer books happens to be Elnora Braves the Red Mist. There was no doubt in the relic hunter's mind what they faced. "Stay out of the mist - it will drain your blood, making it quicker! It is, as hinted at, vulnerable to fire. Geborah, light it up!
Jezabel adjusts her positioning so she can see the red mist from the hall, then casts her amused gaze at the red mist, humming a disconcerting ditty under her breath.
Geborah's hands have begun to smoke. "Don't get in my way," she warns.
Jezabel adjusts her positioning so she can see the red mist from the hall, then casts her amused gaze at the red mist, humming a disconcerting ditty under her breath
Pass, 1 round
The vampiric mist seems to be at least somewhat affected by Jezabel's gaze and ditty, but isn't affected enough not to reach out and touch Geborah with one of its red tendrils. At it's touch, Geborah feels her blood being physically drained from her body, as the creature seems to turn even more the color of blood. It then moves down through the holes below the floor, more quickly than it emerged.
Vampiric Mist - 38/38; Temp HP 6/6; Blood overdoes
Geborah - 12/12; 1 bleed, 3 Con damage.
Moving to the doorway, Tatienne draws her bardiche and waits for the mist to make a reappearance.
Geborah hisses, her skin going shockingly pale as the mist pulls the blood from her. "Nothing hurts me like that and lives," she swears, and channels a gout of fire into the holes in the floor.
Meanwhile, blood continues to seep into her clothes.
Dante moves up beside Tatienne, rapier in hand. He readies himself for -what if the creature- moves within his reach.
With little room to maneuver, Wraith orders he skeleton to attack the blood covered mist.
Wraith shakes his head when his minion can't do anything to it. "Anyone know what this thing is?"
[ooc]Wraith will Ready Mage Armor, will cast it if its get withing attacking range.
Geborah hisses, her skin going shockingly pale as the mist pulls the blood from her. "Nothing hurts me like that and lives," she swears, and channels a gout of fire into the holes in the floor. The creature lets out a slight scream as its burned a bit by Geborah's spell, although it is not as effective as it could be. Meanwhile, blood continues to seep into her clothes.
Balam steps into the room and prepares to swing his greatsword if and when the creature re-emerges from its grating.
With little room to maneuver, Wraith orders his skeleton to prepare to attack the blood covered mist. He then prepares to cast a defensive spell if it gets within attacking range of him.
Dante moves up beside Tatienne, rapier in hand. He readies himself for -what if the creature- moves within his reach.
Grumblejack scratches his head and says, "Grumblejack not know if he can hit fog, but Grumblejack try." He lifts the big club over his head and prepares to swing horizontally at it.
Moving to the doorway, Tatienne draws her bardiche and waits for the mist to make a reappearance.
Vampiric Mist - 38/38; Temp HP 1/6; Blood overdoes
Geborah - 15/16; 1 bleed, 3 Con damage.
Jezabel watches the room carefully, prepared to give the red mist another baleful glare when it reappears...
The mist emerges from its hiding place, and as it does so, the group lashes out at it, walloping it with their combined weapons.
Jezabel's hex seems to make the creature clumsy, but Balam's blade misses the mark anyway. Wraith's skeleton is ineffective in its attempt, but Dante is able to hit the mark. His attack is less effective than he would hope, but it did something.
Grumblejack's club hits the mark thanks to a flank with Wraith's skeleton and Jezabel's hex. Tatienne gets a flanking boost as well, allowing her attack to connect.
The creature seems to scream at the group before a tendril reaches out to touch Dante, draining some of his blood. The creature's reactions seem to have returned to normal from the attacks, preventing it from retreating into the floor.
Vampiric Mist - 30/38
Geborah - 15/16; 1 bleed, 3 Con damage
Dante - 17/17; 1 bleed, 2 Con damage
[/spoiler]
Geborah steps back from the front line, lifting Asmodeus's symbol to her red eye. She has trouble finding an opening in the melee. "Out of the way, blast you!" she snarls at Dante's back.
Glancing over his back, Dante steps out of the way as requested before stabbing at the mist again. He grunts in pain as his blood drips out of him, but knows that killing it quick is the only real way to survive.
Jezabel focuses her eerily glowing green-eyed gaze on the bloody mist, attempting to lower its defences further...
Wraith has his skeleton ready claw attacks....
,
As for himself he readies a ray of frost at attack the mist.
,
The first swing with her new weapon was innefectual, the red mist simply parting at Taty's thrust. Snarling, Tatienne tried again, this time flourishing the blade a little as she swiped. A mist can't be that intelligent, after all...
Geborah steps back from the front line, lifting Asmodeus's symbol to her red eye. She has trouble finding an opening in the melee. "Out of the way, blast you!" she snarls at Dante's back.
Jezabel focuses her eerily glowing green-eyed gaze on the bloody mist, attempting to lower its defences further...
Pass, 1 round
It appears to not be as effective as she could wish.
Balam again swings his sword at the mist.
His attack is less effective than he'd like, but still seems to connect.
Wraith has his skeleton ready claw attacks, one of which strikes true, but the mist feels nothing. His ray of frost is more effective, finding the target and causing it some small damage.
Glancing over his back, Dante steps out of the way as requested before stabbing at the mist again. He grunts in pain as his blood drips out of him, but knows that killing it quick is the only real way to survive. Unfortunately the mist parts around his rapier.
Geborah launches her bolt of fire with Dante out of the way. It sears the creature quite effectively.
Grumblejack again tries to hit the mist.
His greatclub smashes down hard, and he smiles and says, "Grumblejack can kill mist."
The first swing with her new weapon was innefectual, the red mist simply parting at Taty's thrust. Snarling, Tatienne tried again, this time flourishing the blade a little as she swiped. A mist can't be that intelligent, after all. And yet, it apparently is, as she again misses the mark.
The mist sinks back into the floor, carefully avoiding the swings of those who would stop it. Once down there, it seems content to remain, making noises that sound like, were it an animal or a person, it would be whimpering.
Vampiric Mist - 9/38
Geborah - 14/16; 1 bleed, 3 Con damage
Dante - 16/17; 1 bleed, 2 Con damage
There are two further doors out of the room - one to the north, and one to the east. Both are barred, with the bar facing you.
As the mist cowers, Geborah uses strips of cloth to bind her wounds, then Dante's.
"Now someone go get the lamps from the last two rooms," she commands. She reaches up to get this room's lamp, wincing slightly as the stretch pulls at her wound. "Balam, you were wondering why there's a light burning in a magically darkened room? Perhaps His Eminence was testing our ingenuity." She opens the lamp and pours its oil down the holes in the floor, a vicious grin on her face.
Jezabel wanders off to retrieve the lamps from the previous rooms, humming a jaunty tune all the while.
Dante watches Geborah for a moment. "Aren't you worried about suffocating us?" he asks.
"If the lamps burning for hours didn't foul the air, then there's fresh air coming in. Breathing a little smoke won't kill you...I find it invigorating," she admits.
Geborah pours the oil from the three lamps down the grating, leaving the only light in the room to be Jezabel's dancing lights. She then ignites it. The creature screams in pain as it is slowly burned. Jezabel's lights wink out, but there is still low light from the fire of the burning vampiric mist. The temperature also begins to rise.
Jezabel recasts her spell, making her eerily glowing green orbs dance around the room in tune with a song she sings over the creature's screams.
Her face transformed by the firey light from below to a hellish mask of glee, Geborah watches the creature writhe as it burns. She shakes off her fascination as the light fades and draws the silk scarf from somewhere in her gown. With a flourish, she plucks the lantern from the scarf and sets it at the party's feet.
"For those of you not blessed with night-seeing eyes. Perhaps you'd like it, Tatienne? It's a fair implement," she says, admiring its elegant design.
Confident the mist will not rise again to trouble them, Geborah gives the room her customary painstaking examination in the hopes of finding a hint about which door to take. If she finds nothing to distinguish them, she draws a random pair of bloodstained cards to choose which.
"We go north," she announces, brandishing the proud-faced queen she drew for that door.
Geborah finds no other clues to the doors in the room, so she draws two cards. "We go north," she announces, brandishing the proud-faced queen she drew for that door.
Balam is easily able to remove the bar on the door, and the group opens it to find a short 20-foot long and 10-foot wide hallway leading to another door with an inscription. This one reads, "Cruelty is a tool, not a pastime. Be ruthless to thy enemy, but reward those who serve thee well."
Geborah shrugs, then nods at the inscription, as if conceding a point.
She turns to Grumblejack. "I only now thought to ask...can you read these tiny little letters on the doors, big fellow? We'll gladly read them to you if you can't. This one tells us we should treat the people who help us gently, and save up all our violence for the people who won't get out of our way. I wonder how Cardinal Thorn has staged this aphorism," she muses aloud.
Surprisingly, Grumblejack nods in answer to Geborah's question. "Grumblejack learn how to read human letters. Big words sometimes cause trouble, though."
Taking the lead this time, Dante opens the door up, preparing himself mentally to face whatever weird s@~% was in there.