"Maybe you should," Tahata suggests to Ayame. "They might keep you upright once we get further north."
"We seemed to have gone up as far as we can in the fortress? Were there any doors we skipped down below?"
Ayame seemed a bit embarrassed at the suggestion of her taking the boots. "But, it would still leave the rest of you cold and moving slower..." Ayame pointed out, though Loren did said the cold didn't bother him the snow and ice would still slow him down. Then there was the fact the Durian was a dwarf and moved slower than the rest of them thus would be slowed even more through snow and ice. "I mean, Durian would be the slowest of us, shouldn't they go to him to ensure he doesn't fall behind?" She asked.
"There were some hatches that lead down." Ayame said. "I don't think we went through those..."
I would love to have those boots. not just because they would keep me warm, but it would keep me from getting bogged down in the back instead of punching whatever is trying to eat you lighter folk...
Ayame smiled as she presented the boots to Durian. "That is what I throught!" She said, as it had been a thought. "Also if we really need to run away from something, Durian could just carry me with the boots on. I don't weigh much and if you all haven't notices," Ayame sighed "I'm... very small..."
With the disucssion you are fairly sure Ayame is correct, the bird was an awakened raven. Thinking back you would guess it probably summoned the earth elemental you battled in the streets. Probably much better that you killed it quickly.
Searching the above ground levels you find nothing else if importance and nothing else that wants to kill you. The fellow you rescued appears to have eaten and fallen asleep so he can wait. The only way forward, unless you leave, is down.
The stairs descend into a plain room of mortared stones. The walls drip with condensation, giving the air a cold, clammy feel. Heading down you notice that the walls are mortared stone and the ceilings are roughly ten feet tall.
At the bottom of the stairs you head west until you reach a door. The door opens into a natural cavern thirty feet across and fifteen feet high. A waterfall pours in through a small aperture high on the south wall, filling a turbulent pool in the floor and sending a cold spray throughout the room. A smoothed ledge extends outward from the door, and two large barrels have been set to the right of it. Another ledge sits on the far side of the pool. A smaller cask sits on this ledge, next to a heavy wooden door.
There is also a path heading to the north from the stairs.
"Looks like the fortress's water supply." Loren says as they arrive in the underground cavern.
He looks around for any signs of danger.
Ayame moved down the other hall, also looking around and listening for any danger.
"If this is the fortress's water supply then why is there another path?" Ayame asked.
"I don't think this is just the water source, there must be something else going on down here," Tahata opines. "I don't want a cold swin across there," he says, pointing towards the door on the far side of the pool, "so why don't we look down the passageway first."
Looking more closely you see that the pond is five feet deep and probably has a slippery rock floor. At the north east corner there is a small outflow that could probably be squeezed though by a small creature though it probably only leads to the nother hallway that headed north.
The door on the far side of the pool is locked. Next to it sits a barrel filled with an extremly potent rice wine. An aspergillum (usually used for sprinkling holy water) sits atop the cask.
Try the door or the other hallway? Leave and open a bakery?
"The passageway is fine with me." Loren tells Tahata.
"Pretty random to find a holy water sprinkler sitting on top of a cask of liquor, but these northerners do like to party."
Durian is curious and decides to take a look. he sloshes across the water and opens a cask of rice wine and sniffs deeply. he takes a small taste of the liquid
if it seems good he will fill an empty water skin with it, but doesn't drink any more of it right now. on a whim he takes the aspergillum and sprinkles some rice wine on the floor and shakes some of it on the door.
Ayame looked back and noticed Durian was gone, so she poked her head into the room with the pool to find him. "Durian, you find something interesting?" Ayame asked curiously.
"That does seem strange," Tahata agrees with Loren. "The ways of these northmen are unusual." He peers down the passageway as Durian splashes across the, presumably very cold, pool.
Durian has no problem filling a wineskin but sprinkling the door and floor does not have any noticable effect.
Heading he other way a deep channel of flowing water crosses the hall here. On the opposite side lies a heavy timber plank. A brass bell and clapper hang from the wall on this side of the stream.
Tahata sees that the water here is much deeper, probably seven feet.
A door one way past a small pond and a deeper stream the other, with a bell, whatever shall our intrepid adventures do?
"Durian, go ahead and open that door. We've got your back." Loren tells the Dwarf.
Let's go this way Durian says to the others. Sounds like that way is only passable if you have a friend on the far side.
Durian tries the door. is it locked? if it opens, he will try to open it as quietly as possible, but knows he is not the sneakiest person here.
"I agree, I'm not sure I want to see who would greet us if we rang that bell," Tahata says, happy with Loren and Durian's plan.
Durian makes his way though the pool of water to the door. His sharp eyes detect a glint of metal under the sake cask and it turns out to be a key for the locked door. The sake still gives off a pungent smell as he opens the door slowly, not hearing any movement form the other side.
From outside the door Durian looks in. This room is small and musty, hewn from solid rock. Near the far wall stands a low well, its opening only a foot in diameter. A winch and chain with a rusty steel bucket hang from the wall above it. In the far corner sits a pile of old wooden buckets and other debris, rotten and broken, with several different kinds of fungus growing on their remnants.
He does not see anything else from where he is.
Durian pokes his head into the room. seeing nothing but a well inside he steps over ot the well and looks down inside and around the outside of the well for anything of interest.
Looks like a dead end here, friends! he calls back over his shoulder. Just a well and some mushrooms.
Looks like we're goign to need to find a way across on your side instead!
Ayame skipped into the room looking around. "Why have a well if you have a waterfall and river?" She questioned as she helped Durian looked around. "It is just weird."
Loren casts Light on the head of his morningstar and looks into the room behind Ayame and Durian.
"and why do they have a locked door to a room with a well?"
"Seems strange," Tahata agrees, hearing his friends' confusion from his position on the other side of the pool. "I can jump the gap and push the plank back over for the rest of you," he adds.
Druian moves in and looks down the well. He sharp eyes spot something, a sword and scabbard, wedge in the shaft fifteen feet below.
Sadly Duaian and the others in the room have little time to deal with the sword as three bag-shaped creature is dark gray, with two darker splotches that look like eyeholes in a hood. Inside its opening, pale tentacles writhe and teeth coated in viscous slime gnash.
The creatures drop form the ceiling connecting with Durian and Ayame causing minor damage. The one attacking Durian cannot get a grip but [u]Ayame[/u] finds her head engulfed in the bag and can [u]neither speak nor breath.[/u]
Bold may act
[u] Round 1 [/u]
Tahata, Durian, Loren, Ayame
Hoods
[u] Stat Tracker [/u]
Global Condition: None |Ayame HP: 39/39 - AC: 20/14/17 Status:
Durian HP: 59/59 - AC: 21 (+4 vs Giants)/14/19 Status:
Tahata HP: 41/44 - AC: 17/12/15 Status:
Loren HP: 31/31 - AC: 16/11/16 Status:__________________________________________
Durians Hood - HP: AC: 16/13/15
Ayame's Hood - HP: AC: 16/13/15
Loren's Hood - HP: AC: 16/13/15___________________________________________
Story Reminders:
* Looking for a guide over the crown of the world - Ulf and Uksahkka
* No one has seen the guide you have a lead on.
* The Frozen Shadows are being guided by an Oni that is part of the Five Storms. [/b]
What the..? Durian yelps as a bag comes at him. it barely nicks him, but he sees the potential danger as another one wraps around Ayame's head. he punches several times at the one tryign to get on top of him.
dragon style, PA:
Loren uses a swift action to activate Arcane Strike and then raises his morningstar in two hands and bashes down at the strange creature on the floor.
(magic vs DR)
Tahata hears Durian's shout and looks into the room where he sees a number of grey fleshy bag-like creatures dropping from the ceiling. Knowing the difficulty of fighting while in the water, but seeing the danger to Loren and Ayame Tahata leaps into the pond, thrusting his spear forward to attack the creature trying to grab onto Loren. "Maitoh, aşağı!" he calls as he wades through the chest-high water and the wolf obediently sits and waits.
"Some one get this thing off!" Ayame said as she grabbed the creature and tried to pull it off of her head. "Helgarval are you alright? Is it hurting you?" Ayame asked worried about her outsider friend.
The angel speaks in Ayame's head. "No, just a little wet. Hard to eat extraplanar metal."
The hood on Durian loses it will to fight as well as whatever life it had from the blows delivered by the dwarf. Loren connects with his morning start and Tahata and Ayame connect with their attacks. All in all the fight is quick and the foes are down.
Durian looks back down the well and you are able to retrieve the sword he saw. The sword is clearly of great value and is well made, detecting magic would show that it gives off a strong evocation aura.
Suishen is a +2 defending flaming katana. The ancestral blade of the Amatatsu family, Suishen is believed to contain the soul of the first Amatatsu emperor of Minkai. It has been passed down through generations of the family, serving as advisor and spiritual guide. It was actually Suishen’s idea to be sold to Fynn Snaevald in order to save the family line.
Suishen can detect any scion of the Amatatsu family within 60 feet, whether a natural-born descendant or a person invested with the right to rule as an Amatatsu (such as a creature marked by the Amatatsu Seal). Although Suishen is neutral good, any Amatatsu scion, regardless of alignment, can wield the sword without gaining a negative level. This boon is at Suishen’s discretion, however, and should such a scion ever betray the family or prove unworthy as an heir, the sword can reinstate this penalty and cause a personality conflict. Even though Suishen can likely dominate anyone who tries to wield it, the sword usually acquiesces to the wishes of its wielder, provided she is a rightful Amatatsu scion—though after 50 years of holding its silence, Suishen is a bit rough as a conversationalist, communicating in a very gruff, no-nonsense manner.
Suishen has a number of additional abilities as well, though it reveals these powers to its wielder only after she has shown herself honorable and worthy of bearing the family’s heirloom blade.
Bold may act
[u] Round 2 [/u]
Tahata, Durian, Loren, Ayame
Swarm and Crow
[u] Stat Tracker [/u]
Global Condition: None |Ayame HP: 39/39 - AC: 20/14/17 Status:
Durian HP: 59/59 - AC: 21 (+4 vs Giants)/14/19 Status:
Tahata HP: 41/44 - AC: 17/12/15 Status:
Loren HP: 31/31 - AC: 16/11/16 Status:__________________________________________
Durians Hood - HP: AC: 16/13/15
Ayame's Hood - HP: AC: 16/13/15
Loren's Hood - HP: AC: 16/13/15___________________________________________
Story Reminders:
* Looking for a guide over the crown of the world - Ulf and Uksahkka
* No one has seen the guide you have a lead on.
* The Frozen Shadows are being guided by an Oni that is part of the Five Storms. [/b]
Ayame was in shock when what they found turned out to be her ancestral blade. "Why was it down in the well?" She wondered aloud as she took Suishen, drawing the blade. "I've... never used anything larger than a wakizashi..." She admitted nervously. "Should we ask who it wishes to be wielded by?" Ayame asked, obviously nervous about wielding such a weapon... what if she wasn't worthy?
"What do you mean, ask it?" Tahata asks, not clear why Ayame would suggest talking to the sword. "I've never seen a blade like that before. It looks expertly crafted," he remarks. "Is it magical?"
You're saying you want to ask questions to a sword? did you get hit on the head by one of those bag things?
As you retrieve the sword from the well it flashes with flame around the blade. After a moment a heavily accented voice is heard in each of your heads as the sword communicates telepathically answering Ayame's question.
"Damned-able ogre threw me in here when I would not let him wield me. You found Amatatsu Seal before coming here. Why? Why are you here? Answer quickly."
"I am Ayame Kaijitsu, or well... technically Ayame Amatatsu... Either way, I'm one of the two of the Amatatsu bloodline left however those with me have been chosen as well. You're Suishen, the Amatatsu family blade. We've been looking for you. Are you willing to be wielded by one of us?" Ayame asked.
"Whoa.... do you guys hear a sword talking in your head?"
Tahata looks around in surprise as a voice appears in his head. "How are you doing this? Why are you in my head?" he asks out loud, unhappy with his mind being invaded in this way.
"But it said something about being tossed down the well by an ogre." Loren says.
He looks at the sword, feeling silly, and asks: "Can you tell us anything more about this ogre?"
yes we definitely need to find this ogre and deal with it quickly!
While you clearly cannot see the sword communicating, its an inaminate object and all you can feel its attention on you as you speak. As Tahata's expresses concern he feels the connection to him break and he cannot hear what the sword says to the others.
While the others can hear the swords attention is clearly on Ayame. "Yes I can feel you are of the family, my family. Very good, you may wield me and I will let my stregnth to the family again. I would like to deal with this ogre quickly as well, nasty creature that it is."
"Her name is Kimandatsu. She is a member of the Five Storms, a powerful group of oni in far-off Minkai, and leader of the Frozen Shadows, the Five Storms’ guild of ninja and assassins in Kalsgard in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. She is here but I do not know where."
The sword pauses for a moment. "There are other things, trolls and monks that you will need to fight as well. Now that a scion of Amatatsu he here it is time for revenge."
"Um.... I... Suishen, I've never used a Katana before. I wield a Wakizashi, but I do not know how well those skills will translate to a larger blade such as yourself. I will be clumsy likely, and my form may be poor." Ayame tried to explain. "I am also no true warrior... but I am willing to try, for our family. For the wrong you have suffered." Ayame continued "Will that be acceptable to you?"
"Trolls, monks, and an Ogre. The dungeons of this place must extend further than I guessed." Loren says.
"It all must be beyond that stream in the other passage."
"Would someone care to jump across and bridge it with that board?"
"Oni? what do they want with your family, Ayame? and to bring so many different people together to capture this sword. Ogres, humans, trolls, a were-bear... we are in way over our heads and don't even know what is going on. I do understand killing a nasty Ogre though. let's focus on that for now.
In the other room Durian eyes the jump.
"I think I could make that
he runs towards the gap and leaps
"What are you all talking about?" Tahata asks, confused by only hearing one half of the conversation with the sword. "Is there an ogre here?"
"Apparently and ogre and some trolls." Loren answers.
"They must have to squeeze down these narrow hallways."
Despite a complete lack of graze Durian manages to leap across the water and put the board in place. Taking your time you all make it across, some with a little help from the others of course.
Ahead of you the path turns and you hear voices and see slight shadows made by dim light on the wall.
Its hard to make out the words but it sounds like general b+~*#ing about the cold. There are two voices you can hear.
Durian looks to the others, puts a hand to his ear to indicate he hears voices, then shrugs to try to quietly show he has no idea what is being said. if no one else is able to translate what they hear, Durian takes the lead and moves towards the voices.
Loren holds up a hand a puts a finger to his mouth to signal for quiet when he sees Durian's signal.
He follows behind Durian carefully.
Ayame put Suishen on her belt before she followed her friends trying to be silent. 'I have an angel on my head and now a talking sword... So this is what adventuring is.'