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Luisila *winks* at Roland and says “Oh, Mr Lissala, did we drop your statue and break it? Sorry, it was an accident … I’m going to try a blunt arrow and see what happens.”
Luisila moves to the square to the ‘south-west’ of Linnea and lets fly a blunt arrow at the statue, hopefully before it falls (if it does).
Roland draws his great sword.
Varg rushes in and attack the statue with his axe. The axe strikes hard and cleaves off a sizable piece of stone.
Linnea draws a wand and points it the floor under the creature. The floor becomes covered with a grease slick.
The creature looks as if it is about to fall, but remains standing.
Luisila fires and arrow, but it goes wide.
Suddenly the slick beneath the statue grows thicker and the statue falls to ground with a thump.
Zynep moves into the room and casts a spell on Varg.
The statue tries to stand up, but slips and falls back to the ground. The mindless thing attempts to stand again with similar results.
Varg takes advantage of the creature's helplessness and swings his axe again.
Varg brings his greataxe done mightily and smashes the prone creature. The axe creates a crack that branches and races along the statue. Suddenly the cracks reach a critical mass. Roland adds to the cracks by striking with his great sword and the statue crumbles into a myriad of pieces.
All good, thanks for the reminder.
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“Woo Hoo! Way to go, Cleaver!”
Luisila remembers Zynep’s idea about framing the Aspis …
She holds the bronze badge on her left sleeve up to her ear, with a perturbed look on her face - like the badge is a pocket watch that’s stopped.
“Hey Cleaver, I think my badge needs mending. If I leave it amongst the wreckage of the statue can you please have a go at ‘fixing’ it with your lucern hammer? I thought a badge that has been damaged and lost in combat might look more authentic.”
“I’ll do some trap-checking and looting while I wait.”
“Where to next?”
Luisila finds nothing more of interest in the room. It is obvious to anyone peering through the bars of the doorway in the western wall of this room, that the chanting and drumming is coming from there. It looks to be a chapel of some sort. The cavernous stone chamber may have once been an underground amphitheater. Heavy black curtains painted with a seven-pointed rune obscure a complete view, but steep stairs and rows of stone benches descend into a central pit. Pounding drums and the rhythmic chanting of dozens of voices reverberate throughout this chamber.
"Let's leave them to their chanting for now. We can destroy their little nik-nacks while they pray down there."
Zynep walks down the first hallway and throws open another curtain.
Zynep throws open a curtain to the western room where voices were heard. Entering the room, the former occupants have apparently left as it now stands empty. This room appears at first glance to be an operating theater, as it contains cots draped in clean sheets and tables neatly stacked with surgical implements and dressings, but mixed among the surgical implements are whips, scourges, and other tools of torture. The surgical tools appear to be of the highest quality.
The party successfully destroys the scarification room. Moving on to the next room, in the southern end of the hall, the party enters a room that appears to be a barracks. This wide room contains several bunk beds and chests, each embossed with a different rune. A heavy iron pipe runs the length of the south wall of this room at about four feet from the ground, disappearing into the eastern and western walls. A pungent smell issues from an alcove to the east.
As Zynep opens the first footlocker, it suddenly spouts flame, burning the woman.
Luisila begins to examine the room and finds that one of the footlockers has a letter jutting out from it. The letter is wrapped around a wand and the contents of the letter are written in Tien.
Linnea and Snouts follow the pungent odor to its source in the eastern alcove, where they find a washroom of sorts. The iron pipe juts into this washroom, capped with a spigot positioned over a large barrel. The spigot dribbles foul harbor water into the barrel, which is ringed with dried flowers in an attempt to mask the smell. Near the barrel hangs a wand, underneath the wand is a note that reads, “Conserve charges! Use on full basins only!”
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The still-distracted Ernest fumbles the wands and casts Detect Magic.
Before noting any spells, however, he points to Zynep's singed shawl. "Uh, puh-um, I can fix thos-that." He waves his hands around the area around his head to simulate Zynep's burned hairdo. "Er, your hair." Should she accept, he will use Prestidigitation to touch-up her burned hair.
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Ernest thinks of something and turns a little red while chuckling once. "Ha-aah." But his look turns to horror as he darts his head around at the party's, imaging the results to what would have happened had he said what he thought.
"They're Delay Hurting and Edibilize Snacks, r-respectively," he states, handing the wands back.
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Luisila confides to Roland and Cleaver **Zoolander** “That Raven – she’s so hot right now.”
She chants “Oh, right hand of Vengeance, MIGHTY THREV! in all your slaa… frog-faced, red-eyed majesty, permit Your humble servant some relief …”
Luisila will take the wand of Delay Pain and say, “Pretty sure we’ll be out of here inside two hours” and proceed to apply the wand to Ernest, Snouts, Linnea, Zynep, herself, Cleaver and Roland.
She will hold up the letter but does NOT read it. “Can anyone read this? I recommend making sure you’ve had a tap of the anti-pain wand before trying it. I do have a Scroll of Comprehend Languages if required.”
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Roland assists with destruction of the room as well.
Ouch,that explosion would have likely killed me. Zynep is tough or lucky.
"With all zhe noise we are making, it is zurprising no one has come to check on us, no? If we are zhe expected guests, it does not speak highly of zhe hosts for zheir greetings . "
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Linnea gives Ernest a look, I know you helped with that Grease spell. She winks and doesn't say what's on her mind.
She pipes up, "Yes, let's check out that curtain to the east." And with that, she stops on a couple more of the wooden dolls and leaves her Aspis Consortium badge in the pile, dinged up a little to make it less obvious that it was left deliberately.
The party moves to examine the final room in the complex, other than the chapel. This room contains several mats and low beds. The walls of this room are deeply carved with jagged runic symbols. A small table sports a large brick of burning incense, but the incense’s heavy scent does not quite disguise an underlying sharp smell.
surface.
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Ernest momentarily loses any pretense of fear or nervousness as he closes his eyes and points his finger upwards. "See, Carbauxine, whose spelling variates from region to region and timeline to timeline, is a by-product of factory production. It often processed as a pesticide, but is only naturally poisonous to smaller creatures like fish, plants, and the like. If inhaled in massive quantities, however, it can cause death in humans and humanoid creatures. Its use in tomb protection services is most usually one of a maintenance reason, usually to clear out unwanted weeds, pests, and small invaders in one installation while maintaining a moderately-safe place to house servants..." Ernest continues the practical use of the by-product until interrupted.
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... Ernest continues the practical use of the by-product until interrupted.
Luisila looks at Cleaver – sees the look on his face once Ernest gets into full flow – and tries to stifle a laugh behind her hand. She then whispers to the big Ulfen:
“I’ve got this … if you could just block the doorway.”
Luisila walks up behind the wizard while he’s distracted …
… she then leans into Ernest's back and wraps her arms around his middle, before sighing into his ear.
“Oh, Ernest. I just looove a man with brains.”
Looking around this room, you realize that it is devoted to meditation.
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Ernest's demeanor changes entirely when enveloped, ceasing the lesson. As he darts his head around again in a panic, he notices something and speaks up in his standard "panicked voice." "Oh-uh-nuh-puh, I nee- need to-uh be a-alone in here for- for a few minutes. To meditate. The- uh, the Ruby Prince sa- needs me to. Unless-uh, unless you all want to-uh try too. That's... that's fine, too."