Beylinda still weapon drawn is in a ready to attack position should anything attempts to barge out from the doors
Sunny leans over and looks into the chest.
"That be an' interestin' bundle o' shine." She opines. "Lets dump it in'a sack an' show every one else!" (^_^)
*Hey! Every one! We found some shiny!* She thinks out loud, even ass she gets ready to transport said loots.
When Lulu asks her if it's "fun" to be a walking disaster, Ceru's eyes fill with tears and she begins to walk out of the room. Sunny offers to hug her (), which Ceru half heartedly accepts, but the tiny, dexterous gnome quickly wriggles out of the elf's grasp shortly thereafter.
To the others trying to placate her, she insists, No no, be certain if something blows up, it's probably my fault. It's why you have to stand back, alright? Do you all understand?
She walks over to Pix, and addresses him directly:
At that Ceru gets a sudden look of inspiration on her face, and pulls an index card from seemingly out of nowhere and is reaching for her pen to write on it.
Hearing Eris ask her to check the walls for hidden doors, she stops, however, and joins Sunny at the walls.
If nothing is found, she will re-join the others upstairs and get ready to go down the next passage.
It seems like we're not going to get very far going this way. Unfortunately Taq seems torn between the other two ways so we'll have to find another way to decide which path to follow.
Dijiron follows Ceru's advice and detects magic on each body.
Ooze spits the armor out distastefully when he stops moving with blurring speed, chewing things wasn't as fun when you couldn't chomp at lightning speed.
Then the thought was transmitted Shiny things Ooze stood up with a flash, his enormous ears pointing down the right chamber with a gleeful clamour he darted at a breakneck run for the giant stairs "climbing" down in a dangerous way that only goblins could do safely, that could only be described as masterful falling or bouncing.
He sprints across the room stopping on a dime at the pile of spoils, his big eyes widen even bigger as he picks up the black gemstone and pops it into his mouth straight away, swallowing it with an audible GULP!
Lulu was a little confused at Ceru, did i say something? I thought that really would be fun, it isn't?
Pix nods to Ceru, he seems to pretty much understand but you really can't be sure.
Once the next door is open Lulu joins up with whoever decides to explore.
Pix can see what's down there if you want?
Nothing comes charging out of the curved passage to the left that Beylinda guards or that Pix and Lulu look down.
No additional doors, secret or otherwise, are located in the stone chest room, nor are any panels, or other pathways.
Dijiron, you identify the following from the magic:
- the svirfneblin was "casting" (as a spell-like ability) a variant of Summon Monster III; apparently attempting to summon a very minor earth spirit?
- the pech was "casting" (as a spell-like ability) Stone Shape
- both spells were targeted (being cast in tandem) into each other and vaguely "down and forward" (at what you'd guess would be approximate floor-height, presuming each were standing - the angles of the casting are slightly different, which meshes with their height)
- the spells are... "trapped"... lingering, unnaturally, like your own ray of frost with no caster or master; in fact, the effect feels very similar to your ray who seems to empathize with the poor things, as these are trapped within the casters, not quite formed, and unable to ever be completed; you suspect their original target location is far beyond their reach for now
- Taq is completely unafraid of the magical elements (whether your ray or not), though the smells of the burned dead, of course, are rather horrid
Ooze bounds down the steps at "shiny", grabs the gem, and swallows it!
Ooze begins moving quite slowly for a moment. A bushy beard made of solid iron erupts from his chin! It's... heavy! And... hot! It briefly begins glowing and burning with beautiful fiery haze...
Even as it burns, Ooze feels great... everything's groovy man... just... so... wakefully... groooooooooovvvvvvvvyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeheeheeheeeeeeaahahahahahah ahahAHAHAHAHAH!
For one round, Ooze is staggered and can take only a single move action or standard action each turn, but not both (nor a full-round action), his speed is halved (round down to the next 5-ft. increment), and he takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls, AC, and reflex saves from being so slow.
For 1 minute, the ironbeard provides him a +1 armor bonus to his AC (stacking with his own) and can be used like cold iron armor spikes. Ooze has a 20% chance to fail to say anything intelligible because the beard makes it difficult to speak. After the first minute (or immediately, if Ooze makes his Reflex, see below) the beard will fall off, and be a roughly 1/2 pound of iron dross left over, no longer perfectly conformed to Ooze's face.
The first round, the beard also become red hot. Ooze may attempt a DC 14 Reflex save to drop it and take no damage (even though it's grown from his face), otherwise the hot metal deals 1d4 points of fire damage. Immediately thereafter, it cools to a normal temperature almost instantly.
For the next hour, Ooze does not feel minor aches and pains, has pleasant hallucinations (wandering lights, music, playful sureeal animals, and so on; you are fully aware that these are not real), and is comfortably intoxicated (as if by a few alcoholic beverages) for the next hour. In total, this inflicts a -2 penalty to your Perception checks, but grants 1 temporary hit point, and a +2 resistance bonus against pain-related effects (arthritis, a cold, hangover, etc) and spells (though not damage-dealing effects).
Finally, Ooze remains awake for the next 2 hours without feeling sleepy, and without side effects such as jitteriness. He gains a +5 resistance bonus against sleep-related spells such as lullaby and sleep. After this is over, he will be just as tired as if this effect had never happened.
Further, he must make a DC 14 fortitude save or be exceedingly hungry - starving, in fact. He'll take a 1d6 nonlethal damage and be fatigued until he eats food.
You may, as always, voluntarily waive any of your saving throws.
I will note when anything longer than "1 round" ends, unless you strongly feel more than a minute, an hour, or two hours has passed.
"GAH!" Sunny scoots away form the glowing, burning seeming Goblin snack-er. She quickly turns and flees up the stairs back to where very one else is gathered, completely unsure as to what's gotten into Ooze.
Ceru is ready to move on to the next room, when she is startled by the sight of the slowly moving bearded goblin on fire.
She just kind of stops and stares, terrified but also trying to understand what just happened to him.
After healing Pix, Shaedo would have followed the others to top of the stairs, excited about scouting beyond the other door.
On the other hand, she is reluctant to leave the shiny behind- but she'd rather not set foot again in the room with all the burned dead, either. I'm trusting you with all the shinnies! Shaedo mentals to her companions back in the room. It is a thought transmitted with solemn seriousness.
In the main hall, while waiting for plans to come into action, Shaedo poisons two more sets of caltrops. Noticing the others' pains in avoiding the caltrops she had set, she carefully arranges them into a pattern.
My trap for any creatures who might follow us out of this door is arranged for us to pass with ease. Step in a Z, friends, and you shall avoid the spikies!
As Shaedo is working on her 'trops, she sees Ooze suddenly bolt off into the room, unsure of, but worried about his intentions. A while later, Sunny comes running out of the room with a perturbed expression on her face.
"Sunny, are you alright?" Shaedo cries out immediately. Then more slowly, "Do you have... the shinnies?"
After Shaedo is sure Sunny is okay, she can appraise if Sunny has the loot.
Sunny blinks, distracted from that which scared her back up to the main hall by Shaedo's question,
"Uh...nup... I were. I mean I..." She points back down the way she'd come, "Tha' Gobbie... 'Ooze'..? He done got all burnin' an' spiky an, an' stuff!" She manages to get out.
Shaedo cocks her head to one side, like a puzzled canine.
"Huh? He was on fire? Lingering magic maybe... Oh, this place... Slow down Sunny, what happened?"
Sunny settles a little, "Well... I were lookin' in'a chest, y'know? That' one Ceru opened? An' I told every one about tha' shiny stuff whut's inside." She takes a deeper breath, calming more,
"When...all a sudden tha' Gobbie, Ooze, come boundin'... No, that in't right... Come bouncin' down'a stairs, then racin' over to tha' shiny an' !" She explains explosively, arms throwing wide,
"He plops one o' tha' shiney in his mouth!" (O_o)
Sunny places her hands on her hips and frowns, "That be when...well.. things got strange. He come out all...hot, like. An' he bristled. All around his chin. All spikey an', an'," She searches for words,
"Like a brush come nested on his face! But...bigger...an' spikey-er, like." She indicates with her hands/arms the extent of Ooze's facial brush-spikes.
"Well.. after all'a other weird, nasty stuff? I were all set keen on gettin' a' heck out'a there, let me tell you!!" She finishes indignantly, though she still watches the corridor for the emergence of Spike-Ooze.
Shaedo follows Sunny's story with intent concentration, her facial expression mirroring each of Sunny's intonations and gestures. At "BAM!" Shaedo's eyes goes wide, she hops back a little, as her ears perk up and her tails turn to puff as all the hairs stand up. "Eeek!"
"He ate a shiny? Oh no.... that's terrible! Poor shiny!! Shaedo's eyes seem glassy just for a moment.
Then, as Sunny's story gets strange with the paintbrush face, Shaedo's expression is abject wa-huh?!
Finally, as Sunny finishes her wonderful though terrifying story, Shaedo nods sagely at Sunny's decision to flee.
"You made the right move Sunny. I would run straight out of there too. Crazy gobs... Evil place..." Then suddeny her eyes go wide again.
"Sunny, was there anyone else in the room, besides you and Ooze?"Then she remembers. "Eris! Dijiron! Ceru!"
Everyone, are you alright?! Shaedo screams mentally.
Then she says vocally, "Oh, Sunny, what are we going to do?"
"Okay, calm down, everyone.
Eris, Dijiron, Ceru, are you guys okay?
If so, can you carefully bring the shiny stuffs up here without touchin' 'em?
Ooze, are you okay? If you want healin' or somethin' c'mon over here in the main hall. Why'd you go an' eat one o' the shinies???"
Layla waits with Beylinda, Lulu, and Vitreous near the left passage door, as Stone guards Amita and the Donkeys in the center of the main hall, and Shaedo comforts Sunny who has just emerged terrified into the main hall from the right passage.
After his gulp, Ooze watches as the world seems to slow. Suddenly! Pain! Fiery metal juts from his jawline into a spiky blazing beard! He lets out a startled as the hot iron burns his chest.
The metal cools instantly and drags the noble goblin to the dirt chin first with a "CLANK!" Ooze backpedals on hands and knees dragging his encumbered face along the ground in short tugs. "EE!..EE!..EE!" until finally he stands up with much effort. The world swirled around him and he felt a pleasant warmth creep up in his belly which he began rubbing thoughtlessly with a circular motion.
Feeling his new facial exstension he prances around in fumbling drunken manner mutter him to himself with much worry. "Oh no. Dwarf face. Bad Dwarf face. Lost, lost! Pretty goblin face, proud goblin jaw line."
Suddenly his stomach rumbled audibly. His eyes narrowed and he felt a hunger burning inside with the force of a million burning dogs. He began to attempt to sprint wildly, managing no more than a drunken hustle, towards any left in the room, Dijiron "Give food rat man!" he shouted a plea, shaking the poor ratfolk by the shoulders, next he "darted" to Ceru "APPLESAUCE!APPLESAUCE!APPLESAUCE!" and then onto Eris, hugging onto the tall lady's leg "Please food humie! I's begging hummie."
You might want to hurry up a bit we haven't got all day for the defenders inside the tower to get ready.
says beylinds in a cool neutral voice still guarding the entrance she is close by
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Wide-eyed at Ooze's frenzied pleas, Eris quickly plucks a pack of rations--a week's worth of salted meat, hard tack, dried fruit--from her haversack and tosses it to the starving, metal-bearded goblin. She then takes a few steps back to avoid being hit with saliva, crumbs, or other detritus.
"I had, of course, suspected that black gem to be somewhat dangerous, Ooze." She smiles, clearly more bemused than worried. "I was mulling over potential containment possibilities, but I suppose 'in the belly of a goblin' is as secure a place as any--thank you for volunteering."
She carefully watches Ooze, her arcane senses still alert. She examines the magical forces corrupting the feisty goblin, mentally picking apart the various magical sub-auras and comparing them. After a few minutes, she turns her gaze to the charred corpses scattered through out the room, and the magic that yet clings to them.
"Hmm. Eight pearls and one black gem. Nine bodies. Could there be a connection?"
Ceru pulls several apples out of different pockets on her person and puts them on top of the rations Eris gave Ooze, while still regarding him with some wonder and confusion. "At least he doesn't seem to be hurt..."
When Eris asks about the connection between the nine bodies, Ceru remarks, "Good catch, fearless leader! Perhaps the black gem corresponded to the one nearest the chest and the pearls were the rest... but are they related to how they were connected in life or in death?"
She ponders a bit, testing her spotty memories of her father's lectures on the arcane to see if there is any connection or pattern she might recognize... she could often see the patterns, it was just the details of the facts she often glazed over....
Sunny pads over to the doorway that leads down and listens intently... After a while and not hearing any 'nasty' noises she calls out,
"D'ye need a hand haulin' a' shiny up?" She asks, nervously shifting from foot to foot while she awaits a reply.
Once he eats, Ooze is no longer starving, and thus no longer fatigued.
He also got to witness a magnificent bit of fire, so that's a bonus. It was even on his face! () That's something that any goblin can be proud of.
Also, it tasted like a combination dirt and filth, plus it gave you a slimy sensation, so it wasn't really anything all that bad.
Eris can tell there are a couple of earth-magic auras on two of the bodies (), but she's no idea what kind of earth-magic auras, what they're doing, or why they're lingering there.
Ceru is quite certain that whatever this was it wasn't arcane, at least not in the magical-source sense. If anything, it seems more religious or ceremonial in some way. There's probably a relation between the pearls, band, and the dead things - there's certainly parallels: eight pearls/eight well-placed burn victims, a haphazard gem/a haphazard burn victim... the pearls even kind of lined up a bit with the well-placed burned creatures - so it's a safe guess that it has something to do with the principles of sympathy at play (one thing relates to something else), but Ceru couldn't fathom what kind of sympathy or what it's all for. That said, it wouldn't be too surprising the spellcasters don't pick up anything: if it's been weeks, any lingering auras have likely long faded, unless it's a currently ongoing magical effect.
Also, I didn't tell you last time, because I discussed this via PM and forgot it here, but here is the basic history of the ratfolk in this region.
Ratfolk originated across the world in the Darklands under Tian Xia, and the exodus of most groups that have made their way was long, slow, and strange.The majority of Western ratfolk descended from ratfolk refugees and defeated military forces forced out of Tian Xia after being separated from their Darkfolk brethren at the conclusion of the ratfolk war of invasion long ago. Their primary immigration route took them from Tian Xia to Vudra to Qadira and then to the Inner Sea (notably Nex, Jalmaray, Katapesh, and Absalom).
From Tian Xia, these ratfolk headed west, first settling in Vudra; they are not exactly popular there, but there are enough under-city warrens to see them around, and they're not openly persecuted. Many have adopted the culture and caste system, though most other races find them as outcasts, which suits them fine as they live in their own caste and social structures imitating that of those around but blending it with Tian traditions.
From there, many continued on into Qadira. Those that remain their are heavily persecuted outcasts, effectively forced to live in the desert; there, they reside in nests called "Cellars", and are referred to colloquially as what translates to "Sand Rats". They are considered monsters and vermin, like goblins or actual rodents, and indeed, many have gone feral, while others have adopted Qadiran culture, just separated from the native people by barriers of mutual prejudice.
The last major push out of Casmeron brought the ratfolk to Nex, Jalmaray, Katapesh, and, at last, Absalom. Within the first three countries, there are a few here or there - within or under some of the major cities, mostly - but they're not terribly numerous. There are more warrens in Absalom than there are in some other countries, ranging from the city proper to a few places on the island; most Western ratfolk tend to be exceedingly civilized, though Dijiron is somewhat exceptional even so.
A few warrens have made their way north and east from their arrival point, but these are far fewer and more scattered; it's difficult to say they live in a particular country. Only individuals or tiny family groups have entered the southern continent.
There are more ratfolk in the dark lands, but their not terribly numerous even there.
* This is purely a joke, in case it wasn't obvious. You guys are hilarious. :D
Lulu really likes the new headband. examining every facet of the thing. she really like the color as well. she gives it a lick, then ponders the taste.
hmmmm, definately purple. she then manages to find a way to get the thing on wiothout removing her big pointy hat.
Pix appears from under her hat and flies to the center door she flies around making all sorts of musical notes and pointing down the corridor.
looks like Pix wants to go that way lulu surmises.
she relights her staff (simple light spell of the crystal)
Ceru is quite certain that whatever this was it wasn't arcane, at least not in the magical-source sense. If anything, it seems more religious or ceremonial in some way. There's probably a relation between the pearls, band, and the dead things - there's certainly parallels: eight pearls/eight well-placed burn victims, a haphazard gem/a haphazard burn victim... the pearls even kind of lined up a bit with the well-placed burned creatures - so it's a safe guess that it has something to do with the principles of sympathy at play (one thing relates to something else), but Ceru couldn't fathom what kind of sympathy or what it's all for. That said, it wouldn't be too surprising the spellcasters don't pick up anything: if it's been weeks, any lingering auras have likely long faded, unless it's a currently ongoing magical effect.
If Ceru and Shaedo talk this over, Ceru's observations, building off of Shaedo's previous religion check, is enough to recognize this as a more symbolic gesture than an explicitly magical one. There's probably some major religious significance, but it's hard to get the sense of the exact motive...
Ceru certainly shares the above with Shaedo, remarking amongst other things, "The way everything was laid out was almost certainly ritualistic... maybe that awful skull thing had something to do with it. Speaking of which, how is the Emergency General?"
She picks her way down the next hallway the group has chosen as she speaks.
Shaedo leans against the wall next to Sunny, and poisons 10 of her hand crossbow bolts while she is waiting for the others to emerge from the right-hand passage. "Tehehheheee..."
As Ceru emerges from the passage, she cries out, "Ceru, I am glad you are alright!" Her ears then perk up as she listens to everything Ceru shares about the religious nature of the arrangement of the bodies.
"I think the entire thing was mostly symbolic, instead of magical... but symbolic for what?" Shaedo shudders, "The whole room just gave me the creepies, and it was more than just all the dead bodies." Shaedo's ears twitch in response the mention of the General. "The general is still sleeping... Someone should probably stay with her..."
Shaedo walks with Ceru, following her and the rest of the scouting party down the left-hand corridor, stepping in the Z pattern through the caltrops.
Shaedo switches to telepathy past the threshold. Does anyone remember how the centipedes all turned to face the East when they died? Do you think there is connection between that... and this place?
Exploring any connection between the symbolism of the dead bugs and the dead people in the fire room.
Layla motions the others toward the open left passage where she and several others have been gathered at the doorway for some time, being careful of the caltrops.
"Okay, Beylinda, why don't you go first with Taq and Pix. Y'all can see or sense in the dark, right?
Then Vitreous, Lulu, Dijiron, Ceru, and Shaedo can follow a bit behind.
I'd be happy to go to face whatever nasty beastie is down there, too, but I'm not sure if I should since we need to leave at least a few people here guarding Amita an' all our donkeys an' stuff, jus' in case a whole tribe o' gobs come out that center passage.
Eris, Sunny, Ooze, Stone, do you guys want to guard out here, or scout out the left passage?"
Sunny frowns even as she skips over to look down the new passage
"Well... I dun't think we should be splittin' up more'n we is. A'sides. We know nuffin' be comin' up them stairs, so there's that." She looks to were their unconcsious person is bundled onto the back of one of the horseys.
"Heck, worst come ta' worst? We can all'a ways jus', y'know, be bringin' her along? Th'a new views might do her a world of good...." Sunny opines.
"Hmmm... That's not a bad idea. With these huge corridors, we could fit all the donkeys along with us. Now, the trouble would come if we needed to make a quick getaway from the beastie, like those gobs before us, an' didn't want it eatin' our donkeys. Of course, our donkeys have proved pretty scrappy fighters themselves! So...
Yeah, I like it, Sunny. That way if any gobs move through the main hall, they won't find us there. An' I like stickin' together.
So, unless there's any objection, let's all move on in here down the left passage.
Beylinda, Pix and Taq go a ways in front, and Beylinda, please mental to us what you see.
Vitreous, Dijiron, Lulu, Ceru and Shaedo can follow.
Sunny, you an' I can go next, leadin' the donkeys an' guardian' Amita.
Eris, if you like the idea, you can bring up the rear behind the donkeys with Stone an' Ooze as your rear guard, in case any gobs come at us from behind.
Sound good?
If so, let's move out quietly..."
(+1 to track) (+2 to avoid getting lost)
I have no objections to this plan, Layla. Taq and I will our eyes - and noses - open!
Speaking of noses. Will someone please buy a scroll of some wind magic or something? It's hard enough having a superior sense of smell when there's just peculiar magic and decomposing corpses. I will have to draw the line at charred goblin.
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Eris nods, sending a mental message to the group. "That's a suitable plan, Layla. Good initiative."
Turning to the goblin at her side, Eris says, "Ooze, please come with me. Well, once you've finished eating, that is. I'm heading back to the Main Hall."
She scoops up the pearls and places them in her haversack. "We'll discuss the distribution of treasure at a more opportune moment, darlings. Rest assured, everyone will recieve a fair share--this I swear on my family's name!--but I would like to avoid any further treasure/snack mix-ups."
Back in the Main Hall, she gives Stone a brief salute. "You're in the rearguard with me, Stone. Let's herd some donkeys, shall we?"
To the group, Eris sends another mental broadcast. "Alright, Gob Smash! Let's move out!"
"Alright, we're a ' goin' beastie huntin'! This calls for a song when things get fierce."
Now what lyric and tune to use when we strike?
"Oh, and it's time to bring out the fox face, so I can put on my huntress snarl! Grrr!"
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Shaedo suddenly shifts into her Kitsune form. Inspired by her leaders' spirit, she continues her little show of growls and snarls, bearing her many little needle like teeth. She clearly fancies herself quite frightening to behold.
"Grrr-rrr, Rawr. Yikiyiyi-ki-yow!"
Shaedo remains by the edge of the threshold as she concludes her display. Although enthused, she is not so careless as to continue her fierce gecker further down the passage. She waits for Beylinda and the familiars to go further on ahead, and then slipping into Shaedo shadow mode, she follows quietly behind them.
Watch out beastie! You've now got a fox, an' rats, an' gnomes, a bunch of tall people, little people, fairies, even more goblins, and lotsa donkeys on your tail! Yiheheheee...!
Shaedo is frequently thinking of stories about things. Are there any stories she's heard on her time in Alkenstar about a great beast of the Mana Wastes, or even a beast of High Tower?
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It crosses Layla's mind that she and Lulu don't fit into any of Shaedo's mentioned categories, but she grins at the feisty spirit of the fierce fox warrior. :)
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Hey That's Lulu! cuddly!
Ceru follows along the other side of the hall parallel to Shaedo and as she walks her footsteps soften...
Pix was in front of the door in the center, fliting all about but as people started to go to the other doorway Pix flew to Lulu pulling on her ear to get her attention.
Lulu was busy playing with her new purple headband but eventually, What Pix?
Pix points to everyone by the other door. Oh OK, you wanna go there too? well then I'll follow along but you go with the mouse and keep an eye out for them too alright?
Pix nods in agreement, and flies off being all sneaky like hovering along the wall going tippy-toe in mid air with the other "sneaky" types
Sunny pads along the corridor as quiet as she can on her bare, brown feet,
Leading the horsys, as it were given her placement in the line of ambling march.
The corridor curves along for a short while, slightly angled downward, before finally ending in four short steps (two for a large creature) and opening up into a broad rectangular room about 35 feet straight ahead, and opening up forty-five feet across, all of it to the right. It appears that beyond the forty-five foot range, there was once a much larger chamber, complete with some sort of strange vats and devices, but what looks like a mud-slush has covered them, further crushed by various amounts of rubble collapsed on top, and then (only partially) sealed with a new, smooth stone wall.
There is a transparent green haze that rolls along the base of the floor, barely an inch or two above the surface, coming from a notable hole in the wall.
Around the edge of the outer wall, the surviving chamber holds a dozen different sarcophagi, hundreds of different crevasses (seemingly added after the mosaics in a different kind of defacement, though still a long time ago), a few dozen human-sized pots, and six statues that resemble the sarcophagi standing upright.
There seems to have been a bit of collapse in the outer wall of this chamber as well: you can all see and smell the mana storm through some of the crevasses outside; most notable is one that seems large enough for a small creature to pass through, as the blue haze from before roils toward, and even through it.
Instead of remaining a blue haze, though, upon passing through gratings of yellow-gray metal similar to the doors of this place, it seems the haze is transformed into green, and slows down its aggression dramatically, drifting gently "down" on currents of gravity and air, like a heavy (but entirely transparent) green mist.
You get to watch as, weirdly, various bits of dust, grime, and rot within the mist are partially reversed, and things just kind of... align themselves into more orderly rows, tidying up, slowly, as if moved by an unseen hand.
The sarcophagi, statues, and pots all bare the image of various humanoids, in ancient Nexian style, though a few have ancient Gebbite style instead.
The only other thing of obvious interest in this chamber is what at first glance looks to be goblin at the base of a statue at the far end, clearly dead, given the advanced state of decay the body is in and the obvious (though strange) mutilation of the head; the lower thighs of the body, within the green haze, seem to be slowly reconstituting themselves, though lacking all the material necessary to do so.
The statue looks like the others, except that the head of the figure carved upon its lid looks distorted and seems to have tendrils instead of hair. A pair of batlike wings seems to extend from its temples... and it becomes clear, quickly, that the goblin's head seems nearly identical.
Suddenly blurring, both pairs of eyes open, revealing the glow of green flames, and the heads fly forward to attack, screeching horribly as it reverberates throughout the room and down the hall!
Eris, Stone (and Stone), Layla, Shaedo, and Ceru are all paralyzed!
Beylinda, Eris, Vitreous, and Ooze (and Pix) are all paralyzed!
Sunny, Lulu, and Dijiron, Kallisti, Taq, the Ray of Frost, and the mounts (except for Stone) are the only creatures that can act!
... but the screech has unexpected side-effects!
The mists stirs as it ripples with the sonic attack, and responds, somehow!
By the First Vault, what is that thing!?
Dijiron then moves to cover as much of the group as he can and uses his protective ward power. Everyone with a ten-ft. radius of him including familiars has a +1 deflection modifier to their AC. He mentally commands the Ray of Frost (who shall henceforth be called Frosty) to attack the Statute-thing.
The awful screeching noise stops Layla in her tracks...literally.
"Dagumit, I can't move! Someone be killin' those nasty flyin' head thingamabobs!"
This one is clearly smaller and weaker than normal - despite the surprising effectiveness of their twin abilities, they're malevolence is clearly being inhibited by something, though what, precisely, is not clear. At a guess, though, you'd probably go with the green haze somehow fighting their inner green fire.
What's more, these ones seem... sick, somehow. Unhealthy. You're guessing they've some sort of weird affliction.
Regardless, they remain poisonous, seem to have had the range of their power increased exponentially, and have the ability to infect and eventually transform a creature into one of them (probably what happened to the goblin) by bestowing a hideous "kiss" if you're not hardy enough...
As an aside, you recognize this place as one that was (among other things) utilized as a combination of various ways of handling the dead: you recognize the broken, buried devices in the rubble to make this an ossuary, grinder, processing locale, mummification, burial, and burning, among others. It... looks kind of like this room was constantly rearranged by two warring designers, each of whom wanted to use it for a different purpose, and the last of which just decided the other was a poopy-head (or some similarly mature response) and, taking his ball and going home, dumped everything on top of itself by way of transmute rock to mud on the ceiling, eventually leading to a natural secondary cave-in on top of that some time later.
(x2, confirmed critical) It deals nine cold damage as it ice suddenly spreads across the... um... face! of the statue!
Oh Crap is all that Beylinds transmits via the link as her body is paralyzed
At the scene before her Suny squints as she works at making out details. However, when the two flying head critters wake up, screech and attack Sunny's expression is.
(O_o)
"Dafaq?!"
Before poor Layla's mental anguish galvanizes the tanned Elf into motion. She leaps forwards and stands, braced to defend her freinds.
"Dun't worry! I can handle a couple o' flyin' jack-lanters!" She declares. "Though I wish I had a big stick ta' have a whack at 'em with." She gets read to swing fists, feet and anything else at the approaching menaces to protect her companions.
EEEEEE! No- Shaedo cries out, then whimpers, mentally as she is paralyzed.
These things have an ugly song! Must... DROWN IT...
Shaedo begins singing via telepathy, a loud, powerful song of mobility and grace, of many great heroes who with strength of mind, and music in their hurts survived the horrid scream of the banshee, and the petrifying gaze of the Medusa.