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"Aster, can you assist please?"
"Dear me, he is a mess isn't he." Aster comes over and helps.
Abbo chuckles "I've had worse, but whips aren't supposed to hurt that much. And that tail..." He thanks Vandomir and Aster for the healing. "Hey, do you wanna stabilize this guy? He's bleeding out." Abbo calls.
Vandomir moves to stabilize the fellow...
Vandomir plunges his index finger into the man's scalp wound. It does not seem very effective.
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Aster shuffles over quickly as the wet insertion of fingers in wounds, "I can do this. Where did Bazzle go?" she presses her hand on the man and gives a short prayer.
After stabilizing the unconscious foe, the group hustle through the vines (ropes) and around to the cavern. As they reach the circular door, Aster and Vandomir shake their heads. The whole thing is an illusion. Bazzle, Rexandi, and Abbo watch as Aster and Vandomir easily just phase through the door and out again, but no matter how hard they try to disbelieve, they can't shake just how real it all feels. Bazzle knocks on the door just as the enchanted Milinite did, and the door opens. The group sneak their way through the tunnel when the door slams shut. Water starts coursing through the tunnel, and the cranking of gears can be heard all around.
A series of lines in the stonework reveal that a trap could be hidden within. Saw blades slowly start rising. A clever character could climb higher in the tunnel by placing a foot on each side (an acrobatics check), or jump at the opportune moment (a reflex saving throw). Small creatures have a -4 on the acrobatics check due to short limbs. There isn't enough time to make a disable device check.
"That's a weird sound.
"Bazzle, look here at the lines in the stonework. The trap could be hidden there, can you disable it knowing that?" She will also make a comment on saw blades and clever characters
"Well may magic shoes can get me around it I think but lets see if we can disable it for everyone."
Bazzle sets to work, but it's too late. The sawblades rise through the openings in the stonework, slicing all around the tunnel. Fortunately, Rexandi and Abbo jump at the right time, and Bazzle pulls away at the last second. The saw blades go right through Aster and Vandomir, but neither seems affected. The blades continue spinning, so they're very likely to come back up in just a moment. In the meantime, the water continues to rise.
Abbo and Rexandi get 2 saves because they're jumping at the opportune moment. Bazzle only gets the standard save.
Aster and Vandomir are immune.
When his time comes, Vandomir will endeavor to climb by the trap...
To Vandomir "I'll try the 'door'" she then puts her rat shoulder into the fake door with a grunt and an Oh still stuck. "Vandomir, would you help?"
Vandomir will gladly "assist" the noobs who seem convinced all of this is real!
Aster and Vandomir both push against the door, but they feel really awkward trying to pretend to push open a fake door. While Bazzle and Rexandi are just confused watching them, Abbo in his brilliance charges forwards. "Don't worry, friends! I'll push it open!" He charges headlong into the door, producing a loud "BAM!" as he slams into it. Sometimes the power of belief is an incredible thing, for Abbo breaks right through the illusory door like it was nothing, and continues through it. Now there's just an Abbo-sized hole where the door once was. Immediately, the water starts draining out this hole, and the sawblades stop moving.
Through this hole in the door lies the room with the wizard and the Dottari guard. Both are standing in Abbo's way, ready for combat.
Bazzle takes to the walls and then the ceiling moving in hoping to the room. He trusts Abbo with the Dottari and he rushes the wizard.
Rexandi scampers through the Abbo-shaped hole but stays close to the doorway, and focuses on throwing her misfortune hex on one of the Dottari in anticipation of the fight to come.
Vandomir shakes is head in disbelief at the antics of the others.
Rexandi tries to hex the guard, but he manages to resist its effects. He hefts the greatsword in an upwards strike, cutting into Abbo along the ribs. The wizard takes her spellbook in one hand, and casts two simple magic missiles upon Bazzle. Perhaps interestingly, she doesn't use the component pouch at her side.
Abbo flails around with his shovel, nearly knocking out the guard in one swift flurry, and bashing the greatsword right out of his hands. He still has a sap and a crossbow available, but the man looks like he's going to collapse shortly anyways.
Aster moves up to try and help Abbo, swinging her morningstar for a quick love tap.
Vandomir will switch to blunt arrows and attempt to do nonlethal damage on the wizard...
x3
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Aster hobbles around Abbo to finish the job. She takes her morningstar and gives the guard's helmet a good twack, which seems to knock him out. Meanwhile, Vandomir's blunt arrows are quite effective, knocking out the wizard in a single hit.
The succubus is likely to return soon, so time is of the essence.
"I will check them for magic."
Vandomir will cast detect magic in lieu of either appraise, or perception, and will look for auras.
As Vandomir's spell resolves, he will point out magic auras to the others, so they can grab them, if desired.
Vandomir detects the presence of magical auras
"Let's see what we've got here."
Rexandi takes a quick look over the unconscious wizard. She sees a spellbook of ivory-coloured leather, trimmed with silver. The contents will likely be worth a fair bit, but she'll need more time to examine them. She also notices that the woman wears a silver noble's signet ring, with a large "A" standing on top of a platform, and encircled with stars. The ring itself might be worth a couple hundred gold, but depending on the family, could be worth more on the black market. Little else on her is of any value.
Bazzle looks sidelong at the knocked out Dottari. He drops from the ceiling, "Do we have manacles or rope. If we are going to keep this garbage alive I don't want it fighting us again with the skank demon or with Thrune."
Aster looks over the guard.
Rexandi casts detect magic quickly to give the spellbook a once-over for any magical traps before swiping it.
"That signet ring the wizard's wearing," she comments. "That means she's part of a noble family. Probably. That could be really good or really bad, depending on how she feels about being freed from domination, which side of the civil war she's on, and what we try to do to her."
"What family?"
"I don't know - who here knows anything about noble insignias and heraldry?"
"Let me take a look. Maybe they were Opera fans."
"I have never cared much about the upper crust of our society." Aster says as she pilfers the most interesting gear from the unconscious warrior.
Vandomir, who is absolutely the upper crust of society, easily identifies the ring as an Aulorian signet ring. Furthermore, he understands the design a little better. The A of course stands for Aulorian. The platform actually represents a silver bar, which Vandomir understands to be the main trade of the family. Faintly inscribed into the silver bar is the letter M, which he knows stands for Maria. The stars around the "A" symbolize the Aulorian's interest in magic. The current head of the family, Count Auxis Aulorian, dabbles in transmutation magic and alchemy. Maria Aulorian is the eldest daughter of the Aulorian house, who studies wizardry and medicine at the Alabaster Academy. Most people think Maria is the only child of Auxis Aulorian, but Vandomir knows along with other major nobility that a weak and sickly child, a boy named Marquel Aulorian, is an open secret hidden from society.
Aster doesn't find anything of significant value on the guard (although he does have manacles that Bazzle could make use of), but she does find something on the wizard Maria that Rexandi missed. It's a metamagic rod. The center of the rod is made of steel, but coiling around it in an interwoven pattern are copper, brass, iron, and silver threads. Despite all the metal, the rod is remarkably light.
Vandomir detects the auras of magic, but they've already been found by the party. Rexandi begins casting her detect magic spell, but it'll take a bit longer before she can properly decipher the spells in the spellbook.
The echoing sound of high heels and the clattering of other footsteps suggest that the succubus is only a short ways away, and she's brought friends.
"I never much liked Maria Aulorian, she was always a bit prissy for my taste."
"We got company!" Abbo yells as he turns around to face the tunnel.
Vandomir will cast bull's strength on himself, and moves to the rear of the group, so he is not in the way of the melee folks. Oh, and as a swift action, he will activate his sacred armor for +1 to his AC.
Bazzle takes the shackles from Aster if she will allow and he binds the Dottari tightly. He grabs the sap as well.
"So we're not running... okay" she swallows hard "I am not well suited for that anyway." before Vandomir rushes to the rear she casts magic weapon on him, hoping his arrows will save the day.