The archon doesn't see anything of interest.
"There has to be SOMETHING up with this room. There can't just be an EMPTY ROOM."
Farrukh inspects it even more closely, and steps inside.
Farrukh searches inside the room, but he isn't able to find anything.
"Would it be kind of gross if I took its head on the way back? I mean, it's not like it'll rot . . ."
Astraden goes inside the plain room and touches everything, just to make sure there's nothing in there to kill her. She then follows Farrukh to the north.
Eben looks on sympathetically as Farrukh gets more and more consternated over his expectations being subverted. Then he casts ghost sound in the middle of the empty room to make spooky 'ooooooooo' sounds rise and fall. "There you go!"
"If you're that tuckered out, maybe you should just hang in the back, C. We'll all need to rest soon anyway. Maybe we can get one more dungeon denizen out of the way first though."
This hall is cold. Crusted red ice cakes the floor and walls, and humanoid statues of the stuff line the walls, their frozen scarlet surfaces scribed with smoking white runes. Each statue bears a different weapon carved of ice. All sorts of arms, ranging from greataxes to shortbows, are in attendance here. The statues stand roughly one foot from the wall, and each statue's weapon is pointed at the next one, traveling in a zigzagging southbound line.
Farrukh sighs.
"More statues? The Wind Dukes weren't very creative. Maybe it's all that Law."
Carina growls at the mention of 'Law'.
Farrukh believes that this hallway is trapped. The statues themselves aren't "hostile", but some sort of magical effect will activate from the far side of the hall. Moving in front of a statue is the trigger, or a trigger—the trap quite possibly triggers in multiple pieces.
The magical mechanisms come together at the far end of the hall, and Farrukh believes that there is the only place from which the entire trap can be shut off.
"Do the architects of these places really think that interlopers won't suspect the statuary at this point? Or do they just not care?"
"Well, looks like it's impossible to disarm this trap without going all the way down there, and probably triggering it. Rodrigo, how about we all retreat around the corner and you send in the Archons?"
"That's pretty evil. I like it," Rodrigo replies. "Time to sacrifice yourselves for the cause of good, fellas. Fly down that hallway, touching everything as you go. When you get home, tell the next batch to get ready I'll be calling again soon."
His command issued, Rodrigo retreats quickly from the trapped area. He motions for the others to follow.
"That's horrible. Aren't those basically miniature angels? I mean, asking them to die fighting for you is one thing, but having them go kamikaze is just gross..." Eben continues griping over the genuine nastiness of the plan, but does move himself out of the hall and the likely path of danger.
"Well if you're volunteering, feel free to go instead."
"Hey, look on the bright side. Unlike that pig, thee guys won't DIE. They just go back to wherever they came from."
"Yeah! And a bit of archon-torment never hurt anyone. These things are essentially just baby versions of the tin man back there," Astraden says, buffing her dagger where its handle touched the ice.
The lantern archons drift forward, zooming into the center of the hallway. The runes on the statues begin to glow...
Eben covers his eyes. Then he peeks out between his fingers, morbidly fascinated.
Carina ducks and covers. One brush with Law was enough for her, and she's suffered two today.
"Moving around the corner is kind of pointless if you're just gonna stick your head in the trap anyway, you know."
As the lantern archons zoom into the center of the hall, touching every statue they pass, the runes on the aforementioned statues begin to glow. The weapons take on silvery auras as they spring into the air, breaking off the arms gripping them in the process. The arms melt away into ice, and a second later, so do the statues.
"Hoo, boy, magic animated floating weapons. Might want to stay back, Carina, we know those things just love you..."
Astraden grimaces. "The windbag dudes really liked their animated metal. Hope there's something to confuse soon . . ." She shimmers off a double and conjures a film of chaos around one hand.
Ducking under the archon, Astraden brings her fist down towards the battleaxe's haft.
Astraden places her chaotic magic upon the device. It spins and struggles.
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Farrukh double moves to join the others.
"You'd all look really stupid right now if it was some kind of area trap."
Rodrigo hastes everyone then retreats.
The archons shift away from the weapons and begin firing.
The rays sear into the greataxe, melting away parts of the shaft. It seems badly damaged.
The greataxe swings down at Farrukh. As it hits, he finds the blade curiously textureless. It slices through him, not as a solid object, but as a force attack.
The whip, flail and scythe focus on the archons. The whip appears to be ineffectually attempting to trip one of them, while the others use more conventional approaches.
The rest of the weapons rush towards the party, save the shortbow and longbow, which rise into the air and begin shooting at Astraden.
Meanwhile, the longspear floats forward slightly and jabs at Tanith. A moment later, the morningstar flies by and swings for Tanith's jugular.
The good news is, these weapons are clearly at least somewhat vulnerable to conventional attacks.
"Guys, it's like a spiritual weapon, but it's some older variant of it--using physical effects. That said, it should turn off if the trap fuelling it is disabled!" Carina calls out, her head starting to ache from her Law-induced soul pains.
She loads up her crossbow and takes aim at the greataxe...
Carina's bolt zooms straight at the greataxe. Although its physical hardness repels the majority of the shot, the bolt is fired true, and it pierces the very tip of the haft. The axe blades shatter, and it falls to the ground, destroyed.
"S%!$!" Farrukh yells as the unnaturally lucky accurate Greataxe bites into him twice.
"I could use some healing, then I'm going to try and diable the trap!"
Eben steps around the corner and takes aim at the weapon that's most immediately in his sight. Which, as it happens, is one of the bows.
"Well, this is ironic..." he says as he lets adamantine arrows fly.
"S@&%!" Farrukh yells as the unnaturally
luckyaccurate Greataxe bites into him twice."I could use some healing, then I'm going to try and diable the trap!"
"Hang in there, Farrukh!" Astraden calls, her hand twitching towards her mask after imparting the chaos curse.
Tanith strikes back at the offending polearm.
Three arrows crack the longbow, splitting it in two. It falls to the ground and shatters.
Tanith slashes brutally, utterly destroying the longspear and badly damaging the morningstar.
As Rodrigo is backing away, he hears a faint whirring sound. He and Eben glance back.
The kolyarut's body is gone.
"Um... guys! We've got a dead inevitable missing in action!"