The two darkskinned creatures fire two bolts at Ozzy and hit him in the chest (21hp piercing). Then they scamper down the hallway retreating after their shot into the darkness. Before following, Kelgan notices a scattering of caltrops in the hallway and calls out a warning. You know proceeding carefully after the dark ones can avoid the caltrops.
The gas in the room seems quite nasty, and quickly fills the room.
ORDER
Party
Thieves
Morgan goes pale and and doubles over, heaving.
"Urrp...those...bas..t'ds...ulp...gonna pay..."
Crom moves to attack the elf.
"Gag ... what's going on!?", Hearing some other's move forward Mit'l attempts to follow, hoping to get out of the darkness.[/b]
He'll attempt to move at full speed ... DC 10 ...
... but stumbles over the vomiting Morgan and falls to the ground in a heap.
Kelgan will move to the entrance and turtle up behind his shield, raising his axe to cover his head.
Horster attempts keeping up with the dwarfs. He feels the urge to throw up...
...and does so upon the boot of the fallen priest of Vathris.
nearly gagging in the vapors and unable to see Lorcan backs out the darkness and fumes and looks for place to take cover in.
The choking gas fills the room. Crom rushes onto the caltrops and quickly slows down as the barbs penetrate his feet. Kelgan decides to risk the gas over the caltrops, and stays at the threshold under cover.
The figures rush down the hall to the door you came in, content to withdraw from a bad situation. From the other hall, which you are sure leads to the door you would have trouble forcing open, you hear banging noises. You do not think that door will be opening any time soon.
Then the gas dissipates and you recover your breath.
Ozzy throws off the poison that made him sleepy with great effort, and is quickly on his feet.
You realize anyone coming into this room would also have to walk over a bed of caltrops.
Crom will require healing to walk normally.
A continued search of the room would probably reveal more gems, as the dwarves tell you this is part of a rich gem vein.
Kelgan will gather the wounded and channel.
The wounded can feel a little better, and Crom can walk normally, now...
"They were way too cock-sure of themselves to face larger numbers and demand a share of loot. I shoulda known the little buggers would have a trick or two up their sleeves," Morgan grumbles.
Lorcan moves back into the room and casts Detect Magic to look around.
The gems require a minimum of digging, hands will suffice. No magic is detected.
Up to twenty search rolls can be made.
Crom rubs his sore feet and nods at Kelgan, "Thanks for the healing brother."
"Now, about these gems..."
Crom digs through the gravel.
Kelgan grins widely, and begins to search
"Go ahead and stuff your pockets," Morgan says to Horster with a smile. "I'll keep an eye out for those pesky thieves, in case they plan on stopping back while all of our noses are in the dirt. Once you've got what you want, we can switch places."
I think I found some!
Horster has a go himself, getting those little fingers into the earth.
You complete your search as a set of Siswa can be heard moving down the hallway with the caltrops. Horster grabs a set of four gems and one of them is quite large, the others still respectable.
You have ten gems altogether, and one of them seems to me a massive sapphire.
Mit'l who was also standing guard says, "I think they're coming ... best get moving ... Crom, you need more healing?"
Horster stuff the gems down his pockets. "We'll divvy up these beauties later. Let's get a move on."
He draws his bow and recedes towards the wall to get a good position against the intruder. Or are we the intruders here? Ah, well...
Happy with his find Lorcan moves with the group.
Crom nods his thanks to Mit'l for the healing. Looking over his shoulder towards the noise of the approaching Siswa, Crom turns to the party, "Let's keep moving. I don't want to kill anymore elves."
He leads the way through the the double doors.
The dark thirty foot wide hall has a flat
ceiling. Two alcoves are set in the east wall,
and two in the west wall. The alcoves are
10 feet high and 10 feet deep. A plush, red
velvet curtain hangs across the north end
of the hall.
Moving to open the curtain Fifty feet down this expansive hall......
Most of this room is taken up by a platform.
Three steps lead up to the platform.
A brazier, standing in the middle of the
platform blazing with bright blue flame,
illuminates this room. Three stone coffins
are arranged in a triangle around the brazier.
The largest coffin stands at the front
of the platform. The coffins are covered
with mysterious carvings. At the back of
the platform, is an ornate cast-iron
throne. To the left of the throne, a metal
stand supports a large, ancient, leatherbound
book. The book is closed, its
cracked cover held by a metal clasp. A
long quill pen lies on top of the book. The
stand is turned so that the book, if opened,
faces the throne.
Unable to resist his curiousity, after carefully examing the book for traps, Horster opens the book which speaks in a clear, elvish voice in common.
“Come woodland folk and gather near
the tale of the wizard’s keep to hear
Whence, long ago in a younger age
the Black Opal was held by class the mage
“the Opal increased his magical grace
But he kept the stone in an open place.
there witches wishing to heighten their POWER,
rained flame and stone upon his tower
Elyas trapped each witch in a dragons eye.
But without the opal, they did not die
as elyas raced tO retrieve the Stone,
a granite mountain crushed the mage and his home.
the spell ne’er completed the there witches wait
In eternal suspension until BY some Fate
their souls ARE Released upon innocence sweet
then revenge they will reap on all that they meet.”
Lorcan listens wide eyed and intones Ohhh, witches. He looks worried.
Crom moves up to inspect the platform, "Nothing good ever came from opening coffins. I suggest we leave them be."
He studies the carvings on the coffins.
Thinking back to their run-in with the undead in the Caves of Chaos, Ozmund nods in agreement.
"Yes, let us leave them be!", he says with a shudder.
Crom turns to the others, "What do you make of the carvings on these coffins? Horster, what else is in that book?"
Crom searches the room for anything else of interest.
The book radiates some major magic of the divination school. Nothing else seems interesting with the crypts left untouched.
The book corrects itself: "THREE witches wishing to heighten their POWER, not there witches wishing to heighten their POWER"
"Those coffins...." Morgan says, shaking her head. "They seem like a no-win situation. I have a nasty feeling that leaving whatever's in there will allow it to grow stronger. Unfortunately, that means letting 'em out...which, I'm guessin', means we'd have to kill 'em before they killed us. Gotta love those options." She rolls her eyes to emphasize her final comment.
Crom muses, "Three coffins for three witches. I suggest we heed the book and leave them alone. Let's backtrack and take one of the side passages."
"I'm with you, Crom. Best to leave them be."
"Indeed...lets just leave this room...before we become tempted to open that which should remain closed!", the wizard shudders, his eyes on the crypts.
You look around the coffins.
Then return to the gem room. You see a few Siswa bodies in the hall, and there is a short hall leading east, and a long hall west.
"Where to from here?
Crom peers down each passage and then shrugs, "Let's take the short passage."
Crom leads the group down the short passage and through double doors to find........
Two alcoves are cut into both sides of this
10-foot-wide hall. Several shadowy figures
stand silently in each alcove.
This hall is 50 feet long. At each end of the
corridor stands a pair of bronze doors, carved
with delicate designs.
Each alcove contains one or two life-sized
platinum statues of humans,
dwarves, elves, and halflings. All of them are
posed in running positions, their hands and
arms outstretched. Broad smiles cover their
faces. The sculpting is very skillful, with
extremely life-like detail work on each statue.
The statues are surprisingly light; they weigh
about as much as an average person.
Moving onto the next room.........
This is a 30-foot-diameter circular room.
Its domed ceiling is 30 feet overhead. The
entrance to this room is a pair of bronze
doors in the west wall. A 10-foot-diameter
well drops down into darkness from the
center of the room. Stone statues stand to
the north, south, and east of the well. Soft
moans whisper through the room.
On the wall between the eastern statue
and the northern statue is carved the single
word “Pah.” The word “Nwad” is
carved on the wall between the eastern
statue and the southern statue.
The wind through the statues mouths makes the moaning sound
+1 for traps
"Don't mind the moaning. That's just the wind working its way through those statues' mouths. Let's press on."
Crom looks down the well and then examines the words written on the wall, "Horster, are these words in Elvish? Any idea what they mean?"
Crom will also search the room for secret doors.
No one has any idea what the words mean, and Ozzy and Lorcan detect magic of a transmutation type on the well with a strength of medium to strong.
"I know Elvish when I see it, but this is something different... Can't make head nor feet of it."
Kelgan peers at the words, but merely scratches his head with a quizzical expression on his bearded face.
"Well there is a moderate amount of transmutation magic coming off this thing.", Ozmund says looking at it quizzically.
Lorcan looks at the book for a moment more before asking Are we just gonna leave this book? It is quite powerful. I think I'll take it with me, unless someone things that is a bad idea…