Ri'Kli'Klek tenses, ready to spring, as the room shifts around them. Seeing the changes he looks above, below, and to the sides for signs of an exit or at least something other than barriers.
[dice=Perception]1d20+12
To all evident appearances, the room has become an inescapable deathtrap, a devilishly sealed prison that will soon will with molten lava.
The moment the room begins spinning, a loud chanting is heard in the unearthly cadences of kreen.
"Ye have been made True Offerings of the Soul of the Fire. Ymeri! Ymeri! Ymeri! Give power oh Queen of Flame! Accept Thou this thy rightful sacrifice!"
Jimbli growls in frustration “No no no.. if I can’t see I can’t get out!” He points at Ri’klik’kek “Figure it out!”
In a panic, he begins frantically scanning the ceiling for anything... any mechanism or gap through which he could see.
Jimbli growls in frustration “No no no.. if I can’t see I can’t get out!” He points at Ri’klik’kek “Figure it out!”
In a panic, he begins frantically scanning the ceiling for anything... any mechanism or gap through which he could see.
[dice=perception]1d20+18
Amunet-Ra is surprised by the sudden change.
What's this? Did we just open a portal to a different plane? Or is there a hidden vulcano here nobody knew about? What's this chanting? I think we should get away from here, somehow!
Jimbli sees the hallway beyond, and slyly grins. “I’ve got this.”
He blinks to safety, then suddenly Roman and Hamza disappear and he reappears where they stood.
As the trap activates Rokan seems more irritated than worried.
Now is not the time to panic. Yes, good thinking Jimbli, teleportation would be a decent way out. I wonder how thick this glass is...
Rokan releases a punch directly into the glass interposed in the doorway.
He looks to see if it had any affect at all while waiting for the halfling to get to him.
As the trap activates Rokan seems more irritated than worried.
Now is not the time to panic. Yes, good thinking Jimbli, teleportation would be a decent way out. I wonder how thick this glass is...
Rokan releases a punch directly into the glass interposed in the doorway.
[dice=Exploratory punch damage]1d8+6
He looks to see if it had any affect at all while waiting for the halfling to get to him.
Rokan wraps the thick glass with his knuckles, but only succeeds in bruising his hands by the effort. He has no discernible effect on the barrier.
[dice=Kn:Arcana]1d20 + 16
[dice=Kn:Planes]1d20 + 16
Amunet-Ra is surprised by the sudden change.
What's this? Did we just open a portal to a different plane? Or is there a hidden vulcano here nobody knew about? What's this chanting? I think we should get away from here, somehow!
The elf can discern nothing of the trap's manufacture.
The trap is not a portal to another plane, but rather an extension of the volcanic pipes in the diamond mines far above the complex. These must extend out in a web beneath the Iridescent Desert.
[dice=Kn:Arcana]1d20 + 16
[dice=Kn:Planes]1d20 + 16
Amunet-Ra is surprised by the sudden change.
What's this? Did we just open a portal to a different plane? Or is there a hidden vulcano here nobody knew about? What's this chanting? I think we should get away from here, somehow!
"Ye have been made True Offerings of the Soul of the Fire. Ymeri! Ymeri! Ymeri! Give power oh Queen of Flame! Accept Thou this thy rightful sacrifice!"
Not knowing how much time they have, Jimbli feverishly ports in and out as fast as he can. When all are safe in the hall, he breathes heavy for a moment, then looks to Ri’klik’kek. He rolls his shoulders and tugs to straighten his cloak. “Sorry for the moment of panic there. I don’t like being boxed in.”
According to the chanting - where is that coming from anyway - is this a sacrifice place to Ymeri, where sacrifices are traded against power. Seems this is the price for the power we just received? Let's get out of here.
Hamza nods his thanks at Jimbli "Quick thinking friend, and would have been the same solution I would have provided."
The shadowy noble will then scout the hallway, once more blending into the shadows.
"Price? Perhaps. More likely a trap, in that we missed something a true worshipper would have done to avoid it and thus marked ourselves as interlopers."
Ri'Kli'Klek turns his head swiftly to Jimbli and gives him a small nod. "My thanks."
Raxus grunted and looked at the doorway they had gone through, and then been teleported back out of. He was usually slow to make severe choices. He preferred to default to the whims of his master, but this place... It needed to be destroyed.
Rokan shakes his head.
Hard to say if it was the "price", or if this entire place is trying to wholly reject our presence here with all of its being. With that over, I suppose there's only one direction to go.
Leonidas acknowledges Jimbli's effort:
"My thanks to you,
In moments few,
A trick so neat,
That death we cheat."
Ehawee blinks and looks about, not really sure if she should run, or even say anything. This group before here were not intending her harm, for she felt they may have just saved her. However, having been ambushed, it would not be a surprise if they did mean to kill her. She carefully studied them for a few seconds, before venturing forth
"Are you also looking for that giantess?" Her tone was neutral, but she wasn't really sure she would manage to fool members of the giantess party.
Amunet-Ra looks at the newcomer:
Forgive me, you didn't seem like a threat, there were more urgent matters for us. I guess you just happen to wander about this volcano caverns on an afternoon walk? I am Amunet-Ra of the Serpent Singers and we are investigating certain matters down below here. Who are you and who might this giantess be?
She puffs Jimblis shoulder in a friendly and thankful way to let him know her gratitude.
Hamza nods his thanks at Jimbli "Quick thinking friend, and would have been the same solution I would have provided."
The shadowy noble will then scout the hallway, once more blending into the shadows.
"Are these tombs a thoroughfare in this day?" Ri'Kli'Klek asks no one in particular, incredulous, now that the threat of imminent death has been removed. Another intruder? How had he not been awakened before? And how fragile must the sleep of the Six Fingers be if so many were here!
"This world is fortunate indeed, if so many walk these halls now, that none have wakened what slumbers here. Whatever thy hunt may be, it is not of such import that thou shouldest risk these tombs."
Amunet-Ra looks at the newcomer:
Forgive me, you didn't seem like a threat, there were more urgent matters for us. I guess you just happen to wander about this volcano caverns on an afternoon walk? I am Amunet-Ra of the Serpent Singers and we are investigating certain matters down below here. Who are you and who might this giantess be?
She puffs Jimblis shoulder in a friendly and thankful way to let him know her gratitude.
Ehawee blinks and looks about, not really sure if she should run, or even say anything. This group before here were not intending her harm, for she felt they may have just saved her. However, having been ambushed, it would not be a surprise if they did mean to kill her. She carefully studied them for a few seconds, before venturing forth
"Are you also looking for that giantess?" Her tone was neutral, but she wasn't really sure she would manage to fool members of the giantess party.
Hamza nods his thanks at Jimbli "Quick thinking friend, and would have been the same solution I would have provided."
The shadowy noble will then scout the hallway, once more blending into the shadows.
These tombs seem... well travelled. Perhaps your sleep was held in a deep, un-perturbable state.
Hamza returns from his little scouting trip, and still unseen, informs the party what he found. "There's another door up ahead at the end of this corridor.
Hamza returns from his little scouting trip, and still unseen, informs the party what he found. "There's another door up ahead at the end of this corridor.
[dice=perception]1d20+12
There does not appear to be any especially notable features in the route to the next portal. En route, there is a stair was that descends and ascends, and a corner alcove with some kind of urn.
Rokan cautiously approaches the urn, but does not touch it.
I don't intend to dwell on this object, but let me investigate it very quickly to ensure it isn't a vessel for yet another horror to be unsealed and launched at us, he briefly explains to the party.
If it is nothing, he continues on, joining the others in their introduction to Ehawee and waiting to hear about this "Giantess."
Rokan cautiously approaches the urn, but does not touch it.
[dice=Perception, inspect urn]1d20+12
I don't intend to dwell on this object, but let me investigate it very quickly to ensure it isn't a vessel for yet another horror to be unsealed and launched at us, he briefly explains to the party.
If it is nothing, he continues on, joining the others in their introduction to Ehawee and waiting to hear about this "Giantess."
The urn is highly ornamented, but otherwise ordinary, and not psionic. It contains some kind of viscous substance within it.
[dice=Memory (under INT 20?)]1d20
Well hello there everyone, well met and well met! I am T'lam T'listillit of Pallembor, a humble and enterprising representative of the beneficent dragon lords of Pallembor. Myself and my small company are natives of an, I presume, quite distant planet which some call Serran."
"We were unwillingly transported during our escape down the rapids of the River Rieardre, suddenly whisked away to a shadowy lake in the middle of a ruined city.
"We had, until recently found ourselves, by dire necessity, ensconced in what we had presumed were the protective confines of the fortress of the High Templar Ahmun-Ahnpur, which is in an ancient city by the name of Kalidnay. Unfortunately, our pursuers, a particularly bothersome giantess and her sworn rangers, dispelled our apprehensions of any safe refuge in the Templar's former demesne."
"The power of the Dragon God of Gods and Dragons, the mighty Erixalimar's holiest relic, transported us to, well it's not particularly clear this is safety, but here all the same!"
"But now, you see, we have no idea where we are, and so would be eternally grateful for any orientation you might be able to provide."
The mojh turns to regard the strange procession of pale-skinned creatures, what Kuro has dubbed the 'chimeras',
"Hmmm... they don't look very friendly, do they?"
Rokan rapidly looks back and forth between Misra and the mysterious new party as Misra announces she's creating the communal network.Misra, wait! How can you be certain they won't assault our minds...
But it's too late. No sooner does the channel open than a flood of inane babbling pours through and into his mind. As it continues his facial expression and mood turn from sharp concern to confusion and irritation.
He focuses to determine which "voice" is coming from which figure in the group opposite his own.
Well met... indeed. I am simply Rokan. The world you have arrived on is Athas. It is stark, and harsh, and unforgiving. Life is brutal and worthless unless you can manage to keep yours and then it is priceless. Good fortune is nearly impossible to come by unless it is handed to you, and most of us have little. Perhaps you brought some good fortune with you through the portal. Presently, we are investigating the awakening of ancient forces from a time when this world allegedly held a rich abundance of life.
He ponders the lizardman's words and becomes concerned at one specific fragment he picked out of the babbling.
Can you tell us more of this giantess and rangers? Are any of these still pursuing you now?
"We, the devoted servants of the Lord of Lords, the Great Erixalimar and His children who rule from the Castles in the Sky are currently unwelcome in the former domains of our lieges. The interloping giants have seized the western reaches of the dragons' rightful ancestral lands, and now oppose its inevitable reclamation."
"One agent of De-Shamod, the giant capital to the west, is Elisena Lore, who has recruited an elite cadre of the giants' dog-like sibeccai allies and servants to train as rangers specifically intended to hunt the dragons and their servants."
"We presume she will continue to seek demise, despite us having, for the moment escaped her grasp."
It is then as if a carefully maintained-facade has fallen, and the creature returns to its normal manner of conversation,
"Well, I don't know any of that yet Hastniss, how by the light of His Signs are we going to get any useful information if we don't talk to them? Yes, I suppose they might be in league with the giantess, but that doesn't seem overly likely to me, does it really to you? Why is he in such a bad mood anyway? I mean, I very well can imagine their might be some fine occasion to shoot something very soon, and then you can feel worthy of your title, monsieur grenadier de arquebus!"
The, one can only assume self-appointed, reptilian spokesman for the group from the planet called "Serran" continues in what seems to be his ordinary rambling pattern of speech, seemingly without need for breath,"Oh dear, I fear greatly that you, yourself, have entirely misunderstand, in both a thorough and thorough-going, by which I mean both a semantically collective as well as experientially continuous and ongoing fashion, the proposal presently under consideration, my new proboscis-saddled interlocutor."
Once again his tumult of speech appears to be interrupted by one of his nearby companions,
"Why yes, Hastniss, I am, myself, presently coming to the main point, why do you ask? Anyway, my point is that I was only suggesting that Rokan squash the robed one -- they're not all going to fit under one platform anyway. We can stun or capture one of the others, and interrogate them for further information on these thoroughly exotic premises."
Range of my psionic power is 140' based on level 4. The targets need to have no more than 15' between any two of them. Is this kosher for the five targets currently chosen?
While Rokan is contemplating his next course of action to disrupt the sinister ceremony, the voice of the mysterious reptilian who seems to speak for the party currently situated on the opposite cliff enters into his mind,
Excuse me good and estimable sir, sirs, lady, or ladies, or personages if no such qualifications apply, but are any of you, of the aforementioned categories, able, and or willing, to operate the operate this redoubtable lift system I see described by the hieroglyphics on this control panel here[i]" T'lam, for no apparent reason, speaks as if others could see his gesture towards the presumably matching control station on his side of the chasm, one of a number of hints, alongside his increasingly more rambling manner of speech, that this character's social manners are quite a bit less refined than his recent attempts at communication might have otherwise suggested.
[i]"Lamentably, for both you and me, for us collectively, or presumably so unless I or you or we can divine some suitable alternative, I am unable to operate this conveyance with my own vested mystical powers and abilities, and though those two designations might appear, on the face, like synonyms, in point of fact I intend them as representatives of my active and passive capacities with arcane forces, and so you would be incorrect in the assumption of my verbal in-exactitude, which is always a likely assumption considering the great care with which I always select my words... this last assertion seems particularly false, as the creature seems to, somewhere in the midst of its rambling, relinquish and firm grasp on its original train of thought.
Unheard, apparently one of its companions has prompted a return to the original mention of the psionic lift system that had originally engendered the Shadowbourne's comment.
"Oh, yes Hastniss, indeed, but you needn't be so brusque about the whole business, I was returning to the matter of the the lift system presently after I had properly qualified my statement."
"In any event, I believe it could be used as a powerful weapon if you simply directed it to crush this little band -- send it up high and then drop it on their heads like a meat tenderizer!"
He then seems to return to some nearby companion, "My dear gourmand Johnny, do you agree with my description of this purported effect?"
Rokan the Ascetic wrote:
T'lam T'listillit Shadowbourne wrote:
"But if you don't mind, I don't think you entirely answered my question, though you did resolve part of my uncertainty. So, based on what you have said we're still on Athas. Are we anywhere near a city called Kalidnay? That was where we last were, in a fortress on a peninsula jutting out into a dark lake. I'd like to know if we're still anywhere close to there, if you could give me some idea, gentle sir."
You are still in Kalidnay, but at the outskirts. We were hoping to use these mines as a way of passage into the ruined city. So it seems we're possibly headed in opposite directions.
Johnny Lawrence wrote:By the way, are we going to do anything about the ritual they're performing to summon giant beasts? Was your group here to stop it Rokan?
No, we simply came this way to pass through, only just now, and encountered this scene and the appearance of your party. We are presently just as uncertain about the state of things.
"Oh, that's good to know -- so we're just outside the city, beyond that barrier created by the black spheres. We're not necessarily headed the opposite direction either, we just appeared here after escaping Elisena and her rangers, and we're currently on a journey in search of a path. Indeed, I have the sense from perusing some of the history of your world, as recorded by the High Templar Ahmun-Ahnpur in the archives of his fortress within the city ruins, that you share our high respect for the draconic race, and that we might well be of a common mind. I understood from the templar's records that this world worships dragons as gods, but was quite confused by the apparent assertion that many of these creatures assaulted the former queen of this city, who attempted only to evolve to a more perfect draconic state. Can you tell me more of this matter?"
"There are, in our world, a race of creatures called the dramojh, a fusion of fiend and dragon created by the ancient chromatic wyrms, when the dragons of Serran were still divided by color and alloy. These horrible creatures turned on their creators and conquered the eastern territories of our continent, until they were later defeated by the aforementioned giants. Could Kalid-Ma perhaps have sought some power that would have transformed her into such a being?
.
Ehawee studies those assembled before her, not sure how much she should reveal, yet she felt they wished her no harm. They also found it strange for her to be here, which meant surely they had not came from where she had been ambushed. She thinks for a second before venturing
" I am with the Isatai'i, we make our paths in this place. Surely you must have pasted my party?"
Rokan considers the mention briefly, and then is able to recall information that was previously relayed to him about this Giantess.
Ah, I have recently been told of Elisena Lore, agent of De-Shamod. My party, at the time, had met a "Johnny Lawrence", who had recently escaped her grasp and with his own companions were on a journey to simply find a path. We did not, ourselves, come across this allegedly cunning agent.
Pondering further, he then looks to clarify with Ehawee.
Do you mean to seek out Elisena or avoid her?
Per usual, the ascetic maintains a stoic demeanor, as if he has nothing to do is this expansive tombs but collect and study facts. such as those that he is inquiring about.
Great. More mortals bumbling about a cave they seem to find interesting. So you are simply going to chat to them? Chit chat. Make small talk. My powers and abilities are wasted on your kind.
Isatai'i? You are elven like me. Interesting. What leads your paths far away from your territory?
Tell her it's none of her business. What you do with your time is your own. Besides. Just another elf that wants to mess with your business. Remember what happened last time you had friends?
Ehawee sighs and tries to reason with the spear. She was not familiar enough with either to truly give an honest answer, though the Umbris as the weapon was called seemed to know more about what she thought. However, Umbris was somewhat right, that caution would be wise.
" I would avoid her if possible. Otherwise she will ambush and kill your party with no mercy, despite having more of a right to be here than her kind. Though my tribe really claims any territory it can. She just took us by surprise with greater numbers." She sniffs, evading some of Amunet's question.