The roughly 10-ft cube (really more of a bell-shape) of space inside the bell is sufficient space for all of the Lusty Fools to hang onto a ladder and be within the air-filled bell....
Well then...let's get this going then. I thought I would have to hold me breath for a while. If I'm gonna drown, I want it in a nice huge barrel of ale...maybe something stronger. Oh, that would be a grand way to go.... Paddy laughs as he climbs the ladder. He takes a piece of rope and lashes his hand to the ladder.
Just in case....better safe than soggy...
Hisao follows Paddy up on his ladder.
Heavy ones might need their own ladder he comments as the two lightly armoured members of the party sway gently on the rope ladder.
Iommi-Tyr Magnusson grabs a rope, too.
The Lusty Fools climb into the diving bell on the rope ladders and Paddy pulls the lever at the top of the bell, causing a great ratcheting sound and a jangle of chain as the diving bell ascends out of the domed stronghold of the Necromancer and up through the flooded cistern....
It ascends, water never rising higher inside the bell than its bottom rim, allowing the Lusty Fools to breathe as they ride up through the water to the interior of a dry structure above, presumably on street level!
"This is...unexpected." Alphonse notes.
Whoever lives here must know that we are coming Hisao notes as he exits the bell and looks around warily
Aye,whoever runs this place sure knows we're coming. So much for sneaking up on him and saying Boo!! We might have scared him into submission...it would have been worth a try anyways, right? Nothing ventured, nothing gained...
The bell raises up through a well in the floor of an above ground structure in the midst of Paris. It continues so that it and the Lusty Fools hang 10 feet above the floor of a great wood and plaster chamber lit by a chandleer made of the antlers of elks upon which candles flicker....
Aside from the 10-ft-diameter well in the wood plank floor, the chamber is featureless, save for a red-painted wooden door in the east wall, and a large window with closed blue shutters on the west wall.
Alphonse strides over to the window.
"Hm. Might be useful to find out where we are. Paddy, or Hisao, would you mind checking this shutter to make sure it isn't trapped?"
Perception checks from all, please....
Paddy and Hisao can hear the barely audible strains of a clavichord or similar precursor to the piano being played somewhere beyond the red door in the east wall....
The music is slow and sad, in a minor mode....
In another chamber not far from where the Lusty Fools now stand around the bell well, listening to the clavichord's sad lament, the Necromancer plays the masterwork instrument, evoking the sorrows of undeath in an original composition he calls "Dirge for the Restless Dead"....
[dice=Perception]1d20+4
Iommi strains to hear what the Chinaman and the Irishman seem to hear, but hears only the lapping of water against the inside of the well leading down through the floor into the flooded cistern, and the clanking of Alphonse's armor as he moves over to the window and calls for Paddy or Hisao to check the aperture for traps....
Well, me boyos, there are three possible outcomes here. First, and most likely, the person in charge knows we're coming and doesn't give a right bloody care in the world. Two, he doesn't know we're on the way and is laying his little dirge on his fancy-type thingy. Third, and least likely I think, he is playing us a welcoming tune and will have us in for ale and biscuits. I am going to wager a gold on the first option. Any takers?
Paddy laughs as he gives his options to the rest of the Lusty Fools.
I say we give him a proper send-off to the great beyond and call it a day. I have to get a new cloak and see if fair Bettina would have dinner with me....
Paddy then drink his last potion and takes another swig of his booze.
current hp 23/27
Ten to one odds and I will take the third option. But any meal, not just ale and biscuits Hisao flicks a gold piece up and catches it.
"Hmph. I guess it's time I try and offset the damage the shadows did to me."
He wracks his brain for a fitting creature, but for some reason the only thing he can think of after having been in the sewers for so long is a lizard man.
Alphonse, at the thought, sprouts scales and grows claws and fangs, along with a lizard-like snout and a long scaly tail.
"Now let us finish the necromancer." he says, voice somewhat garbled.
"Not exactly the form most pleasing to the eye. But at least I feel strong again." he notes.
Hisao checks for traps in the path to the red door.
Hisao checks for traps in the path to the red door.
[dice=Per]1d20+6
No furnishings, only the 10-ft-diameter bell well in the central floor, the diving bell hanging 10 ft above the well, the red door in the east wall, and the shuttered window in the west wall....and apparently, no traps....
As Hisao is examining the path to the red door, it suddenly opens!
A pair of armored skeletons bearing greatswords stand in the open doorway, their hollow eye sockets lit by unholy red flames!
Initiative
Something serpentine and skeletal slithers with a dry rattle of vertebrae across the floor between the two skeletal guards and into the room.... It's body is the skeleton of a giant snake.... It's head is a human skull, eye sockets also lit with arcane fires!
Initiative
The clavichord music can be heard more clearly now that the red door is open.... It comes from somewhere beyond the room the skeletal guards now approach from....
How swiftly my little plaything reacts! Almost premonitory!
But not so swiftly as Hermes' little rogue, I see.... Damn that irascible trickster....I gotta give it to him.... He's a timely little punk....
Paddy dashes forward, his shortsword a blur as it lashes at the snakelike monstrosity.
Get lost, ya wee nasty worm!
Paddy dashes forward, his shortsword a blur as it lashes at the snakelike monstrosity.
[dice=attack] 1d20+7; 1d6+1; 2d6
Get lost, ya wee nasty worm!
The blade sticks in the bony, serpentine thing, but seems to do little to hinder its progress....
[dice=Kn. Religion Necrophidius]1d20+6
[dice=Kn. Religion Skeletal Champion]1d20+6
Alphonse isn't 100% sure on this....but he thinks these monsters are made out of bones!
[dice=Inspired Knowledge Religion, for the Necrophidius]1d20+10 +1d6
Iommi-Tyr can confirm Alphonse's suspicions, and can add the potentially useful tidbit that despite its appearance, the necrophidius is not undead, but rather a construct!
Le Danse Macabre! Round une!
Paddy!
Hisao!
Necrophidius!
Skeletal champions (2)!
Iommi-Tyr!
Nacht!
Alphonse!
Eeeeeek!
Hisao is up to bat! Eeeeek!
Hisao knows enough about bones know to know that knives don't do very well against them he loops around the snake like one to flank with paddyand brings his light mace down on it.
Hisao knows enough about bones know to know that knives don't do very well against them he loops around the snake like one to flank with paddyand brings his light mace down on it.
[dice=flanked light mace]1d20+6+2;1d6+1
[dice=Forgot sneak damage]2d6
Hisao gives the necrophidius a solid knock on the skull!
The necrophidius begins a hypnotic swaying dance that takes a full round action to complete....
Most of the Lusty Fools are still flat-footed at this point, and thus get no AoOs.... But Paddy and Hisao are not only flanking the necrophidius at this point, they have also acted and are not flat-footed, thus they can each make an AoO against the necrophidius as it performs its dance....
All must attempt a DC 15 Will save to avoid being dazed by the necrophidius' dance of death!