Shel's
Moulini's
Maximo's
Azatoth's
Maximo, the hinges are on the other side of the door. It does not appear to be locked.
One of the three dim torches in the room finally sputters and goes out. Unless you add light yourself, the room with the idol is dimly lit.
|
Bah. Hot as a demon's backside in here, yet the torches are burning out. Good thing you've got these illuminated pebbles. He winks at Hadassah, brandishes the pebble, opens the door to the next room, and tosses it inside. Completely unaware of any danger that might be waiting in the next room, he steps inside.
Gah! He stops abruptly. This infernal turban is in my eyes again!
Maximo, you charge into the room through the left of the double-doors. Azatoth's warning comes too late, but it seems unwarranted -- there are no soldiers at the ready. This area is lit by an enormous ball of fire, about five feet high, floating in the center of the room.
Against the east wall sits an ornate brass throne, sculpted to resemble an enormous hand of flame. Wood painted to resemble tendrils of smoke rising from behind the throne merge into a detailed mural of Moloch’s idol on the wall.
As you turn to look north, ( ) you see a man in black and red robes. He gestures to the floating ball of fire and commands it: "now, Brother Fire, show these infidels what it means to violate the sanctity of Moloch's temple!"
The ball of fire moves then, as if it were swinging on a thread, surrounding Maximo. The paladin tries to avoid the fire, , and manages to duck out from the heart of the flames.
To everyone else: Maximo entered the room, and a masculine voice off to the left yelled something about infidels and the sanctity of the temple. Maximo promptly ducked out of the way of a large ball of fire which has settled right in front of you, just inside the room. But the doorway is 10-ft wide, and you should be able to open the other door and enter the room without going through the ball of fire.
With the ball of fire right outside the doorway, the room you're in is no longer considered dimly lit.
Hadassah, James, and Gryne, you can act before the opponents. What are you three doing?
Very nice, James.
--
Hadassah, I'll try to post a full map of the room tonight. Here's what I can do now.
The room is 25 ft east-west, and 30 ft north south. Beautiful tapestries line the north, west, and south walls, depicting a grand battle between soldiers of flame and scimitar-weilding dervishes. The double door that you're entering is on the west wall of the room, against the south corner. There is another set of double doors on the west wall, against the north corner.
Again, imagine the room having five columns labelled A - E, and 6 rows labelled 1 - 6. Maximo and the ball of fire are in A5. The brass throne cast in the form of a giant hand of flame occupies D3, D4, E3, and E4. There is a bald man in red and black robes in A2. The door in A1 is open.
Hadassah, you can move in the room to A6. The ball of flame will block your view to the man in robes. ( ) You aren't sure whether the ball of fire would attack you if you passed next to it.
So you have a choice: stop in A6, right inside the room, next to the flaming ball (and Maximo) without a line of sight to the bald man, or move in (to, say, C6) where you'll be able to use Evil Eye more effectively, but that might generate an Attack of Opportunity.
Gryne, you're confident that create water would have some effect.
Hadassah moves to C6 and glares at the bald man (his ) who takes a step back as if struck physically, his armor class reduced for several rounds.
Gryne casts create water on the ball of fire, in an impromptu attempt to dispel it. ( ) ; which seems to work. The ball of fire sputters and blinks out, covering Maximo in a fine cloud of soot.
The man in black and red robes is not pleased. "How your ways betray you! Water, the piss of the heavens. Foul means to foul ends. But Moloch will not be denied. By ash and fire, we will bring the Dungflower and her simpering nation to its knees!"
He draws a steel dagger from his belt and moves to C5, adjacent to Hadassah, but then he catches sight of Moulini and Shel. He casts color spray, catching Maximo, Shel, and Moulini in hits burst.
Maximo -- unconscious for rounds
Shel -- almost made it, but unconscious for rounds
Moulini -- unconscious for rounds
Azatoth, you're up. Then James, Gryne, and Hadassah.
James, Gryne, you and Azatoth are in the room with the tabletop idol and three collapsed friends. James is by the doorway, Azatoth and Gryne are ten feet away from the door. Hadassah is in the large room at C6. The dangerous man is next to her in C5.
James, he's 20 feet away from you and you have a clear shot from where you stand.
;
|
|
A loud bang erupts in the room, almost simultaneously, a pink mist sprays from the upper right quadrant of the bald mans head. Brain, and bone fragments splatter, littering the ground where the spellcaster previously stood. Crimson blood continues to spurt out of the wound, as the once dangerous man crumples into a twitching pile of flesh on the floor.
James takes time to reload his pistol, muttering "Should we attempt to stop the bleeding?"
.
Hadassah tears off the hem of the man's robes and applies pressure to the gaping wound in his skull. "There. That'll do it."
(Hadassah's . The tapestries here depict a symbolic war, not any particular battle.
The bald man is wearing red and black robes and carrying a steel dagger. In his belt pouch, he has several Qadiran coins, two smokesticks, a brass key, and a lucky fetish of some sort. He is carrying two identical potions, an empty scroll tube, and a small silver bull's head. Around his neck, under his robes, is a golden chain. At the end of the chain is a mummified hand with long thin fingers.
Hadassah or Gryne, you can do a scan of the man's possessions with detect magic.
the "lucky fetish" (a green feather with a woven leather cord attached) radiates strong conjuration
potions radiate faint conjuration
the scroll tube really is empty
the mummified hand radiates faint transmutation magic.
In the middle of the western wall, behind the tapestry, is a door, leading into that inner chamber behind the efreet mask. The itself is richly decorated, the floor covered by a maze-like geometric pattern of scarlet flames.
Gryne's
James'
Hadassah's
James and Gryne find a hidden door behind the throne on the east wall. It's locked, and the lock looks very recent, unlike the centuries-old door, tapestries, and throne.
Moulini, Maximo, and even Shel eventually wake up and shake off their stunned conditions as well.
Shel, the man's features look familiar to you. You don't think you've seen him before, but there's something ...
|
I will create water and refresh the party.
Are you guys alright? You missed quite the show. James put the man down from the hall with a single attack.
Shel or Moulini when you feel up to it, would you mind assisting us and taking a look at this lock. We have found a hidden door here
Pointing at the door.
Gryne, the man is stable, but it will be days before he regains consciousness, if left to heal naturally.
Hadassah, taking 10, you can identify
|
|
Shel staggers to her feet after being blasted full bore by the spell. "What happened? One minute I was fine and the next I was out cold, for a while it feels like.". After being filled in on what happened, she nods at Gryne. "Let me get my legs back under me, and I'll check out that door," she grunts as she walks toward the door with its shiny lock.
|
"Here, these are potions that will cure you should you find another trap," says Hadassah, handing one potion to Shel and one to Moulini, "I think anyhow..."
Handing the feather token and amulet to Maximo, Hadassah adds, "This is a feather token, though I have no idea what it does. This amulet allows you to move things by, well, you just want it to move and it does. I will again trust you with getting them to the right hands."
--
Shel's ; Shel, you do not detect any traps on the door.
The brass key that the bald man had on him slides into the lock, which opens with a soft klik. If you want to open it, the door behind the throne is about 3-and-a-half feet tall, and opens towards you, into the room.
Shel can tell that the man is unconscious, but alive.
Moulini takes 10 and looks around the room, turning aside tapestries in a methodical way. There are a total of four doors in this room: (1) west the way you came in, (2) a concealed door on the west wall, leading into the secret space from which someone had been watching you, (3) an open door on the north end of the western wall, leading to a room you've never seen, and (4) the small door to the east, behind the throne, which Shel has just unlocked.
|
|
Should we check to see who has been watching us before advancing? Or do we think this bald man was guilty of that.? Moulini, anything else of interest there?
Gryne addresses the party...If we find any scrolls or papers, I would like to take them back to the Grand Lodge to be studied to determine any further intentions of these cultists.
|
"That sounds like a good idea Gryne. I don't think he is alone in this happening. However I would like to question this fellah we have here barely alive, he might have some useful information to us"
|
|
"I figure we can lash him to the throne, he is alive and stable for now. Later, we can check on him again. I don't think he will wake up for quite some time, possibly days. Just to be careful, we should gag him. If he can't speak and he can't gesture, it will be very difficult for him to cast any spells to escape, or yell for help. . ."
Just to be cautious, Hadassah rummages through the mans robes one last time, removing any and all spell components she finds to her own beltpouch.
Shel has unlocked the halfling-sized door, but before she pulls it open, Hadassah and Gryne spend a minute tying the unconscious man to the throne. Meanwhile, Moulini goes back across the room, pulls back the tapestries, and checks the door in the middle of the west wall for traps.
Moulini, you do not detect any traps.
Hadassah, the man has no spell components.
Shel, do you open the door to the east? Hadassah, are you taking the initiative and opening it?
Moulini, are you opening the concealed door to the west?