Although the healing is only minimal, it does give Udaya a small boost of life. She attacks the warrior in front of her, her sword cutting right through the chest plate of the armour. A gust of wind hits her in the face and the armour falls to the floor, splitting into several pieces. The warrior's two swords dissolve away into dust and then are gone.
Dara then tears into the other one, smashing her axe into its side. She does hefty damage to it, but does not yet bring it down.
Up Next: Bear, Wind Warrior, Venedictus, Udaya, Dara.
Fredrik shouts, "C'mon Udaya, I just need a clear shot here!" He decides to try to distract the lone warrior, hopefully giving Bear a chance to finish it off.
Fredrik shouts, "C'mon Udaya, I just need a clear shot here!" He decides to try to distract the lone warrior, hopefully giving Bear a chance to finish it off.
The beam shoots into the visor of the warrior. It shakes its head/helmet in an almost human manner.
Just then Bear completes his spell and grows, doubling in size.
Next Up: Wind Warrior, Venedictus, Udaya, Dara, Fredrik.
Sorry folks, I was really unclear - got a bit tangled up with fluff description and didn't include mechanics. Venedictus had cast his new spell Inspirational Boost (which is a swift action to cast) which makes his inspire courage +2 instead of +1 for one round. All those attacks and damages should be 1 higher.
BeAr road mightily as he grows to monstrous proportions, but when his eyes hungrily sweep the room for foes, he's frustrated to find only one remaining. "Damn! he swears as he charges in, arcanically charged blade swinging.
Freddie nods at the enlarged form behind him, Always an impatient one...
Freddie nods at the enlarged form behind him, Always an impatient one...
The remaining warrior attacks Dara.
One of its swords cuts into her.
Next Up: Udaya, Dara, Fredrik, Bear (readied action pending), Wind Warrior.
If Venedictus is adjacent to Dara, he'll hit her with a cure light and then move; otherwise, she'll channel excluding the warriors and move.
Cure light:
Or
Channel:
Dara passes out from her injuries, but is stable at -1 thanks to Vene's CLW.
The heavenly music blends with Venedictus's inspire courage song, providing much-needed healing to all and stabilizing Dara. Venedictus then scurries out of the way of Bear.
As soon as the way is clear, Bear charges in, bringing down his now much large sword swinging over Udaya's head and down beside the warrior's head, cutting into where its shoulder should be. It stumbles, but still stands.
Next Up: Dara (unconscious), Fredrik, Wind Warrior, Bear, Venedictus.
Udaya shifts to try to get to her opponent's backside an takes another hard swing at the air-man, desperately trying to take it down.
Unfortunately, Udaya stumbles on the downed warrior's armour and her swing goes too wide.
Next Up: Wind Warrior, Bear, Venedictus, Udaya, Dara (unconscious).
Freddie curses again, he noticed he is getting quite good at it. He mutters a quick spell.
Bear yells in frustration, hoping to draw the ire of the (now) small elemental.
Fredrik's acid splash flies too far to the left, passes the warrior, and goes over the edge of the platform.
The warrior, perhaps sensing Udaya's intentions and ignoring Bear's yell, takes a step back as far as Udaya moved up, then attacks her.
It lands another nasty blow on Udaya and takes her down .
Next Up: Venedictus, Udaya (unconscious), Dara (unconscious), Fredrik, Wind Warrior.
HellCat's fall drives Bear's rage to near uncontrollable levels, and he takes one step forward. His blade cuts viciously but carelessly at the frustratingly resilient defender.
Bear's large blade ferociously cuts into his opponent. The warrior wobbles for a moment, and then there is an explosion of wind and the armour drops to the floor of the platform. The two swords begin to fall but disintegrate before they hit the floor.
No sooner does the opponent vanish than Bear drops his blade, picking up one woman in each hand gingerly and hustling them over to Venny and kneeling down in front of him (still in huge form), "Do that musical, thing, man! They need some help!"
Venedictus channels again, several times.
"I think I can do that a couple more times before I need to pray again."
As the group recovers, Bear stands and moves to Venny, "Thanks, Venny." He the moves towards the funnel, testing its strength.
"I'm more than a little annoyed that there's nothing scavenge-able in here." he mutters as he reaches out, feeling the air around the funnel.
The air around the funnel feels perfectly normal. The wind swirling around inside the funnel does not extend beyond the funnel's edge. This creates a very strange sensation. Your mind knows that you should be feeling at least a little wind, that your hair should be blowing and so on. But you can't feel a thing and that just makes you feel weird.
... that your hair should be blowing and so on.
"What do you guys think? We don't know where this thing leads..." his eyes follow the funnel up through the ceiling, "... other than up, anyway. I have to admit to being highly curious about where it leads, but I'm not sure taking a ride on this wind thingy is the brightest idea."
"I suspect we need to go up, where the wind warriors came from, to find where the treasure is." Fredrik adds with a smirk. "Once the ladies are ready to go, I suggest we see what's up there."
"Thanks for the healin' Vene. Now uh... what was ya gonna have me do again?"
Venedictus gestures towards the funnel. "Ladies, at least, ladies with magical feather fall rings, first."
"Actually, in this case, I think it makes sense to not send Dara in alone. I'll go with her. I can use the same trick if I need to."
Dara looks up at the big man then glances over at Udaya. "Alright, just don't go gettin' any funny ideas. This ain't the funnel o' love..."
Dara will hop in as soon as Bear is ready.
Dara and Bear step into the column of air and although the wind seems to rage around them, it's surprisingly comfortable. The gusts of wind gently raise them up the ceiling and then through a hole into a new chamber.
Opposite the pillar of air three short stairs lead up to a white marble sarcophagus identical to the one in the room with the coloured lanterns far below, complete with a sculpted humanoid figure carved into the lid. A beautifully carved bas-relief on the wall near the sarcophagus depicts the same figure as a bald, androgynous warrior wearing a simple ancient garment and wielding a might longsword. To the warrior's left stands a cloaked demoniac figure with two long curved horns tipped in darkest red. The horned figure holds a device composed of a handle and small loop, seemingly using it to control a globe of absolute blackness about two feet in diameter. This globe touches the bald warrior, who raises his arms in surprise. The warrior is depicted as if fading from sight. A slim diadem upon his brow bears and elaborate glyph identical to one carved upon an amulet worn by the figure on the sarcophagus lid.
Bear grunts and mutters under his breath, the oppressive quiet of the room weighing on his mood, "The demon-guy's using a Sphere of Annihilation." he says, pointing to the sphere, then moves to point to the staff-thing in the demon's hand, "and that's how it's controlled. Talisman of the Sphere."
When Dara looks at him questioningly, he shrugs defensively, "I read it in my book, i think. We should see if the others can come up here with us."
As soon as it is clear that the air-evator works, UU gives the boys a wink and hops into it backwards. She laughs with delight as it carries her up.
Venedictus smirks at Fredrik. "I hope this thing has enough power..."
He steps in after Udaya.
Udaya, Venedictus, and Fredrik and Pup ride the air column up to the new room.
Once Freddie sets Pup down, he looks at the room, and stares at Vene, an unreadable look on his face. He mutters, "Boy, somewhat anticlimatic I would say."
Fredrik detects a magical aura coming from the bas-relief, another aura from the sarcophagus, and two more from inside the sarcophagus.
Freddie points out the auras to everyone else. "I think there are some powerful magic items here, Bear can you help here?"
"A-Yep"
"A-Yep"
UU sweeps the room for Evil and speculates, "Perhaps the illusion on the relief is like the ones downstairs. If we get close enough maybe it will illustrate another bit of the story... or maybe Acid-Spitting Moderately Evil Devil Monkeys will jump out of the sarcophogus. Either way - it's a win." She laughs but doesn't proceed any further into the room, yet.
"There better be somethin' ridiculously awesome in that sarcophagus... and ridiculously expensive. Dara, you wanna go see if it's trapped. Ya know... in a regular non-magical trap way?"
"Hell, why not? You gunna tell me if ya see anything magicky, or should I just expect Vene to patch me up ag'in?"
Dara approaches the stone sarcophagus and gives it the once-over for traps.
Dara ascends the short flight of stairs to the dais. As she reaches the top, the bas-relief warrior comes to life and looks down at her. It speaks.