The professor looks at the others, "I am set."
He pulls on Myras' belt, "By the way, that little arcane device... It creates a bunch of bright light so beware. Figured I would tell you because you saved these wardens' undead hides." He sheepishly grins, "I have to say you are more than I initially assessed."
"As am I," rejoins the half-drow, hoping to see the blade sooner rather than later. When his belt is tugged he instinctively smacks at the hand while grasping for his coin purse. Seeing the gnome there, he crouches a bit lower. "Ah, Professor, didn't know that was you," he adds apologetically. "I thought someone had light fingers." He then holds the arcane device in one hand, lifting it up to eye level. "Thanks for the warning," he says, scrutinizing the gadget. "Wouldn't want to accidentally blind anyone, would we?" he chuckles. Not sure what to make of the gnome's friendliness, he responds warily: "Err... thanks. It is a pleasure adventuring with you." before awkwardly patting the professor on the shoulder.
Kar nods, indicating he's ready.
Waagic duly nods.
Jadger nods and leads you deeper down the completely dark tunnel until you come into a wide square chamber lit by glowing crystals containing an offering box and pews for worshipers of the deep gnome deity. Passageways branch off to the left and right. Burrow Warden Jadger leads you to the right into a chamber lined by shelves and cupboards with a black stone pillar divided into four sections standing in the center, the sections of the pillar themselves holding built in shelves. He turns to you "Here are the archives. It must be here somewhere."
You hear howls and shrieks of rage and the Burrow Warden turns to you with a stern look "They're coming. I'll do what I can to slow them down." He floats off.
Waagic tries to attune his senses in the temple, seeking that aura which does not belong.
Professor Rankle Boomtop pulls out his dowsing device and charges some magical energy into the shoulder owl.
"Let's find us an artifact!"
The whirring of the mechanical owl is heard, as its heard spins around looking for that aura.
For the duration, you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way, you can use your action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic, and you learn its school of magic, if any.
The spell can penetrate most barriers, but it is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.
Kar knows he's not the best detective, and some others in the group are better versed in magics that discover things. He tries something he knows only he can do, though, of only to spread their search to a different layer.
Rankle determines there is magic here!
Kargoroth determines there are undead somewhere nearby... and they are drawing closer...
Waagic is fairly certain a repository like this would have multiple magical objects.
There was magic. The hooting owl twirled and twirled. He did his best to discern the different auras and looked for something Necromantic. Rushing toward the nearest aura of that kind he checked and investigated the area.
Not sure where to begin, Myras scans the room carefully as they enter with Jadger. Hopefully his keen eyes can uncover something Knowing that the sword is a very recent addition to the room, he looks for areas that appear to have been disturbed or are not covered in dust.
Seeing the mechanical owl spin, Myras improvises a like of verse to encourage it:
”Aura-seeking Owl
Searching all the room
May you freely find
the fey and cursed blade”
Adding a Bardic Inspiration to the Owl’s investigation.
"Hurry up, Boomtop! I sense undead here!" Kar draws his sword and steps forward, trying to interpose between the dead souls and Rankle so he can finish his search.
"If you see the sword, I can rush for it swiftly!"
Waagic racks his memory, trying to remember what items are said to belong here.
Waagic determines that there will be multiple magic items here. Kargoroth detects oncoming undead. Rankle's owl detects that there is indeed magic here.
Myras carefully examines the room and notes several valuable gemstones in a partially-open drawer right next to him. He may or may not be able to pocket them without anyone noticing.
Rankle's owl attempts to determine specifics about the magic items but, because they are not visible in front of him (likely hidden in drawers), he cannot determine more at the moment. But by carefully investigating with movements of his head and movements around the room, he's able to determine which draws the magical items he's detecting are in.
Kar quickly rushes to one of the drawers, the nearest he's pointed at, and opens it, extracting what's inside.
Kargoroth rushes over and finds an amulet set with an emerald in a drawer!
"Well, Rankle, did it work?" the half-drow says curiously, hoping to draw everyone's attention to the gnome for a moment as the owl flutters through the room.
He then advances quickly to the center pillars and begins rifling through the shelves and drawers for further valuables and clues as to the sword's whereabouts. Trying to act normally, he says to Kargoroth, who is currently removing the item from the drawer: "What have you found, half-elf?"
"Not a sword!" he shouts. "Keep on searching!" he goes on, quickly moving to another drawer.
He wrinkles his nose but continues focusing, "North of me! North!" He points in the direction. "There's an aura there too!" He always knew where North was for some reason, possibly due to his dizzying intellect. He gave himself a self-satisfied smirk.
Waagic moves, channeling ki to move to the next spot called by Boomtop, rushing at immense speed!
Waagic finds a small staff in a drawer! Myras opens a drawer and finds a long, curved, Drow blade.
Kar decided to take the medallion just in case. He notices Myras found a sword, though. "Is that the one?!"
A shiver runs down Myras’ spine as he examines the curved blade lying alone in the dark drawer. ”Uh, guys…” he says softly, taken aback, ”Not north. I think I’ve found it.” Looking upon the relic, his mind wanders to a memory of armed Drow guards, mercilessly torturing their captives. All the resolve to steal leaves him immediately. ”We must destroy it.” he says matter-of-factly. He pulls the drawer all the way out and dumps its contents on the cold stone floor. ”Is it cursed?” he asks the flying mechanical owl, afraid to lift the weapon.
Waagic stows the staff in his clothing as he races over to the half-drow.
The gnome drives his fist down, aiming to shatter the drow blade with no further delay!
Waagic finds it extraordinarily difficult to damage the sword! But he manages to land two solid blows, noticeably weakening the where the adamantine is attached to the handle.
But before you can do more to the blade, you hear an echoing whistle, as if wind is passing through these tunnels. Ghostly, gnomish shapes rush toward you into the temple's repository! Two of them look the same but the one in the middle looks more powerful.
Kar reacts with quickness when Myras confirms that the sword has been found. He leaves the annulet where it was, not wanting to disturb the dead more than they already are.
Noticing the new presences in the place, he rushes forth to block their path.
"Deal with that sword quickly! We'll manage them!"
"Will do!", replues Waagic as his fists move back and forth in a brutal flurry.
The gnome professor moves a bit then settles down in place, "What in the...?"
His studies have not graced him with any information about the spirits. So he instead focuses on something else he knows.
Hoot hoot!
"What does the aura say!?"
"Jadger! We could use your help down here!" Myras shouts as he squints toward the approaching ghosts.
Hastily, he snaps his fingers and his hair turns a gentle copper color, hoping to look less like a Drow invader to the spirits of the fallen gnomes. He then shouts a word of bravery to Kargoroth on the front lines, hoping to help him stay the onslaught.
Kargoroth recognizes the lesser ghosts as spectres!
Waagic isn't sure of a lot about the greater ghost but he thinks its a wraith. All he knows is it probably has sunlight sensitivity. The deep gnome tries to punch the sword twice more but his fists merely bounce off of it.
Rankle believes the sword is exactly what they are looking for. It seems to bear a powerful curse from the many lives it has taken.
While waiting for the ghosts to come, Kar invokes a ray of magical force and hurls it at the first one.
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Kargoroth's blast damages the first spectre. The three ghosts then rush at Kargoroth, wailing and screeching, though they do seem more interested in moving toward the sword. They claw and screech at Kargoroth but the paladin's holy armor keeps them at bay, for now...
You hear more screeching approaching from the hallway and the voice of Burrow Warden Jadger yells back "I am helping! Why do you think there's only three so far?!!!?"
Waagic exhausts his remaining ki in an effort to beat the sword into pieces.
Waagic manages to damage the sword one more time, a little bit. The sword itself lets out a whistling shriek, as if of anger, and the ghosts seem to move even faster.
Kargoroth's ray of force was not as accurate as he would have wished. Trying to finish the damaged spectre, the half-elf uses his pact blade with switness - he hopes to end the minor threats so they can overwhelm the stronger ghost or Waagic can destroy the sword.
"Someone help Waagic!"
Having to act hastefully takes its toll, though, and Kar loses precision enough to miss by a few inches.
"Waagic! Hold it up I'm going to try something very risky!"
A shimmering green arrow streaks toward a target within range and bursts in a spray of acid. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 4d4 acid damage immediately and 2d4 acid damage at the end of its next turn. On a miss, the arrow splashes the target with acid for half as much of the initial damage and no damage at the end of its next turn.
Loading a vial into where he launches his darts, the gnome tries something wild and dangerous. You can almost sense a smirk on his face and despite the peril, a little excited titter.
"Here goes!"
Kargoroth barely misses the ghost while Rankle fires his acid arrow powerfully but it barely kisses the edge of the sword, having little effect.
Myras draws his rapier and stabs mightily at the adamantium sword.
He then offers a rhyming couplet of encouragement to Rankle!
[ooc]Bardic Inspiration for the Rock Gnome.[/dice]
Cyrus holds his bow shakily and backs away from the ghosts toward the exit "This be too much..."
The ghosts shriek and wail. Two of them strike at Kargoroth then move off to approach anyone near the sword while another moves toward Rankle and swipes at him (but misses).
The mighty paladin, unfortunately, is struck twice and he feels the ghosts dragging the very life force from his body. (10 necrotic and 20 necrotic).
His ki drained and time short, Waagic feels that he can do little else but keep trying to break the sword - albeit with less speed than before.
Kar feels all his life's blood is slowly draining away, and tries to counterattack.
Waagic misses twice but Kargoroth lands a solid blow on the greater ghost.
Myras sees, one by one, as exits are blocked with ghastly forms. Knowing he doesn't have much time to lose, he quickly wraps his hands in his robe and lifts the blade, careful not to let it touch his skin.
"You want the sword?" he shouts, now holding the dark weapon in his robe-ensconced hand. "Well you'll just have to come and get it!" and then, suddenly, he fades into the stone backdrop.
Waagic feels an invisible half-Drow push past him as Myras tries to confuse the ghosts and distract them from his allies.
Seeing the ghost near him just barely bounce off his magical defenses, the gnome hears the inspiration from Myras and tries a new strategy.
"This is going to be hot!"
Whipping some wired bolas out, they made a loud crackle before they hit the ground, exploding into a ball of flame near the sword.
Turtling down he does his best to focus on the sphere, and pull it with the attached wire.
A 5-foot-diameter sphere of fire appears in an unoccupied space of your choice within range and lasts for the duration. Any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the sphere must make a Dexterity saving throw. The creature takes 2d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. As a bonus action, you can move the sphere up to 30 feet. If you ram the sphere into a creature, that creature must make the saving throw against the sphere’s damage, and the sphere stops moving this turn. When you move the sphere, you can direct it over barriers up to 5 feet tall and jump it across pits up to 10 feet wide. The sphere ignites flammable objects not being worn or carried, and it sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet.
Kargoroth lands a powerful blow, his blade glowing white, and draws a snarl of anger from the wraith. Rankle burns the sword a little then invisible Myras absconds with it! The ghosts look around for it in confusion but don't know where it is. They can still sense its presence though and shriek at those present "Vengeance!! Vengeance!!"
Driven mad by the shrieking of the ghosts, Cyrus looks around warily and begins backing out of the chamber. Waagic and Rankle each manage to dodge the claws of a specter. But the angry wraith lashes out powerfully at Kargoroth, tearing through the half-elf's body and sucking more life from him.