The doors open onto a vast hall draped in shadowy cobwebs and filled with haphazardly placed statues. The air is heavy with dust. Any noise echoes hollowly among the figures, some swathed in thick coverings like misshapen beasts, others bare and uncovered, all coated in a thick layer of dust. Leering visages loom out of the darkness, fearsome wooden and stone faces carved in grimaces and scowls.
The room has a 20-high ceiling and holds a dazzling collection of sculptures, effigies, and statues of different sizes, some draped in sheets. The door you opened has a wooden sign reading "Scriptorium - Quiet Please" draped on the back.
As you open the door, two statues flanking either side, spring to life and move to attack with stone longswords.
Looks like all the party is up first against the columns.
Know Arcana DC 13:
These living statues are caryatid columns. They are constructs of a magical nature.
Know Arcana DC 18:
Made of living stone, the column have DR 5/- and those attacking with weapons run the risk of breaking or shattering their weapons with a successful hit.
Know Arcana DC 23:
Like most constructs, caryatid columns are also immune to magic. Most spells with SR will not work on them. Although a few have interesting effects.
Half-orc Samurai 3 | HP 31/31 | AC 20; Tch 12; FF 18 | F +7; R +5; W +3 | CMB+6; CMD 18 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | MW Katana (cold iron): +7 (1d8+4/18-20) | Perc +3
Unless they have combat reflexes, they should still be flat-footed and hopefully not get an AoO.
Helm follows the intrepid Swayaah into the room, his katana ready to cut down the statues. However, it clanks harmlessly into one of the other obstacles in the room.
Male Halfling Alchemist Grenadier 3 / Gunslinger Pistolero 1 | HP 35 | BAB 3 | AC 18 | T 13 | FF 16 | Grit 3/3 | Fort +8 | Ref +9 | Will +5 | Perc +11 | Init +2|
Kn Arcana:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Seeing the statues come to life, Tad calls out, "Watch out! You'll break your...oh, crap."
Tad quickly follows the others inside before the statues can react. Moving past Swayahh (double move) Tad hopes some of his special bullets will penetrate the stone golems.
Elris is quick enough to react first to the living statues, but instead he hesitates, trying to determin what they are.
Helm leaps into combat with the statue, hoping to strike first. He swings his katana, but it catches another object on the backswing and misses completely.
The statues, which Tad recognizes as dangerous to the group's weapons, are slow to react, and the gunslinger slips into the next room before they can ready their stone weapons completely.
Entering a reflective state, Dvalin divinely is able to send a tactical advantage to the mighty Swayaah, granting her quickened speed.
The tiefling pounces into the room swinging her earhtbreaker at the statue on her left. The mighty hammer pounds into the stone warrior with a resounding clang, chipping some stone off the target, but the damage done to the earthbreaker is massive. The large stone head hangs by a sliver after the resounding blow.
Caryatid 2 swings at Helm, but the stone sword just swishes over his head as he ducks out of the way.
Caryatid 1 counterstrokes against Swayahh, the blade caroming off her armor, leaving her alerted but unharmed.
I am a bit shaky on the rules for breaking weapons. It appears from the table, that ordinary two-handed haft weapons like earthbreaker have 5 hardness and 5 hp. The 10 damage above should then cause the weapon to be ruined. If someone has an alternative argument, post a link to back it up and I'll consider.
Cold iron has a hardness of 10 and 30 HP per inch thickness ... so I believe that an Earth Breaker would have at least 30 HP and the first 10 damage would be reduced by the hardness, so Swayahh's EB should be undamaged?
Male Halfling Alchemist Grenadier 3 / Gunslinger Pistolero 1 | HP 35 | BAB 3 | AC 18 | T 13 | FF 16 | Grit 3/3 | Fort +8 | Ref +9 | Will +5 | Perc +11 | Init +2|
I assumed Tad calling out, albiet belatedly, was enough."Careful, these creatures can break your weapons!
Tad takes a move action to apply an acid flask to his cartridge (grenadier ability), spends a grit for Up Close adn Deadly, and then fires at the statue attacking Swayaah.
Spells 3/2/1| Controlled Rage 12/12 | GM Folio Reroll +2 | HP 109/109 | AC 23 T 14 FF 22 | Saves: 13/9/8 (Evasion, +2 vs Evil, +2 vs Spells and Spell-Like) | CMD 28 | Perception +17 | Init +1 Female Tiefling | Urban Ranger 10, Urban Barbarian 1 | Animal Companion |
Swayaah hops as the earthbreaker slams into the statue, but feels the feedback bounce against her weapon.
"Oh thank goodness I upgraded this armor..." She mumbles as the statue's blade glances against her.
Swayaah's AC is 17 thanks to Dvalin's haste ability.
Dvalin notes that this cold iron weapon may be OK. My next action will depend on whether or not the earthbreaker is broken.
If the earthbreaker is OK:
"A little late there, Tad. Luckily, this earthbreaker is OK?" Swayaah giggles as she quickly swings the earthbreaker at the statue she hit before, hoping to get more use out of it.
I had not picked up that the earthbreaker was cold iron, only MW. As such, I agree with Dvalin, it is undamaged after last round.
Elris is able to fire a quality shot, even through the doorway. From behind it strikes the stone statue, chipping a bit off.
Helm reserves his katana, and instead steps back and tosses a flask of acid at the living statute. The acid hits it squarely, falling all over the surface, but even so, it only has little effect.
Tad fires his pistol after applying an acid flask to it. The enhanced bullet hits the target, but the stone deflects some of the projectiles damage.
Dvalin's trance-like state continues as his concentration passes along extra speed to Swayaah.
The girl uses the speed to good advantage, swinging twice. Her first swing connects with the stone statue again making that ringing sound and shuddering the haft of her weapon, a small crack developing this time.
The southernmost statue advances just a bit to behind Swayaah. Both statues swing in unison at the flanked warrior. The first shot hits for 7 hp damage but the second clangs against the floor harmlessly.
Spells 3/2/1| Controlled Rage 12/12 | GM Folio Reroll +2 | HP 109/109 | AC 23 T 14 FF 22 | Saves: 13/9/8 (Evasion, +2 vs Evil, +2 vs Spells and Spell-Like) | CMD 28 | Perception +17 | Init +1 Female Tiefling | Urban Ranger 10, Urban Barbarian 1 | Animal Companion |
Swayaah frowns as she sees the crack form on her earthbreaker. "Well, not using my claws on these, so I'll keep 'em distracted." Swayaah continues to focus on the statue she's walloped so far.
Male Halfling Alchemist Grenadier 3 / Gunslinger Pistolero 1 | HP 35 | BAB 3 | AC 18 | T 13 | FF 16 | Grit 3/3 | Fort +8 | Ref +9 | Will +5 | Perc +11 | Init +2|
Tad squints at the damage his bullet did the statue and grimaces. "The things are tough SOB's. Gonna have to go nitro on em," Tad grumbles. He pulls a flask from his bandolier and takes a long pull.
Elris steps nearer the doorway to find the right line of sight, but the moving statue defeats his shot, and his arrow caroms harmlessly off the stone armor.
Helm, after throwing acid last round to limited effect, switches to his longbow as well. He finds shooting into the melee scrum problematic, as his shot also fails to score a hit.
I don't see the shooting into melee penalty or Precise Shot feat, so with the penalty, Helm's shot is a miss.
Seeing how touch the statues are, Tad starts to think its time to bring out the big guns. He starts mixing an explosive cocktail, stepping back out of the blast radius.
Dvalin's concentration continues, his thoughts divinely speeding up the movements of Swayaah.
Despite the damage she's doing to her weapon, Swayaah continues to hammer on the statues, her first blow striking solidly, even though her second fails to connect. The hammer blow does seem effective as large cracks are now visible snaking across the surface of the first statute warrior. The weapon takes 3 more HP (total of 6) as it smashes into the stone.
The two columns continue to flank the hammer wielding warrior, both taking turns attacking her once again. While the cracked statue misses, the less damaged on hits her hard for 10hp dmg.
Elris fires once again from the doorway, his precise shot strikes the meleeing statue, and chips a piece off the easternmost, less damaged one.
Helm also attacks the same living statue with his katana. His strike is powerful but blunted by the stone recipient, and the shimmer back up the blade makes him cringe with concern.
The katana takes 2 hp damage. Cold iron has 30hp, so a bit of damage. I am skipping Tad in the order, but will let him have his action before the bad guys go again (if any survive).
Dvalin's concentration continues to speed up Swayaah's actions and she plants one attack on the first statue, the earthbreaker shattering the stone into dozens of fragments as the enemy falls. Swayaah pivots, moving unnaturally fast, and releases a blast on the second enemy, also knocking a chunk from it. Both hits reverberate down the length of her weapon, causing it to notch further.
The earthbreaker takes only 2 dmg total, now 8/30 dmg. Remember when it takes half HP it gets the broken condition. Waiting on Tad, then the remaining guardian will go.
Tad's explosive concoction flies through the air and crashes into the remaining statue with a loud crumping burst. When the smoke clears, the statue is still functional but it looks ready to burst with another solid hit.
Turning to attack Helm the statue swings with its stone blade. The blade bangs into the samuari warrior, but his armor protects him from any harm.
Spells 3/2/1| Controlled Rage 12/12 | GM Folio Reroll +2 | HP 109/109 | AC 23 T 14 FF 22 | Saves: 13/9/8 (Evasion, +2 vs Evil, +2 vs Spells and Spell-Like) | CMD 28 | Perception +17 | Init +1 Female Tiefling | Urban Ranger 10, Urban Barbarian 1 | Animal Companion |
"Who put these statues in here, anyway? How did they fit through the door?" Swayaah ponders for a moment, right before she gets another jolt of divine speed.
Brawler 1/Lore Warden 2 HP 22/22 | AC 19 T 14 FF 15 | Fort +6 Ref +7 Will +1 | Init +4 Per +9 | Low Light Vision, Keen Senses
Wand Charges:
CLW 45/50
Martial Flexibility:
3/4
Moved ya as to hit Swayaah
Elris runs into the room, and pivots on the ball of his foot as he turns around and lets another arrow fly at the statue just as he shouts Swayaah, "Arrow on the right!"
The arrow from Elris presages the devastation wrought on the remaining statue by Swayaah's hastened form. She totally demolishes the caryatid column, dispersing it into fine dust and small stones that litter the floor.
End of Combat
Shatter Weapon:3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 6) = 14
Weapon take 4 more hp dmg, but only once as the first blow does enough to end the enemy. Still just short of broken condition.
In the rubble of each of the smashed statues, Dvalin finds a fist-sized opal. A detailed search of the rest of room only finds more unusual statuary, but no more details about the missing Blakros girl.
Spells 3/2/1| Controlled Rage 12/12 | GM Folio Reroll +2 | HP 109/109 | AC 23 T 14 FF 22 | Saves: 13/9/8 (Evasion, +2 vs Evil, +2 vs Spells and Spell-Like) | CMD 28 | Perception +17 | Init +1 Female Tiefling | Urban Ranger 10, Urban Barbarian 1 | Animal Companion |
"Well. Not that I don't mind smashing sentient statues, but it didn't do much for us, besides the workout." Swayaah stows her earthbreaker away.
"My bet is on that thick wall of fungus back in the storage room. Maybe we can find out why The Eye is Vigilant."
Either we find some mystery room behind that fungus, or we head up the ramp to report on what happened to the guards. Maybe the curator knows what "The Eye is Vigilant" means.
Male Halfling Alchemist Grenadier 3 / Gunslinger Pistolero 1 | HP 35 | BAB 3 | AC 18 | T 13 | FF 16 | Grit 3/3 | Fort +8 | Ref +9 | Will +5 | Perc +11 | Init +2|
Tad reloads his pistol and tightens the bandolier of bombs on his chest. "if the fungus be our only stone left unturned, then let us search it more thoroughly."
Heading back into the fungal covered archives, the party starts searching the place in detail looking for any hint as to what happened to Imirzade Blakros.
Perception DC 25:
Covered by the thick mat of fungus on the east side of the archives, a trapdoor is discovered behind the last bookshelf.
Spells 3/2/1| Controlled Rage 12/12 | GM Folio Reroll +2 | HP 109/109 | AC 23 T 14 FF 22 | Saves: 13/9/8 (Evasion, +2 vs Evil, +2 vs Spells and Spell-Like) | CMD 28 | Perception +17 | Init +1 Female Tiefling | Urban Ranger 10, Urban Barbarian 1 | Animal Companion |
Swayaah takes a gander around the fungus, clawing away at nearby fungus.
Perception:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
"Ew, it's all over my claws. Then again those gibbering masses left my claws messy, too. Ilvan, stop chewing on that mushroom." She aborts the search to feed Ilvan.
Can we take 20 to search this place?
If we can take 20...:
"Hey, what's this?" Swayaah swipes away some fungus. "A trapdoor, nice. Let's see what's behind there..."
