Yingzen!
Roper!
Al'Torac!
Allison Jones!
Daisy!
Mikey!
Sieg!
Koran!
Froghemoth!
TBD: Derrik! Radsworth!
Eeeeeek! Eeeeeek!
The FOs stand more or less in marching order (martials up front, casters in back) just outside the open gate, which is on the west wall of the 50-ft-square chamber.
The closed ornate door that presumably opens onto further sections of the Hall is in the east wall.
The war hammer and barrel sit roughly at the center of the floor, about 25 ft away from the front gate.
The roper stands in the northeast corner, about 40 ft from the front gate.
The froghemoth stands nearer the hammer and barrel at the center, about 30 ft away from the front gate.
Torches burn in brackets mounted in each of the four corners, and in the center of the north and south walls, brightly illuminating the chamber, and there is little to hide behind on the way to the monsters, but since they will both be flat-footed when Yingzen acts in the first round, he might still be able to get sneak attack on the froghemoth (or roper if he has the speed)....
Rad hangs near the back, curious to see how these newcomers handled the two brutish monsters. He smiles to the erstwhile kobald.
"In due time. For now, I believe you are needed."
After Yingzen:
The large, rocky-looking cyclopean creature with the six ropy lateral tentacles whips all six tentacles forward, two shooting at Yingzen, two at Mikey Jay, and two at Koran....
Roper strand at Yingzen touch deals Str damage and pulls Yingzen 5 ft closer....
Roper strand at Yingzen touch deals Str damage and pulls Yingzen 5 ft closer....
Roper strand at MJ touch deals Str damage and pulls MJ 5 ft closer....
Roper strand at MJ touch deals Str damage and pulls MJ 5 ft closer.... Confirm crit touch confirms for crit Str damage!
Roper strand at Koran touch deals Str damage and pulls Koran 5 ft closer....
Roper strand at Koran touch deals Str damage and pulls Koran 5 ft closer....
Takes 13 Str damage!
Ugh.... Sieg's right.... Just lost a lot of my strength!
On her turn, Daisy steps up behind MJ and lays a hand on his right arm, casting restoration to restore all his Strength!
There ya go, Mikey!
Thanksh, Dollface!
MJ swings the Sword of Sif down at the sticky rope-like strand around his waist.... severs the strand!
With his second swing, he swipes at the strand around Koran's waist (knowing the giant wouldn't be cutting anything with Mjolnir) severs the strand on Koran!
Be free, Big Guy!
The fleet footed warrior then speeds toward the roper and swings twice more!
Third fleet warrior powerful speedy Sword of Sif deals slashing plus holy plus acid, cold, and electricity damage....
Fourth fleet warrior powerful speedy Sword of Sif deals slashing plus holy plus acid, cold, and electricity damage....
124 total damage to the roper!
AAAAAARRRRRGHH!!! This one hits hard! I must gobble him up first!
Correction: after the roper's energy resistances and immunities, it takes 1 point of acid damage, so 118 total damage on the roper from MJ's attacks....
Sieg cracks his knuckles and dashes in toward the Froghemoth.
When he gets next to him he sizes him up and, with blinding quickness, gets it in a headlock, and starts squeezing its neck under his muscled arm.
Once he has the creature well and truly under control, he laboriously starts swinging it around.
"Mikey! Duck!"
Actually, the froghemoth was not adjacent to the roper--it was nearer the center of the chamber (30 ft from the front gate) and the roper is in the NE corner, about 15 ft from the froghemoth.... I'll cut Sieg a break and let him keep that critical as an attack on the froghemoth only....
And the surge is not necessary, nor is the Acrobatics check, as the froghemoth is still flat-footed when Sieg acts, and can't make AoOs....
I'm counting 85 points of damage on the froghemoth....
Fort save vs DC 20 succeeds....
Sorry for the lack of combat maps--I know a more web-savvy GM would probably have awesome maps for every combat... I'm posting almost all of this on my phone lol.... I need to get a good paint app....
If nothing else, the floor is adjacent to the froghemoth.... Big froggy bodyslam! Lol!
Koran grunts as his strength is sapped away by the roper. Agh, daisy you got anything for this strength sucking-whatever *he trails off into an incomprehensible string of abyssal curses and launches himself towards the roper. Assuming that electricity won't do much against the rocky creature Koran forgoes the usual forking bolts of his rage for an aura of abyssal fire that envelops Mjolnir's head.
assuming attack 1 misses and the rest hit: 186 total. I don't know about energy resistance/vulnerability so i'll let you figure that out. It's a total of 13 electricity and 6 fire.
Koran's flurry of blows against the roper with Mjolnir shatters the monster's stony hide, splattering its red entrails all over the northeast corner of the chamber....
AAAAAK!!....*gurgle*
Grapple check to escape Sieg's vice-like grip fails! The froghemoth's powerful limbs and coils struggle to break the tetori brawler off its back, but it is unable to pry the incredibly strong grappler off!
On her turn in the second round, Daisy moves to Koran and casts restoration on him, fully restoring his Strength damage....
Gotcha, Koran....
On his turn in round 2, MJ darts over to the froghemoth and slashes away at its pale under belly while Sieg grapples it from the other side....
Fleet speedy powerful furiously focused Sword of Sif deals slashing plus holy plus acid, cold, and electricity damage....
Fleet speedy powerful furiously focused Sword of Sif deals slashing plus holy plus acid, cold, and electricity damage....
Fleet speedy powerful furiously focused Sword of Sif deals slashing plus holy plus acid, cold, and electricity damage....
Fleet speedy powerful furiously focused Sword of Sif deals slashing plus holy plus acid, cold, and electricity damage....
The froghemoth's entrails spill from the great, gaping gashes opened in its belly by the Sword of Sif!
I'll bet this thing's legs would be delicious roasted over an open flame and slathered with barbecue sauce....
The froghemoth spasms violently and exhales a long death rattle....
Rad chuckles.
"That's incredibly insensitive to Kermit, Mikey!"
Haha! Well, I'm sure Kermit's legs are delicious, too! Let's face it! From the right perspective, I'm sure my meat's pretty tasty, too.... God, I'm finally going mad! Haha!
MJ grins and stabs the froghemoth's carcass a few times with the Sword of Sif to make sure it's truly dead....
So.... I suppose we gotta do something with the hammer and the barrel to open that back door, there....
MJ nods at the huge, ornately graven door on the east wall....
"I vote for the simple solution." Sieg picks up the hammer and smashes the barrel with it.
"It's just like Donkey Kong. I hope."
"I vote for the simple solution." Sieg picks up the hammer and smashes the barrel with it.
"It's just like Donkey Kong. I hope."
Sieg is surprised by the weight of the hammer when he tries to lift it.... It weighs 1,000 lbs!
The inhumanly strong tetori brawler is actually strong enough to lift it off the ground, but not strong enough to effectively wield it in a way to smash the barrel....
The barrel has no top, and seems to be empty....
Maybe we put the hammer inside the barrel?
Sieg grunts.
"Thing must weigh at least half a ton."
"Big guy. Koran. This thing may be meant for you."
"But since I'm already holding it, Daisy's suggestion couldn't hurt."
He raises the hammer high enough to it put it in the barrel, and tries to do so.
As Sieg drops the heavy hammer into the barrel, the east door swings open with a ponderous creaking groan....
A broad stairway, 20-ft wide and 20-ft high, with great, broad steps of shaped stone, seemingly sized for a giant, descends downward some 100 ft to open upon another area, from whence a whistling and moaning as of continuous gusts of strong wind can be heard....
The stairway is illuminated at 20-ft intervals by torches in sconces, guttering fitfully in the draft that blows up the stairs from below.....
Well, looks like we go down....
MJ grips the Sword of Sif in both hands, blade held up at an angle, ready to strike, and begins to walk down the steps....
"Well. That was easier than expected."
Sieg follows after MJ.
The expedition descends the stairs 100 ft and through a 20-ft-wide, 30-ft high archway, to a square chamber some 50 ft square, with a high ceiling, 100 ft above, on which magically-illuminated bas reliefs of clouds with human faces, cheeks puffed out as if blowing, and angels with trumpets, can be seen.
A constant gale-force wind buffets the entire chamber from the ceiling to the floor, preventing flying and the use of throwing or projectile ranged weapons....
The walls on all four sides are smooth and sheer, and appear to be made of white marble....
80 ft up the east wall is an open archway, 20-ft-wide-by-30-ft-high, which appears to be the continuation of the Hall. Arcane symbols are etched around this archway....
At the center of the wind-swept floor is a large lever....
Scattered across the floor of the windy chamber are several curious objects: a robe, a coil of rope, a crystal decanter, a feather, and a metal cube....
Yingzen looks around for any possible traps before the party ventures to far forward
There doesn't appear to be any traps, but Yingzen does discern that a thick door or valve hangs in a hidden space above the entrance, perhaps lowered by the lever at the center of the wind-swept chamber....
Daisy chants briefly, stretching her hand out in a gesture of scanning the objects strewn over the floor....
Each of the things laying on the floor here are magical....
Allison remained pretty quiet for most of the time leading up to and including the battle. Combat never sat particularly well with her.
She stood in the archway with her hands in the pockets of her white doctor coat as she peered in and looked around.
Assuming nothing from her arcane senses tips her off that this is a bad plan, she then proceeds to reach out with her will as a large mystical hand materialized in the air by the lever. Miming the movements with her own left hand, the magic figment grabs the lever and pulls.
The Mage hand pulls the lever, and with a grinding of stone on stone, a great door slides down to seal the archway through which the party entered this area....
Investigation via detect magic and Spellcraft reveals the following:
The archway surrounded by runes and sigils that opens at 80 ft up the east wall, presumably the continuation of the Hall, is warded against extradimensional travel such as dimension door or teleport....
The robe on the floor is a robe of useful items, and has the following patches: 2 ladders (24 ft long when conjured), 2 row boats (enough room for everyone in the expedition), and a team of pack mules....
The rope is a rope of climbing....
The feather (which is difficult to catch as it is being blown around the floor by the gale-force winds buffeting the area from the high ceiling) is a feather token (tree)....
The small metal cube is an instant fortress....
The crystal decanter is a decanter of endless water....
After explaining her discoveries to the group, Allison decides to avoid the winds until one of the studier members of the group ventures out first. In the meantime she uses her mage hand to bring the items over to her and the other. Taking as many trips as needed, the hand brings back the cube, then the decanter, the robe, and the rope. She can't seem to grab the feather easier with her magic hand, so she waits for someone else to take it.
Um... anyone want anything?
the little cloaked figured watch the party carefully
To summarize the situation (and clarify it a bit), the party is in a 50-ft-square chamber with only two ways out--the way they came in (currently sealed by a huge stone door that fell into place when Jones used Mage hand to throw the lever at the center of the floor), and a 20-ft-by-30-ft open archway located 80 ft up the east wall and evidently warded against teleportation magic.
A continuous gale-force wind blowing from bas reliefs of human-faced clouds and angels blowing trumpets on the 100-ft-high ceiling would make flying up to the archway impossible, and the marble walls seem too smooth for climbing.
Several magic items conspicuously strewn about--a robe of useful items, a rope of climbing, a feather token, a decanter of endless water, and an instant fortress--might provide a means to progress....
"The easy way is to climb up the magic rope, do you think?"
I don't know... I don't see any good place for even a magical rope to secure itself... she said timidly and slightly afraid of the burly fighter.
After a few moments pondering, a solution came to her. She stuck the cube into her haversack for later use and then pulled the canoe patches from the robe.
Ok everyone. Climb into a boat. And um... Please hold on tightly...
Once the party was all boarded she took the decanter and set it firmly on the ground before calling out Geyser laced with magical will. As water rushed out from the decanter she jumped back into one of the boats and waited for the room to fill with water (300 gallons/minute) and carry them to the exit....
It takes over an hour, but Jones' solution works quite well. The decanter floods the chamber and the expedition slowly rides up to the exit aboard the two row boats from the robe of useful items....
Once the expedition has climbed out of the boats onto the continuation of the hallway, they find themselves standing in a 20-ft wide hall with arched ceiling 30-ft high, that runs east some 60 ft before opening into another area. This next area, and the hallway leading into it, are apparently illuminated by flickering torches in sconces at 20-ft intervals....
That was kind of a fun ride....
MJ looks at the boats docked at the archway and the surface of the water, which suddenly seems to be receding, and taking the boats with it....
Hmmm.... I guess turning back is not an option once you start out in the Hall of Trials....
Subsequently checking on the magic items retrieved from the wind chamber reveals that all five objects have mysteriously vanished (teleported back to their original location in the wind chamber)....
"Reminds me of the old water locks. Good work Ms. Jones."
Thanks, she replies with a slight German accent and without much in the way of confidence, and um... not to seem snooty, but it's "Doctor" actually. Twice over really. she adds with a nervous smile.
As the party walks down the hallway, Allison casts dancing lights and sends the pack of glowing orbs flying down the hallway (100 ft/round) to make sure it is not some sort of illusion.
As the FOs are preparing to enter the next area, a fly buzzes into the hall and hovers nearby, seemingly investigating the expedition....
It speaks quite clearly in a buzzing voice: Well done, heroes! Thou hast bested the Trial of the Hammer and Barrel, and the Trial of the Wind Well! Clearly, thou art not easily discouraged by challenges! The next trial is the Trial of Lore, so don thy headbands of intellect! A series of questions thou must answer correctly, or else the asker will try to eat thee! Good luck to thee!
The fly buzzes off to the east, toward the arched opening into the next area of the Hall of Trials....