Romund puts the plan in motion.
For the second time in a row, the plan works like a well oiled machine. The whir of a clockwork mechanism is followed by a steady 'thunk' of arrows hitting the walls and door. It seems to go on for ages - with perhaps a few hundred arrows being released, before finally stopping. Outside the room, you are all unharmed.
"Ha!" and pumps his fist into the air. He looks over at Romund with elation in his eyes, "Well done Romund!" and proceeds into the room, cautiously at first, but with more confidence as he see's the expended trap.
The younger half orc follows Grum with a silly ear-to-ear smile on his face.
Distracted by his happiness he goes oblivious to his surroundings.
Nice job now lets move on
Xavier moves forward.
Thereis a single pillar in the center of the room supporting this wide, domed chamber. The pillar is surrounded by a pit, but a stone bridge crosses the pit on the south side. Dozens of holes jut from holes in the pillar, facing every direction - clearly where the arrows sprung from.
Facing you is the door you suspect leads back to the other side of the dungeon. It looks identical to the one you saw previously. To the south (your right) is a door. It won't open and there is no keyhole. Again it looks familiar and you suspect it is opened by a switch. There are, however, no switches in this room.
"Lets head back to the pool room and take that passage, maybe we can find out way through this maze."
Giving a last, frustrated look at the southern, un-openable door, Grum heads back out toward the pool room, weapon at the ready.
Yeah, I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to drop out of this game.
With my school and work schedule only promising to get busier from here on out, and a new computer giving me a wealth of other things to do, I just don't have nearly as much time for PbP games anymore.
I want to thank you all for letting me play with you, and especially you, GM Birch, for putting all this together. I wish you all the best.
"Got your back, brother."
Grob nods and follows his brother's lead.
I agree let us go
Yeah, I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to drop out of this game.
With my school and work schedule only promising to get busier from here on out, and a new computer giving me a wealth of other things to do, I just don't have nearly as much time for PbP games anymore.
I want to thank you all for letting me play with you, and especially you, GM Birch, for putting all this together. I wish you all the best.
You make your way back and enter the entrance to the long corridor. You see it iis flanked by a row of human statues, set into alcoves on each side. The statues look like Kassen, and each one holds a longsword out in front of it. The blades of roughly half the statues are wrapped in leather padding.
Grum admires the nearest Kassen statue and notices that some are wrapped. Before he inspects them closer he scans the rooms and alcoves.
Grum scans the area ahead and without moving into the corridor, nothing appears out of the ordinary. It's just a narrow passage.
Sighing as nothing seems amiss, Grum steps ahead and leads the others deeper into the hallway.
"Huh. Guess he wasn't a two hander kind of guy..." Grobradon mutters as they move.
Beyond the pairs of statues there is a simple wooden door, which is closed.
As you reach the third pair of statues, Doc is aware that as he steps on a flagstone, there is a subtle click and immediately all of the statues to suddenly swing their swords downward, making attacks against anyone caught between them. Doc takes the ful force of one of the blades and he falls heavily to the floor, motionless.
Romund ducks to the left trying o roll out of the blade's range.
"Doc!" Grob screams, and then scrambles to avoid being skewered himself.
What the heck
Xavier rolls to the ground and stands back up in an attempt to dodge the falling swords.
Grum doesn't have time to worry about Doc as he lurches clumsily to one side, trying to avoid the same fate as the motionless dwarf.
A combination of luck and judgment enables the group to avoid the falling swords. With the tragic exception of Doc, whose dungeon-trawling days are now sadly over.
You cover the body, to attend to later and continue to the door. It is closed but not locked and no sound can be heard from the other side.
Grum shouts in anger and moves quickly to Doc's side. "Poor fellow, he was a good soul." He looks up at the others, "Let us have no more death before we quit this place!" Closing Docs eyes and standing, he tries to gather himself and then nods for Romund to inspect the door for traps, opening the portal once it's been cleared.
"Damn it. Damn it Damn it." Grob takes it hard. This was on his watch, so to speak. As part of the militia, he's supposed to protect the townsfolk. But I didn't protect Doc, did I?
The door is not trapped, so you open it carefully. In front of you is a room with high ceilings that has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing opposite the door is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “home,” while the other reads “family.”
At the back of the room is a plain wooden door.
Grum moves into the room, cautious at first, but with more confidence when nothing springs to attack. He stands before Kassen and regards the artwork with unblinking eyes, finally casting an ironic glance over towards Grob, "We could have used some shields that size growing up, eh Grob?"
"Once or twice, definitely. " Grob tries to focus on current matters, not the recent loss "Home, Family? Sounds like Erastil teachings "
Grum nods his agreement absently, still eying the statue, "Does it? I always get teachings mixed up... Think it's pertinent to our exploration or just nice to look at?" Grum adjusts his bow in his hands and peers around the room a final time, ready to continue on.
Xavier walks into the room and casts detect magic.
this whole place has been very odd. I'll see if anything magical is about
Xavier is instantly aware that something magical is present and as his senses point towards the statue, you all hear the sound of wood creaking and the figure of Kassen steps forward.
It raises the two enormous shields in an attacking stance.
Grum reacts badly to the sudden movement of the statue, nearly falling over in surprise, "Lookout!" and casts around the room for some reason to the madness before his eyes.
He tries to ready himself for combat.
"Got your back, brother." Grob moves to his brother's side, despite the imprecision of his phrasing, there's no doubting his intent.
Romund watches the dwarf's body not sure how he was supposed to feel. He is actually in shock. While he have killed beasts in the past this is the first time he has seen a person die right in front of him. Living most of his days in the woods his pratical instincts take over after a couple of minutes of motionless silence. He grabs Doc's satchel of provisions and follow the others.
In the new room Grob's comment seems to wake him out of his reverie.
Yea, definitely Erastil. he says making a face and remembering all the afternoons he spend at the temple, scrubbing the floors.
Watch'it! as the statue moves.
Grum notices an oddity with the wooden statue - there is a keyhole in its back. As he stares at it, Romund follows his eyes and at once realises it's the keyhole that matches Xavier's key from the bottom of the pool.
Now if only it would stand still whilst you inserted the key!
Holy light and fire is that a construct? How the heck do we stop it?
A keyhole!
There is a keyhole in that thing's back! Maybe Xavier's magical key will fit in it! Romund says excited.
ROUND 1
Maybe but I am not fleet of foot enough to use it
looking at the key then looking at Romund.
Romund think you can use the key to disable this thing?
Xavier gives key to Romund
"I'll try to keep it focused on me," Grobradon readies to move around it so it turns its back to Romund.
Romund stops in his tracks, his face turning a little pale as he looks at the statue.
CRAP!
He picks up the key and starts to go around the thing to flank it.
Grum's arrow finds its mark but it bounces off the statue. There is no way of telling what damage was done. The statue, for its part seems unsure who to attack and spins from side to side, looking for a likely target.
Grobradon takes a deep breath, puts his sword away, "Here goes nothing..." and launches himself at the guardian's weapon arm, hoping to keep it occupied so Rommund will have the chance he needs.
I don't have to hold it forever, just long enough for Rommund to get behind it.
Guide my friend in his abilities to tackle this creature
Quick on his feet Romund waits for Grobradon to distract the statue and jumps at it's back trying to insert the key.
Grum tries to grab the other weapon arm to distract the beast enough for Romund to get close.