Jayse takes the box as he answers, "Um… honestly I'm not sure. When we first washed up on shore and needed some guidance, she offered it. She's got the reputation of a witch and a hermit to the people who live closest to her, but she's been nothing but helpful and kind to us - in her own way. And she was the first to provide us with any information… cryptic as it was."
"Ushari, how does this thing work?"
Straehan shares a large measure of Jayse's reserve. "It seems to me, Ush, we aren't necessarily opposed by anyone yet. She's got opponents and we got caught in the crossfire. We haven't sided with her yet and maybe we shouldn't. As the saying goes... we don't have a dog in this fight."
Jofram eyes the strange box curiously, unsure of what to expect next. "You folk are full of surprises. Who is this Isolde?"
Straehan hitches a thumb in an absolutely meaningless direction. "Isolde is a woman we ran into further down the coast. She called the Oracle of Amador or something like that. She's a pretty good seer and my ex-girlfriend." He smiles, "I'm kidding on that last bit. She wants to date me but I'm playing hard to get."
Straehan shares a large measure of Jayse's reserve. "It seems to me, Ush, we aren't necessarily opposed by anyone yet. She's got opponents and we got caught in the crossfire. We haven't sided with her yet and maybe we shouldn't. As the saying goes... we don't have a dog in this fight."
Ushari gives the gnome a look, "Hmmm...it seems like we have already chosen sides when we were abducted by the Aboleths. Somehow, I doubt they would subscribe to the 'live and let live' philosophy you endorse, Straehan."
"Ushari, how does this thing work?"
"Simple: Just open the box and start talking to her. I should tell you the box only functions once a week, and I do not remember when we last used it."
After some futzing around, Jayse pops open the box and says 'hello'. After a long minute of waiting, you hear the vaguely stilted voice of the Isolde.
Hello, Jayse. Are you in danger? It is very late.
Jayse laughs, "Not immediately, no. Sorry to wake you; I honestly didn't even consider the time. How are things with you and the Forestal folk?"
He gives her time to respond before continuing, "Sorry to be blunt, but.. well... you know me. We just had a run-in with this mysterious gray lady again and wondered if you would possibly know more about her. When we combined the end of the word we read in our wreckage… _doria… with the first half a word from some wreckage a new friend of ours showed up with… Nala_… she appeared. She said that was her name. I'm hesitant to say the name aloud because she indicated it brought some kind of attention. She spoke of being an exiled ex-god who was run out of power by other, new deities and that she wants 'back in the game'… to use her words. Do you know anything about any of this? She claims she needs our help, and that she interceded to re-route our lives so we could help her, but some of us are a little wary of helping. I mean… we know nothing of her except what she tells us."
The villagers leave me alone now - a blessing. The peace with the goblins has both groups happy - another blessing. But let us talk of this Grey Lady.
Much you were told is true. The gods do war among themselves. Of those that fall, the greatest of their pantheon are extinguished, being too much of a threat to the risen gods to be allowed to live. Lesser fallen gods are sometimes given the choice of exile or death.
If the artifact she would have you seek is in a Shaudran keep, it was placed by the Shaudran. This makes her an older than old power. Understand... the Shaudran supplanted their forebearers and raised up their own gods over those that came before. When the Shaudran vanished, their deities eventually faded from existence. The Elven gods then took pre-eminence. Today, our pantheon contains some of these Elven gods as well as the younger gods of men. As each new pantheon gains power, they attempt to erase their older rivals from the book of memory. We know nearly nothing of the Shaudran gods and even less about those that came before them - either the people or their deities. This Grey Lady is from that lost time - over 12,000 years ago and possibly, a great while longer.
I do not know her name. Time, it seems, has wiped her from memory. If you are going to Orfallen, you may find some mention of her among legends and faerie tales. It will likely be distorted by the lense of time but perhaps you will find something useful to guide you either way - whether to trust her or not. Seek her by her name, or similar names, or by description - fog, mist, silvery misty woman, and things like that.
I will attempt to find out more about her by other means... but don't hope for much. Gods and the workings of the higher planes are hard to fathom and they jealously guard information for its own sake. I will contact you if I find out anything helpful.
So all that she has told you could be true. But even an exiled deity is cunning and their words should be viewed with great caution. If her words are true then you have a difficult decision. Do you involve yourself in an affair of the gods? Great risk, great power, and great rewards attend such events.
With far too much to consider, you settle down to sleep under the watchful eyes of the local women...
When you wake, many untrackable hours later, you feel a great deal better and ready to see what else this crypt has in store for you.
As you sneak down the halls, broken up into two groups, you watch the dust for signs of new tracks or any other disturbance. It seems nothing has walked down these halls aside from you since 'yesterday'. Of course, as Jayse thinks cynically those little floating glowballs don't leave tracks...
However, you arrive at the treasure room without impediment and Straehan opens the door. Nothing seems to have moved in the room. The ferocious bronze statues guarding the table still look intimidating.
As they stand in front of the room, Jayse shifts his stone from hand to forehead as he looks in, "Well, what do you all think? She said last night that this room was unguarded… want me to go grab something?"
"At the risk of sounding stupi.. er.. 'brave', maybe I should do it. She said the place was unguarded. That doesn't mean un-trapped. What should I grab?"
"I say one of the rings. And let me tie a rope around you first... if something happens and you can't get out on your own..."
Roped up, Straehan cautiously enters the domed room, sniffing for traps like a poorly trained bloodhound. His footsteps echo across the mosaic tile.
"Fantastic acoustics in here."
He reaches the table, snatches a ring and rolls back to the doorway. No hideous death greets him for his theft. He tosses the ring to Ushari. "I know you want to figure out what it does."
Ushari deftly catches the ring in mid-air. ”Is this your way of proposing to me, Strae?” she jokes. She then examines the ring while uttering a cantrip,
The little gnome smiles. "Depends... can you cook? Will I have to fight Vargr over you?"
Sadly, the purpose of the ring narrowly eludes Ushari.
When Straehan gets back into the hallway, Jayse reaches up as if to grab the ring, but his hands reaches to the gnome's head, where he begins scratching it like a dog. "Good booooooooy. Now get the stick.. get the stick, boy. Or, ya know, whatever else you'd like to bring back next."
Straehan gives Jayse a look of death and then heads back into the room. He eyes the contents of the table and finally selects the deadly looking Handaxe. He eyes Jayse like a young tree and hefts the axe experimentally... before walking it out of the room and handing it to him with a grin.
"Try this, big man. It's sharper than your wit."
Jayse refuses to touch the blade, "I don't know where that's been..."
When Strae heads back in for more stuff, he yanks on the rope, then points to Jofram, shaking his head like he doesn't know what happened.
Jofram reaches into his pack and pulls out a folded sack. Handing it to the gnome, he says "Here, fill this. Start with the most important or valuable items - but nothing with sharp edges; a tear would break the enchantment."
The little gnome smiles. "Depends... can you cook? Will I have to fight Vargr over you?"
Ushari flounces her hair, "Of Coooouuse you will! I have extremely high standards..." She smirks at Jayse's antics, adding "although if you can cook for us, I may let you sleep at the foot of our bed!"
In response to Jayse's tug, Straehan turns around, indignant. "You did NOT just yank my chain."
He laughs and walks towards the back of the table going for a bigger haul. He grabs the three unique arrows and the quiver-full. He pauses only a second to see if his greed triggers something. When nothing happens, he walks quickly from the room and hands the contents of his arms to Jofram. "Happy birthday."
He turns to Jayse. "Well I haven't triggered anything yet. Should we keep this up or change tactics?"
Upon receiving the magic sack from Jofram, he re-enters the room and starts pouring goods and money into it, one eye never far from watching the statues.
Jayse shrugs, "I'm just not sure... I cna't decide if I should go with a 'dragon-on-a-leash' joke or a 'gnome-on-a-leash' joke next." He grins at Straehan's question, "Your call... big man."
Straehan drops absolutely everything into the sack and then inspects the table briefly, trying to figure out a way to take it apart and shove it in the sack as well. Sadly, he has to abandon the effort and settle for what's in the sack already. He drags it out into the hallway...
Out in the hallway, with the door closed, you examine your haul...
220 PP
650 GP
1200 SP
3000 CP
Scroll #1
Scroll #2
Scroll #3
Scroll #4
Scroll #5
Wand
Quiver
(20) Arrows
Unique Arrow #1
Unique Arrow #2
Unique Arrow #3
Ring #1
Ring #2
Stone
Handaxe
Ushari looks over a small pile of items and has very little luck deciphering their purpose, only the wand and the quivered arrows are identifiable.
All she can tell of the three unique arrows is that they are fell against certain types of creature, but she cannot puzzle out the glyphs any further. The second ring is also totally elusive.
Straehan takes the rest of the pile and moves down the hall... and adds a little extra distance knowing how easily a scroll can be trapped.
All she can tell of the three unique arrows is that they are fell against certain types of creature, but she cannot puzzle out the glyphs any further. The second ring is also totally elusive.
Would Read Magic be of any use, here?
Straehan lets out a low whistle and a cluck. "Someone doesn't play well with others. This scroll is trapped. I'll try to disarm it later." He carefully puts the scroll in his pouch and returns the rest of the items to the group.
"OK, here's what we have..."
- 4th – Charm Monster
4th – Resilient Sphere
3rd – Slow
Straehan looks over his glasses, "Want me to try figuring out those arrows?"
Yes
Lucky!
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Ushari takes the stone in her hand and hefts it, resisting the urge to return to the beach and see how far she can skip it across the water...
While Straehan identifies several items, others remain elusive. Only when he and Ushari spend nearly 20 minutes testing and arguing over the esoteric aspects of each item do they finally settle on what each item is for...
Straehan adds, "I'm not one for calling 'dibs' but I wouldn't mind carrying that Force Shield ring unless we've got a better candidate."
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
TAKE 2 with AAs
Yes
No
Yes
TAKE 3 with Reverse AAs
Yes
"Have at it, man. Anything that keeps you upright in those ridiculous boots is a good thing, right?"
Straehan glances down at his over-sized boots. "A little more respect for your elders please... before I put my size 3 foot in this size 7 boot up your size 10 butt."
Ushari sidles over to the gnome, "Don't worry Strae, I think your boots look absolutely adoreable" Even Straehan can tell Ushari is in very good spirits, and there is no sign of the dark moods that frequently plagued her previously.
"I would love to get my hands on those quiver and arrows, considering..." says Jofram, looking at his gauntleted hand, and concentrating on the idea of the bow the Grey Lady spoke of.
How do I make it appear? Is there some special phrase, or...
As Jofram idly considers how to conjure the bow, his gauntlet glows momentarily. From both ends of his mailed fist an opaque, verging on translucent, bow grows organically outward. The expanding plane of force shapes and curls into the form of a composite recurved longbow. Details appear, etched into the mystical bow - vine and leaf patterns curling around runes of power.
Jofram knocks a masterwork arrow from his quiver experimentally. The arrow begins to glow ephemerally.
Sorry, this is going to be a little complex...
* You can deploy it as a Swift action and banish it as a Free action.
* Because it grants you a ranged attack ability, it is slightly less powerful than its melee weapon counterpart so it is always one '+' less. I.E. - as a melee weapon, you get +2/+2. As a bow it is +1/+1.
* The composite STR rating of the bow adjusts to whatever your STR is at the time. With your 16 STR, you will score +3 STR damage on every arrow. Combining these last two points then, your current bow bonus is HIT: +1 and DAM:+4 without factoring in your BAB or DEX bonuses. :)
ARROWS
Unlike your melee abilities, arrow bonuses mostly stack with the bow. It breaks down like this:
Normal Arrows - you get the bow bonuses to hit and damage (including STR) and the arrows are considered 'magical' but gain no special abilities.
Masterwork Arrows - you get all the bow bonuses and all the special abilities conveyed by your gauntlet... so every arrow you fire is ghost-touched. As you get more abilities, they will work on your arrows. This mechanic works just like your melee attacks do.
Magical Arrows - you get all the bow bonuses AND the magical arrow bonuses but not the special abilities provided by the gauntlet... so no ghost-touch.
If that doesn't make sense or you have questions, just drop me an email. I'm happy to run through "what ifs" with you.
Straehan looks at the blonde in mock horror. "Adorable? ADORABLE! Kittens are adorable. Puppies in crates are adorable. Naked women with loose morals and sunny dispositions are adorable. ME - no. My boots make me look rakish, fierce, and dangerous."
His dark look shifts between Jayse and Ushari, "Remind me to kill both of you later." He storms off a short distance to examine his new toys.
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Ushari watches Straehan storm off and barely resists the urge to laugh out loud. Instead she smiles at Jayse, her eyes twinkling, ”You know, I think he really likes me!”
As Straehan storms past him, Jofram does his best to suppress his mirth at the Gnome's merciless teasing by Jayse and Ushari.
The little gnome in his floppy boots trucks past the half-elf and catches his half-smile before it can be hid. He mutters under his breath, "problem-with-tall-folks-is-the-blood-has-a-hard-time-reaching-their-brains ."
Our heroes finish dividing up the treasure and move along the corridor that shows only the footprints of Porter and Straehan. You pass through two domed chambers and numerous scenes of places you don't recognize.
Jayse smiles as the gnome stomps off, "I'm sure I won't have to remind you, Strae... you know we'd be lost without you." He looks over at Jofram, "See? A regular loving family around here."
Then he takes a look around, letting his blade spring to his hand as he readjusts the stone on his forehead, clearly not comfortable with its placement there just quite yet. As his blade flares to life, the pale blue coloring creates a slowly falling cloud of mist. He looks down, "Now that's new..."