Keeping her distance, Blink directed her creature to attack the remaining ghost.
Keeping her distance, Blink directed her creature to attack the remaining ghost.
[dice=Ranged Touch]1d20+3
[dice=Damage]1d6[dice=Ranged Touch]1d20+3
[dice=Damage]1d6
Blink nodded to the Archon as she sent it back. "Thanks for the help."
Blink nodded to the Archon as she sent it back. "Thanks for the help."
The archon flickered appreciatively and vanished.
Blink moved to the door, shaking her arms to see if she could get some feeling back into them.
Blink moved to the door, shaking her arms to see if she could get some feeling back into them.
[dice=Perception]1d20+10-4
Blink found the door to the north safe and opened it without too much trouble. Beyond she found a large torture chamber flanked by two cells. The entry to each cell bore layers of arcane sigils, graven on the floor, ceiling, walls, and doors alike. Those to the east glowed with a red light and painted the whole heavy cell door the color of fresh blood. To the west, the door stood open and the sigils had no glow at all.
Theran looks concerned about the sigils. He tightens his grip and waits to see what his more educated companions thought about them.
Galin carefully approached the cell to the west, peering at the sigils and the open cell beyond as he tries to ascertain if there is still any magical threat posed by the sigils.
Steave looks for anything suspicious.
Steave looks for anything suspicious.
Steave felt the ambient evil of Drezen's dungeon press in on his senses, a dull weight that felt just a bit heavier in the direction of the glowing sigils and rather lighter where the sigils remained inert.
Galin believed that the sigils served as part of some warding, though he couldn't say just what. Definitely an abjuration.
"The ambient evil of Drezen's dungeon reeks something fierce, the glowing sigils stink more than the inert sigils." the veteran crusader observes.
"Active as opposed to inactive?" Blink suggested, squinting.
"Active as opposed to inactive?" Blink suggested, squinting.
[dice=Knowledge (Arcana)]1d20+10
Blink believes the sigils that do not glow no longer harbor magic of their own.
"The ones that don't glow should be safe. They're either expanded or just too old." At least, Blink hoped so.
"How can we extinguish the sigils?" Steave asks.
Blink tried to work out the answer to that.
Blink tried to work out the answer to that.
[dice=Knowledge (Arcana)]1d20+12-4
Blink thinks it would take potent magic to wipe away the power of the sigils. The abyssal taint in the dungeon would work against any attempt. It's likely that even in the face of success, the magic might reassert itself given time.
"I don't think I'm powerful enough to destroy them all. And it would be more turning them off for a while. I think we're going to have to weave through them." Blink eyed the heavy armour everyone was wearing in a slightly concerned fashion.
"I don't think I'm powerful enough to destroy them all. And it would be more turning them off for a while. I think we're going to have to weave through them." Blink eyed the heavy armour everyone was wearing in a slightly concerned fashion.
Blink moved to the open door to check out the lock and the sigils, and see if she could get any understanding about how to disarm them.
Blink moved to the open door to check out the lock and the sigils, and see if she could get any understanding about how to disarm them.
[dice=Disable Device]1d20+17
Blink set to work puzzling out the lock and sigils on the open cell. She doesn't think either was overcome by her usual methods, but rather some sort of overwhelming power. The lock seems to have burned from within and the edges of the sigils show a complicated pattern of scorch marks that remind her vaguely of the patterns on a butterfly's wings.
As she looks upon them, she chances a glance further into the cell and marks its walls. They bear hundreds of finely carved images of butterflies in the place of the dungeon's usual profane scrawling. The back wall goes farther still, with a brief text cut into the stone:
Hear my prayer, Lady Luck, for it is luck I need in escaping this cell. Not just the life behind these bars, but an eternity spend shackled to the Abyss itself. If you truly are the tender of dreams, then tender unto me a new existence. Let me sing the Song of the Spheres, see the stars with new eyes, and escape the pit into which my soul was cast. Bring me good fortune, my Lady. Bring me a new spirit made clean, and I will forever be yours, in life, and in faith. I am ready. Finally ready.
As she reads it, Blink has a profound sense of deja vu. She knows in her heart that the mysterious person who saved her as a child was in this very cell and carved those words.
Pausing to examine the room, Blink considered. "Was this...before she helped me?" It seemed...likely, somehow. Or perhaps it was simply more likely that they'd escape in the past. Then again, the fortress was a mess. Maybe it would be easier to escape now?
It didn't matter. There was no way she could carve this number of holy symbols to counter the dark runes.
"I think we'll need help to get into the other cell," she said as she left. "Perhaps we should check out the rest of the fortress and then get some help?"
Pausing to examine the room, Blink considered. "Was this...before she helped me?" It seemed...likely, somehow. Or perhaps it was simply more likely that they'd escape in the past. Then again, the fortress was a mess. Maybe it would be easier to escape now?
It didn't matter. There was no way she could carve this number of holy symbols to counter the dark runes.
"I think we'll need help to get into the other cell," she said as she left. "Perhaps we should check out the rest of the fortress and then get some help?"
Trying to be careful, Blink tentatively moves to see if the other door is even locked.
Trying to be careful, Blink tentatively moves to see if the other door is even locked.
Blink found the door open. Beyond was a cell similar to the other, but absent any carved prayers or butterflies.
"Oh. Well. That makes it's easier." She took a closer look from the doorway, just to be safe, but if there was nothing there they could move on.
"Oh. Well. That makes it's easier." She took a closer look from the doorway, just to be safe, but if there was nothing there they could move on.
[dice=Perception]1d20+10
Blink found nothing of note in the cell. It looked as though it hadn't been used in some time.
Reasonably certain there were no surprises here, Blink gently closed the door again and headed for the doors South of the cells. She really hoped it wasn't more cells.
Reasonably certain there were no surprises here, Blink gently closed the door again and headed for the doors South of the cells. She really hoped it wasn't more cells.
The moment blink opened the door, she could smell blood in the air. Beyond, stairs descended deeper into the earth.
Blink glanced down, wrinkling her nose. "I suspect that is where we need to go, but do we want to finish exploring this floor?"
"We should clear the floor and not leave any threats behind us." The veteran suggests.
Galin nods, I would rather not have to return here, with our energy spent, and find new foes that we did not know about.
"I agree. Clean everything here as much as we can."
Blink turned away from the stairs and back toward the corridor before her. In the distance she could see that it ended in bars. But as she stepped forward she saw a telltale twisting of the air and faint gleam distinct from the lurid Abyssal runes that decorated the dungeon. Some sort of magic lay in just in front of her, waiting to be roused.
Trying to focus her eyes, Blink used Detect Magic to try and work out if this was a Trap, or perhaps something else. A trap she could, perhaps, break. Something else and she was going to need some help.
Trying to focus her eyes, Blink used Detect Magic to try and work out if this was a Trap, or perhaps something else. A trap she could, perhaps, break. Something else and she was going to need some help.
[dice=Perception + Detect Magic]1d20+11+2-4
[dice=Disable Device (If Possible)]1d20+17-4
Blink was sure it was magic. She examined the faint twisting of the air for a few moments, then took out some chalk and iron filings. A touch here. The tiniest scrape there. The glyph on the floor flared briefly to light and expired with a soft whine.
Letting out her breath in a slow stream, Blink moved to examine the bars themselves. There should be a way through, or something behind them, to make the magic worthwhile.
If there was no other obvious way in and no obvious danger, Blink would use Shift to pop in and check it out.
Blink slips down the corridor and finds herself looking into another cellblock. All the cell doors are open and bodies lay strewn across the floor. Among them sit two armored minotaurs with massive, bloody axes. Eating.
Welp, there goes that.
So possible battle. Inits.
As tempting as it was to strike before they even knew she was there, Blink was reasonably sure she could sneak up on them again. Instead she snuck back to the others and informed them, "There are two minotaurs eating the other residents of the cells. I wanted to warn you before trying to attack them."
He nods and prepares to go in to aid.
Galin nods, Thank you for the warning, we'll enter on our mark. With that, he bows his head for a moment, and his arrows begin to glow with a golden light.
Steave prepares.
Nodding, Blink grinned and used one of her arcane abilities to once again blur into the shadows and move towards the two monsters to attack them.
If they were still there, she focused for a moment, reaching into her spell components pouch for a small stalagmite shaped crystal. Shards of ice errupted from beneath the creatures.
Steave is good with whatever.