Riding on the plinth, the stone circles the cylindrical lightning array until it rests at the southwest corner. As you tie off the ropes you see a log hallway headed west. As you traverse the hall, you feel oppressive heat come in waves. The jungles above were never as hot as what emanates from this room.
Peering around the corner, you see a row of beds and two lizardfolk carving a statue of Hshursha in the corner. They are singing a dark liturgy and do not hear your entrance. They are dressed as the cultists you killed a few rooms ago.
Round Surprise | HP 43/43 | Arrows 18/40 LoH 1/5
Alset detects evil on the two lizard folk. He stealthily moves within 30 feet of the lizardfolk.
Alset, nocks and rapidly releases couple of arrows one each at the two lizardfolk, carving singers.
Alset's arrows strike each in the back, piercing ribs.
Ood tries to sneak up with Alset...
Surprise round!
Seeing Alset ready his arrows Ood pulls out shuriken and lobs them at the nearer of the 2.
Stonewall yells out, ”I’m coming guys!” as he stomps forward noisily.
Achahut waits, weapon drawn, in order not to spoil the surprise.
Ood kills one, and soon after Stonewall lumbers in. The remaining lizardfolk sees you four five fearsome adversaries and dies from fright.
The two priests are each wearing +1 leather armor and wielding a masterwork trident.
Ood looks around for further danger
Ood shares the potential findings and readies to follow into the next room.
Alset considers the statue and the chanting liturgy.
Alset looks for the source of the heat.
Stonewall moves to the far end of the room and waits for the clearly more astute observers to glean whatever knowledge they can from the room, after a brief time, he says, ”Ok, let’s get on with it!” and marches into the next room unless interrupted.
The room contains the beds and personal belongings of the lizardfolk priests, but nothing is of monetary value.
The statue and liturgy were of Kelizandri and Hshursha worship, though there were mentions of the fiery elemental aspect as well. The source of the heat is further into the next room around the corner.
Stonewall marches into the next room and sees a wide chamber with sturdy iron doors covering the eastern wall. The western wall houses a variety of tools, metal poles, and crucibles on shelves. An iron door to the east stands open, and three emaciated corpses, mummified in the room's oppressive heat, lie on the ground. The heat is blazing, even though the many furnace doors are shut. The walls shimmer before your eyes, and your skin feels flush at the sight of the heat.
"Wait here in the wider area, let me look around the corner, looks like a tight fit, I don't want you getting stuck in there if someone attacks."
Ood steps lightly into the room peeking carefully around corners.
Achahut inspects the mummies with her sword at their necks, just in case.
Ood and Achahut see that the dead lizardfolk bodies are rigged to open the blast furnace doors if handled. The heat would likely blast you with additional nonlethal damage. Touching the furnace doors as well would set them off.
Ood also finds three sets of masterwork glassblowing tools (100 gp each) on the western wall, and 36 high quality glass decanters that contain dosages of resist energy, fire (15 gp each).
The heat feels stronger as Ood nears the hallway. He can tell the heat will be harsher as they go on.
"Ood, I'll go with you. I can take the heat fairly well."
Alset uses all the stealth he can (cloak, etc.) to approach the room.
Stonewall admires the quality of the tools and craftsmanship of the decanters. ”I may have to try my hand at working glass!” as he grabs a set of the tools for himself. ”You guys go ahead and scout if you think you can. Maybe we should take some doses of this fire resistant draught.”
Creeping past the door, Alset and Ood look into the next room. Charred stone walkways cross over a shallow pool of boiling lava in the room's center. A sturdy chest is bolted to the floor in the northeast corner. A red, first-sized orb floats three feet above the room's center.
The steaming lava and extreme heat make breathing difficult for Alset and Ood.
The blistering air shimmers over the molten rock. If you were to get close enough, you would feel the fire more directly than a simple environmental hazard.
In the center, near the storm seed, sits a golem made of ice.
"You're getting a little hot-headed, he said," the golem says, muttering to himself. "Why don't you chill out for a few days, he said. You'll cool down real quick."
The golem tosses a rock into the lava where it is immediately vaporized. "Next time I'm telling Daruthek no more puns or I quit. I don't care if he created me or not."
Achahut whispers "You guys see anything interesting in there?"
Ood shrugs and replies in kind, "why can that guy who looks like ice survive here? I don't know but I imagine there is more to him than meets the eye."
Alset stealthily moves back to answer Achuhut. "Yes, we see another storm seed and an Ice Golem. Should we try to take out the seed or deal with the golem first?" To Stony, "Maybe you could bull-rush the golem into the fire pit."
Stonewall wracks his brain trying to identify the creature from Alset and Ood’s descriptions.
”Ah, sounds like a golem. That would mean our Adamantium weapons would be most effective. Also.... From your description of the room, it doesn’t sound like I’ll be able to get to him easily enough. Achahut might actually be better for that.”
Mud grabs a decanter and chugs it. . He stands on his tip-toes and grabs enough for everyone. "Drink up, boys! Things are about to get hot!"
Mud mounts himself on Stonewall's saddle-armor again. Mud takes charge and says, "Someone run in there and bull rush the thing into the lava. Fire will cut through its Adamantium resistance. Then we can shoot the seed from afar and heal the steam damage, no problem."
To Achahut, "Let's see how strong you are. Drink the potion and then bull rush the golem. Stony can follow and bull rush it into the fire, if you don't succeed, but I bet you will. I'll ready my arrows to take out the seed. Ood, get your flying stars ready to throw."
Alset drinks his potion.
Mud raises his flag and whirls his sling behind Stonewall's head. "What are we waiting for?"
Stonewall drinks a concoction and readies himself to support Achahut if needed.
Achahut downs a vial and Charges in, attempting to Push the monster into the lava!
Round 1
HP: 58/58
"Oh, man, he's going to be steamed!"
Round 1 | HP 43/43 | Arrows 16/40 | LoH 1/5
Alset sees the golem engaged (falling into the fire, hopefully) and releases an arrow at the seed.
Achahut grabs the ice golem by the legs and flips him over, dunking him headfirst into the boiling lava.
The ice golem kicks his legs in the air, his gurgling screams sounding like hissing ice about to explode.
AC 17, DR 5/adamantium, HP 31/53
Surprise Round!
Mud slings a stone at the seed.
"Blow up the storm seed, it'll lather on more fire damage! Achahut can weather the flames."
EDIT: Mud feels Alset's arrow flit past his ear. "Great minds think alike, paladin. And so do ours!"
Surprise round? | 43/43 HP | +1 CMD
Stonewall turns the corner and hurls a Javelin at the Storm Seed as Achahut collides with the golem.
Surprise!
Ood hurls 2 shuriken at the seed
Round 1 (for real)
Achahut will try to keep the golem in the lava.
Round 1 (for real) | HP 43/43 | Arrows 15/40 | LoH 1/5
Alset releases another arrow at the seed hits home.
Alset explodes the storm seed.
The ice golem shivers and explodes in a shattering ice. Because of Achahut's bull rush, no one is close enough to feel the icicles. Th golem melts away in your perfectly planned assault.
Three storm seeds have been destroyed, one remains before Daruthek and his ritual are exposed to your blades.
Alset heals anyone who needs it with the CLW wand.
He checks the room for valuables and clues.
Finding nothing of note, he moves back the way he came and prepares for the next seed.
Stonewall also checks the room for any interesting tidbits...
Stonewall grabs anything of interest and then evacuated as quickly as possible to escape the heat.
"Well that was fun! I've never done that before."
Achahut looks around the room with Stonewall, looking for loot and secret rooms.
"Looks like we've found everything to be found. Let's go knock out this fourth seed."
A locked chest lies in the NE corner of the room. . Nothing else of interest is in the room. The chest is not bolted down nor obviously trapped in any way.
Stonewall grabs the chest and hightails it out of the sweltering heat . Once out of that wing of the compound, Stonewall slumps against the wall and says, "Whew, that was some intense heat. What's next, some sort of water elemental or some such?" Once he regains his breath, he takes his axe and tries to bust the lock on the chest.
The chest cracks open, and Stonewall peels away the shattered iron to find...
A wand of flame sphere (10 charges), a wand of cure moderate wounds (10 charges), a once-fancy robe that is now shredded into worthless scraps, and a headband of alluring charisma +2.
"I will carry the healing wand. And, the flame sphere wand if no one else wants it.
I can use the scraps of this dainty robe for bandages."
"On to the next room! I hope I get to rush another one!"
Stonewall passes the wands to Alset and then grabs the headband for himself.
Boarding the floating plinth, the lightning lashing to your right, you circle the swirling waters to the final opening. You catch bits of a raspy voice chanting from the center of the pool. Daruthek's hissing can be heard through the wall of lightning as the center is losing its defensive barrier. Between the weakening barrier, you see a white lizardfolk floating in the center of N19, his arms outstretched and eyes rolled back in fervent supplication to dark gods. The white wall of electricity snaps back before you catch a glimpse of anything else, swallowing the sound of reptilian rapture.
Stepping off the plinth, to the north are a pair of double doors etched with geometric swirls and curves representing wind standing at the top of a short flight of stairs. The left door has a small keyhole.
Correct. It will vanish with destruction of the last seed.
Seeing the swirls and curves of the wind etched in the doors, Alset dons the Goz mask and prepares to enter the final room. Suddenly, Alset remembers seeing a brass key with swirls like the wind on them. "Does anyone have that brass key that Oozhaaku gave to us? Didn't he say something about a temple when he gave us the key? Let's have the key. I would guess that it will fit this keyhole.
"A sound plan, where was that key anyway," Ood says and starts patting his pockets...
[ooc]after someone puts the key in and starts turning, [ooc] Ood braces himself against anticipated wind.