Otto and Hadarai retreat up the corridor to allow the wizards to continue.
Initiative
Grafire 18 - DELAY
Akahale 13
Frost trap
Mandrake 13
Hadarai 24
Shaeryyn 11
Otto 15
HP: 71/78 (temp: 0), Surges 11/12, AP 1/1
Enc. Used: - Divine Mettle
Dailies Used: -
Akahale attempts to add to the damage.
With Otto and Hadarai out of danger, short work is made of the door. The frost jets eventually sputter and die.
The door now has a hole blown through it, but your presence will be no secret to anyone else in the area.
Hadarai tries to peer through the wrecked door.
"Where abomination lies, discretion has no place."
Akahale neglects to mention that any group containing Manny leaves discretion at the door.
A jug-shaped room opens before you, and its vaulted ceiling arches away from the doorway to its highest point of 20 feet at the wide end of the room. Directly across from the door stands a dusty statue like those on the hill: an eyeless man with arms and face raised to the sky. Two closed stone doors flank this statue, each like the one that you opened. Wide archways to the north and south open into other rooms. The floor bears an artful pattern of flat circular stones about 2 feet wide, each made of the strange glimmering black stone you’ve seen before and carved to look like an eyeball looking up, down, or another direction. As you examine the room, you hear a scraping nose that grows in volume as first one and then another of the eye stones slowly turns toward you, each kicking up a puff of dust from the floor as it does so.
"You know, between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here."
Seeing the floor-eyes move, Manny gives a manful 'EEeep!' and clenches his legs together, and holds his robe to his legs.
"That is just, WRONG in so many ways!" He complains.
"Pervert!" he adds to the floor-eyes with a disdainful sniff.
"Lets form up People. Looks like we are in for some fun times at the fun house." Grafire stands front and center, shield up and in attack mode. "Could I just poke out the eyes??" Grafire wonders aloud.
Akahale glares at the eyes and tries to identify any magic associated with them.
"Miss Shaerynn, can you float over the area to examine the doors?"
"Sure." Shae replies. She's wary of the eye stones but into the room she directs her disc, as she stays perched on it, moving just far enough into the room to see doors.
Shaeryyn floats into the room. The eyes in the floor swivel as she moves, throwing up more dust. She notes that the room is dimly lit, illuminated by some permanent magic. Her normal vision indicates nothing untoward, her arcane senses are shouting out to her that the stone eyes in the floor act as scrying devices, and are continuously linked to someone or something else.
To the north there appears to be a wooden mannequin wearing armour, and to the south the room is gloomily lit by the weapon in its center. On top
of a wide stone dais, resting atop an altarlike stone stand, is a huge hammer. This iron-handled maul must be the same one you’ve seen wielded by the cloaked and horned figure graven in the doors. Its brutal head is made of the glimmering black rock that composes the eyes in the floor of
the main chamber.
"Aha." Akahale eyeballs the eyes and contemplates disassemling them.
"I've just about had it with these damn eyeballs..." Otto walks up to the eyes and swings at one with a great overhead chop.
Akahale concentrates on seeking a way to disable the scrying eyes magically.
Otto whacks an eye with his halberd, causing sparks to fly but to no massive effect. Akahale attempts to divine a way to cut off the eyeballs but he can find no way.
Manny still holds his robes closed, eyeing the eyeballs in the floor warily.
"Stop peeking up my skirt, er, robes!" He hisses. But his interest is drawn to the large weapon across the room.
"Hm. Why would anyone keep such an imposing weapon in a room like this when they could be using it? I know I wouldn't like to see that big stick swinging at me!" He wonders aloud.
Manny peers into the room, but hesitates to enter, watching his companions go to work with interest, and watching the results of thier efforts.
Hadarai will stay near the door, shield and sword at the ready. He'll keep eyes on the doors on either side of the statue.
"The eyes are scrying devices, but they have no offensive capability I can detect. I don't think slaying them would work, but we could cover them up with something to block thier view."
To test her theory, Shae tries to land her disc on one of the eyes.
Shae lands her disk on one of the eyes. Nothing obvious happens.
"Let see how they respond to acid." Grafire make sure Shae is clear before using his acid breath.
Damage
Shae lands her disk on one of the eyes. Nothing obvious happens.
Grafire spouts acid over the first 10 feet of eyes to no noticeable effect.
"I recall that we have used mundane methods to bypass traps before. Mage Mandrake and my egg brother will remember. I propose to return to the squalid resting place of the cultists and acquire their bedding. This can be placed over the eyes."
Akahale prepares to make his way back to the dormitorys.
"Ah yes days of old they seem, but not so long ago they took place. But my memory is faded from that time..." Thoughts of the great battle at Ashenport race through Grafire's mind. "The caves, Damn those caves to eternity." Grafire grunts. "I owe you much my friends."
Grafire turns and heads back toward the rooms.
"I've heard of the WALLS having eyes before, but not the FLOOR!" Manny mutters to himself as the activity continues. The elderly mage seems totally preoccupied with preventing the creepy eyes from staring up his robes, and seems oblivious to the proposed actions of the others. He just keeps peeking into the room, looking at the eyes on the floor and muttering, "Creepy. That's just wrong!"
"I don't like the idea of us splitting up. If the dragonborne are off to check on scrying insulation, then I will stay here with Otto and the wizards."
Akahale holds his breath and collects rancid bedding.
It takes over an hour but eventually the two dragonborn gather the horrible bedding to the basement level.
With some effort, the group lay the horrid bedding across the eyes, beign careful not to touch them or the floor. Thus a path is laid.
Hadarai will make his way to the center of the main room to examine the statue there for any significance.
The paladin approaches the statue and examines it. It seems to be a representation of the same being as depicted on the door to the chamber. He finds nothing hidden or untoward.
Otto hesitantly approaches the hammer and examines it. "This place gives me the creeps..."
Otto sees that a tarnished bronze plaque beneath the weapon reads, “The Dreamstone Maul — He who wields it bring His dreams into reality.”
Akahale advances beadily on the other statue and inspects it visually.
The warlock sees that it is actually a wooden mannequin wearing a set of sleek leather armour, that, although dusty, shows no signs of age.
"Aha! This bears further investigation."
Akahale tries to get close enough to examine the armour in more detail. In particular, he wonders about any arcane wards on the mannequin itself, possibly designed to prevent light-fingered nosey-parkers taking liberties.
Grafire stands at attention whilst the others examine the areas.
Akahale feels that the armour radiates unease and appears to be crafted from the hides of many different creatures.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Bunch of girls,... No offense." Manny adds in an aside to Shaeryyn. The elderly mage strides into the room, careful to stay on the cloth path, (and keep his robes tight near his legs) and approaches the statue with Akahale.
"Alright, what do we have here?" He asks as he steps up to the statue and, blinking, squints as he tries to get his eyes to focus,...