Rallos guards the doorway to the south.
I am beginning to really not like this place....
"Use the wand on Ea. As much as she may want to die, I'm not going to see it happen."
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As Emerald uses the wand over the cleric, Ea's eyes flicker open...
Ea half rises from the ground, like an automaton, bending at the waist. She turns slowly her head toward the door, noticing the skeleton hand, and release another pulse of energy from beyond
Rest... in ...Peace.
The cold judgement from Ea sweeps over the skeletal hand that was severed when the door was slammed closed...any remaining necromantic energy is dispelled as the bones crumble to dust... beyond the door, which had started to move ajar, there is a clattering of many hard things landing on a stone floor, and the relentless scratching stops...
I wonder if they were guarding something of note in that room.
If we stay like this we'll probably end up burning through this wand today.
"We can head higher and rest again. No sense in being reckless."
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I think Yasmin has a good idea. We should reserve our resources.
Whilst you recover your breath and debate your next steps...the strangest thing...there is an insistent tapping noise above you, coming from the hole in the ceiling, and then a rope coils down towards you...
Rallos darts for the side of the hallway, flattening against the wall...trying to conceal himself.
When Ea comes to her senses, a bit of relief floods Grayface. "Good. Good to have you back among the living. Emerald, can I get a shot or two of that wand? Him too." The warrior gestures to the myriad deeps cuts and scratches, and then to Rallos' equally grievous wounds.
To Rallos he agrees "There's got to be something in there. They defended it with a vengeance."
When the rope falls down into the chamber, Gray follows Rallos' lead and tries to get out of sight, hopping behind a door or wall.
Ea rises from the ground
I can heal the three of us, and spare some uses of the curing wand. We might need it later.
Emerald steps away from the rope, looking up at the hole in the ceiling...
After the rope drops down, there is no other obvious movement or activity that you can see within the shaft above you…but there is the occasional ‘tap…tap…tap’ noise…like something hard knocking against rock.
Rallos calls up towards the hole.
Who is up there...make yourself known.
When the rope comes down, Yasmin yanks on it with all her weight, hoping to pull whatever it's connected to down to their level.
Yasmin, just a thought... could you send your small servant up there?
"I can ward it, make it less vulnerable to attack if you do. Or I can send Quartz"
When Rallos calls, there is nought but silence...and then, rather quietly, that repeated tapping sound again...tap...tap...tap...
...and, in reply, a similar insistent tapping comes from farther around the corridor...somewhere near the symbol etched into the wall...
Maybe we should get out of here, and find if any skeletons are still standing. My main and sacred duty is to give them some rest.
"My wounds are still fairly serious. Before we remove the piton or press further on I need to beg more of that magical healing, from someone. But yes Ea, we need to check to ensure those undead are no longer walking."
Rallos goes towards the symbol on the wall and checks it against the symbol on the key and the others found.
As Rallos walks towards the symbol on the wall, his eyes are drawn to something metallic wedged into the wall...
...and as he gets closer to the symbol, the tapping noise becomes a little more frequent...
So fascinated by the metallic object is Rallos, that he fails to notice the tell-tale cracks in the floor and, for a second time, he finds the ground beneath him fall away…
Instinctively, the tiefling reaches out and grabs the side of the pit with one hand…but his grip isn’t sufficient to stop him falling backwards…ten feet downwards into a sticky net of spider webs.
As Rallos struggles, he turns to see a spider…fangs dripping with venom…the ‘tap…tap…tap’ sound repeats as it’s legs knock rhythmically against the side of the pit…
…and with a ‘tap…tap…tap’ sound responding in the hole above Grayface et al, a badly burnt looking spider scuttles into view…
Gray lets out a bestial snarl when the crispy spider come into view, and his anger tops off when his sneaky friend falls prey to yet another trap in the floor.
"Rall, you need help? We've got a spider up here in this ceiling cave."
Grayface drops his sword in favor of a ranged weapon. He looses an arrow aimed at the burned spider high up in the ceiling-hollow.
Have I mentioned lately how I am starting to dislike this place?
Alert to the threat, Grayface is quick to respond and, bowstring pulled taut...releases an arrow with a veritable fizz...fractions of a second later, with a loud 'whack'', the spider is impaled against the roof of the tunnel...lifeblood dripping down on those below...
Meanwhile, in the pit to the west, the other Spider starts to secure it's prey.
Why does it have to be spiders.....why?
Rallos' instinctive stab finds it's mark, spraying spider blood over the webs that fill the pit... But as he becomes increasingly wrapped in spider silk, his attacks become more restricted...
"Not again!" Yasmin goes to the edge of the pit and attempts to blast the spider with ice! Without hitting Rallos, of course.
Ea takes example on Grayface, taking her sling instead of her morninstar, and aims at the Moon spider attacking Rallos.
I think you have already said you dislike this place, Rallos.
As Yasmin sends a blast of cold into the pit, the spider recoils from the frost and somehow avoids being seriously injured…the webs within the pit stand frozen, strangely beautiful, until Ea smashes them with a well-aimed stone from her sling.
The fighter heads over to the pit and sees Rallos in a precarious predicament. Needing to act quickly, he makes use of the powerful bow in his hands.
"Stand still Rallos!" Twang!
Emerald simply loads and fires her sling at the spider.
Grayface's arrow cuts web strands as it fizzes down into the pit but doesn't find a target...whilst Emerald's stone, like Ea's, smacks into the side of the increasingly wounded spider.
The spider pulls it's prey towards it, sinks it's fangs deep into Rallos...
Rallos curses as he thrusts his rapier at the spider.
Emerald shoots another stone at the spider.
Not being very useful with her sling, Ea uses her divine magic to help Greyface delivering the decisive strike, calling upon Pharasma's favor
Rallos’ blade spears the abdomen of the arachnid, green blood and gore oozing out through the deep wound…and, struggling against his bindings, the tiefling does well to avoid being struck by Emerald’s wild stone throw…
…and then as the poison takes hold, Rallos feels his muscles start to cramp and a cold sweat break out…