You and your like-minded adventurers have joined up to delve into a dungeon seeking a great treasure. You’ve each heard rumors of the Eye of Amrion, a legendary artifact belonging to a long dead wizard, Amrion. It is said to be the crown jewel of his treasure hoard kept locked away in his abandoned castle. Though no one is quite sure what it does or why it is so legendary. Whatever it is, it’s sure to fetch a hefty price. As you approach the rather unapproachable castle from the south, you get a strong sense of foreboding and the castle gates open automatically before you, their creak reminiscent of a wounded animal. Once through the gates, they creak shut behind you.
North you see the large castle entrance
West you see a walkway leading into ill-kept gardens
East you see a drop off with a rough cliff face and the sound of running water.
Ilyana turns around to face her companions, a bright smile on her face. "Come friends; victory and glory await." The paladin was in naturally high spirits, having convinced the church to fund this expedition and found a group of capable allies to accompany her. She need only walk North to begin her quest, and she does exactly that.
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Kildel muttered under his breath as he slouched. He wasn't liking this place, it reeked of bad spirits about, and he didn't want any of that. He even had said so from time to time to his new companions. But the money was good, and that was the most important part of all. But he still couldn't shake this feeling that this was not a nice place.
"I don't like this place... Reeks of something unnatural..." He said as the gates opened wide with a creak. He waited there, still, as the others caught up, slouched and looking like a man who had no desire to be there. Which was, of course, somewhat accurate at this time, he was here for the money, pure and simple.
It wasn't until Ilyana took off, leading them off towards the castle entrance, that he looked around again, then set off following her.
"Victory and glory ain't gonna feed my family..." He muttered, before following Ilyana onwards.
Dskani loads a bolt into his crossbow, and follows Kildel and Ilyana, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.
Isidora tilts her hat back to take in a good view of the castle in front of them. "After all these years, here it is, the caster's castle. I can't believe it."
She watches Ilyana. How could I have been so lucky to find this brave paladin of Shelyn? Sometimes she could not believe anything had come of her research at all.
But now here she stands, at the castle of Amrion himself, and with her, a collection of other brave souls, all just as eager to find what hidden knowledge lies untouched behind the gate ahead.
Realizing that the others are moving in, Isidora quickly follows the group.
You all approach the daunting castle doors. Everything is looks suspicious.
As you begin the march down the long walkway you hear unintelligable whispers in the wind, movement just in the corner of your eye, and the eerie feeling that you are not the first to walk these unhallowed steps. A fearful chill creeps over your bones and through your skin.
Passing under an arch you now stand infront of two grand wooden doors. Dual large stone statues stand imposingly on either side of the door, arms folded, one headless. Runes in foreign script are engraved into the aged wood with inhuman precision and two sizeable steel keyholes stare down at you.
Isidora shudders as she approaches the castle. Suddenly not as confident as she was moments before.
When she comes to the grand wooden doors she nervously eyes the stone statues on either side before the runes catch her attention.
The statues look vaguely familiar to Dskani, and he examines them to see if either one of them resembles anyone of historical significance.
Ilyana senses Isidora's discomfort and flashes her a smile. "Do not fear; what harm could come to you with me at your side?"
Ilyana looks over the statues, wondering if she had seen anything similar in her studies.
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Everything seemed to jump out at him and Kildel found himself completely offput at this point, the way the statues seemed to have loomed out at him, the eerie runes that covered parts of the area.
"This place gives me the creeps, feels like something is gonna jump out at me at any second..."
Kildel looked over at Ilyana. "Plenty of things..."
The timeworn features of the statues do not reveal a specific likeness, especially the headless figure.
Some castles of this scale will have statue sentries to ward of unwelcome guests
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The runes are in Draconic. They read
"Though sealed, the inward knowledge fount
The courteous are free to come.
Thrice unlike in number count
Their product equal to their sum"
Isidora mutters the words in draconic as she traces them with her fingers.
"I think it's a riddle." She says to her companions. She traces the runes again, this time repeating the words out loud in common.
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Riddles... ugh... They always seemed to make Kildel's head hurt.
"The hell does that even mean? Sounds like numbers... I hate numbers... they make my brain hurt."
Kildel was by no means good at anything above basic mathematics, he could keep a tally of money and that was about it, other than that, he was more or less useless.
"Thrice unlike in number count, their product equal to their sum." Three numbers, product and sum are equal...
Isidora does some quick arithmetic in her head.
"Oh! I have it! Three different numbers whose product is equal to their sum, simple! One, two, three! One plus two plus three is six, two by three is six by one is still six!"
"One, two, three." Isidora says, grinning.
"Ha! Cleverly done, Isidora," she says, beaming. If nothing happens after Isidora speaks the numbers, she continues, "Hmm, maybe you should try saying the numbers in Draconic?"
"Maybe? The riddle also said something about being courteous, maybe we need to knock?"
If speaking the answer in common doesn't work and neither does reciting the numbers in draconic, Isidora turns to the great wooden doors and knocks out once, then two times and finally three times, hoping for a result.
Your knock resonates louder than your typical knock on typical wood. For a moment nothing happens.
THEN! a resonant click and the sound of magic being dispelled. If you push on the door, you find it is now unlocked. It swings slowly open with even the faintest push, perfectly counter-balanced. New draconic runes appear just below the riddle completing the rhyme.
Here might and wit are paramount.
Tests far too dangerous for some.
Inside are trials you must surmount
and challengers to overcome!
you hear the sound of grinding stone as the headless statue to your left lurches forward, arms unfolding, and moves toward you with a slow and menacing gait.
As the door lock clicks open, a small grin crosses Isidora's face, despite the fear in her eyes.
She nervously begins to read the draconic runes before the sound of grinding stone startles her to attention and she turns to the large statue bearing down on her.
Her first reaction is to quickly draw her sword and takes a swing at the newly animated statue before leaping back
Grinning at the prospect of her first taste of battle in this adventure, Ilyana draws her blade and slices at the animated statue; unfortunately, her blade grazes off of the stone harmlessly. She holds off on any formal declarations of justice; after all, a simple statue is almost certainly not "evil", merely following a prescribed set of instructions.
From his belt, Dskani pulls a weapon that looks like a strange cross between a whip and a sword, striking out at the statue closest to him.
the swords of Isadora and Ilyana bounce off the statue. Kildel and Dskanis blows do chip away at the weathered rock but fail to significantly halt it's progress.
It rears back its stone fists and clumsily lunges at the obvious threats:
First, it lashes out with a vicious backhand at Dskani
Second, the statue brings both arms down on Kildel in in a devastating smash
As her blow fails to make any meaningful impact on the statue, Isidora tries to identify some vulnerability that the group may be able to exploit.
While she tries to recall what she knows of arcane constructs, she moves in to a position behind Dskani. Seeing he has been severely beaten, she channels some positive energy in the form of a healing spell she knows.
Ilyana makes up for her previous error by striking true, her falchion making a ghastly scraping sound as it cleaves through solid stone.
Dskani staggers from the force of the statue's blow, but quickly regains his footing and strikes again.
He thanks Isidora for the healing magic.
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Witha crunch of broken bones and crushed cartilage, the statue smashed into the barbarian, forcing him to plant himself firmly on the ground, only taking a step back as he grit his teeth. He growled in fury, pain, and rage. He could feel the anger pulling at him, urging him onward, forward, and he fought it back down, he needed a clear head about him right now, after all!
Hefting the sword once again, he hurled himself at the statue, bringing the sword down in a strike diagonally across the stone statue's torso.
Ilyana lands a cleaving blow on the statue. Dskanis Urumi bounces harmlessly off of its stone skin. Kildel misses with his powerful swing.
It stops moving for only a moment, as if contemplating its current state before lashing out agian. He outstretches both arms and walks toward those who recently hit him. With the sound of grinding stone, his upper body begins spinning quickly like a top, bent on destruction.
*spinning stops*
Seeing Ilyana and Kildel's grievous wounds, Dskani steps back (5-foot step) out of reach of the statue, and raises his holy symbol. As he utters a few brief words of prayer, a flash of light washes over the group, and their wounds begin to close.
Ilyana makes an unladylike grunt as the statue smashes into her chest. Her hand glows for a moment as she heals herself before striking again at the construct.
Isidora hesitates, unsure of what to do. She is still feels shaken and knows that there is little her weapons can do against the stone construct.
She steps forward and takes a hopeless swing at the statue.
"The stone is too hard!" She cries.
Each of your recent attacks pings off it's brittle gray stone body with small puffs of dust.
It now stands between all of you and the slightly open doorway. the statue turns its head menacingly, or would have... if it had a head. It begins stamping its feet in place and its two stone arms begin windmilling around. Faster and faster they twirl, until the statue has become a massive stone blender.
Kildel: Its stamping feet remind you a bull preparing to strike!
Ilyana: You notice many very small cracks in its stone. Though hard, this stone seems brittle.
Deciding he needs a harder-hitting weapon, Dskani sheathes his urumi, swapping it out for a staff made of three linked sections, and swings at the statue.
Isidora quickly steps back five feet as the statue begins to spin.
Hit it harder... well there's only one thing for that.
She slides her sword back in to its scabbard and draws her pistol.
Ilyana makes another glancing blow on the statue, perhaps unwisely standing firm against whatever it is doing now.
You hear a lumbering creak the statue falls to the floor, cracking it’s worked stone surface with satisfying thud you can feel in your feet.
While its whirling stops it lashes out with a kick toward Kildel
It then begins to regain its footing.
As the stone construct attempts to stand up, Dskani lashes out twice with his sansetsukon.
Isidora levels her pistol, aiming carefully at the statue and waiting for it to present more of a target to shoot at. Trying to hit it while it was on the floor was going to be too hard, especially with the chaos of the melee already increasing the difficulty.
A deafening crack rings out as she pulls the trigger on her finely crafted firearm, but she was perhaps trying a little too hard not to accidentally hit an ally. Isidora fires far too high, and the bullet chips away at the stone wall behind the statue.
Ilyana misses her first strike, but does a much better job on the upswing.
Each of your blows chips away more and more of the statues stone skin and armor. Its stiff jaunty movements degrade into clumsy flailing as it tries its best to defend itself from the three targets attacking it. and lashes out randomly.
1=Dskani 2=Ilyana 3=Kildel