Armitron will spend his time drawing his grappling hook and rope tying the rope to the hook. "A makeshift weapon but better than nothing..."
Disable Device: 34 (taking 20)
It takes a short while but, after one or two attempts to open the door are frustrated, Symon manages to move the tumblers that were holding the door… listening at the door and satisfying himself that there is nothing just outside it, he opens it. The corridor beyond the door is unlit although this proves to be no impediment to Symon who is able to see the corridor heading, up a short flight of stairs, to the west – just past the stairs there is a side passage heading southwards and, opposite the side passage, a door to the north (that almost certainly leads into the raised area within the room that he was imprisoned in). The passageway, shortly after the side passage, turns to the south and out of sight…
Luther takes out the horn and shield if he has them.
Brent mutters seems a bit easy. He looks suspiciously at the woman. Either a plant or a liability. Time would tell.
Tiawask, seeing the door opened by Symon, sounds a note of caution, ”Be careful – when I was dragged through to my prison, there were a lot of guards on patrol… they might be expecting an attack or there might be something else going on… regardless, we should be cautious. Are there some stairs out there? We need to be heading up that way and, somewhere along the passageway, there’s a pair of golden doors… that’s the way out of here”.
"We should find our weapons if we can. Symon, good job. Keep us moving."
Symon, smiling at his friends, looks to move into the darkness of the corridor before Tiawask suddenly stops him with a warning, ”Careful!!! There’s something out there… that statue”, she gestures at the effigy of the serpentfolk in the alcove, ”There’s an aura coming from it… it might be trapped!!!”
Armitron shrugs, "Perhaps if I lasso it with my grappling hook I can pull it down? Unless of course you think you can get us past it Symon?"
Luther nods. Symon checks it out.
Dru hits the statue with a detect magic and maintains it for a few minutes to gather information.
At first glance, the statue does not appear to be exuding any form of magical aura but a more studied examination reveals the traces of a transmutation aura swirling around the serpentfolk effigy… Drusellia stops Symon before he can step out of the room and, in the darkness, the shadowdancer can just about see some unusual scratching and gouging of the floor around the statue.
"Transmutation; it can change form, perhaps. Best to be extremely careful!"
"A trap to keep us from making our escape no doubt the rason why the felt comfortable leaving us there with no guards".
Can we disrupt it?
Symon, heeding Drusellia's advice that magic is at play here, moves cautiously towards the effigy... and, in the darkness, sees the head of the serpentfolk statue detach itself from the rest of the effigy and, with a short spinal column made of polished steel and moving as a snake’s body, ‘slither’ to the floor…
Armitron drops his grappling hook and grabs his shield from his back using it to bash the Sentinel.
Melee Attack
Shield Bash Damage
Melee Attack
Shield Bash Damage
Drusellia intones the words to a magic missile.
Improvising, Armitron pulls the shield from his back and rushes forward… the first of his attempted shield bashes nearly hits but the second, clumsy and slow, misses to the extent that the paladin nearly strikes Symon… and then Drusellia, hoping that the absence of weapons will prove to be less problematic with her magic, lets loose a trio of arcane bolts – they fly unerringly at the animated snake and then simply disappear!!!
With no weapon, Symon draws himself close against the wall…
The snake’s jaws open wide in a noiseless hiss as, seemingly ignoring the threat posed by Armitron or Symon, it ‘slithers’ up the stairs beyond the escaping prisoners…
…at the top of the stairs, the snake turns and, from its eyes, a ray of green coruscating light is fired at Symon…
…but the ray fizzles into the shadows…
Armitron takes advantage of the foes tactical error and tries to slam the shield home again.
Melee Attack
Shield Bash Damage
Armitron’s shield crashes against the snake, chipping stone and sending it bouncing against the far wall before it moves past him and up the steps…
"The snake is immune to magic! My talents will be useless, here!"
So saying, Dru withdraws to the safety of the rear.
Without their weapons, and with Drusellia’s revelation that the animated snake is immune to magic, the group are powerless to stop its escape… after firing the ray of green light at Symon, and missing, it turns and slithers out of view along the western corridor.
Tiawask, who has watched events with a look of trepidation upon her face, whispers, ”We should act quickly… whatever that was, it is likely to raise the alarm that we have escaped… we must find your weapons before the serpentfolk return”
Luther agrees.
"Let us move quickly."
If Symon doesn't lead, he takes the rightmost passage or door at all times.
Symon moves forward, keeping to the shadows.
Moving along the corridor, climbing the stairs and remaining vigilant for any serpentfolk who have been alerted by the escaping snake statue, the group pass a passageway to the south that ends at a wooden door after ten feet or so… just beyond this side passage, a door leads to the north – from the orientation of the room in which they were imprisoned, it is obvious that this door leads to the ‘viewing platform’ that overlooked the area in which the group were held captive… a quick check of the door to the north confirms that, whilst it is locked, it isn’t trapped
…beyond this door to the upper part of the prison area, the corridor heads westwards for twenty feet before turning to the south – this is the direction that the snake escaped in…
well, let's not let them have too much time to prepare and he starts moving after the snake
Armitron retrieves his makeshift grappling hook weapon and retains his shield.
Symon nods in agreement with Brent and carries on down the corridor, again keeping hidden and silent.
Moving silently ahead of his companions, Symon arrives at the point where the corridor turns to the south… in the darkness, he can see a serpentfolk just behind another corner which takes the corridor eastwards once more. The serpentfolk, with an arrow notched in its bow, is ‘tasting’ the air with its tongue…
Know. Dungeoneering:
Not knowing what the creature is up to, Symon turns to the others and describes what is ahead.
Armitron shrugs, "Sorry I don't know what it is doing either. I can charge at it and distract it hopefully giving the rest of you time to follow and we can flank and overwhelm it. We are going to have to get our hands on some weapons until we find our weapons".
I've got him
Brent sets himself and approaches the serpent man
Luther uses his holy symbol to cast a spell. The strength of a bull infuses Brent (+4 STR)
Rushing forwards, Brent barrels into the serpentfolk before it has a chance to loose the arrow in its bow… crashing into the flat-footed guard, he hears ribs crack…
Hissing, the guard lets it’s bow fall to the floor and puts a hand down to draw the scimitar from its belt…
In the near darkness, Brent can just about make out that the serpentfolk is guarding an imposing pair of golden doors – elaborately decorated with twisting serpentine patterns - whilst a large statue of a snake stands sentry within an alcove to the south of the doors…
…and, moving in the absolute darkness beyond the golden doors, the sound of a bow string tightening can be heard…
Bringing it's scimitar upwards, the serpentfolk slices at Brent before, sliding through the brawler's defenses, biting him...
...and, in quick succession, a volley of arrows clatter against the walls near Brent - mercifully, not one of them hits him...
Armitron will charge forward and attempt to grapple the Serpentfolk that Brent has struck hopefully pinning its arms back.
Combat Maneuver to Grapple
Slight of Hand:
Stealth:
Rushing forwards, the absence of a weapon keenly felt, Armitron attempts to grapple the serpentfolk tangling with Brent – but the paladin is ill-suited to such a fighting style… and the serpentfolk far too lithe – swerving with reptilian grace, it moves beyond Armitron’s clutches…
…seeing an opportunity, Symon sees the bow on the floor just ahead of the serpentfolk – he ducks forwards and, giving the serpentfolk no opportunity to strike, grabs the weapon… gathering up three arrows as he does so.
Dru lets fly another trio of missiles.
Luther summons a badger from the celestial plane.
uh! Brent grunts as the blows strike home
He shakes his head and grins, then launches a hard series of attacks
power attack, bulls strength, flurry, boars style
Brent continue to smash against his opponent whilst, from further along the corridor, a salvo of arcane missiles crashes into Brent’s foe…
…and then, in the tight confines of the corridor, Brent faces the ferocity of the serpentfolk…
...and, when an arrow from the dark strikes Brent in the neck, he falls...
Trusting that Luther can aid Brent Armitron tries to push the serpentfolk wielding the blade backwards away from his downed companion !
Bull Rush
Dru moves closer to Brent, hoping to stabilize the brawler.
Rushing against the serpentfolk that stands above Brent, its weapon poised for the killing blow, Armitron is cut by an opportunistic downward slash of steel... and then, the reptile almost seems to allow itself to be pushed backwards...
Moving behind the paladin, Drusellia staunches the flow of blood from the grave wound sustained by Brent...