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Omar again fires several arrows, but two miss completely. The other three, however, strike nearly the same area: His forehead. These shots go so deep into the armor that the tips actually pierce through the back of his hood. The figure falls over, his two swords falling out of whatever mechanism they were contained in.
"Tough critter whatever that was. "
Wilhaim, shaken, nods to Omar.
"That was a Worm that Walks. Hard to kill, and evil as sin. Well done gents."
Nastarok floats down to the floor near the departed enemy.
He takes a look at the creature's two discarded swords.
"I don't think we have much time to wait around, get inside and close that door!"
Nastarok picks up the swords and moves to the door of the room, looking for danger.
(+7 for traps)
Omar heads through the door.
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Nastarok, you pick up the swords and almost immediately feel a very strong power. Perhaps there is an enchantment that you didn't notice, or perhaps one that you haven't heard of. You feel as if these blades can do much more in your hands than in your party member's hands, and they are extremely light, making them easy to swing one with each hand. You check the door but find no traps or other dangerous buttons. The metal door now feels easy to move, and you enter the next room with Omar.
Wilhaim quickly casts detect magic to ensure nothing is missed, and then jogs over to the group.
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The body is not magical, nor is the hood. You do notice on his back a strange half-cylinder protruding from his hood, with six holes, likely for the metal cables. The swords Nastarok took, however, nearly blind you with magical light. You follow them into the library, and a few drops of what now appears to be lava fall onto the figure, setting the hood ablaze.
Wilhaim yelps from the light he see emanating off the swords.
Omar looks towards Wilhaim at the yelp. Seeing nothing attacking him "What is it? You don't seem damaged. "
"Those swords...they...they are strong magic. Really, very powerful things. Be careful with them.
He gulps, and calms himself.
"Really? Lucky find, Nastarok." Grookle sails in after them, and closes the door behind.
"Recognize any of these books Wilhaim?" Nastarok asks the wizard.
The rogue sets the two magic swords down on the floor once he is in the room and turns to the others.
"These swords do look pretty fancy, but I'm not sure I like them better than my own blades."
Wilhaim will examine the books as well, using Detect Magic.
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Wilhaim, getting past the glow of the swords, these books all seem mundane, at least the ones you can see. Each hallway of towering bookcases are labeled, such as 'History' 'Arcane' 'Religion & Mythology' and 'Failures.'
That last one is in bold, and is the hallway to your right. The hallways are set up like large streets, with the entrance having a huge, perpendicular street where you can view each hallway, like a shop.
Nastarok, after watching Wilhaim for a bit, you start to feel a bit untrusting of Grooklepop, as he is behind you. What if he tries to take those glowing swords you dropped? He's much too volatile to use such powerful swords. You don't feel the need to do anything yet, but maybe you should just watch him.
Nastarok moves over to put his back to a wall, making sure he can keep an eye on the swords and his companions.
Wilhaim will grab one each from the Arcane and Religion & Mythology sections for some light reading later.
Grookle takes out a rock from his pack of holding, and absently chews on it as he looks around for anything vaguely interesting to read. Seeing as how nothing is likely blatantly labeled as 'The great powerful bloody battles of awesome', he becomes more focused on his latest in a line of masterpieces.
"Oi oi, Omar, it looks a bit like you don't you think?"
"No, no not really. "
He throws it at Omar's head. "Accept it's beauty!"
"Hmmm....." Nastarok muses as he looks about.
"I'll make sure these stay safe." he says to himself.
He pulls a folded cloth out of a pouch on his belt and unrolls it onto the floor.
He reaches down towards and then through the cloth into the extradimensional space beyond, up to his shoulder. He fishes about for a few moments and then grunts as he finds what he is looking for.
He pulls a large, iron-bound chest out of the Portable Hole and drags it out onto the the stone floor. He opens the lid of the chest and pulls out one of his spare cloaks.
He wraps the cloak around the two glowing swords to cushion them and hide the light from their glowing magic. Then he puts the wrapped pair of blades back into the chest, seals it with a thud, and replaces the chest in the portable hole.
As he folds up the magic cloth and puts it back into the pouch at his belt, he says to the other three. "I'll just hang onto those in case I need a spare blade later."
"Yeah yeah, sure sure." Grookle waves him off as he looks around.
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Wilhaim, you find a book about Transmutation, as well as a book telling of ancient, forgotten deities that sounds interesting. Grookle carves a bust of Omar, and it doesn't look too bad, until it hits Omar's face and cracks against the stone floor. Nastarok puts the swords away just as you can start feeling a heat from behind you, behind the metal door. It has apparenetly began to fill. Ahead of you down a long hallway of bookcases is the outline of a huge door, with two small wooden doors in the center bottom of the art.
"Let's check those doors." Nastarok suggests.
He walks down the hall cautiously, looking about for trouble.
(+7 for traps)
"All good?" He looks behind the group, a little apprehensive about a room filling with lava behind them.
Nastarok waves the others forward.
Wilhaim advances to Nastarok, although he obviously shares Grooklepop's trepidation.
Omar takes the trailing position and follows along.
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Opening the wooden doors, you all are suddenly overrun with cold air. Ahead of you, you can see a huge landscape of snow and trees. You appear to be in the middle of a forest, and a snowy path leads away. It is somehow daylight out, and the bright snow nearly blinds some of you with darkvision. The snowfall is mild, and the snow on the pines looks as if it has been calmly snowing for a while now.
The path ahead of you does not appear worn, but is not covered in snow, for some reason. Looking back at your exit, you see a large wooden building with a stone column leading up for miles, obviously the pit you came from. While you are not at a position to tell, this cavern must be huge, and there is obviously some powerful magic going on here.
Nastarok shivers as he ventures out into the snow.
Is there any indication of where the path leads?
"Well, let's see where this goes then."
Nastarok sets off down the path towards the forest, his mithril studded boots crunching on the gravel.
Over his shoulder to Omar he calls:
"If any of those goblin cannibals the elf told us about show up, give me a shout and shoot them."
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Setting off, you turn the corner and can see much more of where the path leads. You seem to be on a small mountain, and the path leads down a curving, less forested mountainside. Just ahead of you is a large stone platform sticking out of the ground, making a flat circle with a small campfire burning in the center. Ahead of that is more path, heading down at least a mile to a large village, though you cannot see the details through the cold, increasingly heavy snowfall.
"Hm, that one of the wizzer's 'safe zones'? I could use a rest after that last run in." He rubs his sore and bloodied arms.
"Do you need healing Grooklepop?" Nastarok asks the gnome.
"I'll be better once I've had time to let my rage out, but I don't wanna be using that when we might have to fight again. Takes a lot of the fight outta me, ya know?"
"I will be sure to shoot any goblin cannibals I see. Their screams should be enough warning. "
"You're all so pleasant to travel with..."
Grooklepop gives Wilhaim a hearty pat on the... just above his rear, since he's really short. "You know you love us! Come on, what are we doing out in this cold when we could be checking out that fire?"
Nastarok heads over to the campfire and checks for trouble.
(+7 for traps)
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Nastarok, you don't see or hear anything moving in the forest. In fact, it's a bit too quiet compared to the forests on the surface. However, you do not see any traps near the campfire, and the stone circle is big enough for each of you to have a tent. The campfire glows orange and the snow melts and boils before it can put out the fire.
Wilhaim happily examines the fire from a magical perspective, looking to compare it to the previous campfire.
"OK, well if we're gonna rest, best if we post guards. This place has a way of making your paranoid. "