Well, I already died once so I will go back in and try to close them. Why fear death now!
Strength
Hal can't get the damn doors to budge...
Once Hal re-enters the room, the accelerating drum beat he hears picks back up to its full volume.
"Here Gandel, now you take take mine," she says as she strips. "It's like musical cloaks."
Realizing the drum beat is getting faster, Hal casts Bears Endurance, then retries the door.
Fortitude save vs 15?:
Gack! Sooron rests and looks around resignedly as his heart joins the cardiac acrobatics.
The halfling accepts Xerissa's cloak with thanks, but suddenly sees Halstadt re-enter the Chamber of Heart Beats.
"Hal!" cries Gandel running after him. "No! It's too dangerous!"
Entering the room, the halfing throws his back against one of the doors and tries to push it closed, pushing as hard as he can with his feet against the flagstones.
(fail!)
Realizing the drum beat is getting faster, Hal casts Bears Endurance, then retries the door.
-
Unless anyone else has anything else they want to do in the round Halstadt first casts bear's endurance, I think you can just go ahead.
Gack! Sooron rests and looks around resignedly as his heart joins the cardiac acrobatics.
-
Although you did not notice it earlier, the magic of the room has now taken its toll on Donkor as well. He looks terrible, his face suddenly caked in sweat.
"Here Gandel, now you take take mine,"she says as she strips. "It's like musical cloaks."
-
Hey! This is a family PBP. We have baby Hurgahs posting in these threads.
Seeing the already weakened dwarf and halfling struggle in wain with the double doors, Hurgah lets out a snort.
Stepping into the chamber, he grabs the edges of the doors and gives the pair a hard look.
Get out! he says in a tone that does not invite discussion. He then begins to pull the doors shut.
Waving his arms, Gandel tries to ward Hurgah away. But he soon realizes would have more luck turning back the tide. Once the Reaver has grabbed the doors with his clawed hands, the halfing dives back into the hall seeking safety.
"Get out!" he says in a tone that does not invite discussion. He then begins to pull the doors shut.
-
Only once Hal and Gandel are clear, does the mammoth Hurgah complete his effort, forcing the heavy doors closed once more.Only when the scraping sound of the door across the floor is complete does Hurgah first notice the reverberating drum beat in his ear.
But doesn't that just make his daring sacrifice even more noble?
Also, like the rest of the Dune Squad, it appears he has a further +2 to his save on account that the door is now closed.
"Here Gandel, now you take take mine,"she says as she strips. "It's like musical cloaks."-
Hey! This is a family PBP. We have baby Hurgahs posting in these threads.
The alchemist kneels down in the corridor and unfolds her instant workbench. She then begins spreading out her tools of the trade.
She can attempt to, but she will need a full minute of time - and then we'll get a Craft (Alchemy) check. You can hold it for the moment.
In the meantime, other than this sudden bout of self-sacrifice involving the doors that's been going on, did anyone else want to do anything before--
Karek will move down the hallway, in the direction that takes him as far away from the room as possible.
Karek will move down the hallway, in the direction that takes him as far away from the room as possible.
-
He can go either way, back east towards the "potion room" or west in to uncharted territory. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll assume he's headed east.Getting away from the room seems to help, the sound is getting fainer and fainter. Unfortunately, it is still there.
. . . before--
The alchemist kneels down in the corridor and unfolds her instant workbench. She then begins spreading out her tools of the trade.
-
The professor kneels down beside her and helps preparing ingredients in the hopes of speeding Xerissa's efforts up. He also begin nattering away about how he once read the works of the great wizard-alchemist MacGoover who prided himself on his ability to wipe up a batch of anything - apparently the less time MacGoover spent on a concoction, the better his results. Perhaps they will share in his luck today.
"Here! Quick! Try adding some more crushed Yuchora crystals!"
. . . did anyone else want to do anything before--
--before I call for the next batch of saves.
Hurgah is dutifully rolling his in advance it would seem, so none needed from him. (He's also rolling 20s.)
But for Donkor I do - Remember he has a +1 for his early exit (and not re-entering0 as well as a further +2 for the door closing.
And Halstadt - he's got a -2 for negative levels, +2 from the bull's strength, +1 from Gandel's cloak of protection, and now +2 for the door.
And Karek too, but at this point, I think he just needs to not roll a 1. If I have it right, his bonuses are now +3, +2, +2.
"The heart beat, it's really racing now. We can't keep on like this!"
(fail!)
The halfling suddenly clutches his chest. His heart is pounding so fast and so violently, you can see it beating visibly in his chest. Almost instantly his hair and clothes have become matted with sweat with the intense exertion.
"Help!" he cries. Though the fact that he's still able to call for help is a good sign.
Fortitude check vs 15:
Sooron begins to feel even worse, staring at his comrades in surprise, and mutters some curses at the Pharaoh of Numbers for cruelly inflicting 1's on them.
"Here! Quick! Try adding some more crushed Yuchora crystals!"
"Yo," she says waving the little dude off, "Leave this to the pro. I got this."
Then when she sees he suddenly looks like crap her tone changes.
"Woah! you don't look so good. Here lie down."
"MEDIC, MEDIC!"
Sooron begins to feel even worse, staring at his comrades in surprise, and mutters some curses at the Pharaoh of Numbers for cruelly inflicting 1's on them.
-
Wow! The die roll infection is spreading.On the positive side, this one is better to fail than say, the next one to come.
Donkor and Gandel now have the exhausted condition. The verdict is still out on Karek (fatigued) and Hal (who is fine - if you ignore his recent flat-line).
An exhausted character moves at half speed, cannot run or charge, and takes a –6 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. After 1 hour of complete rest, an exhausted character becomes fatigued. A fatigued character becomes exhausted by doing something else that would normally cause fatigue.
I believe Donkor's current Dexterity score is 1. If he should hit zero, he loses the ability to move. Yikes!
Come dis way Karek yells to the party as he moves back to the potion room. Id geds quieder!
"Okay, yeah. . ." the halfling answers weakly, still kneeling on the floor next to Xerissa. "I just need a brief rest first, then. . . I'll. . . come, yeah, just a. . . short rest. . ."
Despite his claims of resting, he's breathing awful fast.
Karek braves the sound once again to carry the halfling along with him.
Karek makes his way back and sweeps up the tiny halfling. He pops him over his shoulder and begins to carry him back along the corridor towards the "potion room".
Hurgah grabs the clumsy cleric around the shoulders and half-carries him down the corridor.
"Let's get away from this cursed room. There are other things waiting to kill us."
Hal follows his comrades away from this chamber of horrors pulling the scroll breath of life out of the Haversack in case he needs it.
Fortitude save
Look at all the enthusiasm for rolling saves. Two more eager volunteers before I even need to ask. I’ll count these ones, but maybe we should hold off future advance rolls as it might cause a logistics problem down the line (for reasons I can’t yet explain).
Hurgah has a +2 bonus now that the door to the Chamber of Heartbeats has been closed. And by the time he actually needs this roll he’ll have another +3 for distance – the sound will be pretty faint. So, like Karek, he’s well into the ‘just don’t roll a 1 camp’. It sounds like Hurgah’s so fit that even with his heart going a mile a minute he remains unaffected. Heck, this is probably no different than the physical stress of one of his typical rages. Perhaps his draconic heart has evolved twice as many valves and chambers or perhaps he’s just plain used to life-threatening cardio work-outs.
With Halstadt following Karek and Hurgah (and their charges, Donkor and Gandel), that just leaves Moonpate and Xerissa outside the Chamber of Heartbeats. But since neither actually hears the drum beat, they do not show any signs of being in actual danger. Since Phrip has indicated his schedule leaves him indisposed, I’ll take the liberty of having Moonpate follow Hurgah. I’ve observed the wizard is often keen to keep his favored bodyguard nearby.
That leaves Xerissa alone, working furiously at her high-speed alchemy concoction.
Also, Denis inquired whether Halstadt would appreciate the limitation of his breath of life scroll, as Mr. Monotony previously identified, namely that you need hit point damage for it to actually be effective. The answer is “Yes”. His mystical training is that elaborate – so no need to feel that he would meta-game.
Lastly, now that the party is on the move, where do they intend to end up? Am I right that everyone, with the possible exception of Xerissa, intends to go back inside the circular room with the pool filled with purple liquid? Or was the idea that everyone stop outside the room? Or a third location entirely?
"Karek, listen," says the professor as he hangs over Karek's shoulder, panting for breath.
"I don't think I can take too much more of this. I'm. . . blacking out."
There's silence before the halfing is able to continue.
"In my pack there's a black leather-bound journal. On the cover there's a symbol of the open road. If you make it out of here, get the journal to Krenshar. He'll know what to do with it."
"It was an honor. . . to have delved with you all."
Forgetting his fatigue for the moment, Karek roars out Cleric!, summoning Hal to him as soon as possible. He dares not approach closer to the room, but he slows his pace somewhat to allow Hal to catch up.
Forgetting his fatigue for the moment, Karek roars out Cleric!, summoning Hal to him as soon as possible. He dares not approach closer to the room, but he slows his pace somewhat to allow Hal to catch up.
Moonpate will also help drag affected members back to the "potion" room.
Hal hustles as best he can over to examine Gandel. "Donkor, does his condition seem worse than mine was, recently?"
Heal Check
In case it is needed: Knowledge Arcana: 1d20+15
-
That's going to turn out to be one of those things that Moonpate can't know for sure until he tries. He's never encountered a bizarre heart beat control chamber.There seems to be some good sense to this. Karek reported advantage when he moved away from the room, and his allies appeared to derive benefit when the door was closed. There may well be a sound-based delivery device or even a sonic one. But the weird part is, if so, why can't Moonpate hear it?
If you decide to give it a shot, let me know who he will cast the spell on:
Karek - fatigued
Donkor - exhausted and hyper-clumsy
Gandel - exhausted and melodramatic
Hurgah - mildly bored
Hal - recently deceased and prone to rolling "1"s, but strangely fine right now.
Hal hustles as best he can over to examine Gandel. "Donkor, does his condition seem worse than mine was, recently?"
-
Halstadt can see that, if anything, Gandel's condition is the exact opposite of Halstadt's prior condition. Whereas Hal's heart slowed until it stopped, Gandel's heart is thumping madly to the point of breaking.
Forgetting his fatigue for the moment, Karek roars out Cleric!, summoning Hal to him as soon as possible. He dares not approach closer to the room, but he slows his pace somewhat to allow Hal to catch up.Moonpate will also help drag affected members back to the "potion" room.
-
I am jumping on that as confirmation that the Dune Squad is indeed returning to the potion room (minus Xerissa).We'll have Moonpate assist Hurgah who is guiding Donkor by one arm.
The half-blood could actually use the help. Every time Donkor's heart beats it causes another jerking series of spasmodic movements. It looks like he's trying out one of those new fangled dances the young kids are always showing off.
"His heart is racing as if he were running a full sprint but he is otherwise fine for now. Let's get back to the potion room and regroup. We need to assess where to go from here. So long as we draw breath we must push forward".
From the corner of her eye, Xerissa watches the Dune Squad turn right and re-enter the "potion room". Still sitting in the wide curving hall, she quickly returns her attention to her concoction.
Meanwhile, inside, the circular room is as the Dune Squad left it, only minutes ago. A large pool filled with a purplish fizzing fluid dominates the room. A stone ladle rests on the lip of the pool. Behind the pool, a small (and recently confounding) circular hole is in the wall at chest level.
By now, Gandel and Donkor's hearts are beating so loud and fast they are having difficulty hearing or focusing on anything else.
Once Xerissa joins us, we should probably close the doors to this chamber as well, try to muffle that infernal sound as much as possible.
Moonpate is deeply concerned and is willing to try anything at this point to help, so he will cast Resist Energy: Sonic on Donkor in order to help improve his chances.
. . . Moonpate is deeply concerned and is willing to try anything at this point to help, so he will cast Resist Energy: Sonic on Donkor in order to help improve his chances.
-
It does more than improve his chances. Once the Potentate casts his spell, the potent abjuration instantly blocks out the infamous drum beat.Sooron is still glistening with sweat, but his heart has stopped accelerating towards the point of no return and he seems to be recovering rapidly.
Hal will cast lesser restoration on Gandel to bring him from exhausted to fatigued.
-
It does more than improve his chances. Once the Potentate casts his spell, the potent abjuration instantly blocks out the infamous drum beat.
Who besides Gandel is still affected? I can use my bonded object to cast Resist Energy one more time.
Clever.
Karek, Hal and Hurgah are also "affected" such that they will need saves soon. Karek is fatigued, while Halstadt has 2 negative levels. Hurgah has no adverse effects (yet).
Hal will cast lesser restoration on Gandel to bring him from exhausted to fatigued.
-
(Gasp!) "Thanks!" (pant, pant)"By the gods, that's better!" (pant, pant)