As Gandel sends out his mystical call for aid to the Realms Beyond, he quickly reviews the various details learned about the 'Door Guardian' during his companions' last battle with the creature.
"Let's see. In our initial meeting it referred to itself as 'the Ro Ap Han', which is unusual as that's more of a title like 'The Portalman' or 'Man of Doors'. It seems to be some type of construct; even though it moves more fluidly than any golem I've seen, it collapsed into rubble when Karek destroyed it the first time. According to Breach, a glowing hole appears in its chest when it moves along the north wall... a hole through which things not in this chamber can be seen. And Hal said he thought there might be hollow pockets of space somewhere deep behind the north wall... Karek said they might be other chambers. Hurgah's spirit companions were unable to affect it, and some of them appeared to be sucked through the shining vortex in the thing's chest. Then when Hal dispelled the vortex, the construct cried 'No! The portal! What have you done?' just before Karek destroyed it..."
"Don't destroy it!" Gandel shouts to his companions as realization finally dawns on him. "'The Ro Ap Han'... 'The Portalman'... He IS the portal to the rest of the pyramid!"
With these words, Gandel finally rises to his feet and retrieves a tanglefoot bag from his magical pack as a small, roughly humanoid-shaped stone creature with two glowing blue sapphire eyes explodes upward from the floor. The halfling scholar speaks to the creature in a low, rumbling language.
The stone creature nods its head in acknowledgement and disappears into the chamber floor, only to re-emerge in a stony octopoid shape next to Karek and Hurgah. The elemental's stony tentacles lash out at the grappled Ro Ap Han in an effort to help the dwarf and half-orc continue to restrain the construct.
Halstadt reaches out to Angradd once again this time releasing waves of positive energy which flow over his allies healing their wounds.
Hal is channeling positive energy, he will of course not include Ro Ap in the bask of Angradd's glory. As Hal has yet to rest he only has 4 Channles left, this will leave him with 3.
Channel Energy
As Gandel sends out his mystical call for aid to the Realms Beyond, he quickly reviews the various details learned about the 'Door Guardian' during his companions' last battle with the creature.
"Let's see. In our initial meeting it referred to itself as 'the Ro Ap Han', which is unusual as that's more of a title like 'The Portalman' or 'Man of Doors'. It seems to be some type of construct; even though it moves more fluidly than any golem I've seen, it collapsed into rubble when Karek destroyed it the first time. According to Breach, a glowing hole appears in its chest when it moves along the north wall... a hole through which things not in this chamber can be seen. And Hal said he thought there might be hollow pockets of space somewhere deep behind the north wall... Karek said they might be other chambers. Hurgah's spirit companions were unable to affect it, and some of them appeared to be sucked through the shining vortex in the thing's chest. Then when Hal dispelled the vortex, the construct cried 'No! The portal! What have you done?' just before Karek destroyed it..."
"Don't destroy it!" Gandel shouts to his companions as realization finally dawns on him. "'The Ro Ap Han'... 'The Portalman'... He IS the portal to the rest of the pyramid!"
"Right on halfling!" she cries.
Sooron, lacking any particular inspiration, will wander over to Grapple-Fest, and lend a hand if it looks like one is needed, by piling on and joining in:
Blessed CMB
If Ro Ap Han is as completely bound up as the flavour text above would indicate, he will instead take the opportunity to examine the portal up-close and personal.
. . . "Don't destroy it!" Gandel shouts to his companions as realization finally dawns on him. "'The Ro Ap Han'... 'The Portalman'... He IS the portal to the rest of the pyramid!"
With these words, Gandel finally rises to his feet and retrieves a tanglefoot bag from his magical pack as a small, roughly humanoid-shaped stone creature with two glowing blue sapphire eyes explodes upward from the floor. The halfling scholar speaks to the creature in a low, rumbling language.
The stone creature nods its head in acknowledgement and disappears into the chamber floor, only to re-emerge in a stony octopoid shape next to Karek and Hurgah. The elemental's stony tentacles lash out at the grappled Ro Ap Han in an effort to help the dwarf and half-orc continue to restrain the construct....
-
This happens! An earthen cephalopod mollusc with four pairs of arms piles on to the swiftly-growing grapple group
Halstadt reaches out to Angradd once again this time releasing waves of positive energy which flow over his allies healing their wounds.
-
And then this happens!Hal is channeling positive energy, he will of course not include Ro Ap in the bask of Angradd's glory. . .
-
Score one for the Selective Channeling feat!It's going to reach everyone in the Dune Squad except for Xerissa out in the corridor. However, she is uninjured, so I think she will not feel too left out.
-
Don't you hate it when you're right? Sorry Mr. Exciting, but it really is an ability restricted to potions. I love what you're trying to do, but too big a stretch here. I'll let you re-jig your turn if you want.
Sooron, lacking any particular inspiration, will wander over to Grapple-Fest, and lend a hand if it looks like one is needed, by piling on and joining in:
If Ro Ap Han is as completely bound up as the flavour text above would indicate, he will instead take the opportunity to examine the portal up-close and personal.
-
Donkor can see the thing we're now calling a "portal" appears no more than a glowing pinhole on the guardian's chest. It seems to grow and shrink ever so slightly with Ro An Hap's struggles.
As he's maneuvering for an even closer look, Donkor catches a stony elbow to the chin as Ro An Hap flips over trying to get to his feet. After that, the Sooron concentrates his efforts on helping force Ro An Hap to the ground.
And we're back to the top of the round!
Ro Ap Han vs. a Once Slumbering Dune Squad - Round 3
.
.
.
When Corundus arrives to assist in restraining the guardian's right arm, Karek spares the creature a brief nod and a rumbling greeting that seems quite out of place among the frenzy in the room. Karek releases his arm, reaching behind him. Only then does he remember that his pack is over against the wall.
Robe! He bellows, before giving himself to the frenzy as only a barbarian can. (For a rather limited amount of time per day, it turns out.)
Don't you hate it when you're right? Sorry Mr. Exciting, but it really is an ability restricted to potions. I love what you're trying to do, but too big a stretch here. I'll let you re-jig your turn if you want.
. . .
-
Check!
When Corundus arrives to assist in restraining the guardian's right arm, Karek spares the creature a brief nod and a rumbling greeting that seems quite out of place among the frenzy in the room. Karek releases his arm, reaching behind him. Only then does he remember that his pack is over against the wall.
Corundus responds:
"Oh hey Karek, I didn't see you there. Was up?"
(just kidding - the elemental is focused on its grappling.)
-
It's a +6 to raise that total to 41.Although Donkor is admittedly rather strong for a simple man of the ol' grave cloth, it's a still a stretch to me that his aid is exactly equal to Hurgah's, but there you have it
----
With sheer weight and brute force, the Dune Squad squashes Ro An Hap to the ground. Karek has pinned his arms to his sides, denying him any trace of leverage. Hurgah is crushing his legs. Donkor is sitting on his chest and the stone octopus is hauling the guardian's head back down to the floor with its eight tentacles. Meanwhile, Gandel stands ready with a tanglefoot bag in hand.
Holding his action, "Alright, Trapspringer?! Now what?!" Breach asks, wondering if the halfling as any idea what to do next.
Breach stops wailing on Ro An Hap, which is probably for the best as there are four guys climbing all over the guardian and its getting hard to get a clear swipe in.
Ged me some ROBE!
OOC:"Robe? I'm more of a cloak guy myself."
(I miss having NPC's capable of dialogue.)
OOC:"Robe? I'm more of a cloak guy myself."
"Alright! Alright! Calm down, laddie, no sense in getting all worked up." Breach checks in Karek's pack and pulls out the barbarian's rope. Raising an eyebrow to the fineness of it, "Mighty fine lookin' rope ya got here, lad. Don't ya think it a bit fancy for a dwarf?" he asks as he hands him the rope.
Hal will rush over to his Haversack and pull out his silk rope in case further length is required.
Hal will rush over to his Haversack and pull out his silk rope in case further length is required.
-
It just might, because when Breach digs through Karek's pack, he finds no rope there.(Karek's rope was used to bind the eight legs of the basilisk and then lash it to a series of stakes, if I have it correct.)
Ro An Hap struggles as hard as he can, but he gets nowhere. The dog-pile is too strong.
"Alright, Trapspringer?! Now what?!" Breach asks, wondering if the halfling as any idea what to do next.
"The glowing vortex in Ro Ap Han's chest seems to get bigger when it's near the northern wall. Hal and Karek said there's hollow places - possibly chambers - somewhere deep behind the north wall. So hold the Ro Ap Han up against the northern wall and see what happens!" Gandel suggests, mentally offering a fervent prayer to Desna and Cayden for luck.
Hal will rush over to his Haversack and pull out his silk rope in case further length is required.-
It just might, because when Breach digs through Karek's pack, he finds no rope there.(Karek's rope was used to bind the eight legs of the basilisk and then lash it to a series of stakes, if I have it correct.)
"The glowing vortex in Ro Ap Han's chest seems to get bigger when it's near the northern wall. Hal and Karek said there's hollow places - possibly chambers - somewhere deep behind the north wall. So hold the Ro Ap Han up against the northern wall and see what happens!" Gandel suggests, mentally offering a fervent prayer to Desna and Cayden for luck.
"An excellent idea Master Gandel. And perhaps your amazing friend Corundus can help us determine areas of interest along the walls where chambers might be located. I will keep my weary self here on this throne and see if I can determine a connection between its magical energies and what happens with this Ro Han thing."
"Now that we know what we know do we want to move forward or rest further? I could use some sleep and much of the gifts granted to me by Angradd have been depleted. I think that we should bind him and take a double watch but continue to rest".
[dice=Raging CMB to Tie up (-10), with +5 for maintaining the grapple, +1 from Bless, and +6 for Aid]d20+16
-
Just another of my usual nitpicks that probably don't matter, but since Karek already has a pin, he technically doesn't even need a check to complete the tie up. What he needs is for Ro An Hap not to escape on his turn immediately before, which is coming right up. . .
Wait. . . did you say Karek has a speech impediment? I thought that was his years of dwarven finishing school.
("yeah, I didn't think so. . .")
-
The guardian struggles valiantly, but to no avail.
Karek takes Hal's rope* and begins looping it around Ro Ap Han, tying a series of sailor's knots designed to steal any hope of leverage or meaningful movement.
*a rather elviny rope if you ask me. Silk?
"The glowing vortex in Ro Ap Han's chest seems to get bigger when it's near the northern wall. Hal and Karek said there's hollow places - possibly chambers - somewhere deep behind the north wall. So hold the Ro Ap Han up against the northern wall and see what happens!" Gandel suggests, mentally offering a fervent prayer to Desna and Cayden for luck.
-
Now that the halfling mentions it, it does seem to be the case that, if anything, Ro An Hap's now pathetic struggles seem to be an effort to move himself away from the ellipse-shaped wall to the north. Too bad he hasn't moved more than an inch.
-
Does everybody in this party speak Terran?Corundus switches from combatant to speed scout and disappears through the wall. A half-minute later he returns and delivers his report to the diminutive professor. The creature's speech is a series of deep rumblings, often filled with slow empty silences, some of which convey more meaning than the noise that precedes it.
"There is a penta-space behind the wall, each man-shaped with a stale vortex of air. Lifeling language is pressed into the walls in shapes. Very old, for works of surface kin."
"Four bars from floor to ceiling, each with more air inside."
"A seal with a split in the middle. A strange place."
"The cavity is an orb, with a shallow pool of not-water."
"Four bars again, arrayed like a mouth encircling the many shaped-Sanja."
A smaller cube.
Then Corundus adds:
Each penta-space folds towards the other in a great half-ring. [He sweeps his tentacles, trying to explain the spacial relationship in a way surface-bound creature might comprehend.]
When he is done enunciating his report, the elemental closes his eyes and sinks back into the ground, reintegrating himself into the flagstones from which he was formed.
"Thank you, Corundus," Gandel says to the earth elemental as it sinks into the chamber floor.
Gandel relays the elemental's information to those of his companions who do not speak Terran.
"Well, what do you all think?" he asks.
"Thank you, Corundus," Gandel says to the earth elemental as it sinks into the chamber floor.
"Well, what do you all think?" he asks.
"So, there are chambers beyond this wall and supposedly this surly Ro Hap fellow is the gatekeeper. It would seem that this strange phenomenon present in his chest allows the viewer to look beyond into the chambers, but to pass through remains a mystery. We can assume that the ancient pharaohs had the cooperation of their construct, and we most certainly do not. If he is the portal, how do we use him? Does he speak a command while against the wall at the appropriate spot? Is a device inserted into his chest? Is his torso an ephemeral gateway that opens and closes upon command or in the right spot along the wall, and if so, who is fool enough to go through. Alas, if we still had brave Goukhan around to lead by example."
Hurgah just looks slightly perplexed as Gandel and Moonpate begin to discuss Corundus report and the strange device on Ro Ap Han. He settles for helping Karek holding the captured guardian in place while nursing his latest bruises.
"When the doorman came back from the dead, I was a feared he was gonna be our only way ta anywhere. Movin' 'im is gonna be difficult. It's not like he's gonna be cooperative or anythin'. But if we can get 'im moved and figure out how ta make the dang thing work, then I'll be the fool that goes through. Between the lot o' ya, there ought not be a problem in figurin' out how ta make it work."
"Well, what do you all think?" he asks.
-
An excellent question to be followed by by "what do you all do?"
"If Master Moonpate can summon an ally, we could send them through to investigate one or more of the chambers" Gandel suggests.
"That can be arranged by me my friend, long have the servants of Angradd been my allies. Once Ro So is in position I will summon aid".
Listening to the chatter, Karek enlists Hurgah's help in dragging the reluctant guardian across the floor of the chamber and sticking him up against the (north?) wall to see if anything happens with that thing on his chest.
Breach will stow his weapon and shield and aid the others in moving the guardian.
Listening to the chatter, Karek enlists Hurgah's help in dragging the reluctant guardian across the floor of the chamber and sticking him up against the (north?) wall to see if anything happens with that thing on his chest.
-
As Karek and Hurgah (and Breach!) begin dragging Ro An Hap towards the ellipse-shaped wall to the north, the pinhole of golden light on the guardian's chest begins to enlarge.Soon it fills his entire chest. Where once was Ro Ap Han's torso is now--
Ro Ap Han has a few choice words about being dragged against the wall:
circa -1440
It was the highest honor.
When Ro won the Paru-Stibo tournament at age 15, it was the apex of his simple life, or so he thought. No one had previously ever reached such an athletic achievement at such an early age. He was invited to attend before the Radiant Pharaoh to receive his acknowledgement. But unbeknownst to the humble thevrin, his honors had only begun.
At 18, he was fast-tracked into the military as a True-Spear, whereupon he was awarded eleven Khu-nes for blood triumph by the age of 21. By 22 he was given command of his own Justri.
At 26, he died in battle in the loyal service of the pharionic conclave. He was raised that his distinguished service might continue.
At 32, the Fiend Pharaoh elevated Ro to his war counsel, one of only eleven An Haps. His extended family was moved to Tumen with a Isia-parade in his honor.
At 38, Ro An Hap oversaw the seventh War of True Borders, as the Four Pharaohs acting-designate on the front. It was a successful campaign that lasted three years.
At 41, Ro An Hap was murdered by an assassin of the Jistka Imperium during the 'Brief Rebellion of Misguided Futility', whereupon he died for the second time, this time at the peak of his powers. He was again raised, this time by direct-dictate of the Four Pharaohs. Reborn, he retired from the military in peace-time and transferred to civil service, acting as Administrator of the Eye for Io, Keln-ra and Ida in faithful service to the Ascension.
But it was at the age of 56 that Ro An Hap received his highest honor. He was amongst the very, very, very few to ever be invited by the Four Pharaohs inside Ahn'Sehlota.
. . . And he was never seen again.
As the guardian rambles on about something, "I swear," Breach starts as he struggles with the guardian. "I'm not sure who's worse, the doorman here or the other one that wouldn't shut-up! Do either of you two know if there's a word for 'shut-up' in his language?" he asks Donkor and Gandel. "Teach it to me if there be one. I wanna tell 'im."
Karek dwarfhandles the noble guardian over to the northeast - the "smaller cube" Corundus indicated.