When Kikinnin and JJ approach to the doors they just open. The skeletons have moved and set themselves just in the entrance, but it seems their presence did not trigger the doors opening.
They each perform a single attack on the dwarf and the young man.
But they fail to reach them, the last of the attacks banging on the door's corner.
AC = 27
HP = 82/84
Weapon Equipped = +2 Dwarven Greataxe
Conditition(s) = -1 Str, Shield Other
Kikinnin begins to bash bone, belligerently.
"Be quick about it, JJ. You're gonna feel like you're passing through unyielding branches in a forest, for the number of arms they've got."
Marigold's Round 1
Marigold takes a few steps forward into the hallway and calls down a blast of holy power on the skeletons!
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JJ tests out hte weight of the mace and starts swinging, concentrting first on the blue one (if it is still up after Kikinnin) and then moving onto the one in green rags.
"See, that is why I thought I'd let the rest of you join in. I know you think I'm impetituous, but rushing into the middle of that lot was a bit much, even for me."
Maxim hangs back, with no relevant magic to bring to bear, he merely watches the melee from a distance - ready to assist if required.
Kikinnin's axe is not as effective as normal against the skeleton, but nevertheless its sheer weight cracks four ribs of the creature, that seems to suffer no pain.
When Marigold raises her hand, the skeletons suffer under the powerful divine wave!
Half of them are flashed by the holy power and render unable to see for a moment.
JJ's sword is almost ineffective against the skeleton, its tip ending in between the bones once and again, but the mace results mighty powerful breaking bones in multiple places.
Ryan presents his shield towards the creatures and channels Abadar's divine power, only this time to harm the undead instead of healing his friend's.
Juraan casts the only useful spell he can think of to fight the strange skeletons: « זויער קויל » . .
The acid sphere appears in the same place as one of the skeletons (Green):
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Ryan relocates next to Kikinnin and JJ and raises his holy symbol, the sacred wave partially damaging the six-armed skeletons.
The skeleton targeted by Juraan jumps to the side avoiding the acidic sphere.
There is then a hurricane of skeleton arms that start attacking JJ and Kikinnin, but man and dwarf block one after one all the claws forming a perfect defensive wall.
Afterwards, the skelletons recover sight.
AC = 27, 29 PfE
HP = 82/84
Weapon Equipped = +2 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = PfE
Kikinnin keep swinging, until Blue falls, so he can move onto Green.
The black beard shoots words of thanks over his shoulder, for the magics weakening the bone guard before them. "Shouldn't be too much longer, I think."
If Blue falls, Kikinnin steps into the space between skellies, trying to get past them, in order to flank, eventually. His resolve is greater for Marigold's gilding.
Satisfied that the skeletons were soften up good and proper by her opening salvo, Marigold now conjures her ghostly whip and sends it to strike the closest of the still-standing skeletons.
JJ continues his assault, but given the ineffectiveness of his short sword, just relies on it for parrying rather than attacking. STill, Ryan's mace seems to do a good job.
JJ keeps bashing at the badly wounded blue one before wanting to try the green one on for size.
Maxim moves forward as not to leave himself too distant from the grand melee , positioning himself shoulder-to-shoulder with Ryan.
Shield and mace in hand Ryan steps forward and takes aim at the nearest of the creatures.
additional +2 if Divine Favor still in play GM
also additional +2 if DF in play
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Defense
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AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 20 (+10 base, +7 armor, +1 Dex, +3 shield)
gear - +1 Agile Breastplate, +1 Dwarven Heavy Shield
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Offense
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Melee
Master Key +9/+4 (1d8+3) +1 Heavy Mace
MWK dagger +9/+4 (1d4+2/19-20) or dagger +8/+3 (1d4+2/19-20)
silver light mace +8/+3 (1d6+2)
Ranged
light crossbow +7 (1d8)
Attack Modifiers
Kikinnin's axe destroys the first skeleton, then steps in and goes for the second breaking even more bones.
Marigold's force whip lashes with mighty strength on the animated bones, bursting on them.
Juraan's sphere damages the skeleton leaving it in a bad shape, and JJ bursts the bones with a couple of swings fully destroying the six-armed skeleton.
With the front cleaned, Ryan comes in and blasts one of the skeletons around the corner with his mace.
The remaining skeletons retaliate against Kikinnin and Ryan.
But the claws only find armor and walls, unable to slash through the group defenses.
JJ steps forward, his god-enhanced strength enabling him to twist and twirl the hefty mace with relative ease. Again and again he strikes at the six armed dead creature.
AC = 27, 29 PfE
HP = 82/84
Weapon Equipped = +2 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = PfE
With two skellies shattered, Kikinnin takes heart, and steps into the room a little more, before swinging on Red.
"What kind of monstrosity walks the earth with three sets of arms? Did the hags make them from multiple humans?"
"If so...where are the left over parts?" wonders JJ.
Juraan moves the acid sphere right to attack one of the remaining skeletons (Yellow):
Marigold moves up but makes no attempt to enter the room as it appears that Kikinnin and JJ largely have things under control. She does, however, direct her whip to try and help finish off the more injured of the two remaining skeletons.
Bereft of useful magicks Maxim is content to let the melee play out, whilst hanging back guarding the group's rear.
JJ hits the wall covering the undead with his first swing, but the second one connects breaking more bones.
With a better angle, Kikinnin swings his axe, bones jumping out of the lifeless corpse!
The skeleton jumps to the side avoiding Juraan's sphere!
Marigold's whip lashes the surrounded skeleton finally finding its place in the world for it.
Maxim observes from the distance calibrating his own strengths.
Ryan steps into the room and swings his mace destroying the skeleton's head! A second swing breaks a rib.
Meanwhile the skeleton, in very bad shape, scratches the cleric's face with a claw.
JJ does his best to work his way around the outside of the last skeleton, before bringing his loaned mace into play.
While her conjured whip continues to whip the skeleton good, Marigold remains outside in the hallway with her eyes still peeled for additional, sneaky threats.
AC = 27, 29 PfE
HP = 82/84
Weapon Equipped = +2 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = PfE
Kikinnin takes a brief step towards Yellow, and lends his Axe to further damage, hopefully destroy, the damnable thing.
"Bone is brittle, little like stone."
"It tries to spite, despite its lies."
"Let's be done of this. I've got no more rhyme, this time."
Juraan moves the acid sphere right to attack the last skeleton (Yellow):
The combined strength of the Cauldron Watchers is enough to break through the last skeleton leaving the room back into silence.
Three large beds sit in this room. Along the north wall hangs a set of golden baboon masks. The smooth stone walls and the floor are covered by colorful and bizarre tapestries and carpets. An elaborate weaver's loom occupies the southwest corner. Various skeins of wool of many different colors are piled near the loom, next to a basket of sewing tools. A wooden chest sits in the southeast corner.
The chest contains 130 gp in a large purse, 12 pieces of assorted silver ware (jugs, plates, bowls) worth a total of 450 gp, a golden armband (worth: 120 gp), a magical scroll, a strange necklace with 3 beads, two potions of cure serious wounds, four potions of cure moderate wounds and a +1 light mace.
The Scroll contains a copy of:
- prying eyes
- greater dispel magic
- sequester
All at caster level 14th.
neeklace of fireballs (type III, with just one SD6 and two 3d6 spheres left)
"A kn-kn-knitting room? I g-guess even hags h-have their h-hobbies," Marigold muses, shaking her head. As the group begins searching around she attempts to help identify the items they find, but nothing about their auras makes any sense to the halfling.
"I'm s-sorry Alek w-wasn't in here," she sighs, giving JJ a sympathetic pat on the arm. "B-but there's st-still more of this p-place to search! We'll f-find him!"
"There has to be a clue here.." says JJ, who starts a thorough search of the place.
"They knew him.."
Juraan sets about identifying the scroll: « לייענען מאַגיש » . .
Then he turns his attention to the necklace: « דיטעקט מאַגיש » . .
"This is another Necklace of Fireballs, like the one I had some time back!"
"If I take the necklace and Maxim the scroll, that would be best."
JJ feels a push towards the northern wall. Checking behind the baboon masks he uncovers a hidden switch built into the wall. After triggering it, a shallow drawer slides out of the wall. Wrapped in silk inside this drawer is a quarterstaff made of an strange metallic alloy, with its tips reinforced and carvings all along the body resembling the light of heaven.
JJ carefully removes the staff. "Wow, sweet. It would have been nice to find this before fighting the skeletons."
Then realisising it is probably magical he offers it to Maxim and Juraan. "I guess it can do more than just hit peoples heads though."
"H-hey, w-wait...that's a st-strange-looking st-staff," Marigold points out. Then something clicks and her eyes grow wide. "JJ! M-m-maybe it's the...th-the th-thing! The Thing!" she gasps. "Th-the st-staff from the t-tapestry!"
:
Maxim examines the scroll, but shrugs as he fails to decipher it. He shakes his head, handing it back to Juraan;
"Can't make head nor tail of it Professor. Maybee's you'll have a mite more luck..."
The dwur hands Kikinnin back the mace;
"Thanks Bror. Thinkin' I'll need a hammer fur such matters in the future. The Hold will provide..."
As Marigold draws their collective attention to the staff, Maxim eyes her warily;
"The Thing? You gone all addled like Surabar Lil'Miss?"
"That is right!" he says, smiling at Marigold.
"It showed an encounter between Surabar and a sword-wielding angel, in which the angel gives Surabar a glowing quarterstaff. That was grandmother... so this must have been her staff.. You said it had a name..... Alakast!"
He holds the staff gingerly as he tries one the name.
"But was it a weapon for hitting things... or to make Spellmasons spells more powerful?"
"N-no...j-just c-couldn't think of the name for a m-moment there," Marigold blushes. "T-too excited about f-finding a r-real, g-genuine piece of history!"
She looks at the staff with awe. "I d-don't know...M-Maxim or J-Juraan would d-definitely be the b-best ones of us t-to try and check, though."
"Thanks Bror. Thinkin' I'll need a hammer fur such matters in the future. The Hold will provide..."
"Very likely, yes." Kikinnin tucks the neglected mace back in its belt loop. "Nothing a good axe can't handle, though. You should consider one."
He returns to the unexplored hallway, and proceeds, when the others have spent their curiosities on the found items.
When the group gathers in the hallway, he checks the door for sounds, then gives it a try, hoping they're not too far from finding Alex, though he still chews on the words of the hag, before she lost the fight.
Juraan tries to make sense of the staff JJ found: « აღმოაჩინე ჯადოსნური » . .
Maxim nods at Kikinnin's words;
"Got my side blade already... hammer will give me another option and its a mite more familiar to me as a smith. Reckon I'll leave the hatchet work to you bror."
He smiles grimly and moves to where Juraan is attempting to discern more on the staff;
:
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Kikinnin sets the head of his Axe on the hallway floor, and gives his forearm a rest, while waiting for the others to continue to delay their forward progression. He notes with a bit of irk that JJ is no longer huffing about delays in finding his uncle, now that he's got a new toy to occupy himself with. He colors humans as fickle things, and thinks no more on it, watching the unopened door as a dog would while waiting for its master to return from a dig.
Juraan and Maxim find out the staff is really magical, its both tips evil outsider bane and counting as good.
Kikinnin heards a couple of voices talking in a strange language at the other side of the doors.
JJ grins at the staff. "I wonder if this is was Alex was looking for..."
He sheaths his swords and gives the staff a few swings.
"This brings back memories! Uncle Alex taught me a lot with a staff." The youth rubs his back as if in remembered pain.
Seeing the impatient dwarf waiting by the door he shakes his head. "Of course, Uncle Alex... he has to be close.."
JJ advances up to the door. "Everyone ready?"
"R-ready here! J-just be careful where and h-how you swing that th-thing if you're g-going to use it," Marigold advises, eyeing JJ's new weapon(?) with some caution.
Kikinnin raises two fingers, pointing to the door, tapping his ear, and motioning for those bringing up the rear to be aware, and probably on the quiet side.
The black beard hefts his Axe, and waits for someone who might understand the muted conversation to parse words, before opening the door, and exposing the conversationalists.
Juraan stands behind Kikinnin, ready to see what happens when he opens the door.
Maxim scowls as JJ moves to impetiously open the door despite warnings of inhabitants from his bror.
God's be darned Surabar! Hold yer horses!
The gun-mage bids the swordsman hold off as he casts a spell then moves to listen intently at the door;
:
When Maxim approaches to properly listen and understand. The doors slide open on detecting the close presence.
The ceiling in this room forms a four-sided dome.
The apex of the dome is thirty feet off the ground.
An odd, ten-foot-wide pentagonal mirror hangs on the west wall, from where it casts a dark reflection of the room. This reflection is distorted in an unsettling way, and dotted with shimmering, star-like pinpoints of white light. A single chair of white stone with triple armrests sits in the middle of the room, facing the mirror. A colorful hexagonal diagram is engraved in the floor surrounding the mirror.
On the central throne sits Sir Alek Tercival. He looks at you like wakening from a long dream "Cauldron is under great danger..."
Marigold's jaw drops as the door is opened to reveal Alek sitting upon a throne. Once again, she wasn't sure what she was expecting but it wasn't this. She swallows.
"We've f-found him b-but...what's wrong with h-him??" she hisses, looking rapidly from JJ to Kikinnin and back again. "He's not under s-some sort of s-sorcery, is he?"
She attempts to surreptitiously find out by mumbling a magical detection spell.
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