Furnok pulls out his falchion and will let Ikvvy pick a door.
Placing a hand on the door, Marcos opens it as quietly as possible.
Brad follows close behind Marcos. "The rest o' ya spread out! Don't let that sleeping gas get you!"
This is a 20-foot-square room that is very clearly a kitchen and food storage area. There are open boxes knocked to the floor as well as several broken jars ... and about eight dog sized rats who seem to be just finishing up their feast when you open the door.
Arean Star-Eyed
Braden Swanson
Eldrian
Furnok of Ferd
Ikvvy
Marcos DeAngelis
Dire Rats
Looking about the messy room Eldrian didn't think they used this room often. Time to help clear out a rat infestation then.
He reaches behind his shoulder and pulls out 2 arrows and in another breath sending them flying at the biggest rat.
Marcos looses his javelin and draws his sword, ready for some up-close and personal fighting.
to hit, damage
"Can't we close the door and deal with them later?"
"If you can't close it, let the doorway channel them. Shield wall, and archers over!"
RD 1
If a rat tries to pass through a threatened square to attack Marcos, Furnok will AoO
Eldrian's arrows kill two rats, Marcos's javelin one the remain rats attack.
Furnok's takes a swing at one as it tries to get to Marcos but misses.
Rat 1 attacks Furnok for
Rat 2 attacks Furnok for
Rat 3 attacks Furnok for
Rat 4 attacks Marcos for
Furnock takes 3 pts of damage and must make 2 DC 11 Fort saves
Furnok, on his turn will slash at the rat to his right
Ikvvy tries to hit a rat with an arrow, but there's just too many cousins in front of her.
!
Brad moves into the room and strikes at a rat!
;
Braden kills a rat!
Eldrian pulls another arrow and sends it to skewer another rat.
Marcos swings at the rat directly south of him.
to hit, damage
Arean ponders why the rats aren't running...
Marcos and Eldrain kill another 2 rats! The remaining rats flee into a small hole in the south wall.
Arean realizes that despite the food in the kitchen the rats were extremely hungry and must of only just gained access to the room.
"Furnok, were you bit? With such as rats, there's often filth in their bites. I'd have a look, if you don't mind, and again later, with stars behind you. They're wiser than I."
"Hey, check it out. We got some school uniforms here." Brad opens up a box that had fallen to the ground. "Looks like those li'l rats didn't get to it first - they're in good condition!" He starts handing them out, clearly expecting them to be taken.
"School uniforms?" Eldrian raises an eyebrow and doesn't take one. "What do you plan to do dressed like that?"
"Uniforms, huh? I wonder if standard school issue includes armor, weapons, and big old backpacks..."
Marcos takes one of the uniforms anyways.
"They may at least delay the Siswa response, more than, say, a box of Orc masks...", Arean says, smiling, putting one of the robes up to her shoulders. "Gentlemen, Eldrian, I suppose you're the wisest opinion to ask. Am I more of a threat with the robe, or without one? I suppose if we're to be ignored, the dancer's garb ought not be seen..."
Ikvvy puts a robe on, allowing them to have more options should the enemy come.
"I know they will come looking for the elves who came after us. We need to move."
She gets ready for when someone opens the northern door.
Please give my wound a look over. These uniforms can help for a few seconds at least, anything that can help us.
Furnok puts on a uniform.
Arean does what she can, swiftly, for Furnok's rat bites.
"They seem clean enough. I'll marshal our magics against greater wounds. And let's do set you against stars, when they're out."
Arean also puts on a uniform robe.
"So, the door across the hall?"
The party goes to the room across the hall to the north. Opening the door reveals smooth bare stones forming th walls of a 20 foot square roo, but a rough cut tunnel is caved in the west corner of the north wall. In the center of the room, a large silver and gold scaled snake like reptile weaves back and forth as it watches you closely.
Ikvvy gets ready to close the door if the snake moves toward them, and tries to analyze the weird behavior of the being.
She speaks to it, in any case.
"What are you?"
Arean speaks to the creature.
"So, not Siswa, despite the uniforms," The snake speaks back in common.
"Come into this room quickly and drag those Siswa in here as well. The magic protections on this room will protect your minds and their's as well from the curse the Rahib has released."
"Quick, let's get them inside!" Eldrian lifts one of the Siswa and carries him inside the room.
"Okay. So, what's the story with the talking snake?"
Marcos drags one of the fallen elves into the room.
While the strong gentlemen are helping to carry them all inside, Ikvvy analyzes the magic that protects this room, to see if the story is true.
"This is the ally that Adrais (the ghost in the previous room) spoke about, Marcos." She then gets over her surprise and addresses the snake in common. "You are correct, Dragon Guard, we are not Siswa, but we're here to help the school, and a fallen ally of ours said you knew the story and could tell us how to defeat Rahib, for now."
"A question, please, Dragon Guard. Four sleep, one bludgeoned back to it. Three might be awakened by salts. Do we serve them well, to awaken them, here? And would they serve well, awakened?"
Arean leads her hounds into the room, specific cautioning in her gestures, against instinctive sniffing toward the serpent.
"Great, now I'm takin' orders from a snake." Brad heads back and hauls the Siswa back into the room.
Furnok hauls in the subdued Siswa as well.
"Let them sleep, the magic in the room will only nullify the curse while they are in here. If the curse is still in effect when they leave the room they will come under it's effect again." says the snake. "For those of you who do not speak Elven and Dragon, I am Ular Taman, sometimes called the Dragon Guard. I heard the alarm gong ring as your group arrived. I assume you haven't visited the upper levels of the Temple?"
We haven't. We came in through a magic transport from a building outside the temple. Rashia requested we free her kin from Rahib.
"We were told you are an ally. We also know that Adrais is dead and Hasan is south of us, but nothing else. Do you know the source of the curse? How can we get to the Rahib?"
"How can we stop him."
"Stopping the Rahib isn't the real problem, although I admit it won't be easy unless you get lucky. The real problem is stopping what he's unleshed but to understand what's coming you have to hear what has gone on before."
"Many Elven generations ago, an Archmage, called Elyas, visited these elven people. He asked for a place to live, where he could work in peace and solitude. Because his heart was true and he respected the elves and their customs, they gave him a place in their forest where he built a tremendous tower. For many years they helped him and he protected and taught them for his magic and learning was vast."
"Their friendship with Elyas was passed from father to son, mother to daughter and so forth, until even Elyas grew old. Then diaster struck. Three beings which Elyas refered to as 'Old Ones' took the form of young witches. These witches attacked his tower. They sought a magical gem Elyas owned -the Black Opal Eye- for its power could make them almost invincible.'
"None of them dared face Elyas alone, but together they were vey powerful. In a fiery battle they called down a gray mountain to crush Elyas. As the mountain slammed down onto his tower, Elyas drew the three inside it where he trapped their spirits, slaying their bodies. Unfortunately, Elyas himself perished."
"In his memory, the elves began to build this temple on that mountain. Many years later a group of dwarves helped complete the temple. The temple became a place of quiet meditation and learning. Many young elves spend years here as students or teachers known as Siswa. Now this mountain is known as Gray Mountain."
"When the Rahib first appeared I fought a fierce battle with him and his two panther companions. It was more or a less a tie with him retreating from here and I unwilling to leave this room unprotected.
"I guard the way to Elyas's tower, but I fear the Rahib has found another entrance. In fact I'm certain he has found another way in and has begun the process that will release the 'Old Ones' in the form of three witches again. I think for the process to be successful he will need the bodies of three women of expectional beauty for the beings to poesses."
Eldrian paced the room while the serpent talked, trying to remember anything he might have heard about the tower before. "What do you suggest we do then?"