Aearn to Finish round one
"These things are far beneath us", Arean judges aloud.
"Creatures, surrender", she demands from behind star-filled eyes, as she moves abreast of the line of engagement, smoke and flame flickering from a casually-curved hand...
Finding his fists rather ineffective, Brad tries to grapple the gargoyle to help others strike it.
Without asking for permission, Ikvvy draws an arrow from Eldrian's quiver and shoots at whatever creature remains.
!
Furnok grits his teeth and hacks again.
Arean tells the creatures to surrender and while the creatures do not surrender they do seem shaken by her words.
Braden succesfuly grapples one of the creatures holding it still long enough for Furnok to kill it.
Ikvvy's arrow meanwhile goes into the other gargoyle.
Eldrian is up to finish the start of round 2.
Eldrian lets loose another two arrows but only 1 hits.
The remaining gargolye with arrows sticking out of it from the party's archers attacks Marcos.
for for for for
But it can't manage to hurt him thanks to still being shaken by Aearn.
Ikvvy, Brad, Aearn to Finish round Two
"That's enough out of you," says Brad. He tries to grab hold of the gargoyle so the others can finish it.
Arean glares at the grappled gargoyle. "Will you make me repeat myself?", she asks with ill-concealed fury.
Seeing the first arrow worked pretty well, Ikvvy tries again!
!
Arean causes the creature to be shaken again, Brad grapples it, and Ikvvy puts an arrow into it.
End of Round Two
Round Three
Marcos, Eldrian, and Furnok are up.
Marcos, and Furnok can Flank the grappled gargoyle if they want to.
RD 3
Furnok flanks and hacks at the gargoyle
Chop goes the sword.
Power Attack, Flank, Vs. Evil; damage
Eldrian shoots another 2 arrows, both managing to penetrate the creatures armour.
The Gargoyle is shaken again by Aearn, grappled by Braden, hit by arrows from Eldrian and Ikvvy, and hit by Marcos sword strike as well as Furnok's blow... It's still not dead.
It tries to break Braden's grapple but fails.
Party's up.
chop! damage
Marcos delivers a powerful blow which finishes off the last gargoyle.
There are thousands of silver coins on the ground behind the dead gagoyles. Mixed in with the silver is the ocassionaly gold coin as well as scraps of chewed leather bags. Counting and sorting the coins reveal 4000 silver coins and 80 gold ones.
Eldrian retrieves HIS arrows before checking the room. "Quite a bit of money here. What's this?" he notices a bit of leather on the floor amongst the coins and picks it up showing it to the others. "Taxes? Looks like the rats got to the bags."
"Well, these guys won't be needin' ta pay their taxes anymore." Brad picks up one of the "sleeping" Siswa again, ready to continue onward.
"That is probably the extortion the Rahib demanded from the citizens. The two black panthers must be his pets, remember?" She returns the used arrows to Eldrian. "Do you mind if I keep three of YOUR arrows, brother?"
Ikvvy scans the corner for magic, and checks the rest of the large room with her Dancing Lights.
Arean joins Ikvvy's second-sight search of the surroundings, choosing a different sector to start, perhaps to hide Arean's smirk at the siblings' byplay.
Looks like we'll have to look into more enchanted weapons for us if we are going to be fighting these things. Furnok is ready to follow along.
"Oh, those kind of taxes. That's not very nice."
"Well I suppose it will save you reaching for my quiver every time you want to shoot something." He hands Ikvvy 3 arrows, "Only use them on creatures that we need to though." He crouches down to inspect a few of the coins, looking at their faces to determine perhaps the nation or currency that they were. "A few hundred gold in total I estimate. We can come back later if we make it out of here alive."
No one finds anything else of intrest here.
After finishing the fight it is easy to that this room is actually open to the outside courtyard.
The courtyard is 80 feet deep and 90 feet wide. Once well cared for, the dirt floor is now choked with weeds. In the center of the yard sits a large pool. Just beyond the pool is a set of stairs leading to the main doors of the temple itself. Four wooden sheds are attached to the west wall, and another four to the east wall. The southern corners of the courtyard are occupied by the building you are standing in and it's twin, small octagonal stone buildings, each covered with a delicate looking dome.
Will Save please
You know, I am feeling a mighty big thirst after that fight. That pool has nice clear water. Just the thing I need.
Furnok starts for the pool.
Eldrian walks carefully out of the building carefully, keeping to the edge if he can, looking around to see if anyone else might be there at the moment. Then he sees the pool, and hears Furnok.
"Some fresh water might be nice right now. But we really need to keep moving and not get spotted out here."
will save
"Hey, guys. That water does not look good to drink. Not sure what you're seeing, but its putrid, black, and slimy. Use your waterskins if you're thirsty."
"Really? But it looks so cool and refreshing." Brad pulls out his waterskin and draws a big long gulp. "There's definitely somethin' funky about this place."
"It's clear... there's a mosaic at the bottom... Well, maybe? Please, all of you, stand away from the pool..."
Arean's eyes fill with swirling stars...
well I'll take your word for it. Furnok drinks from his waterskin
"We should not be so thirsty this early." She takes a sip from her waterskin, and then a larger one. "It's clear to me that water is enchanted, and probably is the method used by the Rahib to enchant everyone. But we know better, so absolutely don't drink from it."
She also detects magic and attempts to aid the sister within her burned library!
So where to now? We seem to have several ways we can go.
When crossing the courtyard or going up the stairs please state how close you come the pool.
Furnok gets out his Lucerne Hammer and stays at least 10 feet away.
Eldrian will walk along the edge of the room intending to remain unseen if possible.
From a long-burned book, Arean quotes: "Where waters woeful wholesome seem / Where marsh-mire sparkles, spring-fresh dream / When men are lost, and no cry heard / Beware, beware, the Water Wyrd"
"It is a ruse, a hunting trick of a beast in the fountain."
"Ya don't have ta tell me twice," says Brad, keeping as much distance between himself and the pool as reasonably possible.
"We will need to get rid of it eventually, but sure, let it be for now." Ikvvy walks about 20 feet away from the fountain, if possible. She has her bow in hands and, if by chance the thing shows up, she will shoot it!
The party makes it way accross the courtyard to the stairs, staying away from the fountain/pool as best they can. When they get to the stairs however they realize that northern edge of the pool is built up next to the stairs.
It is possilbe to stay 10 feet away from the water by hugging the wall opposite of the pool while going up the stairs in single file. Once you reach the middle landing, you'll have stay away from the edge of the landingby the pool to be safe because the landing is ten feet above the surface of the water.
As long everyone takes there time and is careful you can move up the stairs with no problem. If anyone wishing to hurry up the stairs a DC 10 Acrobatics check is needed, moving normal speed up the stairs requires a DC 5 Acrobatics check. Going up the stairs at half speed requires no check.
LOL. Ikvvy, got my back?
Furnok goes up at half-speed
Brad has no trouble traveling up at a normal speed.
"Ok brothers, this could get troublesome. I have a request: we need to kill the beast! It is probably a..."
"...Water Weird, as Arean mentioned. Spells that purify water could kill it instantly, but otherwise it will reform and make a new body shortly after. Oh wait!" She takes out the Ivory Scroll Tube and draws a scroll from it. "Yes, we have two of these Scrolls. I don't think I'm able to dominate the magic on these, Arean, do you?"
Taking a scroll, Arean ponders the magic on it, then stands well away from the pool. "Must it manifest, or will the magic find it anywhere in the pool?", she asks aloud. "The General's journal did not speak of defeating the creature with prayers."
"I will need to approach the pool for the reach of the spell...", Arean advises. "Perhaps another stands closer? Not to protect me, but the casting of the spell?"
"Or me.", she allows, smiling.