"Or sacrifice." Oorin adds grimly.
"The condition of the doors and equipment would seem to indicate no one had come through these areas in a while. If it weren't for the peculiar atmosphere and the strange warding markes outside, I'd say that nothing odd was going on here at all," he looks down at the bench, "anymore."
Roland has been silently following the others. Since leaving the previous room, his tension has begun to return. The discovery of the odd restraining bench doesn't help.
You can see a door in the north wall of S18, leading to S19.
Oorin jumps back at the sight of flying burning skulls, "What the..."
The skulls move forward, and the chattering laughter begins to get louder and louder as the flames surrounding them burn even brighter!
Please let me know what you want to do during the first round of combat. The skulls are fifteen feet away and flying about four feet off the ground. As part of your post, please make a Will save.
Roland is as caught off guard at the appearance of the skulls as everyone else. He lets out a cry of fear as they begin to approach, their booming laughter growing louder and louder.
Ignore the laughter. Strike them!
A surge of adrenaline finds the magic dagger Karl found in the crypt in his hands, and he lashes out at the nearest of the apparitions.
The sound causes Oorin to grit his teeth but he blocks it out as best he can.
Cast Disrupt Undead on the same one Roland attacked.
Karl shakes off the screeching laughter and rushes to attack one of the untouched skulls.
Round 1 Recap:
13 Shanoa
12 Skulls
11 Oorin
09 TSP
08 Karl
05 Roland
Shanoa leaps into the fray with a mighty swing, but misses the skull as it dodges to the side.
The skulls descend and begin attacking, the first attempts to bite Shanoa, but it has not quite recovered from dodging her blow and it misses.
Another swoops low toward Roland and attempts to bite him, but it also misses. The third skull, taking advantage of the other's attack, tears into Roland .
Oorin quickly casts a spell at one of the skulls, and it's impact manages to dampen the creature's flames.
Arthur staggers a bit as he draws his katana, swinging at the skull Oorin targeted, destroying it with a whirling overhead strike.
Karl pushes forward and swings at the target in front of Shanoa, and a small explosion occurs as his weapon disintegrates the skull in a flash.
The veins on Roland's head begin to throb, and with a audible growl, he lunges for the skull that attacked him, plunging his dagger into the creature's right temple. The skull shudders for a moment before falling to the ground and breaking apart.
-----
The skulls have been destroyed.
That's strange... I could have sworn... Karl hefts the axe in his hand again, then looks to his greatsword, lying on the ground where he dropped it. He slips the axe back into the loop on his belt and picks the sword up off the ground before sheathing it on his back. He draws the axe again, and runs his thumb along the top of the axe head, while humming tunelessly.
Cursed for certain, Shanoa. We should keep moving, before this prison becomes our tomb.
Karl takes a moment to examine the hole the skulls emerged from, as well as the rest of the room.
Ouch, that puts me down 1d6+3 damage per hit and I don't even have a shield. No will save?
Anyway, I guess I'm stuck with chopper for the time being. Is this a permanent sort of thing or will I have a chance to get out from under the compulsion? Can I use the axe as a thrown weapon, or will that just result in me running up to hit, or being forced to pick it back up? Should I look into 2 - weapon builds? Thanks for whatever response you can give me. I'm sure some of this stuff I'll have to figure out on my own.
-----
All the rest of this is OOC, just too many tags to worry about.
In retrospect, the "explosion" I described when the axe impacted the flaming skull may not have suggested exactly what it was supposed to...
The handaxe definitely did more damage to the skull than Karl would have expected from a "typical" handaxe. Basically, when it hit the skull, the thing almost literally blew apart - think miniature grenade. I'm factoring all of the extra stuff in on my side since it affects different creatures in different ways. Go ahead and roll your attacks and damage as if it's a +1 weapon, and I'll do the rest.
To answer your specific questions though, no Will save, but you definitely don't need to start planning different builds for the character. Karl may gain a level with the handaxe compulsion, but he won't see level 4 with it. Given how the axe currently affects him, I'll say Karl would not want to throw it.
I don't want to give more away, but it won't be long before things start to make much more sense for everyone.
Believe me, I'm not trying to screw up your character or concept. Sorry if I didn't explain this properly before, hopefully it makes a bit more sense and addresses your concerns. But let me know if you have more questions or concerns.
HA! That was post #666. Thanks for the explanation, and don't worry, I am sure you're not out to screw my character. You're a great GM and I seriously appreciate this game and the work you've obviously put into it.
Oh well, maybe I can find a shield somewhere in Harrowstone. Oh, and thanks for the tip on not throwing the axe.
There are bodies down there, dozens of them, and broken stone and timber,maybe from when the roof collapsed. There's a doorway down there too. We could climb down, maybe, and dig out the door, or keep exploring up here. I think I'd rather explore this floor before we go up or down.
Roland is preoccupied nursing his scalded hand, but also seems somewhat pleased with himself having destroyed one of the skulls.
"Struck down with a single blow!" He says to no one in particular, shaking a bit as the adrenaline wears off.
"I think I'd rather explore this floor before we go up or down."
"I agree. It's prudent to fully explore this level before we descend any further." Roland glances at one of the shattered skulls.
Otherwise, who knows what dangers we might accidentally leave behind us.
Well struck, Roland. Just keep that dagger handy.
Karl moves forward and opens the door to the north.
"Well, that was unexpected. Over quite quickly thank the Eldest. I agree with exploring this floor first as well. I'd like to know what's behind us more fully before exploring other levels of this place."
Karl opens the northern door and finds a room containing a huge stone furnace dominating the space, easily large enough for a child to climb inside. An ancient fire has burned away the entire east wall the room, providing a panoramic, if eerie, view of the lake beyond. That same lake has gradually expanded into the room, flooding its eastern half.
Karl enters the room, starting staying well clear of the water and searches, including the furnace, although he does not go so far as to touch the large oven.
Oorin casually wanders the room. If anyone draws his attention to something specific then he'll cast Detect Magic. Otherwise, he pokes around the room rather randomly.
As Karl and Oorin move around the room, everyone begins to notice the bitter scent of burning wood. A harsh clang draws everyone's attention to the furnace, which now has an eerie orange glow coming from somewhere inside.
-----
Everyone has one round of actions before this event occurs, please let me know what you're doing, and then roll initiative.
Roland backs away from the furnace, clutching his cane and the enchanted dagger tight.
"Now what!?" He asks somewhat more shrilly than he intended, the high from defeating the skulls evaporating.
Get out of here! Karl shouts in response to Roland. Visions of fiery doom crowd out his thoughts as he rushes back to the torture chamber. The handaxe is cool in his hand, almost comforting in its weight.
Follow Karl's example and use a Move action to retreat (drawing X-bow at same time) and then another action to load it.
Karl and Oorin move back out of the room and the chaos around you suddenly ends. The sounds fade out, the light inside the furnace goes out, and the stench of burning wood disappears.
It appears moving out of the room ended whatever was just beginning to happen.
-----
Everyone is currently in Room S18. Please let me know where you would like to explore next.
For ease of decision making, S9 is a stairway leading down, but the walls around it have collapsed, making it impossible to reach the lower levels this way.
S10 is a stairway leading up to the second floor. It is largely free of debris and rubble, and can easily be used to reach the upper level.
Roland takes a few deep breaths to calm his nerves.
"Well... that was anticlimactic." He smiles weakly. "Not that I'm, ah, complaining."
He glances at the stairs.
"I know we've touched on this already, but I'd feel more comfortable checking the west side of this floor before we venture up or down."
Agreed. Karl leads the group back the way they came, wary for further structural damage to the floors and ceilings or other secret doorways.
"That would be the next logical step if we decide to abandon this room. I would like to see what lies through that other door but this furnace is clearly not going anywhere."
"Part of what we lack here is information." He holds up Splatter Man's spellbook. "These items are critical; I don't know how or why but they are. I would hate to think we missed them, or something else of equal value, because we didn't bother to look."
"The room isn't very big and I have some protection versus fire. I can run across the room and open the other door with what, I think, is minimal risk. If I am able to clear the room before the...disturbance manifests, then so can everyone else. We were only in danger before because we were lingering around. If we do this correctly, there should be little danger at all and we don't need to worry about having left an important clue behind."
"We knew this place would be dangerous. Going to another part of it doesn't reduce that danger; we have to start facing it at some point."
Oorin waits to hear everyone's thoughts.
|
After stumbling back out of the doorway to let room for everyone else to get out of the room, Shanoa is surprised to hear the little gnome want to go back in. "You're right, of course, but that doesn't mean we should throw ourselves recklessly into danger. We'd better be prepared."
Shanoa has her hand on a flask of Holy Water, ready to throw it if Oorin is attacked.
Karl shakes his head in disbelief. If you say you can do it Oorin, I believe you. There might be another way into that room, but I will do what I can to help you. Just let me know what to do.
Karl stands ready to assist in any way.
Barring any last minute objections, Oorin takes a deep breathe and bolts for the other door in S19; taking the shortest route possible and immediately opening the door and moving through.
Oorin braces himself, then sprints toward the door on the far side of the room. As expected, the furnace comes to life as an orange glow begins illuminating the entire room. Gouts of fire shoot outward as the gnome rushes toward the door, narrowly missing his small frame.
The door on the far wall opens easily, and Oorin takes a step into the area.
Unlike a few moments ago, the furnace continues to burn after Oorin moves out of the room. Rays of fire continue to randomly shoot outward into the room, leaving large scorch marks where they impact.
Oorin! Karl shouts over the roar of the furnace, Are you all right? What have you found?
Karl's shoulders twitch as he holds himself back from rushing into the gouts of flame.
With no immediate answer, Roland joins in the shouting.
"I say, Oorin! Are you okay?"
He winces back from a gout of flames.
"I'm okay!" Oorin shouts back. "Looks like an infirmary! There's stuff strewn everywhere! Much of it is trashed but not everything; could take a while to sort through it all!"
Oorin will cast Detect Magic to see if anything immediately pops up as interesting.
Despite your repeated cries for Oorin's attention, the only response you receive is silence. Even though the furnace continues to roar and belch flame and smoke, you are sure you could have heard Oorin had he responded.
Karl looks to Roland, Shanoa and Arthur with alarm in his eyes. He should have said something by now. We need to go after him.
Karl pulls a kerchief out of his pocket and soaks it with water from his skin before tying it around his head to cover his nose and mouth like a bandit. If any of the others are without similar cloths or scarves, he cuts pieces off his cloak for them.
Arthur quickly follows Shanoa as she bolts down the hallway.
The door at the end of the hallway opens and Shanoa sees Oorin lying on the floor amidst the remains of what looks to be an infirmary.
Cots are strewn about, and the remnants of white sheets hang from large privacy screens. Doors to smaller, more private sleeping cells hang askew to the west. Shelves and tables have been overturned, their contents spilled across the floor. You can see the interior of the boiler room through a door to the northeast.
Karl bolts the the smoke and flame, hoping to reach Oorin in time.