"Tiefling, if yer bombs don't burn away that fog, I'm going in!" Torrak shouts. He begins swinging his Dorn-Derger in anticipation. "If that don't werk can we just wait it out?" he asks Zelphar.
________
Merritt's bombs clear the obscuring mist just within the pit, revealing the spider to be 10 feet down directly below Torrak.
Any attacks against the creature will still have concealment (20% miss chance) as only the portion within the pit was burned away.
The Bold may act
--------------
Zelphar
Tseghet
Merritt
Torrak
Spooder (-7)
Zelphar jumps a bit at the sound of the bomb exploding. But with obscuring mist still all around him, he hesitates to approach. "Um, everything okay in there?"
"Good enough for me!" Torrak shouts as he launches his Dorn-Derger at the spider. "Everything is going peachy-keen over here!" he calls through the fog, hopefully with a satisfying crunch to support his claim.
________
**CRUNCH**
However, the spider is still standing.
The Bold may act -
--------------
Zelphar
Tseghet
Merritt
Torrak
Spooder (-16)
"Peachy-keen, you say? Great! I'll just guard this area then!"
The spider quickly scurries around, and as it attempts to close the trap again, Torrak takes one final swing.
And what looks to be a good hit against the spider collides with the closing trap instead.
The trap is now re-armed. Spider inside.
The Bold may act
--------------
Zelphar
Tseghet
Merritt
Torrak
Spooder (-16)
"Damn spider! Merritt, can ya open the box back up? I'll wind up a swing for when ya do!" he calls out. "Might as well wait for the fog to disperse though," he concludes with a sigh.
________
"I'm totally okay with waiting for the fog to disperse," yells Zelphar into the still-foggy chamber.
”Agreed,” Torrak grunts.
JUST enough. Merritt manages to wedge a rock in the mechanism, the area is now difficult terrain to avoid triggering the trap, but so long as you watch your footing, you should be fine.
The door to this room WAS locked, but not trapped. Merritt manages to open the door, but it does take a bit of time to do so.
A few wisps of decayed webbing hang from the walls of this room, but there's none on the stone ceiling and no sign of spiders in the room. The ceiling is blank save for four 1-foot-wide round steel medallions, one set into each corner. the floor is equally bare except for a pedestal in the center of the floor made of a single five-foot-square block of stone, about two feet high. On the pedestal sits a metal-framed wooden chest, and to the side of the pedestal rests a shallow hole in the floor housing what looks like a brass door handle set into the stone. A stone tile lying loose nearby is clearly designed to fit over the hole, concealing the handle.
"Might as well see if there's any magic about." Zelphar casts detect magic and scans the room, ignoring any auras coming from his fellow Pathfinders.
Accustomed to the routine now, Torrak waits for the all-clear before stomping in and hoisting the lid off of the chest. "I should get a picture book or somethin' else to look at while ya do yer lookin' about," he grumbles. Maybe they sell something about battles in the town? Would be more interesting than watching a half-devil poking and looking at rocks.
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Merritt approaches the chest, taking a good look at it and the strange handle in the floor. "I don't like this... not one bit." They must be related, right? Turn the handle to open the chest or something? So strange though; what's the design purpose of that? Lost in contemplation, it takes Torrak's words to get him back to the task at hand.
He begins the task of ensuring there are no traps before giving Torrak the all-clear to open the chest. He quietly steps back behind the dwarf when doing so, however.
Zelphar does not detect any magic in the room.
Merritt quickly pushes Torrak (or tries to, at least) away from the chest. He detects that the chest AND lever are both individual triggers to the same trap. Upon triggering, it appears the ceiling falls to crush those inside the room.
Merritt attempts to disable the trap, but finds himself unable to do so. (didn't fail enough to trigger the trap, though)
"Ya don't look too confident there... Do ya need ta try again or something?" Torrak asks, unsure what that look on the Tiefling's face is for.
________
Merritt's first attempt clicks a bit, causing the ceiling to creak and lurch downward about an inch, but Merritt manages to quickly reset the trap to prevent the ceiling from falling further.
He then continues, finally hearing the twang of a spring disarming before feeling confident the trap is disarmed.
After opening the chest, Merritt sees nothing more than a bleached cat skull with an inscription that reads, "Curiosity Kills: another ingenious demise, courtesy of Addington's Fine Traps and Defenses."
Aaand....that's it.
Torrak guffaws at the cruel practical joke they were almost victim to. By the time he has collected himself again, Merritt has already plied his trade on the next door! Once it is safe, he is more than happy to kick it open for the latest bit of excitement.
________
As the door creaks open, Torrak sees a large, T shaped room. Shabby, mold-covered tapestries hang from ceiling hooks, cloaking one wall of this chamber in faded forest hunting scenes. While probably of decent quality when new, they look sad now.
A plain wooden chair of massive construction stands centered before the tapestries, facing into the room. A large stone table stands against the eastern wall. Weapons and other items are neatly laid out on the table, as if displayed for sale in a shop.
Three skeletons appear in the room, one seated in the large wooden chair, and the others nearby. They quickly turn in a loud series of cracks and scrapes before the room begins to boom: "You intruders on our holy land, who art thou? Why doest thou come here?"
”What foul sorcery is this!? The dead do not talk!” Tseghet claims loudly. ”Show yourself, or admit that you have no honor!” He strides into the room, morningstar held ready for a dishonorable trick.
"I'm here, on the throne! Please be civil in this sacred land."
"Holy land? That's an... unusual description of this place. You worship the god of dust and clutter?"
"Thou knowest not that this land is holy? Indeed, the entire structure, the Emerald Spire, is a holy place. Why doest thou step foot in these lands?"
"It's just ah bunch o' skeltons. Let's crush them to dust like tha rest and move on!" Torrak urges, hugging the wall while brandishing his weapon, plenty of slack chain hanging heavily between his hands.
________
"Such violence! In a holy place, of all places. Where are thy manners?"
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"Where are your manners, foul fiend, to hide your face?" Tseghet retorts. "As the holy light of the Inheritor burns away the shadows and doubts, so too do we see through your deceptions and lies. One so craven as yourself was likely involved in the mutilation of the deceased that was revealed to us earlier - now come forth and face the justice of Iomedae!"
"What sorta shit holy place doesn't have ah place tah fight?" Torrak asks, bewildered.
________
Zelphar watches the exchange of words from a safe distance, trying to recall if he knows anything about the three skeletal figures.
As Torrak moves forward, the skeletons begin to move a bit, reaching for their rusty weapons.
In response to Tseghet's words, you hear some angry grumbles that don't appear to be intelligible.
"I merely wish to know why thou art here. What purpose do thy vain intentions serve?" responds the voice.
Torrak grumbles some harsh words under his breath, but otherwise pouts angrily and waits for the conversation to inevitably turn into violence. Sick of waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.
"And to figure out the true nature of this mysterious spire!" Do you know who put it here? How it got here? What its purpose is?" Xelphar calls out from the hallway.
"What sickeningly noble causes you came here for. A shame you won't be able to see them through." The voice booms, breaking its faux-ancient accent and becoming a raspy voice filled with hatred.
You then hear some form of a verbal component from the back of the room.
Initiative - the BOLD may act
-------------------
Torrak
???
Zelphar
Merritt
Skellies
Tseghet
"Alright you dusty sack of bones, come meet my steel, HAHA!" he challenges as he moves up and begins swinging his dorn-derger.
________
Torrak readies against the skeletons, his Dorn-Derger spinning wildly around the dwarf as he stares the skeletons in the eye-sockets.
The verbal components come to a head as the air shimmers near Torrak for a moment. For a brief second, Torrak feels a gust of wind that quickly blows his beard up into his face. When the beard falls, a shimmer in the shape of a bastard sword takes a quick swipe at the dwarf.
Spiritual Weapon
The sword, catching the dwarf off guard, manages to position itself such that the dwarf cuts himself on the blade while swinging, but Torrak quickly bats away the sword and continues his whirlwind.
Initiative - the BOLD may act
-------------------
Torrak (-12)
???
Zelphar
Merritt
Skellies
Tseghet
Zelphar moves in and readies to cast acid splash at any enemy that starts casting a spell, hoping to interrupt it.
|
|
Merritt pulls a flask from his shirt, flips the stopper off with his thumb, and downs it quickly. His flesh immediately starts warping, the reddish tint deepening in color as hard chitinous plates form from his skin and small barbs rise up along his forearm.
He holds his current position, his other hand floating near a bomb; he whispers to Zelphar, "the caster's got to be behind that curtain; let's spread out lest we present too good a target for an area spell."
At 1st level, a crimson chymist discovers how to create a specialized mutagen that grants her aspects of a praying mantis. A mantis mutagen functions as an alchemist mutagen, save that it always enhances Dexterity and applies a penalty to Charisma. When imbibed, the mutagen causes the crimson chymist’s flesh to grow red chitinous plates on her body as natural armor and a row of small, cosmetic barbed hooks along her arms.