Paldo remained beside Garran looking closer at the pool and letting his other companions take the lead on opening doors.
Eladorn checks the next two doors, and finds the tower is quite symmetrical here. it is in fact a second privy. very fancy.
Paldo examines the pool. it appears that several pipes are leading to and/or from the pool, and the water inside swirls and shifts. doesn't look like anything else is in there though.
"You really wonder why they wouldn't put that space to better use!" Linge chuckles at Eladorn's comment, but quickly sobers up. After all, it didn't leave a lot of rooms left to explore, and she had a nasty feeling that more traps were awaiting them. It made no sense to leave a tower like that unguarded.
"So that only leaves a couple of rooms..." She moves to the nearest door, inspecting it as she has done before, and beckoning Paldo and Garran to come closer in case something goes wrong.
Linge detects magic coming from the other side of the door, but not the door itself. she hears nothing, and does not spot any traps.
Garran walks over to the door readying his sword and shield. ”Might as well get to it…”
"I can sense magic from behind the door," Linge says nervously. "I'll open it, and you can go inside, Garran."
She calls Horn to heel, and opens the door.
Linge opens the door.
on the other side you see a room full of bunks. several wooden chests and weapons racks furnish the rest of the room.
inside are five more tower guards sitting or laying on bunks. when the door opens they turn towards the newcomer, and start grabbing for weapons.
Intruders! shouts one guard in the back who looks to be wearing an officers' uniform.
Linge, Paldo, Eladorn, soldiers, Garran, Sigrun
Eladorn's head snaps up at the sounds of commotion. He eyes the other doors nearby with concern. "Draw them out!" he calls. "We have the advantage out here!"
Shael steps forward, immediately alert, looking for threats to her and Eladorn.
" "Draw them out!" he calls. "We have the advantage out here!"
For a brief second, Linge freezes in the doorway like a deer finding itself the target of the hunter's bow.
Then, heeding Eladorn's advice, she closes the door.
"Come on, Horn!"
She makes a run for it across the room, though she is encumbered by her heavy clothes and backpack. The bear cub is ahead of her, obviously moving much faster than she does, occasionally turning his head to look at her in puzzlement.
"Garran! Come over! she presses the cleric. "They'll come if we move away!"
Seeing his companions hesitate Paldo decided to wait to for an opportunity to take action.
not being prepared for invaders, the soldiers use their round gathering their weapons and advancing. one fires a shot at garran, the bolt going deep
two more run out of the room with swords, engaging Garran. Eladorn shoots one of them down, killing him instantly.
the party may act
Global Condition: None |
Global Condition:
Garran HP: 16/23 - AC: 18/11/17 Status:
Eladorn HP: 21/21 - AC 17/13/14 Status:
Shael HP: 19/19 - AC 19/14/15 Status:
Linge: HP: 20/20- AC: 15/13/12 Status:
Horn: HP: 23/23 - AC: 21/19/13 Status:
Paldo HP: 15/17 - AC: 14/14/11 Status:
Sigrun HP: 3/24 - AC: 17/11/16 Status:NPCS:
Red guard HP: ?? | AC: ??
yellow guard HP: ?? | AC: ??
Purple guard HP: ?? | AC: ??
Green guard HP: ?? | AC: ??
Garran curses in pain from the crossbow bolt, as he makes a hasty retreat to the fountain.
Eladorn looses a pair of arrows in rapid succession at the only foe he can see. He keeps Shael close by, wary of the nearby, unexplored door.
The bear cub takes a peek from behind's Linge back, and sees Garran being wounded. He rushes to the fight.
Linge follows the cub belatedly, drawing her sling and taking a shot at the soldier still standing in the doorway.
Horn engages the closest soldier in melee, getting two solid hits in with his claws.
Seeing the guards clustered outside the door, Paldo musters up his courage and charges towards them coming to a halt beside horn. Paldo utters an incantation thrusting his small hands forward. A vivid cone of clashing colors sprang forth from his hands.
Eladorn kills one man, Horn mauls another.
Paldo moves in and fires a spell over the last 2 soldiers
Neither one is stopped by it.
the sergeant moves to attack Paldo
the other soldier attacks Horn
neither one is very effective...
the sergeant yells something out in Sylvan, and the pool in the middle of the room starts bubbling. a creature made of water steps out and attacks Eladorn.
it can't get to him in time to set up a proper attack though.
the party is up!
Global Condition: None |
Global Condition:
Garran HP: 16/23 - AC: 18/11/17 Status:
Eladorn HP: 21/21 - AC 17/13/14 Status:
Shael HP: 19/19 - AC 19/14/15 Status:
Linge: HP: 20/20- AC: 15/13/12 Status:
Horn: HP: 23/23 - AC: 21/19/13 Status:
Paldo HP: 15/17 - AC: 14/14/11 Status:
Sigrun HP: 3/24 - AC: 17/11/16 Status:NPCS:
Red guard HP: ?? | AC: ??
Green guard HP: ?? | AC: ??
Elemental HP: ?? | AC: ??
Garran hopes that Eladorn and his elk can manage the elemental threat for a moment, as he rushes to help Paldo. Once in range, he gives the sergeant a basic overhand chop with his cold iron sword.
;
Grateful that he stays prepared for any possiblity, Eladorn draws his longsword and hacks at the icy elemental in front of him.
Shael lowers her horns and tries to impale the icy elemental, intent on defending her master.
Linge makes a face as she sees the water elemental appear out of the corner of her eye. It's a facial expression that goes almost completely unnoticed in the midst of the battle, but that can easily be recognized as something akin to "oh s+&@".
She hesitates between coming to Paldo's rescue or trying to cross the room, but Eladorn and Shael already seem to have the situation in hand (is there any situation that'd take them by surprise, really?), so she drops her sling, grabs her spear and joins the battle.
Sadly, she doesn't even come close to wounding the sergeant.
The last soldier finds himself less lucky when faced with a blood-crazed bear.
Paldo watched as the Guards reacted quickly blocking their eyes with their forearms. He growled in frustration and managed to dodge the guards blows. Paldo thought Ok if blinding won't work, maybe burning will!
Eladorn and his trusty companion fight the elemntal, getting several good hits in on it.
Horn mauls a guard to death
Paldo tries to burn the sergeant, who does not get out of the way fast enough
the sergeant swings back at Garran
the elemntal swings at Eladorn
the party may act
Global Condition: None |
Global Condition:
Garran HP: 16/23 - AC: 18/11/17 Status:
Eladorn HP: 21/21 - AC 17/13/14 Status:
Shael HP: 19/19 - AC 19/14/15 Status:
Linge: HP: 20/20- AC: 15/13/12 Status:
Horn: HP: 23/23 - AC: 21/19/13 Status:
Paldo HP: 15/17 - AC: 14/14/11 Status:
Sigrun HP: 3/24 - AC: 17/11/16 Status:NPCS:
Red guard HP: -10 | AC: 18
Elemental HP: -24 | AC: 17
Garran watches the sergeant closely as they spar. Once he has the fellow sized up, Garran slashes up at a savage angle.
;
”Surrender!” Garran snaps at the sergeant.
Linge tries to poke the sergeant with her spear, but once again the strike is clumsy and easy to block.
Horn moves in to help, but, surprisingly, doesn't prove much more effective. One of his paws hits the ice wall, chipping away at one of his claws, and he lets out a pained noise.
Eladorn catches Shael's eye and motions his head for the elk to circle around and flank the elemental. He swings his sword at the icy creature; the resulting spray of ice chips was likely to be superficial at best.
Shael misses Eladorn's message and continues to try to gore the elemental from where she is.
Paldo moved back slightly after trying to dazzle the guards with magical lights.
Putting a small pellet in his staff sling he fired one at the seargent.
the group is showing their exhaustion, as nothing connects this round! Paldo comes close, but adjusts his aim too much to avoid hitting an ally
the elemental swings at Eladorn again
the sergeant sees he is outnumbered and starts slowly making his way towards the blue tiles to the south.
I will never surrender. you will not make it far in this tower, even if you defeat me
he strikes at Horn as he tries to get around the bear
Horn's hide is too thick for it to do anything but bruise a little
the party may act
Global Condition: None |
Global Condition:
Garran HP: 16/23 - AC: 18/11/17 Status:
Eladorn HP: 21/21 - AC 17/13/14 Status:
Shael HP: 19/19 - AC 19/14/15 Status:
Linge: HP: 20/20- AC: 15/13/12 Status:
Horn: HP: 23/23 - AC: 21/19/13 Status:
Paldo HP: 15/17 - AC: 14/14/11 Status:
Sigrun HP: 3/24 - AC: 17/11/16 Status:NPCS:
Red guard HP: -14 | AC: 17
Elemental HP: -24 | AC: 17
Eladorn repeats his command to Shael, this time with a more emphatic wave of his sword arm, which he then pivots into another attempted strike at the elemental.
Shael seems to get the message this time, and begins stepping towards a flank position as she attacks.
Garran hurries around behind Horn, coming between the sergeant and the blue tiles. He attacks again, with his sword.
Paldo again puts a small bullet into his sling firing again at the Sergeant.
Linge follows the sergeant closely.
"Don't you want you live?" she presses him. "Your masters will not spare you, but we will! You may not get another chance!"
Without a voice to convince his adversary to back off, Horn tries to bring him down with teeth and claws.
Eladorn finally manages to destroy the water elemental which falls apart into many droplets of water that pool on the floor.
The others work together to attack the sergeant, but it is Horn who finally gets through his defenses and drops the man.
you can see as he was moving that he was trying to pull something from inside of his jacket. it appears to be a small cylinder made from ice quartz
end of combat
"Well," Linge gasps for breath. "That was the wrong door, wasn't it?" She lets out a nervous, mirthless laugh. Once again, she feels ill at ease that a bloodbath could not be avoided, and by he lethal efficiency of her own team.
She picks up the cylinder and examines it closer.
"Maybe it's some sort of scrying device?" she asks aloud, probably addressing Paldo in particular.
Eladorn waits where he is a moment, listening for any sounds in response to the combat they just finished.
He then moves up to the door that mirrors the one they opened. Given the symmetrical arrangement, he wants to be sure they don't have another room full of guards on this side of the tower.
As the sergeant fell to Horn's blows Paldo sighed in relief. Looking at the small object that fell from his hand Paldo analyzed the object along with the pool of water he was headed to. Noticing Linge using her magic to look at the object, Paldo did the same while inspecting the pool of water.
”That water spirit came from the pool.” Garran says. ”Summoned by this fellow, it seemed.” Garran looks at the sergeant. ”A brave soldier for an unworthy cause. That’s a shame.”
Eladorn examines the other door. he does not hear anything from inside, and given the combat that just happened, you assume if someone was in there they certainly know you're here.
Linge and Paldo examine the cylinder. it has a rune inscribed on the side of it, similar to an arcane mark. it is indeed magical. it takes some puzzing, but they together decide that the device is an activator of some sort, that when placed on or near an attuned object it will activatew the magic of that second device. kind of like a key and an identification method in one.
"This is rather weird for a soldier to have," Linge says after she and Paldo explain the use of the magical device to the others. "If he was retreating into that room, then maybe the item he wanted to activate would be..." Her voice trails off as she walks into the previously occupied room ( soldier's barracks? Maybe? ), checking it before the group leaves.
”Could it be the key to the front gate of this tower?” Garran wonders.
Linge checks out the barracks. it is quickly apparent that there is nothing of value in there. apparently these guards weren't paid much. there are clothing items and some weapons/supplies, but it doesn't look like anything that the sergeant would have been trying to get to
Eladorn moves back into the central area with the fountain, and listens at the next door while he waits for the others.
"There's nothing here," Linge informs Garran and Paldo. "Let's go find Eladorn."
She joins the ranger, and after inspecting the door, will open it.
Linge opens the door, while Eladorn moves to the next one
both doors lead to the same space, a mirror image of the barracks to the south.
this one is not currently occupied, however. likely used by a different shift of guards than the ones that were stationed in the other one.
"I guess that's it," Linge sighs discreetly in relief. "Should we move upstairs, or try to get some rest behind a boarded door? I don't have a lot of spells left and we don't know what's waiting for us further along."
Horn is insistently nuzzling her hand, waiting to be petted. When that doesn't earn him more than a couple of distracted strokes on his head, he huffs and moves on to Paldo hopefully.
”I’m real low on spells myself.” Garran says. ”But I doubt that we could get a peaceful night’s sleep in this place.”
where do you go from here? what stairs do you climb?
you think that perhaps the guard sergeant with the magical cylinder was not heading for the barracks, but for the blue glowing tiles on the floor to the southern end of the chamber.