Rory takes a swing at the swaying lizardfolk and misses before moving along the wall giving Bavick a chance. Which he takes perfect advantage of, dropping the final opponent.
Combat Ends!
Each of the three fallen lizardfolk bears enchanted leather armor , a masterwork trident, a silver symbol of Kelizandri , and a scroll of spiritual weapon.
Whereas the room to the north has fared poorly in regards to moisture and time, this room has survived the years reasonably intact. There's a plethora of tomes and scrolls here that might reveal useful information if studied.
A simple aura check leads Rory to a trident resting on one of the tables.
Rory staggers a bit after combat ends, still bleeding from the last hit he took from the lizardman’s trident. Scanning the room with his “Vision of the Gods”, he points out the magic items, describing the unusual abilities of the trident of stability as best he understands them.
Looking at the tomes and scrolls in the room, he asks Magdi, ”Have we slowed down the storm by releasing one of the seeds? Do we have time to peruse this library, or is it urgent that we move along?”
Magdi frowns. "I don't know if by disabling one of the seeds, we've slowed the storm. I know that all four are needed to begin the ritual. The defensive storm wall can probably be maintained with as little as one feeding it. Perhaps that knowledge is contained here." The man gestures towards the tomes and scrolls. "Perhaps not."
Drinking a potion of curing, Rory nods sadly, looking longingly at the Knowledge represented by the many tomes in the library. ”Right, let’s move on quickly and stop this storm caller madness.”
Arcs of lightning leap between a curious collection of glass and metal devices inside this room. A collapsed tunnel once exited to the northwest. A small alcove sits in the western wall, in which a fist-sized orb of yellow crystal floats three feet above the ground. Flanking either side of the alcove are two swirling vortexes of air.
Moving about through the occasional arcs of electricity is a shadowy form with pinpricks of rage for eyes.
It turns those eyes upon you.
Combat Begins!
Round 1
The creatures of air guarding the seed remain where they are, seemingly content to simply protect their charge.
"Aw hell. A wraith."
Bavick delays.
”More incorporeal undead, like the shadows!” thinks Rory. What does he know specifically about wraiths?
”Don’t let it touch you! Use magic weapons and force effects like that spiritual weapon scroll!” Rory calls out, with that last bit directed at Magdi.
Suiting action to words, Rory throws more force shuriken, then backs out of the doorway to give others room.
Tygrah once more takes Rory's magic crossbow and steps into the doorway before firing upon the wraith,
Bavick tries to distract the wraith when it comes to attack.
+2 AC.
Rory's mystical shuriken thud into the spectre and Tygrah's crossbow bolt adds to the damage.
The raging undead rushes forward to retaliate, brushing close to one of the pylons in its haste. It catches an arc of electricity for its trouble. Tygrah easily manages to dodge its touch, however.
Ashlion cleaves his axe through the form of the spectral undead, damaging it but not defeating it.
Argil swims up to Bavick and dives into his weapon sending sparks of electricity crawling along the blade of the rapier.
Round 2
The elementals continue their vigil without advancing.
Reluctant to use the last measure of his Qi, Rory nevertheless readies to deliver more Ghost Shuriken in case his companions cannot take it down before it attacks again.
Action Readied to cast magic missile if the wraith is not destroyed before its turn.
Tygrah steps back from the wraith, reloads, and fires again!
Bavick stabs at the wraith through the doorway, then steps back.
Bavick stabs at the vaporous entity and the creature shivers a little at the energy coursing through it. As he steps back, the thing lunges out at him; He feels his life essence leeching away as its incorporeal claws reach into his chest.
Tygrah fires a bolt through the thing and Rory finishes it off with more of his eldrich shuriken.
As the undead essence fades away, the snapping and popping of electricity in the room decreases and finally stops entirely.
"That is strange," Magdi comments. "It's as if that creature was the channel the seed was using to transfer its energy."
It was an attack and a 5' step. He started at the edge of the doorway. I said 'step' in my post but could have been explicit that it was a 5' step.
5' steps do not provoke AOOs.
Somewhat awkwardly speaking to Bavick’s rapier, Rory asks, ”Argil, can you speak to those elementals on our behalf? Let them know we need to deactivate the seed so they can be released?”
"He actually can't speak Auren," Magdi offers, as he continues to watch the elementals. "I sense the energy from this seed has halted. We can try to get past the elementals to deactivate the seed, but I don't think we need to. It's not feeding energy to the ritual or the storm wall."
Rory shrugs and concentrates on the aura of the seed with his "Vision of the Gods" to see if his assessment matches Magdi's.
Assuming he doesn't have a better idea, Rory says, "That works for me--we should check the underwater passage to the north."
Rory looks over the partially ruined rod apparatuses and can see that at one time they were the conduit for the elemental seed's energy. The damage they've sustained in whatever upheaval collapsed the northwest passage rendered them incapable of doing that.
It's certainly possible that the wraith may have been functioning as a stand-in conduit.
Moving back into the room with the slain ghouls, the monk examines the large pool in the western portion of the room. Looking closely, he can see that, yes, there is an underwater passage exiting to the northwest.
"I'll check it out. Be right back."
Tygrah dives into the water and begins swimming down the passage.
Bavick watches Tyrgah's awkward dog-paddle. Strong, but no technique.
If she seems to struggle, he will shout after her, "Hey, uh, let me..."
Tygrah dives down into the reasonably still water and with strong strokes, moves farther into the widening water-filled passage.
As it opens up even more, she catches glimpses of glittering coins scattered across the bottom of this natural cavern. There are other things there as well, but before she can direct any real attention to them, serpentine movement draws her eye.
Two snake-like creatures are swimming towards her.
Initiatives:
GM Die Rolls:
Combat Begins!
Round 1
Before she can even manage to draw her weapon, one of the vicious creatures snaps its jaws on her arm - taking out a chunk of flesh. The other whips its tail around and she can feel a tingling electrical sensation in the water but takes no damage.
Tygrah quickly withdraws from combat, swimming back up the passage and clambering out of the water. "Ouch! There are vicious eels down there!"
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Er, no, Ashlion taking off his own armor (which drops his swim from +12 down to +8). Bavick can swim in his armor just fine.
(Yes, yes, I know where you were going...)
Rory performs a quick kata and sends four glowing hands into the water, trying to illuminate/distract the eels, perhaps drawing them within reach of the party’s weapons?
Tygrah climbs out of the water forming a huge puddle across the floor. The eels vanish back into the darkness of the water, fleeing Rory's attempt to draw them out.
The group waits for a bit, but the eels don't make an appearance at the surface.
"We could try ta fight 'em in the water, but I don't see why."
"Go 'round?"
"If they are afraid of the lights, maybe I can use that to keep them at bay--that is, if there is anything down there worth searching, Tygrah, says Rory as he activates his 'Vision of the Gods' once more to see if he gets a *ping* of magic from under the murky water.
Rory's spell of aura detection does detect a minor trace of magic deeper in the underwater cave. Moving his magical lights farther down into the cave, he notes that the eels don't seem afraid of light so much as reluctant to come to the surface.
"My enhanced senses detect an arcane aura underneath the surface of the water. The eels seem to not be afraid of the lights, but do not want to come to the surface of the water."
Thinking for a moment, Rory assumes the lotus position at the edge of the water and does some more mystical motions. The glowing hands move along the bottom of the flooded cavern, and they seem to slowly grab and move nonmagical items weighing 5 pounds or less within 35 feet of where Rory is sitting, bringing them out onto dry land and going back for more!
Over a period of several minutes Rory manages to gather 297 silver coins and a pearl ring - the only items that he can see.
”I drained much of my Qi giving us resistance to electricity. If there is an arcane item I can draw energy from in the upcoming fight, it would be most useful.”. Rory looks at the others, asking, ”Do you think it is worth the risk?”
"Yes, let's go back in. Does anybody have a spear or other pointy thing I can use? My blades don't work well underwater," Tygrah says.
"Yes, let's go back in. Does anybody have a spear or other pointy thing I can use? My blades don't work well underwater," Tygrah says.
”Would these tridents the Lizardfolk were using work?” asks Rory in response to Tygrah’s question. ”They certainly seemed to be effective in their hands when one of them stabbed me,” he adds.
"Ah, perfect! Thank you, Hairless Rory!" Tygrah grips the trident in both hands and, with a nod to her husband, jumps back in to stab some fishes!
"Right then. Here we go!"
Bavick will also jump in. He has a piercing weapon and a +9 Swim.