'Bumbo, is any of this magical?" The druid steps into the room, mostly looking at the ink, from the corner of his eye he sees the outline, he heads to examine it looking for the mechanism
Loth moves into the other room and just tries to push it.
Bumbo looks at the items, picking at his beard. Geez, I dunno. He looks to seriously contemplate them, furrowing his brow. Then, he snaps his fingers. Oh, right!
@Dol: Correct on the Shalelu answer. She and Bruthazmus have been trying to kill each other for years now.
@Bumbo: None of the items are magical.
@Raz and Loth: As the grey dwarf moves up to the outline, the clever halfling pushes the section of stone open and reveals a set of stairs going down, further into the complex.
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Toot takes off down the stairs.
Bumbo turns to follow. No, wait! He does his best to hurry and keep up, but only catches up to the great pig before the door at the bottom of the stairs. He makes Toot wait there for the others, listening at it to see if he hears anything from the other side.
Loth follows down the stairs, and whispers. "Hear anything, Bumbo?"
Toot's hooves clink down the stone stairs, echoing back up the stairwell. Toot/Bumbo stop to listen at the ancient wooden door but hear nothing from the room beyond.
Bumbo shrugs, and motions for Toot to be ready. Then, he opens the door and...quick as he can...steps back!
Razkiv will quickly move to follow Toot.
The afore-mentioned damage comes in the fire and claw marks varieties. These mar not just the statues, but the walls and inside of the doors.
There are no creatures visible in this room.
Another door exits the room on the opposite side.
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Toot moves in, following Raz into the room, and Bumbo follows. He looks at one of the damaged statues and lets loose a detection, seeking for a magical aura.
@Dol: The statues are so maimed as to be unidentifiable.
@Bumbo: The same preservation magic permeates these walls as you've seen throughout the dungeon and saw in the Catacombs underneath Sandpoint.
@Dol: As you open this door, you are magically transported to a massive chamber stuffed full of people moving about with shiny plastic bags as they look at moving pictures on screens of every shape and size. You see signs promoting the next big thing in ..... "video games"? Whatever those are.....
-OR-
"On it," Loth replies as he moves in. He looks around carefully for any possible extra trap, like Dol suggested, and then moves to disable anything he finds.
@Loth: You find the trap that seems so obvious. A pressure plate between the statues causes a pair of portcullis to drop, sealing off that small section, and then the statues activate in some way.
You do NOT, however, see a way to disable it. You've seen/heard of traps like this. There is undoubtedly a mechanism elsewhere (probably in a nearby room) that turns it off, but the workings are all sealed away for safety. You could try breaking it, but that would likely set it off and blocking your way forward.
@All: It is a DC 5 Acrobatics check to jump over the space, as long as you have a running start. Orik will go first if you ask him to.
Razkiv will stow his shield and look to Orik, "I'll follow right after you."
Once Dol, has the bulk of his armor removed Razkiv takes a running jump, he and Orik will hold the hallway.
Orik jumps over the square, coming down hard on the other side in his heavy armor and immediately pulls out his shield. His attention is quickly pulled by the sound of Razkiv hitting the ground behind him, letting out a thu-whump as the air rushes from between the dwarf and the stone. As soon as he hits, two iron portcullis drop, one on either side of him, boxing him in between these 2 statues that slowly begin making a grinding sound.
EVERYONE HAS A SINGLE FULL ROUND OF ACTIONS. I don't care about order, everyone gets one go at saving Razkiv. (Also, Razkiv, the prone is just flavor. You don't have to use an action to stand up.)
"ORIK! Do you know how to disable this? If so, DO IT!"
Loth tries one last attempt at disabling the trap now that the statue is right in front of him (and with that, perhaps, a way to disable it) and he will then make way for others to help Raz.
Bumbo looks at Toot. Go! Help him! Toot rushes in and adds his snout to the mix, trying to force up the porticulis.
Razkiv will pull out his shield and try to use it to protect himself.
@Loth: Your fine picks and hooks find the trigger to release the cage, but it slips free at the last moment. You were so close, but now it's to late.
@Loth 2: Orik answers, I do not. I don't come down here.
Orik drops his shield and tries to lift the gate on his side...
... but is unable to get the leverage in such a hurry.
@Razkiv: I'm going to let you redo your turn with the following information.....
@Dol: You know you're not particularly strong. Stronger than most humans, but nothing near the warrior caste of dwarves. But ancient habits persist for a reason. Muscles straining, red in the face, you manage to lift the iron grating off the ground. The aid of Toot comes at the perfect time for you to switch grips to pushing it up high enough for Razkiv to duck underneath it.
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Razkiv will duck underneath the gate, he sits up and gets a face full of Toot.
"Thanks my friends"
Toot snorts, spraying Raz with a burst of snot. Stinkin' dwarf in a cage, ha!
Bumbo looks curiously at the usually aggressive pig, musing to himself. I think this place...or maybe these new friends are changing the big guy.
He looks across the way as he reaches down to offer Raz a hand up. Think we can get by that way now?
Raz takes the ovverd hand and does his best to not pull the gnome off balance, he pulls out a scarf to wile away the snot and sweat smearing and removing the ashen symbols. He does his best to not take that as a bad omen.
As Razkiv slips out back the way he came the statues weapons start slamming down into the floor where he was laying. Razkiv can watch in concern, able to imagine what it would have done to his body.
Over the noise and through the swinging hafts, a door opens on the far side (the one with Orik) and a figure steps out. She's tall, tan skinned, fair haired, and would be considered attractive by most. Her left hand dismisses this normalcy; it is scaly and red with long clawed fingers, and it carries an over-long sword. She sees Orik, and looks past him to the rest of you.
As the statues stop "attacking", she glances back and forth before speaking hesitantly.
Orik, I see you've made some new friends. Care to explain?
Orik turns, slowly picking up his shield as he replies.
Hey Boss. Um, chased me down here. Bruthazmus is dead. But I'm not.
But the boss lady doesn't seem to be buying it. She lifts her sword and says Shame. She kinda liked you. With her sword point at Orik's neck, she turns eyes back to the rest of you and says. "I don't know who you are, but I can guess why you're here. Leave now or watch me kill Orik here and now."
Orik is standing still, watching the blade, not looking at you.
Who would you all like to react? And remember, those gates are still down.
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As Razvik scrambles out from under the portculis, the adrenaline fueling Dol's turn of heroics ebbs. His legs shake and buckle, and his suddenly sweaty grip slips. As the portculis clangs down once again, he kneels on the floor, panting.
Still recovering when the boss appears, he picks up his warhammer again and uses it to help himself stand.
"So, we finally meet. This can't be a surprise. Sending goblins to murder innocents, just to cover the theft of a priest's remains? Enchanting and corrupting a man, then sending him to kill his own family?
Your evil will end, and soon. We will leave, but only because we can't get past these bars. Lift them and the answer will be different. Orik, stay strong. Torag will heal you."
Dol slowly starts backing into the previous room.
@Dol: With that Sense Motive, no way of knowing.
Bust since you're trained in Spellcraft, I will mention that you didn't see her chanting or making the motions of a spell.
What is everyone else's reactions to these events?
Loth, for a second, considers tossing a dagger through the portcullises, angered at the mere sight of the chessmaster of everyone's suffering. But she's got Orik. He can't risk his life like that.
So with rage and frustration welling up inside of him, he follows Dol's example and steps back.
The Druid stands looks back at Dol, then to Nualia. His frustration manifests as flames beginning to spark at his finger tips. But he backs up following Dol's lead. He reaches up to tug on Toot to git him to follow as well.
The woman smiles in such a way as to make you instantly hate her just a little more.
"Very good. Now Orik and I are going to go have a nice little chat and you all can scurry on home.
She gestures for Orik to move towards the door she came out of, keeping the tip of her blade at his throat. The duo quickly exit the hallway and the door shuts behind her with a loud slam, followed quickly by the sound of a barking dog.
Your ally is in trouble. The gates between you and him are heavy and difficult to disarm, but not impossible. What will you do?
"With pleasure." Loth mutters, and he rushes to the gate, eager to get back at the Aasimar.
Bumbo waits patiently, still a bit unsure of Orik's role and not generally fond of the fellow. Toot stamps impatiently, not to save Orik, but for the challenge he sensed when looking upon Nualia. He waits, ready to lead the charge should Loth be able to open up the gate.
Razkiv closes his eyes and works to focus, to bring himself onto balance as Loth works on the trap.
The flames sputter and die out on his hand.
Great news! As Loth works his tools, he manages to get a snip into the right place and deactivates the trap, raising the portcullises and stopping the statues from banging their weapons on the floor (and anything else between them and the floor). The path ahead now lies clear, and the doors to the north are closed.
Even though its been 3 days in real time, its been less than a minute in game time. What is your next step? Charge bravely forward? Or a more cautious approach?
Loth readies his weapons, completely ready to charge in. "I think it's time we finish this."
Razkiv nods and moves to the door, he reaches for the door handle and looks to Toot to acknowledge readiness. As soon as the Eidolon indicates he is ready the Druid opens the door.
Toot sniffs and nudges at the door, wondering why it hasn't been opened yet.
Bumbo loads his trusty sling and eyes the menacing door with more than a little trepidation
Okay, vote is for the door. Seems unequivocable.
Normally I'd move you guys around some on the map, but this is a big one so I'm not going to be responsible for it. Get yourselves positioned on the map and then I'll post what Razkiv sees when he opens the door.
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Stepping up to Razvik, Dol grips his axe. "Looks like the battle falls to us, cousin. May Torag guide your strikes."
Dol casts Magic Weapon on Razvik's axe. Looking around, he takes in the entire party. "The moment of truth is upon us. Let's show them why they should never overlook the smaller folk."
As Dol comes to enchant the ax Razkiv seems to take stock of the state of the cleric.
"Do we have any healing? You are gravely injured."
"This woman has been at the core of so much grief. There are many we couldn't save from her madness... but maybe we can save Orik."