Kahli stays by Marcos while he decides what to do with the heart and other objects.
"I feel Necromancy in there" Marcos says, pointing at the statue. "Also, the dagger and the scroll seem to be pressing a lever - if we take them, the corresponding lever could activate with unknown results." He's not as much a man of action as some others in the group, though. "I don't know what to do, but I would try somewhere else first and leave this as a last resort."
"I can always try to deactivate the trigger mechanism. And perhaps see if there is a trap associated with it, or magic. It's been my experience that anytime someone has a pressure plate, they want something bad to happen..."
Lash will investigate the pressured plate more carefully to see if there is some way to deactivate it and to see what it may or may not be connected to. Although she doesn't like the idea of the statue and its evil beating heart, she doesn't like the idea of a pressure plate; especially with a door unopened nearby.
Sim moves around, trying not be on Lash's way, but close enough to shield her if something bad happens.
Lash makes her way through the crowd to the statue to get a closer look and sees the pressure plates Marcos warned about. Feeling confident the mechanism is inside the tray, she runs her hands along the edge and underside of the cold stone tray and finds a narrow slot in front of the dagger and a small hole on the front of the tray by the scroll.
Not finding anything external to futz with, she grabs some bone fragments off the floor. She carefully finds the largest gaps between the pressure plates and the tray and jams the bones in until she's confident they are stuck and won't move.
"Excellent! Thank you Lash, for disabling this, though perhaps we should move forward from here quickly."
"Take a look at the scroll. If it didn't detect as magic it might be a message, like instructions to stick the dagger through the heart...."
Looking to Shiv, she nods and gestures toward the doorway and looking between him and Sim.
"Lead the way, my arrows will watch over you to the best of my ability."
"That was an excellent performance, Lash."
Since no one seems interested, and the pressure plates are jammed, Marcos picks the scroll and reads it.
Once Lash doubly ensures Marcos that the plates are successfully jammed, Marcos picks up the scroll, which his Detect Magic uncovered an evocation aura. He determines it to be a scroll of Burning Hands. He also sees that the dagger is of Masterwork quality.
After some discussion, Lash and Marcos figure that the dagger and scroll had corresponding traps. The narrow slot in front of the dagger probably had a blade slice the hand of the person who took the dagger. They also suppose that the small hole in the front of the tray would produce a flame of some sort if the scroll were taken.
They agree that simply taking the heart would not trigger anything, but they can't come to a conclusion about what would happen if the heart were to be placed in the cavity or if it was damaged in any way.
Lash explains that the mechanics of the traps are housed inside the stone tray, and that extracting them should be possible with little risk with a deft hand chiseling away. A few strikes from a blunt object should speed things up, but risk the pressure plates coming unjammed.
"Thank you," she replies to Marcos. "I was nervous, as I'm not so experienced with traps...Well...that's done then..." she will look to the heart suspiciously.
"At this point, although it would be nice to have some spare trap parts, I say we leave it alone, and if we need to, to further ourselves in this dungeon by putting the heart inside, then we can come back. Does anyone need a dagger or use scrolls like this?"
She will again move away from the creepy statue and toward the door to wait for Sim or someone to go through it.
"A nice wink, that the traps were linked to the objects - I mean, if you took the dagger you got sliced and if... well, that." Scratching his beard, Marcos thinks about the items. "Only thing that comes to mind is that you use the burning hands to cook the heart, then use the dagger to cut it... and maybe you have a nice dish" he says, half joking. The necromancy aura still worries him, but he discards further ideas and comments on searching anywhere else as the best idea.
Sim shakes his head at the dagger. "Not made for my size. While I could use it as a spare sword, the grip is too thick to be properly used."
Sim then takes the lead and opens the next door with care, trying to hear the other side first.
"Can anyone decipher what is on the scroll?"
When Sim moves to the next door Kahli picks the heart up and slaps it into the cavity of the statue.... "Just curious I guess!" She holds the dagger ready in case anything "interesting" happens.
Kahli lifts the heart and slaps it into the cavity. When she does, she feels the heart get pulled against the stone. She attempts to pull it back out, but it refuses to budge. Cracks begin to form in the statue as Kahli releases the heart and takes a precautionary step back. The tray crumbles as bony hands appear from behind the stone and flex. Flames begin to shoot from the cracks in the stone as the rest of the statue falls to the floor, revealing a skeleton with fire pouring out of its eye sockets and its empty chest cavity.
Kahli feels the immense heat from the skeleton and it singes her face.
Beyond the burning skeleton, Marcos and Kahli see that the crumbled statue has reveal a hidden passageway into another room. From what they can see, there are a number of cages large enough to hold a person in each.
"I don't understand...why? Why would you do that?"
The room gets warmer and Lash will usher Sim back inside the room from where he attempted to open the door. She will stand to make sure it is closed and will not hesitate to unleash a flurry of arrows upon the new flaming foe. Will it even be affected by her? Could its flame be so hot that it will destroy her arrows before reaching it? Her heart trembles that this may very well be her end.
Move: None
Free: Reload
"YOU WHAT??" Sim exclaims as he moves closer to the skeleton and grabs Kahli's dress and pulls her back and out of the burning thing's reach.
Free Action: 5ft. step to F4
Standard Action: Reposition Kahli to E4
Move Action: Draw gladius
Sim turns in horror to see the statue replaced by a flaming skeleton. His defensive instincts kick in as he steps up and pulls Kahli out of harms way.
Battle Map updated after Sim's turn
"Interesting turn off events" Marcos comments, calmly. He relocated himself further from the skeleton and keeps on talking. "Focus your attention on the event at hand, discussion among ourselves will lead us to defeat! Press a bit more, don't let the abomination strike fear on your hearts!"
Free action: drop scythe
Move action: move to G3, drawing sling while moving
Standard: fire sling:
Marcos makes a tactical retreat as he offers advice to the party
The Burning Skeleton sees all the movement between Kahli and Marcos and decides to go after Kahli since she's closer. Sim strikes out at it as it runs past
but the heat is too intense for him to make an accurate strike.
The Burning Skeleton reaches out a singed claw at Kahli.
But she manages to smack it away with the dagger.
As Kahli prepares to retaliate, the radiating heat is too much to bear:
and she takes 5 points of fire damage.
Kahli steps back from the burning heat of the creature to try and cast a spell on herself. "If I fall, don't try to heal me. A cure spell will kill me!"
Kahli steps back away from the Skeleton and heals herself, giving a warning to her compatriots.
Shiv runs across the room to get a better angle, leaving his trusty scythe behind, but his shot goes wide, shattering on the stone wall.
Lash eyes the Skeleton coming closer and quickly fires two arrows hoping to stop its advance. Firing almost simultaneously, the first arrow hits while the second goes between its arm and rib cage.
The arrow that hits it shatters through its spine, breaking the skeleton apart in a fiery explosion.
Sim, readied from the information shared by his new friends, he raises his shield in time and only gets slightly singed from the explosion.
The party doesn't find anything special on the skeleton. Looking through the newly opened passageway, the party can see cages, each large enough for one person, and something inscribed on the far wall.
Kahli cringes as the skeleton breaks apart in a blast of fire. Seeing that the danger seems to be over she pulls out a wand. "I'm sorry guys. I didn't think that would summon something like that! Can I heal anyone? This wand is Cure Light Wounds."
Lash realizes how hard she pulled that last group of arrows and watches as the skeleton crumbles down to nothing. She has been proving her worth at the very least. She lets out a sigh of relief and rests a hand on Kahli's shoulder in care and concern.
"I'm okay, are you?" she asks the woman with concern in her tone. She looks briefly to Sim with curiosity, canting her head as if to reask Kahli's question.
As Lash cants her head to the side, Kahli may see a shimmer of divine light emitting from Lash's neck in the shape of a tattoo; if she looks there on her creamy skin, it almost like a warning. The design of it is not solid and appears much as a hologram does. Then a moment later it seems gone. All that is left is her red idly floating metallic hair. It shifts about on air currents that don't exist leaving her slender neck back to the original state it once was in.
Knowing her place, a moment later she moves to the front to check for traps along the way into this new and open room.
Shiv returns to retrieve his Scythe and stows his sling. "Ah, well, I am not as good as that as with the scythe."
Latest exploration map showing the new room revealed by the statue.
Looking through the newly opened passageway, the party can see cages, each large enough for one person, and something inscribed on the far wall. They also see a wooden portcullis on the south wall.
There is still the door on the west side of the room the party is currently in that Sim was preparing to go through.
Without entering, Marcos tries to decypher what's writtnen on the wall at the other side of the passage.
At first glance, Marcos can't make it out with all the dust still settling from the explosion. The room Marcos is looking in to doesn't have any torches or lighting, so he calls over those with darkvision.
After a few moments of discussion, the group comes to the conclusion the writing says "Imprisonment will set you free".
Sim shakes his head at both Kahli's and Lash's questions of concern. "These are only minor burnings, so I'd preffer to not expend such precious healing at this moment."
"There was a saying about cats and curiosity... have you heard of it?" Sim jokes a bit with Kahli.
"So many paths... it is hard to guess which is the safest route to follow. I think I'll guard this door while you check the next room."
Marcos keeps thinking about the phrase on the wall. "It seems to imply that... we should go through here?"
Kahli smiles meekly at Lash when the question is asked. "I just hope I don't get hurt again. Guess I need to not do stupid stuff like that."
"My strange reaction to Cure spells is a condition of my birth. My father was.... well, a vampire. Somehow he got my mother with child, me. I'm not undead, but positive and negative energy affects me like it does undead. So I heal myself with negative energy! I've burned the spells that I have ready for that, but can still use my wand to heal anybody else that needs it."
She chuckles at Sim's words. "And this cat got her tail stepped on!"
"Has anyone scanned the room for magic or traps? It's interesting that setting off that trap opened the door and now we read such a contradictory message! Feels like another trap!"
[ooc]Put me at G3?[/b]
Detecting magic into the room, there is no magic. Any light from the party leaks into the room, illuminating the five metal cages and casting just enough light on the far wall to make the carved writing legible. The light also highlights the vertical beams of the wooden portcullis on the southern wall.
Kahli moves to the southwest corner away from all entryways while Sim, ever at the ready, guards the still closed door on the western wall.
"Five caskets..." Marcos counts the members of the group. "Five..."
He scratches his beard, but says nothing. "After all, the message could be there to mislead us." And with recent events in mind, better not to give weird ideas you anyone.
"We still could investigate here, but I agree we should leave it for later. Let's check what's in the rest of the rooms."
"I did give an initial look into the room and didn't see any traps, but the further I am from a trap, the harder it is to notice. I am pretty sure the room is trapped though. The message seems to indicate something bad will happen in that room and the only way to stop whatever horrible thing from happening, would be to get into the cages. I am with you, Marcos, let's finish investigating this door over here."
She will move closer to where Sim is and will nod for him to go through the door.
"I've already checked it for traps and didn't hear anything on the other side..."
Whether that is still the state of their next room after all the combat, explosions, and noise, she doesn't know.
With the party giving the room a once over from a safe spot, Lash takes point and makes her way into the room. She hugs the northern wall and makes it over to the far wall with the writing inscribed. Running her hand over it, it feels jagged, as if done with tools, not magic. Eyeing the cages, she stays along the wall and makes her way down to the portcullis. She notices it's not locked or trapped, but she doesn't see any lever to open it. She attempts to give it a quick lift, but she can't get it to budge. She looks through the portcullis and can see that the hallway turns left immediately.
Lash steps into the center of the room to finally examine the cages. She finds a door on each cage, no locks. Without stepping into the cages, she kneels down and barely perceives a pressure plate in one of the cages. With that knowledge, she looks at the others and finds a pressure plate in the floor of each cage.
There's still no noises on the other side of the closed door on the west wall in the skeleton room.
Kahli watches from the distance, concerned but curious. Maybe the cat comment.... "Pressure plates in the cages? Maybe the bodies, the dog thing, the gobbers and the skeletons, and maybe some debris. But I don't know. Five of us, well, plus the croc, and five cages. But would the gate stay open once the cages were activated? Or would the cages lock and then some trap be set off? Maybe the room would fill with water, or fire, or the cages would be zapped by lightning!"
"I can't be sure...If we step there....counterbalance there....activates there..." she shakes her head. "It could be anything..." she answers Kahli as she moves back to the unopened door. She pauses and looks to her, "Just please don't set this one off yet..." she chides the Dhampir with a small smile and a wink. It is almost as if Lash's true personality is trying to come out, but still, the sight of her friend dying is fresh in her mind and a moment later, the smile is replaced by silent sorrow.
On her walk back to join Sim by the door, something clicks and she returns to the room with the cages. Taking another look, she puts it together that the plates aren't a trap at all; they're connected to the portcullis as some sort of unlocking mechanism.
Marcos facepalms.
"It is safe from traps? This is some sort of puzzle to open the next door then? Come, croc!"
Shiv cautiously enters the room to get a better look and check the pattern of the plates.
"Perhaps we need to stand on them simultaneously?"
Kahli grins back at Lash.... "I'll let you lead! That last one burned a bit of my impatience away."
"We still have places to check and since anywhere could be the way out, if there is one, I'd suggest we try the places with no puzzles first."