Leo slides along the display case trying to get behind the creature.
He stabs at it with his shortsword!
Xavien, at a loss, makes a wild swing, but careens off the armor.
Leo fairs better. The warrior drives his shortsword into the armor, clearly disrupting whatever holds it together.
Round 1:
Trant: Waiver
Aurelia: Summon
Corran: Bard
Enemy: ATK
Xavien: Miss
Leo: Hit
Imistos: Hide
Kenton: Miss
Ianthe: Go
Ianthe draws on her signet ring to access the well of magic she has not yet prepared and summons the knowledge she hopes will help against these animates. Once she does, Leo doubles in size.
Ianthe makes sure that Leo is the baddest thing on the field! The nobles all gasp. In their lives magic is about comfort, aesthetics, and entertainment. Battle magic is something they only hear about.
Trant continues to fight an internal battle, but at least closes in with a weapon.
Round 2:
Trant: Close
Aurelia: Go
Corran: Go
Enemy: TBD
Xavien: TBD
Leo: TBD
Imistos: TBD
Kenton: TBD
Ianthe: TBD
Corran continues the bardsong, (7/9 left today), performing a rhythmic battle chant attributed to General Taldaris. He draws his falcata on the move and he claps the blade against his buckler a couple of times in challenge of the animate armor to draw it's attention from The Lady Aurelia. He enters basic middle stance and tries to not look like it's his first real swordfight.
Because it is.
Ok, except for that one duel, but the less said about that the better.
Falcata:, Threatens if it hits... , Normal if a hit and points of damage.
Corran's hit is solid, and just shy of perfect. The armored horror rocks back a bit, but doesn't fall.
Round 2:
Trant: Close
Aurelia: Go
Corran: Bard and fight!
Enemy: TBD
Xavien: TBD
Leo: TBD
Imistos: TBD
Kenton: TBD
Ianthe: TBD
Aurelia's eagle gives chase, moving to harry the floating armor.
"Excellent, Dame Trant! Show us what swordsmanship you were taught! I want to see if it compares to Master Aemon, my instructor!" she says, hoping to sway Trant into helping with a bit of friendly competition.
Needing to make good on her words, she strikes out with a longsword!
Lady Aurelia, surrounded by violence goes on the offensive with word and blade. Her eagle scrapes armor, but she finds exactly the angle that spurs Trant - competition. "Fine! I'll show you!"
She follows it up with a swing that removes the helmet from the gorget, and the whole thing falls to pieces!
The remaining foe continues its pursuit of the Lady, ancient rust leaving its attack weak:
... but effective.
Round 2:
Trant: Close
Aurelia: Kill
Corran: Bard and fight!
Enemy: ATK
Xavien: Go
Leo: Go
Imistos: No WAY!
Kenton: Go
Ianthe: Go
Ha! Not bad, Aurelia," Xavien chuckles. Now that Aurelia appears to be holding her own, Xavien takes a moment to assess Trant's motivations.
Then he shrugs and hacks at the other animated arrangement of steel.
Xavien doesn't get any extra insight, but he does see her react to the challenge about being good enough to compete in this fight.
His blade is enough though. The second and remaining foe falls!
The nobles are in awe. They even clap!
Xavien smiles, salutes, and bows. "Thank you, thank you! Shall we keep score, Trant? One for Aurelia and one for me, but perhaps you shall get the next, eh?"
He shoves his blade back into the scabbard and eyes the slash on Aurelia's shoulder. "My dear, are you badly hurt? Here, allow me." Ripping a bit of cloth from poor Manshum's sleeve, he wraps it around the lady's arm and ties it tight. "Voila! That will keep your exquisite dress from staining."
Aurelia dips a self-deprecating curtsy. "I can tell you, swinging a sword in this dress is no mean feat!"
In response to Xavien, she says, "A minor cut. I think I'll be fine."
Lady Aurelia finally has a chance to tell everyone that it's a potion of Bull's Strength!
Trant's epiphany seems temporary. "Whatever. I was just making sure you are all for real." She returns to a taciturn state and doesn't seem to want to engage.
In response to Xavien, she says, "A minor cut. I think I'll be fine."
"Splendid! I admire your tenacity," Xavien bows. "In the meanwhile, that hand-axe," he points, "and that shield each carry an enchantment of some variety, but I cannot say precisely what."
He rustles one mangled suit of now-inanimate armor with his foot. "This plate is likely ruined, but its blade seems well-made..."
Leo just stares at Trant for a moment. He can't believe she is such a little s&*+..
He goes around and collects all the interesting weapons and gathers them in a pile. "If these have any use for anyone, I suggest you arm yourselves."
Leo picks up a shield that looks the best in quality and turns to Lady Aurelia. "Lady Aurilia, would you be as so kind to see if there are any magical auras coming from these items? We are fighting undead, we can use anything to our advantage."
There's a handaxe and a heavy steel shield that radiate magic. Aurelia is puzzled by the crossbow called "Dignity's Barb" as it radiates strong divination.
"Allow me a few moments. If I cannot suss them out, I'm certain my dear friend Lady Ianthe will be able to."
She then sets to identifying the magical items, starting with the hand-axe, then the shield, and finally the crossbow.
She turns to Ianthe. "The axe has me stumped for the moment. Can I get your thoughts?"
While the axe eludes her, she concludes that the shield offers magically enhanced protection
The crossbow is a curious thing... it also eludes Aurelia.
Mind if I have a look, dear?
Lady Clement reveals an edge which is too sharp for stone...
The crossbow eludes her as well.
Leo grabs the shield, "would anyone mind if I hold onto this until we get out of here?"
Kenton sheathes his blade and studies Dame Trent a bit, trying to get a read on her.
With a silent sigh, unable to tell much more beyond fear is not her hang-up, he nods at Leo's request — May it serve you well! — and carefully tucks the crossbow away.
with the new shield in hand, leo goes to check the north west door. When everyone is ready, he opens it.
Leo listens for noises at the door
Leo Checks the door for traps:
If it is clear, Leo opens the door.
If it’s trapped, Leo attempts to clear the door:
Leo clears the door, then opens it. For a split second he isn't sure what he's looking at, but then it makes sense. This rectangular room appears to host a celebration frozen in time. Gaudy nobles crowd the corners of this room, all of which are dressed in ostentatious and pretentious fashions. Tremendous wigs soar toward the ceiling, each covered in thick layers of dust. A larger gaggle fills the center of the chamber, each aristocrat presenting a jovial or mocking leer as it stares out blankly. One of the figures is sprawled on the floor; overlapping circles cut into its waxen chest and face.
leo steps into the room and takes a quick look around.
Leo looks around, and aside from a certain creepiness factor, he finds nothing interesting.
Xavien follows Leo into the room. "Strange," he mutters, frowning. "Why would anyone build this?"
He tries to date the fashions...
...scans the room for magical auras...
...and peers closely at the sprawled figure.
The fashion is hard to date because it spans too many different eras. Mostly between 100 and 500 years ago, but that's hard to say.
One of the wigs on a mannequin radiates faint illusion.
The figure looks merely artistic, not magical or sinister in any way. They do seem to match the others.
With the discovery of magic on a wig, Aurelia comes forward to study the magic within.
She shrugs, then turns to Ianthe. "Is this familiar to you?"
Feeling that he can't help any further in this room, Leo moves to the next.
Leo listens for noises at the door
Leo Checks the door for traps:
If it is clear, Leo opens the door.
If it’s trapped, Leo attempts to clear the door:
Leo doesn't wait for anyone to help Lady Aurelia. He moves to the other door out of the main room. The nobles stay in the rear, waiting for an all clear before they move anywhere.
The door seems safe enough, so Leo opens it. Lines of shelves run from north to south in this square room. Glass windows—some with handles and others bearing locks—cover the front of the shelves. Dozens of objects line the shelves, resting on satin pillows behind the protective glass covers. A door exits from each of the four walls.
"This looks like a storeroom of some sort." Leo beckons some of the magical folk to inspect the room.
Xavien is still puzzling over the strange carved circles.
Xavien looks over the circles. There are faint reference lines near them. He concludes that these are.... practice art? It looks like someone simply practicing the ability to draw circles?
"Stranger and stranger," Xavien mutters. "Perhaps an artist was once stuck here, and decided to make use of the time by improving their skill."
He shrugs, and moves to help Leo.
The chamber houses numerous antiquities, most claimed from lands conquered or visited by the Armies of Exploration—orc scarificators, Kellid war drums, a ceremonial Brevan scabbard—all broken and faded from time. The items stored include dwarven mining equipment, a stone-and-gem chunk from an elven aiudara gateway, the bone totem of an Isgeri shaman, and even an inert technological gadget from distant Numeria. The only item that radiates magic is a small raven figurine, which radiates faint Enchantment.
Leo looks over the collectables in the room.
"This looks like halfling's collection of his travels!" He
A curious collection of items, Kenton notes, and judging by everything else here, all has been here for ages.
If the aiudara fragment is not too big, Aurelia will take it and place it in her backpack. "This deserves study, and afterwards belongs in a museum."
When Xavien spots the magical raven she comes over to study it.
"Perhaps the enchantment is there to help make it enticing to potential buyers? It certainly draws the eye."
Leaving the unknown magical wig behind, Lady Aurelia steps into the curio room to look at the raven.
As she approaches a sheet of electricity lights up the floor shocking Leo, Kenton, and Lady Aurelia!
Aurelia nearly passes out from the electrical shock, her knees buckling for a moment.
Kenton is fully jolted, and immediately scans the floor for a trigger.
Kenton finds the plate trigger. He confirms that it's a one time deal and it won't reset.
Leo gets ZAPPED.
"Here, take these," Xavien says, passing out the three potions of cure light wounds they found in the armory.
Leo takes the flask gratefully. [b]"cheers" he says with a slight raise of the flask.
She shrugs, then turns to Ianthe. "Is this familiar to you?"
It is curious. Let me take a look.
Aurelia drinks the potion...
"Thank you. That helps."
Remembering the wig, she retrieves it and studies it.