Atsuko is rather dumbfounded by the whole scene, and the conversations taking place, after the mist clears. But, apparently the green, er... man has eluded them.
"I didn't see or hear anyone come out. It sounds like a particular kind of spell, Rope Trick? If it's anything like that, there probably isn't much room inside, and I don't think pulling him out will work."
"We might have to wait a long time for the effect to end. Might be better to move on and put some distance between ourselves and right here."
Torra shakes their head as well. "They're either not here anymore, or far enough that we can't perceive them, or being so still that I cannot sense them. I agree with Atsuko, we should move on."
Andochtuir shoves his hand at the rift that only he can see, but nothing seems to come of it, not even after a few tries.
Yuto shoves against the southern door, but it has no give - the thing is locked quite firmly.
"Let's try one last thing, please." She looks to Andy, "Can you lift me up or pop your head in?"
Yuto steps back after the door will not move "Locked"
"I-I do not like the idea, but I will not let you go in alone Ritti" Yuto sheathes Suishen and hangs his shield to his back "I will go with you. He-here, hang from my arms."
Yuto will hug Ritti and raise her up, taking profit of the walk in air to try go into the dimensional space through the entrance hole "Please Andochtuir, hold the entrance open for us"
"...All right. Be carefull, you two. That guy is on the other side, waiting for you." The warrior answers, and does his best to help them enter the space, if he is able to.
Ritti pulls the thunderstone and readies to throw it if she sees any sign of the necromancer. She leans into Yuto as he grabs her. ”Sorry to be a pain in your ass but this fella worries me. If we don’t see him, I’ll let this go and get that door for you.”
Stunning Fist (3):
Boots (1):
Shozoku (1):
Inspired (1):
Arrows (20): xxxx
Shuriken (5): xx
Shuriken Earthfire (3):
Thunderstone (1): ?
Effects:
Mage Armor – 1 hr
Atsuko sighs and shakes her head. Then she takes a look out and around to make sure nobody's coming.
Despite their best efforts, the heroes aren't able to get into the portal.
"The longer we wait here, the more likely it is that others will come to investigate." Suishen grumbles. "If we cannot enter into this creature's hideaway, we must deal with the corpses such that they cannot be reanimated again, and then move onwards."
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Ritti hrmphs her frustration and speaks to the hole in the world. ”You win this round. This is your chance. Take your lumps and… run. If I see you again, I’ll finish you in a way that embarrasses your ancestors.”
With that, true to her word to Yuto, she heads over to the door and unlocks it.
When everyone is ready, she swings it open.
Stunning Fist (3):
Boots (1):
Shozoku (1):
Inspired (1):
Arrows (20): xxxx
Shuriken (5): xx
Shuriken Earthfire (3):
Thunderstone (1):
Effects:
Mage Armor – 1 hr
"The-there is nothing more atrocious for a warrior than h-having an unlife a-and being forced to fight for something th-they were against in life" you see the man's eyes watering up as this comment from the katana has touched a soft string on him "Le-let's burn them so they have some kind of respectful rest" Yuto offers his arm to Suishen so her flames can catch fire on the fallen corpses and burn their flesh while Ritti works on the door.
Torra puts a sympathetic hand on Yuto's arm - they know exactly what he's referring to, and the memory is seared into their soul as well. The dwarf helps dispose of the formerly undead bodies, then steps next to Ritti, curious about what lies beyond the door.
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Ritti unlocks the door, pushing it open... and a burst of white fire explodes out from the doorway, searing the rogue, Torra, and Yuto.
Ritti is quick enough to throw herself entirely out of the way of the white-hot fires, but Yuto and Torra are not quite so lucky, getting seared by the fires - though they avoid the worst of the damage.
As the heroes blink the spots from their eyes, they see why the room was guarded with such a fearsome trap. Beyond the door is a veritable trove of valuables gathered into one place. Chests overflow with gold and silver ornaments. Crates hold trade bars of precious metals. Ornate, gilded drinking horns peek out of a burlap sack, and coffers spill forth gold and silver coins in quantities rarely seen in this part of the world.
This must be the Frozen Shadows' treasury. It will take quite some time to inventory all of the valuables here, but a quick search might turn up the most useful or noteworthy items.
Despite the unease around the green man's disappearance and the pain of the fresh burns, Torra cannot help but gasp in awe at the treasure. Her ancestors' love for precious metals, gems and well-crafted things is awakened in a flare before the dwarf shakes her head.
"This is not ours to take," she mutters, more to herself than to anyone else. Louder, she adds "We should take this to Master Snaevald, he might know what is to be done with it."
Despite her words, Torra lingers in the treasury room, her eyes alighting on various items and seemingly having a hard time tearing herself away.
Ritti moves quickly to gently pat the flames out on her allies. "Sorry! Sorry, sorry!"
While Torra is meticulous in how she searches, Ritti puts her practiced eye to use. She ignores the shiny coins and jewels to look for more unique items in the heaps of treasure.
Yuto covers himself with the shield, but there is still some burned meat smell on his shoulders and legs after the conflagration goes "F-fast cooking is terrible for health"
The young man blinks at the raw amount of wealth stored in the room "T-this is h-how they managed to infiltrate Karlsgard a-and recruit so many people. Th-they are rich. Ma-maybe this can help A..." Yuto looks to Ritti and Atsuko "...our liege can use this money to organize our trip east."
"W-we should press on before they discover we are here. Grab whatever is of real v-value or magical a-and we can come back later and pick the rest if we are able to..." Yuto suggests while scanning the room very fast for what has real worth.
You can also use this check to determine the most valuable item visible in a treasure hoard. The DC of this check is generally 20 but can increase to as high as 30 for a particularly large hoard.
"Alright, let me see..." Torra quickly rummages through a few chests, setting aside what she thinks are the most interesting things.
But everything is just so shiny that she has trouble choosing.
"Honestly, I don't see why we should hurry now," Andochtuir says as he, too stares at the treasure mount. "we've been fighting the assassins the last couple of *days*. Surely they already well and truly know we are here and have made what preparations they could. I don't see what harm a few minutes of looking through all this would do."
"...And yes, I'd also like to shrink back down. It *is* rather bad for the bad for one's back to have to walk hunched through most hallways," He adds with apologetic flaire. He then joins the search, not taking particular care to hurry with how long the fight in this castle has effectively already been going on.
"Your lack of greed is most admirable, Torra." Helgarval says approvingly.
It takes quite some time for the heroes to make a decent inventory of the treasury. Three of the chests - each one quite hefty - hold a mixture of gold and silver brooches and arm-rings.
Five of the crates hold copper bars, each one stamped with the now-familiar rune of the Rimerunners Guild - each crate has twenty bars, and each bar is a hefty pound of copper . A sixth crate holds the same, except the bars within are silver.
There are 23 gilded drinking horns of various beasts, as well as one that is probably from a large bull or aurochs that is set with citrines.
The coffers are overfull, holding a total of 850 gold pieces, 1975 silver pieces, and an overwhelming 3000 copper pieces.
Finally, two chests have equipment - one set of which is very familiar. It's Uksahkka's equipment! That means that the other is probably also a prisoner's - hopefully Ulf's.
Ritti idly rolls a jeweled drinking horn in her hand. "I'm not seeing anything that's gonna help us in this fight... unless you want to beat someone with a copper bar." She tosses the drinking horn to Andy. "This is worth maybe 130 or 135 gold pieces."
"Ma-maybe we should leave behind the copper coins. I-it is probably not worth the we-weight of it." Yuto looks at the heavy stuff worried about his back that has been carrying most stuff until now "A-and we will have to take the bars only o-on our come back."
The man remains a bit more of time over the equipment "I-is this not what Uksahkka was wearing?! Th-this is good news! She must be here in this fort!"
With renewed hopes to safe the Ulfen, Yuto makes Suishen light up once more, and advances towards the north, looking around the corridor to make sure it is safe, before trying to open the door in the corridor.
Ritti waits for the others to grab what they think is worth taking immediately, then locks the door behind them after they leave. "Green Boy may have a key, but maybe not. I think we don't want any of these bastards walking away with ill-gotten gains if we can help it."
The thief moves to the next door down the hall, listens at it, then attempts to open it.
The man remains a bit more of time over the equipment "I-is this not what Uksahkka was wearing?! Th-this is good news! She must be here in this fort!"
"I hope they're still alive." Torra glances at Ritti and Atsuko. If they were kept alive, perhaps the other prisoners had been as well. At this point, one can only hope.
The dwarf helps Ritti look for traps, keeping a cautious distance this time.
Ritti doesn't notice any traps on the northern door, and indeed, it is even unlocked. Boxes and sacks lie neatly stacked in the chamber beyond the door. Shelves holding orderly bins have been built into the walls. A wooden locker stands beneath the shelves. Despite the seeming order to this room, a faint charnel reek underlies the place.
Meanwhile, Yuto takes a peek around the corner and sees that it is a stairway heading yet further downwards and curving off to his right . There are no obvious threats there, but he can't see the end of the stairway, either.
Ritti’s nose wrinkles in revulsion at the smell. ”What is that? Green Boy’s undergarments?” She looks to Yuto, ”How do you want to play it, chief? Find the stink or move on?”
"Pr-probably a dead rat with that ho-horrible reek... o-or more undead abomination..." anyway, given there is no clear threat on the room, Yuto focuses on the stairs going down.
While Ritti completes the search of the room, the young Tian slowly descends the stairs, trying to further peek around the next corner for what is there.
Between the humidity, the lack of sunlight and the trolls, this place had no shortage of bad smells, so Torra doesn't think much of it and follows Yuto towards the descending stairs.
The stairs descend to a pair of alcoves flanking an ornate double door. Standing in each alcove is a bronze statue depicting a warrior dressed in the ornate garb and armor of a warrior of distant Tian Xia. Beneath their broad helmets, the statues wear demonic face masks with snarling fanged maws, while their hands clutch gracefully curved swords in poses of battle.
A nakedly skeptical look crosses Ritti's face at the ornate doors and weapon-wielding bronze statues. She casts a look at the team that says, This smells like a big fat trap to me. What now?
Atsuko keeps at the ready with her seax and shield considering the suspicious smell. It could be a dead rat, but she doesn't want to count on luck that good.
She hasn't the slightest notion of what they should do at the moment, feeling rather in over her head with this whole affair. She does give the statues a close look, wondering if there may be some clues about the place based on what the statues represent.
"T-this reminds me of w-when Tamura Benjiro faced the Temple of Serpents' entrance du-during his trip on the Road of the North Star. Th-the statues there started to walk, a-as if their metal was no less mobile t-than the body of a dancer" Yuto gulps looking attentively at any possible mobile piece or mechanism.
If the curved swords do not seem a solid part of the statues he proposes "M-maybe we can steal their blades from them as a pr-precaution?"
The expression on Torra's face makes it clear how little the dwarf wants to fight the bronze statues. "If they guard this door, perhaps there is a passphrase to get past them. But it would probably be in Tien or Skald..."
Torra sighs, wishing for the umpteenth time that Riftun was with them.
As Yuto approaches to tug on their swords, he finds them quite tightly locked in their hands. Once his companions approach, however, they activate - the one in his hands tugging the sword away as the other steps out of its alcove.
The farther of the two from Yuto steps forwards and swings viciously at Ritti, its snarling demon face glaring down at her. Fortunately for her, she is able to dodge out of the way before it lands its heavy strike.
The other makes as if to move past Yuto, but the man does not move. The animate statue pauses, seeming momentarily confused.
When the statues begin to move, Atsuko realizes she's been barking up the wrong tree. She'd been thinking about them as artifacts, but they are instead animate things in their own right.
"They're constructs! They're made of very hard materials so it's difficult to damage them. You're as likely to harm the weapon you strike them with as the statues I'm afraid. Magic doesn't work on them as a general rule, but I doubt they're nimble. Back up some Yuto! Liukua ja pudota kasvoillesi päällesi!"
With the words, Atsuko makes a swiping motion with her hand and arm in the direction of the floor under the statue that steps forward . As she does so, a thick and greasy, oily substance materializes under its feet and all around.
"Oh-oh! These things are alive!" Yuto is taken by surprise almost as much from the constructs moving as per the grease conjured by Atsuko.
The samurai tries to avoid the sliding coating while swinging at the green statue as fast as he can.
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"If they guard this door, perhaps there is a passphrase to get past them…”
Torra was on to something… Ritti dodges the heavy blade coming for her and notes the other statue’s strange hesitation to strike Yuto. Not a phrase then… unless Yuto said it by accident.
She pauses for a moment, considering what this could mean.
Something about our appearances? She was dressed as a ninja, Yuto as a samurai. She expected the ninja outfit would get her past a guard faster than samurai gear would.
And it couldn’t be Suishen. Why would an enemy’s sword, get you a pass? That makes no sense.
And it couldn’t be a sex thing. The ogre is a girl, so that should work in my favor…
A possibility occurs to her.”Torra, you’re brilliant! Yuto! You are carrying something to get you past the guards… something the ogre can hand out to important people to get them past the door. She probably has a few of them. What do you have like that?”
Ritti sizes up her opponent. She wasn’t about to stand here doing nothing to get cut in half. But Atsuko’s warning was daunting. Her limbs were and weren’t weapons. Would punching a statue shatter her limbs? There was only one way to find out…
As the statue navigates the greasy patch, Ritti fires a punch and kick at the guard.
Stunning Fist (3):
Boots (1):
Shozoku (1):
Inspired (1):
Arrows (20): xxxx
Shuriken (5): xx
Shuriken Earthfire (3):
Thunderstone (1):
Effects:
Mage Armor – 1 hr
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"Animated is not the same as alive, Yuto." It doesn't occur to Torra that perhaps now is not a good time for semantics. "Good thing I don't need weapons, then."
The plinth on which one of the statues was standing shatters and the chunks fly towards its previous occupant.
Atsuko urges Yuto to back away as she readies herself to cast a spell at the floor beneath their animate foes.
Torra blasts at the closest of the statues , but Ritti's presence lets the statue use her as cover, preventing the attack from landing.
Yuto slashes with Suishen, the blazing sword ringing against the stony skin of the statue. Chunks of the stone glow red and fall to the ground, but Suishen grunts in annoyance. "That hide is hard enough that it might do me harm."
Despite its words it does not attempt to resist as he attacks again, but this time the statue is prepared, and blocks his attacks easily with its own stone katana. Yuto quickly steps away, allowing Atsuko to unleash her spell. The statue closest to Ritti wobbles, but keeps its feet.
Ritti launches a barrage of attacks at her enemy - although its stony skin resists her attacks, she does manage to splinter a handful of shards off of its form.
Andochtuir takes a half-step forwards, lunging over the heads of his fellows with his fauchard in an attempt to hack away at the construct. The blade flows over their heads and he tears further chunks from its stony flesh, knocking bits and pieces from it in a cascade of
The damaged column goes on the offensive once more, slashing down at Ritti with swiftness and shocking grace. The stone blade slices through her guard and the magical armored force that surrounds her, biting deep into her flank and sending pain burning up her side and down her leg.
The other statue takes a step forwards, onto the slick surface of the greased floor. Though it is briefly unsteady, it manages to keep itself on its feet as it attacks Yuto in revenge for his own strikes. Yuto is prepared, and deflects the attack with ease.
When the statue attacks Ritti, Yuto quickly maneuvers with Suishen, trying to intercept the enemy's katana with his swing "Uh!"
"So-sorry Suishen!" Yuto shouts in the heat of combat suffering for the pain of the sword but hoping it can cope with the terrible hardness of the statue, he swings again "W-we need to protect our friends, so-sorry for this!"
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With dismay, Ritti notes that her strikes are only chipping away slowly at the statue. And with growing alarm, she sees that the others’ weapons are getting dulled and damaged. When their gear breaks… we are in real trouble. She’s so focused on the problem, she’s late in seeing the stone katana swinging towards her. She only has time to let out a small eep!, close her eyes, and brace for the damage to come.
The ring of steel on stone replaces the pain she anticipated. She opens her eyes to see Yuto’s katana blocking the other blade mere inches from her hip. She lets out an unconscious breath. I owe him a LOT for that one.
At lightning speed, Ritti improvises a crazy plan… at least it might slow down one of the statues from bringing that katana to bear so effectively. Or she could get turned to paste. It was an even money bet. The red-headed ninja/thief leaps on the statue, trying to lock her arms around its neck while twining her legs around its sword-arm.
Stunning Fist (3):
Boots (1):
Shozoku (1):
Inspired (1):
Arrows (20): xxxx
Shuriken (5): xx
Shuriken Earthfire (3):
Thunderstone (1):
Effects:
Mage Armor – 1 hr
Noting the missing chunks from the leftmost statue, Torra continues to focus on it, hoping to shatter it entirely - especially after it had so viciously attacked Ritti. But with the ninja wrapped around most of it, it's hard to deliver a blow without hitting their companion.
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As the stone blade comes hurtling down at Ritti, Yuto's swift reflexes and trained instincts as a bodyguard prompt him to hurriedly parry the weapon with Suishen, diverting it enough that it misses the young woman by a hair.
Torra takes the chance to blast the damaged statue, but it uses the cover that her comrades provide it with surprising adroitness, leaving the chunks of earth to deflect off of its sculpted armor.
Yuto sends a flurry of attacks at the same target, keeping his guard up. Once more, he manages to land an attack, chopping large chunks off of the samurai statue and knocking it on its back foot. Suishen grunts its annoyance at the foe, but seems largely undamaged. However, the statue is more prepared for his second series of attacks, deflecting them with its own blade.
Atsuko resumes her rousing tale, empowering those allies who can hear her with the inspiration to do more.
Ritti leaps at her enemy, trying to grab ahold of it and lock it down. Unfortunately for her, it shrugs off her grasp with superhuman strength, sending her skidding back as it swings an arm at her, narrowly missing her face.
Andochtuir lunges again, attacking over the heads of his companions, but the badly damaged statue simply ducks the attack, making good use of his fellows' intervening presences as well as the sloping ceiling.
The demonic face of the most damaged statue twists in the mockery of anger, swinging its heavy stone blade down at Ritti once more. This time, she's much more prepared, and dodges expertly out of the way of the oncoming weapon.
The other of the two statues responds just as quickly, focusing its efforts on Yuto once again. The young samurai is taken aback by the ferocity of the assault, as it comes crashing through his guard and cuts deep into his collarbone, only very nearly missing his throat. Pain darkens his vision, nearly pulling his consciousness free of his body, but he stands firm, unyielding.
Atsuko is blocked from moving closer to the statues. With the benefits of her oratory lingering on, all she can do is help Yuto with a spell to increase his combat prowess.
"Yuto!" torra shifts their focus to the statue menacing the samurai, eyes blazing with determination.
Tossed by the statue, Ritti lands on her feet with cat-like grace… then leaps at the construct again!
Stunning Fist (3):
Boots (1):
Shozoku (1):
Inspired (1):
Arrows (20): xxxx
Shuriken (5): xx
Shuriken Earthfire (3):
Thunderstone (1):
Effects:
Mage Armor – 1 hr
"Ouch!" shouting hard in pain Yuto blames himself for focusing too much on finishing the statue and not covering himself properly, so he maneuvers this time using Suishen defending ward to protect himself. But then he hears Atsuko inspiration and feels a sudden heroic push bringing him to higher epics "You will not let me leave my friends alone. Fall evil statue!" and attacks green with the flaming katana.
Torra blasts the statue, but the astonishingly agile stone figure dodges behind her comrades, and the projectile deflects off of its shoulder without doing it any harm.
Yuto invokes the power of Suishen, which leaps to defend him as he readies it to defend as well as attack. The blows strike home, slipping past the statue's guard. Red-hot stone falls in chunks off of the well-sculpted construct, but it is not quite destroyed - though it looks to be nearing destruction. The second series of attacks is less fortunate, as the statue defends itself against Suishen with adept skill.
Atsuko casts a spell empowering Yuto, and he feels a surge of uplifting power in his veins.
Ritti lunges at the badly damaged statue, grabbing it and entangling it in a careful lock so as to prevent it from moving any further.
Andochtuir strikes over the heads of the group, lashing out with his oversized fauchard against the ungrappled caryatid column. However, between its agility, it's strange skill, and the intervening bodies, he is unable to land any blows.
The critically damaged statue wrestles with Ritti, struggling to escape from her grasp, but serpent like, she is able to keep it from pulling free - despite its significant strength.
The other, less damaged statue , lashes out against Yuto once more, a flurry of stone-bladed strikes hurtling down at him. This time, the samurai is more than prepared to face the carved facismile of his own field of study, and deflects the heavy attacks with ease.
"Statues are supposed to stay still," grumbles Torra as the dwarf lines up another blast at their target. "I like a challenge sometimes, but not when my friends are being cut to pieces."
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In an improbable feat of dexterity, Ritti mounts the shoulder of the statue and reverses her position. Her upper body locks the statue’s sword arm, pulling it backwards. She throws a leg across the front of the statue’s neck and digs her other leg into the middle of the monster’s back. With a scream she flexes her core and leg muscles. She strains the statue backwards trying to either torque its head or arm off.
Stunning Fist (3):
Boots (1):
Shozoku (1):
Inspired (1):
Arrows (20): xxxx
Shuriken (5): xx
Shuriken Earthfire (3):
Thunderstone (1):
Effects:
Mage Armor – 1 hr