Stepping to N15 to bless Appario once more, she speaks reassuringly to him, saying, "Oudamos amiteroukisi ekon." (Guidance)
Maddok steps closer again and swings mightily at the grinning vampire.
Step back to N16, Rage 7/18
***
Hindered by the wall, Maddok misses the vampire with his hammer, causing it to reveal its fanged teeth in an even wider grin.
***
Seeing his big brothers strike fall short, Derek stops singing in favour of a single inspiring tune.
Derek then gingerly makes his way over near the Vampire, beginning his song once more.
The vampire's grin fades away as Maddok's hammer, at first appearing to miss, crashes into its legs as a result of Derek's inspiration.
***
Appario smiles bittersweetly at the vampire.
My armor protects me from your kind...and maybe little else.
Appario swings again.
to hit;
silvery, magical damage.
Potential Crit:
to hit;
silvery, magical damage.
Yahirma continues to request the aid of the lethargic spirits of the wind-less basement. In turn, they do what they can to redirect Appario's blade towards weaker armor.
Semenya sets the loaded crossbow down (move action) and casts Flaming Magic Missile at the vampire.
Appario's sword connects, chopping off bits of flesh, followed by Semenya's firey missiles burning the vampire's flesh to cinders. In the wake of the missiles, the vampire turns to smoke.
Like the two spawn before it, the vampire's smoke drifts towards the double doors and through the keyhole.
With the immediate heat of battle over, the details of this room become clearer. The slightly elevated stage to the north contains an elaborate mosaic of gold, green, and magenta floor tiles forming an intricate glyph of a road vanishing into the horizon. The broken remains of a warrior-like statue lie near the south-eastern wall, close to the double doors.
Semenya notices traces of a secret door outlining the back wall of the alcove the vampire fought in.
"Do we want to find their coffins now, or investigate this?" She gently raps the back of the niche he was backing into.
"Good question, I'd like to make sure we destroy the vampires before they reform, but we can't be sure there are not more guards and wards where they sleep."
Appario begins to follow the smoke as it moves, putting his hand over the keyhole as the vampire-gas tries to move through it.
"Bah. Through this door, I think. The quicker we find their lair the better."
Perception, looking for traps
If safe, Appario will open the door.
If locked, Appario will attempt to unlock them.
Disable Device
I feel better now that I know my armor fully protects me from vampire attacks.
"Are we likelier to be able to handle more guards and wards after we've fought other things? I'm not out of spells, but I'm having to use them more carefully...we'll be in a sorry spot when I have to use my axe or crossbow...
"We can't let them reform. It's important that we follow them to their resting place and finish them off before they can do so", Maddok says as Appario works the door.
That creature said she was close.
Appario finds no traps, but the doors are locked. His disabling attempt produces no results, beyond allowing the vampire's smoke to disappear through while he's working.
***
Semenya passes a potion of Cure Light Wounds to each of Appario and Maddok. "Drink up. You'll need your vitality."
Appario
Maddok
"Hmmm, what a pity we lack access to the unlocking spell that is otherwise so common amongst my brotherhood.
Apparios skill has certainly been proven, but sometimes like now we might simply lack the time needed."
"Say Livia? These vampires, they mean nothing to you right? You've never seen them before nor heard about any being here?"
Derek shivers a little as the last mist disappears through the cracks.
At least HE did not drain me of blood like in the prediction.
Appario accepts the healing as he continues to work on the door.
Disable Device
Once he unlocks it (but before he opens it), he will stand and drink another Pt CLW.
healing
healing
Good enough.
"You all ready to go through?" Appario will make way for Derek.
The doors continue to resist Appario's attempts at unlocking them.
Livia flutters over to Derek. "I didn't hear about vampires when I lived here, only that the basement was haunted and there were dolls."
She looks at Appario's trials with the disabling kit. "Didn't you have keys for that other door? Maybe one of the keys works here too!"
Maddok downs a handful of potions and then approaches to try the keys.
CLW -
CLW -
CMW -
CMW -
Appario smacks himself in the head.
"Oh yeah, keys. Duh," he says as he gets up and out of the way, re-stowing his tools.
"Keys. Keys. Keys." Appario says as he smacks his head repeatedly with his open palm.
"Say, that's a catchy tune Appario."
Derek begins to clap in tune with Apparios smacks while humming "keys. Keys. Keys." in the background.
Yahirma steps in to interrupt Maddok's consumption of a fistful of elixirs, saying, "Allow me to heal of a bit of that."
One of the keys fit perfectly, and Maddok easily opens the door. Beyond, a large chamber is revealed, brightly lit by numerous glowing crystal lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The center of the chamber is dominated by a large summoning circle of inlaid silver, cold iron, and red metal.
A massive door of the same red metal, decorated with a devil's head and with strange runes along its borders, dominates the south wall. To the north-east, a large desk carved from a giant block of red stone is placed.
No traces of the vampires' smoke can be seen.
***
Appario will look for the presence of evil in the room.
"Wait."
Also, perception
Appario detects strong evil coming from the red door.
He notices a few odd things about the massive stone desk. Tiny runes, similar to those etched around the red door, decorate the edges of the desk. In addition, slide-marks are found on the floor near the desk, indicating that it has at some point been pivoted aside from its current position on multiple occasions.
Maddok glances into the room as well.
"Bisby mentioned needing to spell out Behold the Amber Arca", the big man says. "Do those runes on the desk or the door represent words or letters in a language any of you understand?"
"Those symbols are old Azlanti. The shamans often spoke of them - thralls of the deep alien aboleths. Little Brother, can you make any sense of it?"
Maddok gives it a shot himself.
Linguistics -
Appario waits near the red door, alert.
Looking to Yahirma and the others, he whispers.
"Uhm, there is evil directly near and beyond this door. Mayhaps the desk can wait until we have dealt with our enemies near."
Take 20 to examine the red door for traps. 29 for traps, perception.
Maddok is unable to decipher the meaning of the runes.
Appario doesn't find any traps on the red door.
Staff in hand, Yahirma follows behind Appario at a distance of about 10', careful not to step across the pentagram in the room's center.
"Cold iron for demons, silver for devils, and a red metal...iron oxide or cinnabar, perhaps. One way or another, this circle is capable of containing many different outsiders. Keep an eye out for secret passages where the smoke might have slipped; vampires can keep coffins in most obscure places."
Semenya nods and starts looking carefully through the room. She rolls up her sleeve, letting the hairs on her forearm act as a trigger for identifying any breezeway paths, and moves as quietly as she can to avoid drowning out any sounds that might matter.
Perception
Semenya notices small uneven gaps in several places underneath the red stone block. There's also sufficient opening near the edges of the red door for smoke to go through.
Maddok examines the metal closely.
Appario waits, unsure what to do next.
Let them figure things out. I wonder if this is the Behold the Amber Arca spot.
"Should we go back and talk to Bisby about this?"
"No time", Maddok warns. "We can't let the vampires we defeated regain their strength."
"Hmmm, I don't know, I do not speak the language, but maybe I can puzzle something out."
Derek studies the runes for some time, attempting to use his skills at language to gauge what they can mean.
"Livia, any ideas?"
No time?
Appario sits and thinks about the 20 or so steps it will take to go back to Bisby and see if he can answer questions.
What is going to take longer, us to figure this out or Bisby to be asked?
Appario sits and waits, keeping an eye on the evil red door.
Maddok can tell that the metal is iron, although there are several strange imperfections in it, appearing as if the iron has been fused with another type of metal. The imperfections appear as liquid sections of the metal, but Maddok isn't sure which type of metal would produce such an effect. He hasn't seen or heard of a similar metal used for weaponry or armor.
***
Derek is fairly certain that the runes represent the Azlanti alphabet, but there are a few runes he's still unsure about. He's convinced that he could figure it out if he takes the time to study them properly.
Livia looks as puzzled as the rest of the group. "I don't know anything about old runes."
Maddok watches Derek work and thinks about why Appario wouldn't just go ask Bisby if he thought it was that simple.
Appario waits, watching the door.
I'm not concerned about time.
Maddok growls, "It looks like this is going to take a while either way. Alright Appario, let's see if Bisby can help us again while little brother tries to sort the runes out.
"Erm...I'd need a good...20 or so minutes to puzzle this out. If we can spare the time I'll do it.
I am not sure asking Bisby would be a good idea, for all we know he might have forgotten us and make another attack. He didn't seem altogether...well towards the end."
Maddok's eyes light up, "Perhaps Ghaefin can explain this to us."
The big man slings the heavy stone bust tied to his pack onto the ground.
"Yahirma can you use one of the grave candles to ask his spirit for help?"
Semenya stops and says "Giving Derek time to puzzle out those runes is something I think we can afford - but not much more than that. I am open to Yahirma questioning Ghaefin as a way to speed up the process."
Fishing around for the third Grave Candle, Yahirma eyes it dubiously. "I have some concerns about what condition his spirit will be in after being petrified and broken, but he would know best as to how to navigate his own stronghold."
After placing the candle among the broken pieces of statuary (once they are pulled out), she casts Guidance upon herself. "Just in case he's...in the same condition as Bisby," she remarks with some discomfort before lighting the candle.
Appario waits, still holding Extortion in hand, watching the red door while Yahirma, Maddok, & Semenya work on the candle.
Appario eyes Derek still furiously at work at the desk and considers pulling up a chair for thespian.
"Keep working, Derek. I got your back."
The smoke from the candle rises up around the bust, and within a few moments both eyes and lips begin moving amidst the smoke.
Maddok looks from image in the smoke to Yahirma, "Can he hear us?"