Garret focuses on the curse, trying to push it away and out of his mind by using the “Love is thicker than Blood” ability.
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"Short version -- after the necrotic explosion we woke up in sarcophagi in the boneyard parallel to this room. Good times," says Garret somewhat flippantly, apparently in too much of a fog from the curse to bother explaining more completely.
Garret fights to concentrate on his training through the fog of the curse clouding his mind…
”The incense is Incense of Meditation,” says Garret, describing its function (per the spoiler).
Garret looks at his wounds, fully healed, but still feels like death warmed over. "Indeed, a curse it may be," agrees Garret. Standing up, he says, "Let's move on".
Garret sits heavily on the ground and says, ”What was that thing? I don’t feel so good…”
Shuddering in pain, Garret calls over the flaming sphere back into the rock monster's square.
He then tries to focus enough to call on his magic to afflict the creature...
Managing to call forth the magic defensively, Garret sounds a sonic blast inside its head!
Worried about the effect the strange rocky undead may have had on Zsofia, Garret summons a ball of flame and pushes it up against the Guecubu, trying to pin it to the wall between his allies.
He tries to take cover behind a slimy spike or two, but doesn't dare move from where he is to avoid piercing himself on the suddenly treacherous ground.
Caught by surprise, Garret can only look around and try to come up with a strategy to defeat this foe!
With the Red Crusader not ringing any bells, Garret casts Detect Magic and searches the shelves for anything useful.
Studying the statues along with Sanduro, Garret is satisfied with their conclusions and says, "Shall we continue--down the stairs?"
Sighing in relief, Garret says, "Thank you, Silvia...I would have been in big trouble without your help." "Hopefully we don't run into many more similarly dangerous empty rooms--though to be fair, I didn't see the mist hiding in the ceiling either, for what it's worth," he adds.
”Only if they are draining you, I think,” replies Garret to Ketra as he continues to dodge as best he can.
Garret takes a step back from the mist and sends a quartet of magic missiles at the blue one that had attacked him!
Stepping away (5 foot step) from the suddenly appearing monsters, Garret says, "These are Vampiric mists--they drain blood, but are not undead!" Being thankful for his short stature for once, Garret casts his burning hands with the cone angled towards the ceiling, hoping to fry the red and blue mists while leaving his allies untouched. fire damage.
Garret moves in and looks around once the all clear is given. He says, "I'll save the spells for later unless someone really wants me to burn that pollen."
Looking forward to the south, Garret says, "If that area is free of the spores, I should be able to burn away the spores from this room and the one behind us, but it will likely take two fireballs. That will leave me only two for the rest of the day." Considering it, Garret says, "Probably not worth it, unless we are coming back this way and are worried about the spores spreading to other vermin..."
After killing the living plants from a distance with acid, Garret follows cautiously into the room. At the discovery of the magic item, he attempts to discern its function.
Excitedly, he describes it as a Bronze Griffin Figurine of Wondrous Power (see spoiler).
”If needs be, I can dissolve the bigger patches of fungus with magical acid from a distance—but it will take some time,” suggests Garret.
Checking out the room and all the spores, Garret offers, ”I could blast it all with fire—that would probably kill all the spores, but I wouldn’t suggest breathing the fumes from it…Maybe we move on and make sure the next location is secure, then I can come back and purify here, moving ahead afterwards so we don’t have to linger in the fumes.”
”Nice shooting, Silvia,” says Garret, a bit irritated at his own lack of accuracy. He casts Detect Magic and looks around for any lingering auras in the room, or perhaps nearby hidden magical trinkets.
Realizing this creature is undead, Garret moves to get a clear line of sight on it and projects holy light from his palm in a bright ray at the undead bug.
”It seems to be some kind of undead!” calls out Garret.
Not quite sure what to make of this creature, Garret plays it safe and sends some Magic Missiles its way, then ducks back around the corner.
Garret sends the globes to light up the facing of the sobbing creature so they can get a better look at it, then he cast Detect Magic to see if there is more going on here that meets the eye.
Garret creates glowing orbs of lights to illuminate the room (Dancing Lights) and looks around carefully for any hidden threats. He gently addresses the sobbing person, saying, "Greetings, sorrowful one, I am Garret. Who might you be, and for what reason do you cry?"
Shrugging again, Garret answers, ”I have no idea. Let’s not inhale them, though, just in case.”
”Pollen spores, you say,” says Garret, going over and having a look. ”How could this have gotten here while we slept? Puzzling, but we have encountered some unusual flora lately.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Garret guess up for the day and says, ”Well, let’s keep an eye out for any suspicious foliage,” as he prepares to follow the others deeper into the tomb.
Garret awakes feeling refreshed and renewed, if still a bit somber at the fate of his beloved town. He starts puttering around and getting himself put together for the journey ahead, looking with concern in Ketra's direction.
"Perhaps we should secure one of these rooms as best we can and spend some time resting and recovering before we travel further," suggests Garret.
Retrieving the pearl, Garret comes over to the others and says, 'I found this pearl--it has a magical aura, but I cannot immediately determine its function." Turning to Sanduro, he pulls out the feather of healing and asks, "Does this require the use of my feather? She seems pretty badly affected."
Garret looks over with concern at Ketra, but he doesn't know how to help her, other than saying, "I have the feather of healing if it comes to that." He moves towards the center of the room and keeps watch as she is tended to by those who know far more about medicine than he. Garret looks into the side rooms from a distance, though he does not enter, and remains alert for any new threats.
Peeking his head around the corner, Garret sees his friends converging on the remaining foe. Not willing to chance an errant spell, the sorcerer calls upon magic missiles which strike the skeleton unerringly.
Garret stays in the hallway, looking left and right for the archer. Heavily wounded by the arrows, he prepares a spell to cast at the archer if it approaches close enough for him to see it. Readied spell:
Recoiling in pain, Garret casts another spell on the skeletal figure before ducking back fully behind the wall. sonic damage and dazed, DC 18 Fortitude Save for half damage and not dazed
Garret ducks his head around the corner and sees two enemies, so he tosses a new fireball in the same spot as before, hoping to fry them both. He then ducks back around the corner.
Garret says, "The trap is down, let's go!" and rushes down the hall after the zombie.
Moving 30' ahead, Garret releases a fireball into the room assuming the dwarf zombie is in there. He positions it to try and incinerate any other foes he sees there, but not affect himself as he peeks around the corner into the room. fire damage in a 40 foot diameter spread
Garret reacts quickly sending a thin ray of holy energy at the creature.
”Creatures approach, drawn by the light flash from the trap triggering. They speak of approaching to close the door,” whispers Garretas he moves out of line of sight of the inside of the tomb.
”I can summon more dire rats at need…it just uses up some of my arcane potential,” responds Garret. He prepares to cast the spell again once they have a plan for rushing through afterwards to get past the trap.
The summoning only lasts 6 rounds, so send the first rat down 1 hall at round one, second rat down hall 2 at round 2, then third ray down the first hall on round 6 (elapsed time 5 rounds for the first hallway). Garret will also have detect magic up and be watching to see if he can detect any fluctuations in the magic that might indicate a reset.
Garret’s intent was to send the rats one at a time. One down the first corridor, then one down the second, then the third down the first corridor to see if the trap reset. Sending all three at once was not his intent.
“Fair enough,” says Garret, “Everyone back out of the tomb.” Once everyone is out, Garret casts Summon Monster II using his Page of Spell Knowledge.
Watching them with his Detect Magic up, he sends 1 down each corridor and keeps 1 in reserve. He observes to see how the magic triggers and its range. If he thinks the trap may or may not be recharged, he will send the last rat after one of the others to see if the trap has reset.
"I can't figure much more out about it, Sanduro. What do you think? If it requires live beings to trigger it, we could back off and I could summon some creatures to set it off, but that won't help if it resets quickly. Any ideas?" he asks, frustrated that he can't figure anything else out about it.
Forewarned, Garret attempts to identify the parameters of the trap…(Proximity of living creatures only, or set off by anything close, what is the area of effect, does it reset and if so how quickly, and is it driven by runes or other means that can be disrupted and made safe).
Garret casts Detect Magic and follows along, looking to see what might be of interest as the others look for more mundane threats.
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