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"Okay...I'm about to do something thats either going to go really well or be a complete disaster." Justin looks down at Merle with his usual smirk. "SO,... Business as usual then?"
"Wait. WHAT?!?"
So would karrin be willing to be telkenetikly thrown at someone?
Justin curses in a guttural language, then chants, (it is a little difficult to tell where the one stops and the other begins due to his injuries.) As he completes the spell he steps right up next to Merle, pressing against her side and raising one arm as if to shelter her. There is a familiar shimmer in the air as his Force Sphere materializes around both of them. And Seph. "Sorry for the close quarters Merle, but I dont think either of us can take too much more of THAT."
"Mel! Get away from her! Karrin, Alessia, Hamar, can ANYONE lock down the twinkle-toes of terror? I've got a couple of spells that might contain her. IF we can hold her still for ONE bloody second!" "Merle, what other indirect spells do you have besides Grease? Any summons? Conjurations?"
"OW! Again! Stupid golem, I can't keep taking those." The wizard mutters to himself, trying not to look too closely at the two large wounds across his skinny body. "I'm pretty sure this red stuff belongs on the INside?"
"Hmph, 'Laser eyes' my scrawny wizard heinie. Where've you been hiding THAT at Mem? Oh, and nice hit! Now to KEEP her down!" The wizard yanks out his blasting rod, and points it at the 'Choreographer', The runes carved into the rod begin to glow as he channels magic through it. Although they are glowing with a pale, blue light, not their usual fiery orange-red.
"Time for you to CHILL OUT Goldielocks! " A blast of frigid air instantly surrounds the dancing marionette of death, coalescing into a solid cube of ice.
Spoiler:
Icy Prison School evocation [cold]; Level sorcerer/wizard 5; Mystery winter 5 CASTING Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S EFFECT Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Target one creature Duration 1 minute/level; see text Saving Throw Reflex partial; Spell Resistance yes DESCRIPTION You trap the target in solid ice 1 inch thick per caster level. If the creature fails its save, it is helpless, but can still breathe (the ice blocks line of effect to the target). If the target makes its save, it gains the entangled condition but can otherwise act normally. Whether or not the target saves, it takes 1 point of cold damage per caster level each round it is helpless or entangled in the ice. The ice has hardness 0 and 3 hit points per inch of thickness; if broken, the creature is freed. A creature can break the ice as a full-round action with a successful Strength check (DC 15 + your caster level).
"Merle! Grease where she's standing in case she escapes! I have another idea,..."
"Oh THAT'S it! Hey, goldenrod! Instead of pickin' on the paperweight, why dont you try someone your own size!?!" As the 'Choreographers' head slowly swivels to lock it's gaze on the vocal wizard, Justin hastily adds, "Oh. Um. I didn't necessarily mean ME. Karrin? Git 'er!"
Justin hisses in pain, again, as Hamar does his own 'Dance of Death', "Great, They can have a dance-off!" "Hey! For spells stick to electric, or sonic! They're immune to fire, and probably anything that can normally be resisted. Don't let them gang up on you! We have to lock them down and keep them stationary. I have a couple of ideas on that,... Goldenrod is the leader! If we can knock out her, it, whatever, we might not even have to fight the rest! Maybe. "I THINK they might be made by stealing souls to power and control them. The bodies are combination of Living bodies, and construct-bits-magical-metal. If anyone knows of ANY way to disrupt that particular combo, NOW is the time to show off!"
Still hissing in pain, Justin blinks in surprise as Mel conjures a small horde of force weapons. "That,... Is ALSO a cool spell. Where do they get these new conjurations from, Spells-R-Us?!?"
"Of course the golems are immune to fire. Because of course they are." Justin mutters grumpily as the dolls/golems/dancers of death pass apparently unharmed through the wall of fire. "Also, OWW!! Shards and Shells! That's gonna leave a mark." The wizard hisses in pain as the impact of the golden dancers' attack finally reaches his brain.
Justin reaches out a hand and points imperiously. He draws a circle in the air before him. No chants or incantations. A wall of flame appears before the 'leader' of the veiled ladies. Then the flame races around the room, encircling all six of the 'hostesses' inside a circle of flame.
Spoiler:
An immobile, blazing curtain of shimmering violet fire springs into existence. One side of the wall, selected by you, sends forth waves of heat, dealing 2d4 points of fire damage to creatures within 10 feet and 1d4 points of fire damage to those past 10 feet but within 20 feet. The wall deals this damage when it appears, and to all creatures in the area on your turn each round. In addition, the wall deals 2d6 points of fire damage + 1 point of fire damage per caster level (maximum +20) to any creature passing through it. The wall deals double damage to undead creatures.
"Ummm,.. any ideas? It'll toast them pretty good if they try to cross through it, but I cant keep this up forever."
HAH! I did a thing!
The women all smile wide, and the one that had spoken says ... "I'm afraid I can't do that" Shining scimitars of force suddenly appear in their hands as they take aggressive fighting stances Justin points a finger, "That, is SUCH a cool spell!"
Justin blinks.
For Hamar to decline being served by, decidedly attractive, servants,... Either Hamar REALLY doesn't want to be here in this creepy demiplane any longer, or he spotted something The wizard didn't. Justin was betting on the latter. "He's right. We still have work to do. And we ARE on a tight schedule. We can continue with or job, and meet up with the High Lord when he is free." "Come on Merle,..." Justin adds lower voice, raising an eyebrow at the feline sorceress who had JUST sat down. The wizards' eyes flick around the room, calculating distances, angles, and what spell would put the least amount of his companions at risk,...
Justin hangs his head at Karrin's (not unexpected) question. "Or, no tour. It was just a thought." He murmurs. At the mention of food, the wizard's own stomach rumbles in gentle inquiry. "Traitor."
Justin glances at the others, briefly.
"Ah, The Lord's Hospitality is appreciated. But we ARE on a bit of a tight schedule. Perhaps a tour while we wait for him instead?"
Justin and Memnon slowly turn their respective heads to look at each other.
Before Memnon can do more than leer, Justin reaches up and yanks one of the dangling tassels of the Mimir's orange cap, yanking it around sideways, so that one ear-flap is covering the mimir's face. While the (fortunately now muffled and unintelligible) diatribe of the Mimir begins, Justin whispers a hushed, "Not NOW Memnon!" and take a step forward. The wizard puts a hand over his heart and nods his head politely, but briefly, as he has witnessed higher-ups do a thousand times on dozens of worlds now. "Thank you. We are security consultants from out of Sigil. We had a meeting with the High Lord, but it is my understanding that he has been unavoidably detained." ,...
Without waiting for the inevitable explosion from below, Justin pulls the frog-key from the door.
He 'Hmms' and tries the OTHER jewelry-key piece in it's stead.
"Oh. Look. A hole." Justin VERY casually, almost lazily, conjures a small ball of fire in the palm of his hand. He turns his palm upside-down, allowing the ball of flame to leisurely fall into the pit towards the scrabbling sound.
"Oops. Wrong light. What? I wanted to see what was making the noise."
Justin pauses again, and peers at the floor.
"Stand clear everyone. I do NOT want to know what this Mummy-Lord thinks is a good decoration for the bottom of a pit trap." Justin slowly readies the key-brooch by the doorway, again,... The wizard visibly winces as he almost shoves the key into the spot, before he can get distracted. Again.
Justin, startled by Karrin's inquiry, jumps slightly and pauses JUST before the jewelry touches the door. (No. He's not tense. Why do you ask? I mean, you've seen ONE Mummy-Lord's diabolical demi-plane, you've seen them all, right?) The wizard shrugs.
Taking a small breath the wizard pushes the jewelry-key into the golden door, before he thinks better of it.
"Yeah, 'EW' is a good word choice for,... whatever this is. Looks like another key-spot here. Think he's the kinda guy to use the same key on ALL his doors? It fits his motif. And his painfully obvious Humongo-Frog-Obsession. We Do have another key option to try. But,... hm. This guy is very single-minded." Justin holds up the Frog-themed key-jewelry piece, and inserts it into the key-spot on the gold door.
Justin nods his agreement to the guide. "Yeah. This isn't what you signed on for. We'll deal with This. Just make sure we dont get snuck up on. Please?" When they get to the golden door, Justin gives a sigh of long-suffering at the sight of the Aklo script. "THIS guy has SERIOUS trust issues. Mem, can you decipher this scribble?" Justin also peers at the cursed script, trying not to get a headache as he examines it.
Those looking up can see Justin making occasional, spastic-waving motions with his hand. As if shooing away a pesky fly. As they get up to the balcony, they can see Memnon hovering behind Justin, whispering (presumably) annoying commentary to the wizard. So, Fly? Nope.
Justin sighs, releasing tension in his body he hadn't even realized he was holding in. (Oh, he knew he was nervous, he just hadn't realized HOW nervous.) He ties the rope off to the balcony rail and drops it those below. "Everyone out of the pool! The carriage is leaving!" After a moment, he adds in a softer voice. "Seriously. I'd hurry up. I have no idea how long the deactivation period lasts."
Justin sighs. Again. Almost hiding his smirk. He looks at the two brooches again. "Hmmm. The scarab motif with mummies is kind of obvious. Almost too obvious. But the portal was in the oven shaped like a frog,..." Justin flies up to the balcony again. Then he pauses, looking at both pieces of jewelry once more. With a muffled oath in an obscure dialect, (probably the draconic equivalent of 'Rassin-Frassin'! What the heck! In for a copper, in for a gold!", or something similar), The wizard places the piece of jewelry bearing the frog motif firmly into the recess of the door-sigils, before he can change his mind,...
"Nothing overtly magical. No wonder I missed it earlier." Justin holds up the two probable pieces of jewelry to the others. "Either one of these should fit. But I'm going to presume the wrong one will set off the alarms and sigils, instead of turning them off. Unless our erstwhile Mummy Lord wasn't really the paranoid type? Nah. Just kidding. What do you think guys? A or B?"
Justin almost hides his smirk at Seph's smack to Merle's head. "She's actually not wrong there Seph. Not this time anyway." The wizard admits dryly, giving Seph a wink. The wizard returns to poking through the collected jewelry from the Mummies fight with his magic detecting charm.
Justin's left hand intercepts his right wrist on it's way to his face. Again. The wizard gives Merle a wan smile. "Good thinking. The easiest way to hide something IS in plain sight. Whose carrying the jewelry we took from the mummies? Oh, wait, that might be me,..."
Sorting through the mummies jewelry, Justin casts a detect magic charm to see which items are magical, focusing on what the Mummy Lord was carrying.
"Rassin-Frassin, Nickle-Frickle, Eons-old Undead-casters. Too much time on their hands. Making EVERYthing more consarned complicated than it has,... to,...." Justin stops his murmuring. He blinks. Twice. "Memnon?" Justin drawls slowly, his voice sickeningly sweet all of a sudden. "Is it, Just maybe, possible that we're OVER-thinking this? Just a teensy bit?" "I mean, we know this is a mummy-Lord with an abundance of Arcane knowledge, and an over-abundance of time, and apparently wealth, to implement all manner of powerful arcane wards. His defenses are solid." "I'm not jealous. You're jealous." "But look at this bit here again. The Alarm triggers a cascade reaction for all of the other symbols. Including dismissal of all guest's permissions on the demiplane. This indicates that there are, or at least were, expected guests and visitors. When they arrived, he wouldn't want to go through the effort of even temporarily dismantling and re-activating ALL of his defenses. He probably just had a key or the ability to turn off the Alarm Symbol. It's logical that if we neutralize the Alarm, we can avoid triggering the rest of the defenses. Um, Or,..." The wizard sighs, and his left hand suddenly grabs a hold of his right wrist as he attempts to keep from face-palming himself. Again. "If I'm guessing right, this is going to be even more embarrassing than if I'm wrong." Justin flies down to base of the tower again. He points to the spot on the tower wall where the path leads up to the tower. "Um, Alessia? Would you mind knocking on the wall right about there? Not a bash, just a knock. As if announcing that you've arrived for a visit." "If this doesn't work, maybe I'll knock on the balcony door? I just presume that not ALL of his visitors would be able to fly."
Justin rolls his eyes and groans aloud. "Oh fer,... theluvuvMerlin! Dispelling all of THAT will be SUCH a pain in the cortex! And of course if I mess up ONE it will probably trigger ALL of them at once. Which is probably why he did it. Nice Runework though. Very elegant. Kudos for craftsmanship." Justin takes a breath, lets it out, and uses his Message charm to talk to the others on the ground so he doesn't have to yell. "OK. Going through this balcony door is a BAD idea. Like, 'Destroying-a-water-artifact-that-was-keeping-a spot-on-the-elemental-plane-of-fire-livable' level of bad idea. It's a trap. A very well-made, very expensive, trap. There HAS to be another way in that doesn't include the builder having to de-activate at least FOUR levels of really strong and well-planned defenses just to get in his own house." "There has to be a hidden door, a servant's entrance, something. Start looking around. I'll fly up and take a look at the higher sides and top."
Justin squints as he peers at the sigils on the balcony doorway. "Um, Mem? Little help here? This dialect is,... obscure."
"Yeah, sorta. But it's not the usual stabby-poison kind of trap. It's the magical turn-you-inside-out kind. With an alarm on top. I could try to Dispel it. Like the Death Field over the door on top of the ziggurat. But it wouldn't stay down long. We'd have to move quickly." "Hm. Actually, JUST like the field at the top of the ziggurat. Although probably with less smashing. Hopefully."
Justin uses his 'Message' charm to tell the others what he sees. "Warding and Alarm Sigils on the balcony doors. I don't REALLY think this will work. But some mages are lazy. Not speaking from experience. Hang on a sec,..." Justin holds up the paper he wrote the sigils for the 'golem password' on.
The wizard holds up the 'magic pass' parchment he drew out. When no door magically appears 'It was worth a try' he mutters, Justin looks up at the balcony above. "Hm. No way that's not a trap. Only one thing to do about it." He smirks as he digs into his magic pack for a rope. "Walk into it and see what happens."
[ooc]Activate detect magic,
"They're watching us, is that in hopes for our assistance or to oppose us?" He asks no one in particular. "Um,... Yes?" Justin finally replies with a shrug.
"That too." The wizard nods in agreement. After a brief pause to consider, Justin continues to follow Alessia. He hums a spritely tune he overheard folks singing while passing through the false pyramid not too long ago,... "Follow the yellow brick road, Follow the yellow brick road,..."
Justin sighs in relief as the golem lumbers off. "Heh. Who says we always pick fights?"
"Ah,... Nothing?" Justin squeaks. He had no problem facing the oversized stone golem with nothing but a piece of parchment as a shield. But a possibly (Probably?) angry Alessia? He may not be the smartest wizard EV-ar, but he's smarter than that! "Um,... Here, hold this. If another of those golems approaches you, just show that to them. erm,... excuse me,..." Justin hands Alessia the parchment, and hastily flies back to his writing supplies. After rescuing his wind-blown parchment, he carefully inks out another copy of the glyphs pass-code for everyone else. The wizard packs away his remaining parchments and ink-box, and tucks his copy of the passport into an empty tube on his bandolier. "Hey,... wait for me!"
"Mem? Are you seeing this?! If I take this glyph and that one, no!,... THAT one,..."
"Oh. Well on second glance, THAT'S obvious."
"Better than yours oh wise-cracking wizard! If I only had opposable thumbs!"
Justin hits his knees to the ground with an audible grunt. He reaches over his shoulders into the top of his magic pack.
The wizard slaps open a roll of parchment, and hastily opens the small wooden box containing quills and a couple of small, stoppered dark bottles. "Normally I'd just use charcoal. But we need to make sure that they can SEE these,..." Justin mutters to no one in particular.
After saying what are probably bad words in an ancient language and tossing the first page away, Justin manages to ink out the glyphs he desired. Leaving his writing supplies on the ground, the wizard stands up, carefully holding the page. Justin walks forward to catch up to Alessia, Hissing at the warrior to stop. He turns and holds up the parchment towards the golem. After a snickering comment from Memnon, Justin quickly turns the page right-side-up and presents it to the golem again,...
Justin takes a look at the Hieroglyphs on the arch, seeing if he can translate them.
At the grinding sound of the stone jackal-headed golem approaching, Justin sighs, dropping his head to his chest. After a moment the wizard turns to the rest of the group, jabbing a finger at the golem. "For the record. I would like to point out that I,... I mean WE, DON'T ALWAYS START IT!" The wizard isn't being just a tad defensive at all. Nope.
"OR, we can just keep walking forward. Into the proverbial metal jaws. It does seem to be our usual SOP." Justin says sotto voice, gesturing at Alessia's slow but steady forward march. Justin claps Hamar on his brawny shoulder. "First rule of entering someplace you don't belong. Act like you DO belong. Most folks won't bother you if you look like you should be there. And the ones that do want to question you?,... We'll get to those rules later. For now, follow the Marching Plate Mail." "First rule of Wizarding,..." Justin adds over his shoulder as he takes his own advice and follows Alessia, ",... Always make sure to stand behind the party member wearing the heaviest armor!"
Justin blinks.
"Wise enough to seek council with the Reborn Lord on,... important matters. Your assistance is appreciated. We can mention your helpfulness when we meet with the Reborn Lord. If you wish." Justin nods to Hamar and Maynhayth. Signaling they should go. "Go in peace, with our thanks." He adds to the farmers. Justin suddenly realizes something,...
"Any other place that might seem a little strange" Merle mumbles more to herself as the group walks along "Just another day for the Silver Rose." Justin murmurs in agreement.
Still following Hamar & Manhaynth, Justin peers towards the farming figures,...
The party notices that the sun has steadied in its output. Looking up, it is no longer a giant eyeball. Now instead a large flaming skull wearing a hat with a Pom Pom twirls lazily in the sky, looking somewhat smug, despite being fashioned of plasma Justin Looks at Memnon, and opens his mouth,... Then closes it abruptly.Seems the wordy-wizard can learn self-control. Slowly. Sometimes.
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