Before descending the rope to the cave, Salome offers a quick prayer. "Guide us, Sarenrae, and us from evil."
Seeing the light rod and lantern, she decides to hold off on using a Light spell, figuring that it might come in handy a little later.
Her face veiled, she follows closely behind Ehlissa and feels her senses heightened in the dark. Perception check (1d20+4=13).
Otherwise, she follows along with the group in silence. She, too is surprised by the missing wrathspawn corpse. Perception check 2 (1d20+4=19)
She nods when Vesh suggests checking their original route before taking the side-tunnel.
"I concur" adds Ehlissa, "We don't want anything doubling back on us!"
Vesh follows Slidell down the passage towards the trapdoor chamber.
The trip through the rest of the tunnel goes quickly since you've been through twice before. The area between the side tunnel and the trapdoor appears to be secure.
Vesh makes sure that there are no other entrances, hidden or otherwise, into the chamber where the trapdoor is.
Vesh's search check (1d20+7=10).
When he's done, he nods and signals that he's ready to double-back.
JSL:
and Slidell's lantern is a 60/120 cone.
Slidell sweeps the spot of his lantern around the trapdoor room, making sure there are no surprises hiding in the corners for them. After the others have verified the rest of the room is clear, and Vesh has looked at the trapdoor, Sli nods his readiness to go.
When they make their way back to the junction, Slidell, (having seen the blood streaks once they were pointed out by Salome), shines the spot of his lantern around, and searches the area once more,... quickly.
:P
Slidell's search roll, Veran's SPOT roll: (1d20 3=5, 1d20 5=23)
When they make their way back to the junction, Slidell, (having seen the blood streaks once they were pointed out by Salome), shines the spot of his lantern around, and searches the area once more,... quickly.
"Alright," He says quietly, "I think it's safe to assume a couple of things. One, if we want these things to STAY down, we should probably torch them when we're done fighting them. Two, They may not NEED to eat, but they obviously can, and will." He nods, satisfied, and turns back to the others."I agree with Vesh. I think we can probably handle the Wrathspawn now that we know they are here, and are better prepared, But we should make sure our quickest way out is clear. Just in case." He picks his lantern back up, takes the safety off of his crossbow, and nods his readiness.
"Could've been rats. The little buggers'll eat the nose right off your face while you sleep if you're not careful. I've seen folks without toes or ears or fingers who went to sleep intact in an alley and woke up nibbled on." I say, briefly looking at the corpse before nodding "Aye, we're ready this time so as long as we don't get surrounded we should be okay. Lead on."
Looking at the pile of rubble that was the wall, Vesh says quietly, "I'm glad that we packed a lunch; this could take a while longer than we thought."
Ahem... I don't think I divulged what was in the spoiler yet. I have an appointment to get to right now; I will post later tonight.
Slidell looks at the rubble with some consternation. "There are usually only two reasons to build a wall." He says quietly. "To keep something out, or to keep something IN. Judging by this,..." He says, indicating the amount of rubble in front of them. "Someone thought it was a STRONG reason. The fact that it's down can't be good."
Veran whispers into Slidell's ear. He rolls his eyes in response.
"Yah, yah. Vesh, Veran says to save me some cheese," He looks at the shorter man with a gleam in his eye. "He says it'll go good with my whine."
Slidell shines his light around the edge of the opening over the rubble, Careful not to shine it too far down the opening. "Well, shall we?" He says softly.
He turns and performs an exaggerated, sweeping bow as best he can with his arms full. "Ladies and armor first!" He smiles.
"I'll go, but I might need a hand." Ehlissa says as she regards the pile of rubble.
"I'll go, but I might need a hand." Ehlissa says as she regards the pile of rubble.
Slidell steps aside to let those with actual skill in climbing help Ehlissa. :)
"If you fall, try to do it quitely; There's probably things on the other side of that wall that want to kill us." I say, grunting slightly as I boost Ehlissa up the wall as much as I can and try to help her stay up there.
"Thanks chaps!" huffs Ehlissa as she attempts to make her way over the rubble.
Climb check (my skill modifier + 2 successful aid anothers) (1d20-2+4=6) Reflex save (1d20+2=20)
"Aargh!"
Ehlissa's arm burns with effort, weighed down with shield, armour and sword.
"Help!"
CON check (1d20+1=11) STR check (1d20+2=18)
Her arm burns in agony, and her muscles scream as she grits her teeth; flinging her swordarm onto the ledge, she pulls herself up, letting out a rather unladylike shout of effort.
"Well... there's a 10 foot drop, for a start. But it's very wide down there." she says in between huffing and puffing.
...he lands in a cloud of dust at the foot of the rubble.
*Coughing,* Vesh gets up and dusts himself off. "For Desna's *cough* fu*cough*ing rubble."
He kneels and produces a rope from his pack. Uncoiling it, he offers Ehlissa one end and hands Malcolm the slack. "Just like on the cliff-face Ehlissa. Slow and easy. We'll secure the other end."
Seeing Ehlissa slip,
-Slidell starts to jump in, thinks better of it and stays back out of the way so Vesh and Malcolm can help,
-Opens his mouth to cast a spell, and realizes that he doesn't even have that one in his spellbook,
-Reaches for a scroll, but seeing her hang on, realizes that it's not a life or death emergency, yet,
-SO he settles for watching helplessly, but likes to think that crossing his fingers helped a little.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he offers his hand to Vesh to help him up from where he landed.
"I think that went rather well." Slidell says, straight-faced, as he helps knock some of the dust off of Vesh's back.
While the others are working with the rope, Slidell picks back up his lantern and shines it around the area. "I know we checked and cleared this side, but still,..."
After a few moments of checking the area, he realizes that the rope is no longer moving, and the silence is deafening. "Ehlissa?" He calls softly, "Is everything alright?"
Using his grappling hook to set the rope (and leave it as a way to escape), he turns to Salome. "Okay, let's get down the rope. Salome, Slidell, then me and Mal."
Using his grappling hook to set the rope (and leave it as a way to escape), he turns to Salome. "Okay, let's get down the rope. Salome, Slidell, then me and Mal."
Salome is again impressed by the instinctive bravery of Lady Ehlissa. She observes the manuevers, feeling helpless to assist. Reflexively, she does a quick head-to-toe glance of Vesh to make sure he's OK. Of course he is. He's moving just fine, isn't he? she chides herself. I've been in the healing business too long, she sighs.
As quickly as she can in full armor, Salome scrambles up the pile of rubble and joins Ehlissa in the palatial cavern. "What is this place?" she asks.
I move forward to help keep Ehlissa from falling, wary of being crushed under the armor-clad woman.
Climbing up the rope and looking out onto the cavern before us I say "Where the Hell are we? This doesn't look like a smuggler's tunnel."
Nodding to Vesh as he resets the safety on the crossbow, Veran flaps over the rubble as Slidell makes his way across rather less gracefully. Once on the other side, Slidell brushes himself off, muttering about the dignity of mages. Veran coughs to attract his attention, and he looks up, and up, and up,...
He responds to the others questions with a simple statement that proves his intelligence.
"Wow."
He's moving just fine, isn't he?
Vesh follows Slidell up-and-over to the huge passage beyond. He is struck by the scene before him. "I've seen a fair amount of strange things in my short life," he says, "I've never seen anything like this."
He sheaths Ameiko's dagger and draws his bow instead. "Left or right?"
"I've seen a fair amount of strange things in my short life," he says, "I've never seen anything like this."
"Me either my friend." Slidell responds absent-mindedly as he closely examines the formation of the smooth, blue-grey walls. HE bends down and begins examining the strip of granite with the symbols on it running the length of the floor.
Slidell's Decipher Script roll (BEFORE level-up!): (1d20+8=24)
He sheaths Ameiko's dagger and draws his bow instead. "Left or right?"
Veran has to peck at Slidell's ear to get his attention away from the symbols.
"Ow! Quittit!" He snaps automatically. "What? Oh, Which way?" He parrots, getting to his feet."Well, I'm right-handed, and I tend to always go to the right first. However, the noises are coming from the left, and we did come down here with the intention of finding out who, or what, is here. Is that,... metal on metal?" He asks, turning his head to try and identify the sound.
Once Malcolm jumps down, Vesh tests the rope to make sure it is secure. Then hefting his pack, and bow in hand, Vesh says, "Left it is, eh?"
Once Malcolm jumps down, Vesh tests the rope to make sure it is secure. Then hefting his pack, and bow in hand, Vesh says, "Left it is, eh?"
Slidell nods his agreement at Vesh's suggestion, and takes his place in the middle of the formation, crossbow laying across his left arm holding the lantern. But he is shining his lantern light at the strip of granite next to the floor, brow furrowed in concentration and lips moving silently as he struggles to string the large letters together into something coherent.
Vesh steps forward about 10 feet and looks at the plate. His brow furrows as he extends his hand and says "eisae."
To get his next step out of the way, I'll roll Vesh's Search roll now (1d20+8=18)
I stay alert, eyeing the statue of the woman warily "Anybody know who that is? She looks a little like my aunt. What've we've found? I'm pretty sure we're not in a smuggler's hide-out anymore."
Muttering to himself, Slidell doesn't even notice when Vesh casts his spell.
"...O Bakrakhan ... shalt thou rise ... O Alzanist ... shalt thou rule ... ere the mighty of Xin ... the mighty of Shalast ... before thee ... in flames ..." Slidell murmurs, repeating the words as if willing them to make sense.
"This doesn't make any,... ah, wait. This," He says still softly but aloud, turning his attention to the metal plate. "Must be the Thassilonian Runelord Alzanist, the 'Mistress of Wrath'. SHE created the Wrathspawn! According to what I read in the scroll." He looks unsure. "At least that's my guess, we DID find Wrathspawn here, the conclusion is only logical."
He stares at the mirror-image symbol above the lady's head in the bas-relief. "I don't recognize the other names, but I wasn't searching for them in the scroll at the time. This rune is unusual. Her personal Rune perhaps? But why put it on the four sides like the points of a compass? Why do a bas-relief at all? Not very flattering really, If your trying to take over the world, you think you'd want your portrait to be of your best side. Unless that IS her best side." He shudders.
Ehlissa looks on in horror at Vesh's plight. She runs towards him and tries to pull him away.
JSL:
Dropping his bow, Vesh clutches at his ears. He falls to his knees and doubles-over, writhing as the blood spilling through his fingers pools on the floor on either side of him.
He does not seem to register Ehlissa's presence.