Tristan draws his bow and fires at the nearest of the statues.
a) if anyone goes down, dash in and stabilise them, using lessor vigor on the most seriously injured;
b) if I get a clear hot at any of the 'statues' I will throw my firebolt (at-will power, 1d6 fire damage, ranged touch);
c) if a get a clear shot on both of them without anyone in the way I'll use burning hands.
If it gets around to Gashelle's turn and the statues are still active, she'll attempt to say, "Healing here, please."
She'll cast blade of blood on her glaive, taking the damage to strengthen the spell. As soon as she gets a clear target, she'll attack.
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OK lets Grid the place for ease of use.
the room is 3 squares by 3 squares with a fifteen foot long corridor running to it.
well call the first square of the corridor A1 the remainder is A2 and A3. the room itself consists of A4-A6, B4-B6,C4-C6.
Avinar is in A5 where he moved to examine the statue, Tristan moves to A4 and Gashelle is in A3, Sasha would have moved up to replace Tristan so hes in A2 and Eltariel is in A1
The good statue is in A6, the platform forms the floor of A5&6 and B5&6, the basin is in C5 and the animated statues are in C4 and C6.
Blade of Blood
Necromancy
Level: Assassin 1, blackguard 1, cleric 1,
duskblade 1, sorcerer/wizard 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Touch
Target: Weapon touched
Duration: 1 round/level or until
discharged
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Red blood erupts along the weapon’s blade,
bludgeon, or point. The blood drips to spatter
in thick, viscous drops upon the ground.
This spell infuses the weapon touched
with baleful energy. The next time this
weapon strikes a living creature, blade
of blood discharges. The spell deals an
extra 1d6 points of damage against the
target of the attack. You can voluntarily
take 5 hit points of damage to empower
the weapon to deal an extra 2d6 points
of damage (for a total of 3d6 points of
extra damage).
The weapon loses this property if
its wielder drops it or otherwise loses
contact with it.
Gashelle I checked blade of blood ..are you totally sure you want to cast it...these are not living creatures as far as you can tell.
... and I'm not going away after all (sigh). Lammas was cancelled due to illness ...
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Sasha waits his view partly obscured by Gashelle.
Tristan scores a good solid hit on the statue at which he aims but does very little apparent damage.
Avinar watches the statues advance across the room ..as the nearest comes within reach he lunges gracefully. Somehow he must have chosen a weak spot as the statue stops, creaks and falls apart on the spot.
The second statue closes on Tristan swinging its pick at the bard but missing wildly.
The second statue closes on Tristan swinging its pick at the bard but missing wildly.
Gashelle's right hand lets go of her glaive , draws her longsword and swings. (She would hit AC 20, for 5 points of damage.)
Unable to even see the enemy properly, all Eltariel can do is watch our rear.
Gashelle's blow strikes true,... but appears not to damage it to any extent.
OK, back to the top of the round; post your actions for round two, please.
"Avinar! Tristan! P- p- push on, around the thing!"
Wellard:
Tristan tumbles around behind the statue to flank it with Gashelle then draws his rapier
Avinar looks to strike the autonotom where he struck its fallen counterpart. Rolling to the side to spin away from its arms Avinar strikes at a joint in its construction
Worrying that conventional weapons do not seem to harm these things, Sasha lets go a searing blob from his hand , assuming he has a clear shot.
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Avinars blade bends and skitters off the metal casing of the automaton as Tristan tumbles under his thrust and rises to his feet rapier in hand threatening the things flank as it hacks futilely at Avinar. His move clears the way for Gashelle to step into the room and as she does so Sasha steps forward and unleashes his spellhowever his efforts to prevent himself doing damage to his friends means that the acid lands harmlessly at the things feet hissing and bubbling on the stone.
The pick whistles past Sasha by a hairs breadth.Gashelle raises her sword and delivers a crashing blow which removes the statues pick hand and then its head.With a loud 'SPROING''the thing falls apart into a pile of springs, gears and other mechanical gee gaws.
Watching the gears and springs shower into the passageway, Eltariel gives them a puzzled look.
"You just had mortal combat with a clock?"
Gashelle raises her sword and delivers a crashing blow which removes the statues pick hand and then its head.With a loud 'SPROING''the thing falls apart into a pile of springs, gears and other mechanical gee gaws.
Gashelle takes a look at her handblade with a growing appreciation, then sheathes it. Damshah, indeed.
"You just had mortal combat with a clock?"
Gashelle smiles and bows politely.
Tristan shrugs "Time dies when we're having fun!"
Gashelle whispers, "Guardians. From l-long ago, I should think. Avinar, did you st- step on a trigger for a trap, or do you th- think they just attack everyone except gnomes?"
(Or, thinking back to the previous room, maybe even gnomes...)
"Now, d- do you think the l- lever on the platform w- w- will lead further on? Or just k- kill us?"
Avinar looks to Tristain as if annoyed at the poor joke, he relaxes his face, smiles and breaks out into a barritone laugh "Tristain, well said" Avinar clasps a slender hand on the bards shoulder and states seriously "now remember to get in your story my elagance and charm at the way the first construct was taken down"
"I am unsure Gashelle why do we not inspect this room further, does anyone have any ideas, I did nto feel a trigger being set off when I stepped into the room, but who knows"
"L- Let's see if our eyes are as k- keen as Tristan's w- wit. Or as sh- sharp as Avinar's blade."
Gashelle still can't shake off the nagging feeling: what blew open the tunnel entrance?
At last able to get close to the room I look around curiously. No-one seems hurt, but things are ... odd.
I focus my sense of the natural and arcane, and whisper the words of power before opening my eyes again, attuned to the flux of magic.
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The party begins a through search of the room but apart from a small gemstone that Tristan finds hidden in the slime encrusted basin of the fountain, a rough cut topaz, there seems to be nothing of interest.Examination of the lever reveals that it is currently immoveable.
A closer look at the statue would suggest it is integral to the platform..which is stange to say the least.The open mouth of the statue is more like a bowl than a true mouth.There is no aura of Magic in the place at all
Tristan pulls out the other topaz gems he found in the last room, trying to get an estimate of all the gems values.
"These gems look to be of at least some value." he says to the others. "Does someone want to be in charge of keeping track of the valuables we find? Gashelle, perhaps you would do the honors?"
A large metal platform dominates this small 15-foot square area. Standing atop it is a detailed life-size metal statue of a gnome holding a pick and appearing to shout at the ceiling.A large lever is built into the opposite side of the platform.It seems to have three settings and is now pulled to the right of the statue.
A working fountain burbles out water into a basin on the west wall. Two cruder metal statues of gnomes holding picks stand near the
basin.
Tristan examines the metal platform, what type of metal is it? He also examines the ceiling, does the gnome statue appear to be looking at anything in particular?
After a few minutes Tristan gets an idea. With a start, He jumps up and goes over to the basin of water. Carefully carrying a double handful of water over to the statue he says "You all might want to stand back." Then he pours the water into the statue's bowl-like mouth.
"Maybe that thing eats gems?" Avinar Bemuses
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Tristan looks closely at the gems..though not polished they are of some valur..the three he found in the pouch are probably worth about 20 gold each whilst the larger one he has just found should fetch in the region of 80 gold.
When he pours the water into the statues open mouth there's a slight grinding sound. Test ing the lever shows it's still stuck though...a few more double handfuls fills the statues mouth at which point there is a dull clunking sound and the platform shakes just a little.
The platform itself is made of iron plates
"I don't think this has been used in years," I remark and try the lever to see if it will move now.
"Well come on then!" I grin at the others.
Already standing next to the gnome statue, Tristan makes room for the others on the platform.
Sound like fun, plus I have to keep an eye on you princess Avinar playfully winks at Eltariel as a rush of butterflies invades his stomach at the though of himself rescuing the fair elf....
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The lift comes to a halt in a larger room scattered with bones.
Directly in front of you is a pyramid of skulls. A cavern stretches away into the cobwebbed darkness.
To the north, there is a moldy, sagging table holding a rusty metal box and a few gems in a pile.
The floor is littered with Debris and the ceiling is about 12 feet tall here
"Lumenos!" Tristan casts a simple light spell on a copper ring that he wears on his left hand. "Now thats a bit better, at least for those of us that can't see so well in the dark."
"Let me take a quick look around." Tristan examines the floor area between the platform and the pile of skulls.
Perception Check to search for traps (1d20+5=16)
Pointing to the skull pyramid, "Now that's gruesome, what type of skulls do you make those to be Eltariel?"
"Good idea!" Sasha follows suit and casts Light on the tip of his crossbow. He carefully moves a little towards the table, to try and shed light on as much as possible of the room, to discern its extent and possible exits.
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The room is almost square measuring approximately 30' in both directions
Gridding the room A-F along the east west axis and 1-6 on the north south the platform occupies B4&5, C4&5 the skull pile is at D1 the table is at F4. A narrow tunnel like the ones above only taller runs north from F1.
There is no sign of life in the room
For Eltariel...
"Gnomes," I murmur softly in horror. "All gnomes ... they were slaughtered down here, and they fled upwards ..." a cold hand grips my heart as I look around. "Something killed them fast down here, something terrible."
I look around at the cobwebs. A plague of giant spiders would be pretty terrible all right ...
"Be very, very careful everyone. Whatever killed them all might still be here."
I hurl my light-glowing rock in the direction of the voice - to illuminate rather than strike.
"These gems look to be of at least some value." he says to the others. "Does someone want to be in charge of keeping track of the valuables we find? Gashelle, perhaps you would do the honors?"
I, too, would be happy to do so. One of us could keep track on our PC's page.
..
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Down in the lower room, Gashelle checks the area south and west, and the ceilings, thoroughly, poking through the webs with her glaive. No need to be surprised from behind.
As Sasha steps from the platform moving towards the table a gutteral voice shouts a harsh word in a language none of you recognise three times in succession...then the room falls quiet again.
Gashelle tries to speak, but can't get more than "D- d- did - *"
Sasha is quick to get back on the platform, grinning sheepishly and keeping his crossbow at the ready.
Avinar instinctively stands in front of Eltariel as to shield her with himself incase anything lunges from the darkness. Avinar's keen eyes struggle to follow the light cast by the thrown rock, Mother's Kiss out at the ready, Avinar standing in a side dueliing pose making his profile slender, his back arm guiding Eltariel to safety, his hamd lingers a bit too long and Eltariel's waist and he feels a rush of adrenaline.
"Avinar, dear friend, I appreciate your chivalry," I gently remove his hand from around my waist, "but if something were to appear, I really don't want to have to worry about the first thing I hurl a spell at turning out to be the back of your head. It's a rather useful head, and I don't want to break it."
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It's not easy to determine where the voice originated so Eltariel chooses the easiest option and pitches the rock into the corridor..It lands, bounces once and springs a net hanging above the passage.
You stand waiting for the darkness to disgorge somethiing horrible...five minutes pass..ten....you begin to relax then.........
..........nothing happens.
"S- s- somebody's set t- traps."
Maybe our entrance hole was an old explosive trap, finally sprung by random happenstance. Or maybe someone set it off.
"Can anyone j- judge how o- o- *, how long this place has b- be- been abandonned?"
Gashelle steps off the platform, moving north to B2, within glave-reach of the pile of skulls. If nothing untoward happens, she casts Detect Magic.