[3.5]Tomb of Horrors, ongoin'

[Ditto]

Prescott was dumbfounded at Quin's injury. Well, I certainly wasn't planning on grafting this mummy hand to my arm any time soon... good job, that... "My wand only showed the *useful* properties and how to activate them... I'm afraid it didn't warn of adverse effects. Though they usually don't. But that's what I always relied on Mardak to check on me for, he was better with curses." He frowned at the helplessness of the moment, and the painful memory. People kept dying, so suddenly...

"The cloak will do well, thank you Pete. I need you to move off the ice shelf in order for me to bring Daina through it, though. Please, go keep an eye on Winky and see how Quin is doing."

[TheOasysMaster]

"What jade bottle?"

[TheOasysMaster]

"The wound appears to be a clear destruction of his eye! No brain damage or wounds to any other tissue!"

[Verisimilitude]

"The one Pharrah stuffed Winky in for a little while back there. When it's open it emits and recycles breathable air at ambient pressure and radiates a constant sleep effect at close range. Basically a hands free bottle of air. We acquired it recently from an interloper just before arriving in the tomb. Thoradin and Prescott would have arrived dead without it."

[TheOasysMaster]

"Huh... Sounds useful..."
He hands Pete a larger than normal bag of holding...
"Then again, if she does come back-air will be the least of her problems..."

[Human Paragon 3]

Yes, I see that. Winky, I'm glad you're here. Your magic circle will assist in the healing.


Eduardo reaches into one of his scroll cases and produces a bone-white parchment.

I have a scroll of Regenerate here. Shall I restore your eye?

[Verisimilitude]

Pete accepts Harley's bag of holding. "I was really more worried about her regaining consciousness alone in an unlit bag saturated with her own blood, than the risk of suffocation." Pete seals his own bag of holding and backpack and puts it on again before getting down from off of the immovable rod. After deactivating the rod he opens Harley's bag of holding and peers inside. "Yeah, this should work well, thank you." Dropping the large bag of holding into the folds of the blanket and cloak he passes the rest of it to Prescott. "I'll check on the others like you said." Pete strides carefully east along the ice sheet.

[TheOasysMaster]

Harley fixes Pete with a serious stare...
"If she comes back, without Quin's help-it'll be as an twisted undead!"
Pharrah is examining the door on the north face of the corridor, while Welby has turned his attention to that furthermost to the east.
He appears to be quite excited by his findings.

Let the gods above-and-below be my witnesses, if you guys let Acererak take Daina, she'll come back as one of the most twisted things yet...
:smallbiggrin:

[Verisimilitude]

Pete stops short at Harley's call. "Is that deal with the wizard for resurrections no longer on the table? I thought... hold on, I still need to check on Quin." Pete moves more swiftly to the cleric, archon and master of death and observes what is happening in person.

[Human Paragon 3]

Dresden's resurrections are unreliable, Eduardo says to Pete, still holding the scroll in his hand.

Sometimes events beyond his control slow the process. Other times, the individual decides NOT to return, which I frankly cannot blame them for, or for some reason cannot return. Suffice it to say, if we don't resurrect Daina, the Tomb may. And if Dresden brings her back, she will probably appear alive and well somewhere in the Tomb, as Harley did.

[Ditto]

Staring down at the sheet of ice below him, and seeing Daina’s corpse(s) strewn about the bottom folds of the stairway, Prescott alters his perception and allows his hands to carve through the inclined section of the frozen flooring. Illusory chunks fracture and fall away as he reaches through and carefully lifts the small bits of the thief and lays them carefully on the cloak behind him. He is careful only to touch the body pieces after he is ready to grip and lift, lest he exert any pressure through Daina on the steps.

Once Daina is gathered as best as he’s able to manage, Prescott roughly ties to edges of the cloak together to enclose her dismembered form. He hefts the Bag over one shoulder and slides the burdened blanket back along the level section of ice toward the remainder of the group.

[Misaat]

Harley fixes Pete with a serious stare...
"If she comes back, without Quin's help-it'll be as an twisted undead!"
Pharrah is examining the door on the north face of the corridor, while Welby has turned his attention to that furthermost to the east.
He appears to be quite excited by his findings.

Let the gods above-and-below be my witnesses, if you guys let Acererak take Daina, she'll come back as one of the most twisted things yet...
:smallbiggrin:

" And we have enough twisted undead in this party already as it is. Cant Quin Resurrect Daina right away? "

[Verisimilitude]

"Winky, would your presence prevent the tomb from raising Daina as one of the undead? At least," Pete glances at Quin with marked concern, "for a while longer?"

[TheOasysMaster]

With Daina safely collected and bagged, all that remains is to take action on what is to actually be done with her..."
The archon hesitates...
"I don't know... The only way to really find out... Would be to wait..."
"Guys! I think I found a way OUT!"

[Human Paragon 3]

Out? Out of what?

[Ditto]

"Winky's warding certainly couldn't hurt matters. If one can be raised safely while in the tomb, then this is our best chance. It's not like we can just table the idea while we wait to escape... Daina's soul may be in a horrible place for all we know.

...a way out? Well, that may present a different story! What do you see there, Welby?"

[Verisimilitude]

"Escape, Prescott? From the tomb? Unlikely... but that would be the worst trap possible. This task is a holy one and I can not believe it is coincidence that we were delivered here. To flee the tomb for the short lived safety of our homes would bring shame and dishonor unimaginable, and make every death, every trial that brought us to this point meaningless. If there is a true escape here, it is through victory alone." Pete seems to be growing more disturbed. Kneeling several paces from Quin he looks on expectantly as he undoes the three knots that bound him to the immovable rod. His hands are unusually unsteady. Coiling the rope around his elbow and thumb, Pete's lips silently form the words of a crude but earnest supplication.

[TheOasysMaster]

Dranga shakes her head, "Daina will either be with Dresden, or with whichever god has claimed her soul..."
"There's daylight coming from beneath this door!"
Forlornly, Pharrah announces her findings, "There's a pressure plate in front of this door!"

[Human Paragon 3]

Sun light? Eduardo scoffs. Don't be ridiculous; we're miles underground. It's a daylight spell at best and a cruel trick, or a trap at worst.

[TheOasysMaster]

"Yeah, you're probably right... But it's the only other door, and Pharrah says hers appear to be trapped..."
"Well, I've been standing on the pressure plate for a bit, and nothing bad has happened... Should we just let Maki or Harley go at it?"

[Human Paragon 3]

Wait, you're standing on the pressure plate?

Eduardo gives a worried look to Quin and then to Pete.

[TheOasysMaster]

"Yeah, it didn't move down or anything, I just saw it shift a little, and didn't dare move off..."
She pauses.
"So... Uh, a little help? I could destroy the door from here and move on... But I was hopin' for some advice..."

[Verisimilitude]

Pete snaps to attention, his hands steadying. "I wouldn't just step off of that. Releasing it might be the trigger. Or it could be a time delayed device, or a diversion from the real trap. Hells, it could be all three. Do we still have a casting of dimension door prepared?" Pete gets up and approaches Pharrah, leaving the rope and rod on the floor near Quin. "Are there any illusions around here? I can't do a thing if I'm staring at something that isn't there." Pete crouches about 5 feet west of Pharrah and examines the floor all around her.

[Human Paragon 3]

It all looked real to me, and I have a knack for sorting out the difference between the real and the illusory. I would treat everything as actual.

[TheOasysMaster]

As he stares at the ground, Pete does in fact see the edge of the pressure plate that Pharrah is standing upon.
Directly in front of the secret door, it goes from the north side to the south side of the hallway.
"Seriously, I'm just gonna Disentegrate this door, and get off this thing..."

[Verisimilitude]

"Hold on. The plate seems designed to catch anyone moving along the hallway, not just using the door. The door could be a distraction or - maybe it opens the door when it detects someone passing it. In which case, how ready are we for a fight?" Pete reaches into his open jacket pocket and pulls out his thieves' tools and begins delicately probing the pressure plate.

[TheOasysMaster]

"DON'T PLAY WITH IT!""
Pete is unable to determine what the plate is attached to...
But he discovers two things; 1) He can jam the plate using a suitably small objects, such as daggers or knives, and 2) the plate will not sink any further without prompting from some other device-whatever trap this is, not all the conditions have been fulfilled to set if off, though Pete realizes with his skill and current position, he can push the plate down to see what happens...

In short:
No idea what it's attached to.
It will only go down so much...
...there's another part that might finally set it off.
Pete can push it down further if he wants too, meaning in its current state, it should be 'safe' to walk across...

[Verisimilitude]

Pete withdraws his tools from the plate's interior. "Pharrah I don't think this plate is currently active. There is some sort of catch restricting it from descending right now. Something else in this hall, like that door, might release the plate so that it can trigger whatever it does, but right now it is locked. I think it's safe to step off of it." Pete looks ahead to the far eastern end of the corridor and frowns. Then he stands and turns to address Dranga. "As close as you can say, how deep are we, exactly?"

[TheOasysMaster]

Lightly, Pharrah leaves the plate, standing on the west side once more.
Dranga runs her hands across the floor again, "Depth hasn't changed."

[TheOasysMaster]

200 EXPerience Points to Pete.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete returns his tools to their place and then closes his jacket pockets. After opening his pack as he walked back to Quin and the others he stores the 49 foot coiled rope in his backpack and hands the rod back to Prescott. "Thank you for letting me use that. I guess I didn't really need it, but it was nice having it ready. I owe you one."

Pete turns around, closes his pack and puts it on again as he walks to a spot just west of the door and pressure plate. Then he looks at the floor east of the plate.

[TheOasysMaster]

Pete is able to see that the pressure plate forms a ten foot square, and ends.
There is nothing else he can see.

[Elfstone]

Quin grits his teeth and says "If it is your only scroll, save it, if not, please use it." to the Master.

"I can heal Daina whenever, although I would appreciate Winky nearby. Simply bring her to me when you are ready."

[TheOasysMaster]

"Do it NOW!" Dranga pleads.
Harley offers a black bandana to Quin, a cloth to cover his missing eye.


Why was the left eye better than the right?

[Elfstone]

Have you ever seen a pirate missing his right eye?

"Of course. The Body? Winky?"

[TheOasysMaster]

Have you ever seen a pirate missing his right eye?
I Google Imaged "Pirate" and it came up even!
:smalltongue:
You should be sad, now Quin can't look like Big Boss!
http://wegadget.com/images/1266790550big_boss_mgs4.jpg

Obligingly, Winky moves into position near Quin once more.
"Ready when you are!"

[Verisimilitude]

"Hmm." Pete examines the door ahead to his left and sighs.

Looking ahead to the eastern end of the corridor Pete calls out. "Master Welby, I couldn't help but notice your cloak some time ago. That's a very distinctive item. Would you allow me to borrow it for a while? I don't want to risk the floor but at present I lack your exceptional flying ability."

[TheOasysMaster]

"Surely, you don't speak of my Robe of the Archmagi!" the sorceror glowers darkly.
The door has been disguised to look like the dungeon wall it is set into...
Pressing the abnormal stone where the knob would be should open it...

[Verisimilitude]

Pete attempts to reinforce his respectful tone. "Not at all, Archmage. I refer to your Cloak of Arachnida. It would be invaluable in avoiding some of the obstacles in this hallway, and disabling those we can not bypass. At least, invaluable to those of us still earthbound."

[TheOasysMaster]

Welby doesn't feel as if he needs to respond to Pete's jibe.
He hands him the miniature Cloak, black with silver spider web patterns upon it, which expands to a size the ranger can wear in his hands.

...gives the wearer the ability to climb as if a spider climb spell had been placed upon her. In addition, the cloak grants her immunity to entrapment by web spells or webs of any sort—she can actually move in webs at half her normal speed. Once per day, the wearer of this cloak can cast web. She also gains a +2 luck bonus on all Fortitude saves against poison from spiders.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete accepts the cloak and bows graciously. Fitting it over his shoulders he turns to the south wall west of the pressure plate and seeks a vertical path to the ceiling.

[TheOasysMaster]

That was respectful emphasis, just as I tagged it, not "Jibe." I'm calling the guy in the pope hat the pope. I don't know if he is the pope, but clearly the guy is dressing like one. If he's not the pope, I'm flattering him, and if he is the pope, I'm addressing him as I should. Also do you really think Pete would taunt a grig? Even if they weren't sacred to him? Do you know what grig are known for?

He IS a kid...

As he moves up the wall, Pete finds nothing to report.

[Misaat]

Welby doesn't feel as if he needs to respond to Pete's jibe.
He hands him the miniature Cloak, black with silver spider web patterns upon it, which expands to a size the ranger can wear in his hands.

...gives the wearer the ability to climb as if a spider climb spell had been placed upon her. In addition, the cloak grants her immunity to entrapment by web spells or webs of any sort—she can actually move in webs at half her normal speed. Once per day, the wearer of this cloak can cast web. She also gains a +2 luck bonus on all Fortitude saves against poison from spiders.

Wait what ? Where was that thing when we needed to get out of the room with the spider webs?

" I Wonder what's is waiting ahead of us from here... "

[TheOasysMaster]

Only one person can wear it!
Disintegrating the whole thing meant EVERYONE could get out.


Pharrah shrugs, "Probably another insane death trap of some sort..."

[Misaat]

Only one person can wear it!
Disintegrating the whole thing meant EVERYONE could get out.


Pharrah shrugs, "Probably another insane death trap of some sort..."

"Yeah those things are tiresome. You'd think he would ran out of insane ideas eventually "

[Verisimilitude]

Pete climbs to the ceiling, and slowly progresses east along the ceiling, near the south wall, checking the area ahead before crossing it. Occasionally he stops and glances back at the others or ahead at the secret door.

[Human Paragon 3]

It is my only scroll, Eduardo replies, but if your injury is interfering with your spellcasting, I think now would be a good time to use it. How debilitating is that injury?

Do I know from my previous heal check what the effects of the injury will be? If not, here's a follow up check:

[roll0]
EDIT: Not great, but keep in mind that my initial check to assess was a 28.

[TheOasysMaster]

He reaches the end of the hallway without incident...
And lo, and behold, Welby spoke the truth...
A bright white light, like the sun on sand at high noon, does seep in through the cracks on this secreted door.
Just like it's twin in the hallway, it has been disguised to fit in with the wall...
Except for minute cracks and breaks in the edging that allows this light to shine through...


....You'd think he would ran out of insane ideas eventually "
It's A TRILOGY!
:smallwink:

For the sake of following the "Rule of Cool", I'm going to assume Pete is on the ceiling Spiderman-style.

[TheOasysMaster]

Do I know from my previous heal check what the effects of the injury will be? If not, here's a follow up check:
Using the previous Check...


Quin is a dwarf, a tough and strong race.
The Master knows that while Quin's depth perception may suffer, the dwarf will be fine without the eye...
The pain may be troubling for a while, and the lady-dwarves might not come as often, but Quin is sure to be a ready and capable member of the party...


For now, I'm going to keep depth perception as mere fluff, while Quin going to have to make Concentration Checks to accomplish certain tasks, physical and non-physical.

[Elfstone]

Sh*t... I didn't put points into Con for a reason.

Oh and OAsy, give me another level and I'll have 7th level spells.

Hello Regenerate. Anyway, Can we consider Regenrate and heal as "cure" spells for instant conversions? Otherwise it(the ability) blows.

[TheOasysMaster]

Sh*t... I didn't put points into Con for a reason.
:smallbiggrin:


Oh and OAsy, give me another level and I'll have 7th level spells.
LIVE long enough, and we'll see.
:smallbiggrin:


Hello Regenerate. Anyway, Can we consider Regenrate and heal as "cure" spells for instant conversions? Otherwise it(the ability) blows.
I'd think they count.

[Misaat]

Why isnt Quin resurrecting Daina? :smallconfused:

[TheOasysMaster]

Why isnt Quin resurrecting Daina?
Quin isn't holding the makeshift bag with her body parts in it...
:smallsmile:
Yeah, it's gruesome and messy, but it is what is is...

[Elfstone]

^Thank you...

Yeah I've got to pull some BS reason/bonus to Con spells outa my but...

Thanks for making me work Oasy...

Anyway, I want some combat to see how well these new spells work.

[TheOasysMaster]

Yeah I've got to pull some BS reason/bonus to Con spells outa my but...

Thanks for making me work Oasy...

Anyway, I want some combat to see how well these new spells work.
Wait wait wait, I'm confused, what are you talking about?
:smallconfused:

[Elfstone]

Basicly, im combing my PC for bonuses to Con I may have forgotten.

I also want to test my new combat spells I picked for today.

[Human Paragon 3]

Eduardo rolls up his scroll and heads over to join Pharrah and the others.

Tell us when it's safe to pass, he calls to Pete.

[Ditto]

Prescott has just scooted up to the edge of the ice with Daina's body, but he's not preventing anyone from Raising it if they're so inclined. I think it's just the matter of Quin having had his eye blown out that's delaying the process.

[Elfstone]

"I will be fine, in a little while. Bring me the body" Quin Urges.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete moves close the east wall where it meets the ceiling. Crouching upsidedown, he searches the wall closely...

...then Pete reaches out and touches the east wall, feeling the temperature of its surface through his magically thin glove. If the stones were warmer here he would have to be even more cautious closer to the door. Pete leans back and studies the wall below this point and the section of wall below that...

...Pete locates a clear descent path on the east wall and climbs forward, head first, down towards the floor. As he approaches the bottom Pete notes the temperature of the stone against his hands and feet. Nearing the bottom, Pete carefully scrutinizes the flooring.

....then Pete flips forward in place and stands up on the floor.

[TheOasysMaster]

I think it's just the matter of Quin having had his eye blown out that's delaying the process.
Well, he can't Raise her from within the bag can he?
The pieces have to be put in order!

Standing before the door, Pete is confident that there is nothing to be found after his very thorough search...
The light is a bright white color, just peeking out from beyond the cracks at the edges of the secretly hidden door.

Absolutely NOTHING!
:smallbiggrin:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8008/arachnida.png
My favorite so far.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete glances once more at the bright light and nods his head. Then he turns around and begins slowly walking west, staying close to the south wall, stopping every five feet to search the next section ahead of him for more pressure plates and the usual oddities.

[TheOasysMaster]

Pete arrives at the pressure plate without incident and having found nothing.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete gingerly steps out onto the pressure plate and slowly crosses it, then goes to the others. "Alright. The good news is that, at least within five feet of the south wall, that pressure plate Pharrah found is the only thing in our way between here and the door at the end of the hall. And that plate is still inactive. The door at the end seems perfectly approachable." Pete shifts his weight and looks down for a moment. "We could try opening or disintegrating one or both of the doors, but I have no idea what we'll find on the other side, and I don't know what the devices in here will do when we open those doors." Pete shivers. His climb was eerily uneventful, and the hallway, with its unusually clean, bare floors had felt like it was waiting for something.

[TheOasysMaster]

Huh.
Looks like it's just me today...
=P

Harley offers a coin.
"I can flip? Crowns or Heels?"
The coin shows the face of an ancient warrior king on one side, and the metal boot of his nation crushing an orc on the other.
He tosses the coin in the air.

Crowns, North door, on a roll of 1.
Heels, East door, on a roll of 2.

If your character is okay with letting a coin toss decide their fate, roll a 1d2 and call it!
Make a Reflex Save to catch the coin in mid-air dramatically.
:smallbiggrin:

[Human Paragon 3]

I'm actually more inclined to try the first door first, the East door. For some reason I am more wary of the light issuing from the door to the north then whatever trap is guarding the closer passageway.

Though I think we should wait for Quin to raise Daina, in case whatever is beyond the door prevents us from doing so.

[TheOasysMaster]

East Door has the light!
North Door has the pressure plate!


Has the ice sheet vanished yet? Also when Daina was laser diced over and over, did she fall apart into discrete, strangely cauterized, flat edged pieces or is she a soupy mess of clothing, organ tissue and bone chips? I can't imagine how high the heal DC is to correctly put her together if it's the latter.
I'd say yes, the spell has ended or been dismissed...

Vorpal weapons DON'T cauterize, so she's a chunky, bloody mess...
Harsh handling, like stuffing the body parts into a makeshift-bag, will quickly turn her into soup, in which case, do your best and hope for more of the same.
:smallbiggrin:

[Ditto]

I think they were clean cuts, so even if they weren't cauterized, having the empty chunks of body is enough for Raise Dead to function. Again, the spell assumes some horrible trauma has happened to the body - they're dead, after all! :smallsmile: Arranging them into a body-shape should be enough for the spell to do its patch job, as long as we're not missing a whole arm. And I didn't jostle them around, I picked them up and laid them on the blanket, then folded the blanket over and dragged it along the ice. Same difference, really... the spell will work properly, or it won't. I hope it's 'will'...

The ice sheet lasts 10 minutes. Not a dismissable spell. I don't think we've fully exhausted that timespan at this point, so maybe feel free to skate around more?

Can somebody point me to the post where that roster & the pretty pictures of the group are? I looked through all the posts between pages 20 and 25 and didn't see it... I fear I'm going batty...


I'm with Eduardo, this daylight is very curious. I did not detect any magic surrounding this hallway when I first came down it... though it's possible the door blocked any probing beyond it. But first, let's tend to Daina. Anyone not suited to the squicky side of things best look away."

Prescott stoops over the wrappings and opens them up to reveal Daina's piecemeal body again. Just like arranging spell components... he thinks to himself as he tries to lay the body in a human-form, so Quin can work his magic, with Winky by his side.

[Human Paragon 3]

East Door has the light!
North Door has the pressure plate!


I'd say yes, the spell has ended or been dismissed...

Vorpal weapons DON'T cauterize, so she's a chunky, bloody mess...
Harsh handling, like stuffing the body parts into a makeshift-bag, will quickly turn her into soup, in which case, do your best and hope for more of the same.
:smallbiggrin:
Ah. Well. Strike that, and reverse it.

[TheOasysMaster]

Pharrah raises a finger, "Did you check for magic beyond the doors? Sometimes, if they're thin enough..."
Winky's light is very helpful, and it turns out Harley knows a great deal about human anatomy...
Softly, and carefully, he helps Prescott rearrange Daina's body parts,
"That's her spine-a knife there paralyzes, and a punch there will kill and a touch there will leave you in a deep sleep for the rest of your life..."
There's blood everywhere, and Prescott and Harley quickly become soaked in it.
"...that organ there, will bleed if punctured, and it'll slow a fleeing opponent down if you hit it from behind..."
The skin is beginning to break away from the flesh, though they manage to keep the major pieces intact.
"...lungs bleed and fill too-a slow and painful way to die. Drowning, really..."
Wringing his gloves of blood, Harley steps back after he and Prescott have labored fifteen minutes.
His eyes strays away from her face, and Harley uses his foot to nudge aside the Daina's shattered belongings.
"All done."

It's Post #601 on Page 16 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11720215&postcount=601)
I've now noticed I have no character image for Quin...

[Verisimilitude]

Pete slips away during the lengthy and gruesome assembly process, cautiously ascending the south wall and crawling west on the ceiling, keeping the wall close to his left. At the end of the hallway he descends the western wall and carefully steps down to the floor of the landing south of the vorpal stairs.

[TheOasysMaster]

On the north landing where they had all previously huddled, lie the chewed and broken bones of a large, dog-sized creature.

[Verisimilitude]

Standing on the south landing, Pete makes a thorough visual inspection of the lower half of the stairs, keeping an eye out for bits of Daina or her equipment that Prescott may have missed. Without the illusion of safe treads over the trapped steps, Pete has some difficulty concentrating as he searches, his eyes often straying to the deadly beams of light within.

[Ditto]

There you are, then... NOW the ice is gone! :smallsmile:

If Dranga or Welby or Pharrah has prestidigitation, a clean-up would be nice. I don't... I always mean to get a ring of that, it's just so handy. Oh! Maybe I should have cast Mending to rearrange the body? It's like magic duct tape, that totally would have worked! :smallbiggrin:

[Elfstone]

Quin (http://arnoldwurzel.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/dwarves-1.jpg)

"Very well then"

Quin says. Sitting down before the gruesome body he shakes his head sadly. With Winky and his protective magic close, Quin begins the prayers to summon Daina back. After a short time he begins to glow, and then Daina as well. With a Flash, she is healed.

[Human Paragon 3]

Anyone else find it weird that bringing somebody back from the dead after they were put through a meat grinder is easier than regenerating an eye?

[Ditto]

Clearly, that's because Regenerate is fixes purely roleplaying issues and is therefore more HardCore. There are no RAW penalties to losing an eye or breaking an arm or even not having feet. :smallbiggrin: 'Dead', however, they're very particular about. If Quin had had both eyes chopped out rather than disintigrated, we would have been better killing him and then Raising him in order to use the lower-level spell.

[Misaat]

Dude being A Druid is too much fun im already Mounting a Dire Bear and in just two levels ill have a spell that makes me Immune to ranged attacks gives me perfect Flying and lets me Throw Lightning out of my eyes for 10d6 damage. Its like te people at wizard just said. You know what f*** it we already made it cheesy might as well go all the way!

" So what's the plan once Daina gets back? Should we separate into two groups? "

[Misaat]

Dude being A Druid is too much fun im already Mounting a Dire Bear and in just two levels ill have a spell that makes me Immune to ranged attacks gives me perfect Flying and lets me Throw Lightning out of my eyes for 10d6 damage. Its like te people at wizard just said. You know what f*** it we already made it cheesy might as well go all the way!

" So what's the plan once Daina gets back? Should we separate into two groups? "

[TheOasysMaster]

Quin
o_O
QUIN IS BALD!?!?!
:smalltongue:


With a Flash, she is healed.
:confused:
What do you think this is? Call of Cthulu?
This is OasysWebmaster's Tomb of Horrors!
:smallamused:
Well, nobody can say that this Dungeon Master won't kill, maim and torture his precious NPCs...
:smallannoyed:
I've played a game like that...
SO annoying...
:smalltongue:


Perhaps it's Acererak's defiant gesture at being thwarted of a new undead to play with...
But Daina's conscious soul enters her body first, well before the healing process can begin.
Her eyeballs, neatly split in twain by the vorpal blades, twitch and knit together, giving her the ability to blink and weep through the pain, but not before her mouth, devoid of lungs to draw in air, stretches wide to let out a silent scream...


Anyone else find it weird that bringing somebody back from the dead after they were put through a meat grinder is easier than regenerating an eye?

Clearly, that's because Regenerate is fixes purely roleplaying issues and is therefore more HardCore. There are no RAW penalties to losing an eye or breaking an arm or even not having feet. 'Dead', however, they're very particular about. If Quin had had both eyes chopped out rather than disintigrated, we would have been better killing him and then Raising him in order to use the lower-level spell.


Pete, from his position close to the steps, he can see that retrieving vorpal blades here will be of no avail...
These blades have no hilt-but are magically suspended over the pressure plates that activate their devastating attacks.


So did Pete see that while looking down from the ceiling of the hallway or while looking up from the lower landing?
From above.
It's the most blatantly obvious thing, so I put it first. Other than that there's really nothing to notice...


Well, just a few things...
Daina's blood seeps back into rapidly healing veins and flesh zips together over her muscles and skin covers the whole mess, and finally, she gets a chance to scream.
It splits their ears as she thrashes back and forth across the ground, yelling and gesturing with arms ending in bleeding stumps and kicking out with legs that end without feet.
As her hear beats again, it seems that Daina is at risk from dying of blood loss; blood pours from her limbs and open wounds that still stud her body...


Dude being A Druid is too much fun im already Mounting a Dire Bear and in just two levels ill have a spell that makes me Immune to ranged attacks gives me perfect Flying and lets me Throw Lightning out of my eyes for 10d6 damage. Its like te people at wizard just said. You know what f*** it we already made it cheesy might as well go all the way!
I've never actually played a druid-but they've always done some cool stuff in my games.
Power of nature and all.
Lying at the very bottom of the stairs are a single strand of silk fibre, with blood residue.
Furthermore, from his position at the bottom of the stairs, if Pete looks up, he can see fresh claw markings raking the ceiling above the north landing, directly above the bones.

Harley who'd resumed tossing the coin after stepping back from his and Prescott's gruesome work let's it fall, covering his ears to shut out her wail.
Dranga covers her eyes as Daina's spine snaps back into place; each crack prompting the shaking wail to go up in volume and pitch.
Nobody can hear Maki's question as Daina screams and screams, legs and arms finally reattaching, and allowing her to claw at Thoradin's leg, who leaps back in horror.
"HER INSIDES MUST BE HEALING LAST!"
Suddenly Daina's scream cuts as she sucks in another breath of air, and all that can be heard is Winky's fervent and repeated plea...
"...akeitstopmakeitSTOPmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitst op..."
Hassadur let's out a long drawn hiss, and Daina belches, sending blood flying into the faces of the onlookers, and staining her body.
Blessedly, Quin's healing spell is done, leaving her naked and unconscious.


[roll0]<---1d2+1
Unbeknownst to the adventurers, Tymora has nudged the coin to land, Heels up.
Elswheres, Vecna's eyes widen, and the god actually loses hold of the fairer, human form he'd adopted while playing chess with Tymora.
Spinning about in the skull that is his face, he stares at the goddess of luck in shock.
"We can't interfere! Moradin has taken his risk, and we MUST let him go..."
"Quiet, I'm watching..."

Veris, if you're determined to get yourself a vorpal blade, messing with the pit trap is a surer bet...
You can't use a blade if you haven't got a hilt to hold it with...

"God's be damned, that was one of the most terrible things I've ever seen," Harley breathes, tossing a cloak across Daina's still form.
"Is it over?"
"Yes..."
"Finally! I think I'm gonna be SICK..."
Pharrah reaches down to pick up some of Daina's things, and for those with knowledge in Spellcasting, they can see she's muttering the Mending spell, beginning to repair Daina's ruined equipment.

150 EXPerience Points to Prescott, Pete, and Eduardo...

[Misaat]

" Grrrrr "

At the sight of what just happened to Daina Maki grits his teeth so hard he even draws a little blood form the side of his mouth. He can feel his fingernails dig into his hand.

" Damn Acerak im gonna crush all of his bones into dust!"

[TheOasysMaster]

Harley's fists and unclench as well, "If he does await us at the end of this nightmare, indeed, he shall..."
He glowers darkly.
Dranga moves quietly to assist Daina with the spellcasting.

[Elfstone]

o_O
QUIN IS BALD!?!?!
:smalltongue:


:confused:
What do you think this is? Call of Cthulu?
This is OasysWebmaster's Tomb of Horrors!
:smallamused:
Well, nobody can say that this Dungeon Master won't kill, maim and torture his precious NPCs...
:smallannoyed:
I've played a game like that...
SO annoying...
:smalltongue:


150 EXPerience Points to Prescott, Pete, and Eduardo...
Err, no, but it was the best I could find. Add a crop of short, neat hair. Mentally.

Also,
0.0 Quin just saved a NPC and he gets.... Nothing?

Also, I had hoped to avoid one of those scenes, oh well.

[TheOasysMaster]

0.0 Quin just saved a NPC and he gets.... Nothing?
That was purely roleplaying experience I'd tallied up for them specifically this morning...
The 'doing your job' experience comes after you guys pass the next hurdle...
So move your butts!
It'll include everything from the Lab up until well, yeah, the next hurdle...

Though, now that you mention it, I think I owe experience for the Mirror encounter...
Imma check, I'm pretty certain I didn't award that stuff...
:smallfrown:
I need an accountant.

[Elfstone]

That was purely roleplaying experience I'd tallied up for them specifically this morning...
The 'doing your job' experience comes after you guys pass the next hurdle...
So move your butts!
It'll include everything from the Lab up until well, yeah, the next hurdle...

Though, now that you mention it, I think I owe experience for the Mirror encounter...
Imma check, I'm pretty certain I didn't award that stuff...
:smallfrown:
I need an accountant.


Uhhh... That would be one reason I like MW more. GM screen is amazing.Although if you made one and never told me(us), it would be fine...
Anyway, thats cool, I thought it was for the mending.

[TheOasysMaster]

Uhhh... That would be one reason I like MW more. GM screen is amazing.Although if you made one and never told me(us), it would be fine...
Anyway, thats cool, I thought it was for the mending.
Make a IC post!

Wake up Daina!
Pick a door!
See what Pete's up to!
Check out that pit behind ya!
Finally open that coffer you got!
Try'n'contact Moradin? He ight accept a collect call from his favourite dwaf! =P

[Elfstone]

Dam, school is keeping me busy. Ill put one up in a bit or tomorrow.

[Misaat]

You know i have been in this campaign for a while and i dont think we ever found any loot. WHERE IS THE LOOT? WHERE IS IT?

" So do you guys think we should split up among the two doors? "

[TheOasysMaster]

You know i have been in this campaign for a while and i dont think we ever found any loot. WHERE IS THE LOOT? WHERE IS IT?
Lmao, truthfully, Quin and Daina scrounged up a decent haul, when they went off ahead by themselves...
:smalltongue:
Truthfully, I tell you-the next hurdle will involve good ole'fashioned loot!

"Normally... I'd say NO!"
Harley nods absent-mindedly.
"But for the sake of covering more ground, perhaps a good idea, Maki..."
He whizzes close to the barbarian's face, "So, how should we split up? Too bad we don't have two Quins..."
Welby laughs hysterically.

[Misaat]

" Well i have a couple potions left and Eduardo has a wand that can cure injuries... I'd say... Thoradin,Prescott,Quin,Harley, Pete and You and the other group would be Me,Eduardo,Parrah,Daina and Dranga. "

Maki says counting with his fingers

[Verisimilitude]

Pete crouches within reach of the nearest trapped step. Opening his pack, he quietly withdraws a 1 pint flask of oil, a bar of soap, a pack of trail rations, his steel mirror, a full waterskin, six arrows, and the 19 foot rope, and places them at his feet. He reaches into a jacket pocket and his hand hesitates for a moment over a pale green cloth. Then he sighs and pulls out his thieves' tools instead.

Selecting an arrow, he holds it by the spine, his hand effectively an arrow length south of the beam, and slowly passes one of the fletchings at the far end through the vorpal light, making sure he does not touch the step itself or the pressure plate, only the beam above it.

Pete sets the defective arrow aside and selects the steel mirror. Holding it in his right hand, he shifts within reach of the apparent western end of the beam, and angles the mirror so that the reflective side faces a point to the north east with no inclination. Then he passes the end of the mirror farthest from where he grips it into the beam from the west, careful to not brush anything with the mirror other than the beam.

Before setting it down, Pete examines the reflective side of the mirror again. Briefly pulling his razor from his pocket, he severs a thread from the end of his rope and ties one end of the thread to the defective arrow and then stows the razor again. Pete dips the hanging end in the flask of oil. Holding the arrow again towards the head to keep his hand well back, he moves the bottom of the thread over the beam, letting some of the oil drip into the beam, and observing what effect their passing through it has on the drops and where and how they fall. After managing to get a few drops into the beam he lowers the arrow and thread so that the thread hangs to the side of and less than an inch from the beam, and notices its movement, and that of the oil on it. Then he lifts and withdraws the arrow and thread.

Pete selects the bar of soap and - violent animal screams meet his ears. Pete's gaze snaps upward to the area near the bones and claw marks in the ceiling to his north. Then he stands and looks to the east. It is the second time he has stood on this spot and looked across the pit to see another marked by excruciating pain. Pete's heart races. He tosses the mirror, waterskin and rope in his pack, slips it back on, pockets his thieves' tools and rushes up the western wall along the path that brought him here. Once on the ceiling he heads east, following his trail back to the others as fast as he can. His bare foot slips on the stonework in his haste and looking up he sees the hard stone floor and vorpal pit 'above' him. Swallowing hard, he presses himself closer to the ceiling and pauses for a few seconds to steady himself. Then he crawls east at a slower, more stable pace, and finally descends to join the others.

[Human Paragon 3]

Eduardo watches on passively as Daina's body writhes back to life. It is not the worst thing he has seen, but he keeps this thought to himself. He does, however, make a mental note to keep himself in one piece.

He muses on the Barbarian's plan.

I agree with you on all acounts, except that I do not think we should actually split our numbers. We've seen Acererak use divide and conquer tactics already, and the results were not good. Let's open the door to the north - as long as Pete has assured us we can do so without springing the pressure plate - together.
So what was the 150XP for? I am confused.

[Ditto]

"Winky... Aid, if you could. Any boon will be a comfort to her. Thank you for your assistance... I know this was trying for you to be close to this suffering, gruesome as it was for us all." Prescott looks down as his front, crisscrossed with gory spatters from Daina's flailing. He wished there was something more he could do for the girl, but it seemed the best thing was to give her some time to orient herself after the ordeal of recorporealizing.

"I'm disinclined to split the group... but either way, we needn't decide before seeing what's ahead. This eastern door may be a closet holding a sunshine elemental with no way forward, hm? We should check the doors first. I can Knock either one open from down here, if no one wants to stand beside it to check them."

[Misaat]

Eduardo watches on passively as Daina's body writhes back to life. It is not the worst thing he has seen, but he keeps this thought to himself. He does, however, make a mental note to keep himself in one piece.

He muses on the Barbarian's plan.

I agree with you on all acounts, except that I do not think we should actually split our numbers. We've seen Acererak use divide and conquer tactics already, and the results were not good. Let's open the door to the north - as long as Pete has assured us we can do so without springing the pressure plate - together.
So what was the 150XP for? I am confused.

" ... Then you dont agree with me at all because splitting up was basically the only thing i said :smallannoyed: . Anyway i dont mean each going separate ways. I mean like get inside each room and then get back here in 20 30 minutes tops. And talk about what we find. If We go trough a door and the roof falls on our heads its better it falls on 5 heads than on 11."

[TheOasysMaster]

"Okay, who gets which door? And, can I ask you something?"
The halfling whispers the last part softly...


I was under the impression that the pit was full of physical spears with vorpal enhancements on them, and so not very interesting, or even rare I think, though I was going to check the pit for an alternate exit on the return climb. Those "secret" doors to the east seem designed to be found. Still a few things left to learn though before Pete scampers back. I'll get to that soon enough.
Well, nobody but Dranga had a look and then it got iced over...
:smalltongue::smalltongue:


If the fletching is cut by the beam, he withdraws the arrow and continues. Otherwise his action stops here.
It is indeed cut...


The right hand bears his ring of feather fall and one glove of dexterity, and is his dominant and draw hand. If the beam is diverted into the riser north of it, or if the steel mirror is punctured or cut, Pete withdraws the mirror and continues. Otherwise his action stops here.
The mirror is cut.
Vorpal blades do not reflect, they simply 'cut through ANYTHING" like lightsabers...


As he drips the oil over the light beam that is the vorpal blade, Pete sees the droplet literally be split, and then coalesce before striking the ground.
The oil on the arrow head doesn't move abnormally-merely jiggling about as the arrowhead turns on the string.

I believe I can discern what properties Pete was checking for, but what was the soap and the last experiment for?


"Above" Pete, a thirty-foot-long, An nine-and-a-half foot deep gap in the 'ceiling' is studded with metal rods projecting, vorpal blades from their ends, leaving a foot and a half of ledge clear to walk on...
There are eighteen rods, spaced out well enough so any man can walk safely among them.
'Safely' on the otherside, Pete is greeted with a short hiss by Hassadur and Winky bobs around the ranger's head before dutifully returning to Prescott's shoulder.
Daina, newly 'Raised', lies unconscious in a pool of blood beneath a cloak...
Pharrah and Dranga are huddled around her belongings, while Thoradin is doing...
Dwarf stuff.
"What'd you find?" Harley asks.


... Then you dont agree with me at all because splitting up was basically the only thing i said .
lol
The barbarian has a very valid point there...

[Elfstone]

Another TOH game, but its not as awesome, if anyone wants to see what this could have been. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213859)

[TheOasysMaster]

"Noooo problem, Prescott! I do what I can, where I can!"
Muck and dirt quickly dematerialize, going wherever Prestidigation sent such things...
Perhaps there is a Plane of Filth out there somewhere?
"Knocking the doors from here DOES sound like a good idea, Prescott!"



Another TOH game, but its not as awesome, if anyone wants to see what this could have been.
Meh, my game was slow too when I started...
Literally, Mondominant is the SOLE remaining player of the starting cast...
I sometimes wonder if three of them always planned on deadbeating or were trolling...
:smallmad:
I've also noticed that quite a few people are doing the "No OOC Thread" thing...
I haven't been on GitP long enough to KNOW if I was the first and now EVERYbody is doing, but sure feels that way...
:smalltongue:

[Human Paragon 3]

I can't shake the feeling that splitting up is unwise. I see your purpose, but at every step of the way, I have been glad for allies close by. If we split up, I agree with your roster, but unless one way simply leads to instant death, splitting up hurts us more than helps us. And so far, everything we've encountered has been solvable given our skills. Our combined skills.

But if everyone else agrees we should split our forces, I'm willing to try it. There are 11 of us, after all...

[TheOasysMaster]

"Why not have Prescott open the doors-than we can decide whether or not we need to split up," Daina sits up, rubbing her head.
"You guys better not have raided my stuff..."

[Misaat]

No TOH Game can be as epic as this one. I destroyed a Mage's sanctum on pure recklessness.

" Haha glad to see your okay. I still owe you for the Breastplate. "

Maki turns towards the door.

" ... I agree lets see what happens when they open... "

[Human Paragon 3]

Eduardo nods and stands back from the door.

Wow, that other ToH game looks terrible!

It basically cannot be overstated how awesome Oaysis has done DMing this, and how well all the players have roleplayed. The fact that this game is STILL going on speaks volumes. Best. Forum game. Ever.

[TheOasysMaster]

No TOH Game can be as epic as this one. I destroyed a Mage's sanctum on pure recklessness.


It basically cannot be overstated how awesome Oaysis has done DMing this, and how well all the players have roleplayed. The fact that this game is STILL going on speaks volumes. Best. Forum game. Ever.
Awww thanks...
A small part of me...
...is just deluded enough...
That one day I can run a campaign SO epic, it gets mentioned BY name on TV Tropes...
XD

This is the third DM I've seen running this who's allowed elementals to have the run of this place...
I personally think it's a morally questionable thing, but it's definitely a 'game-breaking' thing...
:smallannoyed:

[Elfstone]

Eduardo nods and stands back from the door.

Wow, that other ToH game looks terrible!

It basically cannot be overstated how awesome Oaysis has done DMing this, and how well all the players have roleplayed. The fact that this game is STILL going on speaks volumes. Best. Forum game. Ever.

Yeah, one of my gitp friends is in it, so tempted to steal her for here....

[Verisimilitude]

Pete takes in the scene around him and pauses a moment before responding to Harley. "Trouble, I think... I'm unsure how serious it is. It could be I just need to reduce my dosage, or maybe the tomb is pulling on my mind. But if it isn't..." Pete fidgets with the straps of his backpack. "Uh, Winky, may I ask how you got here? This room, I mean. Did you go through the mirror, or is there another way in?" Pete begins to slip out of his backpack, then stops and puts it back on. His hands are unsteady again.

[TheOasysMaster]

Yeah, one of my gitp friends is in it, so tempted to steal her for here....
Hmmmm...
I do have those ideas you left...
...and Thoradin IS looking kinda like Trevor...
...and Bob...
...and Snake...
I gotta say that Derjuin and FireSickle and Samfool were pretty cool with Dranga, Jake, and Shudu, respectively, and I appreciate that they stuck around long enough to have decent characters I could work with and also giving me a heads-up when they had to get up from the table.

Speaking of 'the table' I think that might be part of why this game has turned out so well...
Some of the best parts of D&D are about sitting around with your friends and talking to them as dice are rolled, heroes rise and villains fall...
It can be hard to replicate the fast-pace and social aspects on forum play, but I think by combining the IC and the OoC in a single thread, the fact that we burn through posts much faster, means we actually talk more...
Having two threads is simply too much of an inconvenience!
:smalltongue:
Bring it all here, and why not make a joke about something that Maki just broke?
:smallbiggrin:

"Not totally, 'okay'," Daina stands, holding the cloak around herself. "Don't touch me, Harley."
The thief, would been about to embrace her in a hug suddenly begins fiddling with his tools, scowling.
"I wasn't gone long, was I?"
Dranga hands Daina some makeshift clothes, most of them completely ruined.
"No, less than an hour..."
"That's good. Nobody pocketed any loot while I was gone?"
"What loot?!?!?" Harley snarls.
Shrugging, Daina whistles, "True. Lean pickings here... Anyways, thank you guys for not rifling through my stuff, I think I can handle it now,"
Using her foot, she drags her clothes and possession to the side of the corridor and quickly sets about getting dressed behind a hazy sheet of smoke Pharrah conjures for her.
"One thing I really hate is that level in wizard I just lost?"
"What?"
"Nothing-crazy talking again."
Dranga nudges Quin, "You did a good job! But don't you think you can do something about her head? That vampire left her... scrambled. you know?"
Harley sniggers.
"She's ALWAYS been nuts..."

[TheOasysMaster]

I know that you know that I know that you know that's not even close to how lightsabers work, but I did get the impression that that's how the vorpal light beam worked. Oh well. Probably a good thing.
True enough, there are shields, special armors, Forece powers...
:smalltongue:
I don't even think the vorpal blade is supposed to look like a lightsaber...
The tradition of fluff has just made it that way...

"I Telepor-"
"Oh, crap."
"CRAP.
"Crap!"
"CRAP!"
Thoradin looks back and forth, "What?"
"-ted? Why?", WInky squeaks.
"Craaaaaaaaaaaap!"
"Whelp, we're boned."
Harley, rubbing his forehead again, breathes deeply, "Why do you ask, Pete?"

[Human Paragon 3]

What?

Uh, what's going on? I feel like I've lost the thread of this. Is there something I should be noticing?

In case:

[roll0]spot

[TheOasysMaster]

"There was NO way I was going through that thing-so I Teleported on the other side after Prescott? What nothing happened!"
"So... If you didn't meet a demon on the Other Side, it probably followed you here..."

[Verisimilitude]

"Um." Pete begins, his words stumbling over his own breathing. "There's um." Pete sucks air through his teeth. "There'sASkeletonAtTheTopOfTheStairsAndSomethingBig LeftALotOfClawMarksOnTheCeilingSomeTimeInTheLastFe wMinutes." Pete clears his throat. "SoMaybe. Mm. Maybe I'm losing it? Or Um. Maybe there's a.. large.. undetectable... ... ...what you said." Pete swallows. "Here."

[Human Paragon 3]

How do you figure that? We dimension door all over the Tomb and nothing follows us out. Is there something specific about teleport that calls down demons?

Eduardo casts his gaze around the hall, looking for anything that would indicate an unwanted guest.
d20+14 Deathwatch is up! Eduardo will comb the entire area, that is, as much as he can without setting off the traps.

[Human Paragon 3]

[roll0]Spot Check.

[TheOasysMaster]

Dranga coughs nervously as everyone begins looking over their shoulders...
"The Ethereal Jaunt spell and Teleport spell make use of the Ethereal and Astral Planes respectively... It's possible to set wards, or guards-in this case, the demons that Quin encountered to hinder that kind of travel..."
As Eduardo glances around, he doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary...
"...Dimension Door is just different enough from those spells, since travel through those two Planes isnt necessary..."
"But doesn't Teleport forbid interplanar travel?"
"Yes, that's true, Welby, but a Dimension Dooropens a portal to another location through the Astral... The spell and the door itself is on the Astral, you just pass through..."
Pharrah nods, "She's right. A Teleport spell actually skirts you along the Astral to the designated location, it's direct."
Harley shakes his head, "Doesn't seem to make much differ-"
"Maybe not to you, but it probably makes all the difference to Acererak!"
"Why?" asks Daina.
"Using Teleportation or Ethereal Jaunt, one could potentially just walk through the Tomb to its very end, and spoil whatever plans he's got cooking therein..."
Harley snaps his fingers in understanding, "But by limiting the distance we can safely move, he keeps the rats in the maze..."
"Right, though I'm sure using the Dimension Door excessively might warrant attention..."
"So, the demons keep us here and from just getting to the point?"
"Yes."
"Why?
"No idea."
"Lich's fiat?"
"Nah, I'm sure he's got some sick purpose."
"None of this matters-eleven of us can take on a demon!"
"That's true. If a demon follows us here, it'll likely be abandoning it's post and on it's own..."
"But even if we were to all enter the Ethereal..."
"There'd be too many..."
"Precisely."
"Oooooooooooh. So, the question is... Did a demon follow me here or not?"
"Indeed."
"I can't tell evil or outsiders initially, usually how they react to me says enough..."
Pharrah smiles, "Don't worry, Winky-if there is a demon here..."
She trails off as Winky returns to Prescott's side.
Welby rubs his hands together, "All I need is a Disintegration and its all over!'

[Mo_the_Hawked]

I do have those ideas you left...
...and Thoradin IS looking kinda like Trevor...
...and Bob...
...and Snake...

What? I dont know what you mean. I am presuming you are refering to a percived lack of intrest. I read everypost, Thoradin just doesn't have alot to say. He's stoic, that and his knowledge base is mostly in the removal of things body parts.

Thoradin

Thoradin pulls out his axe and shield. Stepping infront of Prescott, "Stay behind me laddy, if somethin's coming I can more punishment than ya."

Growling at Pete, "Pete, use your damned trickey-ness to find this beastie! We can't let sneak up pick off the frailer ones."

[TheOasysMaster]

Thoradin just doesn't have alot to say. He's stoic, that and his knowledge base is mostly in the removal of things body parts.
If that's the case, I heartily and earnestly apologize...
Also...
:smalleek:
I have to get Thoradin a beast to fight right a way...
Oh yeah...
:smalltongue:

But seriously, those guys were...
Interesting
Enter the Tomb of Horrors with NO weapons? That's just bad character design for any kinda campaign. Even a monk has got his fists...
And then you respond to post for an event that was clearly long past? Why waste the....
Oh nevermind, task at hand...


From behind her smokescreen, Daina agrees with Thoradin, "let's stop standing around and move!"

[TheOasysMaster]

Um." Pete begins, his words stumbling over his own breathing. "There's um." Pete sucks air through his teeth. "There'sASkeletonAtTheTopOfTheStairsAndSomethingBig LeftALotOfClawMarksOnTheCeilingSomeTimeInTheLastFe wMinutes." Pete clears his throat. "SoMaybe. Mm. Maybe I'm losing it? Or Um. Maybe there's a.. large.. undetectable... ... ...what you said." Pete swallows. "Here."
DAMN! I'd been ninja'd!

Dranga looks incredulous, "A skeleton? We JUST came from there..."
Harley holds out a hand, "Stay everyone. Pharrah, Jump?"
"Spider Climb."
"Okay."
Casting the spell, Pharrah and Harley make their way along the same route that Pete had investigating.
In ten minutes, they return.
Pharrah holds up the bloodied rope strand, "The demon that followed Winky into the Tomb was perched on the ceiling above us, most likely the moment he used the spell."
"Gosh."
"It was there the whole time?"
"Apparently, a brand very good at hiding, despite our various powerful observational methods-even I didn't sense it."
She smiles.
Harley taps his foot, "Now the real problem isn't the demon..."
Pharrah stops smiling.
"It's what ate it."
"ATE IT?" Dranga's eye widen like plates.
"In the time we were all off those stairs, and Pete returned to search the steps..."
"Something, without making a sound, tore this demon from the roof, and gnawd away it's flesh without leaving a single trace accept some drool-probably the demon's..."
"Disgusting creatures!"
"...this strand of silk fibre and a single drop of blood."
"That's it! Prescott! DOORS!"

Of course, a PC could ask a capable NPC to do it...
The difference between doing that and using a monkey on a trap, should be readily apparent...
:smalltongue:

[TheOasysMaster]

I yearn for sleep-I believe I shall be VERY active tomorrow, so I'm going to save this post for a map...

[Mo_the_Hawked]

If that's the case, I heartily and earnestly apologize...
Also...
:smalleek:
I have to get Thoradin a beast to fight right a way...
Oh yeah...
:smalltongue:


No worries. Don't need to rush anything either. Monsters happen when they happen.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete relaxes visibly. He hadn't been hallucinating or been under the tomb's influence. It was a good sign. As for whatever devoured the demon... "Ana had claws." Pete thinks aloud. "Stealth as well." Pete drops to a knee and shifts the loose items in his backpack to the bag of holding. Before putting his pack on again, he draws out another elixir of vision and pockets it. Turning away from the pit and his companions he stares at the side door in the north wall and frowns, his mind wandering elsewhere.

[Human Paragon 3]

Eduardo looks at Hassadur. Could the serpent have done this?

[Verisimilitude]

Pete twitches and rubs his temples.

Stepping around the pool of blood, he passes the large bag of holding back to Harley, and pulls the saturated blanket and cloak from the floor. Nearing the edge of the pit, Pete casts down the heavy bundle and watches it fall upon the vorpal blades below.

[Ditto]

I've asked Winky to cast Continual Flame on any surface that we find, so anywhere he goes we'll never been in the dark. We may have to go through Acererak's maze, but it will be a well-lit maze!

Also, Winky's presumably still spamming Detect Evil. So this thing must have lead armor or Nondetection or some such thing.

[TheOasysMaster]

Dranga's eye twitches, "You didn't really make it clear to us who this Ana person was... Could you be more thorough this time, Pete?"
Harley accepts the bag, and watches as Pete tosses the bundle down.
The bundle is sliced in half by a vorpal blade, falling down in two neat halves.


Did Pharrah and Harley have a visible light source with them when they went to check out the north landing?
Everything is lit up to the north door, Winky hasn't gone past the pressure plate.

[Misaat]

" This is boring agaaain. Lets get going. If something was gonna attack us it would have attacked us by now. Especially when we where short one people and where skating over the Vorpal blades. Lets open those doors already shall we? "

[Verisimilitude]

"Well," Pete begins, attempting to remember the details of his brief violent encounter, "She appeared humanoid, but looked almost as if she was made of blood. Her clothing and weapons were the same. When she touched the rope, it left about four feet of blood on it, and at one point she threw an orb of the same at me, which hit the mirror. Her skin was decorated with tattoos, piercings and embedded... objects. They depicted what I think were dragons, though some of them may have been snakes. She wore a pentacle around her neck. She had long hair. She lacked armor. She had several swords and pins. She spoke in common. Her voice was... undulating and .. gurgly. I was about to jump through the mirror when she appeared. I had closed my eyes as I started to go through, and I had seen no one else in the room before I closed my eyes. But a split second after I did so she was standing before me, holding me back, keeping me from passing into the mirror. She introduced herself and gave me the message she wanted delivered to Quin and Welby. Then she threw that orb at me and cut my rope with her claws, and that's when I was knocked back into the mirror and arrived on the landing with the rest of you. I might have thought it was a vision from the mirror, if my rope had not been severed and bloody after." Pete looks to the barbarian and nods, but takes no action, as the doors do not seem to require his skills.

[Ditto]

"I'm not sure I'd be concerned about dying of boredom in this place, Maki, but your point is well taken. If we're set to move, I'll pop this northern door without anyone standing on that pressure plate."

[Human Paragon 3]

Right-O. I think we are waiting on Prescott to knock the door, but really, anyone can open it. Also, if I know Welby, he would toss a couple fireballs up near the landing to be on the safe side, though Eduardo doesn't say this.

[Verisimilitude]

"Eduardo, Pharrah spoke earlier of your Deathwatch vision. Did you look in this pit? If it turns out those doors are diversions, it might be worth checking down there for another passage. But I can't search it without getting closer, and I'd hate to drop into an ambush on my own down there."

[TheOasysMaster]

Complying with Maki's wishes, Pharrah casually cast the Knock spells...
Both doors fly open, revealing what they hold on the other side...
The door facing south, on the north wall and guarded by the pressure plate opens onto a passage headed north...
The door facing west, on the east wall, with the light filtering through- reveals a phalanx of vorpal blades, from whence the white light comes...
From that door, a rapid clicking noise becomes audible...
"Young halflings and women first!"
Harley gives Dranga and Pharrah a shove forward, "GOGOGOGOGOGOGO!"
Daina, poking her head out from behind her smoke screen curses, hurriedly grabbing her things to escape another run in with the vorpal bladesPete's story and findings will quickly be forgotten in the scramble to escape the Hallway of Vorpal blades, a certain death trap...


Does at will mean no material cost? Also wasn't it already somewhat established that evil things can mask themselves within the tomb's much stronger evil aura?
At-will does NOT mean no material cost.
Evil and magical things can hide within the general aura if one is using general detection techniques...
If one actively uses those techniques on a certain area, detection is easier and more likely.
For example, the magic items in the laboratory...
A casual Detect Magic might have only picked up the mirror, far greater magic than the wards on the stones, ceilings and floors...
Take away the mirror, and whatever magic items exist on the tables and such are more likely to be found if one looks specifically at the tables...
"I cast Detect Magic in the room!" Won't cut it.
:smallyuk:

Anyways, run or find someway to stop those vorpal blades...
And there's a pit full of more behind you.
Good day.
:smallbiggrin:

[Verisimilitude]

Pete hesitates for a moment. So many vorpal beams! But why put them on a timer? Pete glances back at the western end of the corridor and then down at the pit.

[Human Paragon 3]

I knew I didn't trust that door!

Map?

Wall of force! calls Eduardo. The blades won't be able to penetrate a wall of force!

[TheOasysMaster]

Spell-Like Abilities At will
Ah, keyword is "Spell-like Abilities"...

"...a spell-like ability has no verbal, somatic, or material component, nor does it require a focus or have an XP cost. The user activates it mentally. Armor never affects a spell-like ability’s use, even if the ability resembles an arcane spell with a somatic component..."


Has anything changed that Pete can see since the clicking at the eastern end of the hall started?
Nope.


But why put them on a timer?
Not a timer, but the mere sounds of one to goad Acererak's victims to hasty action; leading to a fall into the pit behind or to step onto the pressure plate before them...
As Dranga has done!
The opening of the eastern door fully activated the pressure plate, and the moment the wizard steps foot on the plate, the vorpal blades are launched, flying through the air toward them!
With a screech, Welby makes a tight turn casting as quickly as he can...

[roll0] Welby's Initiative Roll

With a deafening screech of victory, Welby casts the Wall of Force well ahead of the flying blades, which strike the wall, and immediately are dismissed.
There is a ringing sound as the hollow gold tubes that served as the blades' hilt clatter to the ground, their deadly magic gone.

300XP to Eduardo

[Human Paragon 3]

Brilliantly done, Welby!

Eduardo breathes a sigh of relief and trots over to Welby, shaking his tiny hand.

Safe behind the wall of force, the Master peers into the opening that once held the vorpal blades, to be sure the threat is over.

[roll0]

[Verisimilitude]

Pete looks glumly at the disenchanted rods to his east, making a mental note that the rumor about force walls exploding was false. Then he looks again at the pit and to the west.

"Halflings?"

[TheOasysMaster]

The first time through I actually read that as the sound effect of his sharp turning.... like wheel spin.
lol, nah, Welby abuses the Laws of Physics enough I thinks...

"It's what I do!"
Pharrah and Harley skid to a stop, but Dranga continues pushing through an unlocked door into an open room, where she apparently trips and falls, falling on her front...
"That was too close!"
As he peers through the wall, Eduardo can see that Welby has thwarted the trap...
Welby flits in front of Pete, "I'm of the noble race of halflings! What, you didn't think I was actually a fairy did you?"
He laughs.
The shallow closet at the end of the hallway has no back up blades, and the gold, hollow tubes do not look like they'll reignite their deadly forms soon...
Each tube has a medium sized ruby set into it's side.
Within the room to the north, Eduardo sees a sort of abandoned funeral chamber... Rotted sofas, several thronelike chairs, small tables, braziers, vases, and dented, chipped, even broken urns lie in disarray about the chamber, as if purposely tumbled and looted. Only the black tapestries, featuring weed-grown grave stones and dark scenes of undead 'life', seem to have escaped such rough treatment...
Dismissing the Wall of Force, Welby follows after Dranga, exploring the new room.
Harley, wiping away the sheen of sweat, let's out a long sigh.
"That was close."
Daina, shouldering her repaired bow and her rearranged items, grins, "Yeah, this adventure was almost 'cut' short..."

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd57/OasysWebmaster/takeadeepbreath.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd57/OasysWebmaster/asphyxiationchamber.jpg

[Human Paragon 3]

There's another door in this room, too, Eduardo points out, stepping in and looking about.


Deathwatch is up as always. Also, finally, a room that hasn't been swept clean! I'll make a survival check to try and figure out what went on in here, whether there was a struggle, what kind of creatures were here, and where they went.

[roll0]+2 for undead.

EDIT: DING!

[TheOasysMaster]

Eduardo comes to the conclusion that nothing occured in this room...
Despite the looted look of it, there is no actual evidence of anyone having been there...
Handprints...
Footprints...
Nothing!
As he gazes about the room with his cursed vision, Eduardo sees nothing he wouldn't expect to see...
Harley and Pharrah follow him inside, and Pharrah points to a hidden chest beneath a chair...
"Wait, I've seen this one before... Nobody touch anything..."
He begins a search of the room...

[Human Paragon 3]

http://ecdn2.hark.com/images/000/004/991/4991/original.0
What's in the booooooooooox?

[TheOasysMaster]

[roll0]Eduardo's Reflex Save

The room suddenly, shakes in a jarring jolt...
And though Eduardo is able to keep his balance, along with Hassadur, Dranga and Harley fall over, knocked down.
"What in the Nine Hells?"
"I really, really, hate this place..."

[Verisimilitude]

A halfling... Pete's eyes close behind his goggles though his expression does not reveal this, locked as it is in a dispassionate frown. He reaches with a blood smeared glove for the elixir in his pocket. The tone of the air reverberating in the hall around him leads his thoughts. Somewhere far far above him was the surface and the deep rumbling sky over the mountains. Twenty-two. Days and nights lost. Pete opens the bottle and begins taking small sips of it. Twenty-five days since he had heard the sky or been touched by the blessed sun. Had his goddess spoken to him while he slept? He did not remember all of the nightmare. The nightmare before this nightmare. It wasn't the halfling's fault. A bard speaks to him beneath the live oaks. '...your gullibility and total...' Pete was drifting. He could tell he was drifting. Had seconds passed? Minutes? He drains the last of the elixir and pockets the empty bottle. Then he opens his eyes, and immediately regrets he did. Reality was growing harsher.

[TheOasysMaster]

Imma give you 200 EXPerience points for that Veris...

Now that his senses are heightened once more, does Pete enter the Asphyxiation Chamber?

[Human Paragon 3]

Staggering, but remaining upright, Eduardo almost reaches out to steady himself on a nearby chair, but thinks better of it.

Any idea what that was, he asks Pharrah.

[TheOasysMaster]

"Nope... Seems to be random..."
She points at the floor, now tilted at an an odd angle toward the north.
"It's slanted!"
And thus, the state of the room is explained.
The objects have moved, reflecting the change brought about by the shake.
Harley, picks himself up.
"Change of plan! Everyone spread out, and find those chests... Don't touch 'em, just identify them. Pharrah, you mark 'em!"
"What happens if we touch them?"
"I've used a trap before, where I scattered treasure in a room-but each items was attached to a wire... And well, let's just say, I could never use those fur rugs again..."
Pharrah nods impressively, "Devious."

[Human Paragon 3]

Eduardo casts detect magic and begins examining the fallen objects around him.

[Ditto]

'Do you want to enter the Asphyxiation Chamber?'
'Um... no thank you, I will decline.' :smallbiggrin:

Did the whole tomb shake? Or was this primarily just the Chamber

Well, I was right, it *was* just a closet to the east...

[TheOasysMaster]

Other than the magical auras around the people with him in this room, Eduardo can't detect any magical auras...
"Found a chest!"
"Coffer!"
"Don't open them!"
"Marking them!"
"Got another chest here!"
"And another!"


Or was this primarily just the Chamber
JUST the Chamber.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete glances once more at the metal rods at the bottom of the pit and takes off, running recklessly east. He peers inside the passage leading north as he passes the doorway, his stride unbroken by the presence of the active pressure plate. Perhaps he assumes it has already done its worst. Perhaps not. Nearing the pile of gold tubes he slows, stoops, snatches one up, gripping it in the middle with his right hand, and continues at speed to the open door ahead, holding his arm out and oriented in a way so that if terrible death effects suddenly shoot from the ends they will hopefully blast the walls to his left and right, not him. Then he looks into the closet with a searching eye.

[TheOasysMaster]

Nothing happens as Pete's hand closes around the gold, the ruby decorations shining dimly in the light from Winky's Flames...
The 'closet' is empty, with nothing but the apparati that housed and launched the tubes set into the back wall, a fusillade of death.

Inside the room, the floor tilts and rocks again...
1d20+7 Reflex Save for Eduardo
Welby safely circling aboves laughs as the grounded adventurers below him struggle to keep their balance.
Helpfully, he points out a chest to Pharrah.
"There's one there!"

[TheOasysMaster]

[roll0] Reflex Save for Eduardo
Eduardo loses his balance, dropping to the ground embarassingly.
He is prone, and has taken 1 Point of Damage.

[Human Paragon 3]

What exactly is the point of finding and marking all the chests? Are our trapspringers going to disarm and open them? Harley, you seem to be a man with a plan--what is our end game here?

[TheOasysMaster]

Scowling, Harley picks himself off the ground...
"I identify them all, and then I actually check to see if they're trapped... But yes, trapspringers en masse open 'em... It's just this shaking that's odd."
"Hey! There's a door!"

[Ditto]

Cautiously entering the vestibule outside the chamber, Prescott says, "Perhaps your presence in the room is causing the floor to tilt? One massive pressure plate? If you're going to be knocked down again and again, perhaps crawling is safer. It ought to disturb things less and you won't injure yourselves teetering over."

[TheOasysMaster]

[roll0] Reflex Save for Eduardo
[roll1] Reflex Save for Prescott

As Prescott makes his entrance, the room shakes again, and he tumbles down fallen...
Eduardo, still down merely finds himself in another position from where hd' started, so violent the shaking is.
, the floor bucking up and down...
"I don't even KNOw where'd I'd start to take this thing apart..."
"There's another chest there..."
"I think we've found 'em all..."
Dranga falls again, rubbing her leg painfully, "Maybe stopping this shaking would be a good idea..."

Prescott takes 1 HP of damage and is prone.

[Verisimilitude]

Seeing the launchers are not concealed, Pete mutters his gratitude, though he's not sure to whom. He pulls a tool from his vest with his left hand and begins probing one of the launchers at eye level, looking for catches, conduits, crystals, anything at all that would touch or interact with the gold tube.

[TheOasysMaster]

Daina looks over Pete's shoulder, interrupting him.
"What are you doing?"

[Misaat]

WAIT A F***** MINUTE WOULD YOU

"Hey guys what are you doing? "

Maki says as he enters the room where his companions are

[TheOasysMaster]

Maki says as he enters the room where his companions are ...
YOU JUST WALKED PAST "LOOT"!
:smallyuk:

WAIT A F***** MINUTE WOULD YOU
"...we MUST go faster..."

[roll0] Maki's Reflex Save
[roll1] Eduardo's Reflex Save
[roll2] Prescott's Reflex Save

Another violent shake, rips through the chamber...
Exactly like the first, the shakes only change in direction, never in intensity, but none the less, people go flying.
"They're fooling around looking for treasure chests..."
"And coffers!"
"But the floor keeps making them fall do-"
Pharrah yelps as she finally loses her balance, dropping to the ground.
"You get the idea."
Maki himself barely keeps his balance, and Eduardo and Prescott are bucked back and forth along the floor.

[Human Paragon 3]

Steady now...

Eduardo comes up to a one-legged kneel.

We should check the door, in case we need to make a fast exit. I don't want to have to barge through it, not knowing whether it's trapped or...

It suddenly strikes Eduardo as odd that just this one chamber could be shifting so violently.
[roll0]disbelieve

[Misaat]

Wait wait wait wait WHEN did i pass by loot?

[TheOasysMaster]

Here, when Welby saved you guys from a messy TPK... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11852718&postcount=1148):smalltongue:

The vorpal blades from the door are 'lightsabers' except gold hilts with ruby activation switches...
:smallbiggrin:

[roll0] Maki's Reflex Save
[roll1] Eduardo's Reflex Save
[roll2] Prescott's Reflex Save

"Fine, check the door, I'm gonna see if I can disable this dratted thing..."
Having fallen on his face again, Harley is clearly agitated.
Pharrah and Dranga, at a crawl, keep looking.
Meanwhile, Eduardo, sent flying again, comes to the conclusion that this room, is very real...
Causing Welby to laugh uproariously.

Eduardo is prone, and takes a Hitpoint of Damage.

[Misaat]

What when did you ever said that?

Feeling pretty silly standing on a room where everything starts shaking every two seconds Maki goes back to the previous room.

[Verisimilitude]

"Hey..." Pete replies in a soft, clear voice as he works. "Good to see you on your feet again. I wouldn't come too close right now. There's a good chance this thing will drop me and anyone nearby without warning."

[TheOasysMaster]

"Where in the Abyss is he going?"


What when did you ever said that?

^-_-

:smalltongue:

Back in the Hallway of Vorpal Blades, Maki sees Quin and Thoradin are busy being dwarves, while Pete and Daina are inspecting the 'closet' at the end of the hallway from whence the blades had come.
Where Welby's Wall of Force had blocked the blades, ly the golden tubes that held them...
But more than HALF are missing!

[Human Paragon 3]

Lightsabers
Thought as much!

[Misaat]

"Where in the Abyss is he going?"



^-_-

:smalltongue:

Back in the Hallway of Vorpal Blades, Maki sees Quin and Thoradin are busy being dwarves, while Pete and Daina are inspecting the 'closet' at the end of the hallway from whence the blades had come.
Where Welby's Wall of Force had blocked the blades, ly the golden tubes that held them...
But more than HALF are missing!

Wait are the tubes missing or the blades missing?

Maki looking around to see if someone would look at what he is stupidly about to do . He crouches and picks up one of the hilts from the ground.

So what is it instand death. Lightning Struck. Drain 1d6 levels?

[TheOasysMaster]

Thought as much!


Wait are the tubes missing or the blades missing?
ALL the blades are gone, but some enterprising character has helped themselves to quite a few of the "hilts"/tubes...
:smalltongue:


So what is it instand death. Lightning Struck. Drain 1d6 levels?
Nah.


I roll a 19 and the NPC interrupts with dialogue? Trying to save me from myself? Too late for that I think...
Just curious myself...
:smalltongue:


Gah! Must you make such massive OOC reveals? I'm struggling to keep within IC knowledge as it is...
I'm jsut describing what they look like-they don't act like lightsabers at all-it's a homage! A shout out!
:smallsmile:


Daina backs away from Pete hastily, "Then WHY are you touching it!?!?!"
It's pretty obvious now how the trap works;
The light from the vorpal blades secreted in the tubes attracts Acererak's victims to open the door...
A trigger that is switched when the door is opened accomplished three things...
It a) extends the vorpal blades to full length, instantly killing whoever opened the door, b) activates the pressure plate blocking the other door, and c) begins the frantic ticking that would prompt most adventurers to turn and run...
With his victims scrambling for their lives, they cross the pressure plate and cause air bellows and springs within each tubes holder to launch the golden tubes through the air, filling the corridor with whirling blades of death.
Weak magic and magnets permanently deactivate the blades and keep them away from each other, respectively, to keep them from destroying one another.
Elegant.
Yet messy.
Definitely twisted.

The tube fits well in Maki's hand.
Gold, cool and heavy, with a single ruby of medium-size set within the hollow tube.

[Misaat]

Maki examines the hilt carefully.

" What on earth happened to the blades? "

Spot:[roll0]

[TheOasysMaster]

Maki can only come to the conclusion, that it's magic.

It's magic.

[Misaat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96kwILL35ig

" Mmh a wizard did it... Maybe this ruby "

Maki gets holds the hilt as far away from his body as he can(The blade facing up) and presses the ruby while he closes one of his eyes.

[TheOasysMaster]

Having abandoned Pete to his madness, Daina watches Maki with a perplexed look on her face.
She doesn't even bother to ask.
Pressing the ruby does nothing.
It appears to be nothing more than a random piece of treasure.
She crouches next to the barbarian and grins, "Never seen gold before?"

It just LOOKS like a lightsaber hilt!
LOOKS!
:smallannoyed:

[Misaat]

I DONT WANT A DEMON WITH FOUR ARMS TO APPEAR IN FRONT OF US WITH THE FOUR HILTS MAGICALLY TRANSFORMED INTO BRILLIANT ENERGY WEAPONS AND I MEAN IT!

Maki doesnt know why but he feels disappointed.

" Want it? "

He says to Daina holding the golden hilt in front of her.

[Human Paragon 3]

It would be useless for me to check the door. I haven't the faintest inkling of how traps are designed or implemented, nor how to spot them. I spent my time studying other pursuits.

But I think we've spent about enough time rolling around this stupid box, so why don't you check the door so we can leave?

[TheOasysMaster]

"Nah, I've taken my share."
She leaves headed back into the room.
If Maki were to look down, he'd see the rest of the golden tubes have vanished right from under his nose!


I DONT WANT A DEMON WITH FOUR ARMS TO APPEAR IN FRONT OF US WITH THE FOUR HILTS MAGICALLY TRANSFORMED INTO BRILLIANT ENERGY WEAPONS AND I MEAN IT!
=O
I would NEVER do that!
:smalltongue:

"But-"
"I think he's right, Harley..."
"Hmmm, I suppose, he's got a point..."
Pharrah, holding a coffer gingerly in her hands nods, "I think Eduardo-"
"Okay, okay, he's right-Dranga, Welby, Prescott, Eduardo, get out and call Daina and Pete in here..."
He pulls another chest out into the open.
"Perhaps we can figure what this room is about..."
"DAINA!"Welby nearly smacks into her as she enters the room, "Oh, you're here! Go do thief stuff!"He flies around her and leaves the room, stopping by Maki.
"Hey, what's that you got there big guy?"
Daina kicks aside an urn, beginning her search and inspection of the room.



A score of 40 while physically probing it didn't get me even one parts description? Just a summary of what everyone already witnessed it do? .... oh that is the last rank of disable I take...
Why didn't you roll a Spot Check then? I thought you wanted to know how it worked?
=P

The door secrets a metal apparatus made of wrought iron, with a single trigger in the form of a switch and wire attached to the door and the inner mantel of the door...
The apparatus consists of wide deep tubes with springs recessed at the bottoms and attached to large circular air bellows.

[Misaat]

" It's where the Vorpal blades came from... You know magic. Can you make them work again? "

Maki says while handing the hilt to Welby.

[TheOasysMaster]

Welby examines the tube up close...
"Gimme a minute, Maki, I gotta deliver a message to Pete..."He flashes off to Pete, and whistles in the ranger's ear.
"All rogues and unsavory, unscrupulous characters are needed in the next room!"
Before Pete can say anything, Welby's back examining the tube...
"I don't think I'm powerful enough to create vorpal weapons, Maki... I don't even know where I'd begin! And besides, the magic is gone from the tubes..."

[Misaat]

" AAhhh Someday i guess "

Saying that Maki saves the tube and goes to meet up with the rest.

[TheOasysMaster]

As Maki tries to enter the room, Dranga pokes him in the leg, "Thieves only!"
Pharrah stalks out as well, a little wobbly.
"If that's a trap, it's the dumbest one I've ever seen..."

[Ditto]

I said:
Cautiously entering the vestibule outside the chamber,. Did not enter the chamber properly. I don't think that 10x10 square is all shaky as well... Same difference though, for one HP, I'll just move 'back' into the entryway.

"I tire of this room already... don't waste your talents in this topsy-turvy pursuit, team. To quote our barbarian companion, 'Bored now...'." Prescott sweeps the room with Detect Secret Doors, as usual, and then switches to his wand of Knock and wangles it at the NE door (and any other that ping within range).

[Human Paragon 3]

Are they kicking Eduardo out, too?

[TheOasysMaster]

Prescott's wand detects a secret door hides behind the curtains...
The door in the north east section swings open violently, and a gout of fire bursts out roaring into the room...
Everyone watches for a moment in silence, and then a brisk shaking of the floor sends everyone still inside the room tumbling to their feet.
"This... Is getting old really fast."

Gygax designed this room, not me. I swear.


Are they kicking Eduardo out, too?
Indeed.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete is glad he's facing the closet wall, away from the others. The look on his face is one of deep embarrassment. This task is beyond him. He looks down at the tube in his hand. Then he glances behind him to make sure no one is on the pressure plate by the door in the north wall.

[Misaat]

" Doesnt anyone find this a little weird? Everything we have found so far had as a final goal to either kill us or leave us chopped up somehow... and then we find a room... which just shakes... Its like Fighting against a group of soldiers and realizing one of them is wearing motley and charging at you with a wooden sword... It just feels off."

[TheOasysMaster]

I wanted to know things like the tube of the launcher is an alloy of steel, with an internal diameter of 12 centimeters narrowed by a rifled inlay 26 centimeters in from the opening that appears to have been installed after the fact with adhesive and sweated in place, a nickel silver circlet rings a point 14 centimeters forward of the inlay, it is crossed twice by gold filament that has been hammered across the weld line of the launcher tube, the filament exits through a pair of bore holes in the top of the launcher tube that were not drilled by mechanical tools, above the tube the filament distribute to sixteen thin nickel silver rods arranged in two rotary discs, which are fixed but delicate, the breach of the launcher is punctuated by four 2 cm wide piston heads, which are secured externally by machine screws, the piston housing is enclosed in cube shaped a wire cage, into which two hoses enter from each face, a 21 mm copper pipe runs down the wall from the cage and joins dozens of similar pipes in a main break box which has a display panel that has been plated shut, three bare wires connect the box to three metal strips on the top and sides of the door jamb.
I'm going to assume you're exaggerating...
:smalleek:

What is Pete trying to DO?
Get a vorpal blade?
I told you, the most likely source to get one would be to enter that pit...
Otherwise, there's no way I'm going to produce design schematics for each trap!
That'd be insane!

Quin and Thoradin are standing near the edge of the pit in the center of the hallway...
Nobody is on the pressure plate.

[TheOasysMaster]

"I agree with, you, Maki," says Harley, "But I think in this case... It pays off for us!"
A total of six chests and twenty four locked coffers have been found.
Daina holds a trunk in her arms, "Let's get these out into the corridor and rifle through 'em... We can look at that jade one Quin found."

[Misaat]

"I agree with, you, Maki," says Harley, "But I think in this case... It pays off for us!"
A total of six chests and twenty four locked coffers have been found.
Daina holds a trunk in her arms, "Let's get these out into the corridor and rifle through 'em... We can look at that jade one Quin found."

" MMmh Okay then.... But just in case we should find a way to open them from afar. What if we open one and Acid springs out to our faces.... Or Poison Gas... Or a Mutant Scorpion... Or Flaming needles!........ It could also just Explode... "

I believe the Tomb has done wonders for Maki's psyche

[TheOasysMaster]

"We'll be very, very careful..."
Harley pulls out a hammer.

Imma let the PCs choose...
The chests are numbered one to six...
...and the locked coffers are numbered one to twenty-four...

Harley, Daina and Pete are all capable and best trained to get 'em open...
Pharrah and Prescott are best capable and trained to test 'em for magic...
Choose who opens what?

[Verisimilitude]

Pete checks again, having been lost in thought, to make sure no one is on the pressure plate...

[Misaat]

"All right... We should open the one labeled 1 first ... The Chest "

[Human Paragon 3]

I am agreeing with Maki more and more lately. It seems unlikely that Acererak would throw in a shake-up goody bag room in the midst of all his death traps.

Still. I also wouldn't be surprised if those boxes contained 23 exploding skulls and 1 magic key necessary to move forward.

Let's work through them, shall we? Starting with number 1.

The Master moves back to a safe distance, beckoning to Hassadur to to the same.

If what we uncover has some anatomical, religious or ritualistic significance, call for me.

[Elfstone]

Gygax designed this room, not me. I swear.


Indeed.


In that case.....

Quin finishes his examination of his new vision and struggles to the door, looking in. "Don't open any of the doors in this room before we are one hundred percent certain nothing bad will come of it. Even then, I propose a knock spell and summon creatures. WE can not take any more risks. Also, when there are so many coffers, the likely hood of them containing anything worthwhile is slim. Anyway, Perhaps a little clearer vision would be useful on them, Eh Pharrah? Have we checked the pit for doors? And will some one open the dammed coffer ive been lugging around?"

You have no idea how much this one scared me.

[Human Paragon 3]

Damnit Oaysis, don't make me bust out Brad Pitt again. What's in the box?!

[Ditto]

Where is the secret door behind the curtain?

{table=head]1|x|x

2|x|3

x|x|4[/table]

Did the flame-door exist just as a trap, or is it actually a door with some hallway behind it?

Also, I'm not sure if everyone is aware, but Quin apparently is and Eduardo definitely is - Pharrah has a ring of x-ray vision! Do it up! :smallsmile:

[Verisimilitude]

Seeing that no one is on the pressure plate, Pete inserts his hilt into a launcher to his right in what is, as far as he can tell, the correct way to load it.

[Misaat]

Maki steps outside of the room and stands on the plate. " Hey Pete what are you doing?

[TheOasysMaster]

Not exaggerating in the least...
Then you're out of luck.
There is NO way I'm going to provide such detailed 'schematics' for each and every single trap.


I suppose, in a way, it is possible to use game mechanics to do this without the players learning the details of how they just did it.
Well, it's not that hard... The door is open, trigger to the ceiling, and a rack filled with wrought-iron tubes large enough to hold and launch the gold...
I already described this in character!


Do you think the mechanics as they are, SRD, are complex enough to wager things like the retrieval, analysis, reverse engineering and mass production for strategic military purposes of a fully functional launcher system?
Even if they were, do we, I, or Pete really need that now? And if so, yes, I believe we can roll the dice to see whether or not he can...
No, it's ridiculous, why would he need thatkind of information-he knows the principal and theory of the trap based on what he's seen in action and what he sees now.
Based on that, anybody here could replicated it with the help of craftsmen.



Because this kind of thing, my friend, is the backstory to revolutions in astral-nautical fleet design, the foundation of ancient empires, the corruption of holy bloodlines and deities.... this is the little interesting detail that grows and grows like the mold in the rolled up carpet in the back of the storage rental unit that in ten years time no one who even hears about it will be able to ignore...
Pete's priorities are sadly far off-based...

The bottle of air that was placed into Pharrah's chest was made of jade. Hasn't jade been mentioned elsewheres?
A 'woman in red' touches Pete's rope, sending Pete through a magic mirror, and leaving a good deal of the rope covered in blood, which Pete has the sense to discard, but not enough to burn right away, and upon returning, when finding all that is left of that rope is a single drop of blood and a strand of silk, as well as the bonus of a demon which had been so paralyzed by fear and murdered silently in close proximity to his party which had been initially made unaware of these series events based on willful omission on Pete's part...




I'm trying to take unreasonable measures, thorough detail work and a cargo convoy of creativity to decorate the larger story arcs here.
You have failed.
Moving forward to defeat Acererak is the point, expecting me to provide the metallurgical profile and dimensions of this and any other trap is ridiculous.
Pete doesn't even have a magnet, ruler and chemicals to do any of those things...
No manner of rolling a dice would have given a better result. Yes, I cannot and will not give you, or anyone else, the exact physical working of every trap...
I can't because I've spent the last years of my life learning how to create stories, and avoiding physics, math and such things like a plague.
Pete has received the theory, that is more than enough for ANY purposes.
If he wishes to recreate this, I repeat, he is more than capable of doing so at this point.


Do you really want to determine the success of these things by a single twenty sided roll?
Yes, that's how Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 edition works.


We're facing sequels in this campaign, yes? So higher level content, yes? I'm trying to make it so there's more than a kill list backing us if I make it to round two...
*Spoiler Alert*
If I gave each character in the party a thousand man army armed with vorpal weapons, and each character a vorpal version of their weapons and inventory, that still wouldn't put a dent in Acererak's plans.
But that's hardly the point...
...all that Pete is doing is...
I still don't fully get it, and I don't really want to...
Pete has the knowledge of the trap, that's enough to go about this idea of equipping himself for the future, but looking at his party members, PC and NPC alike, who've gotten thus far without such eccentricities, I'd say they'd considerably appreciate it if he focused his efforts more greatly toward getting their hands around Acererak's bony neck...
Directly.


Speaking of insane and earlier, did you get my PM this morning? No rush, just want to be sure it actually sent. I can forward it if not.
Indeed I have, I'll respond once I consult a book.
I've been busy today you know.
:smalltongue:


If there is any chance of acquiring the launcher, that saves years of R&D compared to what the simple beam spears would lead to.
:smallannoyed:
There's no need for R&D, Pete has the knowledge already, all he has to do is implement it...
It's a simple, compact siege weapon with vorpal blades instead of conventional spears hooked up to triggers and pressure plates...
He'd best take his skills, time and money to issues that are actively trying to kill him and his party mates.

And that trap is a one-shot thing...
If Pete and Maki are hoping that the vorpal blades will reignite, they won't-they'll have to escape the Tomb, without destroying it(Misaat), and wait for it to 'reset'...
Unless they decide to check out the ones in the pit and risk death...

Nobody is standing on the pressure plate...
Harley orders the party members to stand to either side of it, outside the 'vestibule' in the corridor.
From there, everyone can see what he's doing, and an immediate effects mean Harley will be the only person who suffers...
The coffers and chests, except for Quin's, have been lined up along the wall, and at Eduardo and Maki's prompting, Harley drags the first chest to the centre of the vestibule, armed with his hammer...
Hassadur, watches with the Master, his tongue ficking in and out as snakes' do.
Pharrah smacks her forehead, "Oh yeah! My ring of X-ray Vision!"


You have no idea how much this one scared me.
I still can't believe I didn't get Quin...
"Touch the coffer and turn to stone!"
It would have been HILARIOUS!


Damnit Oaysis, don't make me bust out Brad Pitt again. What's in the box?!
Sorry!


Did the flame-door exist just as a trap, or is it actually a door with some hallway behind it?
Ask an NPC
Oh, what the hell-it's a mechanical flame trap-blank wall...


Where is the secret door behind the curtain?
There's a secret door in "1", and at "3".

"Alright, Pharrah, we're going to switch positions-and then look inside each chest..."
"Got it."
"Don't touch them."
"Don't look at them directly either..."
"WHY NOT!?!?"
"Explosive Runes or a Symbol spell inside, to specifically stop you..."
"You're making that up!"
"I've done it before..."
Pharrah raises an eybrow, "What is it that you say you do?"
"Not important right now, get to work..."
"Great."
"Good luck."
"Thanks!", she rolls her eyes.
She looks through the chests carefully, and reports her findings...

Chest
1 Lead, can't see Destroyed in fire...
2 Snakes in stasis Tossed into pit
3 Bag of Cold Coins Emptied by Daina
4 Lead, can't see Also, destroyed by fire...
5 Dagger and a skull
6 Filled with dirt

Coffer
1 Lead, can't see Had snakes
2 Snakes in stasis
3 Various coins Emptied by Daina
4 Scorpions and spiders in stasis
5 Large gemstones Emptied by Daina
6 Knife trap
7 Large gemstones Emptied by Daina
8 Various coins, gas trap Opened by Harley successfully
9 Skull, acid trap Opened by Harley successfully
10 Lead, can't see Contained some coins
11 Snakes in stasis
12 Various coins, spider and scorpions in stasis Opened by Harley successfully
13 Various coins Emptied by Daina
14 Knife trap Tossed in pit
15 Lead, can't see Destroyed in fire...
16 Large gemstones, snakes in stasis
17 Large gemstones Emptied by Daina
18 Various coins Emptied by Daina
19 Acid trap Claimed by Prescott
20 Various coins Emptied by Daina
21 Lead, can't see Destroyed in fire...
22 Wire trap Tossed in pit
23 Various coins Emptied by Daina
24 Lead, can't see Destroyed in fire...

I think Prescott and Quin have blown this little haul wide open have potentially saved lives and time...
350 EXPerience to them for simply paying attention...


Guess it's time to get back to the story...
....


The blade pierces the air bellow at the base of the launch tube, and there is a loud hissing sound, to which Hassadur responds back in kind.
Nothing happens to the trap, when Maki is off or on the plate.
Having listened carefully to Pharrah's reports, Harley indicates for Daina to takes a hold of the chests and coffers that the Apprentice has declared to be 'safe'...
"Before I handle these other 'danger' chests, I'll have a look at the one Quin found... Great job Pharrah."
"It's what I do!"
"About time we got some treasure in here!"
Daina grins, "I hear that..."
"You know, Temples of Pelor are always accepting donations..."
Harley grins as he indicates for the jade coffer to be presented for his inspection.
"Will do Winky, say Pharrah would you mind parting with that ring?"
"Nah, it's got sentimental value!"
"Fair enough..."

Phew, long post.
The amount of coins and gems are randomly generated.
I'm going to go generate the haul, and then see how far Harley can get through those chests and coffers before something bad happens...
And of course, there are the lead ones...
...oh, the lead ones...
...is it worth the risk?
:smallbiggrin:

Dranga turns to Prescott, "Did your wand detect any other exits from that odd room?"
Welby and Winky watch in awe as Daina picks the lock on the first chest full of coins.
"Paydirt!"
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiny!"

[Ditto]

I didn't see the need to ask an NPC, I was standing at the door of the room when I cast Knock. I figured there would be a trap-wall, or a doorway standing there. :smallsmile: Did the Knock open door @1 and 3 as well? Pharrah's knock hit 2 secret doors 30 feet apart, so I figure this hit at *least* the door at 3...

"Yes, milady... 2, one to the east and one west behind those tapestries. Fancy burning some poor art? I've got a few pints of oil that would do well to clear the way, and mayhaps we'll not loose our feet while the flames do our work for us."

What I wouldn't give for Pathfinder cantrips right now... infinite use of the spell Spark would be delightful. :smallbiggrin: In my RL group, we found a room full of curtains, and the Inquisitor (who had been declaring everything in the dungeon blasphemous) didn't get a chance to get a word in before I declared the room unholy and ignited all of the curtains.

...turns out they were just curtains. But one hid a secret door, so it was totally worth it.

Say, how big are these coffers? Size of a shoebox? Maybe I want to pocket one with an acid trap, just for gits and shiggles if I ever get mugged.

[Misaat]

The part with the Plate was supposed to be a Joke! XD I even wrote it in spoilers! It would have been hilarious if that had re ignated the trap and i had caused Pete's death XD

Maki rolls his eyes when he hears about the contents of the chests.

" Gold , Gems who cares isnt there any sword or armor something we can use to blow stuff up or the like? "

[Verisimilitude]

Pete frowns. That didn't work. Moving in front of the launcher he tries to pull the tube out with both hands, leaning as he pulls, to empty the launcher before it jams or cycles again and actually hits someone important.

[TheOasysMaster]

Did the Knock open door @1 and 3 as well?
Not that he can see...


...and yet minutes later you still managed to send me that reply. I appreciate it.
Seriously though...
That last question about multiclassing penalties has sent me scrambling for rulebooks and has left my head thoroughly scrambled...


Say, how big are these coffers? Size of a shoebox?
Exactly shoebox sized.


It would have been hilarious if that had re ignated the trap and i had caused Pete's death
You and I, Misaat, we have the same kind of humour.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd57/OasysWebmaster/forward-1.jpg


" Gold , Gems who cares isnt there any sword or armor something we can use to blow stuff up or the like? "
Can't please the barbarian, can I?


He doesn't value his own opinion, you know. You call it paranoia, but it's not the others he's afraid of...
Point to you.

See these, Veris:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwacha
http://www.grandhistorian.com/chinesesiegewarfare/siegeweapons-handheldrocketlaunchers.html


"After you, Master Wizard!"
Pharrah punches Maki in the arm, "That's why we've got you!"
As he tries to move one of the launch tubes, Pete finds that it's literally impossible.
The tube is welded as part of the frame of the trap.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd57/OasysWebmaster/forward-1.jpg

[TheOasysMaster]

Ah...
The hilt fits snugly into the launcher.
Nothing happens after that, other than the click as the launcher accepts the tube.
Pete can feel he can still work the gold tube out if he so wishes to.

[Verisimilitude]

Pete pulls the hilt out of the launcher with both hands.

[Misaat]

" Right right but i wouldnt mind to be better equiped for the time we confront acererak... like you know a Flaming sword an armor made of dragonscales ... A valquirie around my arm and a helmet that shoots LIGHTNING OUT OF ITS EYE VISORS MAN THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! "

[TheOasysMaster]

Just a click? So did the hissing not happen? very OOC: the issue is that Pete put it in backwards, right?

Either way he'll want to remove it. If it did hiss, he wants it out because he thinks it's preparing to fire, if it didn't hiss, he just wants it out because it didn't light up and Daina probably would like it as salvage.
No, I thought Pete had stuck a weapon inside, thus puncturing the bellow...
But if he's putting the original projectile back in, then it'd fit perfectly...

"I think Daina's got one, Maki."

[Misaat]

" A Helmet that shoots lightning? *_* "

[TheOasysMaster]

Pharrah shakes her head, "No no... A flaming sword!"

[Misaat]

" Awesome Daina can i see the sword??? "

[Elfstone]

If anyone goes near the curtains, Quin will be unhappy. Flame Strike unhappy. As for lead coffers, drop em off a pit or something.

And the results from the Jade coffer please?

[Verisimilitude]

Maybe they don't arm until the operator is clear. Pete sees that's reasonable. Stepping out of the closet, leaving the perfectly accepted missile in the launcher, he closes the door and looks for any hint of the familiar glow he saw before. Then touching the panel he opens the door and attempts to manually remove the projectile, applying the tools at hand if he finds it resists.

[Ditto]

I"m not going near the curtains, per se, I'm throwing the oil near them though - so a flame strike at that point would be perfect! :smallbiggrin:

"Those lead boxes are spooky... I'd not risk opening them at arms reach, if half of these contain snakes and acid. Why don't we do as Quin advises - Harley, bust the lock off of the coffer, then toss it in that pit over there to pop it open, one at a time. Same for the chests, come to think of it. I can pick up anything useful that comes out using Mage Hand. If it's a snake, then we've just made that pit a tiny bit more dangerous. Anyone falling in will be dead from the vorpal blades before they worry about venom, I imagine!"

Prescott unshoulders his haversack and reaches deep within, drawing out two pints of oil. Looking back to Dranga, he says, "Care to join me in a little redecorating?" and hands her one. Eyeing the acid trap box, he picks that up and stuffs it into his haversack. "Never know when that might come in handy..."

[Human Paragon 3]

Except, the Master points out, the vorpal weapons in the pit might destroy the boxes and unleash whatever waits inside.

As for the treasure itself, though I agree the coins are useless, or worse than useless in the tomb, the gemstones will be handy. They can be used as spell components.

[Ditto]

"The blades are pretty far spread, you could probably walk between them... I don't think it'll be too hard to drop the box and have it pop open on the floor rather than hitting a spear. Opening the boxes is the goal I have in mind... justn not when we're standing next to them."

[TheOasysMaster]

Daina, taking a break from opening the safe chests, Daina pulls the sword from amongst her own belongings, and hands it to Maki, entrusting him with the command word.
"It was Jake's."
Pharrah handles the coffer carefully, admiring the fine handiwork...
"The coffer itself is worth quite a bit, Quin..."
She squints.
I see seven potions vials, ten gemstones, a scroll and what appears to be a map
case..."
Having closed the door, strain and strain as he might, Pete doesn't see any light coming out from beneath the door.
It doesn't take any effort to remove the gold tube again, pressing it down, the grip comes free and Pete is able to work it free.
Harley nods, "Fair enough... I'll do it now..."
With his boot, he shoves the first chest into the pit, and leaps back as it bursts into a gout of flame and fire, consuming the box.
"Felt rather light anyways..."
He pushes the second chest aside, and takes the fourth to the edge of the pit.
He shoves it in with a boot again, and grunts as the box bursts into flame again.
He sets the chest filled with dirt aside.
"Could be useful..."
Carefully, Daina sets aside the bag of coins, and moves the chest they came from over to work on the next one.
Taking up the first lead lined coffer, and laughs when it splits apart, releasing snakes into the bottom of the pit.
Taking the second, fourth, and eleventh coffers, he sends their contents, more snakes, scorpions and spiders to join their companions below.
The snakes are bright red, small things, and the scorpions bright blue set upon the yellow spiders before the eight legged things can crawl out of the pit.
Hassadur, opening another Dimension Door-
"Am I the only one who finds it strange that he can do THAT!?!?"
And the large snake appears at the bottom of the pit, Harley peering over the edge blanches as Hassadur doggedly hunts down each and every single one of the red rattlers, devouring them whole.
"I don't know where your pet came from, Eduardo..." he says, shaking his head. "But I think it's a rough place."
Opening the third coffer, Daina dumps the coins onto a piece of cloth, cackling gleefully.
Moving onto another coffer, she and Daina gasp and marvel at the black sapphires that tumble out, holding the dark gems in their hands.
Once Hassadur has finished his meal, he returns to the side of his Master, and Harley freely tosses the chest with the knife trap inside.
When it hits the ground, the box bursts, splintering and send a cloud of knives spinning amongst the vorpal blades...
Some hit the glowing beams of light, and are cut to bits and scraps.
Another coffer reveals yet more gemstones, more black sapphires.
The coffer containing the skull and the acid trap is hefted.
"Eduardo, there's a skull in this? Shall I open it and get it for you to have a discussion with?"
He sets it aside with the chests containing dirt, and the other containing another skull and dagger.
He kicks the next coffer protected by lead into the pit, and groans when coins and gems pour out amongst the warring scorpions and spiders.
Taking the twelfth coffer, filled with coins and spiders, Harley sets this aside as well.
It doesn't take long for Harley to make rrogress, tossing the unwanted chests into the pit and leaving the 'interesting' ones for further investigation.
The wire trapped coffer, bursts, releasing high tension wires from a dens ball, that would have sliced through flesh.
Being left with the 'trapped' coffers, Harley uses a thin knife to cut out the bottom of the boxes, tossing the unexploded components to their traps while keeping the valuables.
By the time he's done, he has added a a blue dagger, two skulls and various coins and gems to Daina's pile.
"Decent, that only leaves this pile with the dirt in it!"
Daina hefts the coins into a make shift bag, "Four hundred and forty one gold pieces in coins and atleast twenty-two hundred gold pieces with those dark sapphires... And the gemstones in Quin's coffer are worth about sixty gold pieces each, rubies..."
"Nice haul!"
Dranga has a look at the scrolls found inside the jade coffer while Daina examines the map...
It greatly appears to be a thin and stretched out sheet of human skin...
"So, what's next, bold adventurers! I don't see any ways forward!"

[Verisimilitude]

Pete approaches the group and without comment adds the gold hilt he is carrying to the pile of treasure. Looking down into the pit he asks "Would anyone like to fireball those insects before the survivors climb out?"

[Misaat]

What kind of sword is it? Flaming what? And what is the command word? (for roleplaying purposes)

" I'll use it in his memory!... Until he appears again... like everyone else who dies in this place... "

[Human Paragon 3]

It certainly couldn't hurt to talk with the spirits of the departed. At the very least, they might offer some advice on what NOT to do... I do not have the ritual prepared right now, however, so it will have to wait.

Eduardo examines the dark sapphires.

Curious...

Aren't sapphires usually blue? Does the fact they are black have anything to do with how they would act as spell components? Necromantic spells usually require black onyx, for example. Does Eduardo think that these black jewels could substitute?

[roll0] Spellcraft
[roll1] Religion
[roll2] Appraise

I'll take a look at the daggers, too.

Detect magic, and then:

[roll3] Spellcraft
[roll4] Religion
[roll5] Appraise

[Ditto]

Hassadur just ate all of the critters in the pit, no worries.

As someone already said, if Maki would like, Winky could cast Continual Flame on the sword so it glowed aflame like a torch! No real fire damage, though. :smallamused:

Seeing that the interest of the group had shifted completely to the treasure sorting, Prescott holds off a minute on igniting his oil and instead uses mage hand to lift the scattered haul from broken boxes out of the vorpal pit. "More loot for the pile. There are two hidden doors behind the tapestries in the rumbling room, Winky. I'm about to go clear those obstructions..."

[TheOasysMaster]

"Don't do that! They're still fighting it out! The scorpions are winning!"
Harley shakes his head, "I don't know if Jake is gonna make it back, I asked Dresden about him, and I couldn't get a straight answer..."
He frowns.
"Bob, Trevor, Snake and that James fellow, apparently are being 'punished'..."
"What 'bout Shudu?"
"He's made a break for it. Dresden doesn't believe he'll make it..."


What kind of sword is it? Flaming what? And what is the command word? (for roleplaying purposes)
One handed bastard sword, and it's flaming as in it's on fire!
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#flaming
You choose.
:smalltongue:
Nothing stupid though.
:smallannoyed:

Those were some pretty terrible rolls, Gaurd...
:smalltongue:


Eduardo has heard of black gemstones before, and knows they're rare, specially created and sought out by those practising various dark arts...
He's heard how they're...
Fickle things.
Stories of spellcasters using them to enhance their darker magics are rife with the victims of those spells using their own magics to turn the gems back on their users...
Only the strength of one's will can control them, as the legends say...
Unfortunately, Eduardo has no idea how he himself would use 'em...
Perhaps someone else could shed some light on them?


Hassadur just ate all of the critters in the pit, no worries.
Just the snakes.


"Let's do it Prescott!"
The archon creates a burst of flame on the ceiling to show he's ready.

[TheOasysMaster]

As of this point...
The end is in sight...
...just asking as a headsup...
Who'd be up for Return to the Tomb of Horrors?
My 'schedule', is to sort of push or speed it up, so we can finish this module by December at the latest...
If we can do that, I'd have January to make my final prepartions for Return, and we could start in February again...

I'd make a new recruitment thread, and send PMs to everyone expressing interest, and we'd start up with a large crowd, and weed out the unsavorys before the adventure truly begins...

One problem I'm facing is the time frame...
Return to the Tomb of Horrors is supposed to take place twenty years after the events that occur in Tomb of Horrors...
That'll leave most of your characters in the grizzled, hardened and bitter kind of age...
I was thinking five or seven years, ten at max would be best...
What do you guys think?

[Misaat]

So its a +2 Bastard Flaming sword then?

" So what now ? Do we keep on going? "

[TheOasysMaster]

So its a +2 Bastard Flaming sword then?
Yes.

"Yeah, I'll take the door on the west wall, " Daina points. "And Harley can take the east one. Pete, do you think you can do anything about the floor while we work in that room?"

[Verisimilitude]

"I'll try. What was the problem?" Pete walks out of the vorpal hall and arrives in the 'rumbling room' where he rapidly discerns the issue. "Ah." Pete sits down on the floor and keeps an eye on the walls as the floor shifts, knowing that there is a simple solution either way, but it does matter whether the walls are moving with the floor or remaining motionless.

[TheOasysMaster]

With a +20 bonus, Pete auto-succeeds...
He cannot be made to fall over...

Daina dashes forward into the room, and immediately, the floor shifts, and she sticks her hands out to maintain her balance. Harley falls flat on his back with a cry...
"It's clearly a mechanical trap... Built to move with and against weight and movement on top of it..."
"It's lame..."

[TheOasysMaster]

With a +20 bonus, Pete auto-succeeds...
He cannot be made to fall over...

Daina dashes forward into the room, and immediately, the floor shifts, and she sticks her hands out to maintain her balance. Harley falls flat on his back with a cry...
"It's clearly a mechanical trap... Built to move with and against weight and movement on top of it..."
"It's lame..."

[Human Paragon 3]

I would rate my interest in Return to the Tomb of Horrors as very yes. After all, we know it's Eduardo's destiny to go back... As for the time between, doesn't make a difference to me. 53 y.o. Eduardo won't be a lot different than 43 or 33 y.o. Eduardo.

Welby! Eduardo calls. What do you make of these dark gems? I've heard of their like being used in spellcasting rituals before, but the stories are contradictory. I haven't spent much time studying the mechanical side of spellcasting, but you seem to have a knack for such things.

[TheOasysMaster]

Welby zips down to pluck one from Eduardo's hand...
"I've never heard of them before... But I think these are very useful gems..."
He returns it to Eduardo.
"You can add one of these gems to the typical spell components needed to cast any spell; arcane, divine, primal, etc... What's really important is the type of spell that's being cast and what the subject is... Necromancy, Shadow, Evil, Death, Destruction... Maybe even Fire, War, Trickery and Chaos... The user can use the gems dark power to empower their attacks and naturally weaken the defences of their targets, but with training, the gem can be used back on it's holder..."

Dark Sapphires
Use the Dark Sapphires as a Spell Component consumed at the end of the spells casting, turning into gray dust as a Free Action.
When using the Dark Sapphire, make a Will Save with a secret DC to Empower, Maximize, Extend, Widen, Enlarge and Heighten the spell OR to take away the subjects ability to roll a save against the spell. If the spell being cast does not allow an initial save this option is not possible.
The feats can be stacked as with any normal spell, but this will raise the DC...
A Will Save can be used to assume control of the Sapphire, redirecting its effects.

EDIT: Using the Sapphires on the undead, in Destruction, Shadow, Death and such related targets and types, will increase the DC to impose one's will on the gemstone and draw out the desired effects.
On the otherhand, the undead can also manipulate the gemstones to their will easily.
I know this isn't...
Very eloquent...
...but I think it'll do.

[Human Paragon 3]

So I could, for example, use a gem to cast "halt undead" without a save, but the target would get a will save to redirect the spell back on me? What if I am not a legal target, being not undead myself?

[TheOasysMaster]

So I could, for example, use a gem to cast "halt undead" without a save, but the target would get a will save to redirect the spell back on me? What if I am not a legal target, being not undead myself?

You have officially mastered the technique.
The target wouldn't be able to use 'halt undead' back on Eduardo, but would have the option of wresting control of the Sapphire from him...

Furthermore, having control of the Sapphire is enough to use it as a component...
So, let's say that Eduardo casts Halt Undead on Acererak...
He uses the Sapphire to deny the demi-lich a typical Save...
Eduardo makes an opposed Will Save against the Sapphire's DC to successfully deny Acererak a Save.
Acererak would be Halted if Eduardo succeeds, and the gem is consumed.
If Acererak is not Halted, as in Eduardo failed, Acererak can a) do nothing, and the Sapphire is consumed or b) sustain the Sapphire with his Will and wrest control of it from Eduardo, in which case he makes an opposed Will Save against the Master of Death...
If Eduardo succeeds, the Sapphire is consumed in the process...
If Eduardo fails to stop Acererak from taking the Sapphire from him, the Sapphire is now the demi-lichs and not consumed, allowing him to use it.
Now, Acererak, cackling wickedly, casts Magic Missile, Maximizing and Empowering it, and the process begins anew...
Potentially...
It can go back and forth over one Sapphire...


Consider it as this...
Initially, Eduardo isn't testing his Will against Acererak, but against the Sapphire to force it to help him and give it its power...
The only time Eduardo faces directly against the lich is if they're fighting over a Sapphire...
And remember, using the Sapphire is a Free Action while casting a spell...
BOTH WAYS...
So, all the spellcasters in the party could use Sapphires against Acererak, and he could try to wrest control of them all at once...

[Misaat]

What is this about a return to the tomb of horrors? :smallamused:

" You know what i would do if i where Acererak? I would put ANOTHER mechanism in that one so if its disabled the floor opens up and swallow us into a pit full of flaming spears... Or the like "

[Verisimilitude]

Pete calls back to the vorpal hall. "Prescott, Quin, Pharrah, when you're ready, could you join us in this room? You are all well prepared for it."

[TheOasysMaster]

Oh, no, the walls do NOT move...
Just the floor.

[TheOasysMaster]

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd57/OasysWebmaster/itscurtainsforya.jpg

[Misaat]

The Asphixiation Chambers... Subtle

[Human Paragon 3]

Yeah, I am kind of wondering about that name. All I can think of is Most Extreme Asphyxiation Challenge!

DON'T GET ASPHYXIATED!

/Right you are, Tom.

Eduardo gingerly handles the dark sapphire, turning it over in his hand and holding it to the light.

Why, he muses, would Acererack leave such a potent weapon in the tomb? One of these gems in the hands of a strong spellcaster could easily reduce the lich to a pile of ash.

We must be very careful about using these. Acererack no doubt knows something about them that we do not, if he placed them here for us to find and use.

[Misaat]

" You know what i've been thinking? "

Says Maki suddenly more serious

" I think Acererak does this things because he is bored. Think about it. If he wanted to kill us. He could have made the Tomb collapse on us the second we entered. But he built all this to amuse himself. Like a kid building a rat trap . I dont know what he is doing on the depths of the Tomb. But it must be really boring if he needs to make all this just to keep himself entertained... "

[Ditto]

"True enough, Maki... perhaps he makes these mazes so convoluted so people march in after him, and he can just take their gear after they die of hunger! Who can know... I don't profess to understand someone who has pursued lichdom.

"Speaking of silly games, why don't you crafty folks step out of the slanting room? I have these oils ready to clear the way, we already know where the hidden doors are. I'm as keen as you to avoid touching anything, so we'll just ignite these clothy bits between us and the doors." He hefts the pints at the ready in the door way, still avoiding stepping inside and possibly falling and covering himself with a smashed oil container.

I didn't know they'd made a 3.5 conversion for RttToH. What fun! I'd definitely be interested. 20 years isn't a problem, maybe I'll go up an age category. :smalltongue: Welby won't be a charming upstart child any more, whatever will he do with that attitude?

I have a friend I'd be happy to rope into it if you're looking to fill up slots with serious players, when the time comes.

[TheOasysMaster]

Yeah, I am kind of wondering about that name. All I can think of is Most Extreme Asphyxiation Challenge!

DON'T GET ASPHYXIATED!

/Right you are, Tom.

The Asphixiation Chambers... Subtle

:smallamused:

"That's just the point, Eduardo... They can go either way... If one tries to use them, Acererak could just as easily crush them with it... It's a powerful device against the undead, and in the hands of the undead... I think we should leave them alone-they'll sell pretty well if we ever get them out of here..."
Pharrah nods, bouncing one of the sapphires in her hand.
"You've got to be very confident to use them... They depend on the strength of one's Will..."
"I think you're right Maki... Though I wonder if he's the kind of person who simply enjoys challenging others... I know we can best him though!"
Upon Prescott's suggestion, Daina and Harley back hastily away from the curtains, giving him more than enough room to avoid being struck by the oil.

[TheOasysMaster]

[whistling wind and tumbleweed]
Where is everybody!
:smallfrown:


:smalltongue:

[Human Paragon 3]

How many dark sapphires are there?

[Misaat]

Maki stands with the other while his companion sets things on fire

Not much to do XD

[TheOasysMaster]

[roll0] Black Sapphires


Not much to do XD
Fair enough

[Verisimilitude]

"This place reminds me more of a training ground than a fortification. Perhaps Acererak tests his lieutenants or prospective recruits in this place. It would explain the low trap density, the uniqueness of each section, and the various ambient magical effects that are active here."

[Ditto]

Prescott lobs a pint each at the east and west walls, aiming high to shatter against the tapestries and give them a good dousing. "Winky, if you'd care to do the honors?"

There've been posts from four players steadily since 24 hours ago. I'd say we're still quite in the thick of it... and the NPCs have been sorting the loot, mostly. Let's have them split it up and pack everything into our bags of holding and haversacks and get ready to move forward!

Also, I know that Winky's light beam doesn't really do fire damage, but he was so excited to help and it's totally cinematic, so have him go ahead and ignite those depressing drapes. :smallsmile:

[Human Paragon 3]

I'll hold the sapphires, Eduardo says. Welby, Quin, Dranga, Prescott... if you want any, speak up.

[TheOasysMaster]

"There are seventeen..." says Dranga.
"We each take two..."
"...and Daina and Harley will take the rest between them... If we do need them, it'll be good to have them spread out..."
There is a whoosh of flames as the Winyk lights the oil, and the curtains quickly burn and fall to the floor, revealing two concealed doors on either side of the room...
As Dranga divides up the sapphires, Daina and Harley move to investigate the doors...
The room shudders again, though both thieves maintain their balance.
Pharrah rolls up the map in her hand, offering it to Eduardo to examine.
"That's a rather dismal idea, Pete... Did you see any such thing when you looked in that mirror? Anybody?"

[Ditto]

"Two suits me fine." Prescott looks after the theives from the doorway, awaiting their findings on the options for moving forward. "I think this place definitely has something of a training ground feel to it, Pete, but I can't imagine it was devised with such a straightforward purpose. Perhaps something from the lich's past that he refashioned into this lair, twisted into this mess."

[TheOasysMaster]

If Winky had a mouth, he would gasp...
Prescott sees the smouldering curtains suddenly change...
The burnt cloths twisting and growing around Harley and Daina until the thieves are hidden from view without a sound...

[Human Paragon 3]

No, nothing like that, replied Eduardo.

[TheOasysMaster]

The cloths keep changing, becoming a dark oozing mass, with the kicking and struggling form of Daina and Harley visible inside...
Before his eyes, Prescott sees each large mass divide in half, with two of the masses slowly squelching to block the door way and move into the corridor...

[Verisimilitude]

Pete answers without hesitation. "The mirror showed me visions of myself, of a grand army preparing for war, and an offer of championship. Did you not see the same sort... - Stranglers?!" Pete reaches for his pocket and swaps his probe for his razor. Turning his head to the door leading back to the vorpal hall he shouts "CONTACT!"

[TheOasysMaster]

With the black oozes blocking the door, nobody hears a thing.

[Human Paragon 3]

EDIT: Nevermind, evidently i didn't hear pete. However, if there were living oozes in the room with us, my deathwatch should have picked them up.

Eduardo leaps up, Pax at the ready. Moving to the door (but not blocking the entryway) he peers through to assess the situation.

[roll0]Spot
[roll1] Knowledge religion

Also, what does my deathwatch show? Are the curtain alive, constructs... what? Deathwatch does reveal constructs.