The Depths of Korimir V2 [IC]

[darklink_shadow]

The thunder shook the air and the rain pounded into the cobbled streets. Orbs the size of your fists assaulted your body as you trudged through the streets, looking for the Red Feather Inn. In the darkness, with colors so muted, you begin to doubt you'd notice the telltale sign even if you were staring right at it, but as soon as you think that you prove yourself wrong.

Amazingly crimson in this sea of grey, you realize some magic must be in place on the sign. To call it red would be to call warm fire, or the night damp; it burned a sharp, almost angry scarlet pronouncing with a silent roar: I AM HERE! AND HERE IS YOUR GOAL! As if it exuded heat as well as color, you feel yourself warm. Within minutes you are inside, seated at a table as a merry bunch of halflings dance on stage, and a beauty of an elf waltzes around the room distributing mead and stew. For a few coins, you could eat and drink, and doing so would fend off the cold that lingers in your bones, but you're to meet with Aldrin.

A few weeks ago, or perhaps it only feels it was such a long time ago, you read a desperate plea for help: They don't believe me, but death is coming to Korimir, and now I have proof! I will pay for any who will merely listen to my tale with an open mind, and handsomely if you join me in discovering and ending the source of doom that I have seen coming!

The price of listening to his story was 12 gold, well worth the trip to the city for many, but the promised reward of ending the threat was a hundred thousand gold, to be split amongst any who were key in the destruction of the undescribed threat. Just by surveying the room, you can tell limited few aren't from the city, and, including you, only five are strong enough to have answered the call. Just as you notice them, you notice too that they have noticed you. One of the five beckons the others over.

----

I am Aldrin. This city is about to be beset by legions of undead. I am from a distant city, but my dreams give me warning of an army building here, and if they are not stopped, the world will enter a new age of agonized misfortune and war. I'm not sure from where the legions will come, but I know they will ultimately spring from the earth and level this city. I have no proof, of course, but my dreams. Though, if you sleep here tonight, I will show you my dreams while you slumber. Who among you is willing to see what I've seen? And who among you finds themselves filled with questions? The seer's eyes turn to Lotharos, as if he knew the majority of the questions would come from him.

[Surrealistik]

Clad in decadent robes, the addressed human wears an expression of barely suppressed incredulity, apparent disbelief leaking through into the nuance of his features despite an obvious attempt to conceal it.

"I believe you mentioned a reward; what guarantee do we have of compensation? Have you an escrow account? Further, what are we to do precisely anyways?"

He looks expectantly towards Aladrin, an eyebrow piqued as restless fingers absentmindedly knead and twist through a rather copious brown beard.

[Meltheim]

Tombak

The halfling's eyes glitter as Lotharos mentions a reward. "Yes, please, elaborate on this 'reward' scenario."

[darklink_shadow]

The man Aldrin frowned at the interest being focused more on the reward than the mission. I can give you the reward at any time after you agree to do the task, if you wish, but I will enchant the bag it is in too heavily for you to take the gold inside until the task is done. My magic can only do so much, but I can guarantee you can't open the bag until your mission is complete.

As he spoke, his finger twirled in the air, slowly wrapping a string around his finger that appeared from seemingly nowhere. Once there was enough, he pulled down on the string and a small rift in time-space opened, revealing a tiny bag. The contents of this bag, he started, grabbing the bag and opening to reveal a space nearly a hundred times as large as the bag filled to the brim with golden coins. should suffice, right?

Flicking the top closed, he murmured a spell, then placed his other palm on the bag before dropping it on the table. As for the specifics of your task, I cannot say. When this conversation ends, something nasty is going to happen. Before you can wonder what he means, you realize the whole tavern has frozen in place. When I release the spell, I will be gone and the first attack will happen. You'll have to figure it out from there. When you are all satisfied the job is well done, the seal will break on your bag of reward.

[Nightgaun7]

"Well, guess that settles the question of takin' the job." The dragonborn warrior unsheathes his blade and hefts his shield, ready for whatever may come.

[Surrealistik]

Lotharos' countenance is muddled, as though the human didn't quite know whether to chuckle at the inanity of the situation or frown at its obvious gravity. A wry half-smile seems to be about as decisive a reaction as he can muster at the dragonborne's quip.

"Suppose so."

He shrugs, leaning back in his chair with a resigned sigh, whilst his hands draw away from his beard, folding behind to cradle the wizard's head.

"Makes no difference I guess; nothing for me outside of this town save debts and those wanting to collect them. So if there's no going back and no specifics to familiarize ourselves with, anything you might advise before we face this threat of yours?"

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Typical!" Gudrun muses, "Too busy drooling over the gold to consider why someone who supposedly has 10k platinum to hand out, and sufficient magic to keep it out of their greedy little hands, would need to hire a bunch of straggly mercenaries. Do none of them question where the money came from, or whether it is even real? For all they know, the only reason those angry undead are descending upon the town is that this Aldrin fellow cleaned out their tomb. Just peachy."

Resigned to the notion that she's not going to finish her tea in peace, she turns her attention to her surroundings. Here a table to gain height advantage, the counter and a low wall to duck behind... If it weren't for the inevitable bystanders, you could do worse than a tavern common room as a battle ground.

[darklink_shadow]

The man smiled, almost apologetically. I can see very little beyond this point. Whomever or whatever you face is powerful enough to block my scrying. Don't die, complete your contract, and be prepared for anything. I see an ancient force, not aligned to either faction; good nor evil. And I see hordes of evil. And I see you.

The man stood up, and looked around, suddenly frightened. I... something is... Clasping his hands together he begins to glow slightly. The great evil force is aware of me now. It is blocking me out. I am-- Gone.

Without any noise before, the roar of the tavern was deafening, but you managed to make out a scream of fear and the gurgling of it being cut off short. Floorboards erupted into splinters as angry ghoulish claws tore through them. In the time it took you to stand, a dozen skeletons stood angrily slashing at anything they could reach, apparently unaware of what was living and what was inanimate, seeking only to destroy everything.

[Surrealistik]

Started by the sudden attack as the floorboards beneath are rent apart, Lotharos all but throws himself out of his chair, finding tenuous purchase on the table before him.

"Time to do or die; and I've come too far for the latter."

Pushing himself off its wooden surface, a snap of his fingers prefaces the sudden appearance of an ornately etched iron staff and crystalline sphere, each occupying an expectant hand, as though they had always been there. Thrust towards the undead, his orb's core begins to pulse and throb with faint, indigo light; a promise of arcana to come.

Initiative: [roll0]

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"What the...?"
All this talk of dreamy dreams had set the goliath's head nodding, but when the wizard began his money haggling, she knew this was going to be a long talk and set herself for a light rest. However, she is wakened from her peaceful nap by the return of the tavern noise. She barely has time to blurt out her question before the undead make their explosive entrance. Spinning from her chair, she draws her sword and takes a quick accounting of the surroundings. Reaching out with her senses, she begins to gather the forces of nature to her call.

Initiative - [roll0]

[Meltheim]

Tombak

Flipping his dagger back into its sheath, Tombak draws his rapier and stands, like a dancer, poised to pounce. "All right then, this should be interesting!"

Initiative: [roll0]

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Before she is good and well aware of what the others are doing, Gudrun finds herself on top of the table, having already fired upon the two closest skeletons. Hunter's instinct.

"This will be interesting," the halfling says while sizing up his target, like a wildcat eyeing its prey. "Indeed," Gudrun thinks, while taking a deep breath and nocking another arrow, "it is always interesting to find out how new allies' strengths complement your own."

[Nightgaun7]

With a wave of his sword, Belshaazar directs the halfling rogue to the most imminent threat. "Go for that big one!"


Use Battlefront Leader on Tombak; he can shift half his speed for no action.

[darklink_shadow]

Once time fully began spinning normally, all of you felt a wave of nausea and helplessly watched the zombies attack fleeing people, and tables, and walls. One even flung an angry claw at Melhved.

3 Damage (Slashing), 5 on-going poison damage, save ends.

The people inside fled either upstairs or into the claws of the zombies. The ground was quickly littered with corpses, and became difficult for all save the largest of the zombies. Walls were missing, and the structure seemed suddenly unsound. The few remaining support beams creaked and groaned, as if in agony.

[Taffimai]

These are the rolls that go with the description above.
Minor Action: designate B1 as her quarry (Second Shot allows you to pick the second closest enemy)
Standard Action: Twin Strike (modifiers 5 Dex 1 Bow Expertise 2 Proficiency 2 magic)

Attack 1 against Z in H5 - (1d20+10)[19] Damage - (1d10+2)[12]
Attack 2 against B1 - (1d20+10)[24] Damage - (1d10+3)[8] and Quarry - (1d6)[2]

Move: to F3, on the table. If this is difficult terrain, she just shifts (elves ignore difficult terrain when shifting), if this requires climbing, she makes an athletics check - (1d20+8)[23].

Edit: This post lacks the information that I forgot to add half my level to my attack modifiers, the actual attack rolls are 22 and 27, respectively.

[Meltheim]

Tombak

Holding his rapier out in front of him, the halfling smiles broadly as the ranger drops the first target. Seeing that she's quarried the larger creature near by, Tombak tries to assist. He picks his way through the rubble and chargesin like a swift dart, rebounding away to safety.

No Action: Battlefront Shift to F4

Move Action: Escape Artist's Trick - Shift to F5
Effect: You shift up to 2 squares. Once at the end of this turn, you can shift 2 squares as a free action (see below)

Standard Action: Charge (MBA) B1

Attack: [roll0] vs AC (15 base +1 charge +1 nimble blade +2 combat advantage)
Hit: [roll1] damage (1d8+11 base +1 light blade expertise +1d8 vanguard rapier) + [roll2] Sneak Attack damage

Escape Artist's Trick: Shift to F6 and gain +1 AC and +1 Reflex (Boots of the Fencing Master) until EoNT-To2

[Nightgaun7]

The dragonborn clambers up onto the long table, the better to see the unfolding battle, and then shouts out a command, "You, elf! That fiend needs some more feathers!"


Begin H3
Move G3

Direct the Strike [Standard]
Range 5 | Martial
Target: Gudrun
Effect: The target makes a basic attack as a free action against B1

End G3

I would go ahead and roll this attack for Gudrun, but I don't see an actual sheet for the numbers.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Barely has the dragonborn finished her sentence or Gudrun's arrow is already flying past her shoulder.

"All these people running around... can you tell them to get out of our way?


RBA - (1d20+13)[20] and damage - (1d10+8)[13]

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Getting her legs under her, she receives a stinging slash returning her sword to ready position, but the stinging does not last look as her font of nature's love cleanses the wound quickly. She brings her arm back to retaliate, but finds her target already dissolving into a fetid pool in the rubble. "Point to you, elf," she thinks, "but the battle is young. Perhaps a more fitting target." She sets her eyes of the larger creature ahead of them. Forcing her way forward through rubble and screaming bodies frustrates the goliath. "Everybody, MOVE!" With nowhere to go, she jumps upon the table, crossing to get at the large beast. From up high she brings her sword down upon the large threat. Trailing tendrils of primal force, the blade cuts into the beast, infusing it with the weight of the earth, slowing its movements. It does not fall so Mel steels herself against its attack and calls out, "C'mon! Give me a shot! That goes for all of ya! Bring it to me!"

Font of Life - saving throw at beginning of turn, before ongoing damage
[roll0]

Move Action
Move G6-F6-E7
Jump on table (Goliath's get double rolls on jumping and swimming)
Roll 1 - [roll1]
Roll 2 - [roll2] - Take it

Standard Action
Weight of Earth (Markings of Victor feat give two rolls of first attack)
Roll 1 - vs B1 AC - [roll3] - Take it
Roll 2 - vs B1 AC - [roll4]
Damage - [roll5] and slowed until EoMNT.

Minor Action
Stone's Endurance - resist 5 all until end of next turn

Free Action
Nature's Wrath - Mark all adjacent enemies

Saving Throw vs ongoing poison - if necessary - [roll6] ick!

[Surrealistik]

Noting the clambouring press of undead to the side, Lotharos aims his orb towards the party's vulnerable flank. Where his implement points, ambient darkness draws together, coalescing into a grasping, writhing horror of spectral fangs and tendrils. Without delay, the unfortunate zombies inside are savagely torn apart by this roiling monstrosity.

With his work done, the wizard's staff suddenly changes from worked iron to glittering crystal before he vanishes in a terse flash of light. As soon as he had gone, Lotharos reappears atop the stairs behind, now overseeing the fight from a new, higher vantage. Strangely, the implements in his hands are exactly as they were, with no trace of the crystalline shaft remaining.

Standard Action: Grasping Shadows, Enlarged
Attack vs Z2's Will: [roll0]
Attack vs Z3 Will: [roll1]
Hit Effect: [roll2] psychic damage and the target is slowed until the end of Lotharos' next turn.
Effect: An area is created in area burst 2 centred at J6. Creatures entering the area take 5 psychic damage and are slowed until the end of their next turn.
Note: Enemies that have spent 2+ squares of movement during a turn that are slowed on the same turn must halt immediately. They may spend other move actions if they have them. Lotharos has a +2 item bonus to all defenses against enemies subject to any of his effects while he has the Staff of Aversion in hand.

Free Action (due to Disembodied Hand familiar): Swap out Staff of Aversion for Staff of the Traveller.

Move Action: Teleport 1 to D4 (Shift becomes Teleport with Staff of Traveller)

Free Action: Swap out Staff of the Traveller for Staff of Aversion.


Contingencies:

Immediate Interrupt: Shield
Trigger: A creature hits Lotharos' AC or Reflex by 3 or less.

[darklink_shadow]

The people rage about, fleeing in terror. A few draw swords and cut a zombie down in their path before fleeing outside of the inn, and one punches a flimsy zombie in the chest, causing it to splatter into ooze. As they fled, a few people died, but now the place is clear of living people.

However the tore up planks, and occasional corpse has made all the terrain too difficult to walk around with ease. A hulking zombie flings people out of his way, and crushes a table as he advances on the Wizard, stopping only because he noticed the goliath in transit.

With both fists, he smashed down upon the goliath, and roared. The blow unsteadied the hardy goliath and she fell to her knees. With a sinister scream of glee, the smaller zombie swung at the golaith too, but misses as the second arrow from the elf strikes him.

The rest of the zombie sprint at the group, only to find the shadows clutching at them, and tearing lightly.

Look out for the big Zed, he's rolling pretty well!

Also, I updated the battle sheet with damages, but you took 21-5=16 damage from the big Zed's slam.

Having seen this zombie in action, you know remember that is has a powerful slam attack that exhausts it, but quickly recovers. You sense the creature recovered from his exertion immediately this time, however. It also has the ability to slam enemies at a distance, with it's long sinewy arms.

[Nightgaun7]

Belshaazar moves to attack, blade flashing as he calls on the power of Kord. He slams into the zombie in front of him with his shield, trying to give the goliath a chance to strike as the foul creature claws at him. Kord's power flows through him as he challenges the huge abomination threatening his newfound allies.


Begin G3
Move F7, using Instinctive Flight if need be

Provoke Overextension - Standard
Melee weapon | Martial, Weapon
Target: B1
Attack: [roll0]
Hit: [roll1] + Strength modifier damage, and the target must make a basic attack against you as a free action. If the basic attack misses, an ally of yours can make a basic attack against the target as a free action.
Bravura Presence: You gain a bonus to your AC against the target’s basic attack equal to your Charisma modifier and your ally gains the same bonus to his or her basic attack’s damage roll.

Divine Challenge - Minor
Close burst 5 | Divine, Radiant
Target: H2
Effect: You mark the target. The mark lasts until you use this power again. The mark also ends at the end of your turn if you didn't engage the target, meaning you neither attacked it during your turn nor are adjacent to it at the end of your turn.
Until the mark ends, the target takes radiant damage the first time each round when it targets any of your allies with an attack power that doesn't include you as a target. The target takes 3+Cha dmg (7)

End F7

Contingency: Vengeance is Mine on whichever enemy attacks me.

[Meltheim]

Tombak

Having seen what these creatures are made off, Tombak redoubles his efforts to pincushion the undead brute, this time adding in a small flourish to give his allies the advantage.


Move Action: Tactical Trick - Walk to D5
Effect: You move up to your speed, and you do not provoke opportunity attacks when leaving squares adjacent to your allies. Until the end of your turn, you have combat advantage against enemies that have at least one of your allies adjacent to them.

Standard Action: Charge (MBA) H2 (ending at D7)

Attack: vs AC (15 base +1 charge +1 nimble blade +2 combat advantage +3 Backstab (http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/power.aspx?id=12710))
Hit: [rollv]3d8+2d6+12 = 31 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16808662&postcount=88) damage (1d8+11 base +1 light blade expertise +1d8 vanguard rapier +1d8 Surprising Charge +2d6 Backstab) + [roll1] Sneak Attack damage

No Action: Surprise Strike vs H2
Trigger: When using a basic attack or an at-will weapon attack power, you hit an enemy that is granting combat advantage to you.
Effect: The enemy is dazed until EonT-To3

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Melora's grace be with you for dispersing the herd," Gudrun smiles at the goliath's back while pulling her bowstring again, relieved that she no longer has to worry about hitting one of the townfolk with a stray shot.

Now that she can afford to ignore the collateral, she lets her arrow fly at eye level. Headshot! Going straight through, and trailing a gory mess behind it, her arrow splinters between two windows, where moments before an old couple was still fumbling about with cloaks and bags and Ioun knows what else.

Gudrun turns her attention to the behemoth that clobbered her new friend and watches as the halfling dances circles around it, cutting tendons left and right while the sluggish brute flails its gangly limbs in frustration. One well-aimed shot later, its left arm hangs limply by its side.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved
"That's right, big boy. I'm the one you want," she says, bouncing to her feet after a respectable hit. "Not bad. Methinks we shouldn't give you too many more chances. Together now!" Whirling her blade once around her head before before bringing it to bear on the beast ahead of her, a glow of Melora's beneficence spreads from her to wash over her companions. The slice from her blade looks less hospitable to the creature.

"Yes, it likes it! Come get more! Right here!" She continues to taunt the fiend.

Minor Action
Acrobat Boots - Stand

Standard Action
Strongskin Clash vs H2 AC - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1] and adjacent allies get resist 5 damage to all attacks until end of Mel's next turn.

Free Action
Nature's Wrath - Mark H2
If it doesn't target me in an attack:
Warden's Fury vs Fort +14
Hit: 1d8+7 damage, and target grants combat advantage to you and your allies until the end of your next turn

If H2 should fall,
Move to F7
Nature's Wrath - Mark B2
If it doesn't target me blah, blah, blah

[Surrealistik]

Ambling up the stairs, Lotharos moves out of view of (most of) the remaining undead, magics enabling him to mimic his surroundings and become truly invisible. As he disappears, so too does the wizard's frightful shadow creature; it proves a short lived reprieve for his foes however, for no sooner does the roiling darkness begin discorporating than the space about them starts to shake and waver. The anomaly at first resembles a mild heat mirage before its distortions mount, upending chairs and debris even as it warps them, churning violently in a way that is closer in appearance to a narcotic trip than any natural phenomena as dimensions within freely contort and elongate. The spectacle soon reaches its peculiar crescendo, resembling a yarn-ball vortex of twisted space before it compresses and vanishes in a strobe of light, zombies included.

Simultaneously, the three undead caught within Lotharos' arcana reappear in the far corner of the tavern, several of them prone, their forms flickering intermittently as though encumbered with residual distortion.

Move Action: Lotharos moves 2 squares to the 2nd floor.

Free Action, Chameleon's Mask
Effect: Substitute an Arcana check for a Stealth check: [roll0]

Minor Action: Glowering Wrath
Effect: Lotharos gains a +5 power bonus to Intimidate checks and the distance of his forced movement increases by +2 until the end of his next turn.

Standard Action: Twist of Space, Enlarged
Attack vs H1's Will: [roll1] (+2 due to CA from Hidden?)
Attack vs B2's Will: [roll2] (+2 due to CA from Hidden?)
Attack vs B3's Will: [roll3] (+2 due to CA from Hidden?)
Hit Effect: [roll4] damage. The target is slowed until the end of Lotharos' next turn and is teleported 5 squares (3 + 2 from Glowering Wrath). If the target is slowed or immobilized, it's knocked prone. Lotharos has a +2 item bonus to all his defenses from their attacks while he wields the Staff of Aversion.

Stealth is broken.

End of Turn: Grasping Shadows ends.


Contingencies:

Immediate Interrupt: Shield
Trigger: A creature hits Lotharos' AC or Reflex by 3 or less.
Effect: Lotharos gains a +4 power bonus to his AC and Reflex until the end of his next turn.

[darklink_shadow]

The hulking monster before you groans, dazed and confused. It's eyes sweep across the group, unseeing and it lumbers a single step to the left, unable to force its body to obey its compulsive desire to kill and destroy.

However, on the other side of the room, the zombies who are being ignored attack the walls further. The whole build protests and whines are wood everywhere begins to crack and splinter. Anyone with any idea how buildings work realize the second floor will collapse shortly.

The goal of the zombies has been, all along, just to destroy as much as possible. Having distracted you fully, the behemoth before you will find its second death to not be in vain.

The ceiling will collapse in 1d4 rounds. I know how many that number is, but you don't!

[Meltheim]

Tombak

As soon as the behemoth hits the ground, Tombak finds his momentary bravado waning. One step, two steps, three steps up the stairs. A quick glance at Lotharos confirms what he feared - they're going to have to figure out a way out of here. Tombak scampers up the stairs, doing his best to appear to be leading a charge, rather than running from the undead horde.

Move: Tactical Trick to C2
Effect: You move up to your speed, and you do not provoke opportunity attacks when leaving squares adjacent to your allies. Until the end of your turn, you have combat advantage against enemies that have at least one of your allies adjacent to them.

Standard: Swap for Move - Walk to 2nd Floor, C7

[Surrealistik]

Fearing for his life per the ominous creaks and groans presented by overstrained wood and crack riddled supports, Lotharos races to the double window facing out into the street below, exorbitant robes billowing in an almost comical fashion behind his frantic sprint.

Unable to peer out into street beyond its curiously soiled glass, the wizard instead closes his eyes, placing a hand upon his amulet. There his fingers adopt a peculiar sort of motion, as though they sought to massage some kind of unseen power from the trinket. In an instant, Lotharos' mind is filled with a clear image of all the creatures nearby, whether by telepathy or clairvoyance, greatly informing his subsequent actions.

Move: Lotharos runs 8 squares to I13.

Minor: Lotharos uses his ESP Medallion's encounter power to discover the exact position of all creatures within a close burst 10 that ignores blocking terrain and other obstacles.

Standard: Usage to be determined by the Amulet's feedback.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Hearing the shifting building creak and groan changes the goliath's priorities. Still keeping a wary eye on the dizzy creature before her, she looks to her teammates. "Belshaazar! Gudrun! This place is collapsing! This way to safety!"
She pushes past the beast and picks up speed as she nears the far wall. Unwilling to deviate her path for the door, she digs in and launches herself towards the window.

Double Move E7>F7-->Window at F15. After hitting the window, I have three squares movement left if I can tumble to my feet on the other side.(unless I can hurdle through the window, but being 7 feet tall, I figure I'd have to dive.)

Athletics x2 (Goliath's racial feature) - [roll0] or [roll1]

Acrobatics (on the the side of the window) - [roll2]

[darklink_shadow]

As Melhved escapes to the out of doors, she notices more zombies than she can count. The horde is mostly mindly milling about, but many have their heart set on destroying the town guard. The ground begins to shake, and more climb up from under the earth. It becomes apparent that all will be lost if something doesn't change soon.

She hears a cheer coming from behind the inn however, and it appears a source of light is back there.

I can't find the ESP medallion in my books. Which book is it in? An internet search tells me a dragon magazine, but I know that isn't right, since my allowed sources didn't include any dragon magazines.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Melvhed's warning finally makes Gudrun pay attention to something other than the undead. The crossbeams overhead are leaning in dangerously towards each other in a way the architect of the building never intended.

"You are right, we are running out of time," she says while picking two arrows out of her quiver with arrowheads shaped like a crescent moon. With the first one, she shatters her target's kneecap just as it aimlessly swings its only remaining arm towards her companions rushing up the stairs. The monster's leg gives way and it starts falling forward towards the stairs. Quickly, Gudrun shoots the second arrow, aiming right at the behemoth's centre of mass to knock it back.

It proves remarkably successful, as the large bag of rotting meat not only tumbles backwards, but loses cohesion upon impact with the floor and bursts open like a water balloon, engulfing several square meters of floor in decomposing fluids.

Happy enough not to be standing on the floor, Gudrun carefully hops from the table over the handrail onto the stairs and follows the others upstairs.

[darklink_shadow]

Despite being mortally wounded, the creature rises back up shortly after falling, but takes no actions. The remainder of the zombies attack the walls, and with a sudden crash, the second floor collapses as the building crumbles.

Fortunately, all the people upstairs manage to keep their footing and land on their feet, taking minimal damage. The goliath feels a rush of air jet past her, and a few splinters hit her, but she shrugs off the damage. The poor Dragonborn, on the other hand, barely manages to dodge a mortal wound, and is soon buried under fallen wood, but fortunately he was protected from lethal damage not only by his own deft dodging, but also by the magic of his allies.


The brightness that the hearty goliath had first noticed is drawing nearer, and the light's source seems not too far off.
A man holding a glowing orb is approaching. As the light touches the undead, the smaller ones crumple and wither into ashes and fade. The larger ones flinch and attempt to hide themselves. You see men charge at them. You wonder who the orb-holder is, as you fall, but the walls are just high enough now that you cannot see him. In fact you had only a glimpse of the man and his light during your fall.




Upstairs Guys:
You take 12 non-lethal damage.

Our dear scaled buddy takes 24, but 5 of it is negated.

The goliath takes 6, but 5 of it is negated as well.

Wherever you were on the top floor, you are not there on the bottom floor. When you arrive the zombies are apparently now keen on killing you.

Also, Night, your boy Bel needs to spend a standard action to un bury himself, and a movement action to stand up from prone.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"BelShaazar!" the goliath cries. Having turn to see if she was followed, she watches as the inn collapses upon the dragonborn. Stomping her way back through the wreckage, she attempts to aid her companion and protect him from attack until he is better able to protect himself.

Athletics - [roll0]
Strength check to aid - [roll1]
Anything else you need?

[darklink_shadow]

Having been unburied by Melhved, the Dragonborn lays on the ground, ready to leap up and back into the fray.

[Nightgaun7]

Belshaazar groans, but gets to his feet swiftly enough out of a desire to avoid being eaten. He quickly moves to join Melhved, dismayed by the sight of so many living dead outside.


Huh, thought I had got outside earlier.

Begin F7
Stand as a minor with Acrobat boots
Double move to join Melhved, not exactly sure what square I should be moving to.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"We might be slightly out of our league here, I'm afraid," Gudrun says right after she finds her footing. However, she doesn't let the overwhelming odds deter her and fires two arrows at whatever she can target.


I have no idea where she is right now, but she makes a twin strike pro forma. I'm not bothering with rolls as I don't think it will matter for the rest of the game.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Slashing at any undead who venture too closely, the goliath works her way to the back of the inn where the source of the bright light was seen.

[darklink_shadow]

The source of the light, a man in robes wielding a glowing orb and a two headed mace. He held the orb aloft and the small following of warrior with him struck down as many zombies as they could.

Fear not! The Orb of Ekhi will keep the undead at bay for three days. We must find the source of th--

As he spoke, however, the ground beneath you gave out. You remember falling for a few moments, but everything went black. The blackness didn't subside for a long time, but you were woken by a throbbing dull pain throughout your body. A very faint outline of a man was barely visable in the darkness, and as your eyes adjusted you could see it was another projection of your employer. He seemed to be speaking quickly, clearly distressed, but all you could hear why the painful throbbing of your head. After a moment the man looked frightened and his projection shimmered away. In the blackness that followed, you must have passed out again, because when you awoke next, the pain was considerably less, though your surroundings were no less dark.

Above you, far away, you could see a single point of light that must have been the hole you all fell through.

[Nightgaun7]

Belshaazar groans. "Two drops in a minute...I knew I should have gotten those featherfall boots..." After a minute the slightly concussed Dragonborn staggers upright and looks around.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Before opening her eyes, Gudrun keeps absolutely motionless and lets her other senses take in what they can. Is the air moist and laden with the tell-tale musk of fungi and moss? Is it desiccated and dusty? Ripe with decay or fresh animal droppings? Do sounds travel far, or do they bounce off of nearby walls? Are there sharp, crisp echoes of hard surfaces, or is the noise subdued and partially absorbed?

Once she has learned all there is to be learned this way, she rolls over into a low crouching position and peers into the darkness, hoping for her eyes to adjust and maybe show some shadows.

[roll0]

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Visions of her village, the fishing boats, her family, the buildings, the burning, all vanish with a shake of her head as she realizes she once again has control of her faculties. A quick roll puts her on her feet as she peers around, taking inventory of the surroundings. Finding her backpack intact, Mel takes out a sunrod and pounds the end on the ground, igniting the light stick. As it flares to brilliance, she reaches for the Spirit, trying to sense the life around her, letting it fill her. Seeing Gudrun and Belshaazar nearby and conscious comforts her.

"Lotharos! Tombak! Are you here? Are you near?"

Perception, What are our surroundings? - [roll0]

[darklink_shadow]

The cavern smells slightly like sulfur, and there is a dark brown lichen on the walls, and very thick on the floor. The walls show some sign of having been affecting by something more active than wind or water.

There aren't any droppings, but the air is musky and perhaps a little foul. The air feels hollow, and you realize the lichen is absorbing the sound you make.

You're all at half health, by the way. But you landed on nice, spongey lichen. It's very thick on the floor.

[Meltheim]

Tombak

A whimper in the darkness is followed by a "Here" as Tombak slowly gets to his feet, mentally checking through his different body parts for injury. "I'm done with falling. Can we stop now?"

Dungeoneering - to learn more about where we are and what likely lives down here, including any info related to the lichen, the sulfur smell or the wear on the walls. [roll0]

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

As the goliath lights her sunrod, Gudrun slowly gets up, careful not to aggravate any torn muscles or broken bones that might present themselves. Luckily, her wounds are nothing but cuts and bruises. Now that her eyes have had the time to adjust to the sudden bright light, she looks around.

"Thank you. Melvhed, wasn't it? We might all want to get a little better acquainted now that it seems that we're going to be stuck with each other for a while."

From the ooc thread, to identify the brown plants:
Dungeoneering if underground species - (1d20+12)[14]
Nature if above-ground species - (1d20+14)[33]
Also:
Is the "half hitpoints" thing a default (justified by the fall) because you want us to start off with a handicap, or is it the simplified mechanical result of the fall? In the latter case, could Gudrun be at 3/4 hps because her boots say that she only ever takes half damage from falling?

I'm okay with it if you just want everybody at half hitpoints, but at the same time it seemed reasonable that you might have forgotten about her boots' special quality.

[darklink_shadow]

Tombak realizes the fungus is a slightly poisonous and acid plant that continuously exudes a minor amount of cytotoxins. They mostly just break down dead organic matter, but if you slept in the brown stuff, the very outside of your flesh would be eaten away. Definitely a below ground species.

Gundrun thinks she knows about them, and thinks they are completely harmless. They appear to be an above ground species. They only eat dead organic material.

Actually, you all took much more than half your health in damage. You just healed in your sleep. But, I suppose you would have still taken less. You can be at 3/4ths hp anyways.

[Taffimai]

"...On the other hand, we might be in luck. I think I've seen this plant before, it's called chocolate moss, a nocturnal type of deer moss. The only way it could've gotten down here in this quantity is if spores fell down in a previous cave-in many, many years ago, probably several times. There's a good chance one of those will offer an easier way out. And while we're looking for that, at least we have an abundant source of food for when our rations run out. Let's see if it lives up to its name."

With that, Gudrun breaks off a few leaves to sample.

Unless she realises that she's wrong or somebody stops her, she'll eat some.

[darklink_shadow]

Tombak chimes up. No! Don't! Those are poisonous! They are a type of moss called Grave Fallow! While they aren't really that dangerous, they are mildly poisonous, and will make you really sick.

Tombak nudges Lothandros, and then kneels beside him. Uh oh, our wizard is still knocked out. Oh, still breathing though, that's good. We should move on, and find a way out of here. Whatever lives down here won't appreciate the intruders, and the tunnels have unnatural markings on them. I'm not sure from what, but whatever it is, they aren't probably polite and civilized.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Gudrun halts mid-movement, looks questioningly at the halfling and back at her "chocolate moss", then tentatively smells it. At the first whiff of sulfur, she throws it back on the ground, deeply embarrassed by her mistake.

"I must have hit my head harder than I thought. Thank you. Perhaps we shouldn't leave the wizard on the floor then, if this place is so dangerous."

She kneels down next to Lotharos and claps her hands in front of his face, hoping the sudden sound will rouse him.

[roll0]
This is an untrained check, to see if she can wake him up.

[Taffimai]

"Wake up! Wake up, human!"

Not getting any response from Lotharos, Gudrun decides to get a bit rough and shakes the wizard at the shoulder. She immediately notices that something is wrong with how his body reacts to the prodding and carefully examines his chest. The dark robes feel sticky and wet, and his ribs give way in a most unnatural way.

"Ah. I am... afraid that he is beyond my help. Something large and heavy must have landed on top of him and crushed his ribs into his lungs. Do any of you know of a ritual that might bring him back?"

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Seeing the wizard's spiritless body weighs heavily on the goliath. "My connections to life are not strong enough to force it back where it has left. He fought hard and succeeded often." Looking around the circle of light thrown by the sunrod, "More practically, I will miss his arcane support. The unknown can be treacherous."

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"You are right. Let us get acquainted with our surroundings, then."

She pauzes briefly to peer towards the four exits of the underground chamber.

"It is unfortunate that there are so many different paths to explore. Some might loop back, but I fear that we are but on a crossroads of many corridors. We would cover more ground if we split up, but travelling alone would leave us all too vulnerable. Why don't Mel and I go North, while you two go South, and we meet up here again in a quartrod?"

Quartrod: Since all races have different standards for measurement, adventuring groups from mixed backgrounds must find easy common references. A "quartrod" refers to a quarter of the burning time of a standard sunrod, or about one human hour.

[darklink_shadow]

Alright, I'll go with the big lug. See you in a bit. The Halfling replies. The dragonborn nods and heads off down one path, cracking a sunrod himself. Wait up... Tombak says, and rushes after the impatient and oddly unwordy draconian.

He'll head South unless you head south, in which case he'll head north.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"Call if you need help, gentlemen," she calls trying to get a response, even a grumble, from the dragonborn. As their light dwindles, she turns to face their path. "Let's keep in close. Three sides of threat and a partner is far better than four sides of threat, Mater would say. Mom was full of great advice. Shall we?" Stepping off towards the darkness, she leads with a sunrod in her shield hand and her longsword in the other, grimacing and peering deep into the black.

[roll0]

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Gudrun wordlessly files behind her companion, making sure to stick close and looking in all directions, especially behind, above, and at their feet. "The best place for an ambush is where your prey won't be looking," that's what her mother used to say.


Perception - (1d20+14)[32]

[darklink_shadow]

A few moments of walk, you notice nothing but scraggly moss and realize the path you took wrapped around. Pausing to think, you are suddenly aware of a scream. You hadn't noticed it before, but you noticed when it stopped with a wet crunching sound. You thought you recognized the voice, but you hoped you did not. Was that Tombak? You hear a feral scream cut short by a clank and another wet crunch.

I revealed the whole map of the area, just for ease of posting. The grey is an area where the moss stops and paved stone starts. There is a large ornate door on the other side. Zombies are between you and you fallen comrades, once you get close enough to see them.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"That sounds like the call for help you mentioned. They must've fallen into a hole."

Gudrun starts running back towards the Southern corridor, where Belshaazar and Tombak should be. Halfway through the room, she halts briefly to let Mel (and her sunrod) take point.

"Mind your feet, there might be more."

I assume that we will need initiative once we see them? I will roll now for whenever it becomes relevant, at which point I'd like to be standing one step behind Mel, please.

[roll0]

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Quick stepping back along their path, she catches up to Gudrun as they reach the dead wizard's body. "While holes are bothersome, they rarely fatal. But just to be sure..." Taking the lead, Mel slows her pace, searching extra hard for hazards that may have troubled their associates as they cross the room. She peers down the southern corridor before continuing in.

Looking for pits/traps - [roll0]
When needed - [roll1]

[darklink_shadow]

The zombies move into a more defensive position, while the hooded figure moves away and begin and incantation of some sort.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"What have you done to them?!" she screams, seeing their comrades on the ground. Calling upon the spirits of life, tendrils of energy swirl around her, bolstering her health. Stepping forward, she brings her sword down in a sweeping arc, infusing it with the power of the earth spirits. Her blades bites deeply into the creature, slowing its movements as the earth spirits ravage its unlife.

Action Point
Second Wind - heal 20 hp.

Move Action
Shift to I18

Standard Action
Weight of Earth
At-Will Primal, Weapon
Standard Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs AC
Hit:1[W] + Str mod and target slowed until end of my next turn
vs Zed AC -
vs Zed AC - [roll[1d20+14 Markings of Victor bonus roll 32 from OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17309074&postcount=244)
Damage - [roll1] plus [roll2] Challenge Seeking bonus and target is slowed until the end of my next turn.

Free Action
Mark Zed

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

There is a certain stigma associated with a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to life, but in the case of large lumbering undead that hurt your friends, Gudrun gives no quarter. Her arrow flies straight through the closest zombie and into the one behind it.

"You there, who are you? Are you hurt?" she calls out to the mysterious figure in the back.

I took some liberty with the Twin Strike description, I hope that is okay.
Perception - (1d20+14)[24] - Is that mysterious figure the same as our quest giver?
Insight - (1d20+7)[20] - Regardless of the previous result, does he seem to be on our side or the zed's?

Note: I don't have my books atm, and I'm assuming that deciding these are free actions or move-equivalent. If Gudrun can't do this and attack, then attacking is more important.

Minor action: assign Big Zed as hunter's quarry
Standard: Twin Strike

Minion Attack - (1d20+13)[28] damage - (1d10+2)[8]
Big Zed Attack - (1d20+13)[28] damage - (1d10+2)[3] use Hobbling Strike feat to trade quarry damage for slow

[darklink_shadow]

The huge lumbering creature lurched towards the goliath, but his attacks were cumbersome and he missed with one fist, and the goliath neatly parried the other. However the smallest of gaps in her defense were preyed upon by the lesser zombie, though his attacks hardly scratched her.

Mel, 5 damage. From now on, please put your damages on the battle chart, if you can.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

The walll of creatures before her strengthens her resolve, her devotion. Energy from the earth whirls through and around her in a widening vortex. She spins her blade in tandem with the vortex trying to catch all with her blade. Deeply it bites into both adversaries while the energy streams into both the goliath and the elf bolstering their defenses.

Standard Action
Stoneskin Clash
Encounter Primal, Weapon
Standard Close burst 1
Target: Each enemy you can see in burst
Attack: Strength vs AC
Hit: 1[W] + Str modifier (+5) damage, and each ally in the burst gains resist 2 + your Wis modifier to all damage until the end of your next turnvs Huge Zed AC - [roll0]
vs Big Zed 2 AC - [roll1]
[roll2] and Gudrun gets resist 5 all until the end of my next turn.

Minor Action
Stone's Endurance
Encounter
Minor Personal
Effect: Gain resist 5 to all damage until the end of your next turn.Resist 5 all until the end of my next turn.

Free Action
Mark Huge Zed and Big Zed 2

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Gudrun feels the power of the earth rise through her limbs, filling her nose with the autumn smell of leaves and wood, taking her home to the forests of her youth.

"As Melora is my witness, you will die and stay dead, monsters!"

Arrow after arrow fly from her bow, each one stripping off a strand of flesh or chipping away a piece of bone until the undead crash down on the floor. In the end, only one of them is still standing.


Hunter's Quarry - (1d6)[4] added to the first hit on Big Zed.
Twin Strike against Big Zed
Attack 1 - (1d20+13)[23] damage - (1d10+2)[4]
Attack 2 - (1d20+13)[20] damage - (1d10+2)[3]

Action Point: Biting Volley. First arrow is for Big Zed, the second for Medium Zed 2 (the one that's most hurt). These crit on 18-20.

Attack 1 - (1d20+13)[33] damage - (1d10+7)[17] Crit damage - (2d12)[12]
Attack 2 - (1d20+13)[31] damage - (1d10+7)[12] Crit damage - (2d12)[7]

Minor Action: change Quarry to Med Zed 1.

I also want to use Disruptive Strike (immediate interrupt) on the first enemy to attack Mel or Gudrun.
Attack - (1d20+13)[20] damage - (1d10+7)[14] If it hits, the enemy takes a -7 to the attack.

[darklink_shadow]

With an angry hiss, the cloaked figure chants faster, and then stops suddenly, and barks a single word you do not understand. The undead creature lumbers away from you, towards the cloaked figure, blocking your access. You feel the room grow slightly colder for a moment. Tombak's corpse twitches.

[Taffimai]

"You keep that unholy mouth shut, necromancer, or I shall put an arrow through your throat!"

[darklink_shadow]

He coughs, and takes advantage of your pause to begin chanting again.


"Seuratessa miellyttaa hartioilla me ne rikastunut ai kokonainen tuhattakin. Elaisi nytkin lautaa toista pitkin kai laudat vai vai yha. Venhettaan muutettuna tuommoisen ja tarinataan seinamalle lintukarit ei. Muuta hassu sen hokee puhuu nuo ennen menen. Lypsaisi niinkuin kahdella ne niinkuin no nostivat. Hartaimman en ei mennessaan lahetakaan. Nykyaikana nuo ryypattiin kymmeneksi oma. "

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"You were warned, caster, I will not suffer you to defile my friends."

This is not a shambling bag of bones and rot, and the wide robes and hood obscure the dimensions of the body inside. Rather than run the risk of half her arrows hitting nothing but fabric, Gudrun pulls out a twist-head arrow that she knows will burry deep and mangle the flesh.

She aims for the base of the throat, right above the sternum, a place obviously concealed by the shadow of the hood. As her arrow flies throught the opening, the chanting halts, confirming that she has hit her mark. If the figure is going to continue casting at all, it will be while gargling blood.


If it is ok that Mel and Gudrun switch places in the initiative order, I'll go ahead and put Gudrun's arrow where her mouth is.

Move: to H19
Minor action: change Quarry (again) to the cloaked figure if possible (Gudrun can only designate the closest or second-closest enemy as her quarry, so if Tombak already counts, she can't do this).
Major action: Splintering Shot against the chanter.
Attack - (1d20+13)[22] damage - (3d10+7)[22]
If it hits, and if she could designate him as her quarry, she adds (1d6)[6] to the damage.

Here's to hoping that this is indeed an enemy and not someone trying to help us who a) doesn't understand common or b) couldn't interrupt his powerful anti-undead ritual to make small-talk.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Stepping forward to block any possible enemy advance as Gudrun's shafts of death fly by, she beats her blade down upon the remaining creature, hoping to clear a path to the strange, hooded figure. Her blade misses it's mark by quite a margin as she is distracting by the hooded one's chanting.

"What is he doing?" she wonders.

Move Action
Move to L20

Standard Action
Weight of Earth
At-Will Primal, Weapon
Standard Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs AC
Hit:1[W] + Str mod and target slowed until end of my next turn
vs Med Zed 1 AC - [roll0] Yeeeeuck!
Damage - [roll1] and target is slowed UEoMNT

Free Action
Mark Med Zed 1

[darklink_shadow]

The chanting continues, despite the wound. The zombie is unresponsive. He evades the assault, but doesn't return it.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

The complete lack of response from the zombie throws Gudrun off. Would the mysterious figure be helping them after all? But then, why wouldn't they respond? Reminded of how a wounded predator will play dead to lure you close enough for one last vicious bite, she continues shooting, but her focus is off.


Twin Strike versus the chanter

Attack 1 - (1d20+13)[24] damage - (1d10+2)[3]
Attack 2 - (1d20+13)[15] damage - (1d10+2)[5]
Quarry damage - (1d6)[3]

I have a really bad feeling about that zombie no longer attacking :smallannoyed:

It is the round of sucky rolling, it seems.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"While the motives of these strangers may be in question," Mel thinks to herself, "the dark energies powering that monstrosity are an insult the the Mother's Spirit." She summons forth tendrils of energy to strike at the creature. Her sword slices deep into the fiend, infusing the dark powers with nature's energy, slowing its movement.

Standard Action
Weight of EarthAt-Will Primal, Weapon
Standard Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs AC
Hit:1[W] + Str mod and target slowed until end of my next turn
vs Zed 1 AC - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1] and target is slowed until the end of my next turn.

Free Action
Mark Zed 1

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

The zombie just stands there while Mel chops it to pieces, and the chanting continues. Gudrun grows increasingly uncomfortable with the idea that she might be attacking someone who is trying to help them - after all, she knows nothing of magic, and all mumbo jumbo sounds the same to her. Perhaps they will be more responsive when all immediate threats have been eliminated.

She joins forces with Mel and together, they quickly put an end to the inanimate undead. Without pausing to see where it drops, Gudrun changes her attention back to the hooded figure still chanting next to her fallen comrades. In one fluid motion, she walks over and lightly places the tip of her silver sword against the robes.

"Don't move, stranger," she warns in elvish, "I am Gudrun of Halfmoon Forest. Now state your business."


Minor action: change quarry to the zombie
Major action: twin strike
Attack 1 - (1d20+13)[25] damage - (1d10+2)[11]
Attack 2 - (1d20+13)[31] damage - (1d10+2)[3]
Quarry damage - (1d6)[3]

And since the zombie is dead now (yay, battle sheet!) I am adding:
Free action: stash bow (Hunter fighting style)
Move: to O19
According to Quick Draw, Gudrun can draw her sword as part of the action used to attack with it/use it, so that might not include "moving over to point it at someone", but if the hooded figure or Tombak do something to provoke an opportunity attack, she'll draw it as part of that.

[darklink_shadow]

The chanting stops and the air grows cold again. A low hiss vibrates out of the cloaked hood of the hooded figure. A few strange noises that seem like a language, but appear meaningless to you.

The figure takes a step back, pushing the blade away with one hand, muttering meaningless noises again. The hand that is revealed as the robes fall down is charred and shriveled. Suddenly, the coarse bark of what you believe must be a different language than the figure spoke before choked out of the figure, and with a start, Tombak's corpse leaps up. Another bark and it lunges at Gundrun. The chanting resumes, just as the last corpse twitches.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Seeing her comrade infused withdark energies enrages the warden. She charges forward howling with anger, furious at this abomination created from her friend's empty shell. "Fear not, Tombak. I will not let this affront to your memory stand!" She brings her blade down hard without finesse, guile, or empowerment. Just rage.

Standard Action
Charge to N20
MBA vs T AC - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1] + [roll2] (If Tombak is considered at "full hit points, my Challenge Seeking Sword deals extra)

Free Action
Mark 'Tombak'

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Wrong answer, friend!"

Gudrun ducks behind Mel out of Tombak's reach and swaps her sword for her bow again while moving to where she has a clear shot. Without a single hesitation this time, she aims inside the hood again. The hooded figure drops like a bag of sand. Judging from the sound, she must've hit him right in the eye.

"There. Now let's see about putting Tombak to rest again."


Free action: stash sword
Major action: Evasive Strike
shift 1+wis = 5 squares to J22
draw bow as part of the attack
Attack with Running Attack bonus - (1d20+14)[26] damage - (2d10+7)[18]
Quarry damage if hit - (1d6)[6]

And splat!

[darklink_shadow]

Tombak's corpse rears back and swings a newly clawed hand at Melhved only to have his claw shot back away from the Goliath by her bow-touting companion. The caster's body disappears as his cloth crumple to the floor, now empty. Finally, the dragonkin's corpse twitches and exhales a grey mist before falling limp again.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"What's that mist? Be careful, Melvhed, I have no idea what that does."

Distracted by what's happening to Belshaazar's corpse, Gudrun's first arrow goes wide. Luckily, she manages to recover and continues shooting, though undead-Tombak doesn't seem very affected by being turned into a pincushion.


Minor: Quarry Tombak
Attack 1 - (1d20+13)[25] damage - (1d10+2)[3]
Attack 2 - (1d20+13)[19] damage - (1d10+2)[12]
Quarry - (1d6)[4]

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Stepping back to avoid the mist issuing from their fallen party member, she refocuses her effort on removing the evil force inhabiting Tombak. Stretching forth her arm, tendrils of primal energy leap to entwine her foe.

Move Action
Shift to M20

Standard Action
Thorn StrikeAt-Will Primal, Weapon
Standard Action Melee 2
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you pull the target 1 square.
Level 21: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.vs Tombak AC - [roll0]
Damage - [roll1] and target is pulled 1 square (N20)

Free Action
Mark Tombak (if pulled)

[darklink_shadow]

The mist fades away, but Tombak remains. Now sporting wicked claws, Tombak makes use of them to slash at the goliath's face. She feels a sickening fester in her wounds, as the necrotically enhanced daggers Tombak has for fingers barely scrap across her flesh.

Mel, 4 slashing damage, and 5 Necrotic damage, plus -2 attack, save ends both, but grants a new condition. You'll probably try to make a save before the effect, so I'll just tell you the condition after the save, it's -5 attack until the end of your next turn as the festering stings sharply before being ejected from your wounds.

It will also produce a worm creature on the ground if you make your save, adjacent to you, in a random direction. 1 being NW of you, and numbers increasing as we go clockwise. If you make the safe, roll for where it goes. If it lands on Tombak's square, that's ok, but if it lands in any other occupied square, it goes to the next closest square.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Mel? Mel, are you alright?"

Gudrun absentmindedly keeps putting arrows in Tombak, who eventually collapses. However, she is much more worried now that she might have to fend off an undead Goliath in a few moments. That wound on her face looks... sore.


Attack 1 - (1d20+13)[29] damage - (1d10+2)[3]
Attack 2 - (1d20+13)[18] damage - (1d10+2)[9]
Quarry - (1d6)[6]

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Nearly blinded with pain, the goliath screams as stinging pain lances through the oozing wounds on her face. Slashing with furious retaliation, she swings her blade again and again into the body of their fallen friend. "LEAVE...HIM.....ALONE!!!"

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Gudrun slowly backs off, carefully stepping over the remains of the first, larger undead they fought, moving back towards the large room with the brown lichen. She glances to see whether Lotharos' body is still lying still, and whether there is any suspicious mist surrounding his body.

[roll0]

[darklink_shadow]

Lotharos' corpse lies untouched. Nothing about him seems out of the ordinary, in fact he almost looks like he's sleeping, except for the small trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Spent, the warden kneels by her fallen charges, tears falling unashamedly from her eyes. "Forgive me Great Mother," she mumbles in prayer. "I have failed to protect two of your children under my care. They are yours once again. Know that their time with us was well spent. They add to your greater good."

As she intones the prayer, wisps of energy flow from her, caressing the bodies before sinking into the ground below. After a few more moments of silence, she stands with purpose and resolve.

"Let's get back to it."

[darklink_shadow]

After resting, you stand before a large door. There are paved tiles, but old and mostly broken. Beyond them lies what is clearly a door, but the method of opening it seems to require a great deal of muscle. It would appear the door is a stone circle that can be rolled out of the way and held there, but will close on it's own if left untouched.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Hmm. What do you think, Mel? We might be able to roll that stone out of the way, but who knows... we might end up trapped at the other side."

Gudrun moves a little closer and inspects the unexpected man-made additions to these underground caves, starting with the tiles that lead up to the rolling door. There might always be a trapdoor with pointy things below them, you have to be careful.

[roll0]

[darklink_shadow]

The door doesn't appear to be trapped, and you also notice some lettering in a circle around the door. However the letters are unknown to you.

[Taffimai]

"Well, it looks good to me. There are some weird letters here, though, can you read them?"

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"I'm afraid the study of letters is valued little in my tribe. Lotharos had his uses. As I see it, we're trapped on this side as well. New lands offer new options. Let's heave to." Sheathing her sword, she finds the best leverage she can on the door and flexes her formidable muscles.

Strength Check - [roll0]

[darklink_shadow]

The stone door budges with a groan. Through the hole, a spurt of dust assaults the goliath, but a solid cough later, and she heaves it the rest of the way clear.

Let's pause this briefly. Move onto this thread temporarily: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?350049-IC-for-Depths-of-Korimir-Alts&p=17493984#post17493984

Just real quick.

[Taffimai]

Through the doorway, they see two humanoid figures, one of which is holding a staff and seems to be in the middle of some sort of enchantment.

Gudrun

The memory of the hooded caster who animated her friend's body weighs heavily on Gudrun's mind. She knows very well that had she not wavered, he would not have been able to complete his chanting and Tombak's body would not have been defiled. She would not make the same mistake again.

Before anyone else can act, she has an arrow ready on her bow, aimed directly at the one with the staff.

"Friend or foe? Answer me, or I will silence you!"

Valeris

"It might be a tad difficult to answer with an arrow through our throats," the other figure replies. He takes a step forward towards his companion as if to shield him. Mel's torch lights up the blond locks that frame his face, and he flashes a warm smile.

"My name is Valeris. My companion's name is Edward Van der Houten. We are victims of the cave-in just like you, I suspect."

He takes another step forward, now blocking Gudrun's arrow should she still want to shoot at Edward. His approach is reminiscent of the way you would gently move towards a hissing cat, speaking softly more to reassure it with the tone of your voice than with what you're actually saying.

"Would you care to tell us your names, ladies? And whether you know more about how the inn just disappeared into the ground?"

He now looks at the Goliath, clearly hoping for a less hostile reaction.

The mispronunciation of Edward's last name is on purpose. Valeris hasn't known him all that long, after all.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

Waving the dust out of her face, she gives a final cough and is surprised at the magical appearance of a blonde angel in front of her! She is unsettled for a moment until Gudrun's voice rings out, quickly bringing her focus back. Her sword is out but she keeps her eyes nearly locked to the gently speaking, enchanting fellow. His musically lilting voice drifts to her bringing a halting response.

"Uhh .... Mel. Melhved. The inn... uh... crashed... came crashing down... we crashed... we came down... also...with it. Gudrun. This is Gudrun."


Edward

As the door begins to slide, the energy drains away from the runes, capturing Edward's interest. He follows the runes off to the side.

Wait, what? The residual should have been dispersed along the ventral axis to maintain the matrices! Careless construction or brilliant innovation? Intriguing. Hmm? Houten?

His attention returns when he hears his name mispronounced. He peeks back through the door to see two warriors standing on the other side. One giving Valeris an evil stare, and the other pointing and arrow at his heart. Edward's eyes widen as a shielding spell reflexively jumps to mind. Not wishing to test his prowess against point blank missiles, he holds very still while his charismatic friend weaves his words.

[Taffimai]

Valeris

"Melhved: friend of the Earth! And Gudrun: blessed with wisdom! Such lovely names! And it is just as I suspected, we were all surprised in our sleep. Perhaps the town was built over a sinkhole... What do you think, professor, is that a likely explanation?"

He turns slightly towards Edward to hear his opinion on the sinkhole theory, all the while keeping his eyes on the women. Since they seem more fixated on "the one with the staff" rather than himself, a broad-chested man in chainmail with a large sword, he hopes that calling him a "professor" will distract them from the obvious fact that he's a magic user. After all, there are some crazy wild elf tribes out there with an irrational hatred of all that is arcane.

Gudrun

"You are mistaken, we were not asleep. There was a magical explosion and the town was overrun by hordes of undead that broke through the floor. We fought them off, and the next thing we knew we were down here."

She lowers her bow and looks at Mel.

"I think we can safely say that this one is not an animated corpse. He talks too much."

[WaffleLord]

Edward

"What? Sinkhole? No, no, ridiculous! Did you not see that patch of brown lichen over there? he gaseous build up from a sinkhole would not allow such growth." he says, losing focus on the two warriors standing across from him. Turning to face the bard, "Sinkholes are minor caverns, no more than forty, fifty feet deep at the most. We fell far more than that. And did you not see that door? This is ancient dwarven construction. Their structural reinforcements would not permit the types of sedimentary seepage..."

Melhved

"I think they are both safely alive," she quietly tells Gudrun. "Gentlemen," she says in a louder voice, "we don't know if you have other plans, but we are interested in leaving this place. Is there an exit back your way or should we try the middle ground.?"

[Taffimai]

Valeris

How could I not have noticed that lichen? I'm an idiot!

"Of course, professor! I have dreadfully miscalculated how far below the surface we are. Do you think the dwarves might still..."

"Gentlemen," the goliath interrupts, "we don't know if you have other plans, but we are interested in leaving this place. Is there an exit back your way or should we try the middle ground.?"

"Ah, no, I didn't notice any exits other than the door we just came through,... but of course that doesn't mean there aren't any. I could only carry out a superficial search of the room, and I was mostly looking for other survivors - or bodies. Like the dragonborn over there - was he with you?"

Gudrun

Gudrun nods. "His name was Belshaazar. We don't know what exactly happened to him, Mel and I were exploring the tunnels to the North when they fell. By the time we got here, some necromancer was turning them into undead. We killed him, but not fast enough to save Tombak from being defiled."

She gestures towards the rotting pile of bones that was once Tombak's body.

"There is another body further back, Lotharos. He did not survive the fall."

Valeris

"In that case, perhaps we might want to lay their bodies to rest before pushing on? It is always a good practice for adventurers to honour the fallen, it benefits morale and it can protect the dead from necromancy. I think you have secured the area well enough that we need not fear an ambush."

While saying this, Valeris looks around at the other three to gauge their preference.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"As you wish," she intones. "Their spirits have left these shells. Best not let anything else defile them." She moves forward to build a cairn over body of Tombak.


Edward

Shaken from his lectures by the booming goliath, the wizard stumbles, "No, er, yes, of course. I'll monitor the area," he says, drifting over for another look at the runes.

[Taffimai]

Valeris

The three bodies are ligned up next to one another and as much of the surrounding rocks as can be moved piled on top, making a small cairn. It's not much, but better than leaving them exposed. All four heroes then stand around, each on one of the cardinal points, and Valeris blows his horn three times.

"Tombak! Lotharos! Belshaazar! You have left the material plane behind and entered one of the realms of the gods. May they welcome you with open arms!"

Valeris blows his horn three more times.

"We call to you, the Raven Queen, to guide Tombak, Lotharos and Belshaazar through their new stage of life. They fell whilst defending against the wretched magics of necromancy, which go against all that you teach. We four vow to carry on the fight in Your Name, and beseech you to ward our fallen against any further defilement."

Once again, he blows his horn three times.

"Melora, please accept the mortal remains of our fallen friends. Living creatures are forever coming and going , consuming each otherto create more of their own kind. So long as every death brings a new life, Your laws are obeyed. We will bring down the ones who seek to break them and humbly ask you to guide and bless us in the hunt."

Three final, drawn-out calls from his horn resound throughout the caves, then he hooks it back to his belt, ready to confront whatever lies ahead.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"Hmmm. Nice words, bard. Hope that horn didn't wake something better left sleeping." Mel does a quick gear check, confident sh'e reasy, then checks the new area to the north, her sunrod still glowing strong.



Edward
Seeing other light move on, he gives the runes one last longing glance and moves into the new area eye wide at what new challenges they may face.

Mel [roll0] - D6-G6 area
Edward [roll1] - looking for more runes

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"That was well said." And may Melora bless us indeed.

"Let's get going. There's no telling how much further we have to go to find a way out, and I don't think it would be safe to camp out here."

Unfortunately for Gudrun, it isn't long before they run into another obstacle. The cave here has a large pillar in the middle, and a short corridor coming from behind.

"I don't like this. This looks like the ideal place for an ambush."

[darklink_shadow]

All four party members find themselves converging to the same location rather quickly: the massive door. Gudrun realizes the door is actually multiple doors, and Melhved feels confident there is no way she can move one of them this time. Edward on the other hand realizes these doors are opened the same way he opened the earlier doors. Either this place was locked so only those gifted with magic could enter, or this society had other mechanisms to allow everyone to get in and out at their leisure. However, all doors are "locked" by magic. Just throwing magical energy at these doors wouldn't be enough. There had to be a pattern, but the patterns were not clear. He could tell immediately one of the doors was not going to open for him, as opening it would be far beyond his skill. Of the other three, two looked possible and one looked simple. Coincidentally, their difficulties ranged from hard to easy going left to right.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"I don't think I can be of any use trying to get these doors open. I'm going to stand watch over there to make sure nobody jumps us from behind while we're all staring at them."

She nocks an arrow and takes position with her back against the pillar, in such a way that she can keep an eye both on the path they took to get here and on the deep recess that's worrying her.

Valeris

"What makes you say there is more than one door? Never mind, let's just try to find out how they open... perhaps there is a key hidden somewhere. What do you think, professor?"

[WaffleLord]

Edward

"Ooooo. More runes," he says stepping towards the northern door. Mumbling to himself, he scans the entire wall. "Similar...simple...hmmm...could be...no...deeper... ewww...that's a puzzler...can't be... that contradicts......but how.........perhaps............" By the time he reaches the western side of the doors, he has fallen silent.


Melhved

Following the others into the room, she keeps her sword drawn, watching the corners of the room for shadowy trouble. After quickly determining that these doors are beyond her abilities, she falls into defensive routines. Staying out of Gudrun's line of death, she makes one more circuit of the area. When she returns to the wizard's side, her patience is wearing thin. "Can you open them or not?"

Edward

"Ah. Oh. Yes. Sort of. It is actually a series of doors of advancing difficulty. I can open two of these very easily. The rest...perhaps." He turns towards the eastern most section of the door. "Shall we start with the easy one? Just say the word, Valeris."

[Taffimai]

Valeris

Valeris draws his sword and moves closer to Edward.

"Go ahead, professor, whatever lies behind that door, I've got your back."

[WaffleLord]

Edward

Approaching the new set of runes on what he perceives as the easiest entry, he focuses his talent, sending swirling waves of arcane energy into them in a pattern he believes will open the door.

=Arcana]1d20+12
Reroll in OOC = 26 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17620913&postcount=326)

[darklink_shadow]

The runes hummed for a moment, and the door slid open slowly to reveal a small chamber, perhaps five by ten feet. The chamber pot in the middle of the room clearly indicates the room's purpose, but small arcane runes adorn even that object. No smell betrays the room for what it is, and everything within seems perfectly preserved.

The door to the bathroom is opened via arcana, proving to you that this ancient system relied heavily on the use of magic to accomplish even the most trivial of tasks.

[Taffimai]

Valeris

"Well now! A magical chamber pot! Undoubtedly enchanted to odourlessly evaporate its contents! We should find out how heavy it is, it might come in very handy if we could carry it with us."

Valeris gives the chamber pot a light tap with the tip of his sword before kneeling next to it to study its runes.

"Professor, do you think that if we find enough of these mundane items with runes on them, we might decipher the entire alphabet?"

Gudrun

"Might I suggest that you handle that thing carefully? A chamber pot seems like an ideal candidate for a booby trap if you ask me."

Gudrun cannot share Valeris' enthousiasm about burdening themselves with a chamber pot, no matter how enchanting, and keeps her focus on what lies behind.

"It occurs to me that we should have tried to close the doors behind us. Mel, what do you say we leave the boys to study their new toy and go do that?"

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"I don't know, Gudrun. Left to their own devices, they may fall in," she says derisively. Turning to walk with the ranger, she lowers her voice and asks, "Are the gentlemen going to be a bonus or a burden? True, they can open doors but I am as of yet unimpressed." Surveying the doors behind them, she wonders whether brute strength will get the job done. "They were hard enough to open. Closing may be harder still. As we faced nothing but dead ends before this door, the only things that may follow behind us could be more victims of the sinkhole. We might assume the same for their side if this is the only direction they seem concerned about. Then again," she says, glancing at the men by the chamber pot, "do we trust these...fellows yet?"


Edward

Fascinated even by the object as mundane as the piss pot, he kneels on the floor to observe it more closely without touching, mumbling to himself. "Hmmm?" he says in response to the bard's question. "Of course not. Well, maybe. Runic language can also be iconographic rather the phonetic, contextually symbolic rather than sequentially structured. We could collect thousands of symbols yet not scratch the surface of their vocabulary or syntax. However, there may be a short cut. Hmmm," he hums as he takes a closer look at the odorless urn.

Does Edward know whether his Comprehend Languages ritual would work on magical languages? I don't.

[darklink_shadow]

Just as a one minute marker passed, the magically opened door closed. The door opened by brute force seemed to have broken, however, and sat there idly.

In the other room, the chamber pot sat, getting more attention today than all of it's previous days combined. The pot doesn't budge from a tap from a sword, as it is significantly heavier than those used in other places. This chamber pot is made from heavily worked stone, with some sort of metal inlay around the bottom. The runes are carved into the stone, and the metal appears to be ornamental.

I don't see why the ritual wouldn't work on magical languages. So, sure it does.

Valeris thinks the chamber pot can be activated to do something to the contents. He isn't sure if it is destroy or teleport; the word that comes to mind is remove. It removes the contents. He doesn't think it's trapped, but he does worry it might go off automatically if something is stuck in it.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Trust them?" Gudrun glances back. "I am confident that they aren't part of the undead invasion force. Whether they are going to be any help to our efforts to escape remains to be seen."

Gudrun checks all directions for signs of enemy action, then stashes her bow and places her hands on the back of the open door.

"Are you ready? On three..."

Valeris

Valeris holds up the chamber pot up in the light from Edward's spell and slowly turns it so they can both study the runes from all sides.

"Ah, this is rather heavier than I had hoped. Too bad, I would have loved to take it back up with us for proper study. I'd really like to find out exactly how it works. It must be some kind of disintegration effect, I think. I wonder whether it would work on anything, or only on organic matter."

He moves his fingers a little further away from the edge of the metal to make sure the pot doesn't accidentally mistake his fingers for waste.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"As you wish." She gets as good a grip as she can as puts her back into closing the manually opened door.
Close door, [roll0]

Edward

Hearing a closing door, his heads turns. "Ah! One place the stored magic may go is into a capacitor of some type to use the captured energy to close the door again. See? Our previous door has closed of its own accord. One might assume this ... ah... privacy door may do the same shortly. Stand clear." He takes another long look at the runes. "Hmmmmmm. Before trying the next portal to questionable success and destination, may I take a moment to try and scry meaning form the samples we've seen so far?" he asks the bard.

[Taffimai]

Valeris

"A moment? Professor, please, take as long as is needed! I would very gladly function as your assistant in deciphering these runes, they are absolutely fascinating! Perhaps, if we place the chamber pot over here, I can take notes while you dictate?"

Before long, Valeris has completely lost track of time while raptly following Edward's approach to this problem.

[WaffleLord]

Edward

Chanting and swaying, the wizard commands, begs, pleads, coerces, and entreats the arcane forces to reveal their secrets hidden within the runes. The mystic forces seems to rise and swell but diminish before the end of the ritual. "Hmmmm. That was highly unsuccessful. Perhaps the energy-draining qualities of the runes interrupted the ritual. Or maybe...hmmmm." He loses himself in thought.

Melhved
After standing guard while the wizard went about his business, the warden finally interjects, "Can we please move on? We need to get out of here."

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

Back at her previous spot near the pillar and keeping a lookout at the suspicious part of the cavern, Gudrun quietly agrees with Melhved, but doesn't say anything. After all, she does not possess the magical prowess to open these doors, so who knows whether letting the men study these runes might not aid their escape?

Valeris

"Well, professor, what do they say?"

Valeris' tone is slightly apprehensive. The wizard's expression seems dejected somehow, but that is strange: he has seen several variations of this ritual performed before, and he can't think of anything that would have made it fail. Just then, Melhved reminds them that there are more pressing matters than ancient lampoons.

"Well, you are right, we shouldn't dally; we might still have a long journey ahead of us." He stares a bit forlorn at his chamber pot and sighs. "Too bad this thing is too cumbersome to carry."

Sensing that his mentor is deeply entrenched in mulling over his results, Valeris moves on to the second door.

"I have always been a quick study, so let's give the professor some more time to make sense of things and see if I can muster enough arcane power to operate this mechanism."

[WaffleLord]

Melhved

"As long as it keeps us moving. Stationary targets gather more arrows, Mater would say." She draws her sword and, casting a wary eye at the babbling wizard, steps in front of the second door.

Edward
The wizards stands before the runes, easily able to read only part of what is written. Mumbling to himself, he tries to suss out the unexpected results. "Partial translations are caused by threefold errors in concentration, execution, and subject material, none of which are an issue here. I was focused, the ritual was performed flawlessly, and I have seen numerous examples of the referencial text. The energy drain could NOT prevent or impede the ritual as it is an alteration of lorical strata, not of the runes themselves. You could easier stop a harpy's flight with a stepladder. I must be... can't be...perhaps..." He stares at the runes, readable and unreadable, again and again trying to find some clue.
Obsessing for color, no rolls needed.

[darklink_shadow]

As Valeris focuses, the door shifts and then grinds upwards to open. Beyond is a small room tucked away. Inside is a sort of office, it would appear. There is a stone desk, and a stone chair. You can see the stone on the very bottom of the chair is some type of black rock, whereas you are used to seeing a dark grey stone, with a few lighter grey stones. The desk has a number of crystals on it, arranged in a pleasing manor, but they seem to hum. There is a smaller, flat crystal with arcane runes written onto them. There are two sets of letters: ones Edward could read as "Activate Image" and other words nobody can understand.

There is a few stone bound books, with leather pages sitting on the desk. The words are written in a language beyond your understanding at this time, and they appear to be scorched onto the surface of the leather pages. The books are heavy, but a strong person could carry maybe 4 or 5 of them at once. There are 4 of them, but one is cracked badly, and broken in many places, including along the spine, making the pages free to fall out.

Along the undamaged spines, all the symbols are identical except a set at the very beginning.
These marks ate the beginning are definitely some sort of number system.

In many places molds have grown around the place, and on one place on the desk, it appears there was a sort of fungus being grown in a stone pot, and in some places in the room, this same fungus seems to be growing.

This fungus is a type of food. It's actually very nutrient rich, and healthy.

The mold is highly, highly toxic. This room is dangerous to be in for very long. If the mold detect the people within, they will emit spores to try to poison and kill anyone nearby and use their bodies as food.

These molds are magically altered to be dangerous.
These molds are highly susceptible to Fire. Even a little fire nearby will kill all the mold.

[Taffimai]

Valeris and Gudrun

Valeris holds his breath as the door slowly rises before him. He did it! He had willed the door to open, to reveal the mysteries beyond, and it had obeyed! Inordinately pleased with himself, he places both hands on his sides and beams at the room, savouring the moment.

"Well? Have you found a way out?"

Growing impatient, and finally convinced that the suspicious rock formations are really just natural parts of this cave after all, Gudrun walks over to see what the half-elf is so excited about. The small room comes as quite a disappointment.

"That's it? A fancy chair and some moldy old tomes?" A sinking feeling creeps up on her. "Don't tell me you're going to want to read all of those, we'll be here for hours! And this is not a good place to get caught."

She looks pleadingly at Mel for some backup, but Valeris interrupts before her friend can respond.

"Those moldy old tomes could very well provide us with invaluable information about what lies ahead, so of course we should have a look at them. Let's hope our professor will be able to read at least some of what's inside." A quick sideway glance however tells him that Edward is still preoccupied with trying to work out what went wrong with his ritual. "Anyway, before we can hope to examine the books, we must..."

"Whatever, just get on with it." Impatient as she was, Gudrun knew when to accept defeat. Dejected, she turns to stand watch again, when she notices the overgrown myxogastrid in the corner.

"Actually, we might be in luck. I know that fungus! It is highly nutritious - for real this time," her cheeks redden as she looks at Mel again, still ashamed about her earlier blunder with the lichen, "while you bury yourself in those books, I shall harvest their fruit bodies. At least we won't have to worry about food for a while now!"

She starts moving towards the flower pot when Valeris grabs her firmly by the shoulders and pulls her back.

"I am very sorry." He inclines his head a little towards her shocked face.

"The mold on those tomes is not at all innocent. Do you see how the light slightly distorts around it when I move my torch? Someone grew that mold on purpose and then cast a spell on it to make it highly toxic. The first person to enter this room would have been sprayed with poisonous spores, killed and slowly consumed. The good news is that, being carnivorous, the mold probably hasn't caused any serious damage to the books. The better news is that it is very easy to get rid of! For that, however, we will need a real torch, with a proper non-magical flame."

Handing his EverburnTM to the still flabbergasted Gudrun, Valeris puts his backpack on the ground and starts rooting through it for flint and steel and something to burn.

"Here, let me help you with that..."

[WaffleLord]

Melhved and Edward

The goliath's shoulder's slump when she finds another doorway leading to nothing of her interest.

"We seem to going nowhere very quickly. Perhaps a focusing of attentions would help?" she says elbowing the wizards.

"Ow! What? Oooooooo!! Books!" Edward lunges towards the tomes only to be grabbed by the warden.

"How can you have gained so much knowledge not paying attention? The mold is a poisonous trap! Let Valeris take care of things and we pack you some interesting reading material for our trip home." Her emphasis on 'home' is a clear message to get on with things.

"Very well, very well. Be cautious with that fire. Don't damage any potentially rare texts. Stay away from any with a shiny but cloudy binding sealant as those will singe easily. If there are any from the from the earlier regimes, please set those aside. If you have need, forget not that I am skilled in the elemental arts. Is that a second edition Glambring that I see?" The wizard continues to talk and make suggestions as to proper reading material and burning procedures.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"This isn't working. We either need proper kindling, or another option."

She hesitantly looks at Edward.

"When you say you are skilled with the elements, does that include fire?"

[WaffleLord]

Edward

His eyes brighten as his full attention falls upon the elf. "Why, yes! Yes I am!" He holds his hands out as fire dances along the finger tips of one hand while sparks sizzle between the fingers of his other hand. "I wield the elements as other breathe. They sing to my soul and my mind weaves a chorus of angels from them." The sparks and fire bounce from one hand to next as a light snow falls between his two hands. "Shall I purge the moldy curse from these books with the fires born of the dragons?" he asks eagerly.

Prestidigitation for effects.

His desire to show-off is temporarily overriding his interest in the books

@Darklink: Can I target the nasty spores with Fire Shroud?

[darklink_shadow]

Prestidigitation is hands down my absolute favorite spell. Any CHA based caster + intimidate + Prestidigitation is the most fun character to be, imo.

And yes, anything that could even somewhat feasibly kill the spores is enough. The "encounter" is really a skill encounter just to know the spores are lethal.

GO ahead and write whatever you want about destroying the mold, my post is only to signify that, yes, it all dies easily.

Quickly in response to Edward's show of force, the dire mold crackles with a high-pitched hiss and a low hum. After only a matter of seconds, all the mold has turned a dark grey as it gave up its ghost. All that remained in the room was some slightly singed mushrooms, and the office with its sundries.

[WaffleLord]

Edward

"Prepare yourselves for the conflagration. No need to fear, my fire does not harm my friends."

Drawing his arms close to his chest, eyes closed, he dramatically spreads them wide. Flames erupt around him, shrouding the wizard in crackling fire. Spreading out from the wizard, the searing heat passes by his allies with no effect, but causes the mold to turn to dust with great hissing and popping. As the flames dissipate, Edward expels a long sigh, centering himself, reigning his 'tremendous' powers. His eyes open with a satisfied smile. He nods once to his assembled audience before turning his focus to the books. However, his attention is stolen by a series of crystals on the desk.

"Hello? What have we here? 'Activate image', hmmm. These... these are... interesting."

Investigate crystals - [roll0]
Analyze crystals - [roll1]

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"Born of the dragons indeed! Very impressive."

Gudrun walks over to the mushrooms and starts harvesting them.

"And you know, these really taste better roasted anyway, so it's all good."

Valeris

Having sheltered his face from the flames, Valeris now eagerly runs towards the desk and starts pawing the books.

"Fascinating! Can you read them, Professor?"

He briefly runs his fingers over the books feeling for other security mechanisms. Confident that the mold were the last line of defense, he picks one and holds it up.

"I certainly cannot read it, but my guess would be "Growing fungi for fun and profit" volumes one to five. Am I close?"

Valeris looks at Gudrun, then back at the spine of his book.

"Oh, well spotted! These symbols at the bottom do resemble a numeric system. I hope they're not about gardening though."

He hands the book to Edward to let him have a look and turns his attention to the crystals.

"Look at this! We had similar devices in my father's tower, I should remember some of this."

He looks intently at each crystal without touching them.

"Some of the mundane ones are missing, see? A red one here, two green ones there... I wonder whether they were laid out in this pattern for a purpose or just some form of doodling. Also..."

He glances underneath the desk, then quickly gets up again.

"I'll get back to that later. Anyway, you see this one here, with the notch in it? I am unsure of the common name for it, as my instruction was exclusively in Elven, but it loosely translates as a 'sound reader'. You would first take one of these white ones here," he points to the recording crystals, "and speak into them. The vibrations you produce are stored inside and they get a hue like these," now he points to the crystals with sound bites on them, "then if you want to hear back what was said at a later time, you place the recorded crystals into the reader and it magically amplifies the vibrations to recreate the sounds. We called them whisper crystals or just whispers, but that might've been just my mother and me."

He pauses to smile at the memory.

"Of course, we should be very careful about playing unknown crystals. I couldn't say for sure, but there might be harmful spells in here to deafen unwanted ears."

It is quite clear from his tone that despite knowing better, Valeris can barely hold back from showing off and attempting an activation.

"The ones on the side here, however, have nothing to do with the whispers. The most exciting ones are the purple ones right here, they are arcane keys. With a little luck they should open the doors for us. The two largest crystals just hold charges of various strength, but I don't know what they do. They might amplify spells, or work like magic wands, or power the keys,... I have no clue. Now, if you all don't mind lifting your feet, I want to feel through the dust on the floor here to see if I can't find those missing pieces of the motif."

He gets on his hands and knees and starts his search under the desk.

[darklink_shadow]

After even the most cursory search, it becomes immediately obvious that the missing crystals are not in this room. Well, unless they are invisible or otherwise magically hidden. It is much more likely, however, that the mundane crystals are simply not here. Put simply, without some insight into their culture, or something else equally as useful, all that can be surmised it that the crystals are missing. They are assuredly non-magical in nature, however.

Anyone who performs rituals, however, might ponder if they were ground into dust and used to power a ritual. Anyone who knows anything about gemstones might wonder if they were sold or stolen.

Just to nudge you a bit, the missing crystals are not overly relevant. The present crystals are much more relevant. You will never find the missing crystals. And I really mean never; it's META knowledge, but these missing crystals are not within a hundred miles of here, or within infinity miles of here. They are not on this plane of existence.

But, everything else is valuable or relevant. And you two are great players.

Now for this:

With the mushrooms in tow, Gundrun believes they can be made to last nearly two or three days worth of food alone. They are highly nutritious and deceptively filling. Also mildly tasty. A bit like walnuts in taste, so the flavor is very mild. They are much better when cooked. Roasted is the best way to prepare them.

On Books:

The books are actually now quite clearly a series. After careful consideration, Valeris believes he is holding Vol. 4. There is not Vol. 1 present, but they otherwise are stacked in order.

Should anyone try to read them, they would find that quite impossible at the moment. However, there are quite a few tables inside. The data in the tables is mostly impossible to read, but quite often there are numbers within the tables.

The front page of the book Valeris holds has a stamp with an intricate symbol on the top. If you checked, all the books in here do as well.

[WaffleLord]

Edward and Melhved

Taking the book given him, he leafs through it taking care not to damage it further, disappointment evident on his face that he had wasted his languages ritual so early. He recognizes the same symbols used to denote the series on the covers written inside the books in table form.

"There obviously a great deal of information here if only we were able to decipher it." He looks longingly at the other heavily bound books. "Perhaps we may take a few for some reading later?" he asks, glancing coyly at the goliath standing nearby in thinly veiled impatient disgust.

Throwing her hands up, she sighs "If it will get us going..." She takes two of the books at random and stuffs them into her backpack. She shoulders the load with exasperation. "NOW can we go?"

"Just a moment. These crystals, if Valeris has the rights on it, could save us a great deal of time. Arcane keys could make short work of our escape, don't you think? Since we have such time savers here, I who say another moment spent looking might reward us in other ways. Take this for example," he says gesturing to the crystal with the words 'Activate Image'. "Who knows what secrets could be revealed! Shall we take a look at what this image may be? A map? A scroll?" he asks his fellow arcanist Valeris.

[Taffimai]

Valeris

"It's no use,... AHH!"

Valeris, who has failed to find the crystals he was looking for, veers up a little to quickly at the prospect of trying the crystals and hits his head on the bottom of the desk.

"Ow! Well, serves me right. Those crystals aren't on the floor here, they must've taken them somewhere else. But yes, professor, I'd love to try that image. Stand back everybody!"

Holding his breath, he places his hands left and right on the image recaller and infuses it with magical energy.

[darklink_shadow]

As Valeris channeled arcane energy into the imaging device, he briefly felt as if he could see a dozen images in his mind. It felt as if he sub-conscious looked at one in particular and all the others vanished. At the same moment his mind selected the image, it appears hovering above the device in perfect color. It was a simple image of a wizened old dwarf with a hard face, weary from years of strife, with a massive small plastered across his face as he held an infant dwarf in his arms. The image contains just the two dwarves and no background at all, but you get the feeling they are somewhere brightly lit up, unlike the room you are currently in.

The better observes among you would notice the dwarves were of a stock never seen prior to this. Darker skinned like the evil dwarves who lived in the grimy depths of the world, but with bright white hair unlike those you have seen. There are a few other minor differences that tell you this is a sort of dwarf never seen by any of you. It's easy to surmise they must have been driven to extinction.

[Taffimai]

Valeris and Gudrun

"That... that is amazing! Are you all seeing the same? Old dwarf holding their grandchild or something? I wonder what happened to them."

"I have met many dwarves over the years, but never any that looked like these. They must be... very distant ancestors of modern dwarves? Is there any way to tell how old these structures are?"

"I don't know. What do you think, Professor? I had the impression that there were more images stored inside, should we try again?"

[WaffleLord]

Melhved and Edward

At the appearance of the dwarf, Mel can no longer feign disinterest.

"That is quite remarkable, though the picture is obviously not true. I see many features that are incorrect about that dwarf. Never have dwarfs had that coloring. Beware some sort of deception."

"What? It's obviously some kind offshoot that no longer exists. Is this an image from your mind, Valeris, or stored in the stone? Fascinating! Why this picture in particular? Is it giving you any other information: name location? If you can, bring us another by all means."

[darklink_shadow]

As the goliath queries Valeris, the man realizes that there is an idea in his mind that is not his own. A thought; a few syllables long. It's hard to understand, because the thought is not in his own language, but it's clearly a happy thought. As for why the image appeared, he realizes when he activated the item, his mind flinched from the sudden explosion of data and he selected an image at random by accident.

I actually rolled a die to see which image you opened up. So... that's why. :P

[Taffimai]

Valeris

Happy to follow up on Edward's suggestion, Valeris places his hands on the imager again, only this time he actively tries to choose one of the pictures. He settles on a happy young couple, all dressed up for some glorious occasion, like a party.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this: the images have titles, like "Mina's first birthday" or something, but I have no clue what that means in this language, so I just get to feel how the person storing them felt at the time. I think they're also numbered, but I'm not sure. Anyone else want to have a try?"

[WaffleLord]

Edward and Melhved

"By all means, I'd love a try," offers the wizard as he steps forward. Placing his hands on the imager, he concentrates with a look of wonder on his face. "There are so many! It's a life's story!" A image of a young dwarf holding a magical crystal with great joy appears. "They are craftsman, as our dwarves!" He summons the picture of a dwarven chorus. "Music and arts, what wonderful, vivid records! Cultural traditions as well!" As he summons the image of the female dwarf's wedding, Melhved, who had been coming closer with growing interest, turns and stomps away.

"Stupid pictures will get us nowhere! Find one that show's the exit, I say." Plodding to the middle of the room, she stands impatiently, gruff in manner.

[Taffimai]

Gudrun

"She is right. Looking through a dead dwarf's family album is nice, but we don't want to be caught off-guard. Why don't you give me a key and I'll try it on the next door while you see whether those whisper crystals are in a language you understand. They're not very likely to be in Elven."

Valeris

Visibly reluctant to move on before he has seen all the pictures, Valeris stubbornly leafs through them at a quicker pace.

"I think they show more than just one family's snapshots. These dwarves experienced loss and later adopted orphans, see? I wish we could find out who or what was killing them. There might be some horrible flesh-eating disease still lingering about. Still..."

He moves back to the desk and hands Gudrun the keys.

"I hope you find the one to get us out..."

His words trail along with his thoughts. His eyes move from one lady to the other as he continues, apprehensive of making one of them lose their temper.

"You know... even if we don't understand what's on the whispers, which we probably won't, these gems would allow us to repeat the ritual from before..."

[WaffleLord]

Melhved and Edward

"... and listen in to their thoughts, very good, very good. It will take me a few minutes to call upon the learned, arcane forces after hearing a sample of the language. Perhaps while you ladies find us safe passage, yes?"

"Anything as long as we're moving forward. I prefer sky and sun to glowing rods and rock." She loosens her sword in its scabbard, tightens her grip on her shield, and stands near the next door. "Let's get moving. Ready when you are."

[darklink_shadow]

While Gundrun tries the keys with the lock on the third door, Edward begins the incantations to summon the knowledge of the dead dwarven words into his mind.

Gundrun quickly discovers none of the keys work on the third door, and then in a vain attempts the keys on the fourth door only to find that the fourth door is likewise unresponsive. Edward does not come up as empty handed however. After a short ritual, he discovers that the room has new meaning to him. The books are labels plainly: "Warden's Log: Vol. 3" is the title of the book they've decided to claim as their own. In a brief moment of omnipresence, he opens the book, and the words flow to him. Clearly, as if slowly explained to him by a great orator, he sees now that the place they are in is a prison for the criminals of the ancient society. He finds it strange, however, to note that there is only but one employee of the prison. The Warden is the sole staff of a prison designed to hold all the criminals of an entire people. The book doesn't explain why, for it is only the personal log of this warden, the man whose office you've ransacked and the log only details day to day affairs. As if guided by a force more powerful than he, Edward grabs at the last book, only barely able to control himself in the fervor and rage of learning. The book knocks over to the floor, and he sees, scrawled on the last page, not an entry log, but a note: It's over, they've broken through the stone. I'm abandoning my post. Forgive me Morgarth, but not even your wrath is enough to conquer my wish to die with my family. I flee to them, and I beg you for forgiveness, my Lord of the Arcane Stones. If anyone reads this, I ordered the Makkins to terminate all prisoners, and then return to normal functional duties. Not even our worst criminals should have to die at the hands of the Zxik. If we survive this, do not begrudge a simple man his failure to die at his post. Honor cannot bind me as death approaches with a roar of thunder and hate. Gods help us, and damn me for my failures, if this is a test, I do not wish to pass it.

Just as Edward understands so much, and yet so little, Valeris gets the whistling stones to sing for him, and as it turns out, all that is on them is song. Wordless voices and the gentle ting, gregarious boom, and relaxing sizzle of unknown instruments are all that welcome him on the first stone he tries. Edward turns to look at Valeris, and then at the stones. With his new found understanding of words, he realizes what they had missed before: the whislting stones are carefully labeled. All of them are musical except one. The one that is noted to contain a memo reads: "To my wife," on it's label.

[WaffleLord]

Edward and Melhved

As enlightenment washes over the wizard, he quickly reads through as much as he can. "Zounds! Listen to this!" He recites what he can read of the text aloud to the others. Looking up a bit blanched he asks, "Am I reading this right? We've fallen into a prison?" He points to certain words in the book incredulously. "A prison that was attacked by...'Zxikes'? It appears these 'Makkins' are some type of automated helper of The Warden who were to kill the prisoners. Ruthless! If this last whisper stone is labelled correctly, 'To my wife', did he forget to take it or is it here because he was not able to leave with it?"

The goliath wandering back from the door turns to look at Gudrun. "So the foul one who soiled Tombak and Belshaazar, was he a Zxik, a Makkin, or a prisoner? And does it matter? I have earned no time in prison and will not let any of them stop us from leaving this one! Let's off! Wizards, open this door as you have before!"

Edward takes a few deep breaths. "Prison...prison." He shakes his head and, looking wistfully at the labeled message, slips the whisper stone into his backpack before shouldering his load and moving towards the third door.

[darklink_shadow]

The third door reads plainly to Edward: The Command Word is Ikx. A little below that it reads: PRISON. Looking to his left he sees the final door reads: The Command Word is Zak. but below that it reads: CITY: DANGER: DO NOT ENTER: DANGER: ZXIK: DANGER: LOCKDOWN

It is clear that with only a small amount of magic, and one spoken word, he can get the door to the prison to open, however, it appears the door to the city is locked in a manner beyond normal means.

[WaffleLord]

Edward and Melhved

Licking his dry lips, Edward turns to the group. "I can open this door," he says gesturing to the third portal, "quite easily, with but a word. However, it leads into the heart of the prison. This fourth door, beyond my means to open, would lead to our salvation if not for this warning:DANGER:DO NOT ENTER:DANGER:ZXIK:DANGER:LOCKDOWN. As loathe as I am to enter a prison voluntarily, it seems our only choice." He looks to each of his companions. "We will have to break into and then out of their lockdown. A daunting task. I would love to hear other ideas, else I'll say the word and away we go. Thoughts?"

The goliath shakes her head. "If these Zxiks are making it impossible to go out that door, then the other is ours. This cannot be the only entrance. We must find another. I say we go."

[darklink_shadow]

After some debate, the party resigns itself to the railroad tracks that lead into door number 3. The lucky winners find themselves presented with a long corridor that branches to the right after 10 feet, and again a few tens of feet past that, and finally seems to end at a final turn very far off. As they enter, force fields erect themselves around the party and hum. After a moment they turn from a light blue to an angry red, and the humming becomes more of a hiss. In the distance several hissing noises occur and then the sound of heavy footsteps approach.

A dwarf, twice the size in all dimensions, made of a smooth, pale stone with a ring of crystals forming a crown approaches you. You hear a few chiming noises and you feel the painful invasions of your minds as dozens of meaningless scenes from your past whirl through your mind's eye. INTRUDERS. The voice appears to ring from the walls, rather than from the golem itself, but entirely strange is the fact that it is speaking in common.

OBSERVATION: YOU ARE NOT ZXIK. LOGICAL CONCLUSION: THE ZXIK WERE ANNIHILATED AND THE GRU'JUL EMPIRE WAS REINSTATED. LOGICAL CONCLUSION: YOU ARE PRISONERS. OBSERVATION: NO TRIAL IS STORED IN MY RECORDS. YOU MUST HAVE DEMANDED TO BE TRIED BY THE ADJUDICATOR. YOU WILL FOLLOW ME TO YOUR CELLS. IN 5 CYCLES YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO THE TRIALS. COMPLY OR YOU WILL BE MADE TO COMPLY.

[WaffleLord]

Melhved and Edward

The goliath rages against the confining field, screaming at the invasion of her personal thoughts.

Edward's response is a bit more pragmatic. "I see. You must be a Makkin. We are indeed not in your files because we do not belong here. Cast down from above, or possibly across, we landed in your facility quite by accident. To keep your records clean and accurate, perhaps it's best if we just show ourselves out, yes? would you be so kind as to indicate the quickest egress?"

[darklink_shadow]

The Makkin turns and locks it's eyes on Edward. I DETECT NO FALSEHOOD. A long, pregnant pause as the construct's mind audibly whirled and churned. OBSERVATION: THERE IS NO PROTOCOL FOR THIS HAPPENSTANCE. WE WILL AWAIT THE WARDEN'S DECISION ON THIS MATTER. UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS WE HAVE HEARD FROM HIM, WE WILL CONTINUE WITH THE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU ARE TO BE INCARCERATED, AND YOU WILL REMAIN THUSLY UNTIL EITHER SUCH A TIME OCCURS THAT YOU DEMAND TRIAL BY ADJUDICATION, OR THE WARDEN GIVES FURTHER DIRECTIVES. COMPLY OR YOU WILL BE MADE TO COMPLY.

Another pause, as a stomping twin to this first speaker arrives. And then from down another corridor a third. UNTIL IT HAS BEEN DEEMED THAT YOUR CRIMES ARE GREATER THAN OUR LOWEST, YOU WILL BE GIVEN THE LUXURY OF THE PETTY CRIMES CELLS. FOLLOW THAT ONE. The speaker gestures at the makkin who came third, and the force field leading into the prison is dropped, only to be raised again just past the corridor you have been directed to enter.

[WaffleLord]

Edward and Melhved

"Upgraded accommodations? That is very...understanding...of you." Quietly to his associates, he adds, "Best play along until the balance of power changes." Louder again, "Say, as we go willingly without resistance to our cells, could you tell me more about 'Trial by Adjudication' perhaps?"

The warden continues to seethe as she tromps along. "Mater raised no foolish young. 'Yell not 'gainst the wind,' she'd say. Just so, we DO NOT belong here."

[darklink_shadow]

The Makkin paused, then turned. SINCE ANCIENT TIMES, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE RIGHT OF ALL CITIZENS TO BE PERMITTED A CHANCE TO GIVEN A CHANCE TO SERVE OTHERS RATHER THAN SERVE TIME. IN MODERN TIMES, NOBODY HAS NEEDED HELP, SO THE TRIAL BY ADJUDICATION WAS INVENTED. PRISONERS COULD SERVE THE COMMUNITY BY DUE VIRTUAL TRIALS AND WOULD GENERATE MAGICAL ENERGY BY ENDURING STRIFE AND SUFFERING. THE TRIALS ALSO TYPICALLY TEACH EVIL-DOERS A LESSON, OR THEY FAIL SO OFTEN THAT THEY GIVE UP AND SERVE THEIR TIME. YOU SHOULD BE WARNED, WHILE YOU ARE IN THE TRAILS, NO TIME SHALL PASS IN THE REAL WORLD, THOUGH IT MAY FEEL LIKE IT. IF YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRIAL BY ADJUDICATION, IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO BE FULLY INFORMED ABOUT IT. A MAKKIN WILL CHECK ON YOU HOURLY.

As it spoke, it escorted you to a pair of cells, each with a pair of bunks, a pot with an enchantment to destroy matter inside of it and nothing else. The walls were stark white, and the beds a dull grey. The material the beds were made of were clearly some variation of wool, but well made enough to be comfortable: much more so than the beds you slept on last night.

[WaffleLord]

"And so our heroes sat and sat, waiting for justice, waiting for freedom. Hours came and went. Then days. Then months. Then years. With little to mark time but the hourly coming of the makkins, time seems an unterminable crawl. Wanting nothing, their needs seen to by the machinations, their lives were lived out in front of one another each on display for the only others to watch.

Melhved grew frustrated and heavy, her years weighing upon her as her constant pleads of innocence fell of deaf, mechanical ears. At last her prodigious strength failed her after many decades. Her corpse sat for eternity, staring at the door, waiting for justice.

The wizard fell soon after. Brilliant and handsome to the end, he accept the end of his journey with calm dignity, ready to experience the next adventure of after-life.

Valeris, ever witty and jaunty, passed quietly in the night without warning. Never aging, never silent, his final performance was a new composition dedicated to the newest makkin activated with the small scratch upon its buttocks.

There sat Gudrun. For centuries untold she sat, her beauty untouched, her passion unquenched. Makkins came and went, still, there sat Gudrun. Wars raged, kingdoms toppled, mountains flattened, and sea rose, still, there sat Gudrun. The Gods played, and shaped, and erased, and battled, and slept, but still, there sat Gudrun. When, at last, the Final Tally came, and the world was split asunder to count all life, there sat Gudrun."



"Stop being so dramatic, Edward. I only said I'd like to think about adjudication for a minute," grumbled the goliath.

[darklink_shadow]

A new Makkin patrolled outside their stark white cage, twice he passed marking two hours of waiting. Finally another Makkin approached your prison. THE TIME IS AT HAND, YOU WILL UNDER GO TRIAL BY ADJUDICATION. THE DECISION MAKER HAS SPOKEN. SHOULD YOU PASS, YOU WILL BE FREED TO ROAM OUR CITY'S STREETS AS FREE CITIZENS. SHOULD YOU FAIL, THE MAKKIN WILL CONTINUE OUR LAST ORDER.

Edward remembered quickly, the last order was to terminate all prisoners, lest they be killed by the vicious Zxiks invaders. WE REQUIRE YOUR SPOKEN DESIRE TO UNDERGO THE TRIAL BY ADJUDICATION BEFORE WE CAN TRANSPORT YOU, HOWEVER. SPEAK YOUR DESIRE.

[WaffleLord]

Valeris sighs as he stands, "Well, as long as you insist." He clears his voice and booms out as close an imitation of the Makkin as he can. "WE DESIRE TO UNDERGO THE TRIAL BY ADJUDICATION. Capiche?"

The reluctant heroes gird themselves for whatever the future holds for them.

[darklink_shadow]

With a pop and a sizzle, the unfortunate heroes find themselves in a grand room, ceiling easily 30 feet high, and it's length expanding out more than a 100 feet, with it's width matching its height. The long walls are adorned with strange glowing crystals sitting before a metallic disc, about 5ft in radius. In the center of the room is a raised platform with four beds, and in the center of the platform is an even more raised platform with another large metallic disk. On either side of the disk are earthen-worked containers of some sort, with no apparent way to open them. Atop the center disk is a enormous crystal, nearly as large as a man. The room is eerie silent, and you get the feeling the trials are about to began. However, you feel an unnatural sleepiness seeping into your bodies, and the beds call to you.