Curse of the Crimson Throne: Seven Days to the Grave [IC]

[lostsole31]

R30T16: Iluvar concentrates on his body, checking in with his internal balance, so should he be unparalyzed, his external balance will be maximized.

R30T9: When next Lilim is seen, she is no longer moving at extreme speed, her own haste effect having worn off. Her own fly speed is prodigious (at least right now), but she doesn't move as one on a higher order of speed than the rest of the world. She flies into the art gallery. Iluvar only spies for a quick second as she flies from north to south of his limited LOS into that room. She didn't have a scythe anymore, though.

R30T5.5: Khu'gdoc steps back and mentally tears away more of Rolth's magic. For yet another time, Iluvar sees Rolth's form shift place a foot or two (mother-f*#&er had three displacements throughout this battle, one ran out, and Khu' dropped the other two).

End Round 30, Begin Round 31 ...

R31T24: Rolth casts a spell, taking an amber rod out of his apron, and a lightning bolt shoots forward and just barely manages to burn through the daemon's resistance. Still, the monster is preternaturally fast and minimizes exposure, and only ends up taking 3 mod electricity.

R31T22.1: Jolistina casts a spell on herself, turning invisible.

R31T16: Iluvar, you are no longer paralyzed!!! You are prone, fast heal 3, feather balance is now active, you are still feeling heroic, and protected from fire. What do you do?

Lilim on deck, Khu'gdoc in the hole ...

[Tippnick]

Spoiler

Show

MA equivalent- will asses the shaft of the lift to find various handhold and landing places. Hopefully his slippers could help.
He will do this stealthily as he can

Then remain in place for the round

[lostsole31]

R31T16: Iluvar realizes the climb isn't difficult because of the chain (not rope) pulley system for the lift system, and the sandals would help with a good start, but he would still have to dedicate a second or two of time before the end of movement to situate himself safely on the rope so as not to hope to catch it.

Spoiler: Crunch

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Rope against a wall, which the chain is equivalent to here, is a DC 5. Ridiculously easy, and you could accelerated climb for 20' automatically.

As far as the sandals. You would need to spend a MA to "climb" to safely hold onto the chain at the end, or else you suffer a chance of just falling and missing the chain, as grabbing the chain is not FA climb check.

R31T9: The newcomer is now seen flying, heading right for Iluvar. She tries to juke, but fully expects to fail (which she does) as Rolth then slashes at her with a claw. But it slams hard through her breastplate and is stopped by the thick skin she has. Lilim continues and gets into the back of the elevator shaft with Telgarana slumped over one shoulder and Telly's sword in the other hand. The newcomer must have gotten lucky, because Telgarana still has an image remaining.

R31T5.5: Khu'gdoc closes a door to the north that he is next to. He concentrates on Rolth again. Rolth's arms de-lengthen, going back to normal proportions for a "man" of his size. The daemon then steps back a little.

End Round 31, Begin Round 32 ...

R32T24: Rolth casts a spell, a beam of darkness shooting from his finger to be absorbed ineffectually by the daemon. Rolth closes on the daemon some.

R32T16: Iluvar, the newcomer is here with Telgarana carried. You are prone. Also, you fast heal 3. What do you do?

Newcomer on deck, Khu'gdoc Plaguebringer ...

[Tippnick]

Iluvar speaks to the tiefling, "It appears you are helping us. I am making my way up and can heal the one you carry as soon as we can clear this area."

Spoiler: moving on up

Show

MA: stand up
SwA: activate slippers
SA: climb/move as quickly as he can up the shaft of the lift.
(d20+9)[17]

[lostsole31]

R32T16: Iluvar speaks to the tiefling, "It appears you are helping us. I am making my way up and can heal the one you carry as soon as we can clear this area."

He then does an accelerated climb up the rope, getting to a height of 20' but also climbing in darkness.

---

In the elevator cabin, the lift has come to a stop. Does everyone pile out?

Vivino, Adelaide?

[Moriar]

"Does anyone know the best way to make a hole in the elevator floor without destroying the elevators integrity in case we need it again?" Vivino asks as he steps out of the elevator.

If we can make a hole for me to get through I would like to head back down quietly and see about rescuing as many of our friends as possible."

[lostsole31]

Branwyn and Harsk exit the elevator. The air seems colder than usual as Sigur and Biter meet him.

Adelaide, do you disengage the key and exit the lift?

[H8teradio]

Adelaide disengaged the key walks out of the elevator to regroup with everyone.

Spoiler: Walky

Show

Adelaide will put the key back around her neck and Dismiss her invisibility if its still active.

[lostsole31]

Biter snarls and Sigur holds up his oversized hamhooks to whallop her, but Harsk calms them down.

Harsk shakes his head. "I would probably do as much damage to my axe as to the metal plating underneath the wooden decking of that death cage," he says, obviously not having enjoyed the ride. "Come, shall we head out of this accursed place to gather our strength and raise a glass to those we left behind?"

[Moriar]

"It might be a long shot and unfortunately take more time but is there another way down there?" Vivino says in exasperation. "I know I made my own mistakes down there but I believe that if I can get down there I can bring back at least 1 if not more. I hope that the one I pushed over played dead well enough at least to save Illuvar if not others can still be saved."[/B]

[lostsole31]

"None I know of, and nothing Allen ever mentioned," answers Harsk. "I am pretty sure they didn't follow the city ordnance regarding two exits. I doubt Urgathoans are known for building up to code. But I am out of here; not sticking around on a pipe dream."

[H8teradio]

"Vivino, there's nothing else we can do here in this moment. We barely made it out and if you go back down this will be the last time that we see you.

I'm going with Harsk, I could really use that drink."

Adelaide starts giving herself a once-over, making sure her limbs all still (mostly) work and will begin to head out with Harsk.

[lostsole31]

Vivino, fatigued post-rage as you are still, what do you do?

[Moriar]

"If I can't find another way down then there is not much that I can do. Though if I am able to find a way down I will try. My sister would not forgive me if I didn't at least try. Harsk, you were here before us, did you have a chance to look around this upper area for other avenues of descent?

Before you all leave, does anyone have some means of restoration? I felt like that man in the apron had drained some of my soul away." Vivino asks.

[lostsole31]

Harsk and his coterie (and Branwyn as well) ... already halfway across the vast hospice heading towards the door ... shakes his head. "I spent the last on myself, and have no healing for such things."

Adelaide, you know Vivino won't leave if you don't, his guilt nailing him into place. Do you walk away or stick around?

[H8teradio]

"I haven't got any talent for healing. It was Lucius who saved me before, and him and the others that saved us here again. It won't do us any good to die here now, we need to come up with a better plan. "

Adelaide gives Vivino a long sympathetic look before turning and walking out with Harsk.

[lostsole31]

Vivino, do you leave?

[Moriar]

"I'm sorry sis..." Vivino mumbles as he slowly follows them out.

[lostsole31]

R32T9: The Newcomer faces upwards and at an angle, trying to be careful not to clip Iluvar. She puts the black-bladed katana in her hand in the hanbo of the one she carries. With her free hand, she then lets loose with a flash of energy that forms .... not as a spell ... but as if a tiny doorway were opened at her hand. Caustic fluids billow forth to catch the back of the lift cabin's floor even as the newcomer steps closer to the edge of the shaft, doing a base of 22 acid, and eating through the metal of that 5' square, but not all of the wood.

R32T5.5: Iluvar no longer hears the heavy swarm of flies from below. But he *does* see a thick shadow suddenly appear below, indicating the Big Guy is standing right at the elevator shaft next to Lilim.

End Round 32, Begin Round 33 ...

R33T24: Sound of casting and magic spell below.

R33T16: Iluvar, you are 20' off the ground, and the bottom of the elevator cabin is 20' above you (40' total distance). What do you do?

[Tippnick]

Iluvar moves up to bottom of the lift and assess whether he can scramble through.

Iluvar calls out through the hole, "Hello Vivino, Harsk, Adelaide. We need a hole big enough for someone carrying Telgarana!"

Spoiler: climb

Show

MA: climb up
(d20+9)[16]
Move equivalent: will assess the hole

[lostsole31]

R33T16: Iluvar moves up to bottom of the lift and assess whether he can scramble through, realizing that he cannot yet do so.

Iluvar calls out through the hole, "Hello Vivino, Harsk, Adelaide. We need a hole big enough for someone carrying Telgarana!"

Iluvar hears nothing from the other side, though it seems a lot colder now up here, which is sort of backwards than expected. While not an alchemist knowledgeable in chemicals, Iluvar is well-versed on the various forms of energies produced, and powerful caustic reactions - such as what happened with the steel underplate and part of the wood - give off residual heat as a part of that dissolution of material. He thought he sensed heat from the edges of the dripping borders of where the metal plate was, but now that he is up here, there is nothing but a bone-chilling cold, and nothing but darkness below. He cannot see in any of this with his half-elven eyes, though he thinks he here's Lilim flying nearby.

R33T9: This time, a gout of flame blows open the remainder of the hole in that section, plunging the area in light to bright to look at before disappearing.

"Feel your way and crawl up, monk," Lilim's voice is heard as she passes by him in a subtle whoosh.

Initiative Ends (as does fast healing) ...

Iluvar, you will need the sandals to safely be sure you get up, into, and through the hole as you might be a fair climber, but not skilled at "bouldering."

The lift door is open, and once up, there is a dim light all around. Iluvar looks, and at first, it seems like the main floor of the hospice, but instead of being torchlit, or dark from exhausted torches, there is a strange, faint blue-white cast on everything. He sees none of the others he was with. And his best mental calculations mean that there is no way they would have been able to have left so quickly. It is not a small place, and he would have at least seen them towards the exit or earlier, not completely gone.

But when Iluvar looks up, he sees the source of the very faint glow. The ground level is the hospice, but beyond that? It is open to the sky. But not a familiar sky. To the distant .... northwest, relative to how he came into the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden .... there is a vast spire of impossible dimensions blotting out nearly a nearly 90-degree field of view. And above that spire, not terribly far away, at least if an artist made a two-dimensional rendering, is a full moon. I say a full moon, and not the full moon, because this moon looks somehow different than he's used to. It looks almost as if one could make out a ... face ... within the lightly shaded portions. A terrifying face, at that. And all of this surrounded by a bright palette of stars, bright enough with the full moon to bathe the "land" in a dim blue-white glow.

All around is the bone-chilling cold, but it doesn't cause frostbite. There is no mist coming from Iluvar's breath. And there is even some mist along the ground.

Iluvar has the sense he is being watched.

Lilim sets Telgarana carefully down on the ground.

"My name is Lilim," she says, "and it wasn't until I was fighting against Rolth Lam myself and saw how he was nearly impossible to hit with all of his magical layerings and mutagen that I realized the folly of my arrogance. So, for saying I would take everyone's life, I am truly sorry. What is your name, Vudran-Half-Elf who is obviously a monk, and likely an inquisitor from your start-stop healing to boot?"

[lostsole31]

Everyone else .... you stumble outside. There is no warhorse to be found outside.

What do you do, where do you go from here? You are a well-armed, but otherwise badly wounded group in the middle of a city in crisis.

[Moriar]

"Harsk, I believe you had mentioned a drink?" Vivino asks. "Lead the way. Let us lick our wounds and come up with a better plan. I did not know what we were getting into down there and if you or anyone knows more I would like to hear it."

Spoiler: query

Show

Using lore try to figure out what the apron man had hit him with that gave the negative levels and how it can be healed or if it goes away on its own

[Moriar]

On the way Vivino asks, "Does anyone know what that man in the apron did to me as well as others that seemed drain part of my soul? Will it go away on its own or should I be seeking assistance?"

[lostsole31]

When Vivino discusses the black, crackling ray of energy that hit him from a spell, and then with other leading questions, it is surprising to find that while a "wizard" Branwyn has some insights but really ends up looking to Adelaide.

Adelaide is able to determine that Vivino was hit by a moderately powerful necromantic effect called "enervation," and that Vivino will feel significantly under the weather for the rest of the day, but he should be able to sleep it off first.

Branwyn, morose with the death of his familiar, says, "I am interested in drink, too, friends. But the one that sponsored us, if that is the word, he should be told what happened. Master Shyamal's son Allen is among the lost, and Allen was the one who survived the first fight. Should we not see him to tell him of our woes?"

[Moriar]

"With the state of the city, that might also be our best place to have a drink as well. I do agree that we should report in. Thank you for reminding us." Vivino adds.

"And thank you Adelaide for that information. I will rest better tonight now. Perhaps there is a way to protect ourselves against that?"

[lostsole31]

The party minus three members, but also another three in their place, return to the house of Master Shyamal in the area of Korvosa known as The Midland.

Staff ushers in the group, and you are then fed refreshments and non-alcoholic, fortifying drinks while waiting for Master Shyamal.

Master Shyamal Phan enters

Spoiler: Reminder Description

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Shyamal Phan seems like a Vudrani, and yet there is something off about him. He is 5' 8" tall; slightly below average for someone from southern Avistan, but about average for most Vudrani. His eyes are brown, but a BROWN-brown, not the common brown one might think of, and yet there is the faintest bit of luminosity in them - much like Allen had. He is quite slender, at only 126 lbs, and he is bald - not even an ounce of hair such as eyebrows or eyelashes - which is unsettling in its own right. His dark brown skin might easily be mistaken for a Vudrani from southern Vudra where the sun is hottest, but at second glance something is wrong there as well. Whereas Eta's unblemished skin comes from a great beauty and seems to complement her, Shyamal's skin is absolutely the same shade of dark brown everywhere - even on the palms of his hands or at the undernails or the auricles of his ears. Everything and everywhere on him is exactly the same shade, and not even veins appear near the surface to add any variance of color. He seems to be a man nigh constructed.

He wears a simple robe, very light in form, that shows most of his right arm, and some of his left. Simple, soft shoes like slippers. He wears a simple copper headband set with a rectangular (tall setting) topaz with flat-facing facet in the center, and in a small recess below that is a less decorative but multi-faceted crystal that is semi-clear and occluded with platinum striations that is set vertically. Above this, on his upper forehead, is some manner of blue gem that is too dark to be a blue diamond, and too light to be a sapphire. It is oval (set tall) with a cabochon cut (smooth, rounded). About his neck is a type of metal collar that is open in the front (so as to be spread apart enough to put on and take off) that is banded with precious metals; it is a foreign wear from the northeast of Avistan, known as a torc. He wears a belt, and on that belt is a small, metal box that seems like it has seen better days.

He sees the few of you, and badly wounded as you were, and drops almost straight down onto a chair's cusion, somehow upright the entire time. He says, more as a statement than a question, "My son is dead."

[Moriar]

"I am very sorry for your loss. There is nothing that I can say that could ease what your feeling. We likely entered that horrible place not knowing what truly laid down there.

I myself felt safe after taking down our first foe without too much effort. I apologize for whatever part I played in your son's passing." Vivino blurts out.

[lostsole31]

"Tell me. Tell me everything," Master Shyamal says to the survivors while he claps his hand and he has his staff prepare a hearty and fortifying meal for you all.

[H8teradio]

Adelaide sits down and takes her flask out of her pack and takes a long drink. When she addresses Master Shyamal she looks him in the eyes as long as she can and then starts telling the story to the floor just in front of him.

"Things seemed to be going well at first. We arrived at the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden and made our way in as planned. Moving slowly we came upon Harsk investigating the ground floor and quickly made our way to the elevator."
Adelaide takes a deep breath.

"After Vivino got the elevator moving everything happened so fast.We briefly talked with Dr. Davaulus who seemed all too fascinated with undeath and Illuvar moved on him."

"After a brief chase through a couple of rooms, we got split up. The Doctor, a handful of gray maidens, a dozen or so undead all fell so fast."

"I lost track of everything for a bit, I could tell Lucius was fighting something, I could hear the demonic voice in my head. When I came to Dr. Davaulus was dead.... well..... his body was. His ghostly image directed me to the elevator key, and seemed like he was helping me.... us... escape from the basement. His ghost or spirit is the only reason as many of us made it out of there."

"Rolth was there with a woman, I didn't realize it was him until it was too late, everything was already falling apart. Once they saw we were retreating they just held ground in front of the elevator. Allen stepped out and offered himself to some kind of bird creature, I didn't really get a good look as the doors were closing, I saw Rolth move in and then the elevator brought what was left of us back to safety."

Adelaide finishes her flask.

"I'm sure you have questions, everything happened so fast, I'll do my best to answer"

She sits still looking at the floor and tears start streaming down her face as she trails off.