Ch. 6: The Great Hall and Beyond

[AleBelly]

Zoster glares at Malibran.

"Before you waste our last wish..." says the druid, unkindly, "I will use it."

"I wish for all of my possessions that I lost upon placing the wrong end of the scepter into those mithril doors to be returned to me right here."

I'm playing out my character here and hope you don't take that personally, raven. Zoster will not like the idea of facing Acererak without his equipment...

[ravenn4544]

I'm playing out my character here and hope you don't take that personally, raven. Zoster will not like the idea of facing Acererak without his equipment...

Not one bit - play it up! Dredd will be grateful in a few minutes i'm sure

[Zhym]

The efreeti chuckles.

"GRANTED."

Zoster's possessions appear in mid-air in a circle around him, then fly towards him! His darts and dagger are pointed at him; the sling stones are slung, his scimitar approaches blade first, his prized staff is like a club. He manages to dodge much of it, but three darts, five sling stones, the staff and scimitar all hit (-31 HP). It appears the efreet hasn't entirely given up his grudge.

"THE TERMS OF OUR CONTRACT ARE FULFILLED. BY THE LAWS OF THE CITY OF BRASS, I AM RELEASED. I TELL YOU THIS AT NO COST BECAUSE IT AMUSES ME TO DO SO: YOU WOULD HAVE FOUND YOUR POSSESSIONS IN ACERERAK'S BURIAL VAULT, WHICH YOU SHOULD REACH SOON IF YOU CAN REFRAIN FURTHER FROM ACTING LIKE FOOLS."

A plume of fire and black smoke rises up around him. In a flash, he is gone.
-----
Status: Elsa (F10): 58/58; Malibran (C10): 37/68; Zoster (F9/D12): 34/76; Xale (F8/C8): 54/54; Dredd (F7/T11): -4/57
Spells in effect: Protection from Lightning (Zoster): 141 hp left

[ravenn4544]

Malibran expels another deep breath with the efreet encounter and Zoster's wish fulfilled... He'll move to the next room carefully to tend to Dredd and attempt to bind and staunch his wounds.

"Zoster - if you are able, can you assist in bringing our comrade back to consciousness? I am drained of all healing prayers...."

[max_vale]

Somewhere in the far off planes of existence, Xale found him/her self meeting Dalt, the Lord of Opening Doors to adventure. However, the joy that filled the Dwarf's heart was soon mitigated by the strange, enigmatic smile of the Deity and the words; "Despite your peek; this door is still closed to you beloved disciple....you must return now from whence you came...it is not yet your time"...


With a start; the Dwarven priest-warrior found him/herself back amongst his/her companions in the dungeons of Acerak's Tomb. Even more amazing, he/she saw a healthy Elsa there as well. "Well....I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I'm grateful to once more be among the ranks of the living....even in a place like this. I'm glad to see all of you are still or once again alive as well. Zoster...you seem to have found your equipment again; excellent. I'll see if I can revive Dredd from unconsciousness now."

With that, Xale moves to Dredd and holding his/her holy symbol; the warrior-priest calls on the last Cure Light Wounds spell he/she has memorized....


OOC: Mr. DM, please do the honors as I am once more at work after a week of being locked inside due to the blizzard; and therefore I do NOT have access to the Die-roller on this site any longer. Also....please roll big!

[Zhym]

Generous and kind DM that I am, I'm going to assume that Xale pulls Dredd out of the anti-magic room before attempting to cast a healing spell.

Xale CLW: [1d8] = 5

Xale brings Dredd back to consciousness—barely.

-----
Status: Elsa (F10): 58/58; Malibran (C10): 37/68; Zoster (F9/D12): 34/76; Xale (F8/C8): 54/54; Dredd (F7/T11): 1/57
Spells in effect: Protection from Lightning (Zoster): 141 hp left

[Inferno]

Dredd Doomsmith, dwarven trap-hacker:

"Och," grumbles Dredd, holding his aching bald head. "Thank ye, Xale." The fat dwarf looks around and sees the genie of the urn is gone, and none of Dredd's allies are worse for wear. In fact, Zoster found his things.

"Ha!" Dredd bellows. "I knew it was a good idea to shoot that urn! Ye can thank me later. I'm just glad I was there to bear the brunt of the attack!"

He knots up his thick face in thought. "Now... what wisdom may I impart next to aid ye, me lads and lasses? Hmmm," he ruminates noisily. Then, "Ah! I have it! I believe these iron men of visages grim are the cause of the anti-magick effect! 'Tis obvious! Well. I'll soon remedy that!" he says as he begins to slowly limp toward the closest iron statue.

Then he stops, and looks back at Xale. "Um. I don't suppose ye have another healing spell, do ye lassie?"

[AleBelly]

Zoster places the pad of this thumb against his front teeth and flicks it towards the space the efreeti recently vacated - an obscene gesture in Zoster's homeland.

Dripping blood from several wounds, the grumpy druid fishes around in the pouches lying on the floor and pulls out some mistletoe. Despite his recent wounds, Dredd looks more pitiful.

"Here, my rash friend" grumbles Zoster. He pulverizes some dried mistletoe in the palm of his hand and spits into it, making a poultice. He applies it to the worst of the dwarf's wounds and speaks words of a strange cant, barely audible.

Cure critical wounds [3d8+3] = 11+3 = 14

He sighs, unhappy with his efforts.

[Inferno]

Dredd Doomsmith, dwarven trap-hacker:

"Thank ye, lad," Dredd rumbles to Zoster.
Then he looks at Xale hopefully.

[ravenn4544]

Malibran follows Dredd to investigate the statues. "Completely agree that these are the ones referred to in the riddle. What does 'more than meets the viewers eye' mean? They are not just statues but will attack?"

[Zhym]

I'm on the road, so here's a really quick update, mostly to make sure I get the HP updated in the status line.

Dredd, having missed out on most of the carnage, sees everyone else in reasonably good health and Zoster with his possessions and decides that things must have gone well.

Zoster, once again able to cast spells thanks to the high-speed return of his mistletoe, brings some small measure of additional health back to Dredd. Perhaps the mistletoe was bruised?

You turn your attention to the statues.

BTW, we've been treating the statues as a collective, but from now on please be specific about which statue you direct any actions toward. As a reminder:

NE: two-handed sword
NW: mace
SE: morning star
SW: voulge

-----
Status: Elsa (F10): 58/58; Malibran (C10): 37/68; Zoster (F9/D12): 34/76; Xale (F8/C8): 54/54; Dredd (F7/T11): 15/57
Spells in effect: Protection from Lightning (Zoster): 141 hp left

[Grognardsw]

Elsa growls. She should have attacked the efreet again, killed it while it was still wounded and she strong. In anger she smashes the urn.

It seems the lich isn't here, so there must be an unseen way out.

"Those statues."

She ties rope around the northeast statue, goes to the door out of the room and steps back so her Ogre belt works...

"Beware, fall back to where our magic works."

...and pulls the statue down. She repeats the process with all four statues.

If I was online early this afternoon I would have attacked the efreet again.

[Inferno]

Dredd Doomsmith, dwarven traphacker:

The fat dwarf helps Elsa, not that she needs it. "That's it, lass. Pull!" he huffs and puffs from all the exertion.

[AleBelly]

Zoster backs out of the room and lights his bullseye lantern. In case anything bad happens, he wants to have a source of fire ready to summon a fire elemental.

As he does so, he thinks. "The efreeti was telling the truth, I'm sure. Acererak wouldn't have his tomb in a place inhospitable to magic, now, would he? Which makes me wonder what's in that sarcophagus..."

[ravenn4544]

Malibran also backs out of the room also to make way for Elsa's redecorating.

[Zhym]

Elsa applies a rope and leverage. The iron statue falls to the ground with a mighty thud. Where the statue used to stand, there is a brass ring attached to a circular plug or door in the floor.

-----
Status: Elsa (F10): 58/58; Malibran (C10): 37/68; Zoster (F9/D12): 34/76; Xale (F8/C8): 54/54; Dredd (F7/T11): 15/57
Spells in effect: Protection from Lightning (Zoster): 141 hp left

[Inferno]

Dredd Doomsmith, dwarven trap-hacker:

The ginger dwarf gingerly checks the trapdoor for traps. "Should we open this door? Or look beneath the other statues for more doors?"

"...Ye've left and left...," he muttered again to himself as he tried to determine which statue was the left-most, as viewed from the chamber's entrance.

[AleBelly]

"Brilliant, Elsa!" cheers Zoster from outside the wound. "I suggest trying the others...after this Acererak business I must hear of your experiences in the hereafter, however brief it was."

[Grognardsw]

Elsa repeats the process with the other three statues, going clock-wise.

[Zhym]

The other statutes fall one by one; the floor under each of them appears unremarkable.

Ironically enough, Dredd finds no traps on the trapdoor.