Chp. 2: Deeper Into the Shrine!

[Grognardsw]

Has Kitchi and Tabia made success is understanding each other?

If you each succeed in a d20 Int. check a sentence can be successfully comminicated.

If not, it gets mistranslated. In that case, Greywolf tell me what your sentence would be via PM and I'll mistranslate it for you.

For simple things - one word type actions - no Int. check is needed.

[OGRE MAGE]

Si

Does anyone else get the impression that every room in this place either holds a deadly monster or a deadly trap? Why should we think this room any different?

Perhaps we should have skipped these rooms entirely and gone deeper into the shrine, after all?

[GreyWolfVT]

Tabai shrugs not knowing if that is true or not. Then the savage tries to look over the murals.

Int Check (10) [3d6] = 6

[Dram]

Kitchi


Intel check(13) Check [3d6] = 11

[Grognardsw]

Azoth the cleric calls upon Tabai to examine the murals, hoping his local native knowledge can glean additional insights from the paintings. The jungle barbarian studies the pictures. They depict sacrifice to the old god Cthuloaxtl, a terrible deity of entropy whose formal worship has since, thankfully, ended. Given past encounters, it seems to Tabai that the Shrine is host to temples of multiple old gods of the lost Tamoachan civilization. Tabai successfully communicates this to Kitchi the ranger.

Meanwhile Bruno the gnome thief-acrobat examines the octopoid altar for traps and other concealments. He spies seams at the circular base of the octopoid altar, indicating a compartment. He checks the tentacles for traps and in brushing one he suddenly becomes stuck! Then the altar structure starts to spin, dragging the gnome along.

Druid Calto and wizard Siavel watch as their comrades investigate walls and altar. Leomar, Grindhelm and Blade Rain, twin daggers in hand, stand guard for sudden surprises.

- Inferno, there isn't a standard order to the elements in the general sense. Did you mean order of elements corresponding to the mirrors?

- An image from the wall

[Inferno]

Azoth Al-Aziz, occultic priest:

The dark cleric thanks Kitchi and Tabai for their insight.
Moments later, Azoth glares at Bruno's predicament and looks for a way to help him.

Are Bruno's clothes snagged? If so, Azoth will use his curvy sacrificial dagger to cut the gnome free. Or is he stuck to it via some adhesive?

Grog, I was trying to determine if there was an ordered sequence we should use to determine which mirror to go to next. Earth, air, fire, water, for example, if that was the traditional order that the classical elements are represented. Thanks.

[max_vale]

Alex 'Blade Rain' Vam; Human male Fighter


Blade Rain sees the poor Gnome stuck on the trap and starting to go for a ride against his will and he sheathes his weapons and looks for anything he could use as a lever to try and 'jam' the spinning arms/tentacles of the trap to slow them down or even better, stop them so that his companion could get free/be freed from the fiendish contraption....

[Dram]

Kitchi- Relays Tabia's findings to the rest of the group. He sees the thief stuck on the contraption. He will try to cut the thief's garments with his L. Sword to free him.

[Marcanus_da_Lich]

Grindhelm the Dwarf

Grindhelm rushes over and takes hold of the gnome, planting his feet firmly on the ground to keep him from moving

[GreyWolfVT]

Tabai continues to study or examine the murals just for his own curiosity.

[OGRE MAGE]

Si shakes his head when he sees the thief become entangled in the trap.

Yet another trap it would seem. Foolish, silly thieves.

He waits in the hallway, watching to see how bad things get with this one. He hopes the others in front of him are able to pull the little gnome free before he is eaten.

[Mant72]

Calto the Druid:

Calto moves to assist the gnome to the best of his ability. He is extremely cautious in not touching the cephalopod altar's tentacles, and he is vigilantly aware of his footing, making sure that his feet come no where near the seam in the floor. Calto then proceeds to grab the dwarf, Grindhelm, in an attempt to further anchor the dwarf, hopefully freeing the gnome from his predicament.

Calto will immediately release the dwarf if he begins to notice that their attempts are going awry.

[Grognardsw]

Bruno the gnome thief is magically stuck to the octopoid statue/altar as it spins around and is battered some (1 HP damage.) Azoth and Kitchi triy to cut Bruno free, hoping its just his clothes, but the effect is Bruno's body itself.

Blade Rain looks for an area where he could jam the spinning altar, but the octopoid statue is one with the circular base, which is virtually flush with the floor. It doesn't present enough space to stick a blade.

Grindhelm the dwarf grabs hold of Bruno, trying to tear him free (Grindhelm please make Str. check.) He too is getting carried as he tried to free the gnome. Calto the druid in turn grabs Grindhelm, lending more weight and support to the effort.

Tabai the jungleman is more interested in the wall murals than his comrades' predicament. The barbarian studies the shooting stars. Based on the tails, they seem to be moving in the same direction as the statue altar is spinning. The stars are going around a purple-red sun.

Siavel watches from the hallway, the cool elf waiting to see if he aid is truly needed. Leomar, sword-shy from his painful experiences thus far in the Shrine, tensely watches from the side.

- Bruno spin damage [1d4] = 1
- Inferno, on the mirrors and the elemental sequence. Here is the order starting at the ochre jelly mirror and going clockwise, with descriptive adjectives drawn from the box text:
white mirror (gelid and smoky / ochre)
black mirror (earthy odor)
blue mirror (ripple like water)
red mirror (flames)

- TSR should have included a picture of this altar. But think beaked octopoidal creature that is one with a circular base (about 6' in diameter). In the side of that base are the seams Bruno spotted, which imply a compartment.
- I may run Leomar as an NPC before offering him to another player, unless Dogma steps up.

[Mant72]

Calto the Druid:

Straining to help anchor the gnome, Calto calls out to his companions through gritted teeth, "The purple stone...push... the purple stone!" He continues to cling tenaciously to Grindhelm as Bruno remains helplessly affixed to the statue.

[Storm11]

Aaaaaaaaahhhh my hands, my legs, my middle!!!!" screams the gnome in pain and panic

[Marcanus_da_Lich]

Grindhelm the Dwarf

Str. Check [1d20] = 3

[GreyWolfVT]

Tabai looks around for a purple stone? to push?

[Dram]

Kitchi- Also looks for the purple. If he sees it he will push it as told. I will find it hold on.

[OGRE MAGE]

Siavel stays away from the deadly contraption. He sees no point in getting closer and getting himself stuck.

If those seems in the base indicate some sort of hidden compartment, perhaps there is a way to stop it inside?

[Grognardsw]

For those looking for the purple stone, refer to the box text in my last post spoiler and feel free to edit if so moved.