"You, my metallic friend, with your gift for the speech of my makers, are starting to grow upon me -- but tell me one thing -- who created you?"
Without sound, the lift starts upwards at a comfortable velocity, quickly traversing the 40' to the next floor.
It stops gently and hovers.
You see a barren floor before you -- nothing remains on the walls, ceilings or floors besides the barest of building materials. Only a few partially remaining remnants of walls still stand, a fine dust covers the floor, and a variety of footprints can be seen, of all ages it would appear.
The floor is about the same size as the ground floor.
"Small one, you cannot imagine how many things I have brought high and then low again."
"Alas, this place is not as it once was, and all those who venture inside do so, for the most part, to rob this place of more of its past."
"The last group I seem to recall to ride up was a bunch of small folk, like yourselves, like miniature versions of the ones that used to live here."
"They went up a few days ago, but I haven't seen them since."
"I guess I could take you to them -- I'm sure they wouldn't seem to mind at all."
The lift hums slightly as it begins to rise into the sky -- it speeds up and all of the floors that you go past begin to merge into a blur. A slight surge of adrenaline hits your bodies as the lift goes into full speed upwards -- then ends just as quickly.
A darkened floor stands before you -- the only light are fragments of the sun from behind 3 - hide covered windows at the other end of the floor.
From what you can see in the darkness, there is a bunch of rubble and partially standing walls.
You step off of the lift and onto the floor -- and disappear into the shadows.
You crawl around a few low walls and begin to hear some noises up ahead -- the smacking of lips and low murmuring.
As you grow nearer to the far wall you start to hear chewing noises.
The noise distracts you as you unwittingly walk through some sort of alarm -- a thread strung low between two walls that had a black bell attached to it. It rings a lone 'ding', and you hear an angry screech.
"Who dares interrupt my dinner?" hisses an unseen creature.
OOC: No surprise round, actions for round 1 needed.
Off in the distance, you hear a bell ring and an angry screech echo back towards the main group.
OOC: The floor is fairly dark, so anyone without a light source or low-light/darkvision will be affected.
Second map is for the rest of the party, and really, only Domoris and Darv have low-light vision, so Dreadnaught, Morph, Hudder can't see much of anything. Void is hidden from sight, so the party does not know where he is.
Some notes on the map -- you should be able to see the difference between regular and shadowy illumination by the shading. If you can't see through something, it is a wall or pillar, if you can see over it, then it is a partial wall -- still difficult terrain though.
Ceiling is 40' up.
Any other questions, ask.
Now -- initiative and actions!
Damn.
The Gitz curse his luck of not spotting the trap. He remains hidden. hopefully, the creature will think it the wind or a rat. He tries to find a place where the creature will not see or hear him.
Remaining in stealth mode.
__________________
Spoiler:
Zirat Igruf, Gladiator (Rhun's ToEE): OOC ; IC ; RG
You hear Darv whisper behind you,"So THAT is what one sounds like in the wild -- my friends, I would wager my spellbook that that is a harpy -- we must beware of their song -- for it can take over your mind! Hideous mix of bird and humanoid, who delight upon torturing those that they enslave...."
[Darv's Know(nature) modifier is a ridiculous +19]
27 - Harpy? - fly to b7 (25' elevation), ready action
16 - Hudder - double move to E16
14 - Void - Hide
13 - Dreadnought - delay
9 - Darv - Cast Shield of Faith on self
6 - Domoris - Free action to change to Avian form, fly towards J20, 20' elevation
5 - Morph - Throw sunrod onto open area of floor - C16
The sound of flapping wings can be heard throughout the floor, and another screech is heard by those on the lift.
Hudder hefts his axe and says,"Foller 'me boys, lets git tah fightin" as he runs headlong towards a low wall in front of the group.
Dreadnought takes a moment to let things sink in, and thinks to himself,"Is this what I want to be?"
Behind him, the small gnome casts some abjurative magicks upon himself to ward against any enemy attacks.
Not like being in confined spaces, the shifter transforms into a bird-like aspect and takes wing towards the south wall and gains some elevation. He finds no perch, however, but he gets a better view of the surroundings.
Finally, the warforged wizard snaps a sunrod and hurls it out into the hungry darkness. The sudden source of light hurts the eyes a bit, but then illuminates most of the area -- and you finally can see the source of the screech -- it does indeed look like a harpy -- two feathered wings, two taloned feet, and two arms holding a large bow that would be at home in the hands of a giant!
Two other things are seen -- two nearly naked bodies -- one dwarf, one human, stand motionless towards the SW area of the level.
27 - Harpy? - fly to b7 (25' elevation), attack Hudder - 2 arrows HIT for 25 damage
16 - Hudder - Drop waraxe, pull out hand axe -- attack MISS
14 - Void - Use Shatter upon Harpy's bow
13 - Dreadnought - 5' step to D22, Full attack w/bow - both MISS
9 - Darv - Cast Flame Strike - 28 damage, reflex 1/2
6 - Domoris - Fly to H14, create morphic beak
5 - Morph - Move to C19, draw and throw tanglefoot bag
"Ahhhhhh my preciouses -- more playthings," says the flying creature as it approaches the lift -- it spots Hudder against the wall and takes aim with its large bow and sends two arrows into his chest and shoulder.
"Ya stupid bird -- you'll be tastin' mah steel soon enough!" shouts Hudder as he reaches for a hand axe at his belt. He drops his waraxe at his feet and hurls the axe towards the flying archer, but it just clips its wing and sails past harmlessly.
Void appears from the shadows against the wall and stretches his hand out towards the harpy's bow -- sending psychic vibrations towards it -- but to no effect. [Bow is a magical]
The harpy screeches out a laugh,"No no, my pretties, your doom is at hand, no minor magicks will save you from my stewpot."
Dreadnought moves out of the elevator and peers up at the hovering bird-thing, harshly illuminated in the bright glare of the sunrod.
"Hmm, been awhile since I've used this," he rumbles to himself as he reaches back and pulls his longbow from its case over his shoulder. The thick wood is sturdy and well made, but otherwise unremarkable.
With deliberate movements he brings first one, then another arrow to his cheek and releases them...only to have them both fall in a short arc and skitter on the stone floor well short of the harpy.
Nonplussed, Dreadnought plucks at the bowstring and finds that it has indeed been awhile. The string has become too loose to shoot with! Grumbling to himself, the warforged quickly tightens it...
Some screeching laughter comes from the harpy,"Leave the archery to me, my pretty...."
Darv sizes up the situation and doesn't like what he sees. The gnome is no archer, that's for sure, and he's not exactly thrilled to be in the middle of combat again -- some inner voice tells him he should be inside of a nice, safe, library, and not in the middle of some ruin staring down a crazed harpy with a gigantic longbow.
He recites some very familiar words and gestures that have gotten some extensive use the past few days, and a column of fire roars from overhead of the harpy -- slamming down towards the floor.
He grimaces slightly as the harpy looks to have avoided most of the fire.
Bird-Domoris flies towards the west, entering an area of no illumination, shifting his beak into something frighteningly bestial. [OOC: Stay at current elevation of 15'?]
Morph ever resourceful move forward, pulling the tanglefoot bag from his belt. He hurls the bag at the harpy and it streaks toward the creature's chest -- the bag explodes across the chest of the bird-creature, but misses most of its wings.
"Raaarrrghh!" screeches the harpy.
Conditions:
Darv - (53/53) - Shield of Faith (80/80)
Hudder - (60/85) -
Harpy - 14 damage, covered in Tanglefoot bag goo
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
