THE HEROES OF DYVERS CHAPTER 7: CLARE'S ERRAND

Damionte · Jun 10, 2019

:: Travis & Duncan ::

Mutiple things all seem to happen at once, but not in the correct order. Travis starts to take a breath in order to throw up a fog cloud and give them all some cover, but the great Khubseth is faster on his magics. Duncan hot on Ebony's tail is running up from behind and watches as the red shards of magic streak out from the great sphinx and dive in directly for his family.

The world slows down. The bolts take a winding high arc, then dive in towards them. His eyes trace them as the plunge down at the group. His mind hasn't had time to form a thought, or prepare to shout out a warning to raise shields. It would not have mattered, this sort of spell death is unavoidable. The bolts streak in zipping past the twins and all strike home. Ebony glows red from multiple magical impacts. And starts to slowly topple over.

Travis's fog cloud begins to envelope them all before Duncan can arrive. He misses the moment when she hits the ground as the fog covers the scene and washes over him. Unable to see if simply barrels forward till he crashes into Travis. He stumbles in the fog (Q6) , then gropes around at his feet looking for Ebony. He finds her but can't see her face in the fog. Shifting his rod to his shield hand, he lights up his free one and attempts to lay hands on her. Pouring his will into the healing energy.

Are the twins speaking...? He can't tell. he can't hear them right now.

Waynan · Jun 10, 2019

Tam,still by the thing's hind legs has Damaara attack the Achilles tendon: he following suit with his blades.

Damaara's attack: 29
Tam's first attack: 35
Tam's second attack: 27 (if he gets one)

OOC: Please roll damage for me, Chris. Thank you.

Tellerian Hawke · Jun 16, 2019

The Battle's Finale

As the party continues to fight, things seem to slow down, almost to a crawl, creating an almost dream-like state. Nothing about what is happening seems real... and then, suddenly, everyone realizes that it isn't.

The deaths of the other party members are equally spectacular, compared to the ones who have already fallen. The twins are torn apart while trying to protect Duncan; Tam and Damaara deliver blow after blow to the Sphinx, hoping to wear him down, but they are unsuccessful, both meeting their end with a ferocity born of desperation. Tam sees Damaara expire, moments before he himself is ripped limb from limb, and a single tear rolls down his cheek, as he watches her body shudder from the massive blow, and go slack.

Duncan dies trying to fend the beast off of his wife's lifeless body, and makes no scream of agony as the Sphinx attacks; instead, his scream is one one of anger, pure rage, and if rage alone could kill, the Sphinx would have been dead a thousand times over. Instead, the Sphinx crushes the life out of him, sinking his claws into Duncan's chest with a sickening crunch.

Vale is the next to fall, uttering a string of Dwarven curses as he delivers several great blows with his axe; although his arm is mighty, and his axe blows deadly in terms of what a normal man could stand, the Sphinx looks on with indifference, as he pauses to heal his wounds completely, before ripping the Dwarf's head clean off.

Thallok is the last to fall, suffering a great loss, just before having his life taken from him. The Sphinx catches Mirios in his left claw, and flexes his mighty muscles, snapping the blade in half! An explosion of magical energy slams into both of them, mildly burning the Sphinx, but severely injuring Thallok. With a wry grin, Khubsheth finishes off the stunned Orc warrior with a single swipe of his massive paw, beheading him, just as he had done with Vale.

As Khubsheth deals you a mortal blow, there is a blinding flash of light, and you find yourself in strange environs...

You are currently in a dark, 20x20 antechamber, lit only by a single, sputtering torch. You are surprised to find yourself alive, indeed, uninjured in the slightest, and with all of your gear intact. It appears that you have been somehow teleported to this place. All of the other party members are also standing next to you, and they all bid you welcome, a look of relief on their faces. The small space is crowded, and the air stinks of B.O. and spent adrenaline. There is a heavy feeling of awe and astonishment hanging in the air around you. None of you saw this coming.

On the wall, there is a message written in glowing runes; it is obviously a spell of some sort, a message from Khubsheth himself.

DO NOT FEAR, MY FRIENDS. THIS LITTLE SHOW WAS NECESSARY; THE QUEEN SCRIES MY PERCH CONSTANTLY, TRYING TO GATHER INFORMATION ABOUT HER WOULD-BE DESTROYERS. I DO NOT WANT HER TO HAVE ADVANCE WARNING OF YOUR APPROACH.

THIS ENTIRE FARCE WAS A POWERFUL ILLUSION. THOSE WHO HAVE PROVEN UNWORTHY IN THE PAST WERE TELEPORTED FAR AWAY, AND WARNED NOT TO RETURN. SO FAR, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS HERE, WHO ARE ALL INDEED CHAMPIONS, ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE PROVEN STRONG ENOUGH TO BE TELEPORTED INSIDE THE TOMB. I REGRET HAVING TO TEST ALL OF YOU IN THIS MANNER, BUT ALL MUST PASS MY TEST. IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE THE QUEEN'S DEMISE. THOSE WHO ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE TOMB MUST BE THE BEST OF THE BEST, A CUT ABOVE EVEN THE BRAVEST OF ADVENTURERS, MORE DEADLY THAN THE MOST SKILLED MERCENARIES. I WAS LOOKING FOR THE ELITE, AND I FOUND THEM. REMIND ME TO THANK THE CHIEFTAIN LATER FOR RECOMMENDING ALL OF YOU TO MY PURPOSE.

NOW THE TRUE BATTLE BEGINS. BELOW, IS A MAZE OF TRAPS, MAGICAL WARDS, MYSTICAL GUARDIANS, AND HORRIFIC MONSTERS. ALL OF THEM HAVE ONE PURPOSE, TO PROTECT THE QUEEN UNTIL SHE IS STRONG ENOUGH TO ESCAPE THIS TOMB. YOU MUST SEE TO IT THAT THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. YOU MUST NOW JOURNEY DOWNWARD TOGETHER, INTO THE HEART OF DANGER, WHERE YOU SHALL EVENTUALLY FACE THE QUEEN HERSELF. I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK, MY FRIENDS. I AM COUNTING ON ALL OF YOU, AND PRAYING FOR YOUR VICTORY.

YOURS TRULY,
KHUBSHETH

EVERYONE: What do you do now?

GM:

NOTE: Dungeon map coming soon.

[/sblock]

Sylvar B. · Jun 16, 2019

Sylvar walks over to Respen and punches him in the face... "IF YOU EVER RUN OFF AND GET YOURSELF KILLED AGAIN, I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!!
I AM NOT A GENERAL, BUT EVEN I KNOW A COORDINATED ATTACK IS BETTER THAN RUNNING IN ONE AT A TIME." Sylvar gives Respen a hard stare, then a smile...then offers him his hand. "At any rate I'm glad your alive" he looks around at everyone, locking eyes with them one at a time. "I'm glad you're all alive...we live for another day...but only because we got lucky."

Sylvar, turns his attention to Tam... " And you...let's be more careful about what we bolt off investigating."

He thinks to himself, --this is going to be one hell of an addition to my epic...no one is going to believe me--

Waynan · Jun 16, 2019

First, Tam is relieved and overjoyed that his fellow compatriots are alive; then, Tam blushes a little at Sylvar's mild, but firm, reproach. He answers: "I would not have believed something as powerful as Khubseth would have been lying in wait between the arms of the Sphinx statue. I truly thought he would have been perched high up to observe all, and was hoping it was in another direction away from us. Now, I just hope to never make such an assumption again, Friend Sylvar."

Damionte · Jun 22, 2019

:: Duncan & Company ::

The twins dive into each others arms, and dance in a hopping circle as they celebrate their survival. Ebony regains her feat, spins about the twins once in a laughing twirl and uses the momentum to slingshot towards her husband. With a huge smile on her face she is about to jump up into his arms, but instead finds herself skidding to a halt.

Unable to stop completely their breastplates make a clang as she bounces off him, and tumbles onto her backside. He stared down at her clear fuming anger on his face. This breaks her grin and she looks back up at him for a moment but is unable to meet his gaze and looks away. He breaks at roughly the same time and also looks away. Neither say anything.

Diarmadhim · Jun 23, 2019

Breaking the awkward and tense moment, I clear my throat. "Glad you all could join. I was beginning to wonder..." I state with a grin. The grin grows into a fullblown smile as I continue, "With it being known there are traps ahead, I'll defer to Tam on taking point. Lead the way, fearless one."

Tellerian Hawke · Jun 24, 2019

GM:

SUPPLEMENTAL INFO:

You are in a roughly-hewn room with a sand floor; digging a little reveals that about 4 inches below the sand is hard-packed clay, with streaks of limestone. You won't be digging your way out of here anytime soon.

The lone, sputtering torch provides just enough light to see that there is something peculiar about the north wall. It is roughly hewn stone, just like the rest of the room, but the color of the North wall is slightly darker than that of the East, West, and South walls.

redraider629 · Jun 24, 2019

Thallok laughs at the situation, especially as Sylvar punches Respen. "Did we win?" he asks in a joking manner. He then exclaims, "I was not worried in the least!"

Kleborn, thankful they are all alive, says "Well, that went as well as it could." He looks around the room, and focuses on the north wall. He walks slowly to the north wall to examine it a bit closer.

OOC:

GM, can you roll any necessary checks for me.

GM:

Search roll: (11) + Small, confined room (2) + knowing where to look (2) = 15.
It's not the most thorough examination ever performed, but it is revealing, nonetheless. Kleborn, you can see that this wall is not actually stone; it's some sort of crude, mud-based concrete that has been sculpted to look like stone. You surmise that with enough time and effort, you could penetrate and completely remove the concrete layer. What lies beneath, however, remains to be seen.

redraider629 · Jun 26, 2019

After examining the stone Kleborn turns to the group and says "Well, no use in sitting around in this room. It is far too dark, and stuffy. It sounds like we have quite the task ahead of us. I think through this wall is the way out of here. Perhaps we can try to either dig our way, or bust our way through. Either way, I think if we work at it we can get through. What, do you all think? Vale, do you think that axe of yours can take it down?"