[LANAI] The Rod of Seven Parts: Into the Crucible

"Impossible to tell, I'm afraid," answers Rowan, frowning slightly.

"Which means stopping now would avail us little. I say we press onwards, with special caution devoted towards the ceiling. It has not treated us with much hospitality thus far." Wyleck states.

After negotiating a series of natural stone staircases that turn in almost a complete circle, the group finds itself round yet another bend, gazing into a tiny chamber filled with mushrooms as tall as barstools. The fungi are clustered around a pile of offal that smells like rotten fish. The stench is the strongest yet in this network of tunnels and caverns, and powerful enough to turn even the most stalwart stomach.

From her position near the rear of the party as everyone is still on the spiraling stone tunnel, Arden feels her back grow hot. Taking off her pack, she notes a bit of smoke steaming from the canvas of her pack where the wand has been stowed.

Stopping to see what Arden is doing, Rowan raises an eyebrow at the smoke coming off her pack. "What's all this now?"

Arden takes a few steps back the way they came, and then carefully but speedily opens up her pack, and picks out the wand, using her sleeve as an insulator. She keeps it near the ground incase it is so hot she needs to drop it. She also doesn't want to drop it onto any fungus if possible.

"Interesting. The wand is obviously reacting, but to what? Not fungus, or we would have seen an occurance of this earlier, nor the presence of magic in general, for the same reason. Stimuli unseen or unheard must be the culprit. Either someone is attempting to locate it through means which it is resisting or attempting to aid, or it approaches an object or location which it opposes or seeks..." Wyleck ponders thoughtfully.

"Why yes...it could be reacting to any number of unknown stimuli," says Rowan, considering himself the resident expert on things arcane. "It could be responding to a similar magical field, or even, ahem, a magic field with the opposite properties that this wand possesses. Or perhaps, it is simply reacting to strange radiation from the surrounding rock formations."



Knowledge: Arcane +6 to determine a cause to the wand's reaction.

Phud : Male Half-Orc Sorcerer 1 / Barbarian 1

Phud continues to plod forward, oblivious to what is happening in the back of the group.

[sblock=Rowan]Try as he might, Rowan detects no discernable reason why the wand has grown hot, though judging by Arden's reaction when she opens her pack, the thing is most definitely hot to the touch. The walls of the spiral stair don't seem to contain any ore in them that might cause such a reaction, and there are no mushrooms on the stair (and the last time mushrooms were encountered, as far as Rowan knows, the wand didn't react similarly). A detect magic spell might reveal more information, or it might not.[/sblock]

While Phud plunges ahead down the last bit of the stair, Rhys draws closer to Arden with his lantern. Using her sleeve as insulation, Arden cautiously but speedily opens and digs through her pack to extract the matte black metal wand. The metal wand has grown hot enough that it was starting to smoulder a thin spot in the canvas of her backpack, and when Arden picks up the wand, it makes her hand hot despite the protection of her sleeve. Once out of her pack in the chill dank air of the stone stair, the wand seems to immediately cool.

Phud, who walked on ahead and came all the way down the remaining bit of the spiral stair, finds himself in a room of the barstool-height mushrooms. The fungi quiver, seeming to flee from Phud's intrusion in slow motion. Patches of purple moss cover the southern wall of the narrow chamber. Phud looks left and right and, his orcish eyes working double time, spies a series of tunnels branching off north and south into the distance.

Rowan Aledown - AC 14, HP 12/12

Rowan, noticing his large companion has continued on, calls out down the stairs. "Phud, hold up a moment." The halfling wizard then turns his attention back to the wand, speaking the words of a cantrip that will allow his to detect the presence of any magic. He then spends at least a score of seconds using his spell to examine both the wand and the area around it.



Cast detect magic. Spellcraft +8 to determine school of magic and any other information that might be available.


Memorized Spells:
Level 0 – Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Acid Splash, Daze + Acid Splash
Level 1 – Sleep, Summon Monster I, Color Spray + Grease