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

Rowan moves slowly down the stairs, his back against the wall, trying to stick to the shadows cast by Rhys' flickering lamp.


Hide +7

Wyleck readies himself to command Yssal into action at the first sign of trouble. Being of a somewhat cynical sort with regards to underground tombs and temples alike, he suspects they they shall all be devoured by beholderkin forthwith.

Arden senses tension amongst her companions and quietly chirps in with "Looks like a nice place. What are those shards of porcelain?"

Rowan secrets himself in the shadows that play off Rhys's lantern along the chamber's left wall, close to the entry. At Arden's question about the pottery shards, Rhys nods and moves forward. Holding the lantern and crouching amidst the pottery shards, the cleric grasps one and, turning it over in his hand, marvels at his find. Returning to the group, Rhys holds out the shard. "It's not pottery, it's an eggshell. A sacrifice, perhaps?"

[sblock=Wyleck, Rowan]It's a kuo-toan eggshell, but an odd one. Judging by the curve of the shell remnant, the original whole egg must have been quite large, certainly larger than the average kuo-toa egg. And the slight leatheryness indicates that the egg might have the product of a kuo-toa bred with something else lizardish in nature.[/sblock]

Arden turns her head enough to get a good look at the fresco painted on the chamber's right wall behind her without sacrificing too much of her view of the room. The fresco of a humanoid behind her is, unlike most of those portraying kuo-toas along the rest of the walls in the chamber, done with fresher paint and does not crack and peel in places like the other artwork in this room. The figure portrayed in the fresco is of a squat male humanoid in plate armor with a black sphere where his head should be.

Across the room, along the left wall, a purple glow radiates from behind a ratty tapestry hanging in a doorway. A croaking sound and then another rustle alert everyone to the probable presence of creatures in that area.

Opposite the tapestry, an iron portcullis partially conceals a hallway running north and south. Along the hall's east wall is a series of solid stone doors. This area is dark, the only light provided comes from Rhys's lantern.

Rowan stops, hidden in the shadows. He waits to see if any threat is forthcoming, or for one of his companions to invesitgate the tapestry.

"It looks like the eggshell form a Kuo-Toan half-breed. The other half is lizard-like, possibly even dragon." Wyleck says while idly picking up a stone, casting light on it, and flicking it through the portcullis.

Phud : Male Half-Orc Sorcerer 1 / Barbarian 1

Phud shrugs and the saunters over to the tapestry. He pauses for a moment, long enough for Bird to decide to fly off of his shoulder. Then, his curiousity finaaly getting the best of him, he grabs the tapestry and yanks at it trying to open it.

Arden absent-mindedly starts picking up the egg shells, and placing the smaller pieces inside the larger pieces. Then she will stack them in the corner out of the way.

While Arden unwittingly brings a bit of order to the haphazardly scattered egg shell remains and Rowan remains hidden in the shadows against the wall, Phud meanders across the room to the tapestry and gives a good yank. As he does, Wyleck lights and tosses a stone into the darkened hallway beyond the portcullis on the rightside wall. The pebble skips and bounces fifteen feet to the north before coming to a rest in the hall. Wyleck looks in and notes 4 doors along the hall's eastern side, all of them made of stone but with a small iron-barred window inset in each. There isn't much time to notice anything else, for just then the loud sound of fabric ripping resounds in the room, followed in short order by the sting of lightening.

Phud grabs hold of one of the wet ratty edges of the tapestry and yanks. When he does, one of the lightening bolts woven into the thread of the rug animates and zings from the edge of the rug, zapping Phud for 4 points of damage. The big half-orc sees the trap at the very last moment just as the lightening bolt comes alive and thrums with white hot electricity, but doesn't move fast enough to dodge out of the way in time. Thankfully, the bolt lodges itself in Phud and courses through his body but does not streak through the rest of the room or hit anyone else.

Behind the ratty tapestry is a room faintly lit by purplish patches of phosphorescence on the floor. A middenheap sits in the center of the northern area of the room, and the walls have primitive stick-figure carvings of bipeds carrying spears. Four slight depressions in the floor hold an inch or two of brackish water. A snap and a twang later, and a crossbow bolt comes flying from behind a russet stone brazier, whizzing through the air with a screech and embedding in Phud's waist for 5 points of damage.

Yssal stops snuffling the stray broken egg shells on the floor and looks up in Phud's direction, his ears pricked forward. Phud, Arden, and Wyleck spy a fishlike amphibian lurking behind an unlit brazier in the center of the room. The creature has bulging silver-black eyes, a wide mouth full of teeth, gaunt willowy limbs ending in vaguely humanoid hands and flipper-like feet, and a pudgy bloated body not unlike a frog. A little shorter than a human, the creature also has a crossbow trained on the doorway where the tapestry used to hang.

That was one trap, then a surprise round. Regular intiative is now up:

Initiative:
Rowan 20
Phud 20
Arden 15
Kuo-toa 13
Wyleck 7
Rhys 3

Hearing Phud's cry of pain, the halfling wizard moves up behind his large companion, drawing a dagger as he moves. Seeing the Kuo-Toan with the crossbow, Rowan tosses the blade at him, hoping to keep him off balance until Phud can crush the fish-man.


Move up behind Phud; Thrown Dagger +6, damage 1d3/19-20