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

Breathing deeply and trying to control his fear, Rowan sneaks forward as quietly as possible, trying to keep to the shadows. When near enough, he peers down into the temple below, dreading what he might find.



Move Silently +5
Hide +7

Arden also moves forward quietly, trying to get a view from the balcony without beeing seen.

(MS +8, Hide +16)

Having crept quietly and discreetly forward onto the balcony, Rowan and Arden peep down below into a very large open-air worship center containing three levels. A wave of sickening blackhearted energy washes over the pair as soon as they step foot onto the balcony. Intrigued by the ceremony within, Rowan shrugs off the worst of the emanation, but Arden feels the wand burning in her possession and becomes sickened.

A 70-foot-high obsidian statue of a lobsterlike creature dominates the open-air chamber. The statue's eyes glow with a bright crimon light that bathes most of the sanctuary in a murky red glow. Four kuo-toas wearing banded armor stand in knee-deep water at the base of one of three sets of stairs on the ground level that lead up to a mezzanine. Thirty feet above the watery ground floor is a mezzanine level with a stone-railed balcony that encircles the midsection of the lobster statue, a few feet below its massive crustacean claws. Large stone doors to the left and right of the platform surrounding the lobster statue stand closed. On the platform, directly in front of the lobster statue, are four monklike kuo-toas who kneel prostrate as the revel in the obsidian glory of their crustacean Chosen One. Aside from the platform surrounding the statue, the mezzanine features a balcony that runs three-quarters of the way around the entire chamber and is directly below the balcony on which Rowan and Arden crouch. To the right and left of this middling balcony are stairs that run both up and down. Frescoes of bloody sacrifices--mostly stylized kuo-toas carrying dismembered body parts--cover the walls. Every single kuo-toa featured in the frescoes faces the lobster statue. The third storey, the one containing the balcony on which they themselves currently hide, contains the least detail. Aside from the ten foot square stone balustraded balcony, the third level has two two other balconies, both start up after a ten foot gap to the right and left of the balcony on which Rowan and Arden squat. Not as grand as the mezzanine balcony, these two upper balconies occupy space along the chamber's bottom right and left walls. While both of these other balconies have a set of stairs leading down to a mezzanine level, neither of them is directly connected to the balcony on which Rowan and Arden currently hide.

For now, Rowan and Arden are fairly well convinced that no kuo-toa down below has spotted them; no one looks up or gives any other signal that their presence has been detected, and neither do they spy other kuo-toas lurking anywhere else in the large open-air chamber below or across from their position.

Back in the stone hallway, with Yssal's help, Wyleck starts to tug on Phud to get the half-orc free of the doorway. Rhys steps up with a grunt to help, but puts a foot too far into the armory and promptly turns green. Leaning heavily against the stone lintel in the doorway, the young man clutches his abdomen then heaves over to the side and vomits up his breakfast of jerky and dried plums. Straightening up and pointing down the hall at the top of the lobster statue just barely visible, Rhys quietly intones, "Don't you feel its evil, Wyleck? We need to get out of here before it consumes us." With Rhys sickened and no help at all, Yssal and Wyleck manage to pull Phud backward 10 feet into the hallway.

[sblock=Arden]The lobster statue is repulsive. The wand does not like the statue and the resultant clash of energy between the wand and the statue has made Arden sickened. PHB 312. Arden's hit for -2 to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.[/sblock]

[sblock=Rowan]The 70-foot-high lobster statue is a statue of Blipdoolpoolp, an aquatic god. Rowan recognizes a permanent widened unhallow effect originating from the statue that blankets the entire chamber and its balconies.[/sblock]

Map of open-air chamber w/ lobster statue, mezzanine level. Ground floor level coming...my index finger hurts from pointing and clicking while using Paint; gotta let it rest a bit.

"A thing like that beneath our town cannot be let alone" Wyleck hisses, despite a complete lack of silibants. "I see no way to deal with it from here, though, so lets move downstairs and look for some advantage over the thing. After we get poor Phud up and running again, of course..." Wyleck starts massaging Phud's limbs, hard, in the hopes that life and movement will return to them more quickly.

Rowan continues to watch, despite the waves of dark energy and sickness that seems to emanate from the ceremony below. Seeing Arden's state, he motions her to return and join the others. The halfling is most curious as to the nature of the summoning below, though, and peers out intently from his hiding place as he tries to determine exactly what is happening.

Arden sticks out her tongue at the ceremony and turns away from it, heading back to see what can be done for Phud.

Yssal sits down on hind haunches and cocks his head to the side as his master and Arden go about their curious business of rubbing the frozen half-orc. A queer sort of grin lights up the dog's face and his barding creaks once, softly, in the dim hallway as he shifts his tail while watching Wyleck and Arden. Despite their best efforts, however, Phud remains held fast, his lopsided grin of victory still in place, and his arm outstretched.

Rowan, lingering on the balcony while observing the ceremony below, has a closer look at the eight kuo-toas in the chamber. The four creatures in banded mail on the ground floor are obviously guards of some sort, for while not as graceful as the guardians slain yesterday in the guardian room, they carry arms and shields and are of stouter stock than the four monklike-creatures kneeling in supplication on the platform before the lobster statue. The four kuo-toas kneeling in supplication look to be either monks or clerics. Remembering the chanting and spellcraft he heard earlier, Rowan especially casts a look around the room for the spellcaster but doesn't see anyone who might fit the bill. The monklike kuo-toas all seem to have been kneeling prostrate for quite some time. Certainly, none of the guardsmen on the ground floor carry any sort of spellcasting accoutrement. Who, then?

Rowan spends a moment wishing he had the power to cast a mighty spell, such as the (in)famous fireball...unfortunately, such magic was not only beyond him, but barred to him. Specialists often got the shaft when it came to what magics could be worked, but Master Greycloak had been more of a brutal dictator than any form of teacher. Rowan considered himself lucky to have learned what he had.

The halfing wizard cocks his head, trying to hear anything that may indicate where the kuo-toan spellcaster may be. He keeps his eyes open as well, confused as to why the summoner isn't central to this type of ceremony.