The group moves carefully through the hallway, avoiding what traps they can and disarming those they can't. Scything blades, spike launchers and pits, explosive runes, collapsing ceilings and floors, a whole arsenal of dangers are carefully circumnavigated.
As a bonus, Fredrock finds where an old trap damaged the massive door to an ancient vault, allowing the group to sneak in and take what is inside before heading on to the final confrontation.
---
The group heads onward, slipping behind the main rooms packed with hundreds of the dead and making their way down a dark tunnel to the heart of the temple. Rusting iron doors inscribed with a leering face stand before the group. After a brief preparation, Eithal and Fredrock kick them open and the group heads in.
The room inside is carved out of the natural rock and, while most of it is finished stone, inlaid with an ancient and obscene hieroglyphic language, along the sides there are small natural ten-foot tall cliffs. Six white marble pillars support the roof, their distinctive design and seeming purity implying they were stolen from some other temple and placed here as a contrast the the foul sense of this place; pillars of purity slowly being eroded by the foul taint in the very air...
In nooks on the walls are statues of twisted creatures, part man, part raven, like some abominable kenku god. Standing before each one is a robed figure. At the far corners of the room are two mausoleums, each with a massive Hungerer king depicted on its walls performing acts of depravity, sacrilege, and slaughter...
Jutting from the walls are two red crystals, each pulsing with a red light...
At the center of the room is a fiery pit lined with iron spikes. A metal bridge runs across the space to a red metal platform suspended by chains. A familiar figure stands in the center, gold mask gleaming as burning ravens swirl around it...
"Welcome to the home of your new gods," the figure says in a deep voice, the words echoing and distorting even in the relatively small space of the temple.
A familiar faintly female voice whispers inside the group's heads.
-you can end this; the statues on the sides, they must be destroyed to complete the banishment of the Forbidden Gods-
"Your friends have already converted and will prove to be useful servants indeed."
The group looks at the figures to see their hoods drop. Whatever they are now, they were once Livia and Cale, but their eyes now burn with mindless, inhuman hatred. Cale's skin writhes and knots as you watch and he grins with blackened teeth. Livia shimmers faintly, a black bow and arrows of black energy swirling into existence in her hands.
-the crystals on the walls channel the eldrich magics of the Council of Ravens to protect my body; until they are destroyed I cannot be harmed-
"Bow down know before the gods and we will use the power of the Council of Ravens to rule this world! Just bow your head and drop to a knee one time and you need never bow or scrape or grovel to another again. They will wail at your coming and sacrifice their very children at your feet out of terror of the awesome power you will wield!"
-end this now, please, before they use my power to-
The voice cuts off in a tortured scream inside your heads that is amplified throughout the temple, ending in an echoing boom:
"KNEEL!"
| GM: | Yishim also had -2 for repeating Arcana.
I'll roll Eithal's reroll to keep things moving: 1d20+7=25.
I'll get the combat going tonight. In the mean time, you can roll initiative, make your reply to its offer/demand, adjust character sheets for gear, etc.
Also, who has the two Greater Radiant Orbs that the Goddess gave you? Those might be relevant... |
|
[sblock=Skill Challenge]
Objective: Make your way to the dark temple at the heart of the warrens by navigating the treacherous hazards of the long, dark tunnels leading to them.
Round 3 Results:
Fredrock:
Insight 35(Nat 20),
4 points,
Treasure found,
Dungeoneering 29,
3 points
Yishim:
Arcana 27,
3 points,
DC 26 Trap disabled
Scarm:
Thievery 35, 3 points,
DC 21 Trap 1 disabled
Eithal:
Arcana 15->25, 2 points
Kaz:
Perception 25, 2 points,
DC 21 Trap 2 disabled
Toeto:
Perception 19,
1 point
Round Total:
18 Points,
3 Victory Points and
Miracle(more treasure found)
Final Result:
6 Victory Points,
Advantage: The group has a chance to ready themselves before they head into the temple. Ready any weapons and gear, activate any powers desired. Power activated now will be treated as though they were activated in the first round of combat. Also warned by the Sorceress before combat.[/sblock]
[sblock=Treasure]220gp
20 x pearls(10gp each)
5 x ancient tapestries(250gp each)
Imposters +2 Finemail(Level 6)
Toeto
Cloak of the Walking Wounded +2(Level 9)
Eithal[/sblock]
)
Battlemind Demand
Mind Spike
RBA +1 vs AC, 1d4-1 (improvised..would have to pick up a rock or something)
