Clutches of Evil - IC: Chapter Two

[Nonlethal Force]

Bahruul nervously fidgets a bit and adds, "Well, then, shall we?"

Destiny looks to him and Keryth and adds, "Lead the way."

As they leave, the Recipient adds "Should you desire to return, simply introduce yourself at the gate. Your voice is now readily recognizable by me. By default of my nature and our telepathic powers, it is therefore recognizable by those who would be called on to serve as sentries at the stone gates."

[Sblock=OOC]We need not go this far in a fast forward, but I don't see any reason not to. If either of you two would like to not go this far forward, simple say so and we needn't jump ahead.[/Sblock]

The party is able to make their way quickly to the top layer of the underground colony without seeing themselves. As they turn down the hall and are outside the room leading to the exit, Keryth is able to spot himself walking down the hallway away from his position. Of course, that Keryth is not wearing his normal armor. Rather, he has on the simple robes of the people that live underground.

Saying their goodbyes to this version of Markie that guards the underground entrance and exit the party is able to make their way unimpeded into the tunnel that connects to the mining tunnels. As they approach the place where the leader of the miners had told them they would wait they see that nobody is there. Bahruul places a hand up to see if the passage is ineed block and finds out that a force effect is indeed blocking the passage back into the mining tunnels.

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

“Well, either times passes strangely down here or it seems the miners have gone back on their word to wait for us... unless something even more strange has transpired. Hmm, I wonder if they left the token...” Keryth muses, as they stand before the force effect. “It’s supposed to be behind that one right, the second of the naturally coloured stones, below the two blues, the red, and the orange. I know you want to check things over Byntrou, so I’ll leave getting the token to you... if it’s even there.”

 

[jkason]

Byntrou, roguishly sorcerous barbarian

“Well, either times passes strangely down here or it seems the miners have gone back on their word to wait for us... unless something even more strange has transpired. Hmm, I wonder if they left the token...” Keryth muses, as they stand before the force effect. “It’s supposed to be behind that one right, the second of the naturally coloured stones, below the two blues, the red, and the orange. I know you want to check things over Byntrou, so I’ll leave getting the token to you... if it’s even there.”

Byntrou squares his shoulders.

"If my suspicions are correct, it's maybe for the best that our escort isn't present."

With that, the bous carefully approaches the area where their token should be, trying to recall everything from his recent, secret training and hoping he learned enough to trust what he does--or doesn't--find.

[sblock=OOC]Taking 20 on the Search check for traps.[/sblock]

 

[Nonlethal Force]

[Sblock=Byntrou]Byntrou looks and fairly easily discovers a not so cleverly hidden tripwire right in front of the toke. The tripwire looks to be made of a very thin substance. It looks like if Byntrou can find something small and thin (1" wide and no more than 1/4" thick and at least 4" long) he could use it to scoot the token forward enough without tripping the tripwire (This would require a Disable Device or a DEX check, whichever you'd feel more comfortable making.[/Sblock]

Byntrou appears to hesitate as he looks in on the token. Apparently he has at least found the right area to look.

 

[jkason]

Byntrou, roguishly sorcerous barbarian

Byntrou looks back to the others.

"Sometimes I hate being right," Byn mutters. He stoops to the floor, allowing Delcoi to slide out of his robes and move further away. "You'd best follow Del," he says. "I know it's a trap, and I think I can circumvent it, but I'm not sure just what it might trip if I fail."

[sblock=OOC]Once the others have backed away a respectable distance (or said that they won't be going anywhere), we'll try a Disable Device (*fingers crossed*)[/sblock]

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

“Well, I’ll call upon Bahamut to guard you against physical attacks at least, Byntrou... just in case,” Keryth says, dropping into draconic and casting shield of faith on Byntrou, before moving back as he has asked.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Keryth is quite capable of casting the spell, and a shimmering force appears before Byntrou as he goes to work on the trap. As everyone steps back to what they believe is a safe distance Byntrou's nimble fingers go to work on the token and avoiding the trap. For most of the time Byntrou manages quite well. With the job nearly done his nimble fingers turn not quite as nimble as necessary and the rub the tripwire too stiffly. The trap goes off and a magical cloud of inky blackness shoots toward Byntrou.

The magical cloud hits the shield formed by Keryth's spell and deflects away from Byntrou, leaving him unscathed. The tripwire is broken. The token lays on the edge of its hiding place.

[Sblock=OOC]Trap would have hit Byntrou's touch AC had Keryth not cast the spell. As a result, Byntrou is undamaged. Trap was DC 26 on a disable device. Byntrou rolled really well and scored a 24; but that was not well enough, sorry.[/Sblock]

 

[unleashed]

Keryth, Male Drakontos Cleric

“Well, that raises a few questions doesn’t it... a trap over where the token was supposed to be, but then we find the token as well. Hmm, you’d think if the miners set the trap, that they wouldn’t bother with placing the token... though I suppose they might want to make sure we don’t come back,” Keryth muses as he returns to Byntrou’s side.

 

[jkason]

Byntrou, roguishly sorcerous barbarian

Byntrou starts as the breaks the tripwire, then breathes a sigh of relief as Keryth's foresight and magics keep him safe. "Should have thought of one of my protection tricks, myself," he mutters; his recent focus on new skills has clearly left him forgetting some of his natural talents.

"My thanks for the aid, Keryth," Byn says as he scoops Delcoi back up. "Assuming the token actually works and isn't just bait to ensure we hit the trap, I'd venture to guess that not all of the miners are in on whatever treachery is afoot--perhaps the trap was set shortly after the token was left?

"In any case, I suppose there's only one way to find out, yes?" Hoping it's not his last action, Byntrou moves to retrieve the token...

[sblock=OOC]I should have thought to have Byn cast Mage Armor, myself, *doh*. Thanks for the save, unleashed.[/sblock]

 

[Nonlethal Force]

As Byntrou grasps the token, his fingers slide forward across its smooth surface uncharacteristically easily. Looking down, Byntrou is able to see that his fingers have been coated with some sort of slick oil. As he recognizes the substance his fingers begin to grow numb as if the nerves themselves are under attack.

Fortunately, Byntrou is able to resolve himself and bolster his strength for a moment. His body responds to the numbness almost immediately and before the numbness can take a permanent hold Byntrou is able to fight off the effect for now.

As Byntrou grasps the token, it begins to glow with a slight yellow light.

[Sblock=OOC Byntrou]I gave Byntrou a spot check to notice the poison smeared across the token. He missed it originally when he found the tripwire and he missed it again after the tripwire. However, Byntrou rolled very well on his FORT save and managed to stave of the initial damage of whatever it was.[/Sblock]

[Sblock=XP REWARD]
Everyone receives 150 XP from the traps.

Additionally, everyone receives 600 XP for successfully being able to navigate the encounters within the domain of the Recipient and find out the truth about the undeground shapeshifters. Furthermore, you all receive an extra 100 XP bonus for what I am going to call a flawless victory. No innocents were killed or threatened from the time that you all entered the temple above ground through finding out what was going on from the Recipient. I won't always reward diplomatic solutions with bonus XP, but in this case I am. Congrats!

Oh, and technically the XP is still being shared among Byntrou, Keryth, Destiny, and Bahruul. The numbers given are the numbers after the XP has been divided per person.[/Sblock]