Dungeon Raiders: The Wolf's Den

[tuxgeo]

[OOC: It has been three days since my last post, so I thought I would chime in again to keep things moving, or at least lurching along.

So, to recap -- in Round 3, Tock readied an action to attack any of the centipedes in the corner as soon as it exhibited hostile intent, and he continued to watch them scrawl in the dust; Rejik likewise readied an attack, but against any centipede exhibiting hostile intent, in corner or elsewhere; and Aeiyan attacked (and hit) the second of the two centipedes that had wriggled free from the ceiling, and that both scurried toward Sulannus. She had slain one of them with magic, so he incapacitated the latter of them with his light hammer.

That made it the centipedes' turn: the final two of them on the ceiling broke free and dropped, with one going to menace Sulannus and the other going to menace Aeiyan. At that point, Rejik used his readied action against the one heading toward Aeiyan (is that the correct target?), and (still in Round 3) critted for automatic success and maximum damage. (End of Round 3, with the readied attack happening in response to the centipedes' action and movement.)

At the start of Round 4, Bartleby swung an attack at the centipede menacing Aeiyan. Bartleby missed. For narrative reasons, I choose to project that his miss was due to the fact that the target had already been taken out by Rejik's power stroke. (The dwarf was Ninja'd!) That leaves one (the final?) hostile centipede on the ground/floor, having used its action to break free from entanglement, moving toward Sulannus; it will get an action at the end of Round 4 if it lives so long. Still to act in Round 4: everybody but Bartleby, who already has.]

 

[Li Shenron]

[OOC: Likewise, Rejik uses his Ready'd action and brings his hammer down on one of the two malignant arthropods:

Attack: 1d20+4=24 Woo!
Damage: 2d8+2=14]

Rejik dispatches another giant centipede. The last one of the bunch, perhaps in a sudden flash of consciousness, decides to head for the door and scurries out of the room...

[Let's consider the battle over already. The three "friendly" centipedes are clearly not attacking your party]

 

[Shayuri]

"Cursed," Sulannus says, squinting down at the squiggles in the dust. She frowns and pokes at the inside of her cheek with her tongue; a habit her nannies and tutors had never been able to break her of. The idea that if these people were cursed to be centipedes, then it could easily happen to her group was foremost in her head.

"We need a better way to communicate. We need to know what happened."

She looks at the others. "I haven't brought any writing materials. Have any of you? Ink and paper might be easier for them to use than dirt on stone."

 

[wedgeski]

"I haven't brought any writing materials. Have any of you? Ink and paper might be easier for them to use than dirt on stone."

Rejik leans down over the remaining centipedes, trying not to imagine what it would be like to be trapped in another creature's body.

"Not me. There is magic that can remove curses, but it's way beyond my grade. Given that these few seemed to fall victim to the threat made in that parchment -- " he points at the scroll on the tomb " -- I can't say I'm ready to just start rifling through this place looking for a solution, either."

He stands, knees cracking. "Maybe we can just take them with us until a solution presents itself?"

 

[Kobold Stew]

Now that the immediate threat has apparently been addressed, Bartleby returns to the suit of armour, and to the sign. Whatever he does, he is not touching the thing, lest it be cursed, but he will inspect it, check the message that was written there, the base on which it stands, and anything else unusual about the room.

"Someone let me know if those things start to get antsy," Bartleby asks.

 

[tuxgeo]

Seeing the end of the action, with still no menace from the centipedes in the corner, Aeiyan decides that he no longer needs his weapon. He sheathes the light hammer he holds in his hand, then goes to retrieve the other one that he threw at a centipede.

He looks at the skeleton in wonder. "Is there a way to detect whether the parchment or the sword is magically cursed? Or is it possible that the curse was a delayed spell that has now been cast and used up forever?"

 

[Shayuri]

"There are spells that can analyze the sword and parchment," Sulannus says carefully...and is then forced to admit, "...but I can't cast it right now. It takes a long time to complete the ritual, and it requires ingredients we don't have."

She shakes her head. "I think Rejik's idea is best. Curses are old magic, and they can last a very long time. It's best not to tamper with them unless you're prepared. Lets bring them with us, in hopes we can break its hold on them somehow, or find someone who can when we return from here."

 

[tuxgeo]

Aeiyan listens to Sulannus' comments, then thinks for a short while. "Thank you. Much of that I did not know," he responds. He turns and goes to the corner where the cursed creatures are. He bends down toward them and asks, "Anyone want a ride over the threshold?"

He reaches down to offer a lift to any willing 'centipede.' If one of them comes toward him in response, he picks it up and carries it across the room and out the door, setting it down in the hallway when he gets there.

 

[Jimmy Disco T]

"A good idea, Aeyian." says Tock. He again offers up his hand to the centipede that had previously crawled onto it.

"Can I offer you some help, my new many-legged friend?" he asks, seemingly oblivious to whether the insects can even understand him, "We may be able to restore you to your normal selves if you accompany us."

 

[Kobold Stew]

There's still a lot in the room that hasn't been investigated, thinks Bartleby, remembering his initial foray into the room (post 488):

corpse, slab, skeleton, black chain mail, sword, possible shield, wall paintings.

Bartleby muses,"Who wrote the warning note? If we can't detect magic on the place, do we just leave this, or do we investigate? Why were those ones changes (assuming they were), and this corpse was not? These are powerful magics."