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Return to the Tomb of Horrors finally gets a Story Hour!
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<blockquote data-quote="James McMurray" data-source="post: 131111" data-attributes="member: 743"><p>The group headed back into the Black Academy three days later, feeling confident with their spells recast and their swords thirsty for the "witch's" throat. This time, calculations were correct, and the group appeared dead center of the amphitheatre, but it was pitch black. Moments later, Gundarag's sword was lit, and daylight spells filled the room with light, showing that all was dark and apparently abandoned. Galrond sealed off two entrances to the room with walls of force, and the group moved into the Black Academy, Cristoph scouting the way.</p><p></p><p>The first area he entered was apparently a lab. However, the shelves had mostly been cleared, and the cabinets were empty. Whoever used this room wasn't here anymore, so they continued. Around the corner they found a room tiled in black obsidian, whose only feature was a statue of a skeleton against the far wall. As the group lined up (expecting an attack) and entered, the statue's eyes lit with fire and it spoke: "Enter supplicants, and be judged." The group prepared for battle, and moved into the room. As soon as they stepped in, the statue spoke again, "To gain full access to the Black Academy, place your hands in mine." Talking it over, the group decided to see what would happen, and Kargur, the insanely courageous paladin moved forward. </p><p></p><p>He placed his hands in those of the statue, and the statue's grip tightened around them, "Hold still." The fire in the statue's eyes narrowed into a tightly focused beam that played over the paladin's head and shoulders. Moments later, the beams turned to black flames, and the paladin fell backwards, scorched and burnt, and having just barely managed to keep his soul from being torn from his body. "You have been judged unworthy. Next." No one else volunteered. They did search a bit more though, and a secret door was found behind the statue. It only hid and empty room however.</p><p></p><p>Moving onward, Cristoph listened to a door and heard a faint mewling as if a sick cat. He returned tot he group, "I thin I've found a cat in heat," he told them. Suitably confused, the group moved forward, and the paladin detected for evil through the door, which was successful. They prepared a bit, then kicked the door down, to find a laboratory seemingly in use, but empty. On one table was a cat, partially dissected, yet still living. "Mwrar, mwaaar." </p><p></p><p>Trying to put the cat out of its misery, the paladin drove his sword clean through it, and the mewling ceased, but only for a moment, as the cat's wounds healed back up, except for those parts which were kept from joining by pins in the dissection tray. "mwawr, raaar." Detection of magic showed that the cat was definitely magical, but no evil could be detected, from either the cat or anywhere in the room. The two adjoining laboratories were likewise clear. The group left the cat behind, and moved onwards.</p><p></p><p>Around the next corner, they entered what appeared to be an anatomy classroom. Pictures of bodies, and a few actual bodies hung from the walls. Chairs and desks were lined up to face a central podium, atop which lay a partially dissected human form. As the group looked around, an imp appeared next to Lanis, and struck out, only to hit his armor. Moments later, the imp was unconscious, as several arrows plowed into his body. Billy tells the group that it will regenerate though, and he had already used his Melf's Acid Arrow in a doomed attempt to kill the cat. Gundarag moves up and begins repeatedly hacking at the imp with his bastard sword, ensuring it will not be getting up for quite some time. Meanwhile, Cristoph opens a door in the back of the room, and a shadow reaches up from the floor to touch his shadow. Cristoph's shadow leaps up and dives for his throat, only barely being dodged.</p><p></p><p>Cristoph turns to flee back through the group, and William takes a swipe at the passing shadow, but his sword goes right through it. Lanis's arrow hits the mark though, and as the shadow is pierced in the belly, it falls into quiescence. However, a mirror wound appears in Cristoph's stomach, and Amastacia moves to heal him.</p><p></p><p>Kargur heads into the back room, and this time 6 shadows leap up to touch his, and set it on him as well. The group manages to make short work of the shadows though, and killing one seems to dissipate the remainder. The one dead shadow transforms into a dark robed man, whose left hand is made of shadow. Galrond tells the group that the man's dagger and robes are magical, and as Kargur moves to collect them, the robes leap off the floor and flow around him, sapping his health as they try to force themselves onto him. </p><p></p><p>William recognizes the robes as being a wraith, and attempts to turn it. The attempt is successful, but before it can flee, Kargur slashes it to ribbons. Collected the tattered remains, he uses them to pick up the dagger and place it into his haversack. The group moves into the next room, which is filled with small stacks of books surrounding a cot. They find a small sack of gems hidden in the iron stove, but nothing else of value apart from the books, which seem to mostly focus upon anatomy and necromancy.</p><p></p><p>Satisfied that this side of the area is clear, they move to the East side of the building, still unopposed by the inhabitants of the Academy, except for the one instructor. Reaching the room where a large Tome summoned deaths when touched, they find it empty. The doors marked Necrohazard are still shut, and the group decides to investigate. As the first door is opened, the inside of it is seen to be filled with shadows. Cold seeps from the room like a physical presence, and moments later, a heartbeat is heard. Lub--dub, lub--dub.</p><p></p><p>The cold intensifies, as does the heartbeat. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. </p><p></p><p>The group disperses and prepares for whatever is coming, but nothing ever comes. The paladin moves forward and detects for evil, finding a presence. His daylight enhanced flaming sword allows him to see a bit into the room, so he moves in slowly to investigate, using his senses to pinpoint the evil, which turns out to be a small beating heart on the floor. He cuts it in half with his sword, but moments later, the cloying cold increases, and the heart is yet again beating slowly.</p><p></p><p>The paladin spears the heart with his sword and moves to carry it outside, noticing in passing that the inside of the door is covered in a gray metal, which Billy tells him is Lead. By this point, both he and the cleric (who has a shield other protecting the paladin) have taken quite a bit of damage from the heart. The paladin drops the heart outside, and the plant life around it rapidly wilts away. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. Galrond dispels the darkness in the room, and the group finds that the room is mostly empty. Only a bare pedestal stands in the center, with a desiccated black-robed corpse next to it. Two of the inner walls (those facing areas where people would be) are lined with lead as well.</p><p></p><p>Leaving the heart as a mystery for later, the group moves to the next door marked Necrohazard, this one barred from the outside. The bar is removed, and the door is opened. Several small piles of black ash litter the floor of the room, and a shelf on the back wall holds a skull, wreathed in an eerie corona of black flames. Cristoph moves forward to investigate, and as he gets close, the flames leap out, and he too is wreathed in blackfire. As it slowly begins to burn his soul, he runs into the hallway. As he passes Kargur, the flames leap at the paladin, who manages to avoid them.</p><p></p><p>Cristoph, writhing in agony, begins to roll on the ground in an attempt to put the flames out, as the group stares on helplessly, afraid to approach the malevolent flames, and they seem to try to leap onto whoever gets near them. Billy, thinking he may be able to put the flames out, creates an anti-magic field around himself, and moves towards Cristoph. The flames are snuffed out by the field. Unfortunately, so too is the Endurance spell, which was the only thing keeping Cristoph alive, and he falls to the ground dead.</p><p></p><p>While protected, Billy goes back to the cat, and it does stop moving when the anti-magic field nears it. However, as soon as Billy moves away, it returns to life and begins mewling piteously. The heart outside is completely unaffected by the field however.</p><p></p><p>Knowing that they'll need to make more headway if they are to get him resurrected, the group moves on. Billy, still protected by his anti-magic field, moves up to open the next door, with the group arrayed just outside the boundaries of the field. As he opens the door, spinning and whirling blades fill the entire chamber, except for the area around the Dwarven Wizard. Everyone in the group is wounded by the blades, but William is wounded worst of all. In preparation for battle, he had cast Shield Other on Kargur and Gundarag. Kargur had then cast Shield other on Lanis. Thus, William took damage from the blades hitting him, Kargur, Gundarag and Lanis (54 (him) + 27 (Kargur) + 27 (Gundarag) +13(Lanis) = 121 points). He falls to the ground, cut to ribbons by the whirling blades. Billy, thinking fast, moves to where the group is all within his field. This act nearly kill Amastacia, and her endurance drops and she begins to feel the full weight of the tears in her flesh (she is left with 2 hp).</p><p></p><p>The group moves carefully into the next room, where they heal up a bit via Amastacia's wands. This room and the room behind it turn out to be the Cleric of Tharizdun quarters. Having previously killed him, they are unmolested as they destroy his altar.</p><p></p><p>Returning to Greyhawk City, the group meets with the High Priest of Pelor, who tells them that their task is still unfinished. Communing has shown him that the Vampires are still in residence at the Black Academy. They also manage to allow the apparently immortal cat to escape, after the priest suggests they remove it from the tray. It is apparently not undead, nor is it evil, so the priest is at a loss for what to do with it. He would rather see it free than tortured like it is though, so he lets it flee after his attempt at Hold Monster and Halt Undead fails. This worries Amastacia, as she has visions of generations of immortal cats overrunning cities, but the group doesn't try to hunt the cat down. The priest, felling that the group has made definite headway with the death of an instructor and the apparent abandonment of the city decides to perform True Resurrections on the two casualties. That will take two days, leaving the party time to plan.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James McMurray, post: 131111, member: 743"] The group headed back into the Black Academy three days later, feeling confident with their spells recast and their swords thirsty for the "witch's" throat. This time, calculations were correct, and the group appeared dead center of the amphitheatre, but it was pitch black. Moments later, Gundarag's sword was lit, and daylight spells filled the room with light, showing that all was dark and apparently abandoned. Galrond sealed off two entrances to the room with walls of force, and the group moved into the Black Academy, Cristoph scouting the way. The first area he entered was apparently a lab. However, the shelves had mostly been cleared, and the cabinets were empty. Whoever used this room wasn't here anymore, so they continued. Around the corner they found a room tiled in black obsidian, whose only feature was a statue of a skeleton against the far wall. As the group lined up (expecting an attack) and entered, the statue's eyes lit with fire and it spoke: "Enter supplicants, and be judged." The group prepared for battle, and moved into the room. As soon as they stepped in, the statue spoke again, "To gain full access to the Black Academy, place your hands in mine." Talking it over, the group decided to see what would happen, and Kargur, the insanely courageous paladin moved forward. He placed his hands in those of the statue, and the statue's grip tightened around them, "Hold still." The fire in the statue's eyes narrowed into a tightly focused beam that played over the paladin's head and shoulders. Moments later, the beams turned to black flames, and the paladin fell backwards, scorched and burnt, and having just barely managed to keep his soul from being torn from his body. "You have been judged unworthy. Next." No one else volunteered. They did search a bit more though, and a secret door was found behind the statue. It only hid and empty room however. Moving onward, Cristoph listened to a door and heard a faint mewling as if a sick cat. He returned tot he group, "I thin I've found a cat in heat," he told them. Suitably confused, the group moved forward, and the paladin detected for evil through the door, which was successful. They prepared a bit, then kicked the door down, to find a laboratory seemingly in use, but empty. On one table was a cat, partially dissected, yet still living. "Mwrar, mwaaar." Trying to put the cat out of its misery, the paladin drove his sword clean through it, and the mewling ceased, but only for a moment, as the cat's wounds healed back up, except for those parts which were kept from joining by pins in the dissection tray. "mwawr, raaar." Detection of magic showed that the cat was definitely magical, but no evil could be detected, from either the cat or anywhere in the room. The two adjoining laboratories were likewise clear. The group left the cat behind, and moved onwards. Around the next corner, they entered what appeared to be an anatomy classroom. Pictures of bodies, and a few actual bodies hung from the walls. Chairs and desks were lined up to face a central podium, atop which lay a partially dissected human form. As the group looked around, an imp appeared next to Lanis, and struck out, only to hit his armor. Moments later, the imp was unconscious, as several arrows plowed into his body. Billy tells the group that it will regenerate though, and he had already used his Melf's Acid Arrow in a doomed attempt to kill the cat. Gundarag moves up and begins repeatedly hacking at the imp with his bastard sword, ensuring it will not be getting up for quite some time. Meanwhile, Cristoph opens a door in the back of the room, and a shadow reaches up from the floor to touch his shadow. Cristoph's shadow leaps up and dives for his throat, only barely being dodged. Cristoph turns to flee back through the group, and William takes a swipe at the passing shadow, but his sword goes right through it. Lanis's arrow hits the mark though, and as the shadow is pierced in the belly, it falls into quiescence. However, a mirror wound appears in Cristoph's stomach, and Amastacia moves to heal him. Kargur heads into the back room, and this time 6 shadows leap up to touch his, and set it on him as well. The group manages to make short work of the shadows though, and killing one seems to dissipate the remainder. The one dead shadow transforms into a dark robed man, whose left hand is made of shadow. Galrond tells the group that the man's dagger and robes are magical, and as Kargur moves to collect them, the robes leap off the floor and flow around him, sapping his health as they try to force themselves onto him. William recognizes the robes as being a wraith, and attempts to turn it. The attempt is successful, but before it can flee, Kargur slashes it to ribbons. Collected the tattered remains, he uses them to pick up the dagger and place it into his haversack. The group moves into the next room, which is filled with small stacks of books surrounding a cot. They find a small sack of gems hidden in the iron stove, but nothing else of value apart from the books, which seem to mostly focus upon anatomy and necromancy. Satisfied that this side of the area is clear, they move to the East side of the building, still unopposed by the inhabitants of the Academy, except for the one instructor. Reaching the room where a large Tome summoned deaths when touched, they find it empty. The doors marked Necrohazard are still shut, and the group decides to investigate. As the first door is opened, the inside of it is seen to be filled with shadows. Cold seeps from the room like a physical presence, and moments later, a heartbeat is heard. Lub--dub, lub--dub. The cold intensifies, as does the heartbeat. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. The group disperses and prepares for whatever is coming, but nothing ever comes. The paladin moves forward and detects for evil, finding a presence. His daylight enhanced flaming sword allows him to see a bit into the room, so he moves in slowly to investigate, using his senses to pinpoint the evil, which turns out to be a small beating heart on the floor. He cuts it in half with his sword, but moments later, the cloying cold increases, and the heart is yet again beating slowly. The paladin spears the heart with his sword and moves to carry it outside, noticing in passing that the inside of the door is covered in a gray metal, which Billy tells him is Lead. By this point, both he and the cleric (who has a shield other protecting the paladin) have taken quite a bit of damage from the heart. The paladin drops the heart outside, and the plant life around it rapidly wilts away. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. Galrond dispels the darkness in the room, and the group finds that the room is mostly empty. Only a bare pedestal stands in the center, with a desiccated black-robed corpse next to it. Two of the inner walls (those facing areas where people would be) are lined with lead as well. Leaving the heart as a mystery for later, the group moves to the next door marked Necrohazard, this one barred from the outside. The bar is removed, and the door is opened. Several small piles of black ash litter the floor of the room, and a shelf on the back wall holds a skull, wreathed in an eerie corona of black flames. Cristoph moves forward to investigate, and as he gets close, the flames leap out, and he too is wreathed in blackfire. As it slowly begins to burn his soul, he runs into the hallway. As he passes Kargur, the flames leap at the paladin, who manages to avoid them. Cristoph, writhing in agony, begins to roll on the ground in an attempt to put the flames out, as the group stares on helplessly, afraid to approach the malevolent flames, and they seem to try to leap onto whoever gets near them. Billy, thinking he may be able to put the flames out, creates an anti-magic field around himself, and moves towards Cristoph. The flames are snuffed out by the field. Unfortunately, so too is the Endurance spell, which was the only thing keeping Cristoph alive, and he falls to the ground dead. While protected, Billy goes back to the cat, and it does stop moving when the anti-magic field nears it. However, as soon as Billy moves away, it returns to life and begins mewling piteously. The heart outside is completely unaffected by the field however. Knowing that they'll need to make more headway if they are to get him resurrected, the group moves on. Billy, still protected by his anti-magic field, moves up to open the next door, with the group arrayed just outside the boundaries of the field. As he opens the door, spinning and whirling blades fill the entire chamber, except for the area around the Dwarven Wizard. Everyone in the group is wounded by the blades, but William is wounded worst of all. In preparation for battle, he had cast Shield Other on Kargur and Gundarag. Kargur had then cast Shield other on Lanis. Thus, William took damage from the blades hitting him, Kargur, Gundarag and Lanis (54 (him) + 27 (Kargur) + 27 (Gundarag) +13(Lanis) = 121 points). He falls to the ground, cut to ribbons by the whirling blades. Billy, thinking fast, moves to where the group is all within his field. This act nearly kill Amastacia, and her endurance drops and she begins to feel the full weight of the tears in her flesh (she is left with 2 hp). The group moves carefully into the next room, where they heal up a bit via Amastacia's wands. This room and the room behind it turn out to be the Cleric of Tharizdun quarters. Having previously killed him, they are unmolested as they destroy his altar. Returning to Greyhawk City, the group meets with the High Priest of Pelor, who tells them that their task is still unfinished. Communing has shown him that the Vampires are still in residence at the Black Academy. They also manage to allow the apparently immortal cat to escape, after the priest suggests they remove it from the tray. It is apparently not undead, nor is it evil, so the priest is at a loss for what to do with it. He would rather see it free than tortured like it is though, so he lets it flee after his attempt at Hold Monster and Halt Undead fails. This worries Amastacia, as she has visions of generations of immortal cats overrunning cities, but the group doesn't try to hunt the cat down. The priest, felling that the group has made definite headway with the death of an instructor and the apparent abandonment of the city decides to perform True Resurrections on the two casualties. That will take two days, leaving the party time to plan. [/QUOTE]
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