NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James McMurray" data-source="post: 211219" data-attributes="member: 743">The next morning, Lo’ser (an associate of Cristoph from the Closed Eye) comes to meet with Cristoph. When he learns that their leader is dead (but will not be dead forever) he talks with the party and decides that he would like to travel with them. He has heard legends of the Tomb, and is interested in the treasure to be had there. Milo, having been shaken by his experiences there, decides that perhaps travelling there is not something he wants to do, and he bids the party farewell.Lo’ser, William, Galrond, Kargur, Teflon Billy, and Oskar return to the Tomb of Acererak. Working their way around the many traps and back to the passageway in the pit, they send Lo’ser ahead to scout (using William’s Circlet to aid his vision and Cristoph’s boots of spider climbing to help him negotiate the pits. As he moves up to the doorway, a quick search reveals the mechanism that released the fear gas, and a few moments later, he has it successfully disarmed. Opening the door, he sees a richly furnished room (the couch in it is solid gold). Lying upon the couch is a skeletal figure, which stands up as the door opens. “WHO DARES DISTURB THE REST OF ACERERAK? IT IS YOUR DEATH YOU HAVE FOUND!” booms forth from the ancient figure’s mouth. Lo’ser, feeling brave, charges in and nicks the creature with his dagger. Moments later he is sent flying and staggered from two slams of the thing’s unearthly strong fists.The party flies into action. Oskar charges and takes his stance, while Lo’ser flees to get healed. As William is healing him, both Billy and Galrond target the beast with spells, Billy attempting to Disitigrate it, and Galrond attempting to turn the thing into a paper mache pinata. Both spells hit, but wash harmlessly off the thing. The Lich responds by slamming Oskar repeatedly, and even the stout Dwarven Defender is reeling from the blows. Kargur charges forward and bashes the thing, while Lanis plugs it with arrows.Moments later, Galrond’s second attempt at transformation succeeds, and the thing is transformed into a mahogany end table for the couch. The group moves forward and shatters the divan into several pieces, which then change back into an ancient corpse, broken and battered. As the thing dies, the walls begin to shake and crumble, but Lo’ser realizes (with the help of William’s Circlet of True Seeing) that it is merely an illusion, and the party waits for it to pass. They then begin to gather up the items in the Crypt: an arcane scroll, several potions in a jade coffer, a bejeweled crown, and the couch. At first, they wonder how they will manage to carry the massive golden couch, but when Galrond turns it into a gold coin and places it in his pouch, the dilemma is solved. Knowing that they must find the Lich’s phylactery to prevent it from returning, they begin to search again. Not far outside the door to this crypt, they find a hidden passageway, which leads to an alchemical chamber. It is cluttered with alchemy tools and supplies, as well as mummy preperation tables and accouterments. In the center are three huge stone vats. One contains 3’ deep dirty water, a second holds a blue-green murky liquid, which has a golden glinting object at its bottom, and the third contains a greyish oily substance. Lo’ser casts detect magic and sees that both the golden object, and another object hidden in the greyish liquid are magical. Using Mage Hand, he grabs the golden object, and finds it is half of a key. A bit of experimentation with the grey liquid shows it to be powerful acid, which destroys one of Oskar’s Javelins, and several items they attempt to scoop liquid with. As this is happening, the remainder of the group is searching the room, and another secret passageway is found. Deciding to leave the liquid for now, the party moves on.Around the corner they find a 20’ wide open pit, spiked. Fashioning a makeshift rope out of mummy wrappings, they use it to pass the boots of spider climbing back and forth, and bypass the pit, to find a secret door on the far side. Beyond, the passageway turns and comes to a fourway intersection, where Lo’ser finds a pit which he disables (despite the party’s telling him not to, as they believe it may be the second “fortuitous fall”.) Lo’ser then moves North to investigate another doorway. Although he finds no traps, when he opens it, gravity suddenly reorients itself, sending him, Galrond, and Oskar plummeting down the corridor to slam into a door down the southern passageway. Shaken but not seriously injured, the group again uses the boots to climb out, and Lo’ser opens the door below them, which has only a solid stone wall behind it (the Northern door also covered a wall).Crossing the corridor / pit ,they continue West, to where a female voice calls out from a mist filled room. “Hello? Is somebody out there? Why don’t you come visit me?” Suspicious, the party discusses what to do, and Lo’ser decides to enter. As he breathes in the mists, he feels his mental capacity slipping away, and is feebleminded. He stands sheepishly, and when the beautiful figure moves forward, he stares at her. She attempts to talk to him, but his lack of response leaves her upset. “Why won’t any of you come visit me?” She asks. “I suppose you aren’t brave enough.” This last statement upsets Kargur, who feels himself to be totally lacking fear, and he steps in. The mists seem to have no effect on him, and he talks for a short while with Lucilla. He learns that she is a nymph, that she is unsure how long she has been here, and that she knows practicall nothing about the Tomb itself.As Kargur talks, he moves around and searches the room. He finds two sacks in the corners, but does not disturb them. Wanting to talk more, but hoping the rest of the party will join the discussion, he invites Lucilla out into the hall, and she happily accepts. Lo’ser follows, and after he ignores her requests to stop staring at her (“it is rather rude”) she asks the group to look away. They do, and she reveals a portion of her true beauty to Lo’ser, blinding him.The group continues to talk, and William casts Heal on Lo’ser, which restores his mind and eyesight. After learning that the Nymph knows nothing of the Tomb, Acererak, or why she is here, the group goes to talk amongst themselves.Kargur moves back into the mist, having asked Lucilla if she minds if they take the sacks. She has never opened them, and does not care. He goes to pick up the smaller sack, but cannot find the larger sack. Lo’ser, for some odd reason, decides to go search for the sack, and is again feebleminded by the mists. This time, William extracts a promise to revere Heironious before he Heals the foolish Sorcerer / Rogue.Lucilla, deciding to explore the world, steps through a dimension door before anyone tries to stop her, and is gone. Teflon Billy mentions the Astral travel problems, and the group feels that Lucilla is probably dead now, but they do not attempt to investigate.Kargur goes back into the mists and completely explores, but finds nothing, so the group returns to search the corridors. They find a hidden doorway behind the false Southern door, and move through it. Down the corridor and through another door they find two large double doors. As Lo’ser opens them, gas spills out, and both Lo’ser and Teflon Billy fall unconcious. Oskar, William, and Kargur are also in the gas, but they do not succumb. Oskar drags Billy back, and a massive metal elephant on rollers comes trundling out of the far doorway. As the group retreats (leaving Lo’ser behind) he finds himself standing in a vast empty space.</blockquote>

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