Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hairy Minotaur" data-source="post: 4019229" data-attributes="member: 11574">TitheXanthos transforms into a thoqqua and burrows under the cage of force, appearing on the other side of the blade barrier. Two vrocks and a marilith rip the force walls to shreds as they advance on the party. Xanthos transforms again into a girallon and scoops up Doopa, Eeyore and cork. Adukol, Menthos and Haimish quickly follow the retreating Xanthos back to the frozen room.“We’re horribly out numbered and out powered, a frontal assault would not allow for any of you to survive.” Xanthos states“In that case I thank you for your concern, why stop here then? Why not simply continue until daylight is reached again, or has the sun failed on this world for I’ve noticed it is very cold in here.” Kourk states“I am going back in; they shall not escape my wrath!” Xanthos announces“I didn’t see any orcs in there Xanthos; I think it’s safe to assume they’re all dead.” Haimish answers“Nonsense! They yet live and they will taste the level of degradation I’ve felt for the past weeks a hundred fold, I will rain down a shower of vengeance the likes of which Maal has never seen!” Xanthos thunders away“More like you’ll die whimpering cowering in a ball under a table as the marilith licks your freshly plucked limbs free of flesh.” Adukol responds“You know noting of what you speak, I have spent hours searching for vengeance and I shall not be denied by one who wasn’t smart enough to out think a slaad.” Xanthos answers“Hey as long as you’re marching off to your death, could you at least take care of the ogre so he can protect the rest of us from that chip on your shoulder?” Menthos chimes inXanthos clenches his fists and raises them above the warlock’s head and takes a deep breath in.*yawn* “Look, if you’re going to use hate to drive your personal engine of destruction, the least you could do is switch to food that is actually cooked and not fresh roots and twigs. You smell like fromunda cheese wrapped in burnt bacon.” Menthos statesXanthos calms down a little and grab the head of Doopa and sends a healing wave into the ogre’s body. Doopa’s eyes flash open as his consciousness returns. Xanthos turns and leaves the party where they lie and heads back to the gate room. “He’s going to die down there.” Kourk says“We all die; at least he’ll be dying doing something he wants to do.” Haimish states“Maybe. I want a foursome with a female elf, teifling, and gnome but I don’t want to have to die to get it. In that case I’ll just settle for a threesome plus a nightcap.” Menthos answersDoopa hefts Eeyore up and they begin the trek back to the surface when Xanthos returns.“The enemy has slapped their arrogance in my face once again! I return to accept my fate and they’ve left me with nothing to fight, not even a gate to track them through! They think me unworthy of killing!” Xanthos seethes with rage and pounds his fists against the frozen walls of the room. “So you’re saying they just left?” Adukol questions “Yes!” Xanthos bellows“That makes no sense, demons wouldn’t do that and they certainly aren’t afraid of you.” Adukol answers“You intimate me a liar?” Xanthos foams“No, I think he’s calling you subverted.” Menthos responds“You! I have no problem ripping your head off your body, dragging your skull to the gate room and letting the rest of them remote view the room through your twisted eye sockets.” Xanthos screeches “Hmm, I see. Well lead on then.” Menthos answers, following the shifter back down the hallway.“Aren’t you wary of falling into a trap?” Haimish says“No, because we’ve already been down this hallway twice and not fallen into any pits.” Menthos answersThe rest of the party follows the two men out of morbid curiosity and once they reach the gate room, Xanthos is vindicated as it is indeed empty. Adukol and Kourk move up to examine the spot where the gate had formed earlier, while Xanthos transforms into a viper and slithers around the room tasting the air. After an hour of prodding they determine everyone left through the gate including the demons, although the sorcerer has no idea how the gate was formed. Kourk and Doopa move ahead to scout out the opposite corridor from the entrance to the room and they soon discover a door that appears to be barred form the inside. Calling back for assistance, the rest of the party meets them at the door. Xanthos transforms into a thoqqua again and melts the stone and metal off the door, revealing a large treasure room.“Jackpot!” Haimish shoutsMenthos, Haimish and Xanthos all cast detect magic to reveal the locations of magic items in the room as Kourk pushes his way in to find something he can use for armor other than the wipe rag Xanthos gave him. Menthos ends his detection after getting the number and location of each item, Haimish and Xanthos continue to study to find the item with the highest concentration of magic. Instantly a ring and a small black rock outshine all others in the detection. Haimish reaches for the rock but Xanthos shoves him aside.“My Heart?” Xanthos cries out as he picks up the cold rock, which upon further handling appears to instead be some kind of ice as the warmth of Xanthos’ hand causes the rock to get slick. Xanthos sets the rock back down and observes his hands covered in blood.Haimish regroups and procures the ring safely into his hands, turning the ring over he finds ancient dwarven script written around the outside of the gold band. The ring itself contains but a single piece of mithril sculpted like a mountain rising some two inches above the band of the ring.“Bard!” Xanthos shouts, grabbing Haimish around the collar and yanking him ten feet over to be in front of Xanthos, causing Haimish to drop the ring, “I need you to identify this rock. I believe it to be my frozen heart, devoid of the passion it once had.” Haimish begins to object, but then notices Kourk picking up the ring and slipping it on his finger, “Hey!”Haimish turns to go have a chat with Kourk who looks around frantically trying to see who or what Haimish could have been yelling at. Xanthos instead grabs the bard once more by the collar and raises him into the air.“First indentify.” Xanthos demands pointing at the rock below.“Fine, fine.” Haimish answersHaimish finishes his incantation with a quizzical look on his face.“What? What’s wrong with my heart?” Xanthos requests“I don’t think that’s your heart.” Haimish replies“What? What is it then?” Xanthos asks wiping his blood soaked hands off on Haimish’s cloak.“I don’t know it is beyond my capabilities to unravel it’s secrets.” Haimish answers“Dejected, Xanthos slouches onto his knees, then transforms back to a wild elf and passes out, exhausted from the toll the implanted heart has already taken on his bodyHaimish quietly picks up the rock and wraps it in cloth five layers deep, while the rest of the party goes through the piles of gold and other items. Kourk finds a helmet as well and places that upon his head. “Hey look, a mace too!” Kourk states, “Now I’m a helmeted loin-cloth basher in search of zealots.” Menthos walks out of the room with a new item he located in a stack of scrolls, “Hey Minty, find anything useful?” Haimish asks“Yes, your skill at deduction. Here ID this.” Menthos answers, showing a metal rod into the bard’s face*sigh* Haimish grabs the metal stick and concentrates on the item, after a few moments he tells Menthos, “It’s a warlock rod…” Menthos cuts him off.“Really? I’m going to stick this onto the top of my ten foot pole and then I’ll be able to blast things ten feet further away than what I could do. What’s it do?” Menthos asks“You use it to detect reality, hit your head against it anywhere from seven to four-hundred seventy-three times and you should start to see the meaning of all life.’ Haimish answersDoopa grabs up Xanthos as well, and the party continues along the new path past the treasure room door. They come upon another door with low moaning and anguished cries from the other side.Haimish and Kourk shove the door open to reveal a torture chamber used by the orcs to slowly kill their captives. A male dwarf lies stretched a top the rack as his ribs show sings of internally bleeding, blackened and blue skin run  along his rib cage.“Please save me.” The pitiful dwarf calls outHaimish rushes to the man’s side as he pounds the chains of the rack with his sword until the dwarf is freed. Haimish offers the man food and water and helps him out into the hallway, “Who would do this? Xanthos is missing a great party”Back out in the hallway, the party is transfixed upon Menthos as the teifling halts fifteen feet from the torture chamber, a long hallway stretched out before them, darkened except for the floor which glows with the light of a full moon.“Trapped.” Is all Menthos says“Crap, we’ll have to go back up the long way.” Haimish states“No need, we can get through this, plus it’s quicker and with two unconscious people and two others that are practically useless.” Menthos answers“What are you going to do then?” Haimish inquiresMenthos grabs the saved dwarf and shoves him into the hallway while shouting “Freedom!” Haimish tries to stop the Menthos but is too late to halt the toss that lands him in the hallway, “What are you doing!” Haimish shouts“Saving us.” Menthos replies, the dwarf pushes himself up to a crawling position and begins to crawl away from the party, after ten feet of crawling the sounds of dozens of dogs baying echo up the hallway.The dwarf freezes and turns around to crawl back to the party; Menthos retrieves his ten foot pole and prods the dwarf to keep him from getting any closer. Haimish attempts to grapple the warlock down to the floor and succeeds in knocking the teifling prone. The baying intensifies as Haimish shoves himself off of Menthos and steps towards the hallway to help the dwarf. Menthos kicks his feet out and drops Haimish to his knees and eye level with the dwarf who reaches out his arm for help. Haimish reaches up but is knocked back by a dozen large red dogs who phase through the black “wall” of the corridor and tear into the dwarf as if he was the last scrap of meat the hounds would ever see again.The screams from the dwarf were intermixed with a fiery belch from the hound’s mouths as the heat in the hallway and surrounding the party increased. Blood splatter paints Haimish and Menthos the later rolls away and stands up next to Adukol, Haimish reels in the brutality of the scene as the hounds leave nothing, not even hair, completely ignoring the party the leave as quickly and as unquiet as they arrived. “Nasty little trap, does it reset or have you tripped it?” Adukol asks“I don’t know, go find me another prisoner and we’ll find out.” Menthos replies“Kourk seems to be grating on people’s attitudes.” Adukol subtly suggests“You’re pretty useless right now too.” Menthos answers“True, but I know offense. What does his god know?” Adukol replies“You should be wary of faith, I know many powerful men who could bend your opinion of faith.” Menthos states“Not likely, I have no need for gods. Not when cloudkill works so much better.” Adukol replies“Each of us has tithes that bind.” Menthos says and leaves Adukol, walks over to Haimish and hefts him up from the ground.</blockquote>

Verification