THE HEROES OF DYVERS CHAPTER 7: CLARE'S ERRAND

[MacConnell]

Xao has yet to truely prove his value to the party so he refrains from claiming one of the rings. he is more curious as to how to remove the key from the largest Leonid.

Sensing some perplexity or seeing the concentration upon his face, Lathir inquires as to the quandary. He offers, "I call upon Mielikki to transmute rock to mud, but I do not think these things are really stone. It may simply require brute strength. If so I can shift form to see if I can pull the thing free."

 

[ScottDeWar_jr]

Knowledge Arcana: would transmute rock to mud work to free the key from the greater Leonid
ScottDeWar,Jr: D20 + 16 → 36(20 + 16) A natural 20!

"Hmmm, I wonder if you were to .. .. ..<blah blah blah*> and then < hnnvjhudhnidfhijjnd*> followed by <Cthulhu F'tathagin*>.. .. .."

*Metaphysical gibberish to me, but Xao seem to know what he is saying

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Spoiler: What Xao Knows About Such Things

Lathir is correct; the creatures' skin was not actually stone, it was super-tough, leathery hide (like that of an alligator) which was grayish in color, giving the appearance of stone, further strengthened by magical means (permanent Barkskin); However, casting Flesh to Stone would turn their flesh into brittle, breakable stone, which would then make removal of the key pretty easy. Or you could simply chop the beast up into a bloody mess, and remove it that way.

 

[ScottDeWar_jr]

"Hmmm, I wonder if you were to .. .. ..<blah blah blah*> and then < hnnvjhudhnidfhijjnd*> followed by <Cthulhu F'tathagin*>.. .. .."

*Metaphysical gibberish to me, but Xao seems to know what he is saying

Translation for the more enlightened minds of the dark arts:

"If you transmute it as stone to mud, it will fail. However, if you trasmute the flesh flesh to stone it would make the tough hide brittle stone and we can just break the stone away from the key .. .. .. or we can save the spell and just cut it away from the corpse."

He looks to the leonid and reaches to his side as if to draw a weapon - only to grab at air. A bemused look appears on Xao's face as he sheepishly grins, "She took all of my weapons, the crazy bitch. Might you have a dagger I can borrow to do some carving?"

 

[Waynan]

Tam puts on the ring given to him. Looking at it he feels a little better, still having ghost pains from the Leonid's vicious attacks.
He then watches the proceedings on the key.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: DM NOTE: Lathir, I am changing your ring to include bite in addition to the claws. It will make less note-taking / math complications for me when I figure combat data. UPDATE: Your character sheet and wildshape sheet have now both been edited to reflect this change.

 

[MacConnell]

... He looks... "Might you have a dagger I can borrow to do some carving?"

Lathir, who is in fact a rather patient man, sees the limitations of such an approach as well as the exasperate amount of time it would require. He shakes his head and walks over to the leonid.

"Too meticulous, you will probably want to step back a bit. This is likely to be messy."

He reaches down a grabs the arm of the beast to begin pulling it toward himself. In the blink of an eye, the blondish man and his belongings once again transform into a large bear. The bear moves into action with a ferocity never seen in the personality of the man who became it. He drives his claws into the chest of the leonid, unceremoniously ripping at the key to free it.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Despite being a Dire Bear, Lathir has enough precision with his claws to rip the key free from the Leonid's chest rather quickly; it is indeed messy, as Lathir predicted, but contrary to everyone's expectations, there is very little flesh rended. Most of the mess is from the blood, which spews and splatters EVERYWHERE, and upon EVERYONE. The key is freed within 12 seconds (2 rounds) and once removed, results in even more blood splatter on a massive scale.

GM: NOTE: Apparently, they key was connected, via some sort of magical conduit, to the creature's heart; the result being that it would have been impossible to remove the key while the beast was alive, so strong was its heart, so great was its constitution. And all of you suspect that the key may have also somehow strengthened the creature's overall physicality; but now that the creature was dead, and the magical conduit faded, the removal of the key was more easily accomplished, although doing so released a great amount of the creature's remaining blood, which had but minutes before, flowed through its veins, giving it its strength and vitality.

Lathir, in a calm and nonchalant manner, silently nodding in affirmation, hands the newly-freed key over to Dewydd.

EVERYONE: What do you do?

 

[Diarmadhim]

Dewydd Moresby
Looking at the key I ask Respen, "Do you happen to have any scrolls of Identify or magical items that can do such on you? I never have Identify prepared and prepared spellglyphs instead of scrolls for this excursion." While looking at it, I cast Detect Magic to try and identify the auras on it.

Spoiler: Meta

Spellcraft checks of: 35, 39, 39, 31, and 41. Let me know if I need to make more.

 

[Sylvar B.]

Sylvar, covered in blood, stares blankly for a moment at the source of the spray that has painted everyone red.

He wipes the blood from his face with a kerchief. Straight faced, he looks at Tam, and says, "I usually try to keep as much blood off myself as possible, but apparently it was all in vein."

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: Posting on behalf of Respen, based on our recent phone conversation.

Respen says, "I have one more charge in my monocle for the day; let me see it."

Respen casts a Clean cantrip on the key as Dewydd hands it to him. He then focuses the power of the little lens upon it, studying it for several, long moments.

Finally, Respen says, "This key is a powerful weapon. It can turn into a flaming sword, which has the power to strike even insubstantial beings, such as ghosts; it also bears the power to summon and focus the rays of the sun, which is the bane of many undead creatures."

Spoiler: Game Mechanics Properties of the Sword

 

[Waynan]

Tam smirks at Sylvar's pithy pun and retorts: "Really?"

 

[ScottDeWar_jr]

Xao uses a clean spop on his robe to wipe his face and hands, " Now that we have gotten to the heart of the matter, shall we return to the .. .. .. central(?) chamber?"

 

[Sylvar B.]

Good idea. Sylvar follows Xao up the hallway, humming an upbeat tune, and sings a lyric to himself... "When we dance with the Jack 'o Shadows" before trailing off back into just humming.

OOC: not my song, stole it from Wheel of Time

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: Originally, there were 5 rings +2, and one ring +4. Tam and Sylvar both took a +2 ring. Thallok took the +4 ring. REMAINING: 3 rings of protection +2. Xao, you can have one if you want. You've already proven yourself by risking life and limb in combat against some really tough foes. I know the game has been on hiatus for a long time, due to unforeseen RL interruptions. But I am here to tell you guys that I have NOT given up on this game. And in order to get the ball rolling again, I am listing (below) the powers of all the keys, so that you guys can decide if anyone wants to use them / keep them. (Keep in mind, the keys have a game mechanic purpose, but after that purpose is served, they will make great "keeper" weapons.) I am going to assume that the party has made it back to the central chamber, and now has all four keys at their disposal, which will help in unlocking the big pyramid in the middle of the room. As per my previous housekeeping, all party members are at full health. I am also going to waive the intervening time for spell durations, thus, even though you took the time to go back to the chamber, I am starting spell duration upkeep from the last housekeeping spoiler, as if that time were not used.

Spoiler: DM HOUSEKEEPING

Since the END of the Lamia battle, including time to rush down the hallway to this room, talk to the Leonids, and have the battle, and to heal after the battle, took a total of 36 rounds (3 minutes, 36 seconds.)

DURATIONS: (Original duration) [Current count against duration, in rounds]

Fly: FLIGHT HAS ENDED.
Armor: 24 hours (14,400 rounds) [-160]
Shield: Less than 24 minutes (237 rounds) [-160]
Alter Self: Less than 120 minutes (1197 rounds) [-160]
Dragonskin: Less than 120 minutes (1197 rounds) [-160]
Prot. vs. Evil: Less than 24 minutes (237 rounds) [-160]
Blur: BLUR HAS ENDED.
Invocations from the twins: 24 hours (14,400 rounds) [-55]

Buffs from Khubsheth:
(Affecting: Dewydd, Sylvar, Respen, Vale, Kleborn, Thallok, Lenny, and Travis)

[Basically, everyone except Tam, Lathir, and Xao.]

Geas for the duration of the adventure.

+5 bonus to all saves (Guardian Bonus, stacks with everything) for the duration of the adventure.

Spoiler: THE KEYS IDENTIFIED

KEYS: SPECIFIC TREASURE:

Spoiler: Reminder of Center Room Map

Spoiler: Reminder of Visual Aid for Center Room

Spoiler: Recap of Center Room Description

This chamber is 80 feet square with a 40-foot-high ceiling. The door you have just opened is positioned in the west corner of the chamber. Situated in the middle of each of the four walls is a 10-foot-wide stone door covered with inscriptions. The remaining walls are covered with detailed murals.

In front of each door is a stone pedestal, 10 feet wide, 20 feet long and five feet high. Crouching on each pedestal are full-sized granite statues of sphinxes. Each pedestal holds a different sphinx, and all face their respective doors in silent vigilance,

To the right facing southwest is a falcon-headed hieracosphinx, and to the left facing northwest is a goat-headed criosphinx. On the other side of the chamber, a male androsphinx faces northeast, while a female gynosphinx faces southeast.

In the center of the chamber is a squat pyramid, perhaps five feet high. Composed of smooth tan stone, each of the four surfaces is engraved with a small triangle with an eye set into the center.

END OF DM NOTES.

 

[MacConnell]

Lathir is only there to support and protect the party, as needed. He waits for the others to decide what it is they are going to do. In the mean time, he takes the opportunity to discus philosophy and self-discipline with Xao.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Lenny suggests, quietly, "Um, hey, why don't we put the keys in the pyramid, and see what happens? @Waynan Tam, before we do that, why don't you check the pyramid for any obvious (or not so obvious) traps?"

 

[Waynan]

Tam looks at Lenny with some mild surprise. Sure, he and Travis were exceptional in battle, but they always seemed to play at being "in the background", making Tam wonder if there was more to them than just good warriors.
Realizing that he had been taking them for granted as just extra muscle all this time, Tam was impressed with the forethought, and prudence, of Lenny's request.
"You're right, Lenny. That would probably be a good idea."
Looking at the spellcasters in the group:
"And if any of you lot could cast your Detect Magic on the thing to see whether, if there are magical traps and such, we'll need one of you to Dispel Magic, instead of me fiddling about conventionally."

 

[Aust Thale]

Tam looks at Lenny with some mild surprise. Sure, he and Travis were exceptional in battle, but they always seemed to play at being "in the background", making Tam wonder if there was more to them than just good warriors.
Realizing that he had been taking them for granted as just extra muscle all this time, Tam was impressed with the forethought, and prudence, of Lenny's request.
"You're right, Lenny. That would probably be a good idea."
Looking at the spellcasters in the group:
"And if any of you lot could cast your Detect Magic on the thing to see whether, if there are magical traps and such, we'll need one of you to Dispel Magic, instead of me fiddling about conventionally."

Respen: (Without saying a word), casts Detect Magic in the pyramid.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: Forgive me for not pointing this out sooner, but my mind has been kind of scattered lately. Detect Magic will reveal the presence of magical functions on or around the pyramid. Find Traps (a Cleric spell) gives the caster the ability to find normal and magical traps, just as a Rogue can. Thus, Tam, it is still your job to actually find and disable the traps (if there are any.)

Detect Magic reveals that there is indeed a strong enchantment aura emanating from the pyramid; this means that the pyramid itself is probably magical, or warded against harm, or perhaps both. But that doesn't necessarily mean that there is a magical trap on it.

GM: Tam, go ahead and roll a Search check for me.