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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1351495" data-attributes="member: 1210">Dust of the Demilich“I say we go back to the demilich’s crypt.  We must destroy it, and I must be the one to strike the final blow.  Then it will be dead dead.”Thrush sighs.  “We drove it off once, but going back is suicide!  And besides, that thing isn’t even our real target.  I think we need to get the hell out of here for now, and we don’t even know how to get out... so we need to find the exit.”“I say we go kick some more ass.  Why retreat?”  Rex shrugs.  “Let’s get it on with whatever’s still here.  We can find some treasure and maybe even figure out that riddle.”Obviously our heroes are debating their next move.  Three basic positions have been advocated; nobody wants to bend, nobody wants to go another way.  So our heroes vote.  And when it comes down to it, there’s a tie and a coin toss, and they head back to the four-way intersection of hallways where they found the secret door that led to the crypt of  the demilich.“We’ve still got two paths to investigate here,” Rex says.  “Why don’t we check ‘em before we hit the crypt again?  If we’re lucky we might find something useful.”The first door- naturally- is nothing more than a trick hiding a blank wall and a spring-loaded hammer.  “Dammit!” Thrush swears as he picks himself up after being smacked by it.  “I’m getting awfully sick of these hammer things!”  Grumbling, the group heads to the other hall and soon enough they find themselves at another doorway, this one leading to the right.  Opening it, they find a lateral hall that ends after a mere thirty feet, with a door in the left wall.  Nervously, our heroes approach it.When Rex pulls the door open there’s a hissing sound.  “Gas!” he cries, starting to cough- and the door behind the group slams shut with a bang!  “Uh-oh!  I think there’s trouble coming,” the dragon disciple says, but as he turns to regard his allies he sees that, for the most part, they’re asleep.  Then he hears a loud grinding noise and a huge stone juggernaut has emerged and is rolling towards the unconscious forms of Ulla and Patyn! “Dexter’s nadlies!” cries Thrush. Rex and Thrush start beating on the thing immediately, but it’s already on top of Patyn and Ulla.  The two find themselves shocked into consciousness but unable to move- they’re being crushed to jelly!  Their screams, muffled by tons of stone monstrosity, chill Thrush and Rex to the bone.  It takes them only a few moments to destroy the thing, but by the time they do their two crushed companions are in bad shape.  After pulling them out from under the rubble, our heroes wait a moment while the hunter of the dead does what he can to heal himself and Ulla shape-shifts back to full health.*Investigating the chamber behind the juggernaut’s remains, the party finds an empty room painted black with what looks like stars on the ceiling.  “Interesting,” Rex muses, but the group finds nothing else of note within.  “I really think,” Thrush mentions casually, “that getting out of here is a good idea- at least until we can come back at strength.”Patyn scowls.  “The demilich’s chamber first,” he grunts.  “We voted.”  And the hunter of the dead starts marching towards the crypt again.“All right, all right,” grumbles Thrush, and the rest of the party heads after Patyn.  As they get closer to the chamber of the demilich, their pulses quicken.  The thing was deadly, far beyond their knowledge.  To face it again... Thrush shudders.But, when they reach its chamber, it’s just as they left it.  No demilich.  The group spends a few minutes looking around, and just as they’re about to leave, Ulla speaks up.  “Hey, look at this!”The others cluster around.  She’s standing in front of the couch the bones and skull had rested upon.  “See?  Look here!”  She points at the couch.  “Look, even through all the dust you can tell- it looks like someone collected some of the bone dust at some point.  Probably years ago, judging by the amount of dust that’s layered on top of it since- but you can still tell.”Puzzled, our heroes mull this new clue over.  “Perhaps we should take some too?” suggests Rex. “Good idea.  And maybe the demilich will come after us if we do,” Thrush says ironically.“Or maybe it can be used as a weapon somehow,” Patyn replies thoughtfully.  “Or it might be something that can be used to develop a weapon.”  After a moment’s hesitation, he scoops some into a vial and puts it in his belt pouch.  Hesitantly, not sure whether they’re inviting attack from the horrible skull, Ulla, Rex and Thrush follow suit.  “All right,” Thrush says firmly.  “We came back here and there’s no skull to beat up.  Now can we look for the escape route?  We’re going to need it sooner or later, and having a secure exit would make me much happier.”Patyn sighs.  “I suppose we aren’t doing any good here, since the demilich is gone,” he concedes.  “Where do we have to check?”The heroes list their options: two glowing arches of mist (“Azekia said they were both baneful,” Ulla points out), the web-filled passage, the crawlway that Lester found that opens into the side of a pit.“Let’s try the pit first,” Rex suggests, and several of our heroes- Rex, Patyn, Thrush and Ulla- trek back to the chamber in which they found the three chests while the others wait in the room with the circles on the walls.**  “I’ll crawl down there and check it out,” the dragon disciple offers.  “Between my monkish skills and my wings, I should have no trouble.”  And he vanishes into the crawlspace.  A few minutes pass, with the rest of the party enjoying a moment or two of standing still.  Then Rex’s voice echoes faintly from the crawlway.  ”It leads back to the hall with the face in it!  I think this is our way out.  I’ll secure a rope- AAARGHH!!!!”“Uh-oh,” says Thrush.*One of the amazing things about a 10th level shifter is that, simply by changing form time and time again, she can regain hit points as if getting a day’s rest each round.  It’s not super-fast but it helps out if the group has any downtime.**A typical example of the way we handle absent pcs.Next Time: The Debacle!  If you think you’ve seen our heroes get smacked around before, don’t miss this one!</blockquote>

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