Eagle swings again. Unfortunately he's more used to cutting holly and wood - which doesn't move - and he's not quick enough to catch one of the vipers.

Saliq attacked one more time... and nearly lost a toe. The nearby snakes were totally unharmed.

---

OCC: 12:48, Today: Saliq Musfara rolled 3 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 2. Attack with Jambiya Moonblade.

With the poison moving through his system and dread of death rising in his belly, Rath steadies himself and through his double-vision manages almost -- but not quite -- to cut a wounded snake in half.



Failed save. Hits Snake #9 for 4 damage.

05:32, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 4 using 1d8+1 with rolls of 3. damage.
05:31, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 12 using 1d20 with rolls of 12. attack snake #9.  05:30, Today: Aldo Rathmus rolled 6 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 5. save vs poison.

Thankfully, only a small dose of venom was delivered into Rath's bloodstream and the warrior is in no danger of falling over any time soon.

OOC: Rath takes 2 add'l damage from the poison. Got off easy ;)

[Private to GM: (OOC A little confused... I did post a save (made) for last round. Your comments do not state that I was bitten or even attacked. Lastly, the list of combatants no longer includes snake (3). I probably missed something (again) but I did not see anything mentioning an attack or Ben or the fate of Snake (2). (Also curious if snake (2) after taking two blows and having lost almost 80% of it's hit points managed to maintain it's position up near the top of the statue.
Rolling the save, and an attack, just to not slow anything down.)]

"Ouch! Dammit..." Ben exclaimed, feeling the penetration of his flesh by small venom filled fangs.

before the venom can damage his ardor but after the bite had given the skinny, stinky, sneaky thief a reason to feel vengeful, his blade lashed out, fueled with anger, striking a powerful blow for the 'good guys' (Unless of course you're a snake fan, then it's for the bad guys.)





15:40, Today: Ben Scristos rolled 11 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 10. Save v. poison.
drat!
15:41, Today: Ben Scristos rolled 19 using 1d20 with rolls of 19. swing.
Yay!
15:42, Fri 16 Aug 2013: Ben Scristos rolled 7 using 1d8 ((7)).
Yes!

Ben slays the last of the snakes which had slithered up the statue to waylay the would-be ruby-thief and Saliq remains ineffective with his enchanted Jambiya moonblade.

The battle is now all clustered around a tight arc centered on the party's warriors: Inas, Norion and Rath. Five snakes remain and show no signs of giving up the ghost. They lash out, spit, hiss and strike in a feverish blur of activity. Each of the three warriors ends up bit, yet again!


OOC: Inas, Norion and Rath each take 1 hp damage and must make a save vs poison (+1)

Magic Writhing Serpents, 12
AC: 6
HD: 2+1, HP: 11
#6: 4/11 (R), #7: 11/11 (N), #9: 1/11 (R), #10: 2/11 (I)


PC       AC    HP    AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes
Ben      7   18/21   2   19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9   Init +2
Eagle    6   24/25   4   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Inas     5   41/43   1   17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7
Rath     3   30/36   3   17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7   must make a save vs poison (+1)
Saliq    7    9/13   3   20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11   Init +2

NPC       AC    HP   AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes
Norion   3   27/45   0   17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7




Stage 1: Ben, Eagle, Rath, Saliq
Stage 2: Serpents (4)
Stage 3: Inas, Norion

Inas and Norion UP!!!
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:39, Sat 17 Aug 2013.

Inas wheels around the snake several times and then delivers a savage slashing blow to his mindless foe, nearly slaying it in the process.

OOC: hit for 9 points of damage

Norion brings his axe down, and slays, yet another snake. The dwarf has now hit his stride and looks as though he could continue this dance all day long.

"Right where we want 'em now, lads!"

OOC: Norion kills a snake.

While dangling from his rope, Ben gives the falling snake corpse a momentary glance of satisfaction before considering how best to get at those darn rubies!


OOC - not an action, simply an observation...

All that remains now are three bloody and one solitary, healthy serpent. Barring some freakish turn of fate, victory seems all but assured.

Sure enough, all it takes is a few more feints and slashes and the last of the snakes are slain!

Best of all, Saliq manages to finally score a blow! More importantly, the illusionist slays one of the wounded snakes, just as it was about to sink its teeth into Rath's left ankle!

Perhaps Saliq can now hold his head high, confident that he contributed to the battle.

OOC: All snakes have now been slain!

Magic Writhing Serpents, 12
AC: 6
HD: 2+1, HP: 11


PC       AC    HP    AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes
Ben      7   23/26   2   19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9   Init +2
Eagle    6   29/30   4   18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8
Inas     5   41/43   1   17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7
Rath     3   30/36   3   17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7
Saliq    7   13/17   3   20 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11   Init +2

NPC      AC    HP    AP  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Notes
Norion   3   27/45   2   16 15 14 13 12 11 10  9  8  7  6

This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Sun 18 Aug 2013.

Back to work on the rubies...

No longer pestered by a horde of magically summoned, poisonous serpents, Ben dislodges the first ruby from the demon-idol's right eye.

Perhaps it is just a trick of the mind, but the temperature within the ancient shrine grows perceptibly warmer and the torchlight sputters close to extinction as Ben pulls the gemstone free of its bronze socket.

A sizable stone indeed, but holding it up to catch the light, Ben discovers it is not a perfectly cut gem and shows a few relatively minor flaws within. Still, such a stone would command close to 1,500 gold pieces at Hluzien Glinkelreif's* shop back in Stormhaven!

Turning attention to the stone in the statue's left socket, Ben sees it is of similar quality.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh ho ho, ho....yes!"

Popping the gem into his satchel, he begins to work on the second one, totally disregarding the hints and oblivious to the clues that this might not be the best idea...

A few jabs and prods later, the second gem is loose!

A gust of warm air passes through the threshold and causes the party's torch to sputter out, casting the chamber in gloomy shadows.

Some light filters in through the open threshold, casting long shadows beneath the statue's now gaping eye sockets.

Sliding down the rope, Ben hopes to scamper to freedom before the entire damn thing sinks into the swamp...

"Thank all the gods the snakes are gone." Saliq says tiredly. He looks at the fallen Duvall sadly. "Rest well my friend, we could not have gone this far without you."

Grim and impatient, Rath guards the scene while Ben finishes his work. Whatever the repercussions, Rath can't help but take some satisfaction in the desecration of the vile temple. He tries to swallow the feeling. There has been a high price.

Rath steps heavily to Saliq's side and glances down at the fallen Duvall Kane. Rath casts his own long shadow deep into the chamber. "Let this be the last death in this place," he mutters. It's not at all clear -- not to the company and certainly not to Rath himself --  if he spoke to Saliq, to Duvall, or to either of his gods, Pelor or Avandra. Then he grimaces and rolls his eyes at his own parting sentiments.

There's work to be done, hot and damp work. Three bodies to drag through dangerous, dismal, swamp land. He can't yet think of the return trip to delve into the deeper regions of the ziggurat. When it's all over, though, he knows he's going to buying a new pair of boots.

After Ben has ferreted out the demon statue's ruby eyes, the party exits the ziggurat and emerges into a warm, muggy spring morning in the Witchlight Marsh. Already, swarms of tiny midges are circling about, eager to sink their tiny proboscises into whatever flesh they might find.

Directly across the ziggurat, in the wooded copse, the party spots Strong-crest Hookbill, holding court amongst his scarlet ibis colony. The party hears several "urnk-urnk's", but without the aid of Eagle's magic, nobody is able to make out what the conversation might be about.

The party has now explored almost the entirety of the ziggurat's known lower-levels, with notable exception of the secret passage which King Greenscales attempted to flee into. There was really no way to tell how many other secret passages might be honey-combed within the ancient ruin: it was not out of the question to expect miles and miles of labyrinths extending far beneath the surface, perhaps lost to time. Additionally, the upper tombs were most unexplored, the fell shadow having chased the heroes out before they had a chance to properly search the premises.

Still, the companions have learned what they came here to find out: why the lizard-men tribe had been attacking the nearby settlements. Most of the tribe had been slain uncovering this knowledge, but still another mystery remains: the man-eating winged demons that Teal-tongue had alluded to. Sacred Rock.

Inas has some knowledge of where to find the place. It is not too far from the village of Rush Hollow, where purportedly a heroes welcome awaits. More importantly, perhaps the party can collect some of the bounty promised for Althea's safe return.

Maybe some amongst the group were only thinking of returning to Stormhaven, to spend their hard-earned spoils?

Unexplored depths. Rush Hollow. Sacred Rock. Stormhaven.

What would be next?
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:46, Mon 19 Aug 2013.

"We have to secure those eggs and help the lizard men defeat those winged demons." Saliq reminds the others.

"Maybe we should strike at Sacred Rock straight away to stop word reaching them that Greenscales is dead at our hands - I've no doubt they see us as a threat and delaying will give them more opportunity to prepare a warm welcome."

"Only a long day's trudge back to Rush Hollow, right?" Rath asks sullenly, looking to Inas for an answer. Maybe longer, with our load. He looks Saliq Musfara up and down, with a friendly, tired sneer. "And although you look fresh as a daisy, I could use a good night's rest before tackling any demons."

Rath glances back at the ziggurat, and his face sours. "Those eggs, though. Should get 'em before they hatch. Cause the gods know what's gonna crack out of them."

OOC: That's Rath's vote to do whatever the party wants. But I'm inclined to head to town, take are of the dead, then come back for the eggs and hit the sacred rock right after. If we have enough magic weapons to go around, we might take on those shadows, too.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:53, Mon 19 Aug 2013.

Reward? Yes please!

The lure of his home, beloved Stormhaven, is strong, but it will be there (he assumes) after he fills his pockets even more.

His next concern, however, is the protection of his loot, and if banks and such exist in their destination, his next goal is to get his lucre converted to coin (a sure fire way to fool any curses within the loot into getting their revenge on other! He hopes.)

While he hasn't given much though to his life past that point, in his gut he feels that it would be nice to help the poor lizard folk, and he still hoped to find some way to blame Lord Myron for the evil goings on, regardless of actual guilt.

After all, where would he be if the guilty always paid their own price?

he shudders in distaste at the thought...

Eagle rubs his eyes tiredly, spent by the exertions of the night. 'Whatever we do, I need some sleep soon,' he suggests. 'If the village is closer than the city, and we can expect a heroes welcome, a warm fire, and some reward then that sounds good to me for a night at least. We can decide what to do next, though I would like to help the lizard's return to their sacred home.'

In reply to Aldo Rathmus (msg # 783):

"Rush Hollow is not even a day away. Only a couple of hours from here, through this path," he says while gesturing at the semblance of a trail weaving through the marshland.

The ranger is gesturing toward a dark stand of dense, tall trees in the distance. "We could be there in short order. There is a fair tavern there, The Toothless Troubadour, where we might find board and room for the night."

Inas suggests they could also inquire about the man-eating demons while there and gather whatever rumor they might hear concerning Sacred Rock.
This message was last updated by the GM at 10:03, Mon 19 Aug 2013.

Saliq nodded wearily. "Rush Hollow it is. We best hurry though; sadly we bring bodies with us for burial in civilised lands. I wouldn't leave our dead in this terrible place, especially when one of them is our comrade."

Norion nods,  "A warm fire, and cold ale, sound very good at the moment, let us gather our friends who have gone to the ancient halls of their ancestors, and drink to there memories in Rush Hollow"