Izzick didn't trust her - how close was this promise to the one they just had from Sial? But they also weren't really in a good position to refuse. "What do you think?" he said turning to the others. Another hand to fight the queen even if they'd have to deal with a cult in the aftermath.

What he'd done to Sial, he could certainly do to her which he had to assume even someone as wacky as Laoris would not want. If she was willing to accept a curse upon herself, it was certainly something he could do. "If we want to go with the geas option, I think I can handle that. Gives us at least a little protection to ensure she keeps her promises."

In reply to Izzick (msg # 62):

I'll let Mr. Larst percolate tonight and move us along tomorrow evening.  Thanks ya'll.

Did everyone have a chance to bump up character levels?

Selvin restrained a chuckle or head shake at her when she thanked him. It cost him very little to allow her to speak further, and he didn't any of his allies would have not at least given her the chance. Of course, she could be trying to distract them from allies of hers sneaking up on them for an ambush, though he doubted it.

He looked around and up while she spoke, just to be sure of course.

When she finished, he glanced at Izzick and Chandanar and then shrugged. "More allies rarely hurts, right? That is, unless they stab ya in the back later." He gave a mostly-noncommittal head nod. "For now, it SOUNDS like we want the same thing. For however long that lasts."

Laoris grins and looks at Chandanar.  He sighs and rubs the back of his head.
Yeah.  I should be able to handle that.  But I'll need to rest up.  We safe to bunker here for a few hours?

As camp is set up, Laoris studies the altar.

'kay.  Like I was saying before.  From the legends, the sword is probably with Kazovon's remains.  And those are probably locked in the other parts of this Tower.  The question is how to access them...

The altar is five sided.  At four of the points are symbols.  The fifth is blank other then the remains of dried blood stains.

Sacrafices were made here, Laoris points at the blank point.

The symbols are

An axe dripping blood.

A dragon's wing.

A woman turned away from the viewer, clutching a dagger in one hand.

A circle surrounding three intertwined triangles, all of whom are pointed downwards.

Laoris points at the circle.  That's a symbol for Zon-Kuthon.  I don't know about the others.

The most any of you can deduce is that these are symbols specific to particular objects or entities.  But nothing more than that.

Selvin looked over the altar for a long moment. Then he closed his eyes for a moment, frowning a bit. He spoke up after that, slowly. "Sial said...that he thought it involved multiple keys.  Or whatever...someone....was using as keys. Someting about...a chronicle or chronicles? Wishing they were had given more details." He opened his eyes and looked dead at Laoris. "Said this would be a time you would be useful."

He raised an eyebrow. "So other than the one symbol y'pointed out, any other good information t'share? Any insights?"

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 66):

Kazovon had three lieutenants.  A dragon.  Kazovon's wife.  His bodyguard.  Three and three.  Corresponds to Zon-Kuthon's symbol too.  Three triangles within a circle.  If I had to guess, we need something from each of them.

Laoris shakes her head.  What we need?  Maybe a wing, an axe, and...I guess a dagger?  I'm not sure why we see all of her and not the other two.  I'm not aware of any other symbolism than the obvious.

Sorry.  If Sial thought I knew something, I'm drawing a blank on what it could be.

Selvin frowned as he listened, the lines of his face in danger of becoming permanent with how often he'd been frowning lately. He spoke slowly, as if trying to think things out by speaking them. "So...to...get past..." He waved a hand towards the altar, "this thing, we need t'go collect...pieces or formerly-owned things...from the lieutenants an' bring 'em back here?"

He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. "S'that mean we gotta go back past the gargoyles? I don't wanna do it if that's what it means."

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 68):

Laoris shrugs and shakes her head.  "Sorry.  I don't know what else to tell you."

Chandanar walks over.  "We could just wait for one of those time skips.  They seem to have no rhyme or reason to them.  Maybe we can get out while the gargoyles aren't there."

He turns to Laoris.  "You ready?"

She nods, giggling.

Chandanar looks at the rest of you.  "I'll bind her with an oath.  But the oath has to be specific.  You guys want to leave the wording up to me?"

Selvin looked first at Chandanar, then over at Izzick and then Zuni. He looked at a loss. He shook his head and looked back at the cleric. "Uhhh..." He shrugged. "I don't really know about that sorta thing so...I guess...you decide?"

He glanced at Izzick again. "Unless you have some input?"

Izzick could have made a few suggestions, "As long as we include harming us, knowingly working against us, trying to take advantage of us when we're down. All the stuff we don't  want," he said, but the actual wording might have been better done by the cleric placing the oath after all. "Chandanar, you've probably got the best idea of what we do and don't need." Laoris was a damn good ally, but only as much as they could trust her. The more ways to stop that, the better. He half wanted to request they stop her from being so creepy, but thought that the cultist might drop on the spot.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 71):

Chandanar nods and begins the ritual.

After some prayers he raises his hands.  In a voice suprisingly deep he intones, I place upon you this chain:  that you will act as our beneficiary, ally, and supporter until our quest to rid Korvosa of it's ills is completed.  That you will protect us as we protect you.  And that you will advise of any and all dangers or tribulations you become aware of that would effect our mission.

Laoris giggles but says nothing.  Nor does she fight the magic.  It settles on her and for a moment she shines.

And then the moment is passed.

Chandanar lets out a long sigh.  "I need a drink."

Laoris giggles.  "Nice touch with the 'protect us as we protect you' bit.  It is appreciated."

Chandanar shrugs.  "It's only fair."

"Alrightie then.  Let's get down to business.  Now.  Let's talk gargoyles.  I have an idea."  She reaches into a sleeve of her robe and pulls out a wand of dark black ash.  She hands it to Izzick

"It activates on the word Bingam" she says after the wand is out of her hands.  She shrugs.  "No idea where that word comes from.  I got it off the corpse of a gal I was killin'.  Anyhoo.  It has a couple of rather large fire balls left on it.  It's one of my last dice roll inventory.

"What if one of us busts out the door and runs into the courtyard?  That would attract the gargoyles into more or less one area.  The runner then bamfs back here and we shoot the wand out the door into what is hopefully a dogpile of 'goyles.  Even if that doesn't work, at least we can keep them coming at us through the door instead of hitting us from all sides.

"Can you of you gents handle the bamfing part?"

Izzick took the wand and looked it up and down. Blackened wood was a trade mark of a fire spell so he appreciated it. He mouthed the word 'Bingam', not truly saying it so it didn't go off.  He held it in his hands, spinning it between two fingers until he found a steady grip. That he could accomplish.

If they needed a distraction, he suggested, "Selvin, any chance you could summon something for us?" More often than not, the Summoner's eidolon was more than enough. But if they had to put someone in danger, something that would simply appear back on its own plane of existence was better than normal flesh and blood. He was so out of practice himself with conjuration he wasn't even certain he could pull it off...and truth was he couldn't, having long forgotten that spell.

Selvin listened and watched Chandanar as he cast the spell on Laoris, who was still giggling. He shook his head slightly, but the wording was pretty sound as far as he could tell. He glanced at Izzick thoughtfully and then gave a shrug and a nod.

"I can summon a lot, actually....assuming we are okay with my not having my trusty friend Zac around." He tilted his head and the symbiote did the same. "Instead o'usin' up my spell power, I can jus' draw on my connection t'the Planes t'summon some 'aid'."

His eyes narrowed a moment. "Fireballs right?" He thought and then nodded. "I could summon one to a couple bearded devils out there. Or fire elementals. They're both tough an' immune t'fire so you can fireball 'em, or do that fire snake thing you do, all day long."

He spread his hands. "Only downside is it takes a minute t'summon Zac back afterwards." He shrugged again. "I could cast a spell t'summon instead an' keep Zac around, but it summons only one creature, or several less powerful creatures."

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 74):

Chandanar shrugs.  "As long as we got something powerful enough to make them all converge, we should be okay right?  If we fire off the wand and then slam the doors right after...well.  We'll still be doing better than if we have to go out there ourselves."

Selvin gave a shrug. "Just...if it doesn't work...if the gargoyles come after US...well...I'll be way more defenseless than usual."

"Well...barring objections..." Selvin looked over at Izzick to see if the half-orc had any.

Then he unsummoned Zac giving the nearly-see-through symbiote a pat, <small>"don't worry, it's not goodbye, i'll summon y'back later..."

"Let's get in position then. Both Izzick'n I'll need t'see where we're castin' at."

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 76):

Chandanar and Zuni take up positions, one on each door.

Laoris readies herself as back up in case needed.

Selvin, they'll open the door on your mark.  Let me know what you summon.

Izzy, the wand is level 11 for fireballs.  There are four charges left on it.

Let me know how many charges you use and roll the damage.

I will assume Izzy uses the wand at what he believes to be the best possible moment.

That all sound good?

Just checking in.  THanks

After dismissing his symbiote, Selvin got in to position by the door. He would need to be able to see where he was summoning to. He cleared his mind and slowly reached out with his connection to the outer planes.

He shuddered slightly as he felt the evil he was connecting with, the fire and heat and evil of the hells. But he pushed through it, reached out with his power and dragged not one, not two, but three of the devils in to this plane, in the middle of the courtyard or as close as he could get them.

"wait for it...." He grinned. "let 'em get in close..."

OOC: Poop. Sorry. RL distracted me.

Summoning 1d3 Bearded Devils using a downgraded equivalent of Summon Monster 6. It is a Standard Action to cast this, up to 50 feet away.

20:25, Today: Selvin Larst rolled 3 using 1d3.  Number of summoned Bearded Devils.

In reply to Selvin Larst (msg # 79):

Chandanar and Zuni crack open the doors.  After a few ominous intonations, Selvin waves a hand and

Pop

Three rather irritated looking devils wink into this side of existence.

As if to relieve their frustration for having been interrupted in the middle of dinner, they launch themselves into the middle of the courtyard, descending on a plump looking gargoyle who was minding it's own business.

Like a cat leaping into the middle of a bunch of militarized pigeons, the crowd of gargoyles leaps into action.  There is at first confusion.  But they begin to congregate and descend towards the devils...

Chandanar glances at Izzick.  Zuni counts backwards from three...two...

Izzy.  Shoot them fireballs.  Remember they are each at caster level 11.  Roll damage on each please

With a snap of his wrist, Izzick took aim, as the stony gargoyles gathered chasing towards the targets he called out "Bingam!". The wand lit up, the flames roiled around the tip before discharging in a burst of flaming magic. He was certain his own magic was more powerful, but in terms of not using up what he had left in his reserves, nothing could be better than a wand with a handful of charges left. And they could always finish the rest of them off with more flames.

17:54, Today: Izzick rolled 39 using 10d6.  Fireball with the CORRECT DIE SIZE. DC14 for half

In reply to Izzick (msg # 81):

The fireball goes Whooooooooooooossssssshhhhh!

And then there's a loud, castle shaking KAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOM!

Well...maybe not that big a KAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOM.  But still a decent sized one.

As the smoke clears, outside in the courtyard, you can see a large pile of gargoyles.  Some flash fried to seal in the juices!

Some more or less singed toasty.

And quite a few that are blinking, like they have no idea what the hell just happened.

The devils are prancing around.  They seem to be enjoying it.

Probably want to lob off one more there Izzy

This time Izzick spoke the words, incanting not the activation keyword but the spell itself, conjuring fire from deep inside him. They were nonsense words to anyone who did not practice spellcraft. For those who did they were a potent warning of the spell to follow "Plo nac Ogniem Piekelnym." As fire swirled around his finger, it condensed into a pea sized dot that flew forward before detonating just as hard as the wand's fireball. Immediately flames consumed around the gargoyles, only furthering the torment the wand started.

Going to cast my fireball. Reflex DC20 for half
14:49, Today: Izzick rolled 29 using 10d6+1.  damage.

Less damage but higher save
This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Sat 23 May 2020.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 83):

Ooooooh.  Look at Mr. Show Off and his higher save!

The second round strikes...

And wipes out most of the gargoyles are crispified.

Did it make you feel good?  Beating up those gargoyles with your higher save?  Mr. Man

There are about five left.  Two of them are charging for the doors.

The other three are fleeing.

Selvin grinned as the first fireball exploded and did some damage. Then the second one exploded and decimated most of the gargoyles. He let out a chuckle, watching the bearded devils dancing around.

But then two gargoyles headed their way. His eyes widened and he yelled, "HEY, QUIT DANCIN' AN' COME PROTECT ME!"

He then cast Glitterdust on the approaching gargoyles and drew his morning star as he stepped back from the doors. He was a lot less armored and effective in combat without his symbiote friend. A sliver of worry trickled down his spine - but there were only two gargoyles, right?

OOC: Cast Glitterdust on the approaching gargoyles, Will Save DC 17 or be blinded and visibly outlined for 11 rounds, but can attempt to save to end the blindness at the end of each of their turns.

Draw morningstar and step back from the door.

Ready to defend Selvin as his protective shell came off, Izzick began to call on a new power, a  curse deep within him that desired to be free. His mind had new exotic words of unmaking and as the sickly palid ray shot from his hand and struck a gargoyle, the effect was obvious in just what it would do. Rock skin immediately turning to dust.

Disintegrate on one of the gargoyles coming forward.
21:38, Today: Izzick rolled 26 using 1d20+9.  Touch Spell Disintegrate.

21:39, Today: Izzick rolled 95 using 26d6.

Is it overkill? Yes. But I wanna use my shiny new spells.