Brindle thinks back over the many places they have visited here but eventually shakes his head.

"I can't remember anywhere that magic didn't work. That doesn't mean there wasn't anywhere like that, just that I can't remember or didn't notice that effect. It would be a good idea to ask the naga or the gnomes and lamassu about that, too."

"Oh probably, Master Thistlefoot, in a year or two." Aurion assures Brindle. He looks at the cage to see if it can be unhooked and carried out whilst waiting for this eternity to pass.

"There was such a place.  The Heart of Law stripped all enchantments from me."  Tesseryn looks somewhat uncomfortable speaking of it ... the sting of his disgrace still raw in his mind.

"We'll need a way out of here, now that that ring is gone."  He gives Aurion a pointed look.  He draws his sword and clanks forward to the line of waiting undead.  Looking back over his shoulder his face cracks into a grin as he spots Wrukaog in the crowd.  "Anyone care to join me?"  He sets about doing what he does best, even enjoying it.

"Hell, yeah!" Wrukaog responds enthusiastically in response to Tesseryn's invitation.

He quickly steps forward alongside the ex-paladin to unleash a suitable element of mayhem upon the ranks of undead with his greataxe.

Brindle frowns at Tesseryn and Wrukaog's impulsive actions but then just sighs resignedly. He swiftly retrieves a pair of wands from his backpack.

He hands one wand to Vashalla.

"This is that Wand of Lesser Vigor I let you use earlier. The command word is Blooming. Please use it again on Wrukaog first. It only heals slowly over the course of about a minute but he is already carrying a few minor cuts and bruises and will undoubtedly acquire a few more shortly. When Tesseryn gets wounded use it on him as well. In fact, feel free to use it on anyone who needs it."

Then he points the other wand at Wrukaog and says, [Language unknown: "Vir K!"]

OOC: Wand of Lesser Vigor cures 1hp damage per round for 11 rounds. Only one casting of this spell will function on each recipient at a time (i.e. they don't stack). Wand of Bull's Strength will give +4 Strength for 3 minutes. Brindle will cast Bull's Strength on Tesseryn next round.

Aurion and Leisha stare up at the cage hanging over their heads, tantalisingly out of reach, about ten feet above the floor that is suspended from a hook at the end of a chain that is fixed to the ceiling.  Gratchscartch hovers nearby, mostly concerned for the puppy's well-being.

Everyone else, with varying degrees of enthusiasm follows Tesseryn's lead.

The ex-Paladin is joined by Wrukaog in the ten feet wide opening to the south as the pair make sure they get the best position right at the front of the horde of undead.

Brindle and Vashalla manage to elbow their way in behind the two, the Halfling providing wands for both as he and the priestess set to using them to good effect, concentrating their efforts on the big Orc for starters.

Haltaashar and Moram are left disappointed and can only take their places at the back.  Moram's expression indicates that while this might be one of the few, perhaps the only thing you've done since he met you that he thoroughly approves of, he's struggling to dismiss the hope that either Tesseryn or Wrukaog are swiftly slain so that he can have a go at the unliving foe.

Cogwitz and Vidonitii exchange a shrug and lounge somewhere nearby, hoping it's all over by the next Summer Solstice.

With a tide of undead before them, the ex-Paladin and the big Orc have but a moment to review what's on the menu before battle is joined.  It looks like only a few of the skeletons arrayed here managed to die in full platemail, while the rest of them cover their bones with little more than rags as do all of the zombies, though it looks like a few of their number are much fresher than the rest, and their cause of death is easily discernible as having their hearts ripped from their chests (probably just a coincidence that Tesseryn should notice this after his very recent mention of the Heart of Law) ...

Though they do not linger for long, the pair unleashing impressive blows that instantly drop the unfortunate two undead at the pointy end of things.  If anything Tesseryn's blow, which cuts his foe in twain and sends bone shards flying, puts him ahead on points, even if it was just a skeleton to Wrukaog's zombie.

There is a sudden hush as the ex-Paladin and the big Orc ... and all the arrayed undead eye the space that has opened up ...

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

Tesseryn steps forward without hesitation.  "Thanks." he responds when he feels the Beef Up wand's effect.  "We'll soon make room." he promises, sensing the disappointment behind him.  He hews away at another pair of unfortunates. 
OOC: Mitra's Ring gives Protection fromEvil 10'r around Tesseryn.  Tesseryn will step again to the east when possible to open a space for Moram beside him.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Sun 02 Jan 2022.

Staring up at the cage, Aurion digs within his well of creativity to come up with a solution ... or at least something interesting to do. "So, if we can't open it then we ought to take it with us. Perhaps the the Heart of Law will break the spell as Tesseryn suggests. First let's break that chain."

As an experiment he points a long finger at the chain and shoots a blob of acid at it, watching closely to see if it has any effect.

"Brindle, did your detection reveal any protections on the cage? It it safe enough to stand on, say if Leisha's packing a hacksaw?"

With plenty of time while the warriors chop down the forest of corpses, Aurion leaves the acid to do its job and turns to the pyramid poking out of the wall. He ponders it for a bit, sniffs it, peers at it from all angles, pokes it with his staff, casts Detect Magic and ponders it a bit more.

OOC: possibly a few rounds worth of actions and pondering there.

15:47, Today: Aurion Moonbeak_ rolled 20 using 1d20+4.  ranged touch Acid Splash on chain.
15:55, Today: Aurion Moonbeak_ rolled 21 using 1d20+15.  spellcraft check for pyramid.

Brindle beefed up Tesseryn with his wand of Bull’s strength then stepped back out of the way to make room for the next rank of heroes to step forward to join the fight. He will use his wand on Haltaashar and Moram too in the next couple of rounds if they are going to join in.

In between casting spells from the wand he will cheerfully discuss strategies for unhooking the cage with Cogwitz.

”See if you can get a rope over the cage then drag it round to catch on the hook and chain. That will let you climb up on the cage. Once you get up there you will be be able to loop the rope through the top of the cage, then feed both ends of the rope through separate links of the chain so it acts like a pulley. Toss the two ends of the rope down so we can pull the he cage up a bit and you will be able to unhook it from the chain, then we’ll lower it to the ground.”

Wrukaog laughed in glee as his first zombie fell and stepped forward without hesitation alongside Tesseryn.

”I gotta learn how to do that carking cleavage thing where you cut through one after another of these stinking bone-bags!” he laughs.

Bones crunch and rotten flesh squelches as Tesseryn and Wrukaog eagerly advance over the fallen corpses.  Faced with a horde of foes that has only an all-consuming hatred of life and not much else going for them, the pair of skilled warriors have little trouble in dispatching a skeleton and a zombie apiece in a suitably gruesome and noisy fashion, with more crunching and squelching as the ex-Paladin continues to get his boots dirty, if only as a kindness in order to make way for those behind him in the queue.

Moram is equally keen to take advantage, eyes gleaming with bloodlust as he elbows Haltaashar aside to join the front row, though he lacks their weapons-skill and his scimitar, while sacred to his cause, lacks a certain hefty and satisfying weight that the others bring to the table, and fails to floor his opponent.

The previously mentioned horde also lack any care for their own continued deathless existence and they too clamber over the bodies of there own fallen to get at those offending them by breathing, though it's the skeletons who win the race, leaving the zombies languishing at the back of the heaving pack ...

... and prove that homicidal malevolence is no match for actual prowess as their claws fail to do anything more than scratch the armour of the ex-Paladin and big Orc, though Moram becomes a victim of his own ruthlessness, sticking his neck out a bit too far in his enthusiasm and is lucky to suffer the merest of scratches.

Behind them, Brindle alternates with giving Wrukaog even more of a large advantage and providing some fairly detailed technical advice to Aurion.

The mage listens absently as he tries a spell, flicking a glob of acid at the chain above him (and luckily hitting it before gravity and rebound trajectory entered the fray).  A lesser being would see no effect, but Aurion's keen Elvish sight enables him to discern that the chain holding the cage has definitely been tarnished ...

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

"Ah yes!" Tesseryn expounds.  It's a pleasure to be doing something he's good at for a change, and probably something he won't have to feel bad about afterwards.

"A reach weapon perhaps, Haltashaar?"  A shame to see someone missing out.

"Brilliant master Thistlefoot! A block and tackle. Do you have a rope? And would Cogwitz or Leisha care to climb up? " Aurion glances up at the cage then turns his attention back to the pyramid. He casts Detect Magic and studies it's dark marble surfaces. "It's made of the same stone as the walls of the dark tower we saw below. Perhaps this is the apex of that tower, shorter than Mitra's." he sniffs.

Brindle uses his wand to cast Bull's Strength on Tesseryn next (or Moram if Tess is already boosted).

Hearing Aurion's request he quickly retrieves a small coil of silk rope (30ft long) from his handy haversack and passes it to Leisha and Cogwitz so they can climb up and start to unhook the cage.

"Haltashaar, you could use that wand to cast Lesser Vigor on Moram straight away so any more injuries those skeletons manage to inflict will heal while he fights," Brindle suggested.

"I'm gonna smash you all so hard even a dog can't find a bone big enough to gnaw on!" Wrukaog declares as he swings his axe at the next of his undead foes.

The horde of undead take what promises to be but the beginning of some substantial losses, Tesseryn and Wrukaog cutting down two apiece with little effort, while some fine swordwork from Moram adds another to the tally, the bane of infidel gaining a bit more oomph from a timely poking with Brindle's wand. 

Following his example Vashalla wields her borrowed wand to get in some preemptive healing upon her kinsman ... though the efficacy of the spell doesn't get much of a work out, for while the undead press forward with mindless yearning, their teeth and claws fail to get past the front row's guard as the rotted corpses of the fallen crunch and squelch beneath their feet.

Unable to get a seat at the table, Haltashaar follows the ex-Paladin's advice and starts looking around for a spear or the like.

With the numbers without dwindling, those within the inner chamber continue to concentrate their unwavering attentions on the dangling cage.

With Brindle's rope in hand, and Aurion urging him on, Cogwitz eyes the chain from which the cage is supsended, then crouches, eyes on the prize ...

... then winks at the mage as he vanishes, only to reappear fifteen feet above where he snags the chain and sets to feeding one end of the rope through the links as it rocks gently back and forth.

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...

"Don't say I didn't warn ya!" Wrukaog snarls as his greataxe disassembles two more of the assembled undead.

He seems to be enjoying this opportunity to wreak havoc again.

Wrukaog_ rolled 20,22 using d20+15,d20+10.  Atk x 2; +15/+10.

"Nice trick," Brindle compliments Cogwitz, then settles back to watch.

He alternates between watching the progress of the cage removalists overhead and the undead eradication team at the doorway. He will hold his wand of magic missiles ready in case any of the undead prove to be too troublesome but won't interfere in that battle while the fighting men have it under control.

The plan is working well and Tesseryn sees no need to change anything at this stage.  He hews away at another pair of unfortunates.

OOC: This thread is nearing the 1,000 post limit.  Please request your GM creates a new thread. ... for God's sake Skald, make a new thread!!!

"Very nice!" Aurion agrees, gazing up appreciatively. "You made that look effortless...well, half the effort."

He continues concentrating to Detect Magic on the pyramid. "A 'squat monstrosity' Gnevron described it..." he comments, continuing his earlier theme. He waves a dismissive hand at Cogwitz. "Not you."

The undead horde, to a rotting corpse, push and heave, moan and groan, fighting tooth and nail to get to the fore there to face a certain carving up and swift release from the torture that is their unlife.

Tesseryn and Wrukaog reliably provide, though Moram, perhaps unused to quite so much evil, falters, though he is well behind in the body count anyway.

The mound of undead is growing steadily, and it seems that those eagerly benighted and restless dead clambering forward upon the broken bodies of their fellows will soon be in danger of garnering the advantages of higher ground as tooth and claw strike out at the front line of the forces of good and Wrukaog, all to no effect whatsoever.

Since his burly companions are doing such a good job, Brindle elects to watch the more technical efforts of his kinsman, though unlike Aurion, holds back on the faint praise and near misses with the insults, despite which Cogwitz manages to finish threading the rope and quickly ties it to the cage before unhooking it and lowering it to the ground.  None of which disturbs the sleeping puppy within in the slightest. 

OOC#1: Map of the proceedings updated ...

OOC#2:

Tesseryn:

for God's sake Skald, make a new thread

Never !  ;>

Wrukaog grins as his greataxe carves deep into the next of the living dead to face him but then finds himself off balance and his next blow is a poor one. A stream of orcish curses follows!

Wrukaog_ rolled 32,12 using d20+15,d20+10.  Atk x 2; +15/+10.

Brindle applauds Cogwitz's successful engineering exploits as the cage safely reaches the floor.

"You better take care, Cogwitz! If you keep displaying engineering skills like that, folks might start to mistake you for a gnome!" he chuckles.

He will still keep an eye on the battle and if he sees an obstinate skeleton or zombie clinging stubbornly to its last few hit points he will cast a ray of Disrupt Undead at it (1d6hp damage) to finish it off, or use his wand of Magic Missiles if any of the undead look particularly threatening.

The plan is working well and Tesseryn sees no need to change anything at this stage.  He hews away at another pair of unfortunates.

OOC: Please, Skald.  Please make a new thread.  Who knows what might happen if the number of posts exceeds 1000 ... please, please, please don't let bad things happen to us!

The hacking and hewing proceeds apace.  While Wrukaog's wayward swing nearly connects the big Orc still manages to carve up one skeleton, while Tesseryn almost incidentally takes out two, opening a handy lead.  Moram fares better, but merely shatters the ribs of his intended victim, leaving it to Brindle to lean it with deadly accuracy to finish the job.

This leaves the undead horde with slightly less than half their number remaining, though the all but mindless creatures are not a jot worried by the unequal battle, showing a decided eagerness to be slaughtered for at least a second time, given their circumstances ... and indeed their failure, once more, to do any more than add some new scratches to your armour.

To the rear of the party of the first part, Cogwitz hops down in the face of a deadly insult from his kinsman to join the rest gathered around the puppy's cage.

OOC #1: Map of the proceedings updated ...

OOC #2:

Tesseryn:

please, please, please don't let bad things happen to us

While I applaud the sentiment, you and I have very different ideas about what the GM's job is ! :P   <consults Gratuitous Monster table X>