You are now in the corridor with the gnomes again.  You hold the gold cube that has the word DARKNESS lit up on one of its sides, and you hold the raw gem from within.  The gnomes are very anxious about your disappearance, since the door slammed closed behind you.

On the map, you stand just outside the eastern door in the hall:

To be clear, you are in the hallway on the east side that runs north to south.

If the group follows, Shae will go around to the door on the south end and inspect it.  "Something tells me the test of the faithful is not over yet," she says, stretching her arms out and waving them like wings, trying to get used to her half-elf shape again.

Borimer realizes he already used his water to wash Shae, and so he uses mead to wash off his burnt feet.  He tries not to scream as the alcohol cleanses his wounds.  Needing a diversion Borimer follows after Shae to watch her back while she examines the south door.

On the door to the south, you find a very familiar looking door.  It looks just like the one that led to the last room, with the winding dragon and the orb.

Like the other one, the door itself is an ancient stone door that is long and tall, a full 15 feet tall at its top.  You brush off some of the old dust and look closer at the door.  The ancient stone has a bas relief carving of a winding dragon moving toward a glowing orb of some sort.

The door does not have any door handles or apparent hinges.  An inspection does not reveal any traps on the door.  However, the orb in the center of the door (about 6 feet off the ground) appears to not be carved out of solid stone and perhaps could be pushed in.

Tahldar casts grease on the doorknob like they had on the other dragon door.

"Borimer my one armed friend, care to push the door knob in like you did with the other?" the mage says after casting the spell.

OOC:  Switching up from bold to italics for speech...

Kahan follows after, wondering to himself if he could have saved them all some pain if he had simply spoken up about his idea sooner. As they approach the door, he looks at it curiously, reaching up and trying to push the 'gem' of the door in.

Borimer turns to help but sees Kahan helping with the door and nods.

You push in the orb, and the door begins to open up (not diagonally, like the previous door).  However, it only rises about 3 feet off the ground before it stops, either stuck or not rigged to go any higher.

Talhdar gets on his hands and knees and looks under the door to the room or hallway beyond.

OOC:  Tahldar will kneel and wait for a bit to shift to his infravision, using his hands to block any light if need be.  And he will be careful not to put any of his person directly under the door.

Shae looks back uncomfortably as Borimer follows and watches her "back," but she says nothing and instead looks under the door with Tahldar, her ancestral spear ready to leap into action.

"Is there anything in there?" Kahan asks, moving onto his hands and knees as well to look in. Hopefully nothing was planning on coming out of the door...


OOC: Everytime I see italics I think that someone is thinking to themselves... I personally would prefer if you just use a color but I don't have any real say on the matter of course. :P

Leogold gets on one knee behind everyone looking under the door.

"How does it look? Maybe I could crawl through and see what's in there."

Shae says, "I remember last time the gold box went through the doorway, it lit up with the word darkness.  Maybe if you put it under the door it will light up with something new."

Shining a light under the door, you see a 30 foot round diameter round room.  The walls are carved from a smooth obsidian rock like the one you recently encountered.  The ceiling is 20 feet high, carved from normal stone.  The floor is also carved of normal stone.

In the center of the room, you see a familiar looking pedestal.  It is a dragon maw pedestal like the others.  In its open mouth is another multi-faceted gem.  Whereas the other ones were pinkish in color, this one is a dark onyx.  There are no lights in the room at all.

Putting the golden cube under the door reveals a new word on a different side of the cube.  The new word is "CONFUSION."

Upon putting the golden cube under the door, you also see the words "The Test of the Faithful" and "Test 2" inscribed on the rock threshold under the door.

Shae goes into the room and tests the ground to make sure it's real.

"Go slow and be careful." Tahldar says as Shae enters the room.

OOC: Tahldar will follow once Borimer has a chance to go through.

Shae goes into the room.  Nothing happens, and nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Kahan enters the room as well, looking at the gem to see if something will likely happen once they remove it.

Oblivious to Shae's discomfort, Borimer continues to look out for enemy ambush as his fellow adventurer finishes her examination of the door.  He stifles a groan when he sees the new word on the strange cube, "That would be the right word."  The warrior keeps vigil as others continue investigating the area...

"Wait!," Didit excalimed "before we go on we should tie each other with a rope. The word confusion doesn't inspire too much confidence. We also should promise not to use weapons or attack anything inside"

You all enter the room, tying a rope around yourselves for good measure.  In the meantime, examining the gem reveals that, like the others, it sits on one of those thing dragon tongues that will be sensitive to pressure, and likely something could happen if it is removed.

Tahldar says "Let's see if there is any way out of here other than the way we came in." as he begins to search the room.

Continuing he adds "If there is not then I suggest everyone leave then I'll snatch the gem and use my dimension door spell to exit the room.  As soon as that gem is grabbed some trap will spring but I hopefully will have no trouble popping out once I have it in my hands."

OOC:  Tahldar will search for concealed/secret doors around the rooms perimeter.  Otherwise, do we see any other normal exits from the room other than the way we came in?

Shae sits in concentration for a moment, hands spread in intense focus.

Shae is casting detect magic on the walls and dragon pedestal.

Tahldar begins searching around, and Shae casts a spell.

No secret doors or anything strange is found around the walls.  If anything is strange, it is that they are solid and circular glassy obsidian, without any of the tiny holes or imperfections of the previous wall in the descending room.

Shae finds a strong aura of magic around the walls as well as the pedestal.

"We should all stay inside the room actually. If there is a trap, then surviving it will likely be the test, as it was before; getting the gem from the darkness room to the light room without dying." Kahan states, using his non-magical healing arts on anyone who was injured from the last room before moving to grab the gem as soon as everyone was prepared.

Borimer looks around at what may soon become his tomb as Kahan works on his wounds. "Thanks, my friend."  He settles in for some more testing of his faith.

"Go ahead, end lets get over with it" Shapfren readied her mandoline to cast if it was necessary

If the spell hasn't finished Didit will try to stay afloat

Shae accepts the healing and then takes the gem before Tahldar can argue with Kahan's plan.

All who desire are healed up to 3 points from Shae's nonmagical healing.

Shae takes the multifaceted onyx gem from the dragon's maw.  Instantly, the entire room flashes with a blinding light.

You blink a few times before realizing you are no longer in the same room.  You have been transported somewhere else.

You are now in an octagonal room 30 feet across. Four 10-foot square wall segments separate four 10-foot wide arched exits.  Each wall looks exactly like the other walls, and each exit looks exactly like the other exits. The four arched exits are essentially ahead and behind, left and right. There is a dome ceiling 30 feet above the floor.

A skeleton lies in the center of the floor holding a sword in its extended arm above his head. This points toward the exit on your left. Each exit is filled with a rust-orange mist that is slightly sulfuric in smell.

There is a lever set in each wall and a sign above each lever saying, "Pull Me" in several languages.  The levers pull upwards.

You do not know what direction is which, but for the sake of clarity, we will say the skeleton's sword is pointed toward the western exit, per the map below.




This message was last edited by the GM at 22:23, Wed 19 Nov 2014.

"Please do not touch those levers and no one try an exit just yet.  I want to search the room and the skeleton especially for any clues on what to do." the mage says as he prepares to cast a spell.

OOC:  Tahldar will will cast detect magic and scan the skeleton first, then the rest of the room.  Then search (without touching the levers) and give the skeleton a good once over.  Also, take a good look at the dome for anything unusual.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:55, Thu 20 Nov 2014.

Borimer stands motionless with his hand on the Godslayer's pommel, finding himself itching to fight something substantial.  He had no faith in the heavens, only in his ability to cut through whatever assailed him, and these ancient traps weren't overcome when only met with angry steel.

Kahan wanders towards one of the exits, thinking to himself if he can come up with what exactly that odd orange mist is. "This fog is strange, almost definitely manufactured by magic I would say. Although I know not who would have cast it, or how it would stay here for so long..." the priest mutters to anyone listening.

After casting a spell, you find that, surprisingly, the only thing that shows up as magical is the mist in the doorways.

"Perhaps we should try one of the levers?  But the one pointed to by the skeleton just seems like it's a trap.  I say we try another."

"Speaking of which before we try a lever I think it probably would be a good idea to remove our little friend's sword."

OOC: Tahldar will take the skeletons sword.

Shae ties a rope to herself, has Borimer or someone hold it, and says, "I'm going to go into the mist.  Make sure I get out if something happens."  She will then step into the mist to see what happens and step back out a moment or two later.

Shae feels a little disoriented when entering the mist, but is in full control of her faculties and does not feel any ill effects from the mist.  It has a slightly sulfuric smell and does not allow her to see more than about five feet in front of her, even with a light.  But that seems to be the extent of its effect.

(OOC: You can refer to the levers by direction...northwest lever, southwest lever, etc.  There are four total levers, one at each of the diagonal directions in this octagonal room.  The doors are in the other four walls -- north, east, south  and west.  Note that these directionals are for convenience only and may not be actual directions.  I may switch to left, right, when convenient)

Borimer didn't like mystery levers, "Never led to anything good that I can remember..." he muttered to no one in particular as he held the rope for Shae.

Shae says, "Okay, that turned out for the best.  Now let me go the full length of the rope and see where this thing goes."  Always a bit impulsive, Shae goes the full length of the rope and see what she can find before doubling back around.

"It would seem leaving the levers alone is the way to go." Tahldar says as he watches Shae brave the magical mist.

The rope goes to its end, but Shae does not find her way past the mist, so she doubles back.  The only thing new she has to report is that the walls are somewhat curved, so she couldn't tell which way she going or turning.  And the slightly disorienting effect of the mist only made that worse.

Shae says, "I think the next step is for all of us to go together through the mist, maybe even tied together.  It wouldn't be good for us to get separated and not be able to find each other again."

"I can fight blind, maybe I should go first, like I normally do,"  Borimer ties himself to the rope before handing it to the next person in line, unless someone objects to the plan.

"I don't like this one bit, but I don't see a way around it." Tahldar says as he casts the spell Armor on himself before taking the rope and tying it around himself.

OOC:  Put Tahldar somewhere in the middle.  He'll cast armor on himself granting him and AC of 6.  If I take more than 17 pts of damage it will be dispelled.

Kahan agrees with the plan, offering more rope if they need it for tying everyone together. "Does anyone have any chalk? If we are walking around with no idea where we are going or where we have been, we should make markings along the ground or walls at certain distances so we don't wander around in circles."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Sat 06 Dec 2014.

Tahldar smacks his forehead for not thinking of using chalk.  "I have some chalk too.  That's an excellent idea.  It surely will help in keeping track of where we're going."

OOC:  Once we enter Kahan and I will use our chalk periodically to try to trace our movements.

"Wait, what if the levers change the places where the doors lead to?" Didit finally said. "We've got the rope we are tied with. And we should try to stay partly here and partly there so we are certain of all of the paths"

"I wouldn't suggest splitting up the party in a situation like this.  It could end up being permanent.  But which direction should we go? I'll choose north, but any way is fine with me."

Shae makes sure her rope is snug and tight.  She will be in any position but her curiosity makes her want to be more in the front near Borimer.

The party ties itself together an then moves north through the slightly sulfuric and magical mist.

Entering the mist, you feel slightly light-headed.  Your mind wanders as you walk along, and makes it hard to concentrate or follow the passage of time or the direction you walk.  You cannot see anything, even by torch light, as all light appears just as a bright haze.  You have no sense of distance and cannot remember how far you travel.

To make matters worse, the corridors are all rounded, so even feeling your way along, you will not notice if you round a corner or not.

Those with infravision do note, however, that there is a traceable heat imprint that follows warm blooded creatures (i.e., you) passing through the mist.  You are not sure how long it will last, but it seems to last longer than the normal heat trace.

After walking for a bit, the mists part to reveal a 10 foot by 30 foot section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways at both ends.  Archways also lead out from the center of both side walls, and are also filled with mists.

Borimer gratefully steps out of the orange witchcraft and then keeps an eye out for trouble as the others enter the hall.

Shae says, "Let's mark the passages we go through so we don't get lost.  I say we continue forward to keep it simple."  Her ancestral spear is ready at her side.

"Straight ahead sounds good as any.  However let's make sure we mark which way we came in and which way we are going out in case we come by this way again." Tahldar says as he does his best to shake the light headedness caused by the mist.

You mark the wall with chalk (let's say with a number "1" unless you want something different) and move forward back into the mist.

After going forward a ways, having lost track of time and direction, the mists part again.

You are in a 10 foot square section of clear corridor with the mists filling the archway you just exited and a heavy plank door in front of you.

Shae will listen for sounds and then knock on the door if she doesn't hear anything.

Borimer readies himself to launch at anything that attacks in response.

While the others deal with the door, Kahan attempts to figure out what is producing the mist. He takes a deep breath and blows into the hallway, looking to see if the mist in any way parts or reacts to his gust. If it doesn't, he tries to scoop it towards himself with cupped hands, waving his arms through it and watching the effects it might have.

The mist reacts like any typical fog or mist.  The only discernible difference is the smell and color.

There is no sound at the door.  Knocking produces no response.

Tahldar attempts to open the door in the event it is unlocked...

It is unlocked.  It sits ancient and slightly rotted and aged with time. It will swing open if you desire.

Borimer pushes the door open...

The door opens to reveal a 30 foot square room with 10 foot walls rising to a flat ceiling.  There is an ancient plank door in the center of each wall.  The walls are smooth.  Bones litter the floor, along with ancient weapons, now rotting.  None appear special or magical, and the clothes are long since reduced to tatters.  None of the skeletons appear to be wearing armor of any sort, or anything metal.  The bones have been scattered over the years.

The only thing out of the ordinary is that one of the skeletons in the back corner is huddled in the fetal position, clutching the remains of an ancient leather sack.

Numerous scratchings are by each of the doors, as if people passing through here were trying to mark their way to avoid getting lost.

Shae will open up the bag and see what's inside.

Kahan will follow after the group, marking the door they walked in with a one - their first door. He also marked the outside of it, should something go wrong and they need to shut it permanently. Then he goes about inspecting the bones to see if any of them were broken or cut into, wondering if there was a battle here, or if they died of asphyxiation or poisoning.

Kahan finds that many of the bones have been broken and, apparently, gnawed on by something with sharp teeth.

Shae opens the old sack and finds a stone tablet and a stone knife.  Dusting it off, she sees words carved into the tablet, which state:


Weeks without food. Wandering. Running. It comes. It kills us. It is immortal. It cannot leave.  We cannot leave.  We are the lost and dying.  Playthings of the priests. They put us here.  If you read this, we are dead.  May the gods protect you.  It comes.  It comes. I run no more.

"I don't like this one bit." Tahldar says upon reading the stone tablet.  "But there's nothing we can do about it but keep moving and try to find a way out of here.  However I think we should take the cube out as it has interacted with every test we've encountered so far.  Maybe it will fire up again while we wander around in this maze."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:56, Thu 11 Dec 2014.

Shae will examine all the scratching on the walls to see if she can make sense of it. "There's got to be some way to survive the test.  I just hope those gnomes aren't stuck up there alone for weeks while we wander down here."

"It doesn't seem to do much, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt. We just have to ensure that whoever is holding it does not, under any circumstance, drop the cube inside the mist, because it will be nearly impossible to ever find it again," the priest agrees, moving to the door on the 'western' side and trying to listen against it before opening it. "Regardless of what we plan on doing to get out, the first step is to move. We will never find the way out if we stay here forever, as much as I feel like this is probably the safest place we can be if we are being chased by invincible monsters," he adds, and after opening the door, Kahan marks both sides with a 2.

Shae is going around looking at the scratches.

Meanwhile, Kahan opens the door on the left and marks it with a "2."  It opens onto a short hall exactly the same as the hall you came in from (that you marked with a "1").

Shae finds that the scratches are primarily markings of apparently how many times the people had been here or gone through here as they became lost and confused.  The word "NORTH?" is etched into the wall straight ahead of you.  The word "IT" is scratched into the wall by the door to your right.  The words "LIFE WATER" are scratched into the door on your left (near where Kahan marked the "2").  The word "LEVERS?" is marked on the wall near the door where you just entered.  The scratchings are ancient and worn and hardly appear to be words at all until you look at them closely.

"Life water? Isn't that what we're looking for to find our dragon?  Maybe someone found it long ago and marked it."

"I think the Life Water refers to the healing water we've found earlier and is what the dragon sits in.  We're looking for berries which unfortunately only seem to grow near the giant worm." Tahldar says in reply to his burly companion.

"It would probably be wise to investigate the water first and make sure we have a healing source prior to taking on whatever resides down the "IT" path."

The golden box does not seem to do anything.  It still has the word "CONFUSION" lit up, as well as "DARKNESS."

You go through the left door (marked with a 2 by Kahan), and go the short distance through the open corridor, entering the mists once more.

You are not sure how much time is passed or if the corridor turns or goes straight, due to the confusion of the sulfuric magic mist and the smooth curves of the walls, but the mist eventually parts again.

The mists part to reveal a 10 foot by 30 foot section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways at both ends.  Archways lead out from the center of both side walls and are also filled with mists.  (You entered from one of the side wall arches, not from one of the long ends of the room.)

A leather sack, covered with dust and rotting with age, lays near the archway to your right.  Something is in it, and a skeletal hand is still attached to it, apparently severed while still alive and holding the sack.

Tahldar uses his dagger to open up the sack and poke around to see what lay within.

OOC:  Tahldar will hold the cube in his left hand, his dagger with his right.

Borimer grumbles about not looking for traps and tricks first while following after Tahldar to keep an eye out for anything attackable.  "It could be a trap that caused that, or it could be a trap itself..." he warns his comrade with growing paranoia.

Kahan looks around at the walls and floors, wondering if there are any signs as to which way leads where. He takes his chalk and writes a 2 on the doorway that they just came through, getting ready to mark whichever door they leave through with a 3.

Kahan marks with chalk, and Tahldar checks the sack.  It is not trapped in any way.  Instead, it holds a bunch of golden coins.  The coins are not stamped with any sigil or emblem you recognize, and have probably been here a long time.  Counting them out, you find there are 510 coins total.  They each have the marking "1 G" on each side, along with the profile of a man with a rays coming out of his head like the sun, and a pyramid on the back side.

"Could they be part of the riddle?" inquired Didit "A sword and a few coins... What else comes next?"

Shae takes the coins and says, "I kind of get the feeling these coins were dropped by someone running to escape the whatever it is immortal creature wandering these halls.  I don't see a riddle here, but we need to keep moving.  I say we go through one of the arches on the long side of the hall, right or left.  How about right?"

You gather the coins and go to the right through the long end of the 30 foot by 10 foot corridor.  Entering the mist again, you once more lose track of time and direction and become disoriented until it opens up again.

Then the mists part to reveal a 10 foot by 30 foot section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways at both ends.  Archways lead out from the center of both side walls and are also filled with mists.  (It is structurally identical to the last corridor you were just in.)

On the floor in the center of the area is a ring that appears to be made of fine silver.  It is still attached to a skeletal finger that once wore it.  The rest of a skeletal hand and forearm are also there on the ground, covered in dust.

(You can exit back where you came, forward at the far end of the 30 foot long corridor, or at the left or right archways in the center of the 10 foot wide hall.)

(DM NPC POST)

As you walk into the hall and look at the ring attached to the bones, Lukas mentions to you that he feels a very light cool breeze coming from the archway to the left.  His gnome instincts and sensitivities can feel such things in the deep caves.

In case you are having a hard time picturing it, these passages are 10x30 breaks in the mist, like this with four archways going back into the mist:

 ----| |----
|           |
 ----| |----

In this diagram, for example, you entered from one of the long ends (let's say the left side).  SO "left" would take you "north" and "right" would take you south.

is this hand the opposite of the one in the other room? (could they be two hands of the same person?)

After marking the doorway they came through with a 3, Kahan looks down the corridor on the 'left', wondering where the breeze was coming from and whether or not it was disrupting the mists. He also wonders the same thing Borimer was, looking at the placement of the thumb to see if he could remember which hand was holding the bag of coins.

They are both the left hand.  Upon scrutiny, you see what appear to be either blade or tooth marks on the bones.

The breeze does not seem to disturb the mists.  In fact, no one but Lukas even felt a breeze at all.  It was merely his keen senses that detected it.

"Shall we investigate this breeze?" Tahldar asks the group after collecting the ring and giving it to Kahan for safe keeping.

Shae nods, getting her ancestral spear ready for battle as she follows Borimer and the others.

Borimer will follow Lukas to investigate the breeze in the orange mist.

You go through another corridor of disorienting mist, and then it opens up onto a 10 foot square section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways in all four directions (where you entered, straight ahead, left or right).

The breeze is slightly stronger here and feels to be coming from your right.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:28, Fri 19 Dec 2014.

If Borimer can now feel the breeze as well, and the others wish to continue, he will take the lead when everyone has decided which direction to go.

Kahan will mark the arches that they came through with 4's, using 5's on whatever arches they go through next. "Following the breeze will hopefully get us somewhere. I wonder if the people who were here before had a gnome or dwarf with them who was accustomed to being underground."

"One would think if you just kept wandering around you'd eventually find this tunnel.  But it could be they were killed before they could get here.  It could also be that they did find it but this breezeway does not lead to a way out.  We won't know till we investigate it." Tahldar replies to Kahan.

"Lead the way Borimer." he adds as he prepares to follow along the fresh air tunnel.

Shae examines the ring.  "Does anyone want to look at this before going on?  Maybe it's magic."

"Keeping it can't hurt, but I say we shoould await for a safer time to bother with it."

OOC: Given my extended absence over the holidays and with work, I'm going to move this along, following your trend of going toward the area of the breeze.

You follow the slight breeze, entering the sulfuric, magic mists again.  When the mists part, you find yourself in a 10 foot square section of hall with exits in all four directions.

The direction to the right is where the breeze is coming from, so you again follow it.

The mists eventually part to another 10 square section, with an entry in front of you and behind (where you came from).  At the entrance in front of you is an ancient wooden door that has fallen into decline.  Parts of it have broken off, and you feel the breeze coming through the cracks of the door.

Entering the far room, you find yourself entering a 30 foot by 30 foot room.  On the far wall is a raised platform like a dais, and in the middle of the room is what looks like a well.  In front of the well is a stone box with unfamiliar carvings on it.

On the platform is a large golden statue that looks like a bull with wings and a man's head instead of a bull.   As you enter the room, the statue begins to move, its head turning toward you.

It does not move from its spot, but the statue talks, asking in a grating voice like wind running through a cave, "Why are you here?"

Borimer shifts slightly to the balls of his feet, his hand resting near the Godslayer and his stump clenched in an imaginary fist of fury.  He waits for someone to respond before he does, the only way he knows how.

Lukas answer is simple and to the point, "Because this is where my feet have taken me, why are you here?"

"We are here to pass the test, of course. The test of the faithful. This is where our wanderings have taken us," Kahan replies, stepping forward towards the odd statue while holding the box with the lit up words on it. "We've already passed the darkness test and hope to pass the confusion test soon."

Tahldar looks like he wishes to say something, but refrains for the moment.  He knows from past experience that sometimes people can get the wrong impression from him, despite his best efforts.  For reasons unknown to him, despite his vast intelligence, he lacks some sort of social grace.

"Actually, that is only part of the truth. The immediate reason we are here is because we need to pass the test." Didit spoke calmly, doing her best not to sound threatening "The real reason is because we have to, we need to pass the Test in order to spare our lives and prevent the black death from spreading."

To Lukas' question, the statue responds, "To ask a question, you must put an item of value in the box.  The more valuable the item, the more valuable the answer will be."

After the various statements about why you are there, the statue thing says, "You are in the test.  You are observed by the priests.  They torment the uninitiated with these tests and this labyrinth, and they take pleasure in that."

Shae turns the situation around to answer a question with a question.  "What are YOU doing here?" she asks.  She also inspects the box.

The statue repeats, "To ask a question, you must put an item of value in the box.  The more valuable the item, the more valuable the answer will be."

Shrugging, Kahan takes a few of the strange platinum coins the group found in their travels (probably in the Temple?) and places them in the box, asking, "How do we finish this test?"

After the box is closed with the coins inside (we will say you put 25 inside), you hear a creak inside and the faint tumbling of the coins banging against the side of a long stone tunnel.

The statue answers, "The Test of the Faithful is completed when all seven gems are put into their proper place."

(I count 510 coins minus 25, equaling 485 coins left over.)

Shae puts in 100 coins and asks, "How do we get out of this labyrinth?"

The coins jingle as they go down some sort of chute, and the statue says, "Bring me the Azure Jewel, and I will reveal those secrets.  Otherwise, you must leave the way the priests watch their subjects.  The Azure Jewel is in the eye of Manjab, the Iron Watcher who roams this labyrinth for all time."

"That must be the creature those inscriptions were referring to. Well, one of them, as I cannot think of a reason that an iron watcher would eat flesh and bone, unless of course the other denizens of this labyrinth were forced to commit cannibalism to survive... Kahan muses as he looks through his pack for something of value. Deciding the coins seem to be working well enough, he drops another 100 into the box and asks, choosing his words carefully, "How do we kill the Iron Watcher, or, if that is impossible, how do we remove his eye?"

This time, you do not hear the coins go down the chute, remaining where they are.  The statue says, "The answer to that question will require all of your coins."

Tahldar reaches into his belt pouch and counts his meager amount of money.  "I have fifty gold pieces." he says, knowing the amount to not be much.  "The knowledge of how to kill the Iron creature may just save some of our lives, so to me it's worth every farthing we can muster."

Shae says, "I think he's referring to the strange coins we found.  There are probably about 300 left after Kahan's 100.  We can give them if you want."

"Our lives and the fate of two worlds are in stake, I say we give it all the money"

Agreeing, Kahan nods and dumps the rest of the coins into the box. "We also have other valuables should we have to return here to ask additional questions," the priest assures the rest of the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Wed 21 Jan 2015.

The coins all go down the chute, and the Llamasu statue says:

"You may take the gem from its body while it yet moves, or defeat it in combat and remove the gem from its inert skull.  Fifteen large rooms exist in this complex--this labyrinth, if you will.  The entry room is one.  This room is another.  Each serves a purpose, and some may aid you in defeating Manjab.  Here is how they may help:

"In a room conceals a pit. Manjab may fall in and have difficulty extracting itself.  In yet another, a pit is filled with water, and in yet another, with acid.  These all hinder the movements of Manjab but are not concealed, and coaxing Manjab in will take skill.

"Pull the lever and the forces of the gods will make the metal fly to the ceiling, incapacitating Manjab, and lowering the lever will damage its body as it crashes to the earth.

"In yet another room, the spears will fly and may pin Manjab down, and in another, a block of stone will crush its head.  Another room pulls any who touch its floor down with the force of ten gravities, maybe more.  In another room, the walls will crush any who cross too far."

It pauses and says, "These are the tools you use to defeat Manjab and bring me the gem, and I will tell you the way out.  The other gem in the other eye socket is for those who pass the test to keep, and is one of the gems needed to pass the Test of the Faithful.  More information will cost you more."

"I'd rather just kill it than dodge traps to hurt it first, unless we have to do that in order to kill it in the first place."

"Maybe we should try to map rooms first, a couple of them sound quite dangerous"

"I like the idea of the magnet that I suspect was in the room where we first came in.  If we can coax it into the room, and as long as no one has any metal on them, we can trap it on the ceiling.  Then we can remove it's eyes at our leisure through a use of a fly spell and some sharp non metallic object.  And I see no reason why we simply couldn't just leave it up there after we finish." Tahldar says to the group.

OOC: I will not require to you retrace steps by memory. I will let your characters go to any previously explored room, although some random event may occur on the way.  This should save you the pain of trying to remember whether to take a right or left, etc.

"Well, the brute force approach is still on the board. In the end we must act quickly, the longer we waste time in here the worse it will be."

"The magnet is a good idea if it works, otherwise we need to have an escape plan from the Manjabberwocky if it doesn't.  Still, I'm always up for a good fight if we want to go that route."  Borimer finds himself again hoping to avoid a series of evil traps.  "Always these damnable traps in these ancient pits of who-knows-what, always snapping off fingers and scorching valuable belongings and blowing up heads and..." he mutters under his breath.

"I say we head back to where we started and lay our trap there.  It's an easy enough thing to remove any metal we may have and lay our trap, but how do we find Manjab?  I think we should ask this question, but what should we give?  Are we out of coins?"

"I guess that if we make enough noise it will find us"

"Yes, we used all the coins we found in that bag. We should still have gold coins left, although I do not know if the statue accepts our old world's currency," Kahan replies, chuckling to himself at the absurdity of the situation.

Shae says, "We heard scraping sounds before.  I bet that was Manjab.  If we hear those again, maybe we can veer off and track it down."

"It would be better to know where Manjab is rather than to guess and stumble upon him.  If we know where to find him then we can try to set up a trap, else we'll likely have to kill it without any help this labyrinth can provide.  And from the bodies I've seen it is not a task so easily done.  It has withstood many a challenge.  I suggest we err on the side of caution and ask where we can find it, then go from there."

"Sure, if we can get that information.  I was just talking about finding it and luring it to the trap.  Otherwise, IT may stumble on US!  That might be very, very bad."

Lacking any more of the special coins, you begin heading back toward the start room.  On the way, in one of the 30 foot by 10 foot corridors that is clear of the mist, you hear to your left the scraping of something like metal against stone.

a couple of questions: we are in which part of the thirty foot tunnel (either end, or the middle, or...?) and is the sound directly to our left beyond a wall?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:10, Tue 27 Jan 2015.

You are anywhere you choose in the 10'x30' corridor.  The sound comes from through the mist.  The sound appears to carry very well through the mist-filled corridors, which act like conduits channeling the sound, so likely whatever you hear is in the mist or in the next opening after the mist.

Lukas, makes a point to hang to the rear of the party.  Following along.  He ears perk up at the scraping metal sounds. "So we're looking of some type of lever right?"  He also checked the floors for any possible pit falls.

OOC:
15:06, Today: Lukas Rimshank rolled 45 using 1d100. hear noise.
15:41, Today: Lukas Rimshank rolled 52 using 1d100. find traps.

Shae says, "The levers are in the first room we appeared in.  I say we stick around here and make some noise.  If it follows us into here, we can run back to the first room and try a lever."

Tahldar whispers, "Some of us should go to the lever room, while others get the attention of Manjab.  Those with speed should get Manjab's attention and those with little metal should be ready at the levers.  Since I am both slow and have little metal I will join the lever team."

"What say the rest of you?"

"I'll get the attention of Manjab, but I don't like the idea of taking off armor to go in the lever room. I'll get him to chase me, but maybe I can duck back out of the room before you use the magnet."

"Wait, no need to risk our own lives, I could try a noisy spell to attract and guide it. If you remember the spell I used to distract those demons back in the ark? that one"

"I'll let you guys sort out how you want to get Manjab's attention.  I will position himself on a lever, furthest from where I think Manjab may enter, in the room where we first started." Tahldar says as he drops his pack and dagger, along with his belt.

"I will start off now to get a head start.  Anyone else care to join me?" he asks before leaving.

"Are we sure the lever thing works?  It would be bad to find out that it doesn't work if Manjab is chasing"

Shae says, "I like the lure of the magic spell idea.  I wasn't there when it happened, but it sounds useful here.  We went 'north' originally, so I suggest when we get back to the first room, we all head one room 'south' through the mist and make lots of noise.  This will lure the creature so that it has to walk all the way across the main room.  This will give Tahldar a chance to pull the lever and then yell out to us that it's safe to come back.  Then we go back to the room without anything metal, retrieve the gem, and go back to the statue."

Shae talks animatedly with her hands as she speaks.

"We should test the lever first to see if it is something that is a sustained effect or simply a timed event that won't give us enough time to actually do anything to him. We might have to let him fall and take damage, perhaps hitting him while he's down, instead of counting on the fact that he will stay suspended for long. It would also be good if we could locate where the other traps are in case we need them," the priest chimes in.

I'm not sure exactly of the next steps.  It sounds like the options are:

1) Lure Manjab monster now (through spell or loud noises) or wait until the levers are tested and then try to find Manjab
2) Test levers and come back to find Manjab
3) Find the other traps before going after Manjab
4) If luring Manjab now, go through far tunnel of main room for those with metal and return when safe

Did I miss any?  If no one responds by later today, I will presume 2 is done, followed by 1, and then 4.  You can search for the other traps if you want, but that will of course require a significant amount of time searching the labyrinth area, though you might be able to create a simple map.  Getting the jewel from Manjab is only step one in the two steps needed to escape the labyrinth.  Step two will be revealed when you turn over the jewel to the Llamasu statue.

You test out the levers (sans anything metal except a test piece--let's say, a dagger) and discover the following:  when all the levers are in down position, everything is normal.  When any lever is put into the up position, a powerful magnetic force quickly (but not as fast as gravity) pulls anything metal up to the top of the dome.  When the levers are all back in the down position, the magnet releases, and the item falls with gravity 30 feet back to the ground.

You are now thankful you didn't pull any levers when you initially came into this room.

As you are testing the levers, through the north exit you hear the sound of a distant thud and scraping.  Apparently, whatever thing you heard through the mists also heard you and is following you.

Bereft of all metal, Tahldar stays on a lever furthest from the north.  He says nothing as he waits in anticipation of the abomination to come.

Borimer curses and takes off his armor while listening to the sound of their pursuer.  If it seems that its entrance is immiment and he has not finished taking off his armor, then Borimer will advance in the direction of the pursuer and attack before it enters the room.

You all manage to shed yourselves of metal by the time it enters.

When Manjab enters, you instinctively take a step back.  The thing is an aberration, perhaps a golem or living statue or something meshed into a hybrid of nightmares.

Standing about 12 feet tall, its body is formed as if from various metals--steel, iron, bronze.  The upper torso and shoulders are covered with ancient script and runes that glow lightly and eerily blue.  Its upper body is humanoid in appearance, with a smooth, bald head.  Its two arms diverge from humanity.  The left appears to be a large set of shears or pincers as long as broadswords and as wide as a man's girth.  The right arm ends in a dangling 8 foot chain with a flanged and hooked head like a morning star but large as a small anchor.  Its hooked flanges are barbed like those on a fishing hook.  Its legs and lower torso consist of lengthwise blades -- as though dagger and sword blades radiate around its legs, knees and trunk.

Its two eyes glow.  One eye is an azure jewel, and the other is a dark onyx gem like the one Shae grabbed from the mouth of the dragon pedestal before you were all sent to this labyrinth.  But unlike the one Shae took, this one glows with a deep blue from some unknown source.

The other strange thing about this creature is that a sickening green mist or smoke continually emanates from its joints and the spaces between its blades.  The mist rolls from its mouth and neck joints, and from its ears and every pore.  It covers the thing with a fine billowing layer.

It sees you and immediately begins to approach.

Shae holds her ancestral spear at the ready, hoping its obsidian point and wooden carvings protect it from the effects of the room.  "THrow the switch!" she yells upon seeing the golem monster, her grip tightening in fear and expectation.

Tahldar holds the switch, ready to throw the moment he thinks the creature will be affected by the magnet above.  A trickle of sweat trickles from his brow as the nagging notion that their plan might not work, and the carnage that would happen if it doesn't, tugs at his psyche.

When Manjab enters the room Borimer launches an attack with two quick slashes of his obsidian blade.

Didit began the prepparations to cast her last fly spell.

Borimer begins slashing, hitting the statue like creature with is obsidian blade.  Before it can attack back, Tahldar pulls the switch, and Manjab flies quickly up to the ceiling, further damaged by the force.

Borimer's blade is obsidian, but not the hilt, and he finds himself being pulled up with arm extended.  (Drop the sword as it rises or ride it 30 feet to the top of the dome?)

Manjab is completely debilitated.  It is struggling but every metal part of it is pulled back up.  This makes its efforts slow.  With its strength it can pull its arms out but not quickly, and they get pulled back.  Its legs similarly can kick out one at a time but get pulled back in.

You feel your hair rising and what feels like an underlying surge of electricity but otherwise do not seem to have any ill effects from the powerful magnet.

Borimer lets go of the Godslayer before its metal crossbar pulls him within reach of Manjab.  He waits in his tunic and breeches for an opportunity to attack...

>
This message was last edited by the player at 02:12, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

Reaching into his backpack, Kahan pulls out a couple vials of oil and lays them on the ground beneath Manjab, uncorking them and stuffing the tops with a rag. He then lights a torch and carefully positions it upright so that when they hit the switch, Manjab will fall onto the torch and light the oil, catching himself on fire and (hopefully) harming him significantly more than simply falling. If the magnetic field is still in effect, he will cast a Glyph of Warding on the area below Manjab as well, hoping to deal as much damage to this creature with as little harm to his party.

Tahldar remains at the lever, ready to switch it back if it's needed.

When Manjab is dropped to the ground, Shae will attack it with her ancestral spear.  "After he drops and we get a good attack, why don't you hit the switch again?  We can do this several times to kill that thing maybe."

"I say leave him up there and use a fly spell to remove the gem we need.  As long as he's up there he can do us no harm."

"I can cast it too, Who wants to take the gem away from it?"

Shae says, "I'll do it.  I'm used to flying when I transform into a bird. Plus, I can use my spear to pry the eyes out."

Shae flies up to Manjab and plucks out the two jewel eyes with her spear.  Manjab tries to hit her but fails because of the magnetic pull against its arms.

Now, Manjab and Borimer's sword are still stuck to the ceiling, but the jewels are in your possession.

"I have a feeling we should still try to dispatch the beast because he will eventually come back down and hunt us again. Hopefully we will be rid of this test soon, but if we are not, we should kill this monstrosity just in case," the priest states.

Shae says, "The druid inside me says to spare it, but since it is an aberration of nature, I will leave the decision to you.  Borimer will need to get his sword.  I think we should turn off the magnet, let Borimer grab his sword and run through the north door, and then engage the magnet again.  As long as we leave Manjab up on the ceiling, I don't see how he can follow us."

"Someone could just use a long stick to beat it to death. But we have lost enough time as it is."

"I want to destroy it before it comes back and hunts us, but I'll go with whatever everyone decides."  He thinks for a moment and then continues "I have another sword I can use to fight Manjab if we drop him from the ceiling.  Someone grab my sword and I'll keep Manjab occupied until everyone leaves the room and the lever is pulled.  Manjab goes back to the ceiling with my second sword and I leave the room to join you."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Fri 13 Feb 2015.

"Swords likely won't do much good unless they are heavily enchanted. It is a mass of metal that is held together with strong enchantments, and judging by the bones of those who tried to fight it before, I would say it is extremely deadly, as well. If we can, I think we should try to kill it with magic, rather than force. Tahldar, do you have any other spells that would trigger upon his falling? Any wards or trap spells?" the priest asks.

"Trying to kill it is foolish.  We have already have the gem we need to give to the Llamasu and once we do it will tell us how to leave this labyrinth.  The other gem we need to pass the test of the faithful.  I see no reason to risk ourselves in trying to kill this thing."

Answering Kahan he adds "The only spell I have that might useful is grease, but it likely will just burn off when hit by your glyph.  And even it doesn't then it will take all my available spells for the day to try to kill it, and they may not be enough to do the job."

"If we make haste to the Llamasu we should be able to get out of here before it finds us again."

You follow Shae and Borimer's plan.  Manjab crashes to the ground, taking more damage.  You get Borimer's sword, and he keeps it occupied for a few moments before hitting the lever and slamming Manjab back up to the ceiling. It all takes only about 30 seconds, not giving Manjab enough time to attack.

The party leaves Manjab pinned to the ceiling and goes back to the Llamasu with both gems in hand.

Kahan looks back at the giant creature with a slightly worried glance before returning to the statue. "We have Manjab's eyes. Which do you need?" he asks, refastening his armor after having to take it off.

Borimer puts his armor back on and then stands up, feeling much better when the final adjustments are made to the shoulder straps.  He watches the Llamasu carefully for any signs of betrayal.

"The Llamasu needs the azure jewel, and the other the dark onyx gem we need for the test." Talhdar says as they approach what hopefully is the labyrinth exit.

Shae says, "As I recall, once we give him the jewel, he's just going to tell us how to exit, not actually open an exit for us.  I have a feeling this isn't over yet."  She waits for the jewel to be put in the box to see what happens next.

You put the azure gem in the ancient box.  You hear the gem go down the chute and you ask the Llamasu to follow through on its promise to tell you the way out.

The statue of the Llamasu turns to you and says:

"This labyrinth is a test used anciently by priests.  They would send their subjects down here and then observe them get slaughtered by Manjab or the traps set up for their demise.  The evil priests watched some deaths from above, using the Onyx Gem to travel back to the entrance after viewing the violent deaths.  As previously told to you, there are 15 large rooms in this labyrinth.  Five of them contain viewing platforms used by the priests.  You must climb to a ledge where the viewing platforms are.  There you will find a secret door leading to a room with a dragon pedestal.  Touch the Onyx Gem to the dragon pedestal, and you will be sent back to the entrance.  The rooms you seek have domed ceilings marked with the symbol of the priests where the secret door is hid.  The rooms are dangerous, as my previous warning informed you, because they are all meant to kill unsuspecting acolytes."

Because of the disorienting sulfuric fog and your lack of understanding direction, time or distance as you travel, here are your movements so far.  You can retrace your steps and take a different direction based on this.  I am putting a Letter Next to each step that you can reference as to each opening/room:


A) Entry Room (octagon, domed roof) 30x30 - 4 exits
|
"North"
|
B) 10x 30 opening - 4 exits (facing lengthwise)
|
"Straight"
|
C) 10x10 opening - 2 exits on either end
|
"Straight"
|
D) 30x30 room - 4 exits/doors (flat ceiling, bones, words "IT" (right) "LIFE WATER" (left) "LEVERS?" (back) by doors)
|
"Left"
|
E) 10x30 opening - 4 exits (facing short side) (leather sack, skeleton hand)
|
"Right" (long end)
|
F) 10x30 opening - 4 exits (facing lengthwise) (silver ring on skeleton hand, cool breeze from left)
|
"Left" (short side)
|
G) 10x10 opening - 4 exits (breeze from right)
|
"Right"
|
H) 10x10 opening - door straight ahead
|
"Through door"
|
I) Room with Llamasu Statue

Making its way back to "G," the party heads straight ahead ("left" from the initial point that you entered) at the 10'x10' opening.

You enter the mists again, and when they part, you find yourself in a 10 foot square section of clear corridor with the mists filling the archway behind you (from where you entered), and another large and ancient door in front of you.

Carved in bas relief on the front of the door in several languages, including Common, Allevian and Ancient Allevian, are the words:

'KNOCK FIRST.'

Kahan will walk up to the door and tap his knuckles against the door a few times, standing back to see what happens. "Tahldar, do you know the knock spell? The note might be referencing it instead," the priest asks.

"Alas I do not." Tahldar replies.  "Let's hope we won't need a knock spell to get through this door."

Kahan knocks on the door.  Two things happen at once.  Tendrils of lightning-light electricity in pink and purple radiate out from his knock to the perimeter of the door, eerily reminiscent of the purple and pink lights you dealt with in the last test.

When this happens, the door opens inward of its own accord, allowing you to see within.

As the door is opening, the 10 foot square stone floor below your feet begins sinking.  You have no idea how far it will go down or what perils might present themselves if you allow yourselves to go down with the floor.

Meanwhile, you can see into the room.  The knock his caused a chain reaction that spreads around the interior room.

The room itself is 30'x30' square, with a 30 foot high domed ceiling.  About 20 feet off the ground is a small ledge running around the interior of the room.

But it is what is at the far end of the room that really catches your attention.  Two things hang in mid-air, surrounded by a purplish hue as though in suspended animation.  The pinkish electric tendrils spread around the room, reach out, and the purplish glow that holds them in suspended animation dissipates.

The object on your left is a very large chest, easily larger than the size of a man.  It falls about 3 feet to the ground and solidly lands without bouncing, as if full.

The thing on your right is much more ominous.  It is the stuff of nightmares, something you have heard about before--sometimes called the Eye Tyrant or Beholder.  It appears as a large orb, 6 feet in diameter, dominated by a central eye and a large toothy maw, has 10 smaller eyes on stalks sprouting from the top of the orb.  It shakes back and forth for a moment as if to shrug off its long wait in suspended animation, and then its eyes turn on you.  You become weak in the knees as you see the evil, intelligence, and belligerence conveyed by those eyes.

Meanwhile, the floor you are on is sinking, and if you don't jump into the room soon, you will find out what danger it takes you to.



OOC: FYI, I am using conversion stats from the 3rd edition for this beholder, so if you are relying on the relatively weak stats in the 2nd edition Monster Manual, you will very much underestimate your opponent.

Tahldar seems nonplussed by Kahan's knocking as they have been relatively safe so far in the labyrinth, but is immediately jolted by the movement of the floor and the horrible visage before him.

Springing into the room he shouts "KILL IT!" as he prepares a spell.

OOC: Tahldar will move into room and cast lightning bolt on the creature.  And hope we win initiative.  :)

Kahan will follow after Tahldar, attempting to avert his eyes while he casts a spell.

Shae jumps into the room, sidling to the left and around the wall toward the chest as she does so.  Although her enchanted ancestral spear is at the ready, she is chanting a spell, directing its effect toward the beholder.

(Casting Wall of Fire so that a 10 foot radius wall of fire surrounds the beholder.  It is opaque, so it should block all vision of the beholder from seeing the party, in addition to damage.)

While the beholder is trapped in the circle of fire, Shae will continue concentrating on it so it doesn't dissipate.  (Rule says it lasts as long as concentrated on or 1 round per level if not concentrated on.)

Lukas runs in the darkness of shadows to the right corner nearest the party.  His short bow is in his hand as he steadies himself for two shots into the center of the beholder.  He takes steady aim as he prepares the shots, hoping his small self and hiding in shadows ability helps him evade the vision of the beholder, and he will take advantage of the flames from Shae's flame wall if he can, hoping the arrows catch fire as they pass through.

Leo runs in, following Shae.  His blowgun is out, and he is loading it with a poison needle, hoping it might slow or help incapacitate the beholder as he fires, aiming for its large eye.

Borimer leaps into the room and right at the horrible thing from the worst of nightmares, slashing twice with the ebony Godslayer.

Apparently Borimer will be soon surrounded by Shae's fire wall too...

SOME STATS TO HELP YOU APPRECIATE THE FEAR YOUR CHARACTERS ARE LIKELY FEELING RIGHT NOW:

Beholder
LE Large Aberration
Init +6 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; all-around vision, Perception +26

DEFENSE
AC -6
HP 181 (19d8+95)

OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee bite +14/+9 (2d4)
Ranged eye rays +16 ranged touch

STATISTICS
Str 10 Dex 14 Con 18 Int 17 Wis 15 Cha 16
THACo: 3

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

Include, but not limited to: Great Fortitude, Toughness, Improved Initiative, Improved Great Fortitude, Improved Iron Will, Dodge, Fly, Intimidate, Spellcraft

SECRET ABILITIES:
Eye Stalks: TBA

Donovan follows after Borimer, swinging his longsword.  He closes his eyes and uses his blindfighting skills to fight without looking at the beholder directly.

ROUND ONE

You begin your assault against the Beholder.  You gain initiative because it is still trying to get its bearings after being in stasis. (Note that it normally has a significant initiative bonus.)

Borimer and Donovan run forward while the others begin circling around.

Both Borimer and Donovan surprisingly hit the monster once each.  (37 total damage.)  One of Lukas' arrows finds its mark. (5 hp dmg.)  Leo's needle bounces harmlessly off its hide.

Tahldar casts a spell, and a lightning bolt flies from his hands, hits the beholder, and sears it.  (26 total damage - critical miss on saving throw by beholder.)

Kahan casts a spell and a vertical column of flame flies down onto the beholder.  (Yet another critical miss on its saving throw!  34 damage.)

Shae also casts a spell, and a wall of fire 20 feet in diameter encircles the beholder.  (Beholder takes 6 damage, Borimer takes 6 damage, Donovan takes 4 damage.)  (Borimer and Donovan will continue to take 2d4 damage while within the circle, and anyone within 10 feet of the fire, and anyone within 20 feet take 1d4 damage.  So far, everyone else is just on the edge of that and can feel the searing heat.  Crossing the fire will result in 4d4+7 fire damage. Lukas' arrows do not catch fire.)

Now the beholder, enraged and with long forked tongue splaying out, attacks back.  Note that the beholder gets 1d6 eye attacks while you attack from all sides in 2nd edition rules, or just 2 in 3rd edition, unless going into an Eye Ray Frenzy, in which it gets 4 eye attacks (Eye Ray Frenzy is initiated when it is at less than half hit points and happens every 1d6 rounds thereafter.)  I will be using the 2 attacks rule, plus central eye and bite.

You may target specific eye stalks once you see what they do.  (I am choosing half of the attacks randomly and half specifically for eyestalk attacks.)  NOTE that you cannot see what they do right now if you are outside of the circle of fire because it is opaque.

Attack 1: The beholder turns its central eye gaze on Donovan.  Donovan is unable to shake it and is dazed.  (He cannot move until the end of the beholder's next turn, at the end of round 2.)

Attack 2: The beholder also attempts to bite Donovan with its claw-like teeth but misses.

Attack 3: Unable to see outside the wall of fire, the beholder focuses its attack on Borimer.  Its first is a telekinesis ray, which slams Borimer back through the wall of fire and against the far wall.  (Borimer takes 14 points of fire damage by being slammed through the wall of fire.)

Attack 4: Able to only see Donovan now, the beholder turns a disintegrate ray on him.  Donovan feels intense pain.  (24 damage, saving throw made, so continuing 2d6 damage until another saving throw made.)

BEHOLDER
HP: 83 hp. (Goes into Eye Frenzy next Round.)

Borimer struggles back up from the floor, burnt and bruised, and then draws his bow and fires two shots at the hidden beholder.  He misses.

Tahldar looks at Borimer and is glad the man still lives.  Unable to see the beholder, and unwilling to charge through the wall of flame, the mage holds his next spell until the next available moment to cast.

OOC: I am assuming if the Beholder cannot see us through the flame, we likewise cannot see it.  I will hold my attack and cast magic missile the moment I have a clear target.  I will aim for the main body.  I get 5 missiles at my level.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Mon 23 Feb 2015.

Kahan begins casting another spell.

Lukas continued to fire arrows at the, He aimed for the big eye as it was in the center of the creature and even if he missed the eye he still might hit it.  "So many eyes"

In reply to Tahldar of Tyrannia (msg # 182):

Is Tahldar casting mirror image?  You mention two different spells in your post.

I think he said images instead of orbs. Or he's confused and I don't know what he wants.

My guess is that he is casting mirror image first (while he still can't be seen), and then next round or whenever the beholder becomes visible, he will cast magic missile.

Keeping his distance from the firewall Leo tries to slide to a position behind the big eye concentrating on the noises of combat and whatever glimpses of the battle that can be seen through the fire, all the while continuing to distract with his blowgun as much as possible.  He takes a quick glance down at his primary dagger confirming it’s position in case the firewall drops…

Shae continues to sidle toward the far corner by the chest to stay out of the range attack and to keep the beholder as surrounded as possible and to keep out of any area affect spell, including her own firewall.  She begins casting a new spell, her eyes narrowing in the bright light, and her arm outstretched to the beholder as she says, "Begone, ye fiend from the eternal pit of hell!"

Didit had stayed in the sidelines all along. She was a good shot with a bow, but she hadn't had the time to get one when she ran for her life, back in the future of her homeworld. So she had awaited on the others before deciding what to do. She began to ready a spell for as soon as the Beholder was visible from behind the flames.

Magic missile, five missiles

ROUND 2
Borimer is recovering and slightly dazed from being hurled across the room, and loses his typical initiative bonus.

The beholder has significant initiative bonuses and begins its attack.

First, the wall of flame dissipates as its central eye focuses an anti-magic ray that hits it and extends out toward the entry point of the room.  The anti-magic ray causes a 90 degree arc to extend in front of the beholder that causes all magic to cease to function.  This essentially extends from the entire left side of the beholder (your right) diagonally to the corner of the room to your left.  The area is slightly illuminated by pinkish light.  The ray moves with the central eye, and no spellcasting or magic is effective in that area of effect.

It also goes into an Eye Frenzy due to the massive damage it suffered last round.

It centers a disintegration ray at Donovan again.  This time, Donovan is not so lucky.  He screams in pain as his body, including all his gear, disintegrate into nothingness.

It centers its next attack against Borimer again with a new eye stalk.  This one sends out a cause serious wounds against Borimer.  (Borimer succeeds in saving throw, taking only half damage, but it is still 23 hp damage!)

Its next eye stalk next attempts a charm person spell against Kahan, but Kahan shakes it off because he is standing in the anti-magic ray zone.

Its final eye stalk sends out a death ray toward Tahldar, but Tahldar is also in the anti-magic zone and avoids being instantly killed.

The beholder begins moving toward Tahldar and Kahan.

Due to the anti-magic ray, the spells of Tahldar and Kahan instantly fail.

Borimer is drawing his bow and arrows to fire.  He is also along the left hand wall where he was thrown by the Beholder and outside the anti-magic zone.

Shae is moving up the left-hand wall (which is outside the anti-magic zone) toward the fallen giant chest.  She begins casting, but then is interrupted as something surprising happens...

The chest is not a chest at all!  A pseudopod lashes out from the chest, and you realize it is some sort of hard-shelled creature mimicking a treasure chest, down to the pigmentation of its skin.  The pseudopod catches Shae by surprise, hitting her directly in the chest.  (10 hp dmg.)  Further, the pseudopod is covered in some sort of glue-like substance that sticks fast to Shae.  Shae's spell is interrupted and lost.

Lukas fires but misses with both arrows.

Leo fires his blowgun but misses.  He has successfully moved behind the beholder in the darkness.

Borimer misses with both arrows.

Shapfren had been in the sidelines on the left side of the room, and is just out of the range of the anti-magic ray.  She casts a magic missile spell, and hits the beholder as five magic darts shoot from her fingertips.  (25 hp damage.)



NEW ENEMY:
Killer Mimic
Hp: 90
AC: 7
Attacks: 3d4 (pseudopod smash)
Special: Camouflage, Glue


Beholder:
HP=58

Leo tries to silently put down the blowgun and draw his dagger and move in to attack from behind.

"Donovan!!" Didit screams, tears rolling through her cheeks as she focuses on the damn beholder, she keeps playing the same melody to bring it down faster.

It is in times like this that I wish not having spent all of my slots on flying. Magic missile

OOC:
So Shapfren is casting magic missile again?

Leo is trying for a backstab?

Kahan draws his mace and rushes the beholder, knowing that his spells won't do him much good at this point.

Tahldar never thought being caught in an anti magic ray would be a good thing, but upon seeing what happened to Donovan he is glad he is.  With no time for tears for his fallen companion, Tahldar looks at the Beholder and contemplates trying to stay in the ray and use his dagger upon the creature, but he knows a now non magical weapon wielded by his thin limbs will do nothing to the creature.

With a sigh he rushes from the safety of the anti magic ray in hopes of firing another lightning bolt on the Beholder.

OOC:  Tahldar will move out of the anti magic ray and cast lightning bolt.  If possible he will stay away from the mimic.  His is a 9 dice bolt.  I won't roll due to the chaos as I might not get the spell off.

OOC - yes, since it at least appears that the beholder is distracted fighting the others and is mainly focused on forward actions with all the eye stalks.

OOC: The beholder can turn his anti-magic ray on or off at will, though I suppose your characters won't know this.  Also, he is directly coming after what he perceives as the most powerful spellcaster: Tahldar--Tahldar also being the one, along with Borimer, who hurt the beholder the most with the initial lightning bolt.  So Tahldar is in his direct line of sight and attack (pardon the pun?) with his single large eye focusing its attention on him for now.

Lukas takes site on shooting some more arrows provided that he has a clean shot.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Mon 02 Mar 2015.

Borimer sees that he can attack the left flank of the beast and strikes out twice, fear slowly rising in his throat.

OOC: I am not subtracting out magic "pluses" from weapons.  So a +1 magic weapon still does +1 to attack and damage regardless of the antimagic ray.

Seeing that no one is coming to her rescue, Shae begins transforming into a polar bear, stretching out--her skin being covered in white hair as she grows to giant size to escape and attack the mimic. (She will attack mimic with paws once transformation is complete.)

ROUND 3
Leo starts circling around behind in the shadows, his dagger flashing into his hands.

Shapfren begins casting...

Shae begins transforming into a polar bear...

Kahan rushes the approaching beholder with his Mace of Disruption raised high to strike a blow...

Lukas remains in the corner, pulling out more arrows to fire...

Tahldar begins moving out of the anti-magic ray.  However, he finds that this may prove impossible since it has a 90 degree arc and the beholder is coming straight at him, the giant eye focused on him.

Borimer rushes forward and gets to strike first, his bonuses helping him out again.  Unfortunately, one swing goes wide and the other bounces harmlessly off the beholder.

The beholder goes next... (But does not get an eye frenzy this round--1d6 chance per round after taken below 1/2 hit points.)

It has caught up to Tahldar, probably still remembering the vast amount of damage from the last lightning bolt.  It turns off its anti-magic ray to attack Tahldar.  This leaves Tahldar unprotected from its tentacle magic attacks, but also allows him to start his lightning spell...

One tentacle fires out a ray that Tahldar equates with a "finger of death" spell that can instantly kill.  The spell severely injures Tahldar but does not kill him.  (Saving throw succeeds, but 22 hp damage.)  The attack not only hurts Tahldar but also makes him lose his lightning bolt spell.

Another tentacle fires a magic ray at Borimer, and Borimer suddenly feels himself hit with a slow spell.  (Saving throw failed. 1/2 movement and attacks next round.  Saving throw vs. magic at end of each round to shrug it off.)

Kahan swings and miraculously hits the otherwise distracted beholder.  His mace of disruption does massive damage on evil creatures such as this.  (19 hp total damage.)

Lukas' arrow shots go wide, bouncing harmlessly off the beholder.

Leo jumps up and does an impressive backstab on the beholder.  (Critical hit, natural 20.  14 damage.)

Shapfren follows up with her magic missile spell, hitting the beholder.  (20 hp damage.)

The beholder is now gravely wounded and visibly furious...

The mimic and Shae are in their own struggle.  It sends out another pseudopod to slam into Shae.  (10 hp dmg.)  Shae is now attached to two glue-covered tendrils, but she is also in a polar bear form able to attack back next round.

Killer Mimic
 Hp: 90
 AC: 7
 Attacks: 3d4 (pseudopod smash)
 Special: Camouflage, Glue


 Beholder:
 HP=5
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:36, Wed 04 Mar 2015.

Having used his advantage and surprise now gone, Leo rushes over to attack the mimic next round with dagger still in hand.

OOC
Primary Weapon:
Dagger (d4/d3) [attks/rd] 1/1 (3/1) +1/+2 (+5/+2)

"How long until that things dies!" Didit muses while continuing with her song. She was still terrified to death by the danger it posed. Nobody wanted to follow Donovan's fate.

Cast Magic missile again, directing three missiles to the beholder and the rest to the Mimic, if the beholder is dead by then, all of them to the mimic

Shae will let out a roar in her polar bear form and attack the mimic with everything she's got.

OOC: Is Kahan still in the antimagic ray?

The antimagic ray was turned off by the beholder, so it is not currently active.  (However, since the beholder will have automatic first initiative, it could turn it back on.  To be outside the "potential" ray, you will need to put yourself to the side or behind the beholder.  It is currently focused on the area where Tahldar and Borimer are at, so Kahan can probably maneuver out of the way, but they probably cannot.  If they try to do that, a DEX check with -4 modifier will apply.  For Kahan, a DEX check +1 will apply.)

Tahldar staggers as he is hit by the Beholders ray.  With a twist he barely avoids the full brunt of the death ray.  He knows he got lucky even though he still was gravely hurt as the full brunt would surely kill him.  However Tahldar is made of sterner stuff than he seems and steels himself for further battle.

Knowing the Beholder will keep it's anti magic trained on him to ruin any spell he may try, the mage pulls forth his dagger and strikes.

OOC:  Dagger attack missed as I suspected it would...

Borimer tries to finish the beholder while struggling to move.

Kahan will attempt to smash the beholder into the ground with another hit of his mace.

More arrows, Lukas comments to no one particular, "I really need to get me some of that magical stuff, my normal weapons are useless against this thing"


13:17, Today: Lukas Rimshank rolled -2,10,5,21,2 using d10-3,d20+3,d6,d20+3,d6. more of arrows.
Sure hope the 21 hits
This message was last edited by the player at 19:19, Sat 07 Mar 2015.

ROUND 4
Enraged and nearly dead, the beholder sends its eye beams after Kahan.  One hits Kahan with massive damage as he feels his vitality drain from him.  (40 hp dmg.)  Another strikes out to charm Borimer as he approaches, but Borimer shrugs off the charm spell.  Next, it lashes out with its sharp teeth at Kahan but misses.

Kahan strikes back, making a deadly hit with his Mace of Disruption.  (Critical hit. Beholder is killed.)

Borimer was already swinging, and his blade sinks into the beholder as its large eye closes in death.

Shapfren concentrates her magic missiles on the mimic, hitting it.  Leo and Lukas also turn their attacks in that direction.  Leo hits but Lukas misses.

Shae the polar bear strikes out, hitting the mimic with claws and teeth.

The mimic is crushing and biting at Shae from two sides, plus teeth.  (23 hp dmg.)

Tahldar runs over and strikes with his dagger but misses.

As the party converges around the mimic for another round of attacks, it easily dispatches the creature and begins extracting Shae from the glue-like pseudopods as she transforms back into her half-elven shape.

You look at your two slain enemies and your own damaged bodies, glad to be out of danger.

But you are still trapped in the dome room with the ledge around the top.  A pinkish lightning-like light flashes around the room with the death of the beholder, bringing the door behind you back open and the sinking floor back to its regular level.

Hurt and wanting nothing more to rest and perhaps mourn the loss of Donovan, Tahldar nonetheless puts away his dagger and begins to search the room.  Hoping that with luck this room has a secret way out of the labyrinth, he begins to search with his keen elven eyes for anything hidden.

OOC: search for secret doors in the room.

Following Tahldar's lead, Leo also helps search the room for secret doors and anything else interesting.

Borimer cleans off his blade and then takes guard position in the middle of the chamber.

"Poor Donovan..." Didit lamented "But if we ca save the timeline he will be saved right? this is the past, if we fix whatever is wrong, then our world be returned to what is normal and Donovan will get to live a full life, won't he?" she was desperate, looking for a way to still cling into hope while scanning the walls for a way out.

Kahan dispenses some healing to himself and his comrades.

Kahan begins casting healing spells.  Kahan also will do a healing check on all who are wounded.  (See below for description of these spells.  Please add them to your characters accordingly, as I have not done so.)

While recovering from this battle, you remember the words of the Llamasu:

"This labyrinth is a test used anciently by priests.  They would send their subjects down here and then observe them get slaughtered by Manjab or the traps set up for their demise.  The evil priests watched some deaths from above, using the Onyx Gem to travel back to the entrance after viewing the violent deaths.  As previously told to you, there are 15 large rooms in this labyrinth.  Five of them contain viewing platforms used by the priests.  You must climb to a ledge where the viewing platforms are.  There you will find a secret door leading to a room with a dragon pedestal.  Touch the Onyx Gem to the dragon pedestal, and you will be sent back to the entrance.  The rooms you seek have domed ceilings marked with the symbol of the priests where the secret door is hid.  The rooms are dangerous, as my previous warning informed you, because they are all meant to kill unsuspecting acolytes."

Looking up, you can see that the three foot wide ledge leads around the domed area 20 feet above you.  It would be possible to walk around that ledge.  Indeed, on the dome wall directly above the door you entered, you can see a strange symbol carved on the door, clearly marking something.


OOC:  For newcomers, here is the healing check rule:

From Message 18 at link to a message in this game :

Healing Checks:

 I use a 1d4 for a healing check proficiency (once per day max or as permitted by DM after major battles), if done within an hour of the wound, and 1d3 if done within the day.

 If the healing check fails, I still allow 1 hp of healing from the check.  If it succeeds, it is as stated above.  So it allows at least 1 hp gain regardless.

 Used as a combination with herbalism, herbalism adds another 1 hp, and herbalism succeeds automatically, even if the healing check fails (so you always heal at least 2 hp).

 Healing Check 2:

 I am adding a new healing check proficiency.  A character can add a healing check 2 into a slot if that character already has healing check 1.  Healing check 2 gives the healing checks double the effects above (including a +2 if the herbalism skill is acquired).

 This is not available to characters under Level 5.

 RULE:  I think the healing check should bring the person to 0 hp from -1 to -10 unconsciousness.  They are still unconscious but are at the cusp of consciousness.  So Bernard is at 0 hit points.  We'll see how that rule works.  I never liked the "Cure" rule either, but I don't know how I'd apply it if it ever became relevant here.  We'll see.

And here are the priest healing spells:
<purple>Healing Spells:
 The Cure Light Wounds will heal 25% of recipient's original hit points (minimum 4, rounded down), the Cure Serious will heal 50% of Original (minimum 9, rounded down), and the Cure Critical heals 75% (minimum 18, rounded UP). The Heal spell stays the same, including all the disease and blindness healing, because it is basically a heal 100%.

 The reverse of these spells, as you can see, also just became more powerful.


One of the reasons the beholder did so much damage on Tahldar was because of this house rule as it applies to cure serious wounds, which was one of the eyestalk attacks.

Leo searches more around the room.  As he gets to the entrance he looks up.  "Perhaps I can try and climb this, or if that doesn't seem possible I do have rope, but I don't have a grappling hook.  I suppose I could try tying a couple of caltrops to the end of the rope unless someone has a better idea."  Leo begins to see if the wall seems climbable.  Leo turns his head toward Kahan as another thought comes to him, "Oh, and Kahan, let me know if you think some of the herbs I have will help you with the wounded."

"I can cast spider climb and get up to the ledge, or cast it on someone else and let them have a go.  I'm no climber in any event and won't get up there without magic or being hauled up there by rope."

Borimer looks for his missing hand and imagines he's clenching it in futile anger somewhere, probably the nine hells.  "Your spellcraft may be just the thing I need to climb anyway, maybe I should go up there first..."  He waits for his friend's healing arts before climbing if that's what is decided.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 00:02, Tue 10 Mar 2015.

OOC: Talhdar will lash himself to Borimers back and cast Spider climb on him.  Once  Kahan has a chance to heal first.  Tahldar is down 22.  Once me and Borimer are on the ledge we'll drop a rope down.

Kahan reaches into his pack and pulls out a grappling hook. "Let's not waste anymore spells if we don't have to," Kahan says, handing the hook to Lukas.

Talhdar aborts his use of another spell and waits for Lukas to climb up.

Borimer smiles at Kahan, "How about some of your non-magical healing arts, friend? I'm a bit beat up and if we encounter anything unfriendly it could get ugly fast."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:19, Tue 10 Mar 2015.

Lukas will climb up and find a spot to anchor a rope and then lower it for the others to climb up.

OOC: Please feel free to do rolls for healing checks, etc.  For any healing spells, there is no die roll, so you automatically get the amount healed (1/4 of total hp for CLW, 1/2 for CSW, and 3/4 for CCW).

The checks can be made after this next post by me, since you are temporarily out of danger.

Lukas uses his rogue skills to masterfully climb up to the ledge.  There is nothing to secure a rope to, but he looks closely at the rune by the ledge and realizes that it marks the location of a secret door.  Lukas pushes it open, and it reveals a small room beyond with a familiar looking dragon pedestal.  This pedestal, though nearly identical, is not the same one that teleported you here, but it has the same place in which you can place a gem.

Lukas ties the rope around the pedestal, and after a few minutes, you are all hauled up to the second level and the small room.

Borimer keeps guard as everyone climbs up to the pedestal, and then wraps the rope around his arm-stump.  He uses his one hand and two good feet to climb up to the top and join the others.  Borimer keeps his eye out for danger coming from the room below while others with keener minds tend to the pedestal and its workings.

Kahan looks over the wounded before climbing up to the pedestal with the others. "According to the statue, if we place one of our gems here we will be teleported to the exit," he states, looking around to see who has the gems.

Leo, after climbing the rope, looks around carefully but without touching anything to see if there is anything more noticeable on closer inspection.

You all gain the following experience points.  Please add XP bonus if your character has one based on Wisdom score.  Also, please adjust your character sheets, including leveling up, if applicable.

XP:

Is there a house rule for high wisdom adding a bonus for XP?  I have been giving Tahldar a 10% bonus for high Int, should I have been doing this?  Or is there something for an additional bonus for high Wis?

I looked through the character threads but couldn't find anything.

You can't get more than 10% bonus.  The House Rule is that if your wisdom is high enough, you can get the wisdom bonus regardless of class, but it can't be combined.

(This is to give one more reason for Wisdom to have something helpful to do, since it otherwise can be less helpful.  I typically don't allow 10% increases for simple Prime Requisite numbers, but I can make an exception for Mages and Intelligence.)

Looks like mine has been done wrong previously then, but I won't add it this time.

If people have done it in the past according to the normal rules, I won't begrudge that.

My house rule tends to be that the only thing that creates the XP bonus is wisdom.

So if it says "Bonus XP" that's not counting my 10% I presume? Normally you don't section them off like that but I won't complain; it makes me feel a little better that I know I got (if only a little) more than I was supposed to.

I give "bonus" xp if I thought your character did something rather significant, creative, or very good, sustained roleplaying.  Solving a puzzle might be one thing; self sacrifice; adding a new element/feel to the game.

It only happens rarely, and is something I've just started, since I usually include it in the total XP provided.  I think I only gave it to two people this time around.