Having freed the mace from its tether, Magnus darted forward to hand off the mace when Rondald was ready. He moved sluggishly, his arms heavy and legs unsteady as they weaved about the specter.

The elf swipes again at Rondald as the latter stumbles backwards, his shield lowered as he thinks only of getting out of the way of the phantom blade.  Magnus holds his mace forward for Rondald to grab, though the sailor seems entirely occupied and does not even look back to notice the attempt to hand the weapon off to him.  Again, the weapon cuts, upward and then redirecting down and this time Rondald cannot react in time and the tip of the blade cuts across his upper thigh, the cold, corrupting blade syphoning his strength and leaving his leg shaking and unsteady.

Terri thrusts out again, this time her knife connects in a brutal stab, though just as had happened to Finn's blade, the spot of the injury erupts into a whirl of vaporous color, seeming not to be even touched by the knife.  Terri squeaks her surprise, taking a step back before she is yelled at by Finn as well as Rondald.

"Get down Terri!"  Judoc shouts, and the woman drops to the ground, shuffling backwards with her one good arm as the mage's flaming dart sails over her shoulder, on a crash course with the center of the ghost's back.  The fireball hits, and seems to spread out through the center of the apparition, the magic burning the ghost from the inside as it expands to fill its whole volume.

The ghost shrieks, a piercing cry which makes even Magnus pause to try and cover his ears...  Though in a moment the whole transparent thing has disappeared into a wisp of whirling smoke.

OOC:  As much as I hate to have NPCs (or NPCed PCs) make the difference in a fight, Judoc beasted his roll for hitting, maxed out on damage, and the apparition basically crit failed his HT roll for consciousness... so I guess I should just let it go :p.  The good news is that no one is seriously damaged, just fatigued, as Rondald alluded to.  As a side note, Gustav will wake in a minute or two and can feel free to post again in the thread.  Searching the following rooms will yield the following loot:

a damaged tapestry
a sack of coin (100 copper and 50 silver)
3 small gems
rotting clothes
a gem-studded tiara
a small purse with 8 silver pieces a larger green stone
a silver candelabrum .
an etched crystal bowl
a handsome ring set with a deep red stone
and 4 gems
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Mon 17 Feb 2020.

Gustav comes around and shakily gets to his feet, he reclaims his sword, but isstill shaking his head  When I hit him, it was like it sucked life... well energy out of me.

He is interested in what the ring with the red stone is/does and the Green stone with the 10 SP, he assumes everything is somehow magical here.

Rondald thanked Magnus for offering the weapon, glad it was not needed in the end. He then went and checked on Terri, apologizing for shouting at her, but explaining that it as only out of concern, since she had neither magical armour nor weapon, and he had already messed up one fireball.

As folk recover, he is just glad that everyone is ok, and as they check out the loot, he has to question if it was worth it. It so very nearly went badly wrong, and that was just the ghost!
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Mon 17 Feb 2020.

"Yeah, I'm still shaky." Magnus agreed. "Saw what it did to you and figure I'd go down too if I tried it. Thank God for you guys" Magnus said and shot a look to Finn and Judoc. "Not sure what we would have done otherwise."

The Minotaur paced as his body warmed back up, the trembling in his limbs subsided and his breathing eased. In time he helped to search the rest of the chamber, frequently casting a wary eye over his shoulder for any more signs of the former residents.

Seconds after it had begun the ghost cried a foul pathetic scream and vanished into nothingness.  Finn stood there for a moment waiting to see if it was a trick and when the apparition appeared no more he decided the contest was over.  Had Judoc not destroyed it by fire surely Finn would have cut it in half with his new blade.

Moments later the Arraterrian swordsman stirs and sits up.  'When I hit him, it was like it sucked life... well energy out of me.', he says a bit groggily while reaching for his discarded weapon next to him.  But when he holds it up the thing doesn't look the same.  It takes the swordsman only a few blinks to connect the dots as he sees the black hilt of his claimed weapon riding on someone else's hip.  He clears his throat, then announces 'Finn.'

The plucky elected leader turns to face Gustav, a satisfied smile plastered about his face. ”Ya?  How ya doin' Gustav?”

The swordsman points to Razzel's belt.  Finn looks down.  Then back at the swordsman not seeming to understand.  Gustav musters the effort to climb to his feet as he shoots back. 'You've got my sword Finn'.

The ever optimistic mage-thief frowns slightly.  His gaze turns from one person to the next within the company hoping that someone, anyone, will side with him.  After all, what's that old expression, possession is nine tenths of the law?  But he finds no sympathy.  A bit sheepishly the agent of the Row draws the magnificent blade free and hands it over.


OOC:
Dont worry Gustav, I'm not trying to bogart your gift.  Its just a bit of role play.  While I know the sword is for you Finn isn't so gracious.  At least at first.  Hope you don't mind putting a few words in your mouth Gus, I apologize if I didn't get it quite right.

After gathering all the loot listed Finn will lead the party back to camp.  There we will rest.  Finn and whoever else that chooses can inspect the loot for a guess to its value (Merchant roll).  I would like to have Judoc and I inspect the loot to see if any of its magic.

Though all in the party are mostly unharmed by the ghost, it still takes some time for the group to put themselves together and head back to the stables to recoup their prizes and rest from their exhaustion.  Indeed, the only one who seems to have been injured at all is Gustav, who was never once touched by the blade of the apparition, but instead was the only one to hit it... an oddity which takes up much of the conversation as the six set down for an early lunch.  Finn heals the swordsman again, to make up for his brief moment of thickheadedness where he had attempted to make off with the black sword all together.

Somewhere around two hours later, the group sets off again.  By now the thick, boiling clouds overhead are unleashing another furious downpour, splattering hard against the stone of the courtyard which causes a cacophony of echoing noise as the six hurry their way up the courtyard towards the prisons of Perdition...  Finn smirks for a moment, thinking of the Northman Bjorn attempting to make his way alone in the downpour, though the thought is short lived, for his immediate afterthought is that it will be impossible to track the traitor after such a deluge.

In another moment, the six have made their way into the prison, Finn and Judoc feeling the same wave or shift in magic as they enter...

Though they have all seen the interior of the prison, Judoc is still enraptured by the columns of elementals, frozen in time and space seemingly ad finitem.  Most of the others though, make their way straight across the chamber towards the far wall of the prison where the cell of the giant lizard still stands open.

"Are we sure we want to do this?"  Terri murmurs nervously, her right arm still held fast in her sling, though her left hand grips her knife tightly.

OOC:  Ok gents, same deal.  You can choose a door or a key combination in order to try and open things up.  Let me know where you want to start.  As a reminder, the two doors on the south wall (bottom) take 6 keys, the east and west walls each take 4, and the five doors on the north(ish) wall all take 2, with the center door already being open.

Magnus looked nervous as he stepped back into the cavernous chamber, and swept his eyes across the doors barred against the ages. He tried to imagine this still being an inhabited prison, the guards walking the halls, knowing that behind those doors awaited some of the worst things in the known world. Their known world, now potentially forgotten by the current one.

The beast man was no coward, he had carried arms his entire adult life, he had killed men, and other stranger things. But he was a cautious soul by nature, so the whole enterprise, not knowing what was behind those doors, raised his hackles.

He was not about to abandon his friends, hell, Finn would likely open them with him or without him. So he stood in the silence, mentally girding himself for the moment when one of those ancient portals would yawn open after so long.

Rondald shared Terri's concerns, but did not want to let his friends down.

"Terri, please stay back. You are most vital, win or loose, in putting us back together. Whilst you can handle yourself in combat, that is not your strength. Please put the knife away and be ready to drag one of us out when we are badly injured."

He readies his crossbow, loading it and making sure it is cocked and ready...
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:55, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Gustav stood ready, sword on guard, but he trusted Finn less now... it was a cheap trick and he had lost respect for him doing that.


OOC - No Issues Finn, other than in character play, Gustav even gave you your knife back handle first.

Judoc feels the change in mana again, as he had before. He has read, of course, of zones of low mana and high mana, but he has never experienced one before that he knows of, and he cannot say whether he finds himself in a similar area or not. But if he is correct, and the four elementals are the prison's power sources, then perhaps the mana they channel is spilling out somehow into the chamber.

When they were here earlier, they had been focused on preventing Mika'il from opening the cells. The irony now that they are here to open the same cells is not lost on Judoc. Now that he stands here once again, a small niggling doubt whispers in his ear. There are so many doors. Will they be able to destroy whatever is within them? He thinks again of the giant lizard, and all of the dead Wazifi, and in spite of himself, he shivers.

Surveying the room, Judoc looks for places that might offer some kind of tactical advantage. He regrets not having Giles along for this journey, whose time in the military surely has taught him a thing or two about how to use a battlefield to one's advantage.

"Eenie, meenie, minie, moe," he murmurs, looking at the four closed cells to the north. "Let's aim for some kind of defensible formation, and then try Door Number One."

OOC: Judoc will try a default roll vs. Tactics to see if he can come up with the best way to approach each door.

"Good idea. Something small and less threatening..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:01, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Finn walks around the almost circular room with a rather smug expression.  He never thought he'd make it here.  The apprentice, the wazifi's hell bent on killing them and the daemon all put in their place.  Now with the field clear the mercenaries can focus on the business of getting rich.  And as one of Finn's previous partners was fond of saying, 'Brother, business is booming'.

He gives pause at the strange feeling as they cross the threshold of the prison proper and a side long glance from Judoc tells Razzel that he feels it too.  Could it be the mana?  While Finn lacked a paid education from a magical school he is learned enough to know that mages tap into the natural mana that is a part of everything, and they bend that mana to their will.  But some areas for whatever reason don't have enough or have too much mana.  Is this place one of those?

Finn is deep in thought concerning the up coming fight when Judoc pulls at his attention by mentioning a defensible formation.  Instantly the plucky mage-thief knows what he wants to do.  He grabs the swordsman by the shoulder.  ”Gus, yer with me.  Judoc yer with Magnus.  You two, over there.”


OOC:
Good to know Gustav, lol.  Luckily I made my Self Control roll.

Hands are empty so I can fiddle with the tiles.

My plan is this.  Everyone has a combat buddy.  Me and Gus, Judoc and Magnus, Rondald and Terri.  The 3 teams will begin a few hexes apart.  This way if its a baddie and it has some kind of AoE attack (spell, cloud, cone, trample) it wont affect most of the group.  Once we know what we're facing the mages will decide what spells to use.   I'm thinking about buffing Gustav.  Judoc might want to buff Magnus.  Remember to use Retreat bonus when defending.

Pick the door Judoc suggested.  Try combinations of 2 tiles until we find a set that works.

OOC:  Happy to be back a ways, using the crossbow. Perhaps 20 ft back.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:03, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Sending Magnus and Judoc a several feet to the right of the doors and Rondald and Terri several feet back, Finn assesses the plan, the geometry, trying to mitigate the possibility that all of them will be injured or incapacitated at once.  Immediately happy with his plan, Finn drops down and places the tiles on the floor, organizing them in a row so that he can be sure to remember which combinations he has tried and which he has not.

Mathematicians in the cultural centers of the world such as Megalos or Tredroy had made a study of permutations and combinations... that is, given a finite number of choices (6 total tiles), and a finite set (2, 4, or 6 tiles respectively), how many different outcomes were possible, and what probabilities existed for each outcome.  In their current situation, perhaps one of these scholars could have told Finn that there were 13 possible combinations and that each had a likelihood just under 8% of being correct.  Of course, they would remind Finn, it was dependent on the assumption that it was unimportant how the key was constructed - which animal was placed on which side of the key.  A professional dungeon delver may have just reminded Finn that at best he had a 92% chance of getting the key wrong and that choosing incorrectly often had consequences...

Of course, none of this was on Finn's mind as he started with the first key in his row, that of the bear, which had been on the top of his stack, and the bull which creates a new image of the bull slashing his horn into the bear's side as the latter swats a massive paw down on the bull's flank.

Finn looks at the key for a moment, taking a deep breath, before standing and placing the key in the small inset next to the door.

Nothing.

Thinking little of the hiccup, Finn merely breaks the two apart, replacing the bull with the eagle and has another go.

Nothing.

Eight more combinations Finn tries, each time snapping apart the unsuccessful tile combination and replacing it with a fresh one, going through every combination of bear and bull before moving on to the eagle.  When finally Finn places the Eagle and Owl together, and presses the two into the inset, finally something happens.  The crease in the doorway seems to expand before the doorway swings open, pushing outwards slowly into the others.

"Get ready!"  Finn shouts, stumbling over himself to get back into a reasonable fighting stance, quickly putting the tiles back on the ground as he hastens to pull his sword free from his belt.

Nothing.

It takes a moment to truly realize it, but when nothing bursts free from the cell, Finn slowly makes his way towards the doors, taking tentative steps to keep from inadvertently springing some sort of trap or ambush.  But as he pushes the doors more widely open it becomes clear that there is nothing, not treasure nor demon locked in this cell.  Instead, it is entirely empty.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:26, Fri 21 Feb 2020.

Rondald is no mathematician. He is a soldier, and right now he is on guard against trouble with his crossbow. No trouble is to be seen, but that should never be an excuse to lower ones guard. So he waits and watches...
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:47, Thu 20 Feb 2020.

Magnus could have laughed had the situation not been so serious. His imagination had run wild with the possibility of what lay behind the ancient door, and here it was opened at last to reveal...nothing.

"Do you...see anything?" Magnus asked the group, and looked around at the larger chamber to see if anything else had occured.

One hopes that whatever was entombed was not invisible...

As he looks about for any movement with sword & shield Ready.

Finn busies himself with his work, careful not to rush too much.  While he is relatively young he is wise enough to know that most plans which are undone by mistakes happen when the planner rushes.  Usually due to an abundance of impatience that almost always is driven by fear or greed.

The leader places the tiles carefully arranged neatly on the floor so that he can keep track of which combinations he's tried.  One pairing after another is tested.  All the while Finn's smile is so wide that not much more than lips and teeth can be seen.

And then he is rewarded with a magical event of the door cracking open.  A high pitched sort of giggle breaks the small quiet and had it not come from the area of the door some might have thought it to be Terri.  Finn squeaks out, ”I'm better than you ya dirty fucker.”

Razzel pulls at the door to gain entrance, hops back, unsheathes his new shiny weapon and waits.  And waits.  Surely its a matter of a handful of heartbeats but to Finn it feels like an eternity.  Finally convinced no horrors are going to exit and try to rip his face off he creeps back to the door and then inside.  Moments later the normally plucky mage-thief crosses the threshold of the doorway.  His arms hang limply by his side.  His jaw has fallen as far as it can go leaving his mouth so wide open Magnus might think he could fit his head inside.  Finn stares blankly at nothing, in utter shock.

As his friends begin to speak it is the nudge Finn needs to bring him out of his stun.  ”Nothin' “. he answers the minotaur, his voice full of sorrow.  Next as Gustav makes his bright observation Finn quickly snaps his fingers.  ”Judoc...”.  He points with two fingers to his eyes and then inside the seemingly empty cell.


OOC:
Sorry folks, it wouldn't occur to Finn that trying the wrong set of tiles might incur some kind of bad consequence.  Maybe it'll dawn on him in the future, but not now.

I wrote the narrative for flavor but if extra explanation is needed Finn is asking Judoc to use his talents to see the invisible.  Just to make sure the cell was indeed empty.

This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:59, Sat 22 Feb 2020.

Finn gestures with his hands to Judoc, though the mage simply shakes his head...  Even with the mask they had earned from the Necromancer's tower, he had no way of finding the invisible.

Finn and Judoc walk their way inside, tentatively stepping just over the threshold for a full view of the room.  It is of the same black, slick and reflective stone of the chamber outside.  The room is wide, a sort of trapezoid that is wider on the far side, twenty five feet or so deep and perhaps twice as far across.

Still mistrusting, the two stay near to the entrance, listening and watching for anything that might give them a clue as to what purpose this chamber had served be it shadow or faint buzz of invisible energy...

OOC:  Still nothing to speak of.  If you guys want to search the whole room, feel free to make a perception roll which may or may not be modified.  Also, let me know where you want to go from here.  OOC is fine just in case you do happen to discover something in the room.

Not trusting things, Rondald stays on guard...
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:17, Sun 23 Feb 2020.

Finn steps into the room cautiously.  His mind runs wild with possible explanations of why the black chamber appears empty and how to handle it, each one crazier than the one before.  Razzel is about to prance towards the center when caution grips him.

Instead he steps backwards and utters a pair of words stoically.  ”Close it.”


OOC:
Take myself and Judoc from the room, close the door and if they are still in place remove the tiles.  My aim is to lock the cell closed.

I will take the discussion to the OOC thread.

Frustrated by the empty cell, and too nervous or impatient to explore much beyond what can be seen by sight, Finn directs for the cell to be closed.  It proves to be only little more complicated than anticipated, for as the doors can be shut by pushing them closed, they still do not 'lock' into place.  Instead, the wide gap remains at the meeting of the two doors until the eagle and owl keys are placed into the inset again, fitting the doors together as a near perfect match as the seam narrows down to almost nothing.

"On to the next one then?"  Judoc offers, pointing towards the next cell in line, the one between the empty cell and that of the T-Rex.

No one has any better ideas, so Finn goes about setting his keys in place again, setting aside the Eagle-Owl combination (for certainly it wouldn't be the same key to all the cells?) but keeping the eagle tile to try with some of the others.  This time, Finn manages success on the third try, with the Eagle-Fox combination clicking into the inset, as the seam in the doors widens slightly.  Pulling the doors open, Finn peers within, anxious to find something other than another empty cell.

For better or worse, he is obliged.

Finn and Gustav with a straight line view to the back right corner, see a massive crystal propped on an iron stand all the way in the back.  The thing is ludicrously large, bigger in height even than Magnus, and as wide around as Finn is tall.

As for Magnus and Judoc, the two see all the way into the back left corner, giving perhaps a slightly more pessimistic view.  For in the corner, hanging from the ceiling is a six foot large paper construction, looking something like a massive wasps nest though the whole of it is dripping with a thick, red fluid.  Crawling around the back of the nest, Magnus can just make out a thin, spindly arm, gripping on to the red paper side.

Rondald and Terri of course, have the best view of the center of the room and they stand transfixed for a moment as the doors are pulled open.  For hovering mid-air is a horrid, beastly insect the size of a crow with a set of four bat-like wings and a stinger of sorts both on it's head as well as protruding from its abdomen.  Worse yet, Rondald thinks he can just make out humanoid characteristics of the thing, a five fingered hand with an opposable thumb... facial features and a reddish, mottled skin that clings tightly all about the monsters body.

Only a moment passes, but from a standstill the wings of the monster start beating, fluttering faster to full speed such that the insect-man is now hovering, emitting a thin, tinny buzz, his eyes peeled directly on Rondald.

OOC:  Map posted below.  Though the picture below may look like a Stirge (which it is supposed to be), that is not exactly what the monster looks like.  None of your characters would have likely seen a stirge anyway to this point in their lives (nor likely heard of one).  Everyone has their choice of Melee weapon and/or shield readied with the exception of Finn who is empty handed (to open the door) and Rondald, who has his crossbow loaded and readied.  The monster is in the middle of the cell, 30 feet or 10 hexes away from Rondald.

One second worth of action please.  Everyone do me a favor and roll vs. perception (hearing), and HT as well as a just in case.




Flying Monster


Massive crystal in the corner

He hears the buzz and brings shield up and the sword ready to strike ... he'll swing if something exits the doors.

Magnus felt that worrisome voice in his head grow quiet as the massive doors yawned open. He caught a splash of red, there was a curious smell, and then the surprisingly loud buzzing of whatever was moving within.

He stepped up online with Judoc with his shield raised and his mace, tethered as usual, low and to his side. The time had come.