Better Homes and Dungeons (Part 4)
Erakirak says, "Look out! There's undead in there!"
Deak says, "What? More?" He smirks and adds, "What'll those poor kobolds do once we've cleaned out all their tenants?"
"Make more, I guess," Rak replies.
Walery readies his death ray. It's his answer to most problems. But it's a good answer.
There is no sign of the undead that Erakirak has sensed, the several coffins and the tenants of the catacombs remain unmoving. The door however remains locked when the Elgarian tries to open it.
Deak suggests, "Maybe it needs the key." He walks forward and hold the key to the door (or fits it to a lock and turns).
Erakirak steps back and covers the door with his bow.
As Deak slides the key into the door and unlocks it, four skeletal warriors clad in armor rise up out of the coffins in unison.
GAME: Walery activates his Titan Armor, gaining: +4 Dex GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+11: (6)+11: 17 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+5: (8)+5: 13 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (2)+7: 9 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (16)+7: 23 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (12)+7: 19 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (7)+7: 14
Walery covers with his death ray. If this gets to melee he's in trouble. When the skeletons pop out, he's ready. He shoulders the death ray, cycles the action, and pulls the trigger. A bolt of raw, pure fire squirts out and strikes the frontmost skeleton. Sadly, Walery's death ray is not sufficiently butch to do more than leave a scortchmark.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (3)+3: 6 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (1)+3: 4 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+4: (14)+4: 18 GAME: Deak spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY. GAME: Deak rolls Channel: aliased to 3d6: (15): 15 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+11: (9)+11: 20 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+11: (18)+11: 29 GAME: Erakirak rolls 12+1d8+1d6: 12+(8)+(3): 23
Deak, very much aware of his seeming popularity among the shambling dead, bursts forth with holy radiance, inflicting minor life energy upon the four abominations as they seem somewhat ready for the attack, but every bit counts.
Erakirak tries to cover the door, but the skeletal warriors get the drop on him, emerging from their coffins, swarming through the doorway and attacking before he can get an arrow off. Perhaps fortunately, as they don't attack him. He fires two sparking arrows, one of which whistles through the skeleton's ribs to embed itself in the far wall, while the other shatters a few ribs.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (19)+7: 26 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (8)+7: 15 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (10)+7: 17 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (1)+7: 8 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (5)+7: 12 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (3)+3: 6
The warriors so recently risen from their graves attack Walery and Deak like machines without regard for their own well-being. One of them manages to actually hit Walery, but perhaps wounded by Deak those attacking him seem unable to hit the cleric.
GAME: Deak spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY. GAME: Deak rolls Channel: aliased to 3d6: (7): 7 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+4: (10)+4: 14 GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+11: (9)+11: 20 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+5: (6)+5: 11
Deak says, "The holy light of the Evenstar purge the blight of undeath from this place!" He pulses with another, weaker surge of life energy, but weakened as it may be, it strikes the undead with fully as much effect as the prior pulse.
Walery rolls with the blow of the skeleton before him. "Oh no, you don't," he growls. "By Reos's holy fire, you're going back to the grave." He works his death ray furiously, slotting another runed device into the firing chamber. As he backpedals, he fires from the hip, flame shooting out at the skeleton.
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (8)+12: 20 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (8)+12: 20
As the battle starts, Shara begins her singing and starts to draw an arrow. She also keeps away from the skeletons to inspire her teammates.
Two more of Rak's arrows follow the one that hit before, whistling harmlessly through the gap left by the broken ribs.
GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+11: (20)+11: 31 GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+11: (2)+11: 13 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+5: (11)+5: 16 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (9)+7: 16 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (18)+7: 25 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (20)+7: 27 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (5)+7: 12 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (4)+3: 7 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (2)+3: 5
Walery continues to backpedal as he cycles another fire canister into his death ray. The runes glow as he mutters something, and he fires again. The bolt of raw fire hits it dead in the sternum, and fire consumes a large portion of the skeleton before the bones fall to the ground, the magic holding them together failing.
The skeletons do not seem worried about their fallen comrade, instead they focus on attacking Deak, and two of them manage to land hits on the cleric. The nasty wounds are grim reminders that these undead things mean business.
GAME: Deak rolls Channel: aliased to 3d6: (9): 9 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+4: (1)+4: 5 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Deak spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY.
Deak just keeps up the slugfest.
GAME: Shara rolls weapon1+1: (19)+7+1: 27 GAME: Shara rolls 1d6+2: (3)+2: 5 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (19)+12: 31 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (4)+12: 16 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+1d8+1d6: 13+(6)+(6): 25
Shara continues to hum her song, but her bow really really blasts through one of the skeleton's hips....
Erakirak continues firing at the remaining skeleton warriors, striking one soundly in the shoulder. An electrical discharge leaves a burn mark in addition to the impact.
GAME: Walery rolls 2d8+4: (10)+4: 14
Walery, now with a moment to spare, sees Deak holding off three of them. He quickly pulls a red vial from his bandolier and comes up behind Deak, pressing the phial against his shoulder. There is a hiss, and the red stuff inside the tube seems to evaporate. Deak's wounds seem not as serious also. Because, science.
GAME: Walery casts Cure Moderate Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16 GAME: Deak rolls Bill: aliased to Weapon1: (17)+5: 22 GAME: Deak rolls BillDmg: aliased to 1d8+2: (8)+2: 10 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (11)+7: 18 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (18)+7: 25 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (3)+7: 10 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (7)+3: 10 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d8+3: (6)+3: 9
The skeleton that Shara shoots seems to notice her, and takes off across the room to bash her in the face with its weapon. Meanwhile the remaining two remain to attack Deak, one of them scoring another heavy hit.
GAME: Xasany rolls melee+1: (18)+3+1: 22 GAME: Xasany casts Cure Moderate Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16 GAME: Xasany rolls 2d8+4: (11)+4: 15 GAME: Deak rolls Channel: aliased to 3d6: (17): 17 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+4: (19)+4: 23 GAME: Deak spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY.
Even in such a small room, a Gnome can stay out of the way, distracted by some ancient shards of pottery. The skeleton that rushes Shara bumps Xas on the shoulder, and she blinks, her thoughts returning to the here and now. "Oh no you don't!", she tells the skeleton. A bright light follows a few words of magic, and the Gnome smacks the skele on the back. With a whoooooosh, the creature is consumed by holy fire. "Whoa, neat!"
GAME: Shara casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14 GAME: Shara rolls 1d8+4: (2)+4: 6
Deak calls yet again on the holy power of life to assail the 2 remaining warriors of Thul.
Still singing, Shara touches her chest to reduce the pain that was getting scratched by a skeleton. She also sings a thank you to Xasany.
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (19)+12: 31 GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+12: (13)+12: 25 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+1d8+1d6: 13+(2)+(1): 16 GAME: Erakirak rolls 13+1d8+1d6: 13+(6)+(2): 21 GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+12: (10)+12: 22 GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+6: (6)+6: 12
Walery, having done his part to help the priest for the moment, will take a moment to cycle the action on his death ray, snapping a fresh runed cylinder into it. He turns to fire at the one that went around after the bard, but it's down. Good. And only one left? That's fine. He aims and fires, hitting the skeleton in the hip and burning away some bone, though nothing critical, not so you'd think.
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (7)+7: 14
The last skeletal warrior is clearly on its last legs. The damage to it from Walery's shot sends its next attack wide, missing Deak completely and stabbing into the wood of the door instead.
GAME: Xasany rolls Melee: (2)+3: 5 GAME: Xasany casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15 GAME: Deak rolls Channel: aliased to 3d6: (5): 5 GAME: Deak spends ONE use of CHANNEL ENERGY.
Deak calls upon the power of Althea for another pulse of life energy, but this time it is focused on healing the living.
GAME: Shara rolls weapon1+1+1: (20)+7+1+1: 29 (THREAT) GAME: Shara rolls weapon1+1+1: (13)+7+1+1: 22 GAME: Shara rolls 3d6+12: (9)+12: 21 GAME: Xasany casts Cure Moderate Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 16
Still singing a haunting song, Shara draws back and fires an arrow, exploding the skeletons skull and ensuring it's not going to come back to life.
GAME: Xasany rolls 2d8+4: (7)+4: 11
As you slowly gather yourselves from the fight you enter the next room. This room is empty, only a single door across the room - a room with strange glyphs inscribed onto the floor in squares…
"Is everyone okay?", the Gnome asks, placing a hand on Deak's chest, her palm glowing as she heals the man of his wounds. "I feel that we should bring cauldrons of holy water and simply flood the undead to death."
Shara says, "Cauldrons? An entire river of holy water should be brought in...."
Walery nods as he checks over his death ray after the fight, counting his few remaining shells. "That's a lot of holy water," he observes. He looks at the inscriptions, but cannot understand.
Deak takes a small vial from his belt pouch and says, "It's not a river, but it is holy water."
Deak picks up some debris and tosses it onto one of the sigils.
A bolt of lightning comes down from the ceiling and strikes the floor where the debris has fallen. Looking up you realize that the same symbols are inscribed up there as well.
Shara blinks. "Okay..no."
Erakirak considers. "I can try flying over the tiles and opening the door. Any objections?
Xasany shrieks at the bolt of lightning, and ends up hiding behind Erakirak. "Why'd it have to be lightning?"
"Because they ran out of undead, I hope!"
Shara says, "Not yet, Erakirak." She says throwing a piece of debris OVER the runes and past them."
Erakirak nods and waits.
Walery winces at the lightning. "What we need is someone clever with magic traps."
GAME: Shara rolls ranged: (4)+6: 10
The debris doesn't make it. One lightning bolt comes out of the sky and strikes the rock mid-flight.
Xasany jumps each time the lightning goes off, and she remains behind the Egalrin. "I don't suppose anyone here can dispel or cancel magics, hmm?"
GAME: Deak casts Dispel Magic. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17 GAME: Deak rolls Cleric: (18)+5: 23
Deak says, "Well, I'm no expert on traps, magical or otherwise, but what works by magic can sometimes be undone by magic." He casts the spell, then grans up some more rubble. When he tosses it onto the runes, nothing happens. He then tentatively steps onto the nearest rune.
Erakirak observes the thrown debris and nods. "Well, not so much flying over it, then." He thinks about it. "I'm even less of an expert on magical traps than you are, but... it can't just keep firing lightning bolts forever, can it? If we keep tossing rocks at it, doesn't it have to get tired eventually?" But whatever Deak did seems to have maybe done the trick.
Walery looks impressed. "Well done," he says to Deak.
Xasany's head pops up over Erakirak's right shoulder, and her arms wrap around the Egalrin's neck as she looks to the non-electrocuted Deak. "Oh, good man!", she says. "Nicely done. That noise was really freaking me out."
Deak says, "Well, that took out one of them, but it seems that each rune is a distinct trap, and I can't repeat that spell." The debris he tossed skips over the closest trap but gets zapped by another.
Erakirak looks curiously at the gnome peeping over his shoulder and, after a moment, grins. Suddenly curious, he gives the tiles and runes a wide berth and starts pounding on the rest of the walls to the room, checking for hollow panels.
Walery wonders, "Can we rush it and rush past? It might get us, but only once if we can go fast enough."
Xasany grins back at Erakirak, and then cringes at the next trap going off. At least she doesn't shriek this time. She nods to him as he begins messing around with the walls. "I'll be your second set of eyes, hopefully there's an off switch or something. I mean, who leaves this sitting around where they can electrocute anyone walking by?"
There's probably some secret way across the floor, and Deak's dispelled trap remains inert, but there doesn't seem to be any secret /doors/ that can be used to circumvent the trap itself.
"Well," says Rak, "might as well try tiring it out. Cover your ears," he tells Xasany as he collects a pile of rocks and other debris, and then starts tossing them, one after the other, onto the same tile.
GAME: Xasany casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
Xasany sighs as Erakirak starts to toss bits of debris, and she mutters a few words of magic and begins to glance around the room more animatedly. "Hmmm, well the traps are definitely magical but let's see what else is hidden here?"
Xasany oooohs! and grins, climbing a bit higher to speak into the Egalrin's ear amidst the din of lightning bolts going off. "Over there! That line of little panels... they're not enchanted! That's probably our way in. Start with that one!" She points at a very specific panel, and a line of them diagonally across the floor.
Erakirak shifts targets, tossing pebbles at the tiles Xasany indicates.
Despite Erakirak's careful tossing, it is difficult to reach them all without without crossing the other electrified tiles. The ones that he does hit however, do not go off - or rather no lightning bolt is emitted from their squares. It seems they are as safe as the ones that Deak disenchanted.
Erakirak nods appreciatively to Xasany. "Well, that seems to be the safe path, then." He doesn't seem eager to test that with his own body, though.
Walery remarks, "That's a kind of complicated pattern. Can we walk across ot that way?"
Deak says, "I can't disarm more traps, but I can ward a person against lightning."
The Gnome nods to Erakirak, and carefully scurries over him, and touches down on the first 'safe' square. "Okay. I really don't want to do this but... well, getting a little anxious just ... standing around. So wish me luck." She bends down to pick up the rock that Erakirak first tossed, and tosses it to the next diagonal square. And assuming it doesn't get electrified, she hops to it, bends down to pick up the rock again, and continues the process... one diagonal at a time. "Tsk, it's like I'm a bishop that can only advance one square at a time.", she comments.
It's slow going, but Xasany makes it to the other side without getting hit with a bolt of lightning.
Erakirak has no idea what a bishop is, but Xasany seems to know what she's doing. He follows the path she took.
Deak says, "It rather reminds me of hopscotch."
"Are there bishops in hopscotch?" Rak asks, curiously.
Walery says, "I was gonna say, the first person across should get the protection spell, just in case. But it looks clear." So he'll go the same way.
Xasany cheers triumphantly as she gets to the last square without a single shock. "Woooo!" She immediately clamps a hand over her mouth. "Mmmorrry.", the Gnome mumbles. To Erakirak, she shakes her head. "Bishops are a piece in a game called chess. It's played on a checkered board, not unlike the floor here. Kinda sorta. Bishops can only move diagonally." She grins at Deak and nods. "It's very much like hopscotch, only winning means not dying!"
Deak says, "Just remember, guys, we may need to be wary of this on the way back out." Erakirak pays VERY close attention to Xasany as he follows her, almost to the exclusion of the tiles themselves, which is maybe not too bright. "Doesn't not dying always mean winning?" he asks as he clears the hopskotch chess bishop lightning board, droppig his remaining pebbles on the target tiles to mark the path.
Deak follows along as carefully as he can, saying nothing as he focuses.
After everyone is safely across (slowly, one at a time for safety's sake), you're ready to open the door. Like the previous one it's locked, but Deak's key quickly opens the pathway for you. Which brings you to a large room. Sitting in the center of this room - which unlike the others has no doorway in it - is a big stone gargoyle. It's a lovely piece of masterwork, but as you draw into the room to note the features of a bedroom, the thing moves a little, its brow furrowing. "What are you doing here? How did you survive my traps?!" It has a voice like gravel over rocks.
Shara says, "Ingenuity. Plus we worked together to get through the traps...."
Erakirak says, "We're here for Better Homes and Dungeon magazine. Could you tell us a little about your home?""
Xasany immediately backs up away from the talking statue, bumping into Erakirak and stopping. "Uhhhh. The statue is talking.", the Gnome says in a rising voice that verges on panic.
Walery ehs, "Yes!" He quickly rises to the excuse of us being here. "You did have some very nice traps. And the skeletons and such were quite dangerous."
Deak replies, "Great one." He bows. "We are come hither at the behest of the magazine called 'Better Homes and Dungeons' to evaluate it for their annual contest. The prize is an annual subscription and an all expense paid private date with Lady Sandiel. So far, I must say that your place is rather run down and infested, but we have tried to tidy up as we have moved about the premises.
"The dragon was an especially nice touch, though," Rak adds. "It's the sort of thing you normally find only in MUCH more elaborate dungeons."
GAME: Deak rolls Diplomacy: (19)+11: 30
The Gnome winces. "The lightning was especially frightening."
GAME: Shara rolls perform/sing: (6)+10: 16
"And the fungus, humungous."
...Rak chimes in.
Xasany smiles at the fungus comment. "It was a good choice. The threat of dying to being dissolved from the inside out is very high. Sadly the dragon melted all the mushrooms with its breath. You should probably have a word with it."
“Better Homes and Dungeons? Really?!?” The gargoyle glances around, seemingly embarrassed and finally looks at you. “I hope you’ll consider my dungeon for your reward! I’m glad you erm… survived.”
The Gnome nods enthusiastically. "Oh, you're definitely in the running! It's been a good tour so far. Quite scary!"
Deak smiles at the gargoyle and says, "Indeed yes. I must say the editors frown upon the deaths of good reporters. There's not exactly a surplus of qualified dungeon inspectors, you know. Now, are there any special features that we might have missed that you'd want to make sure we feature in our report? Anything that you're especially proud of? Like, for instance, if you have a better treasure horde than other dungeons, I'm sure the selection committee would be duly impressed."
"Did you see the secret room with the skeleton dog? Those are rare these days." He seems quite pleased with the thought. You remember the particular area from earlier. He makes a motion with fondness around his room. "And this is my horde. It's taken me years to find what's in this room." Looking around... well it's the room of a hoarder. One fond of shiny objects that aren't necessarily worth very much. There might be actual treasure here, but you'd have to go digging through everything else in here to find it. It clearly hasn't been cared for in years. "Sorry I didn't tidy up today, but this is everything!"
The Gnome eyes the hoarder's horde and nods, grinning brightly. "Oh, indeed. Some tidying up miiiight be in order, but this looks like the hoard of a winning entry, to me."
Shara stays back and chuckles. "It was a tough dungeon....."
Deak nods, "Yes. It is certainly a leading contender, but I hear that at least one other dungeon turned in an impressive entry, too. There's no telling for sure until the selection committee makes its final decision."
The gargoyle offers his hand to be shaken and nods to himself. "Yes, yes of course, but I hope you'll take all those kind remarks back to your superiors at Better Homes and Dungeons. It's been... nice to have company."
Xasany shakes the Gargoyles hand impulsively. "Wow, I've never shaken a gargoyle's hand before. I'll never wash it again." She retreats back to the safety of the others though and offers a wave. "You'll be hearing back from the magazine soon!"
-End-