Better Homes and Dungeons (Part 3)

Erakirak pulls an arrow out of his quiver and tosses it into the stream.

Nothing untoward that you can tell happens to the arrow. It hits the water and begins to merrily float downstream.

Erakirak watches it drift.

Out of curiosity, Erakirak walks over to where the stream disappears into the wall and checks out the wall itself for any anomalous features.

Deak walks back along the path to the entrance and examines the door's height, sturdiness, and hinges.

Where the wall would normally meet the floor there is a hole for the water to disappear into. It looks worn through but unnaturally circular. Meanwhile Deaks door looks very sturdy. Well-built like all the doors in this dungeon with sturdy unrusted hinges.

Erakirak stares at the hole in the wall for a while, then comes back. "OK, here's my proposal," he says. "I fly over the stream, trying to avoid the mushrooms, land as soon as I can, walk over to the door and try to open it. If none of that kills me, we figure out what to do next."

Deak nods. "Yeah. Sounds good to me." He follows the path back to the stream's edge.

GAME: Shara rolls athletics: (8)+8: 16
GAME: Erakirak rolls athletics: (19)+8: 27

Erakirak flies over the stream, lands on the far side, and starts walking towards the door.

Shara does a bit of a hop over the stream herself. "Strange that there are mushrooms this big here....."

Deak watches them, then says to Nasrin, "You want to try jumping it too?"

"Wait," Rak calls out. "Let us open the door. It might not be necessary."

"I'd rather try the door. I'd have to climb out of all this metal before trying to jump anything," Nasrin replies rather wrily. "At least have someone jump across with a rop-e first." She takes a deep breath and then makes her way forward slowly. "If we can open it no other way I can try smashing it. Maybe. Might be a bad idea." She shrugs. Nasrin, for the record is a tall, slender redheaded woman in crimson plate armor and covered in the sigils of the crossed axes and greatswords of Kor.

As Erakirak opens the door he finds something that he completely does not expect. A dragon. Sleeping on the floor. Even as the door opens the huge black-scaled creature blinks one of its eyes at him languidly.

Erakirak blinks back, and closes the door.

Shara looks to Rak. "What's the matter? Didn't we come over here for that door?"

"There's a huge black dragon on the other side of it." ...says Rak, rather bewildered.

There's a long pause after the feathered man closes the door, followed by the door handle jiggling as it is roatated back and forth.

Shara says, "yer.....serious..."

"...A huge black dragon?" Nasrin pauses for a second. Then she nods a couple times and raises a gauntleted fist toward the sky. "Whoooo! Is it going to try to eat us?!"

Shara says, "oookay. Time to execute the GTFOH maneuver...." She even tugs on Rak as if to emphasize the point.

Erakirak nods, and stands his ground as Shara tugs. "I am serious, yes. I don't know if it's going to try to eat us. I thought maybe we should do that thinking-about-what-we-do-next, thing. Leaving seems sensible, though, honestly, if the dragon is hostile, I'm not sure there's much point."

"If it hasn't devoured you yet then you're probably safe," Nasrin suggests, still grinning like a fool on the far side of the river. "Or spat fire or acid or whatever black dragons do. Did you try asking it for help?"

Erakirak shakes his head. "Nope. Didn't ask it if the lady dragon of the dungeon was present, either." He regards the jiggling door handle. "It... seems to have trouble with doors?"

The dragon seems to have figured out the door because suddenly the door opens and there the dragon is again, peering through the doorway.

GAME: Walery activates his Titan Armor, gaining: +4 Dex GAME: Walery casts Shield. Caster Level: 4 DC: 15

Walery eyes the dragon, but no one has attacked it, and it hasn't actually attacked us. He's got his death ray in hand, but he's pushing gems on his belt, and a forcefield shimmers into place, with little traceries of text running across it. "Reos, save me now," he mutters.

GAME: Shara rolls athletics: (6)+8: 14
GAME: Walery rolls reflex: (17)+10: 27
GAME: Erakirak rolls reflex: (2)+8: 10
GAME: Xasany rolls Reflex: (12)+3: 15
GAME: Deak rolls refl: (16)+2: 18
GAME: Nasrin rolls Reflex: (5)+3: 8

Seeing Rak stand in front of the door and staying there, Shara simply breaks for it and runs right across the stream....or in her case, into it. She doesn't exactly care that she's wet.

GAME: Shara rolls reflex: (16)+8: 24

The dragon pulls back a little bit and suddenly breathes a blast of acid across the room. The acid burns through the door and much of the wall, and destroys a huge swath of the mushrooms which deflate and wilt. It also burns the group, most of whom manage to evade the worst of it, but not all.

GAME: Nasrin casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14
GAME: Nasrin rolls 1d8+4: (2)+4: 6

As the acid sting and fog clears you can see that the dragon has transformed somehow... into a giant rat wearing clothing and holding a wand. It looks very irate.

GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (12)+7: 19
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+7: (17)+7: 24
GAME: Erakirak rolls 8+1d8+1d6: 8+(1)+(3): 12
GAME: Erakirak rolls 8+1d8+1d6: 8+(8)+(6): 22

About a year ago, Erakirak's teacher said to him once, over too many beers, that there are moments in life when tactics go out the window and one reacts by instinct. He would not have thought that facing a black dragon -- literally -- would be one of those moments, but while common sense would suggest running, he already has his bow out as he is sprayed with acid. He returns fire, damaging the wererat-thing that has replaced the dragon.

GAME: Deak casts Prayer. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17

"What? A dragon? What colou... oh." The Gnome shrieks as the acid burns at her shin, making a hole in her stocking and leaving a nasty looking, bubbly welt. "Erakirak, run!", she shouts, moving her hands away from her face to look at her leg. When the 'dragon' changes into a giant rat with a wand, and Erakirak fires his bow at it, Xasany looks pensive. She shakes her head, and steps back from the river several paces, and then charges at it full speed. With a slight limp. Whispering creepy little words that seem to crawl away when she's done speaking them, the green-haired witch is suddenly propelled upwards into the air. With her momentum carrying her across the river, she floats daintily towards the ground, landing behind the Egalrin. "I have your back!", she calls out.

Deak jumps instinctively in reaction to the acid burn, but immediately offers a prayer to Althea.

GAME: Walery rolls 1d20+11: (14)+11: 25
GAME: Walery rolls 2d6+6: (10)+6: 16

Well, if the dragon is going to transform, Walery is going to shoot him in the face with fire. Because to hell with getting acid breathed on him, two can play at that game. "Oh mighty Reos, Great Smith, bless this death ray, that I may strike down our enemies," he prays aloud. He shoulders his death ray, switches to flame mode, and fires. A bolt of raw flame squirts out, lancing toward the rat, and nails it right in the chest, smouldering fur and annoying it.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+9: (3)+9: 12
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+4: (5)+4: 9

After realizing that everyone has turned to attack the 'dragon', Shara rolls her eyes. "I would've rather talked to it, or left it alone." She then begins to sing a song, and even play on her lute. She's made it an obvious point that she is NOT going to attack this dragon.

The rat shakes its wand and throws it on the ground, then slashes at Erakirak wildly. For a rat it is exceedingly large, as big as the dragon had been in fact. "You sssshall faccce my wrath!"

GAME: Nasrin casts Bless. Caster Level: 4 DC: 14

There's a shout from Nasrin, who has opted to draw her hand drum from her bag. "Kill the rat! Bash its face! Cowards are a waste of space! Get him." She's beating up a rhythmic frenzy, akin to the chanson of a disciplined army. Obviously, her shouts are not the same. "Kor blesses this venture! It's just a rodent!"

GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+10: (16)+10: 26
GAME: Erakirak rolls 1d20+10: (12)+10: 22
GAME: Erakirak rolls 10+1d8+1d6: 10+(8)+(1): 19
GAME: Erakirak rolls 10+1d8+1d6: 10+(8)+(2): 20

"They attack me," Rak tells Shara, "I attack back. You do what you like. And no," he says to the creature slashing at him, "YOU shall face MY wrath." He steps back and continues to fire arrows at the creature, planting one in its side and one in its belly.

GAME: Xasany rolls weapon0+3: (17)+3+3: 23
GAME: Xasany rolls Intelligence: (2)+4: 6

Once she is there, she moves to the Egalrin's left, sort of towards the stream a bit. So that the birdyman can see her somewhat. She observes the rat attacking with its claws, and 'Rak's return fire. She stomps her foot down, and her hair suddenly lengthens, flaring out wide. It suddenly strikes forward all at once, and wraps itself around the rat, entangling it completely. Grunting, Xasany leans back a bit, the rat lifting off the ground a few inches. "Fat little bastard ain't he?", she quips.

GAME: Deak casts Spiritual Weapon. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16
GAME: Deak rolls SpirWpn: aliased to BAB+Wisdom: (20)+3+4: 27
GAME: Deak rolls SpirWpn+3: aliased to BAB+Wisdom+3: (12)+3+4+3: 22
GAME: Deak rolls SWcrit+4: aliased to 3d8+6+4: (19)+6+4: 29

Deak touches the enameled blue rose on his breastplate and cries out, "Althea, deliver us from this foe!" A bill appears in the air, glowing with holy light, and strikes the rat with spectacular accuracy, dropping its carcass.

Erakirak steps through the destroyed wall and checks out the other side.

Walery looks over the dead rat, or dragon, or whatever it is, and look over what remains of it. Then he'll wade through the burned out riverway and into the next room.

"I told you," Nasrin is calling out excitedly. She stops drumming long enough to wave with both of her hands as she does. "Victory goes to the bold!" Then she's laughing and drumming up a storm as people are congregating.

"Eeeewwwwwwh.", the green-haired says, slowly letting the dead ... thing ... drop to the ground. "Gross. There's blood and brains in my hair." The hair begins to flick back and forth like a whip. "That was no dragon." Xasany bends down to carefully take up the wand the 'dragon' wielded. "I wonder what this does..."

Deak follows after the others, checking out the dragon's lair. He comments, "I hope the Better Homes and Dungeons staff can work out with Sandy to date the kobolds."

Erakirak blinks. "I didn't know Sandy dated kobolds."

Walery looks over the dead rat, or dragon, or whatever it is, and look over what remains of it. Then he'll wade through the burned out riverway and into the next room. He shivers at the mention of Sandy, and says, "Maybe we should just tell the kobolds how she kills guys she dates. They might not have seen the play about it..."

Shara eventually stops playing the song and just carefully walks up, to nudge the carcass of the dead wererat with her foot.

Now that it's dead it remains in this huge rat shape. The rat itself seems fairly ordinary in spite of its size and the clothing it is wearing. It lays there unmoving as you check out the remaining room. Which is less than extraordinary. There's another door, this one off to your right, sturdy as the one that the dragon melted with its breath. In fact behind you the mushrooms are already regrowing where they were destroyed. It's a little unnerving to watch them sprouting up and growing slowly before your eyes. The rest of you who pass through the enchanted water don't seem to notice any odd effects... not yet anyways.

Erakirak checks the door for any INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS traps and tries to open it.

"I don't think Sandy dates kobolds," Nasrin replies slowly. She frowns, however, and stares at the riverbed before starting toward the door. "Elf girls, maybe." She shrugs as she strolls along, contnet to follow.

"I don't think Sandy is going to like this at all. Though if we can make the kobolds look like elf girls, that might work.", Xasany says, as she moves up closer to the door. She peers at Erakirak. "Is it safe?"

"Probably not," Rak replies as he tries to open the door. "Best to stay back."

Walery snorts and says, "I don't think any spell any of us can do will fool Sandy. We're probably better off telling the kobolds we lied. But since we killed the monsters, they can move into the areas we cleared. They might take that as a consolation prize."

Deak says, "We don't have to tell them anything of the sort. We'll just say that another dungeon won the prize."

The door is unlocked, and opens into yet another room. This one is in poor condition, several large pillars have been knocked over and their shattered remains lay across the floor. The cause of this destruction is not evident, but there's a stream off to your left where the same stream has poured itself into this room and is quickly pouring through to the other wall where it empties again into another hole. It seems like it might run through some of this place. In any case you don't have to cross it this time because the only door here is across the room not down across the stream.

As you pick your way through the room you notice some odd piles of bone and realize that there are several large rat skeletons strewn through it. You do your best to ignore them as you make your way to the next door which is also unlocked. You open it up to another room, and find yourselves in a corridor. The hallway is marked by suits of armor in little alcoves. It's unnerving really, particularly after several very active rooms to find so much that isn't about to attack you. So you move along, following the corridor of empty suits of armor. Until you find the corridor opening up into a tomb with a door off to the right of you. It's a large room with more suits of armor, and several caskets pushed into holes in the walls.

Erakirak stops short as they walk into the most recent room. "Careful: there are more undead."

Shara says, "I'm starting to think this was all set up."

Xasany stays near the door as they start checking out the room, and tries to be vigilant in searching out the undead that Erakirak speaks of. "Er. Where? I mean, the armor over there seems obvious, but kind of too obvious, you know?"

Erakirak starts firing arrows at random things that might have undead inside them. Mostly to relieve the tension, but also to maybe flush enemies into visibility.

Nasrin whistles cheerfully and plays a tune with her drum as she travels alongside the party, making any stealth on her part absolutely impossible. She eyes the skeletons with a growing sort of thoughtful enthusiasm that is echoed in the way the beat shifts. For now, however, the redhead isn't singing at least. Unlike her drumming she is no good at singing. At all. You've already borne witness once.

-TBC-