Cauldron, Part 15
4/16/08
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* The chitinous creatures' ichor seeps into the dusty floor.
* One of the creatures, the one Kristof had just cloven in half, still twitches it's hundreds of legs uselessly as it lay upsidedown.
You are now In-Character. (IC)
Kristof grimaces at the creatures in distaste.
Tass squirms in disgust at the horid creature's remains.
Kristof glances around to make sure there are no more 'surprises' in the room.
Calico wanders over and pushes a creature over with a dagger.
Tillandor also inspects a creature.
* A thin carpet of stone rubble covers the floor of this room, with mounds of shattered rock piled in nearby corners. Built into the walls are rows of stone shelves--perhaps bookshelves, though there are no books on them. A ladder leans agains the northern wall. An omninous silhouette in the middle of the room appears to be a harmless wooden lecturn under a sheet. The sheet is rumpled and littered with the bodies of these creatures.
Kristof goes over to check the ladder.
Jiona also looks distastefully at the... whatever they were... and instead glances around the rest of the room.
Calico jerks the sheet off the lecturn.
Tillandor calls out, "Careful of the leg spines. They may be dead, but still poison for that."
Tass moves up to peer into the room, but not quite entering it.
Jiona nods to Tillandor, acknowledging his warning. With the others busily investigating this chamber, she retreats back into the previous room, poking around for loose parts to maybe reassemble a few of the incomplete contraptions.
Kristof looks sharply at Tillandor with a worried expression and asks, "Poison?"
Kristof notes the small gouges at his knees with a look of concern.
Calico looks for anything of interest on the now uncovered lecturn.
* Kristof attempts to pull on the shelves to no success.
Tillandor nods, carefully holding up a leg and pointing out the poisonous spines.
Ethkin follows Jiona...
Kristof asks, "Can I get a hand with this?" pointing to the bookshelf.
Calico wanders over, "What you trying?"
Kristof says, "There is a latch here that should open this up."
Kristof says, "Its just a little to hard for me to move by myself."
Calico uses a dagger to try levering the latch open.
Kristof tugs again at the bookshelf.
Tass moves into the room to help Kristof.
Jiona glances up when she hears someone approach, and says "Hey, Ethkin," somewhat distractedly, poking through more of the stray parts. Not seeming to find what she's looking for, she retreats a bit more into the larger room, double-checking for anything more appropriate in there.
Tillandor steps carefully around the millipedes, and checks on the progress of Kristof and Calico.
Ethkin glances woriedly at Jiona, then in the direction of the rumble.
Calico hols up a lamp to illuminate the opened passage.
Kristof remarks, "Someone sure likes their secret passageways."
Tass peers curiously into the new opening.
Kristof considers, "Or liked I suppose."
Ethkin doesn't even look at Jiona, and breaks into a sprint back to the other room.
Jiona's ears perk up at the first noise, and she stands up straighter, considering going back to check on them. At the second incident, she also turns around and goes back to see what's happening in there.
Kristof looks into the new opening.
Kristof stops suddenly, staring into the revealed room.
* You hear a female voice from that room speak in common: "I am Emirystul, librarian of Jzadirune. The scrolls you seek here have been destroyed to keep you and others from fading into nothingness. The curse of the Vanishing began here, in these mystic halls. And here it will remain. Be careful what you find, and mind whatever magic is wrought here."
* Tillandor rolls 1f20+14: 19,14 = 33.
* Tillandor rolls 1f20+10: 6,10 = 16.
Jiona relaxes when she sees that no one seems harmed, and moves further into the room, interested in what has been uncovered. She hasn't intentionally ignored Ethkin's earlier comment, but that's been set aside with this new event.
* The ghostly visage of the gnomish woman vanishes.
Ethkin has all but forgoten his earlier attempt at conversation with Jiona in light of this new development as well. He hears the voice, but can 'see' little else.
* Calico rolls 1f20+1: 7,1 = 8.
Kristof considers the words of the long vanished gnome and says, "Well that isn't something you see everyday."
Jiona's ears perk straight up at the voice, her eyes wide. Only after the visage fades does she reenter the room, moving over to Tillandor. "That was... quite a discovery," she says softly.
Kristof muses, "I wonder what scrolls she was referring too?"
Ethkin grins, "I don't see much every day."
Tillandor suggests, "It could be, should you so choose."
Kristof asks Tillandor, "What do you mean?"
Calico peaks through the opening.
Ethkin encounters a blue cube while trying to cross the room.
Tillandor says, "I should think we'll see it again today, if you but push the door closed, and open it once more."
Tass back tracks to look at other hall way, uninrested in the new room.
Kristof says, "So if they destroyed scrolls to prevent the Vanishing from leaving this area, why then did the Vanishing move into Cauldron?"
Calico says, "The 'vanishings' above were abductions. But there's still recent vanishings down here."
Kristof says, "And what does the Vanishing have to do with magic wrought here?"
Tillandor says, "Yuathyb certainly fell victim to the Vanishing."
Tillandor says, "Though the children and others from Cauldron, I think not."
Tass ventures a look into the hallway in the east, still listening to the conversation, but focused on the room ahead.
Jiona considers that fact. "If Yuathyb suffered from it... then this was put into place not too long ago, or he was afflicted with it for a very long time."
Kristof asks, "Do you think that all the missing people were abducted rather than afflicted with this curse?"
Calico says, "or it's not been dealt with properly."
Tillandor says, "I would suggest rather that he did not heed the advice of the image. If he even heard it."
Kristof walks into the room looking around.
Ethkin carefully manouvers around the dead creature he encounters, mindfull of Tillandors comments about poison spines...
Calico spots nothing of interest in the new room, and turns to a rock pile in the corner she considered earlier.
Ethkin encounters the pink one.
* Entering this empty, dust-covered room sends a number of small spiders scurrying out of your path. There is nothing on the walls, nothing on the floors... just a dusty room.
Tillandor blinks suddenly. "She spoke not in the tongue of gnomes."
Calico says, "I noticed."
Ethkin blinks, "Why, was that voice a Gnome's?"
Jiona nods slowly, considering that too. "If he did suffer from it later, then the scrolls that were destroyed were not the only cause. Something to keep in mind." She looks at Tillandor in surprise, and comments, "You're right."
Kristof agrees. "She spoke in Common. Does that mean she expected someone not of Gnomish origin?"
Tass pulls out one of his candles and lights it to see if he can see farther into the darkness of the hall way.
Calico absent mindedly moves the rock pile to one side.
Kristof says, "Or perhaps all the scrolls weren't destroyed."
Ethkin finds his way northly-forward blocked, and sighs exasperatedly, "Could someone help me, please?"
Tass says, "Ethkin, could you please tell me if you sence anything in this direction"
Tass goes to collect Ethkin.
Tillandor passes through the open book case, and examines the room beyond.
Jiona muses over these new developments, and while she does so, she glances around the room and the ceiling, trying to get an indication of the contraptions in the other room are linked to this place in any obvious way.
Kristof moves out of the room and examines the hall leading to the west.
Tass says to Ethkin, "Would you come with me? I would like to see if you can sence anything down this hallway."
Ethkin greatfully takes Tass's hand, "Get me out of this and I'll sense all I can for you."
Calico notices Ethkins troubl navigating around the dead creatures, and pushed them one at a time into a corner.
Tass moves into the entrence of the tunnel.
Ethkin somehow moves a dead bug.
Tillandor rejoins Jiona.
Ethkin casts his senses down the hall...
Calico looks down the hall past the others.
Jiona ceases her investigations when Tillandor returns, and inquires, "Find anything else noteworthy?"
Tillandor frowns at the wall near Jiona. "Hmm? Oh, nothing of note in the other room." Tillandor points. "What do you think of this?"
Jiona follows the direction of Tillandor's pointing finger to see what he's indicating.
Ethkin says, "Hmmm, a long-ish hallway, that T-intersects to the south."
Ethkin follows the cat...
Calico squeezes past and sneaks down the hall to look around the corner.
Tass asks, "Do you sence anything living? That may attack us and such?"
Jiona looks closer, and her posture shifts to one of interest. "There's something back here," she agrees. "Hmmm." She puts her hands on the wall, visibly concentrating.
Ethkin says, "Not that I can 'see'."
Tass follows with Ethkin.
Kristof keeps a wary eye open and draws his swords to be ready.
Ethkin keeps his senses primed for any sort of life form...
Kristof keeps his eyes and ears open.
Ethkin says, "As near as I can tell, we're the only things alivr in the area, for the momment."
Tass pushes on ahead in the tunnel close behind ethkin.
Calico resists going furthur until the whole party procedes together.
Kristof has an epiphany and says, "Of course not everything in here is 'living' either."
Jiona nods to Tillandor after a little bit. "Definitely a room back there. Fairly tall ceiling... I'd say fifteen feet or so. Now, how to open it," she muses, poking around for any sort of hidden catch or other switch.
Calico asks, "like that mechanical crab that attacked us?"
Kristof ears perk up at the possibility of a hidden room, sheaths his swords and walks over to Jiona.
Tillandor continues his own examination, looking for a way to open the door.
Kristof nods and says, "There is definitely a door here."
Kristof says, "Although Till I think you beat me to it on opening this thing."
Calico takes a look at what has gathered attention at the east wall of the room, "what's up?"
Tillandor places his boot against the moulding, and presses down sharply.
Jiona explains to the others as they return, "There's another chamber behind this wall...."
* The wall swings inward, revealing a large room...
* Small desks have been arranged in three concentric semicircles facing the south wall of this fifteen-foot-high octagonal room. Chalkboards set in stone frames along the three southernmost walls bear faded equations and formulae. A web-shrouded lectern stands in front of them, facing the desks. A pile of stony rubble spills from the mouth of a five-foot-diameter tunnel that breaches the north wall.
Kristof steps in slightly and examines the room.
Calico squeezes past Tillandor to look in.
Jiona moves in next to Kristof, also cautiously looking and scenting around.
Tillandor steps back to allow the others past.
Tass waits for the others, and follows with ethkin in tow.
Kristof says, "Hey Till, come check this out."
Kristof points to several strange symbols carved into many of the desks and asks, "What do you make of this?"
Ethkin follows Tass around the obsacles that he can't sense to the door into the new room. He casts his senses outward...
Ethkin asks, "All what?"
Calico peers down the north passage.
Tillandor examines the markings cautiously.
Jiona gives them a glance as well, just on the off chance that they're in a language she recognizes.
Tillandor chuckles softly to himself, and moves to inspect the formulae on the chalkboards.
Kristof slightly raises an eyebrow and watches Tillandor moving around the room with mixed curiosity.
Calico starts opening drawers and looking inside.
Tillandor says, "A classroom, most certainly. For arcane studies. And this..."
Calico pulls out some small stones and looks closer at them.
Tillandor pulls out a pad of paper and begins copying down a particularly complex proof.
Kristof comes closer to Tillandor and asks, "What is it Till?"
* Calico rolls 1f20+1: 17,1 = 18.
Tillandor says, with barely-concealed excitement, "This appears to be a proof for the Gettlieb theory."
Ethkin'ninjas' his way passed Tass and Jiona, and meets Calico up north.
Tillandor says, "As-yet unsolved, at least in well-known arcana."
Calico says, "Tillandor, take a look at these stones."
Tass trots to catch up with Ethkin.
Jiona looks up from her own poking around, giving Tillandor a rather puzzled smile. "That's... good. Right?"
Tass also looks at the stones in being referenced.
Tillandor says, "It may be incomplete or flawed. I must spend some time piecing it together."
* Calico has several small stones in paw, about seven, all slightly different colors, but none unusual as stones may go.
Ethkin asks Calico, indicating the passage with his chin, "Wadda you think?"
Calico hands Tillandor some paper and pens from a desk drawer, take notes, decypher later.
Tillandor says, "Yes yes, of course," and continues to copy to his notepad.
Kristof's curiosity sated, begins to go around the room, particularly to the northern area searching.
Tass board with the stones, is itching to move forward again.
Calico pockets the stones to examine later, and scouts the north tunnel.
Tass moving forward with his candle, moves also into the tunnel.
Jiona doesn't try to hide her smile at Tillandor's distraction at making a copy of his discovery, and she watches the others start investigating northward. Before going that way, though, she also glances through the drawers and the like, still looking for appropriately-sized gears and similar parts.
Kristof finishes examining the area and join Jiona in looking through drawers, hoping to find more of those runed rods.
Calico pauses at a corner in the tunnel, not wanting to stretch the party out too far.
Tass wonders if his candle is needed if they still have Calico's lantern.
Jiona finds a couple small bits that she pockets for later use, then glances over at Tillandor, wondering if he's completed the copy yet.
Ethkin notes that Calico appears to be back in the class room.
Calico returns to the room and resumes opening drawers.
Kristof pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of one of the desks and pulls it open carefully to examine it.
Ethkin senses Tass's antzy-ness ans itches to move forward as well.
Kristof hands the note to Tillandor and says, "Here maybe this will be of use."
Tass is wondering why every one is going back all of a sudden.
Ethkin turns to Tass, "Yeah."
Calico wonders, "what's the Getleab theory?", somewhat mangling the unfamilier word.
Tillandor blinks out of his own musings, and looks at what Kristof offers. "What have you there?"
Kristof says, "Something I found in a desk - looks similar to what your working on there."
Kristof gives the paper to Tillandor.
Kristof smiles and says, "You always were a good student."
Ethkin wonders aloud to Tass, "I wonder how long the geeks are gonna take."
Tillandor asks, "Ah, the wellman theorem. And badly mangled, I say." Tillandor puts his notebook away in his pack, and turns away from the board. "Well? Are we done dawdling here?"
Tass sits down and decides to munch. "How about lunch then?"
Jiona giggles softly, and nods to Tillandor. "I think so. We'd better catch up with Ethkin and Tass."
Tillandor nods, and follows after Jiona.
Calico pulls out some rations, and the stones for Tillandor to examine.
Kristof nods and moves to join the rest of the group.
Ethkin munches some Trail Rations.
Tillandor takes the offered stones, and examines them as they walk.
Jiona passes by Calico, giving the cat a curious glance as she pulls out her lunch, but not otherwise remarking upon it, heading up the northern corridor.
Calico,noting the other leaving, puts the stones back in a pocket and follows.
Tass says from the floor "AH, there you all are. Good, are we moving now?"
Kristof remarks, "My aren't we the impatient one today?"
Tass stands up and brushes himself off.
Tass asks, "We still have children to find, don't we?"
Kristof shakes his head and says, "I was hoping we would find some clues to the Vanishing."
Ethkin shrugs, "From what that voice said, I think you may just have."
Kristof says, "Aside from that of course. And I am not sure I believe the Vanishing is confined to these walls."
Calico squeezes through to the front of the line.
Ethkin smirks darkly, "Perhaps we should return top side and ask if anyone has started to slowly dissappear"
Tass follows on alog behind calico, eager to get moving.
Jiona comments as she follows Calico, "I'm inclined to stay down here until such time that we must return to replenish our supplies."
Ethkin takes Tass's hand again and follows, 'scanning' ahead.
Tass says, "That won't be for awhile now, considering what I was able to get in the last run."
Kristof bristles and says, "I think that having a lot of people vanish is worth exploring for causes and solutions. Don't YOU?"
Calico moves silently, watching and listening ahead.
Ethkin gets an odd thought, "Hey Calico, what's your Cat name?"
Calico ignores Ethkin for the moment, prefering silence while scouting.
Ethkin shuts up and scans while the cat sniffs and listens.
Kristof stares at Ethkin for a moment, and when not getting an apparent response, resumes his examining his surroundings, occasionally sending a grimace Ethkin's direction.
* You all slowly crawl along the cramped tunnel, the taller folks bending down so as to not bump their heads in the five foot tunnel
Tass peers around the corner with calico.
* A distant clinking and rumbling startles you all. It stops after about ten seconds.
Jiona is actually not very tall, and can stand fully upright as she quietly pads down the tunnel, continuing to sniff for any scents that may indicate threats ahead.
Tass grimeces to the sound.
* Smashed tables and chairs litter the floor of this room. Hundreds of tiny wooden and metal gear mechanisms spill from sundered crates, and a four-foot-high mound of stone rubble fills the northeast corner. Mounted to the twenty foot high ceiling are two large wooden fans strung with cobwebs. The fans are connected to some gears and rope belts that cross the ceiling and disappear into the wall on either side of the eastern exit. In the middle of the room stands something draped in a large gray sheet. The shrouded object is roughly five feet tall, five feet wide, and irregular in shape.
Ethkin says, "Sounded like a draw-bridge or something."
Calico pauses by the entry to the room, watching the object under the sheet.
Jiona's tail bushes out briefly at the sound, and she shakes her head. "Perhaps," she says noncommittally. The sounds are startling, but otherwise not really useful.
Kristof looks around the room.
* The object beneath the sheet is very still, and appears not to move at all.
Tillandor glances toward the ceiling as he enters, mindful of danger from above.
Jiona looks up with undisguised interest at the fans overhead and the connecting machinery, almost certain that they and the contraptions are linked together.
Calico ponders, "how do we remove that sheet without getting too close?"
Ethkin wonders aloud, "What's everyone so anxious about alla sudden?"
Jiona smiles thoughtfully at Calico's query. "I have an idea," she says.
Calico says, "large room, unknown shrouded object in the middle."
Kristof asks, "Kind of like the last room?"
Ethkin says, "Ah..."
Calico says, "yup."
Kristof remembers things attacked him in the last room.
Kristof draws his swords.
Jiona stands up next to Calico, focusing on the sheet, and raises a hand, palm outwards.
Kristof moves to Jiona's side, watching warily for signs of anything unfriendly.
Ethkin follows the East wall.
* A swirl of wind kicks up some dust, then rushes forth from the northern portion of the room. The sheet flutters upward, flying off of the concealed object and landing near the stairs.
Kristof tenses, expecting something to attack.
Jiona lowers her paw, looking very satisified, and looks closely at what is revealed.
* Underneath the sheet, you see a large metallic contraption, with two large metal arms, one with a heavy drill bit, the other missing it's lower arm. It stands on four stubby metal legs.
Ethkin feels the sudden wind rush, and hunkers down. He braces himself between the wall and floor.
* The metal machine shudders, whirring to life. It quickly turns towards Ethkin and attacks!
* DM rolls 1f20+4: 9,4 = 13.
* The device lands a heavy blow on Ethkin, who seemed to be completely unaware the thing was even there.
Ethkin asks, "May I roll reflex?"
DM says, "Not against an attack roll."
Ethkin asks, "Please?!?!?"
DM says, "roll initiative."
* Jiona rolls 1f20+3: 8,3 = 11.
* Ethkin rolls 1f20+3: 8,3 = 11.
* Tillandor rolls 1f20+2: 19,2 = 21.
* Kristof rolls 1f20+9: -10,9 = -1.
* Tass rolls f20+4: 5,+,4 = 9.
* Calico rolls 1f20+5: 4,5 = 9.
DM says, "Go Tillandor"
* DM rolls 1f20: 10.
Tillandor shouts "Taral yan zyggek!"
Ethkin prays to Kord...
* The mechanical contraption turns towards Tillandor, then stops, completely shutting down. After a moment it has become totally motionless.
Tillandor smiles satisfactorily.
Ethkin lays on the ground, feeling quite clobbered, "Ooooww..."
Kristof's jaw hits the floor as he looks at Tillandor.
Calico breaths a loud sigh of relief, having hoped Tillander remembered those words, and they worked.
Jiona gives Tillandor a very impressed smile, and gives his shoulder a friendly squeeze. "You have a superb memory," she tells him.
Tass skirts the along the wall around the contraption twards ethkin, trying his best to keep himself as far away from it as possible.
Kristof picks up his jaw from the floor and glances at Jiona and Tillandor, then says, "I suspect there is a story behind this."
Calico moves over to attend to Ethkin, while keeping an eye on the machine, "how bad is it?"
Kristof moves to the other end of the room, keeping an eye on the machine and examines the exit to the south.
Ethkin asks, "Just a really deep bruise, I think. How does it look?"
Tass say's to Ethkin, " YOu are a blind idiot, you know that right?"
Tillandor's smile is overly satisfied. Something about a cat who just ate a bird.
Ethkin grins to Tass, "You're half right. I'll leave it to you to figure out which half."
Calico begins a stream of purrs, howles, and hisses, holding a paw over the wound.
* Calico rolls 1d8+3+3: 5,3,3 = 11.
Jiona looked briefly temped to give her friend a hug, but decided against it in the presence of other company, settling for the shoulder-squeeze instead. She grins at Tillandor again, then wanders off to the east, seeing if the parts she found earlier are good fits for the broken contraptions. And if not, there seem to be plenty other parts in this room.
Ethkin nods, "Thank you." He twists and pops some kinks out, just to be sure.
Tass glares as Ethkin is being healed, fully intending on keeping him with in arms reach from now on.
Ethkin calls in Kristof's general direction, "How's it look up those stairs?"
- to Ethkin "Seriously though, ask about a room before you go into it. This place in blooimg dangerous." Says Tass
Calico looks for an hatch on this construct like was found on the last one.
Kristof rolls his eyes and doesn't respond.
Kristof moves up the stairs cautiously, taking care to be quiet and not be obvious to anyone above.
Ethkin shrugs, "fine then..."
Tass rolls his eyes, knowing full well it would be lost on Ethkin.
Tillandor joins Jiona, looking to see what she's up to.
Jiona prods at the contraptions for a few minutes, then her tail and ears droop. "Something else to try to find," she murmurs, then looks over to see Tillandor's approach. To him she explains, "These things run the fans and I think other parts of this city. But whatever powered them is missing. They're about fist-sized," she gestures to one of the sockets in what she has identified as a generator, "but I have no idea what they'd actually look like."
Jiona's eyes suddenly narrow. "I don't suppose that metal thing you stopped has one....?"
Calico wanders over to Jiona and Tillandor, then pulls out a stone to ponder.
Ethkin gestures in a 'lead-on' motion to Tass.
Tass follows after Kristoff, un intrested in Jiona's and Till's conversation.
Jiona looks over at Calico when she joins them, and then at the stone she pulls out.
Ethkin follows close behind Tass.
Tillandor asks, "Maybe the stones are what you're looking for?"
Calico pulls out the rest of the stones to show.
Tass moves into the southern hallway, Ethkin in tow.
Tass calls on ahead to kristoff, "Hey, where are you off to?"
Kristof holds a lantern in one hand and is examining the area.
Ethkin takes his strides in 'swift-stealth mode' as he follows Tass, who's following Kristof.
Kristof says, "Just checking the area for more secret passageways - we need to find the entrance Tillandor was speaking of earlier."
Kristof says, "And if I can discover any traps or monsters ahead of us without drawing their notice, we can better prepare for them."
Kristof moves into the dug hallway.
Ethkin moves next to Kris, ans senses down the hall, then moves South, and tries to sense through the door.
- To Ethkin, " There is a round door to the south. Let's go to the tunnel.
Jiona looks at the stones for a moment, then shakes her head. "Not the right size," she replies. "But hold onto them, just in case." She eyes the generators a few moments more, and it dawns upon her that the others have wandered off again. "We'd best catch back up," she advises.
Tillandor nods, and follows along.
Calico pockets the stones and looks for the others.
Calico returns to the room with the construct, but does not see half the party.
Kristof moves quietly down the hallway, looking around carefully.
Tillandor says, "I expect you're correct, Jiona, about the construct. It likely does have a power source the like of which you've been seeking."
Tass says, "Hey Ethkin, that door is trapped. YOu really shouldn't futz with it."
Kristof hears Tass and takes a slow steadying breath before returning back into the previous hall.
Kristof asks, "Ethkin what are you doing?"
Tass says, "Unless, of course, your one of those monks who ENJOY pain."
Ethkin says, "I know they're trapped. I'm not futzing with them, I'm sensing through them. And there is a feint life source in there."
Ethkin's brow forrows, "Odd shaped room too."
Kristof asks, "Odd - how so?"
Tass furrow his brows at Ethkins observations.
Ethkin fumbles for words...
Jiona sniffs the air for just a moment, and starts to head south, then pauses again, reminded of her earlier thought by Tillandor. "What do you think the odds are we can remove it without it fighting back? You seem to have a better idea of these things than I do. Oh, and the others went south," she adds as afterthought.
Kristof shakes his head and says, "Tass I didn't see anything on that door, although it is possible I may have not caught it."
Tillandor says, "Oh, we can probably remove it, given enough time."
Calico heads south to catch the others and tel them to wait up.
Tillandor says, "Though the children are waiting, and we shouldn't keep them."
Ethkin turns his head one way and another, "Ah dunno. It's... twisted... somehow."
Kristof says, "Seems all the doors that were closed have had something on them"
Jiona nods her agreement. "If we need these things, at least we know where to come back to. But for now, you're right, best to continue onwards."
Ethkin senses the cat coming, "Calico? What do you smell through here?"
Calico sniffs.
Kristof has a sudden thought which he voices, "These dug passageways, they seem to circumvent a lot of these doors. Do you think following those hallways will get us to the other side?"
Calico says, "avoiding these trapped doors certainly seems safer."
Ethkin nods, "Perhaps Kris. But these 'Creeper' guys dug them. Them's nasty."
Calico sniffs, "dirty rags."
Kristof asks, "Think they dug them because they couldn't find a way through the doors?"
Ethkin says, "Ah. Must be mold or something I sense then."
Kristof asks incredulously, "Mold?"
Ethkin nods again, "More than likely. Would *you* want to try and out trick a Gnome?"
Kristof chuckles.
Tass says, "I agree with Kristoff though, I think we should try the tunnel before the door."
Jiona catches up with the group in short order, and listens in on the discussion.
Kristof says, "I might be able to make my through, but it would be slow going and not very much fun."
Kristof says, "All their clever traps are enough to give me a headache."
Calico heads down the rough tunnel as far as the first side passage.
Tillandor asks, "This door doesn't by any chance match one of the keys we've found?"
Jiona checks her key against the door's markings, which is the one she found back in the collapsing cupboard.
Kristof smiles and says, "That is a great idea."
Ethkin pirks, "And how 'bout Tass's?"
Tass stays back, in case a trap is triggered.
Tass notes that Jiona still has Tass's key.'
Ethkin gives the door a 'meh' shrug, and follows Calico...
Jiona also reaches into her pouch and compares the key she borrowed from Tass against the door, and also offers it back if he wants to hold onto it.
Tass takes it and furrows it away in his cloak.
Calico compares her key with the door rune.
DM says, "The key from the cupboard matches this door."
Jiona shows a bright smile, and steps forward with her key, and inserts it into the mechanism without hesitation.
* The door softly rolls out of the way as Jiona inserts the key.
Jiona extracts her key and safely stores it again, then looks through the revealed entranceway.
DM experiments with displaying Ethkin's senses on the gameboard.
* Metal wreckage and broken gears lie strewn about this oddly shaped chamber. Standing in the middle of the room is the half-build metal framework of a four-legged, five-foot-tall construct with one arm ending in a spiked wedge. Its other arm is nowhere to be seen. Gear doors are set into the north and south walls. Near them, two roughly hewn tunnels lead into darkness. Webs fill the corners of the room.
Kristof steps into the room, looking around.
Kristof asks, "Uh Tillandor?"
Kristof says, "I think we may need your talents again...." and points towards the contruct.
Ethkin enters through the tunnle, and 'looks' about for the mold.
Jiona advises Tillandor, "Don't forget that phrase... and maybe one of us should memorize it, too," as she looks over the damaged-looking construct.
Tillandor says, "I stand ready."
Kristof grabs Ethkin as he moves by.
Calico asks, "incomplete build of the same kind of construct?"
Tass follows in, trying to keep tabs on Ethkin, who took an alternative route.
Kristof says, "Wait - before you move in - another contruct."
Tass glares at Ethkin.
Kristof asks, "Till could you take care of this for us?"
Tillandor says, "I shan't expect this mechanical monster to start leaping about. It's incomplete in its construction."
Ethkin says, "I sense life in it though..."
Kristof lets out a deep breath and relaxes.
Kristof asks, "Life?"
Ethkin says, "I dunno. Real faint though..."
Calico startles at Ethkin's comment.
Ethkin says, "It's, in pain..."
Kristof goes over to the construct and looks for signs of life.
Tass says, "Isn't there an area for a rider in one of those things? I belive Calico was poking around in one earlier."
Jiona looks at the construct with distinct curiosity at Ethkin's revelation, and cautiously moves closer.
Calico searches inside the half built framework.
Tass stays well back from the construct, being as he would be useless if it came to life.
Ethkin follows the East wall South, to the tunnle and senses down it...
Calico says, "I recall a pilot chamber, though didn't make much sense of it."
* A humanoid creature covered in dirty rags leaps out to attack Calico with a shining blade
Tass follows after Ethkin, but keeps his eyes on the construct.
Calico attempts to dodge.
Calico howles.
Kristof attempts to intervene.
* The blade whizzes by Calico as she leaps out of the way.
DM says, "Initiative"
* Kristof rolls 1f20+9: 10,9 = 19.
* Calico rolls 1f20+5: 8,5 = 13.
* Tillandor rolls 1f20+2: 7,2 = 9.
* Jiona rolls 1f20+3: 19,3 = 22.
* Tass rolls f20+4: 3,+,4 = 7.
* Ethkin rolls 1f20+6: 30,6 = 36.
* DM rolls 1f20+2: 8,2 = 10.
DM says, "Go Ethkin"
Ethkin leaps forward across the room towards Calico and her foe. His arm extended forward!
DM says, "Go Jiona"
Ethkin shouts, "Careful with him. He's not really awake!"
Jiona moves just enough around Calico for a clear shot, and swipes her hand forward in a hurling motion.
* Jiona rolls 1f20+9: 9,9 = 18.
* A crackling arc of lightning leaps from Jiona's hand to the creature, nearly blinding you all. It strikes the creature full in the chest, knocking it back a bit.
* Jiona rolls 1d8+2: 8,2 = 10.
Ethkin puts his hands over his ears and collapses to his knees, "OW!!!"
* The creature crumples to the floor.
* the rags seem to pour off of the creature, revealing one of those creepers you've seen before.
Ethkin shakes his head to clear it, "Careful, it's still alive. Barely."
Tillandor moves to the body, crouching to examine it.
Calico announces, "Ethkin, Kristof, hold him while I stabilize him", then places a pan on the creapers chest.
Tass slinks over to the creature and Till. "Are we considering taking prisoners?"
Kristof also moves to the body, examining it, then after hearing Calico, does as he is bid.
* The rags leap up from the ground in a humanoid shape and fly towards Tillandor. Tillandor manages to leap out of the way.
Kristof says, "It would be good to get more information I think."
DM says, "Initiative"
* Tillandor rolls 1f20+2: 11,2 = 13.
* Kristof rolls 1f20+9: 5,9 = 14.
* Calico rolls 1f20+5: 6,5 = 11.
* DM rolls 1f20+2: 2,2 = 4.
* Jiona rolls 1f20+3: 13,3 = 16.
* Ethkin rolls 1f20+3: 12,3 = 15.
DM notes the red cube is the body, the blue is the rags.
DM says, "Go JIona."
* Tass rolls 1f20+4: 3,4 = 7.
Jiona reaches out a paw again - giving her companions a slightly warning shout of "Lightning!" this time - before an arc of the same flashes from in front of her palm towards the rags.
Kristof shields his eyes.
* Jiona rolls 1f20+9: 2,9 = 11.
Ethkin covers his ears.
Calico closes her eyes just in time to avoid being blinded.
Tass reflexivly covers his eyes.
* This arc of electricity strikes the wall near Tillandor, sizzling and sparking, but not striking true.
DM says, "Go Ethkin"
Ethkin blindly aims at what he precieves at 'line-of-sight', and lets fly a bit of focused heat.
Ethkin shouts, "Ah-du-kin!"
* Ethkin rolls 2d6+2+1: 5,2,2,1 = 10.
* A ball of ice and flames leaps from Ethkin's palm, encompassing the rags for a moment, alternately freezing and scorching them.
DM says, "Go Kristof"
Kristof draws his blade and steps in close to the form, striking out with his rapiers.
* Kristof rolls 1f20+6: 9,6 = 15.
* Kristof rolls 1f20+8: 17,8 = 25.
* Kristof rolls 3d6+4: 1,6,4,4 = 15.
* Kristof takes several precise swipes into the cloud of rags, dicing them up into small shreds that drift uselessly to the floor.
Ethkin strides forward, feeling out for the thing those rags were in, "So what the heck was tha- oop. Er, what was it?"
Calico turns to deliver the healing th rag beast interrupted, if it's not to late.
Tillandor inspects the remains of the ragpile.
* Calico applies her hands to the creature. The creature immediately resumes breathing, looking up at the group with great surprise and fear.
Kristof sheaths his rapier and looks on with interest.
Calico says, "Tillandor, some well chosen words if you could."
Tass goes for his rope, waiting for a cue from Till if his skill is needed at all.
Ethkin feels his war around the half build golem...
Tillandor says, "Be wary. More may lurk nearby."
- way
Tillandor turns to the creeper, and speaks Undercommon.
Ethkin sighs, "Not Till, to him."
Ethkin takes that back.
Calico leaves the creaper to Tillandor, and raises her eyes to watch the area.
* The creeper speaks to Tillandor, seeming quite surprised to hear the words Tillandor has to say to him.
Tillandor blinks, taken aback, and asks a question in undercommon.
Jiona moves over to Tillandor, listening to the conversation, despite not understanding it. Maybe she'll eventually learn bits of the language if she listens long enough, after all.
* The creature grimaces and speaks to Tillandor, then sneers with distaste.
Tillandor frowns and speaks sharply.
* The creature shakes its head, gesturing at the pile of shredded rags and speaking to Tillandor in its strange language.
Kristof asks, "Does he know Yuathyb?"
Jiona gets a new idea, and starts poking about within the construct, trying to locate something that looks like a power source.
Tillandor speaks more softly, the word 'Kazmojen' among his speech.
Calico pulls out her key and compares it with the door to the south.
Tass Moves closer to rag creature, carefully observing it, but staying on his guard.
Ethkin hears Kris's comment, and wonders if the creeper will recognize the name, even if he didn't know the person, as if perhaps 'Yuathyb' is the Undercommon equivalent of 'Joe'.
Calico then compares the runes on the door and key with the rune stones she collected.
* The creature frowns and nods to Tillandor, then spits on the floor in anger.
Tillandor stands. "He will show us the way to the well of kazmojen. Like yuathyb, he has been chased here by Kazmojen's minions."
Tillandor says, "He has been a slave to the rag construct for some time now."
Ethkin note, "Polite cuss, isn' he?"
Tillandor says, "Now free, he hopes to take vengeance. But will lead us to the well first."
Calico says, "cursing aside, if he helps us, he deserves our respect."
Tass puts away his rope on hearing the creature is a willing guide.
Kristof nods and says, "Being slave to another certainly does not endear one to them."
Kristof blinks.
The Creeper turns to the rest of you, "Grasstblastet thing kept me... I am... unfound... hard to..."
Jiona returns from poking around in the construct, smiling. "I'm glad you learned that language in your studies, Till. It's been invaluable down here."
The Creeper turns towards Tillandor and speaks in the other language again.
Kristof asks, "Has he seen any of the missing townsfolk down here?"
Tillandor blinks, and responds in undercommon. "Ah, I do. We will lead you there, and thence you will lead us to the well."
The Creeper shakes his head, then speaks another time, seeming a bit more sure.
The Creeper looks over at Kristof, then turns to Tillandor and speaks.
Calico takes out a snack and begins nibbling.
Tass also nibbles, since his lunch was interupted earlier.
Kristof grabs some rations out of his pack and offers some to the creeper.
The Creeper nods in a strange bow, accepting the offer.
Tillandor nods, as if finalizing a deal.