[ We find Our Heroes in the room with the portal! To their south is a large room with stairs rising to the southwest. To the west are two passages; on on the current level, one on the raised area. ] [ To the east are one unexplored area, as well as the ziggurat room, which itself leads to parts unexplored. Our Heros seem to be surrounded by unexplored areas... so guess what they'll be doing today? ] [ Session Start! ] (Sit down and have high tea.) * Alcinoe blinks, finally moving. She winces and puts a hand to her head. "Why is mah hair wet?" * Tia marches a circle around the party, singing cheerfully in Draconic. Oh, Alci! You're awake! * Max hovers over. "Some sort of magical trap. Maybe it had a hair- cleaning spell in it, too." Yeah, Ah guess Ah am. * Alcinoe sits up, grimacing just a little, and starts moving to make sure everything's in working order. Paralyzin' trap. Knocked you out but good. * Will smiles broadly. "You're finally up, Alci! How are you feeling?" * Tia nods. "Yeah, but we decided to wait until you woke up before going to hit bad people, so you wouldn't miss out!" * Seylin glances over at Alcinoe timidly, smiles for a second, then returns to looking at the floor. Interesting floor. * Max coughs. "Yes, that is why we waited. So you wouldn't feel left out." Like Ah jus' couldn't move for Galahad knows how long. An' Ah was awake that whole time. * Seylin seems very subdued. Her wings are almost drooping. Do try not to trip any more traps. * Patrick is right next to Seylin, trying to console her into not feeling like crap. * Tia nods. "Traps are bad!" Good, then you heard all we discussed. *nod, push up glasses* And uh, sorry about the hair. I poured some water on you trying to wake... You were awake all that time? * Alcinoe nods and wipes some water off her face. She looks over at Seylin. "Why'd ya jump in?" I wanted to see if there was anything dangerous on the other side. And there was. And I should've come back right away, and I had no excuse to stay and I'm sorry! * Tia pats Seylin heartily on the back. "It's okay, Sey." * Seylin staggers just a bit. "It's not!" Wasn't your fault. Bad Mr. Robed Man did it! * Alcinoe eyes Seylin. She's probably not buying it. "Yeah." She looks over at Kenji. "What happened in there?" I want to make this up to you all, but I don't think I'll ever be able to... * Patrick gives Seylin a hug. "What do you mean? You made it up a long time ago." He smiles. Seylin was taken hostage. By an immensely old red dragon. * Alcinoe nods. * Tia nods. "Ganache's papa." * Seylin just shakes her head. She seems fairly inconsolable. He's not very nice. He nearly forced me to make a... difficult decision. * HKenji catches Seylin's gaze for a moment and says quietly, "Don't force me to make that decision." * Seylin takes a deep breath. * Tia wags her tail tentatively. Still say it wasn't no decision, since if we said no, he woulda roasted us all on the spot. But Kenji's right inna more general kinda way... Strangely, I think he was suspiciously fair with his ultimatum. But that's neither here nor there at the moment, and we can probably find pleanty more to worry ourselve if we go playing around "hitting bad people". *winks at Tia* What's the ultimatum? * Tia grins delightedly at Max and winks back. He demanded that I consider at some point in the future giving to him the completed altar. * Istvan eyes Seylin. "Not tryin' to pile on or nothin', but you gotta remember that you're our scout, not our point woman. We just want ya checkin' for anything interestin' or dangerous, not wading into it." If he had simply demanded that I turn over the piece we already have... Consider? That don't mean you *have* ta do it, does it? I said that I would consider it. The mere fact that he only required it be considered, not an agreement to do so, is strange. Exacly, Alcinoe. So I will consider it. * HKenji turns away and looks further into the dungeon. ...So can we go hit bad people now? * Seylin looks at Istvan. "I know," she says quietly. "I'm sorry." Thing is, he was talkin' about someone worse than him that wants it, and how he's been tryin' to keep it from 'her' for a while now. Basically, his pitch was that he could keep it from someone worse than him. Um, don't bad people lie, though? That and 'Do it or I'll eat you.' Exactly. And he seemed to think that merely forcing Kenji to consider giving it to him will cause such an option to be...favorable...at some point. * Alcinoe nods, and a few emotions play across her face. "Ain't gonna trust a red dragon." She gets to her feet, letting it settle into neutralish. "Ah'd talk ta ya about jumpin' inta portals, Seylin, but Ah think ya got the picture already." * Seylin nods. Let's take care a' that necromancer. Yes, Tia, they do. But he had all the cards then. Necromancer hunting! Now there's a sport I could get into! ...I should have brought some hunting foxes. Oh well. * Tia nods. "But we have Sey back now, so we don't hafta give him anything, right?" We don't. Oh, good! That means everything's okay, right? * Will pats Sey on the shoulder. "It's okay Sey. I think if that red dragon wanted to take you hostage, there's nothing that could been done to stop it." Thanks, Will. There is ALWAYS something that can be done, Will. * HKenji starts back for the ziggurat room. We'll regroup at the ziggurat and continue. * Tia trots off after Kenji, humming cheerily. * Alcinoe nods once and clanks after Kenji. * Istvan adjusts his armor and lifts his war pick up onto his shoulder. "Back to it, then..." *follows Kenji* * Seylin sighs. * Will shrugs and goes clanking along side of Alcinoe. * Seylin follows along. * Patrick pats Seylin on the back and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Come on." ^_^ He leads the way holding her hand. * Alcinoe looks over at the other clanking cleric. "Thanks fer stayin' with me, by the way." * Seylin seems fairly unresponsive, but she lets her hand be taken. * Max looks off after Kenji, brow furrowed a touch disaprovingly before wiping it away with a silly smile and a shrug, before zipping off to the Ziggurat on the back of his book. [ The ziggurat room has four exits; west, where you origionally came from, north, where you've been, south, where you are now, and east, which is new to you. ] Which way now, Kenji? * Will nods happily at Alci. "I'm so glad you're okay. That was too scary." * Alcinoe snickers. "Yeah. Next time, you get the trap, an' Ah'll give *you* the bath." * Istvan looks east. "Sey... we needja to concentrate now, keep us from steppin' on any traps or anything." East. * Seylin nods. "That way, then?" She points east. Form up. East? Okay. * Tia marches east. * Alcinoe clanks over to the front! Ish. [ The hall to the east is twenty feet wide, allowing you to walk four abreast. Or three, if one of you is Tia. ] * Patrick nods and whispers something in Seylin's ear before he assumes formation. Whatcha think, Mr. Axe? Cool place, huh? * Istvan takes position a few feet behind Tia, next to Alci. Once he sees the width of the hallway, he moves up alongside Tia. * Seylin nods, then gets into position. * Max floats somewhere in the middle, possibly over Tia's back, but definitely out of the range of that tail's wagging. Three in the front rank. Middle and back ranks staggered. Oh? What do drow smell like, then? I don't think I ever tried smelling a drow. * Alcinoe keeps up, on the other side of Tia. "Gotcha." * Max attempts to follow Kenji's instruction, with more or less success as his lack of formal adventuring training shows through. * Will grins at Alci's comment and falls back to walking behind Alci. * Tia grins at her axe. "Okay, I'll be careful. I'm sorry you don't like their stonework, though." Max, you'll be in the middle rank, not the back. You're too valuable to risk to a rear attack. Um, Kenji, what am I supposed to do again? Charge? Was that it? * Patrick grins at Max. Hm? Oh! Okay. *moves forward a bit, in line with the others in the middle* Sorry. ^^; * Max rubs the back of his neck with an embarrassed grin on his face. When we say 'charge', charge. And just remember to stay behind Seylin while she's checking for traps. * Tia grins at Istvan. "Okay! Got it!" She turns back to her axe. "See, Mr. Axe? I remembered this time!" [ The hall continues for sixty feet before it reaches a two-way intersection; you can go north, which immediately has stairs leading up to a large room with scultures and display cases visible. Or, you can go south, which is a very long hallway leading who-knows-where. Both passages are the same width as the hall you're in now. ] * Alcinoe tries not to be disturbed that Tia talks to her axe. Today, she succeeds. * Max doesn't seem disturbed by much of anything. * Seylin looks at Kenji for some indication as to which passageway they should take. * Tia looks down both passages. "Uh...which way now?" Up the stairs, Seylin. Stairs? Okay! * Tia continues up the stairs. What do you think of the statues, Mr. Axe? Those're better, aren't they? Hold on, Tia! Wait for me to check them first! * Tia stops in midstep. Oh, okay. Sorry! * Seylin proceeds to check the stairs. "No traps." * Tia continues. [ The statues of are unusually beefy Drow males, looking intimidating. Mr. Axe prolly doesn't approve. ] * Istvan proceeds once Seylin gives the all-clear. * Tia frowns. "Oh, those are drow? Never seen one before." She giggles. "I thought it was a statue of a monkey." No, definitely not monkeys. Monkeys don't have those pointy ears. * Tia studies one further. "Oh, you're right. Not a monkey!" * Seylin stifles a giggle. * Patrick snerks. * HKenji looks vaguely amused. [ As Tia sets foot in the room, the statues all turn to look at her. There are four in total. ] A...huh? Why are they looking at me? * Seylin eyes the statues. * Patrick snerks. "Think it's the axe?" Um, hi, Mr. Statues? ... statues aren't supposed to do that. Golems. Prepare for battle. ...What's a golem? * Alcinoe nods and draws her sword. "Livin' statue." * Patrick reaches back and draws a series of arrows out of his quiver. * Istvan readies his pick. "Aw hell. Shame ta destroy nice stonework like that." * Tia raises her axe. * Seylin draws her halberd and shifts into a fighting stance. Don't worry, Mr. Teddy! Mr. Axe and I will protect you! * Will draws his sword too as he eyes the statues curiously. * Tia glances around warily. * Patrick snaps and brings the Bow of Force into play. "Ready to dance?" No. Forgot my tap shoes. * HKenji watches the statues. * Patrick tsks. "That's a real shame." * Istvan eyes the statues. "They don't seem to be comin' at us... yet..." Everybody stay still. * HKenji carefully edges forward towards one of the display cases. * Seylin stands perfectly still. * Will nods and stays in place. * Patrick stays still. * Max complies, but subtly raises his book up so he can see over people's heads. (They probably haven't attacked 'cause Robin's AFK.) [ As Kenji moves into the room, the statues begin to lumber towards him. ] Destroy them. C'mon back, Kenji... * HKenji steps back behind the front line so they can charge freely. * Istvan pats Tia. "Charge." * Tia roars in a most unladylike manner and charges! * Patrick steps in range and gets ready to unleash the pain. * Istvan mutters in dwarven, and his pick becomes bathed in flames as he charges alongside Tia. * Alcinoe nods once, then clanks along with them. * Seylin lights up her halberd. * Max moves to a position that gives him unhindered access to the battlefield without putting him in front. [ Max moves upward. ] [ Meanwhile, it's Kenji's turn! ] * HKenji spins his bow out into his hand and strings it in a blur of motion. A moment later its butt is planted on the ground and he's spinning arrows from his sleeve onto the string, sending them lancing out past the front line at the closest golem. [ Kenji's arrows don't seem to do anything, glancing off the stony surface. ] [ Max, go! ] * Max makes a quick couple gestures and then cups his hands around his mouth, which issues forth a sound like a low, resonant horn. The floor the golems are on shakes rather alarmingly... [ Three of the golems fall over! One of these is the one right in front of you. The one at the easternmost end of the room remains standing, however. ] * Max blinks. "Woo! It worked!" He throws a small fist in the air, triumphantly. Nice. [ Tia, go! ] [ Get thos bad men! Statues. Whatever! ] * Tia roars again and swings her axe twice at one of the prone golems closest to her, finishing with a swipe of her claws. [ The two axe swipes dig large gouges into the form of the golem! The claws... get filed a bit by the rough stone of the construct. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan stands over the golem Tia was working on and brings his war pick down on it three times, trying to finish it off before it can get up. [ Twice, Istvan digs his pick into the stone of the golem, shattering stone! The golem is very nearly bisected, now. ] [ Will, go! ] * Will holds his sword in both hands as he chants solemnly. A shining gleam covers his sword as he finishes. [ Alci, go! ] * Alcinoe takes in the situation with a glance, then rushes for the still standing one. She shouts a quick, almost incomprehensible prayer as she does so, and her skin almost takes on a holy glow. [ Golem1 stands up! This takes a while. ] [ Seylin, Go! ] [ Golems two and three stand up! This is a problem for Istvan, who is standing on Golem 2. ] * Seylin holds back, because there's not much she can do about this. * Tia chops down on the golem attempting to stand. [ Tia chops it in half! It stops trying to get up at that point. ] Yay! * Max claps for Tia. ^_^ [ Golem three gets up unhindered, however. ] [ Patrick, go! ] * Patrick unleashes a flight of four arrows at the golem Alci is blocking, smirking. [ Three arrows hit, shattering stone and leaving three pits across the chest of the golem. ] [ The golem responds by slamming it's fist into Alcinoe, almost knocking her off her feet! ] * Alcinoe lets out a grunt and regains her footing. She shakes her head, obviously jarred, but sets herself steady again. [ Kenji, go! ] Well, so much for the ranged solution. [ Max, go! ] * Max chants again, pulling out a pair of bar magnets and what looks like a bisected marble. As he manipulates them, one of the medium-sized chunks of Golem2 rises from the ground, and flies in a lazy but high- speed arc at the golem Patrick and Alcinoe are harrassing! * Max , unfortunately, almost slipped off his book in his excitement, so loses control of the block before it hits. Whoa! Er... ^^; * Istvan winces. Sorry! [ The chunk of golem almost hits a display case. And it's Tia's turn! ] * Tia rushes at the next available golem and swings her axe in a flash of silver. [ Tia cuts a chunk of golem away! ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan follows after Tia, rearing back and bring his pick down at the golem in a diagonal arc. [ Istvan's pick scores another pit in the golem's body! ] [ Will, go! ] * Will charges forward in his best imitation of Alcinoe and swings his sword at the golem. [ Will hits the golem! And takes out a little piece of it. Good job, Will! ] [ Alci, go! ] * Alcinoe steels herself and shouts, slashing at the golem with the Best Sword Ever a number of times. [ Alci cuts three gouges into the golem's legs! It looks almost ready to topple. ] [ Golem 1 advances on Tia! But doesn't quite reach her. ] [ Seylin, go! ] * Seylin ...holds back again. [ Golem 3 attacks Will! It hits him twice, but the cleric is protected by his two-inch armor! ] [ Patrick, go! ] * Patrick shoots arrows at targets, going down the line of Alci-golem, to Tia-golem, to other-golem, changing as targets go down. [ Patrick fells golem 4 with two arrows to it's bad leg, and then hits golem three with another! ] [ Kenji, go! ] * HKenji slides his bow back into his pack and waits confidently for the heavy hitters to finish up. [ Max, go! ] * Max straightens himself up from his near-spill last round, picking up some dropped material components and stuff. [ Tia, go! ] * Tia attacks with axe and claw, swinging her weapon in a heavy arc straight for the golem's head. [ Tia's angle on one axe-strike is a bit off and she hits the golem with the flat. But the other strikes true, knocking another chunk loose. Tia's claw attack does nothing, however. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan steps in just as Tia's axe cleaves through the golem, lacing into it with a series of shots from various angles. [ Istvan strikes the 'kill'ing blow against golem 3, and it topples! ] [ Will, go! ] * Tia cheers. * Will runs over to the last golem, swinging harder this time. [ Will hits! And chips a bit of stone off. ] [ Alci, go! ] * Alcinoe spins from the fallen golem and runs for the one still standing, bringing her sword high and striking down for a (hopefully) solid blow. [ Alci runs (clank!clank!clank!) across the room, and strikes a heavy blow to the golem! The chunk of rock she chips off is much more considerable. ] [ Golem 1 gives Alci the ol' one-two, battering her a bit. Or a lot. ] [ Seylin, go! ] Seylin, heal Alcinoe, if you can. Right. * Alcinoe lets out a small sound of protest as she's smacked around, then glares at the golem as best as she can through the blood. There's a lot of it. * Seylin flies up to Alcinoe, reaches out a hand, and chants a spell. Yes, healing the cleric. (Cure Serious Wounds.) * Alcinoe takes a breath as some of her vision clears. "Thanks, Seylin." You're welcome. [ Patrick, go! ] * Patrick fires another four arrows at the last remaining golemn. [ Patrick scores three more hits, putting narrow craters into the golem! ] [ Kenji and Max spectate some. ] [ Tia, to action! ] * Tia runs at the last golem and yells loudly as she brings her axe down upon it. [ Tia chops some rock away! She's getting to be good at this. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan follows right alongside Tia, a step or two behind, driving his pick down onto the last golem. [ Istvan strikes the blow that ends the encounter! Does he get extra experience from this? No, he does not. ] [ End init. ^^ ] * Tia roars triumphantly and hugs Istvan. "We win!" Wow. That was impressive. *claps happilly* Good job, everyone! ...anyone mind if I take a few of the pieces? Sorry about losing control of that one, by the way... *trails off into absent-minded mumbling as he drifts towards some of the still-chisled fragments and collects them* * Patrick spins his bow and snaps, causing it to vanish. He grins. * Alcinoe watches the golem fall, then lowers her weapon and shield. She winces, a little, and shakes her head before sheathing her weapon. "Naw." Sure, help yourself. * Alcinoe smiles a little at Will. "Ya did a good job." And then she looks at Kenji. "Hey, Kenji." Yes? Ah noticed ya weren't firin' anythin'. Why was that? Everyone okay? My skill with the bow is not sufficient to avoid hitting you. Do you need any more healing, Alcinoe? [ Alci still looks pretty bad. Maybe someone should do something about that. ] * Tia nods. "Dandy!" She brushes the stone dust from her axe and grins. [ Someone like Will. ] The clerics look pretty beat up, but other than that we're pretty good. ^_^ [ Hint. Hint. ] I was hiding in hte back. I'm fine. *floats over to a display case to examine it - without touching - once he's done picking up some choice fragments* (WILL.) (Lay Your Hands on Alci.) (No innuendo here!) Seylin, you wanna take a look around the room while our clerics heal each other? * Alcinoe does, for the record, still look bruised and bloodied. She tilts her head. "Ah can enchant yer bow for ya. Maybe make it a little easier." (Please, like Pat and Sey are ones to talk.) * Seylin looks at Istvan and nods. "Sure." * Will smiles back. "Thanks Alci. Let me take a look at those wounds of yours." * Patrick tilts his head at Seylin and goes along with her to rans-err search the room. (^_^) That will not be necessary at this time. * Alcinoe shrugs. "It lasts all day. Ya tell me when it is necessary, then." ...could you do it to my sling? It's got some magic to it, but it's not enough to hurt golems. [ The display cases are mostly full of memorabilia from fights with Drow. It looks as though the origional owner of this place managed to take down a matron, once. ] * Alcinoe nods. "Sure." She holds her hand out to Max, not moving too much so as to avoid ruining Will's concentration. "Give it here." (Sweet! Anything valuable?) * Will chants underneath his breath as he starts the healing process. [ Most of the items are things that cannot leave the Underworld without loosing functionality, however. ] * Tia tries to juggle a few of the smaller chunks of statue. * Max smiles and hands a small strip of leather to Alcinoe. "Thanks!" * HKenji is now known as SleepDebugger * Alcinoe chuckles and holds it in both hands, concentrating. She whispers a short prayer, and the sling actually seems to gleam for a moment. * Alcinoe hands it back. * Will nods as he finishes. "That should do it." * Max looks at it cross-eyed, wrinkles his little nose, and puts it away. "That'll be nice - be of some use when my spells aren't." ^_^ Got plunked in the head with a sling bullet once... hurt like hell. * Alcinoe grins. "Yeah." She rubs at her neck; feels fine now. "Thanks, Will." All this neat stuff in the cases... *drifts 'round the room, looking wide-eyed at stuff and making small notes* Yeah, and a lot of it can't leave this place without goin' up in smoke. * Patrick puts his arm around Seylin's shoulder and gives a reaffirming squeeze. [ And so they looted the place! Session End. ]