Session Number: 5
Date: Sunday 10th August 2014
Venue: Densial's
PCs & Players:
| Kyra | Clr1 | (1425 xp) | (Yeran) | (kills: none) |
| Lem | Brd1 | (710 xp) | (Fergus) | (kills: none) |
| Merisiel | Rog1 | (1425 xp) | (Ash) | (kills: none) |
| Valeros | Ftr1 | (1270 xp) | (Craig) | (kills: 1 wooden statue of Kassen) |
XP Awarded: 200
Craig turned up to this session late because he was delayed assembling a rabbit hutch, so the others played a trick on him, finishing most sentences with a specific word: Yeran's was "Yeah", Ash's "Maybe", Fergus' "Apparently". Hence the title.
"The others are a bit banged up, Merisiel," Valeros says. "We could go back and rest up."
"We are on a bit of a time limit, aren't we?"
"We're supposed to get back before winter. We've got time. But check that door first."
"We're going back to the main entrance," Kyra calls out.
"Cool. See you in a bit."
Valeros draws his two blades as Merisiel approaches the door. She places her ear to it but cannot hear anything. She tries to pick the lock but is unsuccessful.
"Can you see anything through the keyhole?" Valeros whispers. Merisiel takes a look then shakes her head.
"Let's go back," Valeros says quietly. "Nothing's coming through that door. Unless it has the key."
The pair head back to the entrance chamber and settle in, clearing an area to the south of bones and dust. Merisiel and Valeros take the first of two watches. Valeros pulls out the bottle of brandy and tries to tempt Merisiel into joining him. She declines.
"We've got eight hours! What are we going to do?" He pulls out a pair of dice and grins.
"No."
"C'mon. We don't have to play for money. Hey! We could do drinking games! Tell you what: if you win, I drink. If I win, you drink."
"Tell you what," Merisiel says. "If I win, you drink. If you win, you drink."
"This is sounding better all the time!" He pauses and notes Kyra's glare. "Actually, no, this is pretty serious. But I tell you what: when we get this lantern lit and head back home, you and me are going to have a night of it."
"No."
"In the tavern! We're going to drink until we can't tell up from down."
"No."
"It'll be fun!"
"No it won't."
Valeros commiserates by having a nightcap of brandy, then the pair begin their watch. Valeros tries to convince Merisiel to play dice games with him for the next eight hours; she becomes adept at ignoring him. Valeros amuses himself by polishing out the nicks in his two swords.
The watch passes without event. Valeros wakes Lem and Kyra, then starts turning in. "That was the dullest night I've ever had."
Merisiel nods to Kyra. "Thirteen gold pieces if you kill him in his sleep."
"I'll think about it."
"What??" Valeros says incredulously. His eyes narrow. "Nah, you're just joking! You love me." He sheathes his longsword, then hands it to Kyra. "This is from my uncle. It's really good. Besides my tankard, it's probably my most valuable possession."
"That, and your brandy," Merisiel quips.
"What brandy?" Valeros smiles cheekily, then looks serious. He hands the longsword to Kyra. "I entrust it to your care while I am sleeping."
"Whatever."
Valeros seems satisfied. "Night!" He then doffs his armour and settles down.
The second watch passes without interruption. Kyra hands Valeros back his sword.
"So Merisiel found this door," Valeros says. "It went around the corridor to the right. It was locked."
"Now I'm well-rested, I might be able to open it."
"Good idea. Try again."
"Let's have a look," Lem says.
The party travel to the dead-end corridor and Merisiel sets up before the door. Try as she might, she cannot unlock it. Lem casts Dancing Lights and sends them through the keyhole, but they will not pass through.
"Let me try something," Valeros says. He pokes the keyhole with a knife he retrieves from his backpack. It stops short."Give me a light?" he says. Lem directs his Dancing Lights closer. Valeros looks at the keyhole. It is quite shallow, ending in a solid metal plate. It looks like it is a keyhole, but for a very short key. Kyra casts Detect Magic but does not sense any magic about the door.
"Let's go," Merisiel says.
The group double back and head towards the chamber with the beetle, crossing to the passageway that heads west, ending at stairs leading down. There are only half a dozen stairs before the passageway levels out. Shortly thereafter, a further six stairs head up.
"What's with this?" Valeros says. He has a look at the ceiling, expecting to see it following some feature, natural or unnatural… but sees nothing. "Why would you do that? It seems like an awful lot of work. Wouldn't it make more sense just to do it straight? It sounds like someone is just overcomplicating things."
The party spend some time trying to figure out why the passageway would dip so, but cannot find any rational reason. They carry on.
The passageway continues to the west and opens into a chamber. To the left, both near and far, stairs lead downwards. The floor in between drops away to a lower level where a wooden statue stands. It holds a huge kite shield in each hand: one inscribed with the word "home", one with the word "family". It appears to be a likeness of Kassen.
"That seems dubious, tactically," Valeros comments. "Who carries two shields?"
The group shadow the northern wall, keeping distance between themselves and the statue. They peer down an alcove to the north. It ends in a door. Merisiel checks for anything untoward buts finds nothing. The door has a handle but no keyhole. She opens the door. Behind is a long corridor with four alcoves on each side where human statues stand, armed with longswords. The weapons of the most distant four statues are wrapped in leather.
"Does that meet up with anywhere we've been?" Valeros asks. Lem consults his map. If his dimensions are right, it appears this passageway connects to the pool room.
"Well we don't need to go down there," Valeros says. "Very strange architecture down here."
The group turn around and focus their attention on the wooden statue of Kassen. "So all we have to do is light this lantern, right?" Valeros says. "In some flame down here?"
"We've already found a flame," Merisiel says.
"That wasn't the right one. It didn't feel very… worthyish."
"We might as well make our own flame if we had to use that one," Kyra says.
"Who would know?" Lem says.
"Da' would know," Valeros says. "He'd look at me and he'd know."
Kyra Detects Magic, looking at the wooden statue. It bears transmutative magic. She makes it known.
"That means it's gonna move, right?" Valeros asks. He places a hand on his longsword. "I don't know that I feel comfortable fighting a statue of our town's founder."
"It can change in some way," Kyra says.
"First thing I'd do is change one of those shields into a sword. Probably both of 'em."
Valeros heads towards the left set of stairs and descends, his party members following close behind. The second he places a foot on the bottom landing, two things happen: the statue's head turns towards him and it steps forwards, and the treads on the stairs behind him collapse, turning the stairway into a smooth ramp! His party members behind him slide down and collide with him. Valeros plants his feet and fends them off, managing to stay upright. Merisiel totters off the stairs, landing on the bottom level and keeps her feet. However, Lem upsets Valeros and pushes Valeros backwards towards the wall.
"It's a construct!" Lem yells.
"It's Kassen!" Valeros adds. "Don't kill him!"
Initiative:
Mer: 22
Lem: 20
Val: 10
Kas: x
Kyr: 3
TOR1
Merisiel holds her rapier in such a way as to suggest that any funny moves from the statue will end up with it being run through. Lem runs back up the ramp he slid down and stops between the two stairways, overlooking the scene. He notices that both sets of stairs are now ramps. Valeros closes with the statue. It attacks, but not before Merisiel! The elf's stab scores the statue's surface but does not seem to affect it. The statue thrusts outwards towards Valeros with one of its shields, but the fighter stands his ground. Valeros tries to kick the statue's legs out from under it. His sweep connects but the statue's weight is firmly planted on the limb and it does not move. The statue bashes Valeros with its other shield but the fighter reads the move and shifts his weight, rendering the manoeuvre ineffective. Kyra slides down the ramp. The statue's outthrust left arm reveals something interesting: it has a keyhole in its back. Merisiel notices it also. They exchange glances, and Kyra fetches and tosses a key to Merisiel who stands at the creature's rear.
TOR2
Merisiel snatches the key out of the air, but isn't convinced that it is her best move; she stabs at the creature again. This time her blade chips of a sizeable chunk of wood. Lem sings a song that inspires courage in his allies, and readies his sling. Valeros tries to trip the statue again, unsuccessfully. The creature bashes him in return, hitting him solidly in the shoulder with its shield and forcing him back a step. It then hits him again, but misses. Kyra swings her scimitar, hitting for 5 damage.
TOR3
Merisiel stabs and hits for 4 damage. Lem sings and slings: the bullet strikes the creature but causes it no harm. Valeros stabs it with both swords. Longsword AC11 misses, short sword AC10 misses. The creature spins around and attacks Merisiel: crit! Normal damage on her (xx) and a free attack against all other adjacent foes. Kyra gets hit for 3 damage, the attack against Valeros misses. Kyra swings and misses.
TOR4
Merisiel attacks: AC20 hits for 4 damage. Lem shoots and misses. Valeros: Longsword AC14 misses, Short sword AC20 hits for 6 damage. The creature is starting to look shaky. It attempts to bash Merisiel: ACmiss. Kyra misses.
TOR5
Merisiel attacks AC14 hits for 5 damage. Lem shoots and misses again. Valeros' longsword AC13 hits for 5 damage, short sword misses. The statue smacks Valeros for 2 damage. Kyra steps away and channels positive energy to heal her comrades (2hp each).
TOR6
Merisiel attacks AC14 hits for 6 damage. Lem shoots and hits AC13 for 1 damage. Valeros longsword misses, short sword AC16 hits for 2 damage. It collapses. "Timber!" he yells.
