Age of Worms I: The Whispering Cairn [IC]

[RaggedAngel]

Diana nods, relieved on multiple levels. "I think that would be the wise course of action." She smiles, and claps Alex on the shoulder. "The Silver Flame sent you to us for a reason, Alex. I think it would be ill-advised indeed to ignore a literal safety net when haste is not of the essence. The church will need me back eventually, but crusading and exploration is a core part of our mission."

She looks back up at the climb, biting her lip. "Taking potentially lethal risks for unknown gain is not a part of that mission. I vote we take a rest and return better prepared for the dangers at hand."

[King Tius]

The group heads back to the abandoned mining office for another night's rest. Setting up camp for the day, you take a better look around and realize that, with a little elbow grease, this house could be renovated into a nice little base of operations. It'd take some coin, but the foundation is solid and the view of the surrounding area is actually quite nice. Night passes without incident and you awake feeling stronger and more knowledgeable than you were yesterday! As Flox gets started on cooking breakfast, a squirrel climbs into the window and titters excitedly at the group, You notice that it is holding a rolled up scroll in its tiny hands. It makes no move to escape as you approach it, but once you take the note it leaps off the window sill and scurries off. Unfurling the little note, a tiny whistle drops into your palm, rolled up inside the parchment. The note reads:

"Aria, I've told the young d'Cannith woman of your location. Hopefully you've connected by now, but if not, please try and find her! I've sent along a whistle so you can keep me appraised of your progress. Blow it three times in the evening to signal you are safe. If you are in distress, blow a staccato rhythm until I contact you. Good hunting! - Allustan"

Travel back to the lantern room occurs without incident.

[RaggedAngel]

Diana sleeps like a stone, so soundly that she barely even snores. Her wounds aren't visible thanks to the healing magic she wields, but inside she is as bruised and battered as you can be and still be standing.

She wakes early, just before the sun, and kneels outside to pray before the sunrise. She pauses to look at her sleeping companions with a soft smile as she leaves the little house; she hasn't known them long, but she already feels as close to them as most of the people she knew at the monastery. Heathens, perhaps, but good people. She looked forward to showing them what it really meant to follow the Silver Flame through her actions and faith.

Kneeling outside, she makes the tiny effort of will to allow the ethereal flames around her head to bloom into visibility. She prays, then, quietly and humbly, asking for protection for her companions, guidance for herself, and peace for all. She asks that the Flame help her know the correct path, and that it give her the strength to walk it.

And the Flame answers her. The crown around her brow flares, brighter and brighter, until she has to narrow her eyes against its brilliance. The radiant light reaches into the cottage, driving back the shadows, and for a moment Diana is nothing but a silver light. For a moment, she outshines the dawn.

The the light dwindles back to its normal size, but different than before; the flame is a little larger, the tongues of silver fire licking higher than before. She gasps, and realizes that she had been holding her breath. And then a knowledge enters her mind; six small places in her mind that were not there before. Spells, she realizes. She has been blessed with spells.

She touches her injured side, reaches into her new knowledge, and then her bones knit and her flesh heals, as good as it ever was. Diana rushes inside, waking up anyone who slept through her display with breathless excitement. "Magic, Lucy! The Flame has given me magic spells! I can heal! Alex, I have questions about spells. And, Aria, also questions. Do I need a spellbook? Wait, no, that's just wizards. What about..." She continues the stream of questions into the cairn.

[Malimar]

Alex looks slightly uncomfortable when Diana credits the Silver Flame. "I... sure, yeah, the Flame sent me, we can go with that for now." She doesn't expect non-warforged to understand the virtues of the Becoming God! Maybe she'll proselytize at Flox at some point, and maybe Aria could be brought to see the merits of the philosophy of the Becoming God, but Alex is disinclined to try to dissuade Diana from her faith, as that would just be rude.


And then they go back to the office building and they rest! Once more, Alex brushes the Colonel with his fancy brush and is chatty and voluble until it is time to sleep, and then slightly beyond that time, until she picks up on the hints that people would like to stop talking and sleep now.


In the morning, her slumber is interrupted by a hunting feeling, the emotion of I-would-desperately-like-to-hunt-and-kill-and-eat-that, from Colonel Fluffmuffin. At first, she's all "Yes, fine, go catch it..." But then as the Colonel bounds towards the squirrel in the window, Alex catches sight of the note in its tiny paws, and she shouts, "No, wait, stop!" The Colonel skids to a stop and gives Alex an indignantly reproachful look. When the note is retrieved and they let the squirrel get away, the Colonel is so offended that he turns away from Alex and starts licking himself in disgust.

When the note is read, Alex is all, "Oh, yeah, we've connected! Oooh, magic help whistle!"


And then Diana bursts into the room, ranting about having magic! Despite it being divine magic from gods Alex doesn't follow, Alex is still excited for Diana! And for the party, as they now have a healer! And, with her knowledge (mostly book knowledge, not so much practical knowledge, especially when it comes to divine spells) of the arcane, religion, spellcraft, and so on, Alex endeavors to answer Diana's questions!

Alex interrupts to spend an hour preparing spells out of her own spellbook -- repreparing cast spells, letting a couple of uncast spells pass from her mind and preparing in their place new spells.

And then she's ready!


Back to the Whispering Cairn! "So who's gonna climb up and plant the rope up there? Diana? Flox?"

[RaggedAngel]

Diana eyes the long climb, and she bites back her fear. Paladins don't feel fear, she reminds herself. The Flame had seen fit to bless her with the miracle of divine magic; it would be a poor repayment to be a coward now.

"I'll climb. Give me a minute to get out of this banded mail; I'd rather get stabbed than climb that high while carrying it." She strips out of her armor, down to her tunic and breeches. Diana arms may not bulge with muscle, but they're sharply defined, and she looks much thinner and lighter when unclad. Now that she's more properly suited to climbing she re-dons her backpack, making sure to include a hundred feet of their collective rope.

She moves to the base of the climb, focusing on the wall in front of her rather than the full height. "Keep an eye on me, Alex. I don't mean to fall, but I'd rather not be dropped fifty feet." She glances at Luci, giving the changeling a confident smile, and then she begins to climb.

Spoiler

Show

She'll remove her armor, leaving it down on the ground, and put her shield on her back or belt or whatever. So a +2 to Climb total.

She'll try to take 10 if possible. If something happens that might make her fall and she needs to roll, she'll spend an Action Point on the roll (assuming it isn't an obvious success).

[Malimar]

Colonel Fluffmuffin, disinclined to make the climb or be carried up, curls up on the sarcophagus and has himself a nap.

Alex nods. She'll keep an eye on Diana! So while Diana climbs, Alex waits at the bottom of the shaft. If Diana falls, Alex will interrupt her fall with feather fall.

[King Tius]

Diana tries to climb the chain slowly and methodically but can't get more than a foot or two up (can't take 10, DC too high!). She opts for a more dangerous but aggressive climbing technique, allowing her to move faster but also increasing her risk of falling. With Alex as a backup, she manages to keep herself from getting twisted in the chain as she scales the forty feet up to the new hallway. What she finds is a thin passage that extends into the shadows. Increasing the light output of her sigil, she sees that seventy feet down the hallway ends in what looks like an enormous stone human face, its mouth open in an angry scream.

[RaggedAngel]

Diana looks around for something decent to attack the rope to; if there isn't anything, she'll look for a way to brace herself so that she can hold the rope. She's strong enough to confidently lift anyone other than Flox. "Does anyone who knows how to find traps want to join me up here?"

[Malimar]

Alex waits until everyone else has ascended the rope, ready to feather fall anybody who should happen to fall from higher than 10'.

Once everybody else is up, Alex carefully climbs the rope as well, mumbling something about "I oughta replace my noodly arms with better ones, like Flox's."

Spoiler

Show

Only have 25' range on feather fall, so Alex should go last so she can cast it on anybody who comes falling down.

Alex's total climb bonus: -1. Taking 10 if possible to climb the rope while bracing against the wall of the shaft. If she can't take 10, then like Diana will spend an action point unless it's an obvious success. If she falls from higher than 5', casts feather fall on herself, assuming she hasn't already cast it on anybody else.

[King Tius]

Diana looks around for somewhere to tie the rope off and finds some deep gouges in the floor and the lower walls of the hallway. The gouges start at varying distances from the edge of the hallway, but all end at the lip. To Diana they look like dagger or pickaxe marks.

Alex will wait for everyone else before climbing up. Let's give everyone else a chance to chime in on whether they want to use action points to get up there or not.

[King Tius]

Diana has nowhere to secure the rope but is strong enough to do most of the work herself. Using the rope as extra lift and a security measure, Aria and Luci make it up to the ledge without a problem. Since Feather Fall works just as well from above as below, Alex gets hauled up next, leaving Flow for last. The four ladies hold onto the rope and tug as a group as Flox hauls Floxself up the chain. There are a few stumbling points where Flox looks about to fall, but eventually the five are you are standing up in this narrow hallway with the big face at the end. Alex, Aria, and Luci drop into trap mode, scouting the hallway and staying wary of the big face up ahead. Sure enough, 60 ft down the hallway, near where the first of the gouge marks in the floor appear, there is a pressure plate that spans the entire width of the hallway and is ten feet long, leading up to the face itself. You notice from up close that the mouth of the face seems big enough to climb through, though there appears to be a stone wall directly behind it blocking your way through.

OOC: Zoobity and Ponies, when you check back in, level your sheets up!

[Malimar]

Alex, with Aria and Luci, inspects the passageway! Probably mostly it's Luci, really, Alex might be a little too impatient and distractible to be a good trap-finder. But in the end somebody discovers a pressure plate!

Alex drops to the ground just before the pressure plate and tries to inspect it without putting any pressure on it. "What do we think: trap, obvious trap, super-obvious trap, or actually just a trigger to open the wall behind that mouth and make the mouth intone something like 'WELCOME, PUNY MORSELS'? If it's a trap, I bet it'll be hurricaney wind, blow us right back to the shaft so we fall and break all our bones like that unfortunate dude at the bottom. If it does and we all fall, I can only feather fall one person, and I'll feather fall Diana but you gotta promise to heal me first. And you gotta resurrect me if I go completely squish, obviously. Do Flox last, I can fix him if you heal me first." She gives Flox a wide-eyed grin, keen for any excuse to get into his innards and tinker.

(Alex may not be very wise, but she can be keenly rational, and knows that, though feather falling the cleric decreases the chances of her own survival, it increases the chances of everybody surviving, and she'd feel a little bad if any of her new friends were to die. Unfortunately for her, she underestimates the damage falling from such a height can do and isn't aware that it's more likely to kill her outright than not.)

"So, like, we could disable the pressure plate, but if it's just some harmless thing for show, then we're stuck. But if it's a trap and we step on it, we might end up like Mr. McCrunchybones down the shaft."

[Saskia]

Aria sighs. "That's about my assessment, too. She walks up and kneels beside some of the marks, and runs her hands along their edges. She knows, obviously, the big people have big weapons that specialize in big, traumatic injuries, but some of these gouges she can fit her whole hand into. That just seems excessive, would a whole two inches deep in Diana's chest really not bring her down? Is four really necessary? She wonders about her own size. If she were larger and stronger, would she, too, be more brutish and warlike? Would gnomes generally have developed those traits if they were bigger? "Claws, maybe? What do you call them, fighting picks? Probably trying to brace themselves against something; tornadic wind seems like a safe bet. Looks like the face is a doorway that just moonlights in murder, though. I'm sure there's got to be a bypass hidden somewhere for acolytes who weren't made of windstuff, so much of this place was so clearly made for some kind of terrestrial animal."

She makes a mental note of Alex wanting to replace her arms. "It's funny you talk about replacing your arms, Alex. I got into my field instead of wizardry proper because I wanted to develop less primitive prosthetics after my dad lost an arm in a mining accident. He's got a really expensive magical replacement, and it's a hell of a lot better than nothing, but its fine motor function is terrible. He can turn a wrench, and he can almost drink a beer, but he can't play the organ anymore, and he's gotta use his other hand for spell somatics, which took him a long time to master. He was basically just not a wizard anymore for a while after the accident. Really frustrated him for a long time, going from mighty transmuter to struggling with cantrips again. Couldn't even polymorph into a copy of himself that still has both arms, when he could barely cast, I don't know, Baby's First Broom-Sweeper or whatever. So who knows? In a few years, if we aren't still hanging around in creepy wind bunkers together, I may have a workable solution for your spaghetti arms." She looks over to Alex and offers a grin and a shrug. "You know, as long as you don't mind the bug testing."

OOC: Taking 20 on search for 28 to look for a bypass mechanism, plus anyone's aids another! If not, using skill enhancement for disable device and taking 10 on disable device for 21, plus an action point (1d6)[1] because like, yolo I guess?

[Malimar]

Alex gets distracted from the matter at hand by getting excited about Aria's prosthetics proposal! "Yesss, a prosthetics project! Sounds fun! Bug testing is the most fun part! I mean, like, the technology exists, right? Warforged arms are just as good as fleshy arms in most ways, and better in some, it's just hooking it up to the biological components that's the challenge! I mean, right? It'd be easy to mass-produce good prosthetics if we solved that problem. And had a Creation Forge. ...ruzza fruzza Treaty of Thronehold... Arms and legs are the easy part, though. We could do, like, eyeballs that see in the dark! Hearts that never infarct! Super livers so you can beat a dwarf at drinking! A whole range of better-than-flesh prosthetics!" She's positively giddy.

Then: "OH, the pressure plate! I almost forgot!" She helps Aria inspect it carefully!

Spoiler

Show

Roll to Aid Another Aria's search: (1d20+4)[11]

[OMG PONIES]

While the others seemed to have a restful night's sleep which left them chipper and chatty in the morning, Luci's experience had been...different, to say the least. Still, it had been hard not to be happy for Diana at the Flamite's proclamation, or to respond with a smirk and a wink to her searching gaze before climbing up. But while the others seemed genuinely enthusiastic today, Luci was much more reserved.

Spoiler: Sense Motive DC 20 to open

Show

Fitful, restless, cryptic, and terrifying were also words that fit the bill for Luci's sleep. Her slightly hunched posture and dark circles beneath her eyes gave away that much. She carefully shifts her facial features to cover the circles, but it almost seems as if Luci is acting her way through one of her scenes.

[Zoobity]

Flox, perhaps to no one's surprise, keeps Floxmouth shut for most of the morning, staying alert for any monsters or bad reactions to his breakfast porridge. When Flox an Luci remain at the bottom of the chain, Flox looks to her and says, "So, uh, they've been up there a long time. Noodle arms or no, I would like to know what's happening. Do you think I should yell?" Flox shrugs floxshoulders and grips the chain, attempting to climb up.

[RaggedAngel]

(OOC - Flox is already at the top, Zoobity.)

Diana inspects the mouth at the end of the tunnel herself, trying to determine if there's enough room to stand at the sides of the opening to avoid any potential gusting winds or blasting force. "The body at the bottom of the shaft may have merely fallen. But for safety, we could perhaps disable the pressure plate, and then see if the sliding barrier can also be disabled or moved manually?"

[King Tius]

Scanning the hallway for a bypass switch, you come up empty-handed. Aria puts her considerable skills to use as she tries to disable the pressure plate. Unfortunately, the device is considerably more complicated than she anticipated, and she accidentally triggers the trap! The face at the end of the hallway animates, causing a terrible wind to erupt from its wailing mouth. At the same time, the face's eyes spin with hypnotic illusory patterns, flashing rapidly through the colors of the rainbow. Everyone but Luci is caught off guard and succumbs to the face's hypnotic gaze and are paralyzed. Despite having just started, Luci can already tell that the wind is quickly ramping up in its intensity.

We're now in initiative order. If you are paralyzed, you may attempt a new Will Save each round to try and break free of the illusory effects. Diana was the only one with an initial save close enough to potentially be overturned by an action point, so if you want to use it, roll it in the OOC and I'll tell you if you can act. Please include a fortitude save in your posts against the wind going forward. If you're paralyzed and don't feel like posting, I will roll for you. I'll wait for actions from the non-paralyzed since things are pretty dicey right now.

Spoiler: The Map

Show

Spoiler: Party Statistics

Show

Alex = 5/5 Paralyzed
Aria = 13/13 Paralyzed
Diana= 16/16 DD: 0 Paralyzed
Flox = 25/25 Paralyzed
Luci = 8/8

[RaggedAngel]

Diana barely manages to resist the swirling enchantment, and she grits her teeth in effort as she strains against the wind. She shakes Alex's shoulder, trying to help her snap out of it as well. "We need to disable this!"

Spoiler

Show

Fort: (1d20+5)[25]

Using her action to Aid Another on Alex's safe, or hopefully to give Alex an additional saving throw.

[Malimar]

When the mouth opens and the wind starts, Alex begins, "You see? Wind! Called it! ...crap. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap..." she trails off and seizes up, paralyzed by the swirly thing.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Will vs hypnosis: (1d20+1)[7] plus action point (1d6)[2]
Fort vs wind: (1d20+1)[11]

[Zoobity]

Flox, who it turns out was up the chain the entire time (OOC: Thanks and sorry, Angel!) stares at the swirling eyes. "It's really beautiful."

[OMG PONIES]

From the back of the pack, the other members of the party hear a horrible guttural sound. It is almost as if talons have torn through the vocal chords of a dying creature--the sound is so foul, so vile, that not even a demon or devil would dare utter it. The sound is unsettling to the party, but it is downright destructive to the statue. The sound causes the statue to crack and buckle as if it is about to shatter under the vile weight of its meaning. Though none know the language, it carries a precise feeling of misery, isolation, and betrayal.

When the party looks back toward the shaft they had climbed they see Luci, eyes wide in shock with one hand cupped over her mouth.

Initiative - (1d20+2)[19]
Fort Save - (1d20)[5] +5 from Action point = 10...+1 if this is a good creature or effect.
Will save from the statue (DC 15) or it shatters.

[King Tius]

Diana grabs hold of Alex, attempting to shake the young girl from her stupor. The wizard rocks back and forth stiffly as Diana shakes her, as her entire body has gone stiff. Luci unleashes her new found demonic abilities, attempting to shatter the face with her baleful utterance. Unfortunately the invocation has no effect on the magical face. Aria and Flox also continue to stand immobilized by the strange face's magic.

The wind picks up rapidly, reaching a blustering intensity that knocks the (still) paralyzed Aria prone. Diana finds she's got the strength to still advance through the wind if needed, but Luci is checked (unable to move forwards in the wind). Flox and Alex also fail to break free from the spell's effects.

OOC: Things are slightly out of sync here, so just to clarify, at the beginning of your turn you roll to save vs the wind's effects to see if you are knocked down, blown away, etc. The rolls you made this round were the effects which I have already posted, so you are free to act this round and then the roll you make in THIS post will determine if you resist the wind's effects at the top of the NEXT round, so I can tell you before you post if you are effected. Similarly, your will saves to break free of the spell's effects count as full round actions, so they effectively happen at the end of your turn. Just to sum up, Paralyzed characters auto-fail against the wind but should still roll their fort rolls along with their will saves in case you pass the will save and break free. You rolling lets you apply action points where needed.

Spoiler: The Map

Show

Spoiler: Party Statistics

Show

Alex = 5/5 Paralyzed
Aria = 13/13 Paralyzed, Prone
Diana= 16/16 DD: 0
Flox = 25/25 Paralyzed
Luci = 8/8

[Malimar]

Alex stiffly murmbles "wrghlbrghl" as she stares fascinated into the swirly thing.

Spoiler: roll

Show

Will: (1d20+1)[7] plus action point result of 4 = 11
Fort: (1d20+1)[11]

[OMG PONIES]

Equal parts shocked at the discovery of her new skill and embarrassed by the outburst, Luci keeps one hand over her mouth as she takes cover behind Flox. Poking her head out to the side of the gigantic warforged, she asks"Can someone please destroy that thing?", pointing with her other hand at the statue. From the tip of her extended index finger, a spark of magical energy leaps forward and strikes the statue squarely in the right eye. Aghast again, Luci pulls back her outstretched hand and stares, eyes wide, at her offending finger.

Hide check - (1d20+2)[3] using the soft cover of her friends...nothing personal!
Ranged Touch - (1d20+2)[9] +2 from action point = 11 vs. statue's touch AC.
Ranged Touch crit confirm - (1d20+2)[21]
Eldritch Blast damage - (1d6)[3]
Eldritch Blast extra critdamage - (1d6)[3]
Sneak attack damage if applicable - (1d6)[4]
Fort save - (1d20)[2]

[Zoobity]

Floxjaw is flapping in the wind.

Spoiler: Saves

Show

Will (1d20-1)[15]
Fort (1d20+6)[25]

[RaggedAngel]

Diana moves with the wind, putting herself behind Luci. She leans into the wind, putting her hands on Luci's back to steady the changeling against the wind. "I'm not going to let any of you go over the edge. Just keep blasting it!"

Spoiler

Show

Fort: (1d20+5)[19]

Move left three spaces.

Aid Another Luci's Fort save, if that's something she can do, or Ready an Action to steady her if she would fall or be blown back.

[Saskia]

No bypass? Aria grumbles and curses under her breath working with the plate. It doesn't even make sense. Unless this place was intended for the earthbound never to set foot in a sacred chamber. Then maybe—

The telltale click of a slipped probe strikes terror in Aria's heart. "Oh ****," she manages, just before the magic kicks on and her body seizes. She's not falling over, so it's illusory magic; that means it's got to end. Not necessarily soon, but at least it's not permanent. Well, unless this wind blows her down the hole and she breaks her neck.

And she's fallen over. And it hurts a bit. Great. The blow falling over strikes up a thought, though; if the hallway were simply to inconvenience ground-based creatures, then it would be taller, and probably wider. Or it just wouldn't have a useful floor carved out. And it wouldn't be this long. Hallways are made for walking. So there has to be a bypass, it just isn't in here.

The flashing colors, of course! This is linked with the main chamber, somehow, maybe there are other hidden chambers; she's pretty sure one was still missing, so maybe all of them have to be hung, or maybe there's a corresponding magical guardian monster to be slain for each lantern to activate them? Clearly these people weren't nice, so tying their traps to killing isn't out of the question.

Damn it all, to be so tantalizingly close to solving a puzzle and unable to move to solve it, or even tell her comrades to get everyone down instead of trying to butt heads with a hurricane. Just breathe, Aria, she thinks to herself, hoping if she stays calm it'll be easier to break the spell on herself. It probably won't make it any easier, but illusory effects are always at least partially psychosomatic...

Will (1d20+1)[7]!

[King Tius]

Alex and Aria remain bound by the face's magic. Flox, however, manages to regain floxsenses. Diana drops back and braces Luci as she unexpectedly fires a bolt of dark energy at the magical face. A small piece of the stone chips off the nose where she strikes it, but the howling winds continue to ratchet up, now reaching a force of wind so severe that even the medium-sized party members are having trouble keeping their feet. Diana manages to keep Luci upright but the paralyzed Alex is knocked over. Meanwhile, Poor little Aria is blown backwards, gaining some air as she tumbles over Alex. Flox manages to catch the gnome before she goes whipping by, but she takes 3 nonlethal damage from the ride.

The wind continue to ramp up. Flox and Diana are unsure as to how much longer they can keep their footing if things keep escalating.

OOC: Flox and Diana both passed the "checked" DC so can move forward in the wind if they chose. You're both holding other characters that effectively act like sails, so the DC for resisting the wind will be upped slightly going forward if you are helping another character.

Spoiler: The Map

Show

Spoiler: Party Statistics

Show

Alex = 5/5 Paralyzed, Prone
Aria = 13/13 Paralyzed, 3 nonlethal
Diana= 16/16 DD: 0
Flox = 25/25
Luci = 8/8

[Malimar]

Alex falls over, all undignified-like, and subsequently lies there stiffly.

Spoiler: Rolls

Show

Will: (1d20+1)[18]
Fort: (1d20+1)[20]