The Desert of Desolation IC

[A.A.King]

"It appears we can indeed burn this 'curtain' away my friends. Let's see how much it can take!" the priest says and he starts firing in succession.

Spoiler: OOC

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I am just going to use my Firey Burst once per round until stops getting dimmer and simply starts being gone. Or until something else bad happens Or I guess if, after a minute or two it still isn't completely gone Azrael will realise this method won't get rid of it completely and will also stop

[TheBarbecueChip]

Within a minute of sustained bombardment by Azrael's sun given magics the blue curtain is riven with half a dozen holes and finally the magic sustaining it collapses. The once cold, damp air of the room is now almost as warm and dry as the air above. A small snowdrift lies between the first pair of statues, slowly melting.

But, the way is not yet clear. As the first curtain falls a second springs into being between the next pair of statues. This one is yellow and rather than a rolling crystalline appearance it seems to flash and stutter with almost enough frequency to appear solid, but not quite.

[Alabenson]

Figures, I think we just traded ice for lightning, Talgrun grumbles as he exchanges his bow for his halberd. Still, if we were able to blast our way through the last wall maybe we can do something similar with this one. With that, Talgrun takes his halberd and prods the yellow wall.

[TheBarbecueChip]

Talgrun's suspicions are immediately proved correct as the moment the tip of his halberd makes contact with the flickering curtain the entire structure collapses into a single blinding bolt of electricity that flashes out from the left statue to the tip of the weapon. The energy surges down the metal langets affixing the head of the weapon to the shaft, arcing back and forth across the narrow space between them. The smell of burning wood fills the hall.

After the flash the yellow curtain reappears, seeming no less energetic than before.

Spoiler: Talgrun, Reflex Save DC 13

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(5d6)[14] Lightning damage, split evenly between Talgrun and his halberd. Save halves

[Master_Rahl22]

Morekal observes Talgrun's attempt with his halberd and winces. He says, "Azrael, can you try the fire again? Maybe it worked because fire is opposite of ice, or maybe it was just magical attacks that did it."

[A.A.King]

"The Sun will melt away the snow, but I fear it has little effect on thunder and lightning, Morekal" Azrael says "However, there is no harm in trying" and once Talgrun has stepped back enough from stabbing the curtain with his halberd Azrael fires another ball of fire from the palm of his hand "Lets hope the Sun can once again guide us through!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Firey Burst Damage: (3d6)[3][4][1](8). Rolling just in case this somehow backfires at me...

[Alabenson]

Talgrun unleashes a stream of curses in both Common and Gobliniod as the lightning strikes him.

Spoiler: Refelex Save

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Talgrun (1d20+6)[8]
Talgrun's halberd (1d20+6)[24]

[Janwin]

Llwellyn silently observes the attempts to take down the wall while keeping an defensive position in case anything were to come in and try to attack him.

He knew when to leave the magic to the magical people.

[farothel]

"We best stay careful and not touch things we don't know about," Saelihn remarked as she looked at the lightning curtain.

[TheBarbecueChip]

Azrael's fire passes through the yellow curtain unmolested and splashes against the stone of the far wall, leaving a large scorch mark. The room is silent and empty except for the party and it would appear that their bypassing of the first barrier has drawn no unwanted attention.

The yellow curtain stands undimmed, barring forward progress. Nobody can bear to look at it for more than a few moments at a stretch since the strange flickering causes the eyes to strain and tire quickly. However after a few attempts at observation Saelihn seems convinced that the flashes are moving only one way, from left to right.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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@Alabenson: Since Talgrun's halberd is not magical it does not get an independent save. Talgrun takes 7 points of lighting damage and the halberd take 2, after adjusting for hardness. The halberd has 8 hit points remaining.

[farothel]

"Hold on a second," Saelihn said. She looked at the statues they just passed for some mechanism to turn the curtain they destroyed off. If there was one here, there might be one at the next pair of statues.

Spoiler: OOC search

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What I'm doing is searching the back of the statues (the part that was after the curtain when we were entering) for a way to turn them off.

search: (1d20+7)[26]

disable divice (as it migth help with knowing where to look): (1d20+11)[14]

[Master_Rahl22]

Morekal observes the pattern of movement and then begins to investigate the statue on the left side.

Spoiler: OOC

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Search - (1d20+6)[9]

[TheBarbecueChip]

Spoiler: Saelihn

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The statues are perfectly mirrored along their center lines. You are confident that there are no hidden switches or other mundane methods of disabling their functions. You find it likely that there would be another passphrase, similar to the one that opened the doors which might deactivate the curtains.

Spoiler: Morekal

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As you approach the left hand statue closely, the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck rise and bend towards the stone as if pulled by an invisible force.

[farothel]

"Okay, so much for that idea," Saelihn said to the others, "I hoped to find an off switch, but there isn't one. If there was one here, I could get through it with minimal damage and turn it off. But I think it's command word activated. Unless you guys have other ideas, I have some skill in pretending for instance to be a caster so I can use scrolls and such. I'm not sure if it will work on this thing, but I can give it a shot. I guess the worst it can do is shock me like it did Talgrun."

[Alabenson]

Well, I can confirm its magic and I poked it with a stick, so I'm about out of ideas. I mean, I could try tossing a javelin at it, but I don't really think that would help.

[Janwin]

Llwellyn suggests, half in jest, "Well, who wants to be the one to try and run through, then?"

[Master_Rahl22]

Morekal says, "Well before we try that, what if we try to destroy one of the statues?" Morekal then attacks the statue on the left side of the room with one of his scimitars.

Spoiler: OOC

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Attack - (1d20+11)[25]Damage - (1d6+3)[8]

[TheBarbecueChip]

There is a flash of light and the smell of ozone as Morekal's blade strikes the charged statue. When the spot leaves everybody's vision it becomes clear that the scimitar left only a superficial line upon the smoothly carved stone.

Spoiler: Morekal Reflex Save DC 13

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(5d6)[19] lightning damage, save halves

[farothel]

"If I recall my school days correctly," Saelihn said, "you can get rid of lightning by grounding it using a metal rod. I've also learned that if you build a gate out of metal, the lightning would go around. Maybe we can construct something like that. Just a second, I think I know something."
She headed back towards the Southern room, where they had seen the three rods of rusted iron holding up a ring in which rested a brass censer. Grabbing it, she dragged it back to the lightning curtain.
"I'm not sure if this will work, but it can't hurt to try," she said, "someone has a scarf or something I can wrap around my hands to insulate them from the lightning?"

[Master_Rahl22]

Morekal jumps back with a shout, shakes his hand and says, "Ok, bad idea..." He then reaches down to his belt and activates it. He frowns and shakes the belt buckle a bit, then says, "Can anybody spare a heal for me? This stupid thing must be on the fritz."

Spoiler: OOC

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Reflex - (1d20+9)[10] Activating Healing Belt, will roll in OOC thread

[A.A.King]

Azrael takes out his holy symbol of the sun, raises it above Morekal's head and starts chanting. Healing light shines down on him, removing some of the damage he just took. "I hope this helps a little for now" he then turns to Saelihn "That's an interesting idea, sadly I do not have a scarf for you. Can't we maybe shoot it into the ground or something so we won't be touching it when it goes in?"

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d8+6)[11]. Contains a +1 from the Holy Symbol, but the max heal is still 13 so if it says 14 you still only heal 13.

[farothel]

"I have no idea how to do that," Saelihn said, "well, let's see what I still have. Any of you who have a create water spell, get ready to douse any flame."
She took two spare shirts and wrapped them around her hands. Then she grabbed the construction with two of it's legs, lifted it and put it underneath the lightning curtain, two legs on this side and one leg on the other, with the senser on top as 'roof'. She let go as quickly as possible and jumped away.

[TheBarbecueChip]

The lightning pops and sparks but does in fact seem to behave a Saelihn expected. The curtain remains, flickering in place, but the area beneath the iron stand is merely empty air.

[farothel]

"See, entrance," Saelihn said, "don't touch the sides when you squeeze through."
Doing as she said, she moved through the legs of the thing, getting carefully to the other side of the curtain without touching the sides.

[Master_Rahl22]

Morekal smiles and says, "Sure, you couldn't figure that out before I tried to hit the statue."

He then crawls through slowly and examines the next set of statues.

[Janwin]

Llwellyn chuckles as Saehlin manages to open a makeshift door. "Quite ingenious. Good job."

He follows through the arch, careful not to touch the sides as well. His arrows would do no good from outside the wall of electricity.

[Alabenson]

I'll admit, this beats the heck out of my idea to drag one of the camels down here and force it through the wall. Preferably the stupid lump that spat at me. Talgrun says as he stows his halberd before following Llwellyn through the opening.

[A.A.King]

"This really is some incredible sorcery" Azrael says as he too walks underneath the lightning.

[Zergh]

As door or portal opened Barhei just watched with amazement in his eyes. For quite a while. He barely noticed most of the group made the entrance and when he realized his timing he rushed forward. Upon entereing and feeling cold icy fingers crawled upon his skin, he came to a halt. Such horrid environment. As he accustomed to the place , he gazed at statues and other features of the room, with his group little bit farther.
He approached and stopped at the electric object to study it some more and said "Sorry guys, I was little bit overhelmed by all this, how did you pass by? Also, nice burning Azrael. Came too late."

Spoiler: OoC

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Cast Detect Magic
Knowledge Arcana check on statues and room features (d20+9)[18]
Spellcraft ckeck for spells and effects of the room (d20+12)[26]

[TheBarbecueChip]

As soon as Saelihn passes through the yellow curtain unharmed a third shimmering barrier appears between her and the pedestal, which is now only some dozen or so feet distant. This final barrier is a bight crimson and radiates more light than either of the previous two curtains as it seems to unroll itself from the ceiling to the floor. The yellow curtain still flickers behind the group of adventurers as they cluster between the two translucent obstacles.