Another Bloody Isekai IC: Team Raid Bosses

[Anomander]

Serafino laughs as he realizes what Tsu-Tse must have done. It looked like he'd just yanked and squirmed at nothing, but the lance of magic hit something in midair and stopped.

"Marambe, Malog! The caster and creature are on your side of the wall now. Casteris30feetinfrontofyouontheleft!" Serafino hurries up his shouting as the wall scrapes back into place. He points to where he can sense the caster. He knows the apparently empty passage is filled, but with invisibility playing its games, Marambe and Malog can see him and his pointing finger clearly.

He glances back to Tsu-Tse quickly.

"Looks like you have the wizard well, ahem, in hand," Serafino says, saluting the dwarf.

He turns back to where he knows the invisible creature and his blasted 'wall' is.

"Oh creature," Serafino says loudly to be heard through the wall. It had seemed thin enough, perhaps more like a shield. "Your caster's spells don't really bother me. I'm stronger than you. Faster than you. I can smell your fear wherever you are. Your heart's blood sings a song summoning me right to you. All you can hope to do is run, and there's nowhere to run."

With another slam like the first, Serafino smashes with all his strength against the 'wall' to force his way past it again, but this time he keeps a firm grip on it, doing his best to yank it away.

Spoiler: Actions

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Basically opposed strength checks is what we're making, I think. If I can, I'll wrestle the 'wall' all the way away from him, but if not, I want to be at least holding onto the wall. Vampires have a constant Spider Climb effect, so basically I'm pulling some Spiderman-like moves to 'stick' to the invisible wall.

("Bull Rush":Str + Int + Inspiration point) (1d20+29)[47]

Let me know if this is the wrong sort of roll to make. I'll be using inspiration points here.

[Tyrann]

Having just busted through the wall on the other side, Marambe quickly picks up on the situation. He blinks forward and begins swinging his heavy metal arms at where the sorcerer should be.

Spoiler: Actions

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Swift: Use anklet of translocation, teleport 10' north (just outside the fog)

Free: power attack for 1, triggering the knock back feat, forcing a bull rush attempt into the 'wall' with every successful hit (assuming the sorcerer bounces back into his square after hitting the 'wall')

Full: Full attack at where Serafino pointed out the sorcerer.

cncl 2 is hit - (1d2)[2]
MH1 - (1d20+14)[34]
MH1 dmg - (2d8+15)[24]
bullrush - (1d20+27)[41]
dmg if into wall - (8d6+33)[67]

cncl 2 is hit - (1d2)[1]
MH2 - (1d20+9)[19]
MH2 dmg - (2d8+15)[21]
bullrush - (1d20+27)[34]
dmg if into wall - (8d6+33)[58]

cncl 2 is hit - (1d2)[2]
OH1 - (1d20+14)[30]
OH1 dmg - (2d8+8)[20]
bullrush - (1d20+27)[32]
dmg if into wall - (8d6+33)[61]

cncl 2 is hit - (1d2)[1]
OH2 - (1d20+9)[22]
OH2 dmg - (2d8+8)[15]
bullrush - (1d20+27)[35]
dmg if into wall - (8d6+33)[68]

cncl 2 is hit - (1d2)[1]
Slam1 - (1d20+8)[22]
Slam1 dmg - (1d8+8)[9]
bullrush - (1d20+27)[34]
dmg if into wall - (8d6+33)[61]

cncl 2 is hit - (1d2)[1]
Slam2 - (1d20+8)[13]
Slam2 dmg - (1d8+8)[15]
bullrush - (1d20+27)[30]
dmg if into wall - (8d6+33)[61]

[Togo]

Tsu-Tse nods. He's not going anywhere, nor am I. That's what being a dwarf is all about

He turns back to the invisible shape he's holding, and starts methodically trying to crush it smaller, while headbutting repeatedly at where the head might be.

Spoiler: Actions

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Opposed grapple check to do damage (1d20+17)[26] for (1d6+14)[15]
Opposed grapple check to do damage (1d20+17)[30] for (1d6+14)[17]
Opposed grapple check to do damage (1d20+12)[31] for (1d6+14)[20]

[Warmatt]

Now, Malog is a simple creature and one of simple mind and purpose, as he would give a bellow, and charge, sword aiming to chop down. "I cast sword!"

Spoiler: Malog Offensive

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Going to charge where he thinks the Aberration is.

Super Secret Spell... Hit it with Two Handed Chop!
(1d20+16)[22]
Damage; (1d10+13)[21] plus (3d6)[8] Acid plus (1d6+3)[6] Negative plus Fort DC 26 or Toxin for (1d6)[4] Wisdom damage
Miss Chance; (1d100)[85]

Acid Nimbus; Reflex 23 or (3d6)[16] Acid

[FearlessGnome]

The enemy sorcerer tries to dodge Marambe's heavy blows. Two strikes connect, then three more fail to find the drow... before Marambe realizes the drow simply isn't there to take the punch anymore. He seems to be crumpled on the floor.

Marambe's fists are soaked in invisible, sticky gore that smells of iron.

At the same time Tsu-Tse strangles and punches and crushes the last of the life out of the wizard.

At the start of the enemy's turn all PCs except Tsu-Tse take (3d8)[12] Force damage.

The clammy mist swirls around Malog - but he resists the supernatural cold, taking no damage and gaining no negative levels.

The aberration, having lost both of its allies, doesn't know what to do. It doesn't attack anyone, instead it... seems to shift in place. Serafino can suddenly sense all his allies again with his mindsight, as well as the Aberration. Something's changed.

All allies may act. It's four on one.

[Warmatt]

He was tired and he yawned, as he would keep on chopping at thin air, as he would try and chop it up... mainly because nobody was telling him to stop really, even if he wanted to sit down and have a Molsen.

Spoiler: Attack!

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Chop one
(1d20+13)[19]
Damage; (1d10+10)[18] plus (3d6)[14] Acid plus (1d6+3)[8] Negative plus Toxin (Fort DC 26 or (1d6)[5] Wisdom
Miss; (1d100)[46]

Chop Two
(1d20+8)[21]
Damage; (1d10+10)[19] plus (3d6)[12] Acid plus (1d6+3)[5] Negative
Miss; (1d100)[7]

Acid Nimbus (REF 23 half); (3d6)[8]

[Togo]

Tsu-Tse is now in a more familiar mode, as he methodically strips shotglasses from his bandolier and throws them at the enemy. The hollow coldness in his bones and the distraction of his teammates in close combat, takes its toll on his aim.

Spoiler: Actions

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(1d20+12)[24] for (d6)[5] plus (d8+14)[20] damage with a possible miss chance (high is hit) (1d2)[1]
(1d20+12)[32] for (d6)[5] plus (d8+14)[15] damage with a possible miss chance (high is hit) (1d2)[1]
(1d20+7)[27] for (d6)[3] plus (d8+14)[17] damage with a possible miss chance (high is hit) (1d2)[2]
(1d20+12)[15] for (d6)[2] plus (d8+14)[16] damage with a possible miss chance (high is hit) (1d2)[2]
(1d20+7)[20] for (d6)[4] plus (d8+14)[22] damage with a possible miss chance (high is hit) (1d2)[1]

[Togo]

One shot glass is particularly accurately aimed...

Spoiler: Actions

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confirming the threat
(1d20+7)[26] to confirm for an extra (d6)[2] plus (d8+14)[22] damage

...But it doesn't matter, since the target is invisible.

[Anomander]

"Marambe, Tsu-Tse, don't forget the mist is nasty. Though ..." Serafino looks at Marambe resisting the effects. "Well, I guess Marambe wasn't bothered by a short exposure. Still, Marambe, if you think you can smash this thing out of the mist, we can question it without worrying about the mist."

Serafino glares at the where he can sense the invisible creature and takes a swing at it.

Spoiler: Attack

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Attack: (1d20+12)[16]
Damage: (1d6+8)[14] plus (3d6)[10] sneak attack + 54 drain (and 3 levels drained).
50% miss chance (high is hit) (1d2)[1]

Serafino's fist just barely brushes something, but it wasn't enough to hit the thing properly. Shrugging he flies back out of the way and pulls Tsu-Tse with him, giving Marambe a clear line to drive the thing out of the mist if he wants to. They can finish this thing off at everyone's leisure, now.

(Pulls us 25' back away from the mist, giving Marambe and the thing plenty of room.)

[Tyrann]

Marambe sadly can't smell the blood on his hands (no functional nose) but he understands what must have happened. Following Serafino's suggestion, he tries to punch the abberation out of the mist.

Spoiler: actions

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5' step north, power attack for 1, full attack with knock back attempts until I can no longer reach it (i.e. the first time I beat it)
Can't move with it because I can't share a square with Malog.

concealment - (1d100)[18]
MH1 - (1d20+14)[20]
MH dmg - (2d8+15)[22]
Bull rush - (1d20+27)[30]

concealment - (1d100)[80]
MH2 - (1d20+9)[21]
MH dmg - (2d8+15)[22]
Bull rush - (1d20+27)[37]

concealment - (1d100)[23]
OH1 - (1d20+14)[23]
MH dmg - (2d8+9)[14]
Bull rush - (1d20+27)[46]

concealment - (1d100)[30]
OH2 - (1d20+9)[18]
MH dmg - (2d8+9)[20]
Bull rush - (1d20+27)[38]

concealment - (1d100)[67]
Slam1 - (1d20+8)[25]
MH dmg - (1d8+9)[17]
Bull rush - (1d20+27)[32]

concealment - (1d100)[66]
Slam2 - (1d20+8)[19]
MH dmg - (1d8+9)[15]
Bull rush - (1d20+27)[42]

[Anomander]

"Surrender now, creature, and maybe I won't gut you. If you resist you're going to be in for a long and painful ....."

Serafino winces at the sizzling of melting flesh and impacts from the insanely powerful Marambe.

".... death."

He sighs and mutters, "If you are still alive, that is. That sounded like it hurt."

[FearlessGnome]

Though the fight is largely over, the aberration puts up a valiant attempt at blocking and dodging the party's avalanche of incoming attacks. Of the many throws and punches, only one of Tsu-Tse's shot glasses and one of Marambe's heavy hits actually connect, though the loud slam of the creature hitting the wall can't be missed. It is pushed back five feet (And into the wall).

It doesn't speak, however, seemingly ignoring Serafino's threats. Once more, it neither moves nor attacks.

[Tyrann]

Unless he's told otherwise, Marambe just keeps punching.

Spoiler: Punching

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Same as last round, except that I'll try to trip first. Once its tripped I'll try the knock back aimed diagonally at the wall.

Power attack for 1 to trigger knock back feat.
If Marambe does more than 10 damage, he gets a free trip attempt via the knock down feat.

concealment - (1d100)[28]
MH1 - (1d20+14)[25]
dmg - (2d8+15)[24]
trip - (1d20+19)[39]

concealment - (1d100)[23]
MH2 - (1d20+9)[16]
dmg - (2d8+15)[18]
if not tripped yet
trip - (1d20+19)[38]
if already tripped
bull rush - (1d20+26)[31]
dmg - (8d6+33)[60]

concealment - (1d100)[43]
OH1 - (1d20+14)[21]
dmg - (2d8+9)[13]
if not tripped yet
trip - (1d20+19)[26]
if already tripped
bull rush - (1d20+26)[29]
dmg - (8d6+33)[50]

concealment - (1d100)[91]
OH2 - (1d20+9)[19]
dmg - (2d8+9)[16]
if not tripped yet
trip - (1d20+19)[36]
if already tripped
bull rush - (1d20+26)[43]
dmg - (8d6+33)[50]

concealment - (1d100)[45]
Slam1 - (1d20+8)[27]
dmg - (1d8+9)[14]
if not tripped yet
trip - (1d20+19)[37]
if already tripped
bull rush - (1d20+26)[32]
dmg - (8d6+33)[66]

concealment - (1d100)[83]
Slam2 - (1d20+8)[18]
dmg - (1d8+9)[17]
if not tripped yet
trip - (1d20+19)[28]
if already tripped
bull rush - (1d20+26)[34]
dmg - (8d6+33)[65]

Bonus attack after trip
concealment - (1d100)[83]
Imp trip attck - (1d20+14)[23]
dmg - (2d8+15)[26]
bull rush - (1d20+26)[38]
dmg - (8d6+33)[55]

[Anomander]

Serafino could tell it wasn't dead, but it didn't make a sound. As Marambe continued to pound a an invisible enemy, with the occasional thudding impact, Serafino shrugged. The creature had its chance.

He flickered forward and took a swing of his own.

Spoiler: Attack

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Miss chance (high hits): (1d2)[1]
Attack (1d20+12)[29]
Damage: (1d6+8)[9] plus sneak attack (3d6)[15] and 54 energy drain and 3 drained levels.

His punch was a whiff, and he wasn't going to get a second shot at this, he was certain. There were some decidedly 'splatty' sounds coming from the blows now.

Oh well.

Time to mop up the gear once the spell wore off. Money made so many things possible that it should be classified as a superpower. Gear could be converted into money.

"Let's see about getting these bodies out of the spell effects to where we can check them once the invisibility wears off. See what they have on them."

As soon as the aberration's mind disappears, Serafino will let people know it's dead.

[Warmatt]

Malog would chop all night long, like a chop shop on homeless people!

Spoiler: Chopping!

Show

Chop one
(1d20+13)[15]
Damage; (1d10+10)[11] plus (3d6)[10] Acid plus (1d6+3)[8] Negative. First hit applies Toxin (Fort DC 26 or (1d6)[6] Wisdom damage
Miss Chance; (1d100)[51]

Chop two
(1d20+8)[23]
Damage; (1d10+10)[19] plus (3d6)[9] Acid plus (1d6+3)[7] Negative. First hit applies Toxin (Fort DC 26 or (1d6)[3] Wisdom damage
Miss Chance; (1d100)[92]

Acid Nimbus (Ref DC 23 half); (3d6)[11] Acid

[FearlessGnome]

Alright! That's victory for Team Raidbosses.

The spoils and enemy casters removed from all area effects, about a minute later the invisibility fades and you can see what your opponents looked like. Both casters were male drow, a sorcerer and a wizard. The wizard has a small pouch for material components, the sorcerer does not. The wizard is missing four fingers on one hand. In addition, they were both wearing cloaks, though of different varieties. The sorcerer also had a pair of gloves, the wizard a headband.

From the aberration, you were able to take what looks like a tower shield made of adamantine. It looks far too large and heavy for anyone in the party except Marambe to use, although you can't help but notice that it is too small to block the whole corridor. If it was four times the size it would be a perfect fit though. The aberration... it seems to be some kind of overgrown mimic. Perhaps it was acting as the door before, but in the tunnel what you were up against was definitely the mimic wielding the tower shield. It also had a belt Marambe's size.

Death Fairy lazily glides up to you as you're going over the loot. He looks it over over your shoulders, then nods to himself and backs off. His brief presence brought on the slight sense of impending doom again for half a minute, healing Tsu-Tse for 5 hit points.

[Anomander]

"Malog, while practicing your magic is excellent, how about you wait until your target is visible, and come on out of the magic spell effects until it stops," Serafino calls out. "I don't think the thing is going anywhere right now."

Serafino picks up the corpses and plops them well outside the area of the spells. He also grabs the dropped tower shield and plops it over.

"Hey guys, how are we doing? What do we need to patch up after that scrape? The disintegrate rays never actually got through my protections I had built up, but they did drain them away pretty thoroughly. Otherwise I'm doing alright."

Serafino looks around at the huge collection of Dire Rats that finally showed up, answering his summons. "I called in some remote scouts, so hopefully we'll have some feelers out there so we don't get separated again.

"Hey Death Fairy, these guys just keep reappearing, right? How feasible would it be to just sit here and farm these guys? How long before they reappear?"

He was pretty sure something like that wasn't possible since apparently no one was taking such and obvious step. There must be something that didn't work so easily, but he wanted to hear about whatever it was. Serafino floats over to the large Mimic and growls at it. "You won't be attacking us again, at least not until you respawn."

With that, he slams a fist against it, draining its vitality and restoring his own. He drags the corpse over to the others and begins searching it for anything he can find.

"Give me a minute to examine the things we got. Grab a rest until then."

[FearlessGnome]

Death Fairy looks over the bodies. "These are probably champion creatures, given how close to the surface you are. They won't spawn again for at least 24 hours. Weaker things like goblins, about five minutes or so. It's a big spectrum. That said, farming is typically easier said than done. When a dungeon makes something fancy and it fails to kill people, it usually tries something else. And when farming does seem to work, well... Dungeons can get real creative when a group of adventurers bunk down in one spot. Don't be surprised if the room you're in starts slowly sinking down toward the bottom of the dungeon, changing floors while you wait, things like that. I'd say maybe half of all dungeon deaths for adventurers are the result of someone trying to be clever and walking into a trap the dungeon made just for them. Maybe it's to farm equipment, maybe it saved the clothes of a friend of yours who died in the same dungeon, and it places those clothes where you can see them but can't get to them without walking into a trap. Some dungeons are worse than others. This one doesn't seem that bad, but then again it's pretty young. Older dungeons tend to take on a taste for irony."

[Anomander]

"Oh, that's interesting. A suggestive sign of sentience. Not only creating challenges in direct response to adventurer actions, but tweaking those responses to incorporate the predicted state of mind of adventurers. That doesn't come until the dungeon has learned for a while, though."

Serafino's quick examination of the items shows they are all magical. And since the items were all worn by the drow and mimic, they were very probably safe to wear.

"Guys, I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to gamble these items are safe for wearing since they were wearing them. We can guess what they're for but probably won't definitively know until we have time to properly investigate them at the surface. The wizard's headband is likely a boost for his cognitive abilities. Until we get back to the surface, I would like to use it."

With a quick check with the others, he'll slip it on.

"Gloves might help your manual dexterity. Tsu-Tse? You might benefit? Likewise for this wizard's cloak since my guess is that it provides some protections. Those drained levels are going to bother you too, so I'd recommend the belt since they're usually associated with physical abilities.

"Anyone want to take a shot at the final cloak? If not it's going in my bag until we can test it.

"The shield, is gonna be a pain, though. Does anyone want to ... huh. Wait, I've got this. A little weird, but it should leave our hands free."

Serafino calls over four of the summoned Dire Rats. A small amount of shapesand gets formed into basic harnesses and clips. The shield is then strapped to the backs of two rats, one in front and one in the back. Two more rats sit on top as guards.

"What do you think, people? Impromptu rat palanquin!"

"As soon as we get back up, we'll see what these all do and decide for certain how to divide it all up.

"Are we ready to keep going? See if we can smash our way to the core?"

[Anomander]

As he is talking and fiddling with the dire rat tower shield palanquin, Serafino selects one of the rats and sends it scurrying ahead, down the hallway.

As everyone considers the equipment, Serafino watches through the eyes of the rat as it scurries ahead. Compared to his own sense, the rat's vision and hearing are like wearing fogged glasses with earmuffs, but it will hopefully be sufficient to spot the obvious or trigger an attack by the Dungeon, signalling the existence of the next trap or challenge.

[FearlessGnome]

The corridor continues for a good while longer, but finally opens up into a small storage room. There are barrels stacked along the walls, forming basically a T intersection at the end of the room. There is a closed wooden chest here, standing in front of a large, twisted, carved face on the wall. A devil? Its mouth is a gaping hole into darkness, large enough for even Marambe to squeeze through. At the end of the paths to the left and right of the chest are wooden doors. They are closed.

[Anomander]

"Huh. Couldn't possibly be a trap," Serafino mutters to himself. He gives a quick summary to the others.

"So, go raid storerooms and punch in the demon mouth's teeth, or go back and see what sort of fun the other, rough passage way leads to? I lean slightly toward the store room since there might be interesting stuff there.

"What do you chummers think?"

[Togo]

Tsu-Tse waves a short arm, atr the group, including the fairy, his fingers still curled in strangely from nerve damage.

Digging out the rough corridor will take a while. We might as well wait until one of needs to rest before doing that. Besides, the longer we wait, the more the rubble will be reabsorbed, is that right? Particularly if it leads somewhere important.

He passes his hand over his face, as if adjusting a pair of glasses that he very definitely isn't wearing.

I think we need to decide if we're a Raid Team or if we're going to be Greyhawking this. Do we just get to the centre as quickly as possible, and shut this place down? What happens to the rest of the complex when we kill the heart? Do the monsters and their treasure get instantly reabsorbed? Do we need to have an escape route ready? Or on the death of the heart, do they go mad and swarm us? If they're going to all attack us when we threaten the heart, we need to pick off as many of them as possible before we get there. Or are they just going to hang around for long enough for us to deal with them at our leisure?

Or, do we maximise acquisition? Go through this place room by room, floor by floor, collecting every single clue, coin and item? That takes longer, sure, but our finish time isn't going to be based on how long we spend exploring, but on blood and bone. It's going to be how often we rest that's key, not how long we spend with each room. So we could take all the barrels, if they contain something useful, and stack them outside, where presumably they'd stabalise, and not be at risk of being reabsorbed. We probably don't have time on a trial to go full AdPLC on this place, but we could certainly take the approach of not leaving anything of value behind. We get more wealth and loot, but there are risks as well. Although you could argue that the reappearance of monsters that we already know how to kill, isn't one of them.

I suspect we're being a Raid Team, but I thought I should check.

He pauses, and then proffers his wand.

Oh, and while we're discussing this, Serafino, if you could heal me? Two or three charges should do it, which means it's going to take a few minutes.

[FearlessGnome]

Death Fairy hesitates. "I would recommend against trying to actually destroy the core. I'm supposed to stop you if you try that. It's a valued piece of property owned by the crown, after all. However, getting to the core and touching it would certainly make some ripples and set you up whereever you want. It's usually inadvisable to try to one tap a dungeon of this size, though. It's young, but it's a big one, and someone reaching the last few floors tends to put dungeons into desperation mode. Spontaneous cave ins, rooms filled with lava, goblins rising out of the floor just to get in your way while the big threats fight from a distance, fun things like that. Well, that's usually when they try to offer up artifacts, too, but even so, your first dive is probably not the time to get greedy. And to be frank, you don't have the gear." Death Fairy shrugs. "You've already made an impression. I'd go on if I were you, but even if you back out now you should be able to make friends with anyone you want who came here today. I definitely know a few mercenary companies who would love to hire you. If you do go on, going deep or being thorough is fine either one. Entirely up to you. It will look bad if you almost die, though, and there is always the possibility the way back is blocked. Be especially wary of anything that looks like a shortcut. They tend to close behind you."

[Warmatt]

Malog would consider things, before he would move, chopping off the heads of the drow, and beginning to tie them together by the hair, before he would secure them to his belt. Still, when prompted as for what he was interested in doing, he would speak, or more accurately bellow at the top of his lungs. "Blood for the blood god, skulls for his throne!"

After then giving a belch, he would blink and speak. "March, fight loot!" And then, he would proceed to sing in orcish.

[Anomander]

Serafino double-checks the wand and then carefully activates it for Tsu-Tse, triggering the consistent flow of healing.

"I have to say that the sentience and self-awareness of these dungeons intrigues me. I will admit my statements about delving to the core today were exaggeration and I don't truly expect to find the core, though the more you speak of the dungeon the more tempting the idea becomes. Budding AI in my old world is what these things are reminding me of."

He looks to the others.

"Anyway, I agree with Tsu-Tse's view. While wealth gathering from this delve is worthwhile, I view this primarily as a stage to show our abilities. Death Fairy's report could open doors for us that wealth can't unlock. So, while I am all for gathering every last coin along our way, I am in favor of charging in deep."

He triggers another jolt of the wand on Tsu-Tse as the first completes.

"Besides, more fun, more foes, and better treasure likely awaits us further on. As Malog sings- "

"♪ Ere we go! ♫Ere we go! ♫'Cross the cosmos!"

Triggering the wand is a success on even a 1 roll.

Serafino sends three more Dire Rats down the hallway to the store room.

One begins gnawing their way into the tops of the barrels to figure out what's in them.
Two start sniffing for Scent around the room for signs of creatures preparing a trap.
The fourth crawls up onto the open mouth of the devil, and takes a long check for Scent from inside the mouth and to see what it can see.

Spoiler: Rats Perception

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Just in case it's needed for the rats using their Scent and poking around the storeroom: (1d20+5)[12]

"As soon as Tsu-Tse is patched up, let's roll!"

Triggering the wand a third time, he hands it back to Tsu-Tse.

[FearlessGnome]

Death Fairy tilts his head. "AI? Like Constructs? I've heard of it, but there is nothing like it in this world. I would love to hear more."

The barrels are filled with a black-greyish powder that tastes absolutely awful. Does not appear to be actual poison.
The rats discover no scents of creatures presently in the room, however there does appear to be something beyond the door on the right.
The fourth rat goes offline the instant it crawls into the devil's mouth. Serafino can no longer sense it. The other rats do not see what happened to it beyond that it disappeared into the darkness within.

[Tyrann]

Marambe shakes his head at the rats trying to lift the large shield, before picking it up himself and slinging it onto his back.

Then gives a confused look at Malog's singing, but doesn't comment on it.

After listening to Death Fairy's explanation, he says "It would have my preference to rush for the core. I do not know what artifacts are, but they sound like they might be worth the effort. And a dungeon in distress is likely to drop the facade and show us more of its actual workings."

At Death Fairy's mention of constructs, Marambe uneasily scratches his now metal butt.

[Anomander]

"About that rush to the core, I'm all in favor, but the rats found something we'll need to deal with. The store room ahead, it's filled with barrels of what I suspect are gunpowder. Probably enough to destroy everything for a hundred feet if it goes off. The rat that was investigating the devil mouth, well, maybe it's still alive but I definitely lost all sense of it as soon as it entered the mouth. This all screams an Akbar to me - 'It's a tra-a-ap!'.

"I definitely want to remove the gunpowder from that room before we enter it. That, or set it off remotely, but I'm a bit tired of digging, personally. I've got my Telekinesis to pull out the barrels from a vaguely safe distance. Then we can check the devil mouth and the doors at our leisure.

"Marambe, you using that size-adjusting tower shield would create a great cover just in case the trap gets triggered somehow. The shield will protect us from the blast."

Serafino gives the three rats in the room orders to begin pushing the barrels of gunpowder to where they can be easily seen from the hallway.

[Togo]

If we're not trying to clear the whole place, then we should just head for the core. It will get more difficult as we get closer, but we're clearly not at our limit yet.

Tsu-Tse gives the walls and ceiling an appraising look, running a claw-like hand over the surface.

I'd still like to take the barrels all the way to the surface - much safer all around, and they're potentially quite valuable. What I'd like to do is rig a barrel zip line all the way to the entrance, but it would probably be faster to just to carry them. Let's see how many there are...