As soon as his fireball takes effect Tahldar knows something is wrong.  "Hit the deck!" he shouts as a wave of fire engulfs them.

Standing he dusts himself off.  He is hurt but is heartened to see the skeletons are all pulverized.  But he suspects they have little time as the damnable green orb seems to be doing something.

Not wasting time he takes a good look at the Octopoid sculpture in front of them.

OOC:  I would like to encircle the room and look at all the Octopoid's as fast as possible.  But with Borimer skimming the ground in front of us for trap floors.  Since he's flying he can't fall.

Shae agrees with Tahldar's approach and will circle the room with him quickly, checking for false floors as she goes. Her spear is ready for the attack.

You begin circling around and make it to #5. OOC: We will stop here since it is a little different; then you can continue your tour.

This octopoid is similar to the others except for the following:

1) Instead of two slots, one in the white and one in the black, it has four slots above the white and four slots below the black. All of them are empty.

2) Above the four slots above the white is the following inscription in Allevian:

Top Inscription:

Drops of ice rainbow,
Frozen in the light,
Luck of a talisman,
Or evil eye in the night.

Below the four slots below the black is the following inscription in Allevian:

Bottom Inscription:

Brought from the mine,
And held to the sun,
Drops of frozen red wine,
From Hell's deep vats o'errun.

NOTE: Actually, let's take you one more square over to #6 since you can contemplate that while you move forward.

You move forward to #6. Before you can inspect the octopoid, you find that there is another false floor here. This one is 16 feet wide and covers the entire octopoid.

There are two gems in this one. In the top slot is a red Bloodstone. In the bottom slot is an Obsidian stone.

You currently stand just northeast of #6 and have not crossed the false floor. You cannot closely examine or touch the octopoid from where you are at due to the false illusionary floor.

EDIT: You did not examine #4 yet due to the collapsing floor and battle, but when you looked back, you found that it contained a green Lapis Lazuli stone in the bottom slot. The top slot was empty.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:27, Fri 27 Mar 2020.

The party stands behind #6 while Borimer flies around to the remaining octopoid statues.

At the next one (#7), Borimer finds that the bottom slot has Yttrium (also known as a garnet) stone.

He flies to the next one (#8) and sees that it has Rossmanite (a type of boron silicate) in the top slot and Ulexite in the bottom one.

NOTE: That is all the slots.

In the meantime, the pulsing green orb has been flying back away from Borimer's approach. It is now over behind the green mist at about octopoid #3. It quickly swoops down into the pit below and lets out another screech and pulses strongly with that green light.

Around you, more of the skeletal figures begin coming to life. You hear the creaking, rustling and gnashing of bones from the pit below as an unknown number animate and begin trying to climb the pit. In the skeletal walls of the octagon room, the skeletal hands reach out and jaws of skulls in the wall snap open and shut.

Kahan stares at the puzzle, for a long time, blinking and counting on his fingers. "Borimer, please bring me all the named gemstones, and hurry! Tahldar, Leo, Shae, hold the skeletons off," he says, finally coming to a realization of some sorts.

When that's happened, he begins quickly stuffing the gems into the holes, in the following order;

Top:

Obsidian
Peridot
Agate
Lapis Lazuli

Bottom:

Rossmanite
Ulexite
Bloodstone
Yttrium

Tahldar watches Kahan work.  He notices the way the cleric has arranged the stones has the first letter of each stone when spelled out say:  "Opal" and "Ruby".

"Well done lad.  I think you got it." he says with a smile.

OOC:  I would like Borimer to carry us all over to the door, where we will protect Kahan as he arranges the stones.

"I think you're on to something there, Kahan," Shae says, waiting for Borimer to go around collecting the gems.

Borimer starts by flying to #6 where the 16 foot false floor is at. He reaches out to take the gems. As soon as he touches them, the octopoid tentacles whip out like a living statue to attack Borimer. As he is floating right in the center, the tentacles have a direct central access to hit him with their stone whip-like action.  Out of eight tentacles, three tentacles hit him straight on. (Total of 28 hp dmg.) One tries to grapple him like a python but is not successful.

He is surprised and has no time to immediately react but can attack or retreat next round.

Borimer goes from 77 hp to 49 hp.

Also, the skeletal masses from below are climbing the walls and will reach the top before long.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:39, Thu 02 Apr 2020.

Shae says, "We have to try something here and get the gems fast. Let's get our own army of undead going." Shae begins casting as she focuses on the nearest skeletons. Shae casts animate dead.

Kahan casts Invisibility to Undead on himself and begins heading south to get the gems, as there aren't any more pitfall traps that way. But he is still extremely cautious the whole way, just in case they missed one or there is a new one. When he gets to the octopoid sculpture, he will crouch down as low as he can, while still being able to grab the gemstone they needed. If possible he will position his shield over his head to stop the tentacles from smacking him.

If Kahan circles clockwise, he will have to jump over the 8 foot pit at #4 (as compared with the 16 foot pit at #6). He also won't be able to reach the gem at #4 very easily, whereas Borimer could do so.

OOC: Is Borimer still flying? If so, he'll just cast the spell on him instead, along with a Cure Light Wounds. I don't want to dare the jump with his blood deficiency lol.

Yes, Borimer is flying. I still think he has plenty of flying time left

Shae will follow Kahan around clockwise to help collect the gems and ward off any attacks. She will leave any dead she animates to guard the others at area 5.

Tahldar holds point at the northern part of the room, flanked on each side by a sheer drop.

OOC:  Tahldar will hold off casting until Kahan and Shae are out of area 5.  He will then cast a web from area 6 to 4 to close off area 5 from the skeletons.  He can create up to eight 10' x 10' cubes of webs.  Not sure how far across that would be from 6 to 4.  But I'm thinking about 40' might do it.  In any event I'll use any extra web to make it thicker across it's length.  It's 10' high, which I hope leaves enough for Borimer to fly over.  If not I'll lower it.

Borimer will remove the gems as his first priority. His second priority will be to fly out of the reach of the octopoid's arms or fight them with his sword, if necessary.

Shae raises dead, and 11 skeletal undead rise from those around you to stand guard at #5.

Kahan has second thoughts, but Shae runs clockwise to go get the gems, easily hurtling the 8 foot gap.

Borimer is in the middle of trying to get the gems (at #6). He wedges both gems out, but not before being hit hard by three tentacles. (14 hp dmg.) Luckily, he is not constricted by any of them.

Borimer immediately flies to #5 to hand the gems to Tahldar and avoiding the reach of the octopoid's arms.

Tahldar begins casting webs.
NOTE: I'm not clear. Are you casting webs down the pit area connected to #5 or at eye level connected to the walls and ledge?

Shae will start with the gem at #7 and then work her way back counterclockwise collecting gems as quickly as possible (#8 then #1, etc)

Kahan begins casting a spell.

Shae begins running around clockwise.

Kahan begins casting a spell.

Tahldar is getting ready to finish casting web (as soon as we figure out where exactly).

Just as Borimer escapes with the two gems, the octopoid arms revert to their inert statue forms against the wall.

The upper and lower half of the central symbol (yin/yang) slides apart, and a round orb slightly larger than a marble begins to fall out.

Borimer immediately rushes back and grabs the marble before it can fall into the pit, and he brings it back to you at #5.  As he does so, the marble puffs out, changes and transforms into a familiar face.

Shapfren appears before you, seeming somewhat dazed and surprised. She looks around and about as if confused about where she is or how she got here.

Borimer jumps back surprised, his eyes wide. "That's odd," he says, "I was just thinking about our lost companions, and Shapfren in particular, and wondering if we would end up dead like them." He steps back as if warding off a superstitious omen.

Tahldar looks at Shapfren with surprise.  Too busy casting his webs, he leaves introductions for later.  But is heartened to have her back, especially as she was a spellcaster like himself.

Kahan was likewise busy spellcasting, but the look on his face was indicative of the shock he felt seeing their new old companion.

Tahldar casts web to keep the skeletal army below at bay.

The 11 skeletons summoned by Shae stand around twiddling their thumbs--those who have thumbs, that is.

Kahan finishes his spell, and a field of force shaped like a hammer appears, which he sends at the green glowing orb. It hits the orb. (6 hp dmg.) Kahan remains concentrated and can attack with it again.

But the orb, being unsafe even at a distance, begins approaching you. On the way, it pulses and screeches again. Behind you, more skeletons become animated, and others begin falling from the ceiling onto the floor (and web) around you, moving and getting ready to attack.

Meanwhile, Shae takes the Yttrium from its slot. Nothing happens.

And Borimer flies over to #4 with the false floor and takes the Lapis Lazuli gem out. Nothing happens.

You now have 10 skeletons trying to attack (plus more trying to get out of the wall or falling from the ceiling), countless skeletons below you trapped by webs and moving to the far side to climb up, and a green glowing orb quickly approaching you.

The ledge you are on is quite full of skeletons (21 total=11 from Kahan and 10 from the green orb) as well as having Kahan, Tahldar, Leo, and the newly arrived Shapfren. All in approximately an 8 foot by 40 foot section of ledge.

In response to the skeletons dropping from the ceiling, Tahldar takes defensive action.

OOC:  I cast mirror image.  I now have four images besides myself, so a one in five chance of hitting me currently.
08:54, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 4 using 1d4+3 ((1)).