With the lava floe rising and flowing more quickly, you jump into the stone rafts and exit the area. Although the rafts had been full before (requiring you to leave Fingas behind), with Shapfren's death, they now can accommodate the newcomer gnome, Sark.

You find that the flow of the lava from the raft is essentially a circle taking you back to the huge cavern where you left Fingas.

NOTE: This map below is from the posting before. I did not update it again for locations. However, it is still generally accurate. Fingas is where indicated there and where it indicates two stone rafts, you see only one -- i.e., the one returned from Haklara on his escape just minutes earlier. You also exit the rafts in the 24A area.

The river's edge is rising due to its increased flow from the giant room. You quickly get the rafts up to shore and exit, noticing that you are essentially at the top of this area that then slopes down stairs and then again goes down over an edge. In other words, as the river overflows, lava will cover this entire room and then the hallways you will be using to escape.

You are generally in the 24A area and Fingas is down in the 22A area.


This message was last edited by the GM at 10:42, Sun 04 July 2021.

Shae tries to lead the team south to where Fingas is waiting. "I don't think we have much time before we are baptized in lava and buried in it. We should find a way out of here."

She remembers that the first encounter when the first doppleganger creature revealed itself was near the exit, so she will lead the others there unless they have a better idea. Something about her new magical armor makes her feel like leader now that Borimer is gone. While walking, she will ask if they remember what the danger was supposed to be about exiting and why the dopplegangers were stuck. She will also remind them that Haklara is still out there somewhere.

When they get to the drop-down area in 22A, if they're sure they won't be going back, which they probably won't given the lava flow, Kahan casts a spell to, hopefully, buy them some time.

OOC: Casting Stone Shape to make as tall of a wall as I can at the thinnest part of 22A before the drop-off, once everyone else is past it of course.

"Let's get ou of here! And fast!" Tahlar says in obvious concern over getting cooked.

OOC: I assume we head south towards Fingas to keep ahead of the lava.

You gather your things and get to Fingas. He stares at you suspiciously for a moment. "Wait a minute," he says, "Borimer just came through here a couple minutes ago. He totally ignored me and went down there." He points down the ladder to the west. "And now you guys arrive with someone new." He looks at Sark. "And with no explanation, we're just supposed to run. Is Borimer clearing the way?"

He follows you down the ladder and that's when you all notice something: at the bottom (where it says "to 17A"), something is missing. Dalharen's body, which was thrown over the edge is gone. The weakest of the doppleganger "brothers," who was somewhat--maybe?--kind of friendly toward you had died, you thought, after being thrown over the edge by Haklara, but now the body is gone.

(link to a message in this game See posts 59 and 63 as a memory refresher.)

Geebo is assisting Sark through this. Sark is still in shock from the rescue and his confinement. Geebo is trying to talk to him in Gnomish to bring him out of the shock.

You stand at the bottom of the ladder ("to 17A" on the map).

OOC: Don't forget about my Stone Shape spell. I have a feeling we'll need all the help we can get to escape without having to surf some lava.

"Either Dalharen is actually alive, or Haklara grabbed his body to use as an anti-magic aura to hamper us leaving," Kahan comments, his paranoia getting the best of him. "We need to make it back to that bridge where we followed Haklara, but I still do not know how we can get out of here without suffocating from the poisonous gases that are blocking the way," he explains with a furrowed brow.

Shae says, "I can't recall exactly, but didn't we have everything we needed to escape, adn that's what Dalharen wanted from us so he could escape? He just said something like it wouldn't be enough for all of us anyway. Something like that. Anyway, let's start down the path and talk it oiut on the way." If there are no protests, Shae will lead them back to the room with the pool of water where they confronted Dalharen.

You quickly go through the maze of tunnels. At a few points, you see lava seeping in from above, and one tunnel now has ankle deep lava flowing. Luckily, none of these block your path and you eventually make your way back to the underground water area with the whirlpool.

NOTE: I am reusing the previous map below. There is no Tenvillah, and you are all generally clustered where the player initials are at--so generally you can ignore that.

However, you remember that after crossing the whirlpool area, it became hard to breathe and one of you collapsed into unconsciousness, so you are cautious.

Also, Geebo still holds the white rabbit. Since it is alive, the air is still good.

Going forward, I suggest we determine the following for you:

1) What is your light source? It is dark ahead. Those with infravision should be okay but others may want something for the darkness.

2) How long can you hold your breath? We will have timing issues where this will be good to know and we will start a countdown.

3) What are in each of your hands, if anything? There may be times where you will want your hands for climbing, holding on or the like. You can't do so with weapons in them.

4) You may want to look over the inventory items, including the newer items, to see if anything may be helpful in an oxygen deprived environment.

Also, your characters are very aware that time is limited. They don't know how long it will be before the tunnels flow with lava from behind them, but it will likely be less than one hour.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:20, Tue 13 July 2021.

Tahldar hurries as he knows time for them is short.  "We have to cross the bridge!" he exclaims stating the obvious.

OOC: I can cast one more third level spell.  So I could cast fly on whomever is the strongest to ferry us over the broken bridge.  I believe Tahldar's fly is still going, but he is too weak to carry anyone.  So I will cast Fly on whomever would like it.  I'm thinking Kahan.

Question Answers:
1. Does anyone have a lantern or torch for light?  I would suggest mundane means for light as any magical one we create could be nullified. Tahldar has neither torch or lantern.
2. I haven't a clue how long Tahldar can hold his breath.
3. Tahldar's hands are free.
4. The only item I see that might help are the vials labeled 'not air'.  Though one would think how being something other than air could possibly help.

Sorry, but one more thing you should keep handy: You should know your speed (walking, running, flying or other mode of mobility used).

Hold breath: Here is the rule:

Under normal circumstances (with a good gulp of air and not performing strenuous feats), a character can hold his breath up to 1/3 his Constitution score in rounds (rounded up). If the character is exerting himself, this time is halved (again, rounded up). Characters reduced to 1/3 or less of their normal movement because of encumbrance are always considered to be exerting themselves. If unable to get a good gulp of air, these times are reduced by 1/2. All characters are able to hold their breath for one round, regardless of circumstances.
While attempting to hold his breath beyond this time, the character must roll a Constitution check each round. The first check has no modifiers, but each subsequent check suffers a -2 cumulative penalty. Once a check is failed, the character must breathe (if he cannot reach the surface, he drowns).


And from the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide:
Holding Breath in Nonswimming Situations
In certain situations, characters might wish to hold their breath
to avoid breathing the surrounding air. In order to calculate the
duration of such an attempt, use the formula explained for swimming, but add one round.
Characters cannot use this ability to avoid the effects of a gas
unless they suspect that a gas is about to be released. For example, if party members must make a saving throw, and some characters become paralyzed as a result, the other characters may decide to hold their breath to avoid breathing the threatening gas

This actually seems extraordinarily generous since a round is 1 minute (as opposed to a combat round, which is 6 seconds).

And the rule on movement in darkness if you don't have a light (also from Dungeoneer's Survival Guide):


MOVEMENT EFFECTS
OF DARKNESS
Although characters without the ability to see in the dark normally make every effort to provide themselves with a source of
light underground, sometimes unforeseen situations can plunge
a party into total darkness. Even characters with infravision have
difficulty seeing objects that are the same temperature as the surroundings of the underearth.
This can be a very unsettling experience for a group of adventurers. The following effects can help recreate this situation for
gaming.
If characters try to move at their normal movement rates in
complete darkness, even probing the floor and walls ahead of
them does not guarantee that the party avoids hazards. If a character encounters an obstacle while moving in darkness, he must
make a Dexterity Check. Failure means that the character does
not detect the obstacle in time to react, and his momentum carries him into it.
Characters in the dark can safely move at 1/3 their normal
movement rates. This pace is slow enough to keep the lead characters from blundering into any gaping holes in the floor, or walking off the edge of a cliff. This also assumes that the characters
are steadily probing the ground in front of them as they plod
along.
Unless a character has some means of determining direction,
such as trailing a hand along a corridor wall, it is virtually impossible to walk in a straight line in complete darkness. This is not
usually an issue in narrow dungeon passages. On the wide-open
but pitch-dark plains of some realms of the underearth, however,
it is truly a formidable task for a character to keep his bearings
about him.
The DM should make a secret roll on ld12 to determine the
unknown changes of course that might occur if characters walk in
complete darkness. Consult the following table to find the result:

This roll should be made after every three turns that characters
spend walking in darkness. The roll should be made at the end of
the character’s uncharted movement, even if such movement
has lasted less than three turns. For each turn less than three,
however, allow a -1 modifier to the d12 roll.
If characters travel over rough or uneven floors in darkness, or
stand a chance of tripping over small rocks or other rubble, the
DM can require as many Dexterity Checks as he deems appropriate. Each failed Dexterity Check means that the character sustains 1 point of damage in a rough fall.
Characters traveling over these surfaces can prevent any such
accidents by slowing their movement to 116 their normal rate.

As I recall, you have 1 lantern remaining (and 1 was broken a long time ago) and a bunch of torches in the portable hole.

(I can peruse the equipment to see what items you might want to set out or have handy, though I don't want to give anything away--not that there is anything to give away per se, since there are likely several ways to get through this.)

Note that once this gets moving (hopefully by Monday?), it would be nice to move it along at a fairly quick pace of a post every day or so. This will increase the intensity/suspense of the time crunches that will happen.

From the other side of the chasm, Kahan will retrieve a flint and steel, as well as a flask of lantern oil. Lighting the oil on fire with the flint, he will toss the vial across the chasm and into the opening to the tunnel. "I want to ensure the poisonous gas is not also flammable. I have heard stories of miners getting killed by flammable gases under the earth, both from inhalation and from explosions when they lit a torch for light," the priest will explain, waiting to see what happens with the fire before crossing the gap.

OOC: Kahan has a strength of 13. I'm not sure how much his carry capacity is, but that should be plenty to get everyone over the ledge except for maybe Fingas? Also, about how much air is in the portable hole, if we were to try to stash some people in there?

Kahan throws the flask and lights the oil on fire from a distance. The explosion is about the equivalent of a fireball from Tahldar. It sweeps through the tunnel, knocks you back a few steps, and burns off Kahan's eyebrows.

Now you know that whatever is suffocating over there it is, in fact, very flammable.

DM NOTE: You guys always have a way of outguessing me on some of these things.

Blinking a couple of times after the explosion, Kahan wiped the soot from his face. "It is a good thing we didn't use a torch, then, just as I suspected," the priest comments unhappily. He will pick up a rock and cast Continual Light on it, making sure to stay away from Geebo. "Geebo, we need to deal with those antimagic rings on your fingers. I wouldn't wish this fate on anyone, but I think it is best we remove the fingers. I can heal you once they are removed, so you will not be in pain for long, but they will not grow back either," he tells the gnome, wondering what his thoughts on the matter were, as well as the others. He knew time was of the essence, but wandering around in a dark, flammable-gas-filled cavern without magic was nigh impossible.

As you stand discussing options, Sark Gurlek steps up in front of Geebo. You look back at the strange gnome in his ragged clothes and long white beard.

"Yes, yes," he says, animated for the first time. "This...Tarimar...he...experiment... but... overrun.  Jark...me brother...I...enslaved...help him."  He pauses, seeking for words. He has a difficult time speaking and thinking clearly without the psychic connection to his twin brother and after years of having no one to talk to.  "Xren Codex...and building...yes...of devices and things. But...accident...gas leak.  Tarimar, he...close off...so no one... enter or leave. He take Jark... leave me here. This many, many years ago."

He pauses, thinking. "Tarimar take...one... shapeshifter... dark creature... rest he lock in here... and me."

"Do you know how fast the gas is leaking? It's possible that we could, carefully of course, detonate the gas, in a controlled manner, in front of us, so we do not suffocate," Kahan asked, although he wasn't hopeful that the gnome would know, or remember for that matter.

Sark says, "Gas from..." He splays out his hands and makes them into fists over and over as if to show something spreading. "...from living thing. Uh... plant.  Mold... moss... spore."

Shae had been contemplating this dilemma in silence. She perks up at Sark's statement. "Mold, spores and fungus maybe? We just fought that god-like thing that's the queen of fungus or or something. Zuggotmoy? I wonder if there's a connection." She ponders in silence again. (Try for a wisdom check?)

"I have no spells that affect air quality." Tahldar says simply.

Time you can hold your breath (not swimming):

Fingas: 6 rounds (3 if exerting self)
Kahan: 5 rounds (3 if exerting self)
Leo: 4 rounds (2 if exerting self)
Shae: 4 rounds (2 if exerting self)
Tahldar: 7 rounds (4 if exerting self)
Geebo: 4 rounds (2 if exerting self)
Sark: 4 rounds (2 if exerting self)


Note: If encumbered enough to affect movement by 1/3 or more, you are considered exerting yourself always.
-Walking is not exerting
-Talking, casting spells or anything that makes you lose breath is exerting yourself
-Fighting or performing physical feats is exerting yourself
-Concentrating or using skills may or may not be exerting yourself
FOR EACH ROUND you do something that is exerting yourself, that round counts as 2 rounds.

RULE (Modified): Holding breath beyond this takes a CON check each round (-2 cumulative for each round). If failed, pass out that round. Character dies of asphyxiation one round after that.


You are encumbered if your movement is reduced 1/3 or more due to weight allowance. Typically, this will fall between 50-120 pounds of weight carried, depending on your strength. (See table 48 of the Player's Handbook.) I also found a good site here with the tables: https://advanced-dungeons-drag...i/Encumbrance_Tables

Also, don't forget this rule, which may help you on encumbrance: One of the special properties of magical armor is its effect on encumbrance. Although magical armor appears to weigh as much as normal armor, the weight of magical armor applies only toward the weight limit of the character. It does not apply when determining the effects of encumbrance on movement and combat. In essence, the armor appears to weigh as much as normal armor but does not restrict or hamper the character.
I don't think anyone is technically encumbered enough to trigger the exertion rule above, but I haven't checked yet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:03, Mon 23 Aug 2021.

Shae says, "We should work out some hand signals while we're in there to save our breath. I think we also need to be prepared to backtrack to this safe area if needed so we can get new breaths and head back in."

Shae makes up some hand signals for: forward, quiet, follow me, "I have to go back for air," "help me," "look at this," and does a hand clapping alternate signal for each also.

"Any other phrases we might need to work out in advance?"

"Run would be the only one I think we should add." Tahldar says as he quickly claps three times.

Shae nods in agreement and then suggests that they leave Geebo, Fingas, and Sark behind while the others scout ahead for about 1-2 minutes to see what you are up against and then return here to get some fresh breaths and consider the next steps.

Sark hears you and says, "From here...uh...first cross...5, no 6, platform. Very tricky. Tarimar use...magic...lots magic...but not there. Tarimar always...paranoid...no one know...can know...his secrets...or he...uh...send them to...eh...Callarduran Smoothhands ... God...death. Tarimar work closely with...ehh...inner circle only."

Kahan agrees about the hand signals. "I would love to scout ahead, but we might not have the time. Remember the lava is coming, eventually, and it will ignite the gas if we haven't dealt with it," he reminds everyone. "Is there anything else you can remember before we go?" he asked Sark.

Since in Sark's experience, it was over a decade ago, he does not have a clear memory, except to tell you that there were some strange platforms and then various chambers consisting of Tarimar's laboratory. There was an exit, but Tarimar was saying he would block the exit before the gas took over so no one could get his experiments. Sark doesn't know what eventually happened because he was imprisoned in the ring of fire.

Nevertheless, you are able to hold your breath and scope out the first room, which comes after a stone door that must be centuries old and has been reduced to rubble at some point, thus allowing the gas to escape south.

Beyond the door is a a ledge—a short extension of rock placed high on the wall of an enormous natural cavern. Far below, a vast lava pit boils and bubbles. It must be slowly rising but is currently about 50 feet below you. A series of wooden disks, each suspended from the ceiling by a massive steel chain, forms a set of “stepping stones” that lead across the cave to another ledge on the far side about 80 feet to the northwest.

The ceiling changes in height but averages 20-30 feet above you. Stabbed in the center of the ceiling is an ancient dagger with a glowing ruby hilt, clearly emanating some sort of power. Between the slight glow of the lava and the ruby red glowing gem, the entire cavern is cast with an eerie crimson glow. Water drips from the ceiling, likely as a result of the rising lava all around the mountain, covering the wooden disk platforms.

Each wooden disk is about 4 feet in diameter and hangs about 6 feet from its nearest neighbors. Each is attached to its chain by a giant ring fixed in its center. The disks swing freely and tilt when any weight is placed upon them. In addition to the watery wood, the disks and chains, as well as the walls of the cavern, are covered with a wet, slippery
scum of algae that live on the water and nutrients.

Points A and B mark geysers of lava that shoot sporadically into the air and are gradually getting higher as the lava level rises.

You start from the disk marked 9 and would move to the disk marked 1.

You don't know what power is emanating from the dagger embedded in the ceiling 20 feet above.

After observing the room, you rush back to get air and discuss your options.

NOTES: A rogue can try to bypass the the disks by successful wall climbing at -10% (-20% for ceiling crossing). A check must be made every 30 feet--save allowed.

Also keep in mind that you must do this while avoiding breathing in the noxious, flammable gases.

Alternatively, the gases only reach about 10 feet below the ledge. There is a 40 foot area where the gases have not yet reached the lava and where there is some available air but you would need to climb down there and may take heat damage.



This message was last edited by the GM at 00:54, Wed 01 Sept 2021.

Shae looks at the situation and says, "I can transform into a bird or maybe even a creature that can climb the walls and make it across. If you have any flying left in you, that would also help us easily navigate this. I also wonder if we have something like an airtight skin in which to hold air and take a breath from it if we run short."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:47, Wed 01 Sept 2021.

Tahldar looks the scene over.  Flying is the way to go, and fortunately his Fly spell is working.

"I can help those that can't fly by pushing the first wooden disc over to them and then push the next disc over as they cross.  You'll have to grab the chain yourself, but with my help the crossing shouldn't be too bad."

"Those anti magicked, you're on your own.  I can't get close to you without losing my spell."

OOC:  I assume my fly spell is still running, but I'm not sure for how much longer.  It lasts 10 turns plus 1d6 turns.  It was cast in the fight with the fire giant.  I can't find what the d6 roll was.  I searched but there's no record of it in the dice roller or story thread.

The fly spell is still active. Geebo is the only anti-magic individual.

In reply to Tahldar of Tyrannia (msg # 30):

"Would you be able to support Geebo with a length of rope, if it were long enough to keep far enough away so you weren't in his anti-magic field? That may be the only way we can get him across, I doubt he is agile enough to make it himself," Kahan asks the mage.

"Yes.  I think so.  I'm not strong, but I should be able to handle Geebo."

Also, I forgot to mention this, but the dagger embedded in the ceiling 20 feet above you with the glowing ruby in its hilt is above the point marked "A" on the map.

Not sure if you guys are ready or not. If so, maybe post what will happen and how, and order of how you will go across--flying with Tahldar, jumping from disk to disk, climbing walls, tying each other up in a chain, something else...

To go from disk to disk will require a Dex check for each jump --note that they are free hanging and will move when touched, so it's not as simple as just jumping to a solid platform.

Upon a missed DEX check, a table will be consulted depending on the roll. Most failures will not result in falling to the lava below but will have some other effect, and  may provide for additional rolls such as a strength or saving throw check.

Tying a rope between you adds +2 to each roll. However, falling (according to the table) while tied together will have the potential of dragging others down upon failed STR checks.

We should use rope to tie the crossers together.  With Tahldar unroped, but providing assistance as he can.

Remembering something he's had in the portable hole for a long time, he quickly folds open the hole and retrieves his 9 pitons. "These should help, if we affix them to the platforms and run the rope through them, so they can't move as much," he suggests, grabbing his rope as well so he can begin tying everyone up, with him at the end since he seems to be able to hold his breath the best and he is decently strong.

Shae says, "I am quite dextrous, if you will pardon my lack of humility. I can try to cross first and attach the pitons for the rest. But it will take time and we will be holding our breaths, so I may need to cross back when I finish to get a fresh breath. Time is not on our side in this." She likes the idea but is uncertain if there is time to do it since this looks like a one way trip. "In any case, I can go first and I can take Geebo with me, maybe tied to me, or Sark, whoever needs it most.

Tahldar and Shae start across, Tahldar flying and Shae tying the pitons to each chained disk as quickly as possible.

Shae begins to stumble...but makes it to #9 (almost failed even with an 18 DEX). She chalks it up to nerves. Tahldar flies next to her to help in case she makes an error.

20 seconds holding breath

Shae ties the piton and attempts the jump to #8...making the jump with ease and tying on the piton.

41 seconds holding breath

Shae then leaps to #7...and the disk wobbles and slides as she slips on algae (Dex check missed). She tries but then overcorrects (critical miss), and the disk swings wide to the north...she reaches out, missing the chain, but then grabs the disk, holding on with one hand while her feet swing toward the burping and splattering lava, which splashes onto her legs, burning intensely. (6 hp dmg). She also loses half of her breath, but Tahldar helps her to her feet and she ties on the piton.

70 seconds holding breath (equivalent to 190 seconds for Shae now)

She jumps across to #6, making it easily, and ties on the piton.

90 seconds holding breath (210 for Shae)

Shae realizes she only has about 30 seconds of air left in her and will have to turn back soon. Just then, as they are at the edge of disk #6 and start to move forward, they see a the ruby pommel on the dagger flash brightly, and Tahldar feels his fly spell fail! The magic is totally dispelled and he finds himself falling without any support beneath his feet.

Shae reaches out...and easily snags Tahldar while holding onto the chain with the other hand. But he is heavy...and he begins to pendulum down and under the disk, making it swing wildly. Shae...successfully helps him climb up, but now she is completely out of air and afraid she will gasp in the air in the chamber.

Leaving Tahldar, she quickly uses her newly pinoned disks to head back, and slips when going from the last disk across (critical fail), falling on her face on the ledge and unwittingly gasping in breath.  (2 hp from slamming nose on rock and 1 from poison entering her system.)

Shae runs, out of breath, back to the party, where she breaths deeply and starts to relay what happened.

Tahldar, meanwhile, is holding his breath (90 seconds held--starting from when Shae left) and standing on platform 6. (He has 330 seconds left, halved for strenuous movement.)

NOTE: Normally, I wouldn't narrate so much and add so many actions but I wanted (1) to give you an idea of how this will work, and (2) move this along so it doesn't take months of real time. In your actions, state as clearly as possible what you will do, including upon any contingencies. I will infer the rest as much as possible.

Tying the pitons adds +2 to each roll. This is in addition to a +2 if you tie a rope between you (totaling +4 each).

EDIT: Also, each jump takes 6 seconds worth of breath (3 seconds of time plus 3 seconds of exertion). Shae took longer because she was tying on the pitons.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:39, Sun 05 Sept 2021.

Tahldar flies slowly as Shae moves from disc to disc.  He helps as he can as she carefully moves from rope to rope.

In a flash from the ruby dagger, Tahldar finds himself falling!  Before he realizes it he feels himself get hoisted up to a disc with the help from Shae, out of harms way for now.

He looks down at the flowing lava and then the remaining jumps either to get back or move forward.  He knows his body is not built for this.

Without a word to Shae he casts a spell...

OOC:  With the dispel magic dagger my options are limited.  I will try to cast the 1st level spell reduce (reverse of enlarge) on the dagger.  My range is 50 yards.  At 10th level it will be reduced by 90%, then another 1/10.  It is my hope this will cause the dagger to fall in the lava.

Leo debates between jumping the discs or climbing the walls, and decides on the disks since they are now more stable than they were.

Shae decides to just tie Geebo and Sark to her and try to get across, hopefully with others nearby to assist in case they fall.

Kahan decides its now or never and follows after Shae, making sure the four of them were tethered together with his ropes.

While Shae is back taking some deep breaths and explaining what happened to the others, Tahldar casts a spell. The dagger starts to shrink and fall out of its crack, but even as it does so, its ruby light flashes again, and it immediately expands. The result is that it dangles momentarily at full size and then teeters and falls into the lava. The rising lava is so thick that the dagger bobs on its surface.

Shae starts across with Geebo and Sark and Kahan. They make it across the first two platforms and then see the dagger below flash its ruby flash. All magic on them is dispelled.


They continue forward, holding their breaths, and make it all the way to the last platform without difficulty. Then a major disaster strikes as Kahan (whose DEX is only 8 and had a critical miss) slips falls, dragging Shae with his weight, and then Sark begins to slip as well, grabbing onto the chain holding the disk but about to lose his grip. Geebo also grabs on, but they can hardly support the weight of both Kahan and Shae.

Kahan is hurt by the fall from both the impact of the rope and being too close to the lava that is burping up heat at him. (5 dmg) Kahan is also facing straight down toward the lava, in a bad position to help himself. He is also right by the periodic geyser of lava that shoots up (point A on the map). It does not shoot up lava at the moment but you notice that it does about once per minute.

Leo makes it across the disks with no problem. Luckily, he is right behind Shae's group, and he reaches out to help...

After about 30 seconds, he, Geebo, and Sark are able to lift Shae to the disk. The geyser of lava explodes toward Kahan and Shae, splashing them both with its intense heat. (19 dmg for Shae and 22 dmg for Kahan.) They pull up to the disk, but the five of them on that ancient wooden disk that has been splashed with lava proves to be too much. It begins to crack... and they all jump across to the far side just as the wood breaks apart and falls down into the lava below.

This leaves Tahldar and Kahan with the need to either jump 12 feet (not possible for them), to let the others throw them a rope (which will take time with them holding their breaths), try to swing across the last chain without the disk (DEX -3), or something else.

Tahldar begins to cross the last few disks to the broken one...and makes it to #8 with no problems (critical success--no loss of breath control).

Leo and Tahldar are now on the disk marked 2 in the map. The disk marked 1 has broken and is just a chain hanging from the ceiling. It is just over 12 feet from disk 2 to the ledge where the others wait.

(120 seconds of holding your breath have passed. This is also true of Tahldar-- due to his critical success, his extra time is not counted against him)
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:52, Mon 13 Sept 2021.

Tahldar grabs hold of the chain on disc #2 and attempts to coordinate with Leo to swing towards the chain on #1.

OOC:  Using the action one would use on a kids swing, I want to gets us pendulum moving in the direction of #1.  Me and Leo will have to be on different sides of the chain/disc.  Taking turns pulling and pushing on #2's chain.

Using the chain like a pendulum swing, Tahldar and Leo swing and make it across to the far ledge. (Great rolls so it turned out to be easy.)

Everyone has now made it to the far ledge.

130 seconds have passed.

Talhdar is glad their attempt to brachiate across worked without a hitch.  Time is running short.  The mage points to the door and the way north.

OOC:  Open the door and move north.

OOC: I'm not entirely sure what's going on but I'm assuming we're out of danger from the lava at the very least.

Kahan nods and follows along with the others, hoping not much else would go wrong or this would be a short trip.

With everyone safely across, you move north and out of the lava platform room. This leads through a rocky cavern sloping up. Then it curves west until you arrive at some natural stairs carved into the stone floor, leading steeply up.

There, the cave branches south and north. The northern area appears to be an empty cavern room with some barrels of food and wine products. The southern way is a passage that passes by a pool of apparently fresh water.

Sark points to the south. You can tell he cannot hold his breath for too much longer. With over two minutes gone, you are all starting to feel the strain. Some of you have only 30 seconds left before you will be forced to start breathing the poisoned air. (Each of you have lost 1 additional round of breath holding due to exertions on the disk crossing.)

149 seconds passed...150...

ROUNDS OF BREATH HOLDING REMAINING:
Fingas: 2.5 rounds
Kahan: 1.5 rounds
Leo: 0.5 rounds
Shae: 0.5 rounds
Tahldar: 3.5 rounds
Geebo: 0.5 rounds
Sark: 0.5 rounds


This message was last edited by the GM at 04:43, Sun 19 Sept 2021.

Shae is almost out of breath and very concerned. She will follow Sark closely without delay, hoping the journey is nearing its end.

Kahan shrugs and follows Shae. He didn't know what else to do, and hoped there would be some fresh air soon.

After you enter from the stairs (2)  and turn south, Sark leads you down to the pool area (3) and then turns left (west). He stops, his eyes wide, and points to the west.

Where there once had been an exit to the west, now a cave in has blocked the tunnel. Behind you is the pool of water, and overlooking it from above and to the east is a ledge area about 15 feet above you (4). But there do not appear to be any other exits.


This message was last edited by the GM at 07:22, Thu 23 Sept 2021.

Tahldar follows Sark along.  His breath is running short and he hopes they find a spot with fresh air soon.  His eyes bulge at the sign of the blocked passage way.

Knowing this will cost him most of his precious breath, the mage casts a spell.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast dig on the blockage.  I haven't looked up the spell but I'm pretty sure Tahldar can move a lot of earth.

While Tahldar is casting, Shae is not remaining still. She searches the areas just to the north and south of the cave in to see if there is a narrow wall or other way to easily push through to the chamber beyond. She is getting very short of breath and is thinking of transforming into one of her animals that does not need much breath, but that won't help her companions.

While Tahldar casts, Kahan begins running his hands along the walls, starting at the northern wall (the one near the 3). If Tarimar came through here, it was possible that there was an illusory wall hiding the real way out.

OOC: According to the rules, it takes 1 minute to do a quick search of a 10 foot area. These are 5 foot squares, so I will do it in a 30 second per square fashion.

Tahldar begins casting...

Kahan begins searching the area near the #3...

Shae begins searching the area southwest of the cave in...

As Tahldar casts, he can feel the rush of...air?...flowing through the cracks in the rocks. He assumes this is part of the poisonous gases coming into the caves.

Shae is not having any luck with the search.

Kahan also feels a rush of toxic air flowing from the north. Feeling around, he finds a secret passage leading north. As he shoves, the rocky wall pushes back to reveal a 5 foot wide (8 foot tall) tunnel leading north.

Tahldar finishes his dig spell, and rocks and earth are launched back into the room behind the cave in, opening a new exit. Beyond is dark, but you see that past the rubble is a large room.

180 seconds have passed.

Air Left:
Fingas: 2.0 rounds
Kahan: 1.0 rounds
Leo: 0.0 rounds
Shae: 0.0 rounds
Tahldar: 2.5 rounds
Geebo: 0.0 rounds
Sark: 0.0 rounds

Leo, Shae, Geebo and Sark cannot hold their breath any longer...

Tahldar rushes into the room after moving enough earth to open a passage way.  He motions for everyone else to follow.

OOC: Dig lasts 10 rounds for Tahldar.  Once everyone is in the new room, Tahldar will move earth to block the doorway in hopes of blocking off the poisonous gasses.

FYI, the poisonous gases are coming from inside the room (i.e., west to east) so blocking them off won't do much. You will see why soon enough.

Everyone follows Tahldar into the large room to the west. The room has stone floor tiles, stone walls, and a stone ceiling carved into the rock, and is approximately 60 feet long by 45 feet wide, with an oblong domed ceiling 30 rising feet in the center. In its center is a giant marble statue. It is facing the opposite direction but appears to be some sort of giant warrior standing about 20 feet tall. There are also two 10 foot tall statues, one to the north and one to the south of the giant statue; there is also a statue immediately to your right. The giant center statue is made of marble and finely cut. The other three are of stone and seem older and less refined. Going clockwise from the north, one is of a wizard (or maybe a scholar holding a book), one of a cleric or priest, and one of an orator or politician.

There is a dais-like area on the far side of the room leading back to a 10 foot wide stone corridor. About 15 feet into the corridor, stairs lead up into darkness.

To the south, you see two 5 foot wide doors made out of stone that completely seal off the two southern chambers. (See map.)

On the northern side of the room, you see something slightly different. While there are also two stone doors leading north, they are both open. Surrounding the doors and doorway, and growing about 10 feet south into the main chamber -- on floor, wall and ceiling -- is a dark green mold-like substance. It appears to extend deep into the chambers to the north and you expect it is the cause of the noxious and flammable fumes that have spread throughout this area in the time since Tarimar left.


This message was last edited by the GM at 23:29, Mon 04 Oct 2021.

Tahldar points west towards the stairs and begins to head that way.

Kahan grabs as many people as he can who have stopped breathing and helps them follow after Tahldar, hoping to the gods that this is the right direction to go, and not into the secret passage.

Shae follows but is on guard because something does not feel right about this.

Everyone follows Tahldar. You cross the room and look up the stairs. A the top of the stairs, you see a set of double doors made of stone and engraved with stone faces. At least, they look like stone at first. You stop in your tracks at the bottom of the stairs and look up. The stone faces are moving...and they are not stone after all. They are flesh, and the mouths are moving and eyes turning in their sockets. The horror of the sight makes you cringe, and then--



--and then the giant statue behind you starts to move. The animated giant warrior statue stands to his full 20 foot height, two-thirds of the 30 foot high stone ceiling. The stone sword in his hand also moves up and his emotionless gaze falls down upon you.

Unable to hold their breath any longer, Leo, Shae, Geebo, and Sark let out the last of their breath, aware that in just a moment they will need to breathe in the toxic and flammable air around you.

210 seconds have passed.

Air Left:
Fingas: 1.5 rounds
Kahan: 0.5 rounds
Leo: -0.5 rounds
Shae: -0.5 rounds
Tahldar: 2.0 rounds
Geebo: -0.5 rounds
Sark: -0.5 rounds

Tahldar turns on a dime.  He beckons the others to follow.

OOC: Tahldar will try to move to the nearest door south and knock it open.

Shae follows Tahldar, turning red and blue as she tries to push through the door.

Leo nervously follows the rest knowing he's about had it.

Kahan continues following behind Tahldar, hoping they could get a breath of fresh air soon...

The party veers south to the nearest door. It is a 5 foot wide door made out of stone. Shae and Tahldar push...

Leo, Shae, Geebo and Sark have to breathe in the poisoned air. They are each weakened by the poisonous air.

Leo takes 7 hp dmg in his lungs (plus -1 to hit and -1 saving throws until healed)
Shae takes 5 hp dmg (and -1 to hit, -1 sav throw)
Geebo takes 5 hp dmg (and -1 to hit, -1 sav throw)
Sark (only one to make saving throw) takes only 1 hp dmg (and -1 to hit, -1 sav throw)

The large warrior statue turns toward you as you head south. It looks like it is getting its bearings.

...the stone door swings open as it is pushed.

The group falls forward into the hallway beyond (area 6). The air here is fresh and not stale. You quickly push the door closed behind you to avoid contaminating this air.

Everyone takes a deep breath. The area is also too small for the statue warrior.

The corridor extends 10 feet south to another closed door. That door is a polished wooden door.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Thu 14 Oct 2021.

"We don't have much time, but let's pause a second to catch our breath." Tahldar says, happy to be unmolested and able to breathe.

Shae is gasping, but in between breaths, she nods to Tahldar and tries to open the door to the south.

Breathing deeply, Kahan looks around the small room, wondering how there was still air in here that wasn't contaminated. "You're right, unfortunately. That lava is still coming. Let me try to check if the air beyond is safe," he nods, casting a spell.

You realize that the stone door had been blocking the the poisoned air from entering. It is virtually airtight. The air in your hallway is stale and old but okay to breathe.

Kahan casts a spell. The answer he receives is, "For now, yes."

Shae tries to open the door to the south and is sent flying back as a jolt of electricity flows through her. (8 hp dmg.)

The door apparently seems to be magically trapped. Your hair stands on end as the sizzle of electricity fades and Shae rises to her feet.

"You ok?" Tahldar asks Shae.

OOC: I will cast knock on the door. If someone wants to do something else like healing, I will wait to cast.

Shae shae-kes it off (pardon the pun) and jumps to her feet, ego bruised. "I should hae figured Tarimar would booby trap teh doors," she says. After Tahldar casts knock, she will cast dispel magic and test the door with her ancestral spear and then her hands to see if it opens this time.

The dispel magic and knock spell seem to have done the trick. Shae pushes the door to the south open. Kahan's spell also seems to have been accurate. The air is stale but not poisoned.

The room itself is about 40 feet wide (east/west) by 30 feet long (north/south). The northern part has a stone floor and the southern part has wood floors. The ceiling is about 15 feet above you and is all stone and unremarkable.

The first thing that comes to your attention is the bear trap right in front of the door. It must have been sitting there for years (however long Sark was imprisoned by Tarimar), but it still has not been sprung. You can step around it onto a 5 x 15 foot entry area and look around.

You notice the following strange features:

There are 4 chests, one on each wall (as shown in the map). They appear identical and are closed.

On the south wall are three strange mounted figures. On the southwest is an orb made out of some sort of steel with spiral edges (like a baseball). In the center is the stone head of a dragon. On the southeast wall is a bluish crystal.

And on the east wall is a strange eyeball protruding from the wall and surrounded by a grayish brown mass of what can only be described as vines, bark or roots. Unlike the other figures, the eyeball appears somehow living. It eerily rotates in your direction as you enter the room.

On the northern wall on the west side, you notice some sort of moss or ochre growing on the wall. It is different from the stuff in the northern rooms and appears to have grown there due to the long encroachment of time.

As Sark peers in the room, he nods slowly. "This was one...Tarimar...uh...research room. Experiment room.  He...uh...keep...research--notes--in two chests. I...see four chests never before. Only two."

"Interesting.  But time is short.  Please stand back." Tahldar says as he motions to the anti magic Sark and Geebo to give him room.

He casts a simple spell.

OOC:  I will cast detect magic and look around the room.  It lasts for 20 rounds and scans in a 60' long by 10' wide swath.

There is so much magic emanating from this room that it's hard to figure out what is what. This is probably due to the vast number of experiments Tarimar conducted here. But you can tell for certain that the four objects embedded in the wall are magic, as well as the chest to your right (west) and the one in the southeast corner.

Sark and Geebo go to the back (by the door you initially entered) to give you room to work and stay out of the way.

"Well this room is highly magic." Tahldar says as he looks the room over.  "But I suspect it's highly trapped too." he adds as he thinks on what to do.  "Most likely the traps are magic in nature, but there could be mechanical traps too.  The bear trap is proof of that."

"Kahan, could you cast a Find Traps prayer?  And if only magic traps be found, we could have Sark simply enter the room to disarm them.  Then we could open the chests as we see fit.  Though we might want to burn off that mold first."

OOC:  My thinking is if we identify the traps and they are magic we could have Sark disable them.

Find Traps:  ....The caster learns the general nature of the trap (magical or mechanical) but not its exact effect, nor how to disarm it

Kahan nods and casts the requested spell. "My augury did say the air was good to breathe 'for now' so you might be right about the mold," he agrees.

"Hmmm.  I bet some oil would do the trick." Tahldar says as he starts to take out oil and flint and steel.

OOC:  As long as there is no trap leading up to the mold, Tahldar will try to use a couple of vials of oil to splash it. Then light it.

You want Sark to be your guinea pig? Not clear on what you meant by that.

I think he meant that he wants to use Geebo's antimagic aura to disable any magical locks, and just got him and Sark confused.

You can try that. Just keep in mind that the antimagic aura has a chance of disabling something on any of you and any positive magic items in the room as well as traps.

Are there any traps in the room? Regardless of what we're doing to disarm them, I fully intend on using the spell to find them anyway.

Kahan casts the spell while facing south, revealing that there are traps in the room. He gets the impression that there may be multiple traps, or traps that are both magical and mechanical in nature, or all of the above. He also gets the strange impression of a living trap--neither mechanical or magical--whatever that means.

The cone of area revealed for the trap is everything in the green triangle of the map below.



OOC: I assume he faces south since that seems most logical, and the spell as I see it extends in a conical format from where he stands by the bear trap.

Here is the spell text in the 2nd edition rules. I post it because I initially was posting after looking at 5th edition rules. They are slightly different:


When a priest casts a find traps spell, all traps—concealed normally or magically—of magical or mechanical nature become apparent to him. Note that this spell is directional, and the caster must face the desired direction in order to determine if a trap is laid in that particular direction.

A trap is any device or magical ward that meets three criteria: it can inflict a sudden or unexpected result, the spellcaster would view the result as undesirable or harmful, and the harmful or undesirable result was specifically intended as such by the creator. Thus, traps include alarms, glyphs, and similar spells or devices.

The caster learns the general nature of the trap (magical or mechanical) but not its exact effect, nor how to disarm it. Close examination will, however, enable the caster to sense what intended actions might trigger it. Note that the caster's divination is limited to his knowledge of what might be unexpected and harmful. The spell cannot predict actions of creatures (hence, a concealed murder hole or ambush is not a trap), nor are natural hazards considered traps (a cavern that floods during a rain, a wall weakened by age, a naturally poisonous plant, etc.). If the DM is using specific glyphs or sigils to identify magical wards (see the 3rd-level spell glyph of warding), this spell shows the form of the glyph or mark. The spell does not detect traps that have been disarmed or are otherwise inactive.

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:23, Wed 03 Nov 2021.

OOC: As a reminder, Dalharen put three rings on Geebo to confuse you into not knowing if he was the doppleganger. He cannot remove the rings without removing the fingers due to a cursed nature. One of the rings has a 10 foot antimagic radius which will eliminate all magic within 10 feet of it of weakly magical items (such as non-relics or special, unique or simple bonuses--in practical terms, it means that every time he comes within 10 feet of you, I roll to see if and how many magic items lose their magic.) You don't know what, if anything, the other two rings do.

The hall leading to this room is only 10 feet wide. I am assuming you kept Geebo to the north end to avoid him canceling any magic (though one approach was necessary to enter the hall, resulting in one roll already).

If you keep shuffling him back and forth in a 10 foot hallway, it will result in multiple rolls, so let me know if and how many times this will happen.

OOC: So where exactly are the traps? It doesn't outright say, but I would assume that it would show at the very least where the activation point for such traps are, or that he would be able to figure it out during the three turns (not rounds) that it's active. He would also look at both the western and eastern sides of the room before it expired.

Also also, Kahan had mentioned wanting to chop Geebo's finger off, but nobody ever agreed or disagreed with the idea, and he's still all for that idea, as much as it sucks, he would gladly heal him of any damage, even if he can't replace the lost digits yet.

To make it easier, I added a grid with roughly 5x5 foot areas. Please indicate the letter you will move to and each letter you will pass through to get there. We will say you can have two people per letter, but up to 4 if you want to squeeze really close together with no room for movement.

Similarly, if you want Geebo or Sark to go somewhere, indicate their path. I will assume Sark stays up in the hall.

The starting point is where the bear trap is at.

Tahldar moves west.  Starting from 'C' he moves through 'B' to 'A' and takes out two vials of oil and flint and steel.  Working quickly he attempts to lights the mold on fire in 'A'.

OOC:  Tahldar will attempt to burn off the mold in 'A'.  When it's burning he'll move to 'B', and if it burns off, he'll move to 'C' while Geebo or Sark enter the room.  When dealing with chest F, Talhdar will move back to 'C'.

Given that Geebo's antimagic aura is a 10 foot radius (and each square is 5), I assume everyone will move to A, F, K, P, or U before he comes in.

Tahldar moves to A and burns off the mold. The greenish mold lets out a strong smoke when burnt and leaves a black scorch mark on the wall.

OOC: I think we should have Geebo stand outside, and watch to make sure the lava (or the golem things) aren't coming in. Of course, if we see the lava, it's probably already too late, but it's better than nothing I suppose...

Shae will follow Tahldar to A.

Tahldar moves back to 'A' to let the others get to work.

Not sure who is doing what next, so please post moves and location of your character in doing so.

As for how this progresses, i will assume you are acting in the order that you post, unless indicated otherwise, such that those who post later are waiting, watching and thinking of how to proceed.

Just following up here.

With Shae and Tahldar on A and the fire heating up that area, Shae accidentally steps a little bit on the area marked F. The rock there begins to crumble away. Shae catches herself but you see that the area marked F is mostly a pit covered with a burlap tarp on some thin pieces of wood and then with stones placed strategically on top to cover that it is a trap.

From the pit below, more of the toxic fumes that you just escaped start coming up into the room, no longer blocked by the tarp.

You figure you probably have about 3 minutes before it fills the room enough that you will have to hold your breath again.

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:27, Tue 23 Nov 2021.

Kahan casts a spell.

Shae jumps over to K to let Kahan have room for his spell.

Thanks again for everyone's patience.


SUMMARY/RECAP:

You are currently escaping this (now active) volcano, which was also an ancient temple of some sort. You fought the Goddess of Fungi (who didn't turn out to be much of a "fun guy"), and now she will want revenge.

Your goal is to get back to the gnome village with the ingredients (now in your possession) to save the affected gnomes and companions. You have less than one day left to do that.

Tarimar is the recurring villain in this campaign, a human with designs on the world through experimentation, manipulation of magic, and improving and cloning humans/creatures. You saw his menagerie of collected creatures once. He apparently used this volcano's unique properties to set up a lab. When he had to suddenly evacuate, he trapped it. THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE NOW AT.

You had interaction with two of the three doppleganger brothers: Dalharen, Haklara, and Izlaka are three doppleganger-like creatures experimented on and created by Tarimar, with their powers increasing in that order. Dalharen appeared dead but then his body disappeared. Haklara disappeared after the fire giant encounter. You have not yet met Izlaka.

See "Villains" here: http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=11516/Villains

With you is a translator gnome you rescued (Sark) who had been captured by Tarimar, and Geebo, the young gnome who is your guide to and from the village. You also have Fingas Hatt, who is a bit of a braggart, a bit foolhardy, and a bit cowardly at times, but competent enough of a fighter to help when needed.

All you have to do now is get back to the gnome village within the next 12-24 hours, as those who are infected will start succumbing within that time period--XP will be based on how many survive, in part.

A toxic fume in the air (flammable) covers the entire area, except as noted, and you must hold your breath.

Note also that Borimer was sent through a portal...somewhere...and is now lost to you.


CURRENT AREA SUMMARY:
AREA 5: The giant statue animated when you stepped in front of it. (The other statues did not move.) There is a stairway leading west, but a door of flesh heads and faces blocks your path that way. They writhe and move. (See message 63)

You moved down the southwest hall. The door had been sealed and you have fresh air to breath.





CURRENT ROOM:

The room is divided into letters for convenience of movement. Top half of room is crumbling rock and bottom half is old wood. Area F was just rocks over an airproof tarp that Shae stepped on and almost fell.

Four chests in locations noted.

A poisonous mold lines the wall on the west (A and F), and apparently is now seeping in from below.

The toxic fumes, which were apparently blocked off by the floor, are now seeping up and starting to fill the room from F, no longer blocked by the tarp.

You figure you probably have about 3 minutes before it fills the room enough that you will have to hold your breath again.

There are four identical chests, as pictured.

On the south wall are three strange mounted figures. On the southwest is an orb made out of some sort of steel with spiral edges (like a baseball). In the center is the stone head of a dragon. On the southeast wall is a bluish crystal.

And on the east wall is a strange eyeball protruding from the wall and surrounded by a grayish brown mass of what can only be described as vines, bark or roots. Unlike the other figures, the eyeball appears somehow living. It eerily rotates in your direction as you enter the room.

On the northern wall on the west side, you notice some sort of moss or ochre growing on the wall. It is different from the stuff in the northern rooms and appears to have grown there due to the long encroachment of time.

Sark told you that this was an experiment room for Tarimar, with research notes in two chests. He never saw four chests before and doesn't know which two hold the notes.



Your actions so far:
Tahldar burned the mold, which emits a strong smoke and odor.

You had Geebo stand near the door by the golem statue to keep his anti-magic aura from affecting you.

Kahan cast stone shape and blocked up the hole again, thus blocking the toxic fumes from entering through that hole at F.

Shae jumped over to K. The area K seemed solid.

OOC: As a reminder, Dalharen put three rings on Geebo to confuse you into not knowing if he was the doppleganger. He cannot remove the rings without removing the fingers due to a cursed nature. One of the rings has a 10 foot antimagic radius which will eliminate all magic within 10 feet of it of weakly magical items (such as non-relics or special, unique or simple bonuses--in practical terms, it means that every time he comes within 10 feet of you, I roll to see if and how many magic items lose their magic.) You don't know what, if anything, the other two rings do.

Kahan had suggested cutting off Geebo's fingers, but Geebo is a little freaked out about that. (He is only the equivalent of a teenager.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:21, Tue 15 Feb 2022.

Sark says, "Tarimar, he keeps control words in scrolls. They were in the chests. I remember blue one was lightning, dragon was fire, and round one was...yes, some sort of acid. Tarimar experiments with all three to show if experiments were invulnerable."

Sark's memory is a little vague since his imprisonment in the ring of fire. You have deduced that he was there for about 10 years, which mean that Tarimar left here about 10 years ago.

Shae moves to the southwestern chest and opens it if it is not locked.

As everyone else watches silently, Shae opens the chest in the southwest corner (U). Surprisingly, it is a latch that is shut and locked, but there is no actual lock on it, so it is easy to open from the inside.

The lid opens with a slight mechanical sound behind it. Apparently, it is attached to something mechanical (not magical) in the wall.

The eyeball on the eastern wall suddenly blinks! When it does so, a paralyzing ray shoots out into the room:

Shae...is not paralyzed
Kahan...is paralyzed
Fingas...is paralyzed
Tahldar...is not paralyzed
Leo...is paralyzed
Sark...is paralyzed

Everyone except Shae and Tahldar are paralyzed, stuck in place unable to move as if turned to stone. Shae doesn't seem to notice. She is more shocked by what she sees in the large chest.

It is a body...or rather, a decomposed skeleton of what appears to be a halfling. The wretched thing must have been locked in the chest (by Tarimar, presumably), and then either suffocated or died of thirst. It clutches something between bony hands.

Shae gently pulls out what is clenched. It is a scroll. It has three spells on it: flesh to stone, stone to flesh, and petrify.

There is a tattered piece of cloth apparently ripped from the halflings now rotted clothes. The halfling holds it in its hand behind the scroll. Something appears to be written on it in blood, but the 10 years since Tarimar abandoned this cave have left the words faded.

The words are "DAR HA." You don't know if this is the complete phrase or the control word or anything.

There is a gem in the pelvic bone of the halfling. You surmise that the halfling must have hit it up his...well...rectum, so that it would not be discovered by Tarimar. It is a clear gem like a diamond but with flecks of gold and silver, almost perfectly round, and small enough to fit easily into...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
...the palm of your hand. (What did you think I was going to say?)

---

It is slightly larger than the size of a marble.

After this, Shae turns back to everyone. The paralysis spell is wearing off (lasting only about 2 minutes), and you can all move again.

"As soon as the others are not paralyzed you might as well move on to the next chest Shae." Tahldar says, shrugging off the paralyzation.  "But before you do, I have a minor spell I'd like to cast on us all that will provide a little resistance to magic."

OOC:  I would like to cast the 0 level spell Resistance: "Subject gains +1 on saving throws." on myself, Shae., Kahan, Fingas, and Leo.  After Shae grabs the scroll and gem of course.  Geebo and Sark I will skip as they have the anti magic shell.  I'm not sure how long the spell lasts.

Speaking of which, Sark couldn't be paralyzed no?  He has has anti magic going at all times.

I think it is Geebo that has the antimagic, not Sark.

Geebo is the young, naive gnome guide helping you.

Sark is the older gnome translator who was a prisoner by Tarimar.

(I might have forgotten something--if so, please let me know. I am assuming Geebo is up just north of the bear trap.)

Unless you guys tell me otherwise, I will assume you are in the following locations (up to two people per location):

Shae: U
Tahldar: B
Kahan: B
Geebo: Hall north of bear trap
Sark:C
Fingas: D
Leo: C

Did I miss anyone? Shapfren died and Borimer was portaled out by the doppleganger, so I think that's everyone.

Shae thanks Tahldar for the spell and pockets the things found in the chest. Then she slowly closes it, watching for anything to happen and ready to duck.

The then crouches under the three wall hanging statues and goes over to Y, where she also opens the chest while crouching low to the ground.

Oh, boy, I think I've lost some players. Let's fast forward this, since that seems to be what some people wanted.


Shae finds pockets your findings and opens the other chest. Flames spew out from the dragon's head at W, hitting:

Tahldar (8 dmg)
Kahan (7 dmg)
Sark (8 dmg)
Fingas (14 dmg)
Leo (15 dmg)

Thanks to Tahldar's spell, they each make their saving throws.

Shae looks in the other chest but finds it empty.

Sark checks the chest as well, confirming by the scratches that it was the one containing the notes. Tarimar must have remembered to take all his notes with him.

You head out to the main area and use the scroll you found (stone to flesh and flesh to stone spells). The giant statue is turned to flesh. You have a few moments while it is startled to run to the door of living faces and cast the other spell (flesh to stone), which turns it to a normal door.

As the now flesh statue finally gets its bearings and heads toward you, you open the stone door and let it crash closed behind you. Behind it, the door has also locked in the poison. The air here is fresh.

A tunnel leads west and up. (Note: I had something planned here, but we will skip it.)

You follow the tunnel, Sark leading the way. There is very dim light above you at the end of the corridor.

It levels off and and exits into the bottom of a large hole in the ground with a path leading in a circle around and up to an exit out of the forest.

At the bottom of the ramp leading up and around, you happen upon a skeleton that has been here for many years. It has a mage's robe, now tattered, and bracers on one skeletal forearm. On its skull sits a leather headband with a green gem in the forehead center.

Sark jumps in surprise. "Tarimar!" he says. "That is Tarimar's robe!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:37, Sun 20 Mar 2022.

Tahldar is happy to be in the fresh air again. Doubly so after breathing the foul air of the lava pits for far too long.

"Fitting end for him. But I wonder what happened killed him?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter. In any event let's check him. Can't hurt I suppose, but be wary for one his many tricks."

OOC: Talhdar will check Tarimars body and take the Bracers and headband if he thinks it's safe. He will also check for any sign of what might of killed him.

"Tarimar has many clones, this is likely one of them," Kahan remarks as Tahldar looks over his dead body. He, too, is glad to be above ground, and breathing healthy air. "It is also possible the robe is magical, they should all be checked for magic," he adds, as he does just that.

"Ok. I'll check" Tahldar says in reply as he casts Detect magic on the corpse and it's items.

OOC: I guess I should mention Tahldar would recognize that Kahan was casting Detect Magic. You can still cast it, obviously, if you want.

OOC: Ok, I won't cast.

I was wondering if any of you would remember that. I can't slip anything past you! :)

You cast detect magic. Both the headband and the bracers glow of magic.

You also recall that you have not met the last (and most powerful) of the shapeshifters, and the troubled history Tarimar had with his "experiments" on them. Your assumption is that he killed Tarimar before taking whatever he wanted from the body and leaving.

Kahan shares his findings, offering to keep the magical items in the portable hole or his haversack if the party so wishes. "We should continue on. We still need to make it back to the gnomish village and make this cure," he nods, looking at his hands to see how badly the illness was effecting him.

OOC: Hey, I might not remember the intricacies of the multi-level dungeon that we've been slogging through for probably a literal year, but I can't forget the fact that we've already killed one Tarimar before. That was kind of a big deal lol

Shae agrees. "I think we should get back to save our friends with the cure to their sickness and check out everything at that time. I fear we have suffered more than physical damage in these caves.

"Let's hurry back and worry about the magical items later." Tahldar says as he knows they must rush back with the berries as quickly as possible.

Geebo scans his surroundings when you exit the cave, looking at the positioning of the sun and the moon-like planet Tienna. It is otherwise hard to find bearings in the neverending mist and dirt.

He points ahead. "That way is west. There is a river that we can follow around, but it may take up to a full day. If we head east, we can cut our time to under 12 hours but face the same dangers as before."

About 12-24 hours remain before those affected begin having terrible side effects and potentially dying. 0d3 will die each hour between 12 and 24 hours. 12 are infected, plus Fingas' companion, the old man with the beard, and possibly others if they caught it from the infected people you brought to them.

HOUR 1

Shae says, "I remember that there are at least three very powerful creatures on the path back. A dragon and two strange spiked creatures. If we can avoid them by going down the river, I'm okay with taking a risk. Better to save some than none."

"I could try to cast Teleport on myself or another to get the earthgold back faster.  The rest of us would have to travel back on foot, but it might help speed things up and save lives.  It's not without risk though.  I don't know the area I'd be teleporting back to so well.  I could come in high or low.  Both of which would be very bad and could ruin the chances for everyone to get better."

OOC:  Tahldar has one last 5th level spell he could use for a teleport.

NOTE: Teleport has to be on oneself. For the sake of roleplay, I'm willing to adjust that if he wants to teleport Geebo or Fingas with the healing ingredients instead. (The gnomes don't know Sark, so he probably isn't a good choice.) If Geebo goes, you will lose your guide, which will result in a small percentage of becoming lost or other problem along the way that he would help avoid (random encounter).

"I know a spell that can increase the probability of success, it would limit the dangers of your teleportation. I also know one that would make us have an easier time marching through the woods, if we would rather go with that option, or for those of us who do not teleport back," Kahan responds, weighing their choices heavily. If Tahldar did mess up, they would be dooming them all to death, but if he is successful, he could save many lives.

Aided by Kahan, Tahldar casts a teleport spell. Fingas is more than willing to teleport to the safety of the Gnomes rather than travel through the dangerous mist. "Those rats were so huge," he mutters, "but I killed them."

Fingas disappears. You have no idea if the spell was successful or not.

You are outside now. It is dark out. Not far from the exit of the cave area, you see a trail leading northwest through the woods and the mist. If you don't take the trail, you can go north or south or west, but the giant mountain you just exited is behind you blocking the easterly directions.

Geebo indicates that the river is to the north and the northwest trail is likely to cut to it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:05, Mon 28 Mar 2022.

Kahan decided to cast another spell to try to help them find their way. "Which direction will get us to the Gnomish village with Fingas the safest?" he asks out loud.

Kahan casts a spell. The safest path revealed to him is the path through the forest and mist that Geebo mentioned.

Kahan shrugs. "It is possible that the spell only refers to the current situation, and it may become more dangerous if and when the mists start making everything go crazy again," he explained after telling everyone of his findings. "We should have a vote. I say we go through the forest."

"I agree.  Forest it is.  We'll just have to be sure to find areas with rock as we need to."

Sorry, they all are forest directions except the mountain behind you. You mean the trail through the forest?