TWO HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN
(I/C)
After noting that the snake didn’t turn back to the group again, Wyn pointed to the east and suggested, “Let's enter de room, close de door, den sneak along de south wall, passed the throne, en stand de southeast section of the room.”
Abraxas was looking decidedly uncomfortable, “No me gusta any of this, amigos.”
“Eets ok,” the elf assured him, “I tink I got an idea of how we cen stand over dere to be safest... en keep our mage friend away from any snakes, dead or otherwise."
Lannis arched an eyebrow, “Let’s hear this.”
"Gladly. Wyn, dats me, Detects magic en Priestess en Offop check de stones under de magic detection.”
“Nice of you to volunteer me.” The Magic User sighed, “I'll go too, her eyes are set far apart to more easily detect predators, and may not be ideally suited to the task. Plus the crystal is the Eye of Ishtari,” he took out the Rod of Ishtari and mimed thrusting it, “I wonder if it will react to my rod," he chuckled lewdly.
“Sigh.” Wyn shook his head. “We start with de east stone... maybe see if de magic detection shows anytin of negative energy or sometin dat is draining magic from sometin else. I try to look too, of course, but dis may be sometin divine or out of my realm of expertise."
Lyra snorted, “I feel like with the way you’re saying rod it’s an innuendo for your dick. No one wants to see that Lannis - maybe just your mom, but no one here.”
“Stop with my mom.”
“Why? Do you even when she says no?” Lyra fired back.
The Fighter shook his head again, Scythe held ready. “El Serpente, Majik Eyes, Corflarch, any of it. Este es malo. Muy malo. We are walking right into their clutches. Este es estupido. Let's get this over with. Mas Rapido."
“It’ll be fine,” Wyn assured him, already stepping out into the room. “Depending on how de snake reacts, we can cover more space en also check de west stone."
“Shh alright alright Abraxas. We’ll hurry up,” the Cleric followed, Lolthian Flail held tight. “If the Snake starts coming towards us let me know, I’ll try to turn it. Don’t know if it will work but it’s worth a try.”
As the group moved out of the hall, Brendon was the last one through and he pulled the secret door closed until it clicked in place. Abraxas pitched his voice low, eyes fixed on the serpent as they went up and over the dais. "Señora Larja, if you Turn the Snake, but there is no open door for it to escape out of, it will just attack us. That's what we learned with the Kobold Zombies, si?”
“Yep. Why?”
“So using the Turning, unless we open the Throne Room main door, would be a waste of a Turning, no?”
“Um.”
The Fighter pressed on, “Also, it would have no effect, unless we leave the secret passage door open, in which case it will go into the Secret Corridor, and be stuck in there until we go in there again. Correcto?”
She frowned, pouting as the party drew themselves up on the other side of the room and Wyn proceeded with his spell. “Well…poop.”
The dwarf held up one hand, waving his fingers excitedly, “Okay. Crazy idea, but hear it out. The snake seems focused on the door, like it’ll attack once something comes through.” The group all looked, confirming that the snake was STILL ignoring the party after initially spotting them, eyes focused on the Throne Room door. “Once Big Brain’s done braining, we go back into the secret door and I blast this Orc Horn I picked up before it closes behind us. Might attract something to come through the throne room door and we can hear if the snake attacks. Cause a little more confusion.”
“Hmm,” Brendon was rubbing his chin. “Lil mans idea on the horn might move the orcs away from door past the teleport room.”
“Yeah I know.” Kovid seemed excited, “It’s abstract. My other idea is just smash zombie snake... to death... again.”
The group chuckled as Wyn finished his spell with a flourish, “Tegere Arcanus!” and a spray of orange sparks danced away in the direction he was facing (range 60’ direction facing, 2 turns). They settled over the eastern and the western crystal – both of them flaring to bright light pretty much equal, and radiating a power that was beyond anything the party had ever encountered before.
“Whoa! Can you turn down the brightness on that thing?” Kovid asked.
Lyra and Lannis dared to step closer, both of them giving the eastern stone a solid once over. Lannis had already done this earlier and was pointing out to Lyra the things he had learned about it as well as his thoughts on how to possibly identify which one was the true Ishtari Crystal and which one was the one the Corfard had erected to collapse the barrier. He had his rod out, but just having it in the proximity of the crystal (along with Lyra’s Flail) didn’t seem to be doing anything.
Wyn had raised his bow during all this, holding it in front of him and seeing a small glow of magic coming from it as well as Lyra’s armor, in addition to all the other items the party had known about. “See any sick magic coming off this armor, Wyn?” the Cleric asked.
“Oui! It is as I suspected and you deduced. Magical elven chainmail, Priestesse.” His bow however showed other magics that he did not know earlier (Elf – no roll needed). “Ah! Dis bow ees not just shooting a bit further.”
“What’s it do besides?” Abraxas asked.
“Eets is a Heartswood bow, Oui? Dat I knew. But I also kin see dat it has an enchantment on it, dat assuming I terribly miss and Lady Luck has crapped on my plate, de bow will make de arrow possibly fly true again from de magic.” (If roll a 1/fumble – automatic reroll)
“Alright, that is pretty cool.”
Meanwhile Abraxas and Brendon were having some heated words in the corner but the party just ignored the two of them and Lannis muttered, “Either one of them is gonna get stabbed in his sleep or one of them is gonna get stabbed while awake.”
“Tell me about it,” Lyra replied. “Hey, you two?!” she called out to them. “Warm milk and naps aren’t for many hours so the two of you, just knock it the fuck off. Pretty please?”
“But he started it!” Brendon and Abraxas each said in unison, pointing at the other one.
“Enough, or I’m gonna finish it,” she retorted.
The Cleric and Magic User were finishing up their review of the stone, also checking the other one (at a distance) and not seeing anything that could help based upon what they have now. “One of them is behaving as the Anti-thesis of the other one, and besides whatever magics the elves had done, the dragon has tapped into it and the two crystals are actually tearing each other down as well as bolstering each other.”
“So what do we do?”
“Well,” Lannis scratched his head, “if we take down the Dragon’s stone, whichever one that may be, the Rainbow Ward settles back in place hard and firm.”
“Stop with the dick comments,” Lyra hissed.
“I wasn’t!” he complained. “Anyway. The ward is back – but its flawed because according to the ritual, only 3 of the goddesses did it right.”
“And if we take down the Rainbow Ward first?”
“My guess? That would be bad. The dragon’s stone has nothing to work against and will most likely send a blast out and kill everyone in the room.”
“Well…shit.” Brendon cursed.
Lannis held up 1 finger and then a second. “The correct order is take down the DRAGON’S stone first. And THEN take down the ISPAN’S stone. We do it that way, and it’s done safe and the Rainbow Ward is done.”
“How do we do it?”
Lyra replied, “Arik and Moira both said that it would take a representative from each of the 4 goddesses to do it. We don’t have that BUT we do have the 4 Blessed Weapons. And if we touch the crystal with all 4 weapons, and most likely some sort of small prayer…”
Lannis snapped his fingers. “I wrote down the saying from the Crystal Box before the orcs took it. So we have the original ritual.”
“Great,” she smiled, “And that should end the Crystal.”
Wyn nodded. “I followed pretty much most of dat. But dere is still one problem.” He pointed to the two crystals. “Which one is de dragons?”
The Cleric gave a weak grin. “The one that draws its power from the Negative Plane. It will have a decidedly evil aura about it.” She sighed. “But sadly the Detect Magic doesn’t let us know that.”
Time now is Day 7, 9:10 AM
(OOC)
Ok! Nothing more I can say at this time. It’s up to you guys to take it from here.
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