Rested and healed, you leave the mansion in the morning and resume your exploration.
To placate Al, you head back to the room where he battled the volts and check out the secret door in the north wall.
Opening it, you find yourself looking out into the 20' wide east - west passage that you followed into this area to begin with. 190' east of you the passage terminates at the doors with the smiley face...which open into the chamber where you fought the will-o-wisps.
There is no sign of the duergar.
Darian stretches and wipes his eyes. "Thanks for the opportunity to rest, folks. As far as I can tell, I suffered no permanent damage and I seem to be as strong as ever. So, I'm ready to continue ridding the world of evil. Shall we continue?"
Jesse, who has been quietly attending Darian, speaks, "Do we know anything about this dragon thingie? If we know it's weaknesses and strengths, perhaps we should take it down first, that might scare the other denzines of the area and make our job easier."
BrightAxe falls inline with the group surrepticiusly and smiles inanely to himself.
You head back to the main entrance chamber where you battled the will-o-wisps.
Occa says, "Let's check the secret doors in this room." He knocks the one in the south wall.
It springs open, revealing a passage that you have explored already...running west to one of the staging rooms.
Valdar knocks open the secret door in the northwest wall.
Beyond is another passage running west for 60' (left wall) and on.
You head down there.
The passage continues for a further 20' and ends at a door.
You open it.
The passage continues...northwest, for 60' (left wall).
You go down there.
You find yourselves at an intersection. A roughly finished, 20' wide passage runs west for 60' and on; while another rough, 10' wide passage runs northeast for 60' (left wall) and on.
Lumbering down the west passage towards you, though, is an enormous, 15-headed hydra.
It is nearly 60' away.
Jesse will cast a lightning bolt at the critter.
Her forked bolt cooks two heads. The hydra bellows from all 13 remaining heads, and charges at you.
Occa casts lightning bolt at the hydra. "This should be fun."
Two more heads are sizzled.
"Cool... Another play toy!" Darian draws his bow and fires a rapid artillery assault.
One arrow finds its mark but does not kill a head.
Angst pulls out his heavy crossbow, loads and fires it.
Another head is injured.
The fighters line up and draw their weapons...awaiting the onslaught...which comes soon enough...
After the initial volley of artillery goes into the hydra, BrightAxe uses his two axes to make mincemeat of the hydra.
Brightaxe chops off a head with an arrow sticking out of it.
Angst connects with his bastard sword and severs another injured head.
Darian misses with his frost brand. A head bites him but he takes no damage.
Arrrgh! waves his rod and mashes another head.
Gonzo leaps into the fray and toasts an eighth head.
And finally, Al concludes things by severing another head.
Valdar sits down, pulls out some stale pizza, and watches.
Darian dodges a hydra head, before lopping it off.
Another head lunges at Brightaxe, but his stoneskin protects him. He then misses with both axes.
Angst and another head trade misses.
A second head goes at Darian as he kills the first. The elf takes 6 hit points of damage...as he discovers the hard way that his stoneskin has been consumed.
Arrrgh! is also hit by a new head...but his spell is still there and so he takes no damage. He replies, and crunches it forthwith.
Gonzo is likewise saved from injury by his stoneskin, as he next kills the offending head.
Three heads remain.
Brightaxe is caught in the jaws of a hydra head, as he connects with one axe, badly injuring it.
Angst kills the last head attacking him.
Darian is bitten again...for 5 hit points. He then kills the head.
Al helps out Brightaxe...and the last head dies.
The body teeters for a moment...then topples to the floor.
"That was fun," says Valdar, standing up.
You head west and investigate the passage.
It runs for an additional 40' and ends at a rough stone wall. Ancient digging tools litter the floor. There is nothing down here. Valdar checks for secret doors but finds none.
You return to the fork and head northeast.
It is the same story here: the passage runs for 110' and ends at rough stone. You see a tiny vein of gold in the rock at the end...so small that it is not worth digging out, the dwarves estimate.
Again, no secret door.
"Sorry Darian, I should have remembered to cast the spell on you again. I'll remedy that tonight." calls Jesse from the back of the pack.
Darian heals himself.
"Jesse, do you have a stoneskin spell that you could cast on me?"
"Sorry Darian, I memorized a dimension door spell. It would take me a while to change to a stoneskin." she says apologetically.
"Occa, do you have one handy?"
"Sorry..I sure don't."
Darian sighs. "Pharian, Valdar? Anyone?"
Valdar shakes his head.
"I can offer you some of Orlon's stale pizza, though," he offers, "It's as hard as a rock..."
"I doubt I can use it effectively to protect myself from being injured. Although it might make a useful projectile...."
"Hey!" Orlon yells. "I take offense to that. My pizzas are not stale. I guarantee my pizzas in 30 minutes or less, or else you get it free."
He proves his point by producing a boring cheese pizza and throwing it at Valdar.
It hits the mighty elf lord square in the face.
"Hey, you're right, Orlon," Valdar replies after taking a taste. "I wonder how long that other one had been in my knapsack for?"
Gonzo chuckles to himself and mutters something.... "... 'umans.... should be usin' der heads... dey be hard 'nuf to be stone...."
Cannon Fodder will use his wand of metal and mineral detection at the gold vein. He will also use the rod to detect for magic.
The wand pulses and points at the vein...very weakly, though.
The rod detects no magic.
Occa says, "Let's go down the list and hit these other secret doors." He heads off to the next secret door.
BrightAxe will joyously re-enter the marching order resplendent.
"Tis a fine day to be alive, eh Gonzo ?"
"It it day, or is it night?" interrupts Pharian. "Maybe you dwarves can tell down here, but I sure can't."
The next secret door on the list is also the last secret door that you don't already know the details of. It is the one that opens off of the 20' wide passage running southwest...in the 20' - 30' section of the left wall, from the east end.
Opening it reveals a triangular-shaped room (right wall runs 10' southwest, then 20' east and 20' north).
As Acco-lite had mentioned earlier, it is completely bare, and searching it turns up nothing.
"See? I told you so! Even when I tell you stuff you ignore me!" says the simulacrum.
"Let's go visit new, unchartered (or at least unmapped by Orlon) territory..." says Darian.
Occa says, "So, was that the last secret door?"
Occa will moves on...
BrightAxe follows Occa with an inane smile.
You return to the main entrance chamber, where you battled the will-o-wisps. From here, two flights of stairs exit.
One goes up.
One goes down.
"What's it gonna be?" asks Valdar.
Darian wets a finger and holds it above his head and looks at both stairs.
"Up?"
"Hey Snowdrift, which is the quickest way to kick some dragon ass ?" Al asks Acco-lite with a smile as he itches for battle.
"Upstairs," replies Acco-lite.
"Let's be a little more specific," says Pharian to Acco-lite. "Where are the dragons?"
"There's one right at the top of the stairs in the chamber at the top," replies the simulacrum.
"What other monsters are we going to meet when we head up the stairs? Which are the first monsters we'll come to?" He pauses for breath.
"Please," he adds in a mildly sarcastic tone.
"The red dragon will be the first one. But I know a blue dragon lives up on that level somewhere, too."
Orlon quickly gets out a new piece of parchment. "I'm ready. Lead on Occa," he says.
"Let's go," Al says with a grin as he leads with Claw and his shield in front of him.
BrightAxe follows him upstairs adjectiveless and adverbless.
"Wait a sec," says Valdar, grabbing Al and Brightaxe by their respective collars. "Maybe we should plan this out for once..?"
"Now what fun would that be, Valdar ?" Al asks with a sly grin.
"Hmmm...you have a point."
Darian gives Valdar a thankful look. "Right... Orlon or anyone else... How can we protect everyone from fire? Or if not everyone, then protect the folks who are least likely to survive a blast. And we should go in with everyone ready to do their part. I'll be glad to contribute a lightning bolt spell...."
"I memorized seven Resist Fire spells and I have two spells on scrolls." He casts Resist Fire on himself, Valdar, Occa, Pharian, Darian, Angst, and Gonzo from the memorized spells. From the scroll spells, he casts Resist Fire on Arrrgh! and Jesse.
[Note that Gilstrock is back at camp...Robert plans to rejoin the game in about 10 days.]
"That cleans me out of that spell," Orlon tells the others.
BrightAxe will chuckle "plan ?, why so?" Sighing, "If you must you must." Ginning at Al, "you ever seen a battle plan work in a small group ?"
"Hell, I haven't seen a plan work with a big group. Planning is for those who do not take battle to heart !" Al exclaims slapping Brightaxe on the back.
Occa says, "Yes, if there is a dragon at the top of the stairs, we should be prepared. Cannon Fodder..."
Cannon Fodder activates his rod to detect enemies....hoping to get an idea of the distance.
He detects none.
Occa then casts wizard eye and sends it up the stairs...but not out of range.
Occa says, "I will look about magically....everyone get your spells ready for battle with a fire creature."
After a few minutes, Occa says, "Forget this...we should get reinforcements back at camp."
He makes a motion for everyone to be silent...and then waves them away from the stairs.
Those who follow him go about 100 feet from the stairs.
He says in a whisper, "he can hear us you dolts! He knows we are coming."
He then describes what he saw:
The stairs go up to the northeast for about 50'...then there is a large chamber that you run your eye around (octagonal shaped: right wall goes east for 30' (30' wide passage runs southwest out of this section, though), northeast for 20', north for 30' (30' wide passage runs east out of this section, though), northwest for 20' (again, a passage running northeast takes up this entire section, too), west for 30', southwest for 20' (10' wide passage runs northwest out of 10' section as measured from the south end), south for 30' (10' wide passage runs west out of 0' - 10' section as measured from north)...which should close matters up).
A good-sized red dragon sits atop a small pile of goodies along the north wall. He's not the biggest red you have ever seen...but he looks old and crabby. He appears to be listening intently...and you suspect that he can hear your party talking at the bottom of the stairs...
" Well this does change a few things" says Brightaxe, not wanting to be dragon toast, "Preparation might be prudent at this stage."
"Well, if he knows we're coming, maybe we should do something unexpected. Could we all get into the portable hole and then Valdar could teleport us into the room or into one of the other hallways and let us all out? Or just some of us do that? Then we could come at him from two directions..." theorizes Darian.
"Yes," agrees Pharian, very quietly. "In fact, we could split up into even more groups. Improves everybody's odds. I have a teleport spell. Occa, Valdar, you do too, right? We can have Al and Brightaxe make noise down here to keep the dragon's attention. Then if we teleport the spell casters into three of those passageways and then immediately start pelting him with magic missles, we might be able to wound him a lot before he can breathe. Quick spells are the best."
"Oh, and Al, you can make a heroic charge," adds Pharian.
"Thanks, Pharian and beneath that rotten and mean exterior, you are still a jerk." Al says with a smile.
BrightAxe will brush a tear from his eye.. "Those guys must really be friends. I'm touched." he sais softly.
"I think it's a man-thing," says Valdar.
Al points to Acco-lite and calls him over with his finger. He whispers in his ear, "Is there a back door or a way we can come behind the dragon ?"
"I don't know," Acco-lite replies, then edges quickly away from the paladin.
Occa casts a few other spells.
Cannon Fodder says, "I will remain here in case we are surprised from behind."
"Me too," says Acco-lite.
Occa says, "How about this...I teleport no error in with Valdar and Pharian...we blow the thing away. Then the rest of you can join us at your convenience."
BightAxe pleasantly expresses utter disgust and revulsion at this inane idea.
Occa says, "If I didn't need every magic missle spell I have..."
Gonzo pipes in... "Gimme 10 minutes to sneak in der wid my sword 'ere you guys tol' me extinguishes flames... dat should protecd me if he decides ta toast me dwarfen arse... if youse hears combats afore me ten minutes is up, come in blasting... I'll try to light on 'is back and skewer him. If'n youse don't like dat idears, me is fer just chargin in like we always do wid youse magic types blasting him away while us fighters jez duck and mop up afterwards."
"If we're gonna hit it, then let's do it now," Orlon remarks as he casts Prayer.
Occa says, "Well, since no one objects....this is the plan.
One, Gonzo sneaks up and into the chamber. Good luck Gonzo...you have 10 minutes. Don't do anything till we start blasting, okay?
Two, I can teleport (he gets out an abacus) 1150 pounds...so, how about I take Valdar, Pharian, Orlon and Al with me. Al can charge the dragon as we open up on him."
"I'm ready with a holy word," Orlon says.
Occa says, "Oh, holy word...nice....poor wittle dwagon." He chuckles and says, "Let's rock."
"Orlon, you are the man.. that Word is devastating... one day I might be able to ask Horus for such a powerful spell. Anyway, enough talking, who's in the mood for Red Dragon steaks ?? heh" Al asks.
"But, Valdar and Pharian have there own teleport spells... That means that we can teleport to multiple locations with the whole troop and concentrate more magical power on it. I admit I'm not very powerful, but an extra couple of magic missles wouldn't hurt..." says Darian.
Occa sighs and says, "I have seen the room...they haven't. Also, they don't have teleport without error which means, unless they study the room they would most likely end up embedded in the floor."
He smiles and says, "Fine, I will take you as well."
"I was thinking you should take everyone. We all contribute in our own ways. and attacking the dragon from multiple directions can't hurt... But, I wasn't only lobbying for myself... I'm of little help compared to some of the others..."
"The main thing is that we remove this menace. It doesn't matter who exactly does it," Orlon tells Darian. " And like Occa said, he's the only one who knows the outlay of the room."
"Well, this way we are more dispersed. Makes it more unlikely for us all to be killed."
Darian shakes his head. "No, I meant that Valdar, Pharian and you would teleport us in three groups to different areas. I understand why this can't be so... I'll go with the group heading up the stairs..."
"Yea. And I have a lightning bolt spell or two as well as a d-door that I can use when we're in there." Jesse adds
"Hmm, I will take you Jesse, instead of Darian. You are more powerful and your lightning bolt will help more."
"Cool." she says with a twinkle in her eye.
"Before I teleport, the rest of you head back to the stairway...that will draw the dragons attention. Okay? Let's head out!"
Gonzo says "Time ta karumba"... very quietly... and moves into his assigned position for the attack.
BrightAxe waits as planned..
Darian will wait with him. "Hey, Brightaxe, would you like me to make you stronger or larger? I've got both spells handy..."
"Stronger would be good, I can do without the larger."
Darian puts his hand in his belt and pulls out a bit of something and then proceeds to cast Strength on BrightAxe.
Gonzo goes creeping away. You hear nothing as he moves out of your sight.
Ten minutes pass.
Occa casts teleport without error, and he, Jesse, Valdar, Pharian, Orlon and Al wink out of sight.
The rest of you make for the stairs.
An instant later the people downstairs feel a rumble through the very stones of the hill. Orlon has used his Holy Word of Thor.
You hurry upstairs to the dragon chamber. It is as previously described...only now the dragon is dead. Orlon stunned it, and Gonzo killed it.
No other spells were needed.
You look at its treasure...12 gems worth 500gp each, a potion, a scroll, a sheathed longsword, a ring, a suit of elfin chain mail (elf-sized), a sheathed khopesh sword and a suit of full plate armour (gnome or halfling sized).
As you stand there gloating over your excellent fortune, you become aware of another person, standing alone at the entrance to the southwest passage. Unarmoured, he is dressed in black.
He draws a glowing broadsword, and says, "Nice job. You won't kill me so easily, though."
Al asks, "Why would we want to ?"
"Because if you don't, I'll kill you," the man in black replies calmly. "I'll probably kill you, regardless."
Jesse says plesantly, "Who are you? And why would we want to kill you? Perhaps a friendly game of poker, or dice?" she says as she moves to the side of the room away from the group and begins to cast a lightning bolt.
Pharian turns invisible.
Occa says to the stranger, also moving away from the main group of the party, "Indeed...who are you dark stranger?"
"Someone opposed to all you stand for," he says, then utters a word of devastating power.
The dungeon shakes again.
Brightaxe and Darian are paralysed.
Gonzo, Pharian, Valdar, Jesse, Angst and Arrrgh! are stunned and sit down, shaking their heads.
Al and Orlon are deafened.
Occa, Cannon Fodder 2 and Acco-lite are unaffected.
One segment has passed. Occa is casting his cone of cold.
BrightAxe tries to look intelligent, proud, and threatening in his paralyzed state.
Cannon Fodder says, "Coool, man!" He tosses his rope of entanglement at the guy and speaks the command word.
The rope snakes across the room at the man.
Occa continues casting.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH" Al screams as he rushes at him with Claw. "Now you've made me angry !"
The man glances at the paladin and an unspeakable fear wells up inside of Al. However, he swallows and forces himself to ignore it, as he raises his blade.
The rope wraps itself around the man, as suddenly a pillar of flames erupt around Al. The paladin jumps clear and chops down with his scimitar...
...to cut through nothing but thin air, as the man, now thoroughly entwined by the rope, abruptly vanishes.
Four segments have passed. Occa is almost finished casting his spell.
"OK, WHERE ARE YOU ??" Al screams as he spins around looking for him, "Be a real man and fight...
"I guess you are not the ooh deadly one that you thought. Ha !" he spits as he waves Claw around looking for him.
There is no answer.
Occa glances around, whilst casting looking for invisible with his robe of eyes. He also disbelieves what has been going on.
He sees nothing invisible but for Pharian sitting on the floor nearby, shaking his head. Looking into the border ethereal, though, he sees the man. He has been joined by an electric blue, frog-like creature with razor-sharp claws and teeth. This creature is cutting and chewing at the rope, and Occa sees the strands parting.
All seems to be real.
Cannon Fodder will use the rod to detect invisible.
He detects nothing.
Orlon tries to cast a dispel magic, but, being deafened, screws up and has it fail.
Occa can have cast his spell at something if he wishes, or he can cancel it. Either way, the spell is expended.
The others remain as they were...paralysed, stunned and/or deafened.
Almost a minute has passed.
"Oh my head" says Angst as he tries to get up. Failing, he sits down again.
"Occa, you see him ?? Where is he ?? and can you get me to him ?? If so, he will no longer be a problem for anyone." Al says with a glint in his eye.
If Occa replies, the paladin does not hear him, still being deafened.
Gonzo stands stunned that he is stunned.... and speachless for once.
Occa cancels his spell, and continues to watch the man and the blue frog in the border ethereal, as the latter tears Cannon Fodder 2's rope of entanglement to shreds. It takes about a minute.
Free now, the man regards the party in the room...then smiles and mouths to Occa the words -
"We shall meet again."
Then, with a nod to his companion, he turns and moves away, slowly fading out of Occa's sight as he moves deeper into the ethereal plane.
The monster follows, and they are soon lost to his view.
After a few more minutes, people start to recover, and within 10 minutes all of you are back to normal again.
"What was he?" wonders Valdar.
Orlon thinks long and hard for a moment.
"I think it was a death slaad," he says at last. "We once battled several of them in a dungeon on Oerth...nearly wiped us all out. Oh Well."
The high priest takes out some cold pizza and has a snack.
Occa says, "That was bizarre. We shall meet him again."
Cannon Fodder starts sobbing, "My robe, my rope...oh woo is me."
Helping himself to some pizza, "Man, that was rough, what is a death slaad?" Al asks, unfamiliar with the creature.
"Something very nasty," replies Valdar. "Powerful fighters, with psionic, clerical and magic user powers to boot."
He glances at Darian.
"What's the glance mean, Valdar? That I have to face him?"
Valdar shrugs.
"Who Knows? Or maybe he doesn't."
"Then why the glance, oh mighy Elven Lord?"
"Not to worry, Darian, when we meet up again, he is going to be very sorry. I'm gonna cut 'im to ribbons as you sizzle his brains !" Al says as he grips Claw tighter, aching to kick the slaad's ass.
"Well, I appreciate your williness to face that guy, but Valdar's glance meant something... And I'm hoping he'll tell me what he meant by it..."
"Elves are inscrutable," says Pharian. "But my guess is that he was telling you to be careful. If those dwarves left you weak on your feet, this slaad-- whatever it is-- can probably turn your brain to corn mush."
"Just remember, someone who is very powerful in psionics can harm folks without psionics as well. Just imagine what it would be like to encounter a being who could crush your mind. At least I have some defense... But, I've no plans to challenge him on that level or any other."
"Al blows my mind sometimes," says Pharian. "Does that count?"
"Probably not because you seem to recover from it. If you had it crushed by psionics, I don't think it would be so easy to deal with it."
"Heh, heh - I like being thought of as a challenge, anyone else ??" Al asks with a dazzling smile.
"Because I'm wondering why he didn't blow your brains out." Valdar finally replies.
"Maybe I wasn't worth the effort?"
"Perhaps," Valdar says with a chuckle.
"I guess its back to camp to rest and then let's get back here !!"
"What was a death slaad. The guy with the sword or that creature that helped him get free of the rope?" asks Darian as well.
"Mmmmm-phmmddm-mlkhfg," replies Orlon with his mouth full.
"Could you try that again without the mouthful of pizza?"
Occa says, "They were both Slaad then. A death Slaad, if he was, and a blue slaad."
He shakes his head and says, "They aren't evil...I wonder why they are helping out Tiamatlet. Maybe to promote the chaos in the world."
Darian shakes his head. "That doesn't make any sense. How could they both be slaad? Unless slaad refers to a dimension or something. I mean, one was in the shape of a man and you said the other was some blue monster..."
"There are different types of slaadi...just like there are different types of demons," says Valdar.
"Oh, so slaad is a classification of a type of being. Just like dragon."
Occa says, "Maybe a death slaad can change shape. The other slaads can, but I have never faced a death slaad before. I have heard of them...and of grey slaads who are nearly as powerful."
"So, then, what is a slaad?"
Occa smiles and says, "They are from Limbo...and are thus guided by chaos and neutrality." He shrugs and says, "I suppose I will become one when I finally die." He pauses and says, "As for what they are otherwise...hmm, I am not sure how to describe them. They are somewhat froglike, I have always thought, but powerful. More powerful than devils and demons in my opinion."
"So, why would one oppose us like that?"
"Probably just for the fun of it...the challenge. The excitement. Maybe for pay or promises of power. Who knows...they are ruled by Chaos. Hell, we might be able to convince him to help us out."
"Bribe him?"
"Maybe, or convince him it would be more interesting or fun to help us out. Of course, who knows when you are dealing with pure chaos."
"Then why did he say he was opposed to everyhing that we stood for?" asks Pharian, imitating Darian's questioning tone.
Occa looks over at Al and says, "You have to ask?"
"Let's collect the treasure and head back to camp... I think I'm ready to go up another level and some training might be in order... if we have the time."
Occa says, "Let's go back to camp, dump this treasure and get going."
You load up the treasure and the party, Occa will teleport everyone back to camp.
Arriving back at camp, you find that Gilstrock is there, just back from a successful hunting expedition...with a large dead mammoth.
"Hey, long time no see, Gilstrock..." says Darian.
"Welcome Gilstrock, you have been missed. " Al says with a smile.
At least BrightAxe can take comfort in that very few dwarves had died leaving items for these creatures to have as treasure <g>.
"Greetings Gilstock, it is a pleasure to meet you" says BrightAxe offering a handshake and a cheery smile. He'll whistle something merrily thinking of the feast of mammoth tonite... "maybe we should have an eating contest tonite !" he suggests with enthusiasm.
"Greetings, and well met!" Gilstrock says broadly. He is a tall, powerful looking human male. His hair is blond and rather unkempt, and he perenially has a few days growth of beard -- never enough to call a beard, but enough to call unshaven. He wears field plate armor (if memory serves), and has weapons draped around him, including a bow over his shoulder, a sword and a flail at his belt, and a spear which he usually carries around and uses as a walking stick and a prop for posturing and gesturing. Over his armor, a light blue cloak ripples slightly in the wind.
"I got sick of all that Cleric food -- no offense, Orlon, but pizza is just not the proper food for a warrior. So I was off hunting. Bagged some new deer, and other animals. So, I'm up for an eating contest!
Gilstrock looks over at Pharian. "How goes, my friend?"
"Gilstrock, my friend, it is good to see you," says Pharian to Gilstrock.
Then to BrightAxe he adds, "Don't get your heart set on mammoth meat. If I know Gilstrock, he may eat it all himself."
"Hey, long time no see, Gilstrock..." says Darian, before turning to the matters at hand. "Okay, time to start identifying, right?"
"Hey, Darian, how are you!" Gilstrock says, clapping the elf on the back. "You given up on that chanting and casting stuff and start bashing heads like a real man yet?"
"Nope, I just got better at both. Plus, I've grown into my psionic powers a bit better, although I think there's still some kinks... Six dark dwarves almost overwhelmed me the other day..."
Occa says, "Yes, let's identify the items...after Orlon makes sure none are cursed with a divination spell."
He looks to Orlon to make sure.
Orlon auguries...nothing in the trove will be baneful to the party.
Occa says, "Excellent. Let's identify then! Except for you Darian...why don't you train. We will wait."
"Thanks, Occa, that's kind of you..."
He begins identifying the treasure, as does Cannon Fodder and Acco-lite. (Pharian and the rest can join in as well if need be).
"Oooh, another khopesh sword." Al says as he sheaths Claw and using the khopesh sword that he already has to detect magic on that item and the other items there.
"Valdar, would you be willing to train me another level as a fighter? I'm ready. That is, if we're going to have the time. If not, I'll wait." asks Darian.
"Can't do it. You're specialised and I'm not," the mighty elf lord replies. "Don't know how we got away with it before..."
Darian looks over at Gilstrock. "Would you spend the time with me?"
"Sure thing," Gilstrock says. "You ready for a run right now? Let's see, where's the community chest? Gotta get me some heavy non-magical armor to go running in."
Darian groans, but stands up. "Yup, I'm ready."
Occa rolls his eyes, "that is why I could never be a warrior."
"C'mon Occa, come with us!" Gilstrock's voice rings out admist then clang and clatter of his pawing through armor looking for a suitable workout suit. "Do you some good."
Occa chuckles, "Uh, sorry...I would gladly go if I can fly and carry the armor along on a Tenser's floating disk."
Occa says, "We haven't split up moneytary treasure in a long while. Since Darian is going to be training, we might as well do so now since I may take a jaunt over to Sandas."
He pulls out an abacus and begins to add it up. "We have the following in the money pile:
5000ep
20 gems that you value at 200gp each.
24,250sp
40,000sp
30,000gp
1800pp
30 gems worth 500gp each
10 various articles of jewelry worth 800gp each
2333sp
5 small gems worth 10gp each.
60 gems worth 100gp each
1500 gps
240 gps
1500 cps
90 ep
90 gp
450 gps
gem (500 gp)
12,000gp
500ep
5000ep
10,000gp
2 necklaces that you instantly value at 1100gp each
80 gems which you value at 500gp each
14 miscellaneous pieces of jewelry at 4000gp each
780pp
40 fine diamonds at 1000gp each
10,000 cps
615cp
410ep
5 diamonds worth 2000gp each
4666cp
90 gems worth 100gp each
23 pieces of jewelry worth 1200gp each
2000gp
2000pp
pendant worth 2400gp
18000 gps
2 - 500 gps earrings
1500 gps
5750sp
7500ep
19 gems worth a measily 10gp each
12 gems at 500 gps each"
He takes a deep breath and says, "That totals to 345,771.11 gps. We divide that by eleven for everyone that went in, that being Angst the Ranger BrightAxe Darian Gonzo Jesse Occa Orlon Pharian Al Arrrgh! and Valdar, then that equals 31,433 gps each with 8 gps and 1 sp left over for the community chest."