Rage borrows Kailar's crystal ball again, and scrys for Zanax. She sees him cowering behind a rock again...but a different one this time. He looks exhausted, and is covered in cuts and bruises. The storm continues unabated...in fact, it appears that the wind is blowing worse than ever.
"See?" Furgh says, with a grin. "Paladin's are almost as tough as elves."
"Rage, please go after him, but take precautions not to get hurt yourself."
"Need the assistance a six or so elves?" Furgh asks.
"No Furgh. The more people get involved, the harder this is going to be," replies the mage.
"I have to go in after him. I don't think I will be able to rescue the sword, but we can deal with that later," Rage looks around, "I'll be right back. Argulhas, hold my staff while I am gone. I don't want to risk it."
Agulhas takes hold of the staff with the fascination of a young child during a Strabath festival.
"What if the unfortunate event arises that I have to use this, how would I do so?" he asks Rage with wide, gleaming eyes and a broad grin.
Rage relates to Agulhas the command words.
"Be careful, it can only hold 25 charges and I am getting below half on the staf, and need to recharge it asap," the mage says as a final warning.
Rage casts enlarge on herself, to double her size and hopefully give her some additional mass. (to about 200 lbs), She then ties a rope around her waist with the free end available to toss as necessary.
"Hunker down in as tight a ball as you can before casting the spell. Your enlarged size also gives you a larger sail to catch the wind."
Hlarn asks for a reduction spell to go with the magician. "I won't need to be enlarged. What I'll do is summon a dust devil once we are there. He'll not mind the winds, and can retrieve the sword from the river for us."
"How's he gonna lift that big hunk a ice?" Furgh asks. "Since the swords no doubt smack dab in the middle of 'er."
Hlarn shakes his head. "It might not be able to. Dust devils are usually only used for distraction purposes, but at worst it should at least be able to push it towards a bank so we can retrieve it. Ice floats, and an air elemental will be at home in a hurricane so it should have no problem flying above it pushing it along. Doesn't hurt to try anyway. I won't need to be exposed to the weather and can stay safe inside Rage's pockets or perhaps lashed onto her shoulder so I can speak with her."
Hlarn looks at Rage, "Or you could try blasting the ice apart with a lightning bolt first. Anyway its worth a shot."
"I am planning to try to retrieve the sword using an invisible servent," says the mage. "The fewer people we risk on this mission, the better." Rage adds, "I don't want to have to keep getting our lost souls."
She checks the crystal ball again, and ses that Zanax has moved, farther away from the rising river. He now lies in the lee of a fallen tree.
"Here I go," the mage says before teleporting away.
"Good luck, Rage."
"Kailar, watch her on the crystal ball. If things do not go well, we may need to use that last wish."
Kailar observes Zanax, seeing an enlarged Rage appear beside him. Despite her increased girth, the wind almost knocks her sprawling regardless.
She moves over to Zanax and proceeds to tie him up with her rope. The wind catches them, and they both go sprawling. Zanax gains more bruises for his collection; Rage a bloody lip.
That done, she speaks words of magic, and the vanish from Kailar's crystal ball, and appear in the room with you.
Kailar looks up from his crystal ball.
Gnarsh stands up and looks at Furgh.
"I'm goin' downstairs," he says, "You comin'?"
"What's the limit on paladins outta season?" Furgh asks no one in particular. Then he says to Gnarsh, "Sure, why not?"
"I'll come too."
"Good." Furgh replies with a grin. "Gnarsh and B-9 are a bit overly direct at the chest openin'. More agile hands, the better, I always say."
"Zanax, did you get the sword? If not, we will go back after the hurricane passes."
Zanax seems disturbed. "No. It floated down the river in a giant iceball. I was trying to wait out the storm."
"Gnarsh, I will go. We cannot go back to get the swords today, so I might as well do something useful."
"I, too, would like to go. It'll give me the chance to vent some of my frustration."
"Hlarn or Sasha, would you be so kind as to heal me a bit before I go down?"
Furgh chuckles. "Paladins must be tougher'n they look. Ain't nothin' ta vent on down there," he adds. "Just pickin' through belongin's. You look too worn ta do the beast o' burden thing."
Zanax looks surprised. "What? No vampire sorcerer, yet?"
Furgh smiles. "Nah. B-9 says he was elsewhere. So's either long gone, or already dead. Either case, nowhere near me... all I was worried 'bout."
"As for being worn down, despite the banging I took from Mother Nature, I could stay up for days right now. Of course, I'd pay the penalty later..."
Furgh shrugs. "Like I said. We're just packin' stuff."
He points to the small pile of loot in the corner.
"Up to you if playin' pack mule is worth payin' for later."
He grins.
Zanax looks at the pile. "Anything of interest, yet?"
The elf shrugs. "Mostly monatary. A couple a potions. Some armour... its all over there." He adds, indicating the pile again. "Probably have ta wait 'til someone can do the identifyin' stuff before too much more can be said."
He glances at Gnarsh and grins. "Oh, and that scroll in the chest yesterday, G... Protection from Air Elementals."
He laughs. "Wouldn't ya know it."
Gnarsh rolls his beady eyes.
"Figgers," he says.
He pauses, then goes over and grabs that scroll and the other they found with it.
"Just in case," he adds, with a chuckle.
Zanax sighs "Well, if that's the case, then perhaps I will spend the day recuperating."
Zanax goes over to his bedding, says his prayers to Votishal, and then gets some sleep.
Agulhas steps up. "Well, that sounds like a job for a young, bald mage if ever I heard of one. I'll start the identifying process on what you have here."
He begins to pat down his robes, "I think I've got a pearl around here somewhere..."
He adds, "Is there anything else that we have that's needs to be identified for magic?"
"Tons," Furgh says, with a chuckle. "Yer gonna be busy."
He points to the large pile of unidentified loot.
"Kad I am going to head to Strabath. I need to train and find a cleric to teach me to cast some spells. I think this will benifit us more than me finishing out clearing this temple," says Sian.
Kadlian nods. "If that is your wish. But, you will be missed. We should expect you back in six weeks?"
So, Furgh, Kailar, the robot, Gnarsh, Sasha and Kadlian head down to the temple area.
Sian heads for Strabath.
Zanax, Rage, Agulhas and Hlarn remain in the secret room.
After a bit you are back down at the scene of the big battle of a week ago.
Gnarsh goes west, past the doors that he, Furgh and the robot opened previously, to the door at the end of the passage. This he opens without so much as a by-your-leave, revealing the passage beyond.
He leads you down to the first door on the left, and bashes that one open next.
Revealed is a large room, full of shelves of books.
You rummage through them, but find nothing of value. The books are concerned with the subjects of religion lore.
You open the next door in the south wall. Another library, it looks much like the last one. Again, you find nothing of interest. The books in here cover general subjects.
You open the easternmost door in the north wall. This reveals a passage heading north, with two doors visible.
You go and open the first one...in the east wall. This opens into a meditation room. It has a very sparse look about it. There is a stone bench along the north wall, facing a pedestal with a small statue of Tyaa against the south wall. Everything in here is of white alabastar.
The door to the north opens into another meditation room. The interior of this room is painted a mixture of black and blood red, which for some reason you find very disturbing. After an instant the colours seem to shift and swirl. You stare at the moving patterns for a moment...then pull your eyes away...
"I've seen enough 'o this damned temple," says Gnarsh suddenly. "I wanna go an' train in Sandas."
He turns and walks away.
Furgh frowns slightly.
Kadlian calls after him. "Rage can teleport you there tomorrow or you can head there today. We will keep looking around."
Gnarsh keeps walking.
Kadlian consults the map copied from Zanax and the one he has been making. "Furgh, can you give me an idea about these rooms you have explored that I have marked as E's?
"We should continue to head down the main corridor, checking out all these doors."
The elf glances at Kadlian, then down at the map, and shrugs.
"Ya... somethin' like that.. those two there." He looks up somewhat distracted. "Damn place is startin' ta give me the creeps.
"Wait up, G," he calls after Gnarsh. "I'll go with you."
He heads off after the half-orc in question.
"I'm leaving too."
Kadlian looks at Sasha. "Something I said? Kailar, what is going on? I thought we wanted to explore this place..."
Sasha looks like she has a fine case of the willies.
"I'm going, too. This place is creepy."
She follows Kailar, leaving Kadlian alone with the robot.
Kadlian looks at B-9 and shrugs. "Well, I am no thief and without one, we are likely to set off a trap. So, we might as well follow them back to camp. Wonder what has gotten them all so spooked."
"DOES NOT COMPUTE," opines the robot.
Kadlian follows.
You return to your base...just as the identifucation process is getting under way.
Hlarn will begin his usual checking (via augury) for cursed items that would cause us trouble.
His vaguely worded augury returns -
"YES."
- as an answer.
The dwarf will also ask questions of the heads of the owners about what any objects might do or their command words if they are not obvious.
Agulhas casts identify, as well...
Zanax cracks an eye and checks the whole lot of magic items for any evil.
He detects none.
"Rage, can you still see my frost brand? It was encased in a giant iceball floating down that river last I saw."
Part way through the identification process, Sian returns.
Zanax, assuming enough time has passed dring the identification process, lays on hands and cast cure light wounds on himself.
Zanax will wield the three long swords identified (allows one to strike better, giant slayer, and detect metals) to test them out.
He gets a tingle from the third sword. Otherwise, they seem like equally nice weapons.
Zanax then eyes the girdle. "Anyone mind if I at least try it out? Or did you want to do another Augury on it, Hlarn?"
Rage spends the time casting spells into her staff to recharge it. She also sees about locating the other lost magic items.
You see the sphere of ice moving generally downstream. The river is in complete flood, as the storm is still gathering strength.
Looking for Kadlian's frost brand, you see darkness.
She'll have to study Identifies for tomorrow.
"Sian, why are you back? I thought you were going to Sandas to train."
"The rain is a little to much for me to head there. So I guess I will have to put up with you a little while longer," says Sian with a grin
Zanax stretches as he gets up. "Kad, find anything interesting down there?"
"A couple of libraries that contained books of no real interest and two meditation rooms. Funny thing was that the second mediation room seemed to have a hypnotic effect to it. And after we examined it, Gnarsh, then Furgh, then Kailar and finally Sasha decided to come back here. B-9 and I just followed them back."
"Feh," Furgh says. "I ain't goin' back down there, funky meditation rooms or no."
He frowns. "Maybe B-9 was wrong 'bout that damn vampire..."
Kadlian looks confused. "What set you off down there? I thought that room was strange, but it did not bother me. I was ready to continue exploring until everyone started leaving..."
"Nothin' set me off," The elf replies. "Just didn't wanna be muckin' 'round down in that hell hole no more."
He shakes his head. "Just itchin' fer trouble, that was... and you know me."
He grins... though somewhat hesitantly.
Kadlian shakes his head. "I am not buying it, Furgh. The only thing that has spooked you before was the vampire. And you and Gnarsh have been exploring down there for a couple of days. Why now when you had Kailar, Sasha and me in addition to Gnarsh and B-9? I know Gnarsh decided to leave, but I have never been able to talk to him so I will not even try. But, you have always been willing to talk to me. What is wrong now?"
Furgh shrugs. "I dunno." He glances around at Kailar and Gnarsh and Sasha. "Just don't wanna do it no more, s'all."
"Maybe you got ensorcelled or somethin', Boss. Maybe somethin's tryin' ta make ya think yer all safe and fine if ya enter that place."
He shudders slightly. "But you won't be. Best ta stay up here. Much safer."
"I got my money," says Gnarsh. "'Nuff t'train. Big time warrior I's goin' to be."
"Hlarn, Zanax, Rage, can you check Furgh and myself for any lingering spells? I feel fine, but it is obvious Furgh is spooked. Maybe rightly so and I am the one that is messed up, but I wish to know. If Furgh is enspelled, check Gnarsh, Sasha and Kailar as well."
Hlarn casts a Remove Fear at the first opportunity.
There is no effect.
Zanax checks the room for evil.
"Now the question remains why that particular room would need to be protected. Perhaps it hides something important."
The dwarf asks Kadlian to look at the complete map and make sure we have visited EVERY room in this place.
Kadlian sighs. "That will take a bit of work. But, I know we have not explored every room on the Main Temple level. That is why I wished to continue. But, none of the others wished to after seeing the meditation room."
Zanax seems interested. "What kind of books were they? And can you show me this meditation room later?"
"Religion lore and other general subjects. And, yes, I can show you the rooms later."
"Good. We can also collect those books if you didn't bring them with you."
"No one else was interested in helping me carry them. And I could not figure out how to stack them so that B-9 could do the job. Perhaps if we brought an empty chest or something..."
Zanax asks the tingling sword, "Do you have any other powers besides detecting metals?"
No reply.
"A tingle, Zanax? Why? Because it is intelligent or because it does not like you?"
Zanax smiles. "I assume it's just telling me it's intelligent. If it didn't like me, it would have zapped me. I'm sure you know what that's like!"
Zanax will also pick up the bastard sword to see if it has any intelligence.
Nothing.
Zanax looks for any runes or writing on the swords.
There are none.
Concerning the girdle...
Kadlian grins. "Try it out, but as you can imagine, I would love to have another girdle of giant's strength. And I would think that all the fighters in this group would want it."
Zanax nods and tries the girdle on. He then tests his strength.
He feels as strong as a giant.
Zanax grins slyly "So...anyone wanna arm wrestle for the belt right now?"
"Get Kadlian to try it on. He'll be able to tell how it compaired to the other one he used. The question is, how are we going to decide who gets this. All of us fighters want it I'm sure and have equal claims to the item. Game of dice?"
Kadlian nods. "A roll of the dice is likely the way it is going to have to be. On this particular item, I find that I cannot be impartial."
Zanax sighs as he removes the belt. Handing it to Kadlian he replies to Hlarn "I'm against that method. Mostly because Votishal constrains me to a limited amount of magical items. Thus, I usually try to obtain either powerful items or ones with multiple powers."
Smiling, he adds "I don't have the luxury of stockpiling items like you or Furgh."
"Don't stop him from tryin'," grins Gnarsh.
"Excuse me?" Furgh says, raising one eyebrow. "Methinks ya got the wrong elf."
"Seems yer the one that likes ta be collectin' far more'n yer ever gonna use."
He grins. "Or you suddenly found something ta swing swords five through nine at?"
Zanax grins back. "Just testing them out. It's not like I'm keeping any of them."
Hlarn reminds you that his supply of magic is very limited right now. "I lost most of it in the antimagic field."
Zanax nods. "Ah, yes...I had forgotten about that."
Kadlian gladly tries it on and takes a few experimental swings of his sword.
Kadlian puts it on. it makes him feel considerably stronger than his old girdle did.
"That just means it is not of hill giant strength. If I remember correctly, I could only afford one that power. There were frost, fire, cloud and storm levels as well."
Hlarn nods to the chests of coin we have. "Lets see how much you can lift."
Adding more and more coins to a large chest, we'll see just how strong the belt makes him.
Kadlian does his weightlifter impressions.
Comparing what he can lift with the belt on and with the belt off, you find that Kadlian can hoist an extra 900lbs.
And his still-missing frost brand...
"Hmmm... Wonder what that means."
Zanax shrugs and suggests, "Underground, perhaps? Or maybe just in an area protected from scrying?"
Hlarn nods to Furgh. "Let our elvish friend check. If its underground, he might be able to see based on his infravision."
The elf looks up. "Eh? You guys ain't admited defeat on those damn swords yet?" He says grinning. "Sure, I'll give 'er a gander."
He sees only darkness.
Meanwhile, Hlarn takes a specific object, and augures if examination or use of the object would invoke a curse or harmful effect to the user. He repeats two times for each object, and goes a third time if the two auguries differ.
This takes a lot of time...