Post by David on Dec 1, 2006 19:09:26 GMT -5
The heroes, Isaac, Arthur, Sabuto, Orn, William, Amaryllis, and Ariadne began to bind their wounds and plan their assault on the gnolls beyond the webs. That's when a man appeared and began healing Amaryllis and the other Medegians. His name was Allyrion and he mentioned something about having to stay out of Amaryllis' quest. But he did place a number of spells on Arthur, Ariadne and Amaryllis before disappearing into the shadows.
About this point, Orn showed up and he and William tended the rest of the wounded, with some help from Ariadne. Just as they were finishing up, the webs caught on fire; it would seem that the gnolls had waited long enough!
A HAIL of arrows greeted the party as nearly a dozen bowmen opened fire! William dropped before he had a chance to do anything. Orn got off a prayer while Sabuto charged. Arthur returned a lightning bolt carving a pretty neat path of death. Then the bears Amaryllis had charmed and Ariadne's nightmare joined Sabuto and began to form a fighting wedge, from behind, Orn joined them using a spiritual axe, while Ariadne tended to William. Sabuto, however, had dropped after facing four gnolls by himself (and killing many more in addition). Isaac stepped up to protect him. Clearly these humans were far mightier than the gnolls. In less than a minute, the beastmen were in a complete route.
So while Orn healed the kensai and the bears and nightmare awaited instructions, the hyena men reached the Acropolis-like structure beyond. As the kensai reached his feet, the bears and Isaac gave chase, but first one bear then the half-orc fell into pit traps. In the bear's case, the pit did not close, but did curve out of view. The archer, however, found himself impaled on wooden spikes with cracked ribs at the bottom of a 20' dropped with a closed pit above him.
Arthur triggered the pit again and Orn creatively dimension doored the himself and Isaac to safety. Above, the gnolls seemed to have vanished. The party searched around but found only a pair of not-quite-right statues -- one of Pallas Athena in the temple-structure and one of Phoebus Apollo outside of it. The Medegians healed themselves using an inscription on the Apollo statue and the group looked around.
Ariadne's nightmare was nearly grabbed by a giant spider, the the party made VERY short work of it. Although it did manage to poison Sabuto, the kensai killed the giant arachnid with a single kiaied eagle's claw strike!
A thorough search of the area, combined with Arthur's archeology skills, Ariadne's religious knowledge, and (most importantly) Orn's ability to see past events revealed several things about the temple and its environs.
[glow=red,2,300]PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CORRECTION TO THE GAME -- especially note bolded items[/glow]
First, the only divine beings depicted were Athena, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and another, unidentified young female figure. There was no sign of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, or Dionysus (although the goblet and its inscription ARE still valid). There were, however, male AND female warriors (but NOT Amazons), centaur, satyr, dryads, minotaur, cyclops, and mermen.
Next, the style of the temple is all wrong for even early Medegians; the number and layout of the columns isn't correct. And the artwork depicting certain figures lacks some of their tell-tale attributes. Even the attitudes aren't quite right with Ares much more in conflict with Athena, Apollo and Artemis being always depicted together while Hephaestus and Aphrodite never were. And the structure dates back 3500 years.
In addition, the inscriptions, such as could be found, are all in a VERY archaic form of Medegian that is very difficult for native speakers to decipher.
Finally, the mosaic pattern before the statue of Athena not only is of a MUCH older style, but radiates the psychic impression of a great exodus. Orn saw dozens of people at a time appear on the mosaic and them move away across a different platform than the one that is currently there. Instead of a Acropolis-like temple, the mosaic was atop of simple, raised dais, exposed to the sky and definitely above ground with a VERY rustic village nearby.
Gathering this information and the treasure they had found, the party headed back to the ship to lick their wounds and plan their next move.
About this point, Orn showed up and he and William tended the rest of the wounded, with some help from Ariadne. Just as they were finishing up, the webs caught on fire; it would seem that the gnolls had waited long enough!
A HAIL of arrows greeted the party as nearly a dozen bowmen opened fire! William dropped before he had a chance to do anything. Orn got off a prayer while Sabuto charged. Arthur returned a lightning bolt carving a pretty neat path of death. Then the bears Amaryllis had charmed and Ariadne's nightmare joined Sabuto and began to form a fighting wedge, from behind, Orn joined them using a spiritual axe, while Ariadne tended to William. Sabuto, however, had dropped after facing four gnolls by himself (and killing many more in addition). Isaac stepped up to protect him. Clearly these humans were far mightier than the gnolls. In less than a minute, the beastmen were in a complete route.
So while Orn healed the kensai and the bears and nightmare awaited instructions, the hyena men reached the Acropolis-like structure beyond. As the kensai reached his feet, the bears and Isaac gave chase, but first one bear then the half-orc fell into pit traps. In the bear's case, the pit did not close, but did curve out of view. The archer, however, found himself impaled on wooden spikes with cracked ribs at the bottom of a 20' dropped with a closed pit above him.
Arthur triggered the pit again and Orn creatively dimension doored the himself and Isaac to safety. Above, the gnolls seemed to have vanished. The party searched around but found only a pair of not-quite-right statues -- one of Pallas Athena in the temple-structure and one of Phoebus Apollo outside of it. The Medegians healed themselves using an inscription on the Apollo statue and the group looked around.
Ariadne's nightmare was nearly grabbed by a giant spider, the the party made VERY short work of it. Although it did manage to poison Sabuto, the kensai killed the giant arachnid with a single kiaied eagle's claw strike!
A thorough search of the area, combined with Arthur's archeology skills, Ariadne's religious knowledge, and (most importantly) Orn's ability to see past events revealed several things about the temple and its environs.
[glow=red,2,300]PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CORRECTION TO THE GAME -- especially note bolded items[/glow]
First, the only divine beings depicted were Athena, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and another, unidentified young female figure. There was no sign of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, or Dionysus (although the goblet and its inscription ARE still valid). There were, however, male AND female warriors (but NOT Amazons), centaur, satyr, dryads, minotaur, cyclops, and mermen.
Next, the style of the temple is all wrong for even early Medegians; the number and layout of the columns isn't correct. And the artwork depicting certain figures lacks some of their tell-tale attributes. Even the attitudes aren't quite right with Ares much more in conflict with Athena, Apollo and Artemis being always depicted together while Hephaestus and Aphrodite never were. And the structure dates back 3500 years.
In addition, the inscriptions, such as could be found, are all in a VERY archaic form of Medegian that is very difficult for native speakers to decipher.
Finally, the mosaic pattern before the statue of Athena not only is of a MUCH older style, but radiates the psychic impression of a great exodus. Orn saw dozens of people at a time appear on the mosaic and them move away across a different platform than the one that is currently there. Instead of a Acropolis-like temple, the mosaic was atop of simple, raised dais, exposed to the sky and definitely above ground with a VERY rustic village nearby.
Gathering this information and the treasure they had found, the party headed back to the ship to lick their wounds and plan their next move.
