Post by David on Feb 12, 2009 21:16:40 GMT -5
While the heroes (Ichi, Idky, Squattingbeaver, Lowdog, Yavin, Robyndella with Meldenya, and Widdershins the unicorn) were resting, the shaman communed with lesser spirits in order to find out more information about the city and the location of the runestone. Three spirits and a shadow answered the call, the undead being easily turned by Maedhros. From the spirits, Squattingbeaver learned that the Pink Palace was the most likely focal point of the attack upon Luxor and where the cloud of darkness had focused.
The heroes safely navigated the two or so blocks to the strange structure in a matter of minutes. The architecture of the pink palace was unlike anything the heroes had ever seen -- crafted of translucent pink marble veined with white and gold and not a straight line in sight anywhere -- as if a beautiful flow of bubble (or a lava lamp) had suddenly solidified to form smooth towers and domes. There was not a mark or seam to the stone. What's more, a huge central courtyard stood outside the palace, complete with an obvious gate in the center. The gate appeared defunct (confirmed by a square plaque inset before it which Idky translated via comprehend languages), but Yavin looked at the decorations around the courtyard, quickly realizing the black starbursts of marble with silver lines between them were distorted constellations of the Charn sky and some of the towers seemed designed to recieve cargo through massive doors many dozen stories about the ground. Although initially ridiculed, the cleric of Celestian insisted that the Pink Palace was some ancient spaceport, much as he'd seen on the world of Saphira.
While the heroes pondered these facts, four harpies swoop down from the higher towers as three ghouls charge out of the darkness. Meanwhile, a vrock joins the fray! A single fireball takes out most of the harpies and Lowdog proves quite handy with the ghouls. The vrock survives some 30 seconds, but although Robyndella's arrows ground him, the demon doesn't teleport thanks to Yavin's continued mental assaults. As the healers tend to the party's minor wounds, suddenly a black-haired, dark-skinned man with huge white wings, white robes, and a flaming sword swoops in from within the Palace. The deva identifies himself as Elvi and explains that he has been bound to defend the city from non-good, extra-planar threats for nearly two centuries. It was his binding, in fact, which caused the Great Schism that turned this culture from orthodox faith and to follow the ways of witchcraft -- the three ziggurats of Luxor were originally built to honor Marduk, Shamash, and Ishtar!
Elvi "accidentally" noted on the map inside the Palace (it has served as the civic center for the last 10 years of Luxor's existence) the rough location of the runestone, as well as many of the traps along the way, but explained that he was bound "not to interfere in the poltical affairs of this world." He also hinted at ways he could be freed, but warned that as part of the conditions of his servitude, he was sadly bound to slay any who attempted to free him. He could, however, freely slay and work against any extra-planar evil present...
The heroes followed Elvi's directions and quickly made their way toward the heart of the Palace. Because of Widdershin's form, she was unable to easily handle the curving staircases, so Robyndella first reduced and then itemized the unicorn. Moving two levels lower, Lowdog was blasted by three glyphs -- one of fire, one of ice, and one of lightning -- that nearly killed him and would probably have vaporized most of the rest of the party. Beyond this, the heroes battled twenty ghouls. Although Lowdog and Ichi tried to hold the front line after Robyndella unleashed a lightning bolt, there were just too many ghouls! The undead spilled past and wrecked havoc among the spell-casters, paralyzing the half-elven archer and seriously wounding both Idky and Maedhros!
Once the heroes recovered from this powerful fray, mostly with the aid of Squattingbeaver, Idky, Maedhros, and Yavin's healing powers, Ichi drank his potion of x-ray vision. Alas, but the next door had a glyph of blindness! Luckily, Squattingbeaver cured this too and the group continued.
On the level below, nearly half-way to the runestone, the group battled six juju zombies. During the battle eight more gray morphs as well as seven shadows attacked. Maedhros turned the spawn of darkness, but couldn't affect the short gray creatures. Worse, their claw caused not just physical wounds, but mental ones too. What's more, after striking, the creatures assumed the forms of their victim's greatest fears! But, working together, the heroes triumphed.
They dropped two more levels and then...
Idky: 27 of 41, 8gbs, 10psi, cast CLWx2, shammer, aidx2, comp, prayer x2
Beaver: 28 of 36, 8gbs, -2 INT, cast CLW x4, ward, speak, prayer, cure, CSW
Lowdog: 37 of 79, 8gbs, 30psi, -3 INT
Yavin: 26 of 29, 6gbs, -2 INT, 17 PSPs left, cast CLW x3
Ichi: 46 of 58, 8gbs
Robyndella: 30 of 32, 8gbs, cast reduce, im db, item plus -2 FB and -1 LB, only four blessed arrows left
Meldenya: 11 of 14, 8gbs
Widdershins: still 35 of 42 and itemized in Robyn's pocket
Maedhros: full (40), 6gbs, cast CLWx2, aid and MMx2
Running eep total is 131,930 xps
The heroes safely navigated the two or so blocks to the strange structure in a matter of minutes. The architecture of the pink palace was unlike anything the heroes had ever seen -- crafted of translucent pink marble veined with white and gold and not a straight line in sight anywhere -- as if a beautiful flow of bubble (or a lava lamp) had suddenly solidified to form smooth towers and domes. There was not a mark or seam to the stone. What's more, a huge central courtyard stood outside the palace, complete with an obvious gate in the center. The gate appeared defunct (confirmed by a square plaque inset before it which Idky translated via comprehend languages), but Yavin looked at the decorations around the courtyard, quickly realizing the black starbursts of marble with silver lines between them were distorted constellations of the Charn sky and some of the towers seemed designed to recieve cargo through massive doors many dozen stories about the ground. Although initially ridiculed, the cleric of Celestian insisted that the Pink Palace was some ancient spaceport, much as he'd seen on the world of Saphira.
While the heroes pondered these facts, four harpies swoop down from the higher towers as three ghouls charge out of the darkness. Meanwhile, a vrock joins the fray! A single fireball takes out most of the harpies and Lowdog proves quite handy with the ghouls. The vrock survives some 30 seconds, but although Robyndella's arrows ground him, the demon doesn't teleport thanks to Yavin's continued mental assaults. As the healers tend to the party's minor wounds, suddenly a black-haired, dark-skinned man with huge white wings, white robes, and a flaming sword swoops in from within the Palace. The deva identifies himself as Elvi and explains that he has been bound to defend the city from non-good, extra-planar threats for nearly two centuries. It was his binding, in fact, which caused the Great Schism that turned this culture from orthodox faith and to follow the ways of witchcraft -- the three ziggurats of Luxor were originally built to honor Marduk, Shamash, and Ishtar!
Elvi "accidentally" noted on the map inside the Palace (it has served as the civic center for the last 10 years of Luxor's existence) the rough location of the runestone, as well as many of the traps along the way, but explained that he was bound "not to interfere in the poltical affairs of this world." He also hinted at ways he could be freed, but warned that as part of the conditions of his servitude, he was sadly bound to slay any who attempted to free him. He could, however, freely slay and work against any extra-planar evil present...
The heroes followed Elvi's directions and quickly made their way toward the heart of the Palace. Because of Widdershin's form, she was unable to easily handle the curving staircases, so Robyndella first reduced and then itemized the unicorn. Moving two levels lower, Lowdog was blasted by three glyphs -- one of fire, one of ice, and one of lightning -- that nearly killed him and would probably have vaporized most of the rest of the party. Beyond this, the heroes battled twenty ghouls. Although Lowdog and Ichi tried to hold the front line after Robyndella unleashed a lightning bolt, there were just too many ghouls! The undead spilled past and wrecked havoc among the spell-casters, paralyzing the half-elven archer and seriously wounding both Idky and Maedhros!
Once the heroes recovered from this powerful fray, mostly with the aid of Squattingbeaver, Idky, Maedhros, and Yavin's healing powers, Ichi drank his potion of x-ray vision. Alas, but the next door had a glyph of blindness! Luckily, Squattingbeaver cured this too and the group continued.
On the level below, nearly half-way to the runestone, the group battled six juju zombies. During the battle eight more gray morphs as well as seven shadows attacked. Maedhros turned the spawn of darkness, but couldn't affect the short gray creatures. Worse, their claw caused not just physical wounds, but mental ones too. What's more, after striking, the creatures assumed the forms of their victim's greatest fears! But, working together, the heroes triumphed.
They dropped two more levels and then...
Idky: 27 of 41, 8gbs, 10psi, cast CLWx2, shammer, aidx2, comp, prayer x2
Beaver: 28 of 36, 8gbs, -2 INT, cast CLW x4, ward, speak, prayer, cure, CSW
Lowdog: 37 of 79, 8gbs, 30psi, -3 INT
Yavin: 26 of 29, 6gbs, -2 INT, 17 PSPs left, cast CLW x3
Ichi: 46 of 58, 8gbs
Robyndella: 30 of 32, 8gbs, cast reduce, im db, item plus -2 FB and -1 LB, only four blessed arrows left
Meldenya: 11 of 14, 8gbs
Widdershins: still 35 of 42 and itemized in Robyn's pocket
Maedhros: full (40), 6gbs, cast CLWx2, aid and MMx2
Running eep total is 131,930 xps
