Castle Amber: A D&D Adventure

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 2:13 am

Harvey turns his attention towards the door, manuevering to try to get a better view through it/to be in a supporting position for the inquisition guys, and readies himself for the worst..

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 4:30 am

Without a shield to use, Kalar instead stands ready to defend himself with a blade instead. He manifests the sword, holding it in two hands and uses it to search the area for traps. He decides to throw in a few traps of his own while he's at it. He grabs an item from his pack and throws it in front of one of the doors creating a massive pit so that anything exiting the door will have to run into it. Granted, it won't be much use against anything that can fly, but anything stuck on the ground will have to contend with it. To add a little something extra, Kalar throws in every flask of oil he has into the pit (5 flasks) and ignites them with a flask of alchemists' fire. Around the pit, he scatters all of his caltrops (13 bags). They won't do much, but every little bit will help.

He then goes and retrieves some weapons from the original Jim's saddlebags. He distributes the 200 javelins and 200 darts he purchased amongst 25 of his new skeletons so that they each have 8 javelins and 8 darts. As for the remaining 2 skeletons, he hands them each two flasks of alchemists' fire. He then orders them to keep well back, only attacking at range.

For the three ghouls, he gives each of them an elemental gem, one for air, earth, and water. They aren't to use them just yet, but each is given a specific signal to watch out for as to when to use them.

He then orders the shadow, the wight, and Hrulgin to stay near him and to be ready for anything. He takes off his ring of the forcewall and gives it to Hrulgin, seeing as how he probably won't be entering into melee.

As he's arming his minions he says to the beholder:

"They speak Infernal and Abyssal, but only to each other because...?"

Item Used: Enveloping Pit (MiC)

Creates a 50-ft deep pit. Area is 10-ft square.

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Sun Dec 06, 2015 8:40 pm

"Azedarac, you have an awful lot of insight in to this tomb." Lynda says to him. "If you know so much, why did your party fail?"

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 12:45 am

As the door opens, a room of rock and fire can be seen. A 10ft wide suspended bridge of rock leads into the room, which makes a turn less than hundred feet in. Not much can be seen past the turn. The bridge itself seems to be less than 5 feet thick, and only two support beams can be seen. A little over 50ft below the bridge, the floor is filled with fire and what seems to be lava. The heat from the fire flows into the room everyone is currently in and makes things very uncomfortable. No Kython could be seen, and the screeching had stopped.

The beholder continued to impart all his knowledge of the Kythons to Kalar, much to the visible annoyance of several others in the room. "Kythons speak a strange smattering of both Infernal andAbyssal, but only to each other, never to others. Broodlings do
not speak, but understand the commands of other kythons. Kythons enjoy tearing their prey to shreds, though they are intelligent enough to make good use of weapons. Most kythons have a chance to possess a special weapon, including spitting acid and shooting spikes made from their hardened skin."

Kalar, then made a large hole in front of the other door and filled it with oil. and lined it with caltrops. He meanwhile armed his various undead near the other side of the room while the others dealt with the room full of fire.

"We have to go in there?" the nude dwarf questioned.
"There is another door, but this is the better of the two options, and they lead to the same place, I assure you," Azedarac answered. "And to answer your question, Lynda, the curse was not broken by my originally group, because of me. After Baalzebul revealed himself to us, I tried to kill him myself, but he proved much to powerful. I chose destroyed the answer to the curse and wished myself and Helena out of this tomb with one of the castle's powerful rings, trapping Baalzebul in this tomb. Then I made sure no one else would be able to accidentally stumble upon him by setting up a series of illusions, which you've all managed to dispel it seems."
"We understand your motives, but your actions were uncalled for. You've killed many adventurers in the past, Azedarac. What makes you any different from Baalzebul?" asked the slightly smaller orc paladin.
"This is not the time for a debate," stated the silver dragon. "We need someone to scout ahead and see what else is in this room before the rest of us follow. I would suggest the undead creations over there, if they are able to report such things. I welcome anyone to go forward and see what they can. The majority of us should fortify here."
Everyone seemed to agree with the dragon on that point and many eyes went to the undead and Kalar then.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:03 am

"Very well."

Kalar nods to Hrulgin, signaling that he should go on ahead. Hrulgin then performs some magic of his own, turning himself invisible and heading into the room to scout ahead.

Spell Cast: Invisibility, CL 3, lasts 3 minutes.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:21 am

The grouped waited blindly, as most could not see Hrulgin while he was invisible. Those who could see him, watch as he crept towards the bend in the room. As he did, an explosion of sound erupted from up ahead. Hrulgin was engulfed by a swarm of small jet black insects. As the swarm made it's way towards the rest of the party, Azedarac cast a wall of force over the door way, blocking their path. Seconds latter, Hrulgin could be seen on the other side of the wall, banging on the wall as the insects tore into him.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:26 am

Harvey runs forward to take advantage of the force wall, seeing what he can see while protected by it. He is unmoved by Hrulgin's plight, and desperate to see what triggered this and what other dangers are lurking.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:31 am

Kalar orders the shadow to enter the room and help deal with the swarm.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:52 am

The swarm quickly fills the doorway. It's immense size doesn't match the silence with which it approached Hrulgin. Even now, only a low buzz could be heard.
Kalar's shadow retreated back through the wall to the side of the door as the swarm bit into it and looked back towards Kalar for further instruction.
Harvey could see nothing but the insects making up the swarm. The seemed like spiky beetles. More normal looking than Harvey would guess considering all that was going on.
The others began to plan their next move.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:11 am

Harvey backs away from the force wall. "Spiky beetles. That's it?! If only we had a million hammers, heheh... well.. what DO we have? An exorbitant amount of gold. Room full of fire. Mysterious second door. How do we put these things together to stay alive?"

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:30 am

"Well, if it's a room of fire..."

Kalar holds up his holy symbol and summons a huge fire elemental into the room with the swarm. At the very least, it will thin the herd, so to speak.

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:36 am

Lynda looks to Azedarac.

"What happened to Alexander? When we traveled back in time and met you near Sylaire, I told your party that Baalzebub, or whoever he was, was evil and going to betray you. Alexander told me he would deal with him. We then came back to the future and he was suddenly dead. It's no doubt my fault he was killed, because before we parleyed with your group, Alexander was alive."

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 3:29 pm

Rob watches Hrulgin's plight, frustrated that he cannot think of a way to help. Glib lies are great against intelligent foes, but useless against mindless beetles.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:47 pm

Hrulgin was destroyed.
Kalar's fire elemental seemed to have no effect on the swarm. It was quickly overtaken and soon banished back to it's home plane, which is the minor plight of all dead summoned monsters.

Azedarac looked annoyed. "If I have to use all my spells this early on we'll all be doomed. You over there," Azedarac was referring to Dan. "I've received many reports about you. Surely you can do SOMETHING."

Dan gave Azedarac a suspicious glare.
"Let me give it a try." Wren, the nude dwarf said as he stepped forward. He slapped his hands together and rubbed them roughly. Then he plunged them deep into the stone wall to the side of the door as if the stone was water. Moments latter, a giant slab of stone fell on top of the swarm. The remaining bugs in the swarm scattered. "That's how you deal with bugs. You squash 'em."

A sense of relief filled the room. Dan shot Azedarac a smirk after looking over the inquisitors Azedarac had brought. Azedarac turned his attention to Lynda. "I DO remember you. Though our meeting was brief, it's not everyday someone absorbs my spells as you did. So, you went back and changed the past? A lot of this may be your fault then. The creature that was possessed by the lord of the seventh level of hell at the time killed Alexander in his sleep. Though we knew the creature had done it, there was little we could do. The giant seemed to favor him and we felt we needed their power to break the curse. We did attempt to rid ourselves of the pest. We flew away from it as fast as he could. We teleported away. I even stabbed it a few times with my spear of shadows. Though it seemed hurt, it quickly healed it's wounds and rejoined the group as if nothing had happened. I have never come across a creature such as it before. HAd Alexander shared with us it's true nature, we may have tried harder to rid ourselves of it."

While Azedarac was talking, several of those in the room began to gather near the force walled door and look around the room. There seemed to be another swarm of the bugs in the room just around the bend in the path. "It stands to reason there might be several more of those swarms," stated one of the orc paladins.
"If we can lured them all to the door, I can keep squashing them up till they are all gone," Wren said.

The beholder had been looking the other way the whole time it was in the room. The pit Kalar had created was holding his interest. However, that changed. Two of the inquisitors stumbled forward as the force wall fell. "Of course," said Azedarac. "I had forgotten there was a beholder in the room. We should count ourselves luck the wall stayed up as long as it did.
"Sorry," said the beholder.

The doorway stood open to the room of fire and swarms. The group stood on edge, waiting.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 1:31 am

Harvey steps forward. "I think I move the fastest, I think I see the sharpest. I scout it out, lure bugs back here if I see 'em, you guys squash 'em, we'll make out like kings. Agreed?" The assassin is already shrugging off his backpack and limbering up. "It's gonna be a hell of a run or a gruesome end... hehehe is there any better kind?"

After gathering his thieves tools from the sack (Never know when you might find a trap) he approaches the door, takes a look at the veritable hell in front of him, and as a final excuse to wait before going in, he pauses. "Oh uh.. not to sound cowardly, but anyone got any tricks to go even faster?"