The Day The Leeches Died

The leeches that made up Asanbosam's body die fairly quickly, even if nobody chooses to hurry the process with fire or footstomps.

It leaves a uniform behind, a few tarnished medals, and a pair of rather fine leather gloves.

Investigation of these reveals them to be Gloves of Storing -- and further invetigation causes the left one to manifest a faintly glowing mace (*). The woman-thing leaves behind what looks like a waterskin...but itsn't (**).

Neither room contains much else of interest -- a handful of books (popular novels, from the look of them), some furniture, and an enormous floor-mounted globe that is entirely blank. The unopened door in the second room leads to an very large banquet hall, with a table running almost its entire length, and three disturbingly ostentatious crystal chandeliers.

These are all glowing brightly -- as are the globes hanging in the hall, now that Asanbosam and his chorots are no more.

(*) +2 Disrupting Mace Property: This weapon can be used as a holy symbol. It adds its enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls, and attacks can be augmented by this weapon’s power when it is used as an implement. You do not gain your weapon proficiency to an attack roll when using a disrupting weapon as an implement.
Property: On a critical hit you deal 2d10 radiant damage instead of +2d6 against undead.

Power (Daily • Radiant): Free Action. Use this power when you hit an undead creature with this weapon. Deal +1d10 radiant damage.

(**)Endless Bloodskin. Power (At-Will): Standard Action. When you open its stopper, the Endless Bloodskin pours out up to 1 pint of warm, human blood. Any blood that has not been consumed within 1 hour of its creation disappears.

Rolzup wrote:

and an enormous floor-mounted globe that is entirely blank.

Odanais studies it. Arcane check: 16

Rolzup wrote:

(**)Endless Bloodskin. Power (At-Will): Standard Action. When you open its stopper, the Endless Bloodskin pours out up to 1 pint of warm, human blood. Any blood that has not been consumed within 1 hour of its creation disappears.

Nice! Could come in handy somewhere down the line....

The member 'gridley' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 8

The globe shows no sign of ever having had anything marked upon it; whether this is ignorance on Hidimba's part, self-editing, or something else entirely is impossible to determine.

Yatagan will collect some of the popular novels, in hopes he can plagiari use them for inspiration. He then approaches the globe.

"Is this all that remains in Mr. Hidimba's memory of the World Before? What a shame. Such a sadness my poet's soul cannot bear, so I choose to believe differently. Perhaps this globe is an omen of the World to Come! Yes, that's it. Mr. Hidimba in his wisdom foresees that prophesied sphere. Look how featureless it is! So very like the newness of an egg. This is the World to Come, I'm sure of it!"

Comforted, nay, cheered by his invention, Yatagan scoops up the mace, then offers it around to his compatriots.

Mallus wrote:

Yatagan will collect some of the popular novels, in hopes he can plagiari use them for inspiration. He then approaches the globe.

"Is this all that remains in Mr. Hidimba's memory of the World Before? What a shame. Such a sadness my poet's soul cannot bear, so I choose to believe differently. Perhaps this globe is an omen of the World to Come! Yes, that's it. Mr. Hidimba in his wisdom foresees that prophesied sphere. Look how featureless it is! So very like the newness of an egg. This is the World to Come, I'm sure of it!"

Comforted, nay, cheered by his invention, Yatagan scoops up the mace, then offers it around to his compatriots.

"A spherical world! Imagine that," says Odanais, watching Zappa struggle to keep her grip on the smooth round surface. "It would be a difficult place to stand on that's for sure. Look at poor Zappa, she can barely stay put. And imagine the poor turtles who have to hold a world like aloft in the aether. No, sir, I'll be happy to stick to our nice flat world..."

gridley wrote:

No, sir, I'll be happy to stick to our nice flat world..."

"Ah Mr. Dare, you are correct in our world, the World After, is indeed flat as a griddle cake drizzled with the syrup of civilization! But Dragonborn know much of the World Before. It was round as a ball, as half of a maiden's allotment of bosom."

He pauses.

"Take my word. My race once owned history. Even in our fallen state we surely are it's must trusted keepers. Now let us about! Are there crannies left in this palatial place we have not yet explored?"

Mallus wrote:

"Take my word. My race once owned history. Even in our fallen state we surely are it's must trusted keepers. Now let us about! Are there crannies left in this palatial place we have not yet explored?"

"I believe there was an easterly path from the Garden that has yet gone unexplored."

OOC: John, assuming we can find no other untapped directions in this part of the house, we shall return to the garden and head eastward, offering Tiddy Mun a thumbs-up as we pass by.

gridley wrote:

"I believe there was an easterly path from the Garden that has yet gone unexplored."

"Yes," says Artichoke, who has been walking around the room. "Let's head there now."

Quote :

OOC: John, assuming we can find no other untapped directions in this part of the house, we shall return to the garden and head eastward, offering Tiddy Mun a thumbs-up as we pass by.

What he said. And thanks, Steve. Since I'm not going to be online as much as when I'm in the US, someone else being boss... er, proactive is a good thing.

shilsen wrote:

And thanks, Steve. Since I'm not going to be online as much as when I'm in the US, someone else being boss... er, proactive is a good thing.

Cool. Zappa is now in charge!

Rolzup wrote:

OOC: Things are just a wee bit crazy right now, with Summer Reading starting next week, so I am up to my elbows in alligators of the less pleasant sort. I'll try and get things back on track ASAP, but that likely won't be for a few more days yet.

No worries, John. Take your time with the gators.

Righty-oh.

The West wing is rather extensive, but exploration reveals the following:

Hidimba had little to no interest in the servant's quarters, as they posses the same vaguely unreal quality as the rear area of the chapel.

The second floor is a residential area; some rooms are rather more tangible than others. There are a handful of minor spirits dwelling here, along with a few of Asanbosam's horrific spawn, but nothing that sees to possess any more than a very base level of intelligence. Dealing with these entities is somewhat unplesant, but neither difficult nor particularly dangerous,

The attic is filled with THINGS, large, looming and somewhat menacing. It takes a very strong effort of will to even consider touching any of these items, and successfully doing so will drive the invesigator to his knees in pain, as as a a series of shallow wounds open on his back.

Passage back through the greenhouse is uneventful, with Tiddy Mun and crew making vague gestures of acknowledgment as you all pass by.

The gate to the East wing opens easily, into another very long hallway with several doors along the Southern wall, a starticase and another door near the end of the Northern wall, and ending in another corridor running from the North to the South.

Rolzup wrote:

The gate to the East wing opens easily, into another very long hallway with several doors along the Southern wall, a starticase and another door near the end of the Northern wall, and ending in another corridor running from the North to the South.

"Let's not run into another situation where we're dealing with enemies on multiple fronts," says Artichoke. "Check each door in turn as we head along the hallway." Having said that, he proceeds to do so for the first one.

Yatagan stands at the ready next to Artichoke, in case a situation requiring bravery, violence and optimism develops.

The door opens into a room of Blue. Blue walls, luxurious chairs upholstered in blue cloth, arranged around a table of blue-stained wood; even the single large window that dominates the Southern wall is made of blue glass.

A door in the East wall leads to a similar room, appointed entirely in White. The next three rooms are, respectively, decorated in Red, Green, and Black -- this last room even lacks any windows.

But even in the gloom, Christabel notices the small trap door hidden under the table. How, even she cannot say -- there's simply no way it should have been visible to a casual glance.

Odanais kneels and it inspects it for signs of magic.

Arcane: 17

Assuming that there are none (or at least none that can be perceived with that pitiful check), he will step back a bit and attempt to open it using Mage Hand.

Assuming that goes well (which we should never ever assume), he will allow a certain rambunctious weasel to go down and stealthily investigate, assisting her with additional Mage Hand if need be.

The member 'gridley' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 9

gridley wrote:

Assuming that goes well (which we should never ever assume), he will allow a certain rambunctious weasel to go down and stealthily investigate, assisting her with additional Mage Hand if need be.

Assuming nothing untoward happens before Zappa enters...

Artichoke watches with interest and then says, "Tell me, Odanais - does anything untoward happen to you if something eats your weasel? Other than - presumably - sorrow, I mean."

OOC: No, this is not a bump or a stealth reminder for John to update. Why do you ask?

shilsen wrote:

"Tell me, Odanais - does anything untoward happen to you if something eats your weasel? Other than - presumably - sorrow, I mean."

"From time to time, Zappa's gotten herself into some rather lethal-looking scrapes and I was convinced I'd lost her. But in each case, I awoke to her happily licking my hand or face in the morning."

shilsen wrote:

OOC: No, this is not a bump or a stealth reminder for John to update. Why do you ask?

Happily, I am immune to such blandishments. Guilt, pity, simple morality? These have no hold on me now. The tears of children are like a balm upon my soul.

Which is good, because I see a lot of those.

Anyhoo.... I'm going to try to post all regular-like, but I dare not make any promises.

The door opens smoothly at Odanais' mental touch, swinging back silently to reveal a very narrow stone shaft with metal rungs set into one wall. A little too large for Zappa to climb unaided, but with Odanais' help the weasel manages to descend without undue difficulty.

She drops the final few feet with a splash and an indignant squeak. Happily, Zappa's a fairly skilled swimmer.

Several minutes pass before Zappa's now frantic squeals are heard again, and Odanias' Mage Hand lifts her back up.

She has little of coherence to say; it was dark, and cramped, and very wet -- several feet of water. And something tried to grab her, but she couldn't see precisely what that was.

gridley wrote:

"From time to time, Zappa's gotten herself into some rather lethal-looking scrapes and I was convinced I'd lost her. But in each case, I awoke to her happily licking my hand or face in the morning."

Sir Lien looks at Odanais with a look of disgust. He has that look a lot.

"An eternity of waking up to hyperactive weasel slobber. I can think of few things more horrible than that."

He pauses for a second.

"And I have a very good imagination for horrible things."

Once Odanais explains what Zappa saw and felt, Artichoke grimaces slightly and says, "Sounds like fun. Let's save it for later, shall we? I'd rather not be walking around dripping water from my armor. We can search the rest of this place and come back here on the way out."

If the others agree, Artichoke shuts the trapdoor and continues onwards, checking doors as they go on.

The series of color-themed rooms having come to an end, Artichoke finds that the exit from the Black Room opens into the end of the hallway. There's a staircase opposite, and a second hallway with a door at eiter end and three doors set into the Eastern wall.

(As a side note -- nothing to be concerned about, surely -- could everyone update their PCs? Might be relevant sometime soon. You never know.)

What level are we now?

Atlatl Jones wrote:

Sir Lien looks at Odanais with a look of disgust. He has that look a lot.

"An eternity of waking up to hyperactive weasel slobber. I can think of few things more horrible than that."

He pauses for a second.

"And I have a very good imagination for horrible things."

"You're a jealous one, aren't you?" Odanais arches an eyebrow at Lien. "Tell you what.... the next time you come back to life, you can lick my hand too."