Start of #TD&DG buffer: Tue Jul 29 20:42:07 2008 [18:59:44] [We join the heroes at the mouth of the pass, as it opens up onto a great desert. All that stands between them and the sandy expanse is a square, squat tower - maybe 50 feet high and 90 feet on a side. The corners have ten-foot squares cut out of them, and a pair of kobolds guard each such notch on the near face. Whether the same is true on the other face is impossible to see from this side.] [18:59:50] [Start!] [19:00:17] * Cyn is now known as Althea [19:01:37] Do you think the kobolds made that in such a short time, or did they take it from someone? [19:02:38] [Well, there -is- supposed to be a wizard who lives out here. That's who you're here to see. Something about closing an elemental portal.] [19:03:12] Ah, well. Perhaps they are having dealings with the wizard who lives within? [19:03:22] [No one said that it was specifically this tower. There could be more towers out here. Besides, wouldn't a proper wizard tower have a larger tower, GM? Hmmmmm?] [19:03:45] Are we sure it's even this tower? [19:04:06] Anyone know if there are any more towers in this general area? [19:04:22] * The kobolds near the corners notice our vociferous heroes, and watch them warilly. [19:04:36] * CCD is now known as Wurr [19:05:51] * Wurr watches the kobolds watching him warilly, warilly... [19:06:22] * Lidya watches carefully. [19:06:47] Well, we're going to have to get past [19:07:56] Anyone have a plan more clever than storming the place? [19:08:12] Set fire as we storm? [19:09:01] Simply asking one of them, perhaps? [19:10:21] * Althea pantomimes with her two hands. "Hey, do you have a wizard captive in there?" "No, we don't. Honest." "Oh, why thank you. I'll just be on my way." [19:11:10] Using your head to ram a hole through the defenses? [19:11:28] * Jessica leaps on the hand that decided to "walk away," tackling it for its precious loot and experiance points. [19:12:00] * Althea was about to reply to Wurr, but then works on prying Jessica off her hand. [19:12:21] Send Jessica in to subdue the troops? [19:12:49] I don't think they'll be intimidated. So, I guess walking in is the best option, then. [19:13:05] * Jessica is pried off, but looks reproachfully at Althea as she licks the young lady's knuckles with little fox-kisses. [19:13:22] Awww [19:13:35] Well, let's move in if that's the case. [19:14:12] * Wurr nods and stomps off that way. [19:15:21] * Stella scratches Jessica behind her fox ears. [19:15:30] [As the heroes approach, a section of the wall near the top breaks outwards, and a trio of kobolds fly, screaming, from the new opening. Their cries cut off abruptly as their bodies impact on the stone nearly thirty feet from the tower. Shortly thereafter, another one comes flying out, equally involuntarilly, but his descent is a graceful and safely slow one.] [19:16:16] * Lidya raises her eyebrow. [19:16:38] * Althea leaps back involuntarily from the falling kobolds even though she wasn't close enough to be in danger. [19:16:39] * Stella continues smiling. "My, my. I believe we've found the wizard's tower, after all." [19:18:06] * Wurr looks like he wants to say something but isn't.... [19:18:26] Well, at least they aren't flying. [19:18:36] And someone should clean those up. [19:18:52] [At the slowly-descending kobold's shout, the kobolds guarding the tower flee from it as fast as possible. Even from this distance, their relief is palpable. For his part, the slowly descending kobold - who is, upon closer examination, wearing a fancy-looking cape with a villainously high collar - pulls out a pair of metal objects, and begins...monkey-bar swinging with them towards the cliffs.] [19:19:30] * Lidya blinks. [19:19:41] I'd like to learn THAT trick. [19:19:57] Bad fashion sense? [19:19:58] Is this bad miss smart? [19:21:03] * Stella claps for the neat trick. [19:21:34] Yes, his flagrant disregard for gravity is bad. [19:22:04] I was asking the red head. I did say the smart one. [19:22:34] Oh, worry not. I'm sure there is an arcanist whose involvement explains it. [19:24:24] * Jessica barks something at Wurr. Presumably, it's a brilliant explanation of exactly what the kobold is doing, why he's doing it, and what all possible consequences could be. Pity nobody speaks fox. [19:25:00] * Wurr of course nods thoughtfully. "Right, stab him till he stops it." [19:25:39] Can you fly? He seems to be quite aerial himself. [19:25:53] * Stella blinks and reaches into her boot. [19:27:08] * Wurr gives Althea a smirk. "I can reach him." [19:27:39] * Stella smiles. "Oh, my. What an adorable bonnet you have, little scorpion." [19:28:04] A scorpion wiht a bonnet? [19:28:22] * The purple scorpion waves a claw, and blinks overly-large eyes. Its head's general shape gives the impression that it has a friendly smile. [19:28:31] Awww. [19:28:52] * Wurr stares at the scorp, distracted from bloodshed for a second. [19:30:39] * Stella nods and holds the scorpion out. "Is it not cute?" [19:30:40] Well, go at it, Wurr. Go knock down that acrobatic kobold. [19:31:08] * The kobold is almost to the cliffs by now. Wurr's gonna have to book it to make it to him. [19:31:32] * Wurr shrugs and starts off running. [19:36:44] * Wurr runs double jumps, and....completely misses. [19:37:18] * The kobold finally reaches the cliffs, scrambles up the side, and disappears. [19:37:54] We better go chase him... somehow. [19:37:55] * Wurr frowns, staring at him. [19:37:57] * Stella's scorpion chitters at Jessica, who snorts and turns her nose up at the cute arachnid. [19:38:01] (or at least hwere he went to)) [19:38:56] So, back to the tower then? [19:39:42] I..er.. guess...powerful magic stopping me. Yes. [19:39:52] * Stella smiles. [19:40:05] It is alright if your leg power was insufficient, friend Wurr. [19:40:20] * Stella sets the cute little scorpion on top of her head, so it can enjoy the view. [19:40:30] * Wurr gives Stella a glare of death...that melts when he sees the scorp. [19:41:26] * The scorpion shades its eyes with one claw, peering about professionally. [19:42:08] * Stella smiles her usual beatific smile at Wurr. "Is it not adorable? I found it in my boot. It is so well-behaved." [19:42:24] The things in your boot are always cute. [19:43:16] We better go chase him... somehow. [19:43:34] Or we can take the tower and not leave him with a place to come back to. [19:44:13] * Wurr smirks more. "Altheaaaaaaaaaa is it true that you grow more powerful if we find his little scrawly notes?" [19:44:46] That too [19:45:32] Do you mean his spellbook? Assuming he has one, I can try to assimilate its contents into my own, but the process will take time. [19:46:13] * Jessica opens and closes her mouth as if mimicking Althea's words, wagging her head as if she were oh-so-important. Fortunately, Althea's looking the other way when she does this. [19:46:16] Well then, lets take a stronghold! [19:46:35] I've never taken a stornghold before [19:46:45] * Stella giggles and pats Jessica on the head. [19:47:24] * Jessica leans into the petting, eyeing the scorpion in a doesn't-this-make-you-jealous fashion. The scorpion straightens the little blue bonnet, pretending not to notice. [19:47:40] Well then it's something you can brag about later! [19:47:53] [The tower sits there. Taunting you.] [19:48:18] I suppose we should get this over with, then. [19:48:27] * Althea begins to trudge towards the tower. [19:48:39] * Wurr agrees and starts off towards it, no one has a plan so... [19:49:25] * Lidya steps towards the tower. [19:50:08] [The entrances to the tower seem to be in those indentations in the corners. The one on the left (from the party's perspective) is broken in. Looking inside, the tower seems well-lit, with a sand floor. A couple large scorpions that look much less friendly than Stella's little hat crawl idly about.] [19:50:44] * Wurr shrugs and climbs up into it [19:51:30] * Stella shrugs and heads in. [19:51:42] * Lidya walks in, daggers at the ready. [19:51:50] * Althea brings up the rear with Jessica. [19:53:14] I wonder who all is home. [19:53:28] We can find out. [19:53:30] [Inside, about a quarter of the tower is visible. It seems to be walled off into four squares, with the middle open to all four. The two scorpions here seem not to have noticed the party yet, as they're just sort of lurking. There is a clear path to the central area between them, but an even bigger scorpion lurks there...] [19:55:01] So, anyone know how territorial scorpions are? [19:55:13] [It's also apparent that the lighting for this floor comes from the large bonfire burning in a fire pit set in the central area.] [19:55:33] Afraid not. [19:56:51] * Wurr looks at the cute one on lidya's head. "How territorial are you?" [19:57:18] * The scorpion hunkers down on Stella's head. Then shrugs. [20:00:19] Or perhaps we should look at the other entrances to see if they have scorpions as well? [20:00:49] I imagine they do, though. I mean, why only guard one entrance. Still, do we want to check? [20:01:00] If you think so. [20:01:42] [Upon closer inspection, since the GM just realized this would -probably- be the case, the scorpions here seem to be badly wounded. One's missing three legs, and the other's missing its tail stinger. At least, the two scorpions here, and the big one in the middle.] [20:02:07] * Althea sighs. "Just lead the way, Wurr. [20:02:24] * Wurr heads straight. [20:03:44] * Stella walks on past the scorpions. [20:04:10] * The one on her head waves at the big ones, which wave jauntilly back and go back to ignoring the party. [20:05:11] * Wurr ignores the scorps, they are nice enough to ignore him. He goes searching. [20:05:59] * Lidya follows along with Wurr [20:06:34] [In the central area, it becomes clear that the walls dividing the tower's bottom floor into four sections (plus the middle) actually contain paths. These seem to lead to a pool that must rest against the outside of the tower. Four pools, one in the center of each wall. The walkways are wood-floored, rather than the sand that makes up the rest of this level.] [20:07:38] * Wurr goes onto one of the walkways to go look at a pool. [20:08:03] * Althea goes to investigate the water. See how fresh it is, if it smells funny, that sort of thing. [20:08:26] Well, the tower has convienent water, I suppose. [20:08:30] Yeah. [20:08:35] Hope it hasn't gotten contaminated with anything. [20:09:33] [Althea and Wurr find the water to be fresh, if a bit laden with the taste of the stone and sand that make up its pool. Said pool is square, ten feet on a side, and maybe ten feet deep. Hard to tell just looking at it.] [20:09:49] Huh. this is nice. [20:10:43] It is also promising. [20:10:49] It's... water. [20:11:20] [Looking up, the pit in which the water lies actually continues up beyond the ceiling. It looks like it might even go up to the top of the tower. The ceiling of the open pit might be at the top of the top floor.] [20:12:44] Why can't there be convienent stairs to climb up? [20:13:25] It's a wizard. [20:13:45] so how do we get attention? [20:15:37] ... hey. [20:15:43] The walls of the pit are wet. [20:15:47] All the way up to the top. [20:15:55] Isn't that something? [20:16:12] water is dripping down... [20:17:35] Or going up when triggered? [20:17:53] maybe? [20:21:41] * Althea goes over to investigate the fire pit. "Well, there has to be something."\ [20:22:11] [The fire pit is quite hot. And doesn't seem to have any fuel in it.] [20:22:23] Wonder how it keeps burning [20:23:32] I am certain that the efforts of a wizard were involved in making it thus. [20:23:39] [Looking into it, there seems to be a coil of burning serpents at the bottom, slithering about each other.] [20:24:28] I don't recommend grabbing one of those snakes down there. [20:25:46] So, anyone want to jump in the water to see if there's anything there? [20:28:04] I'm not too good at swimming. [20:28:12] Sure. [20:28:31] * Wurr eases in slowly, it doesn't look that deep. [20:29:35] [As soon as Wurr is entirely in the water, a stone wall closes - not trap-fast, but still too fast to really react to - sealing the pit off from the passage leading up to it. A sound of rushing water comes from the pit.] [20:31:13] It didn't look that deep. [20:32:53] [About a minute later, the sound of water rushing comes from behind the wall again, and then the wall lowers, revealing the pool beyond. Water drips down the soaked walls of the pit, leaving ripples in its surface.] [20:34:10] * Althea goes over to the pit of water. "Where'd you go, Wurr?" [20:35:21] [Wurr calls something too distorted by echoes to be understood down from above. Looking up, Althea can see him poking his head out over the pit from what must be another floor.] [20:35:37] * Lidya waves [20:35:47] * Stella waves. As does her little scorpion. [20:36:07] Well, apparently, the water will push you up there. [20:38:10] * Jessica eyes the water suspiciously. [20:38:40] * Althea takes off her shoes, places them in her bag, and then climbs into the water. [20:39:08] * Lidya heads over to the water. [20:41:23] [Once everyone's in the water and away from the wooden floor, the wall slides up, going all the way to the top, and the water level starts to rise. It carries everyone past two more floors with closed stone wall doors, stopping finally with the water flush with a floor at the top, where Wurr is waiting for them.] [20:41:27] [End Session.] End of #TD&DG buffer Tue Jul 29 20:42:07 2008