Return [To Madness]: Act 1, Scene 2

[TristenC]

Stephen exerts his will to analyze the Firbolg's mind as he gains the tattoo. As far as he can tell it has no effect on the man's sanity or psyche in any meaningful way.

[BishGada]

Ke'Sha was preparing to release Allakhain from the grip of the spell, but she vanished! How typical. He then let the others get their tatoos and while doing so he tells Stephen, "I need to get to the thornslingers room, and I prefer to avoid getting paralyzed for that end, so if you can open another portal, it will be most appriciated. Unless you do have mental connection with my minions, and you can call them to get the tatoo?"

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(OOC: I guess it depends how is psyche was to begin with
Will the zombie trolls fit in the hole? If not, I geuss reduce is simple spell enough for Drommacus to have? Or breaking the wall a bit to allow more room...)

[TristenC]

[The teleportation at the end of the hall does not paralyze, all he would have to do is step on the floor there. The zombie trolls' arms are too big for the hole with the second sigil. Drommacus does know the spell Reduce, but he currently has the 'Enlarge version memorized. If they can widen the hole somewhat then the trolls should be able to reach the bar. The undead are all immune to hold magic so they can just walk through the central room wirh no issues. They will just need Ke'Sha to come back to where they are to command them to do so, they will ignore commands from anyone else unless someone new siezes control of them.]

[BishGada]

After getting his own tatoo Ke'Sha walks to the teleportation platform and returns to the thornslinger room. If Allakhain is still held he will cast Free Action on her. Then command his minions to follow him two at a time, going to the teleport platform, along the plank over the pit, to the tatoo bar, and back to the thornslinger room, and so forth. Last in this orchestry are the trolls... Looking at the niche Ke'Sha scratches his head and asks Axid, "I have noticed your excellent talent with stonework. Do you think we can make the hole a bit larger for our friends here to follow?"

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(OOC: Don't the denizens of the dungeon have all tatoos on?
Anyone with stoneshape, stone to mud, earth mold or the like? Including Drommacus?
What time is it during the day? How is everyone on the spell resources?
And with the new tatoo maybe the wall with the weird blue symbols, few rooms ago will now function...)

[Styrius]

Axid looks at the cannibal halfling necromancer. He raises one eyebrow at the razor thin compliment. “You realize I left me over large pickaxe back in me locksmithing shop. What I did to the dungeon cleaner was a bit taxing. I could give it a try once more. Say, don’t you priest folk have some soften stone prayer like when you are trying to get through to thick headed patrons and such?”

[Lord Torath]

“There does not appear to be any direct effect of the tattoos on our mental stability. Which is somewhat reassuring.” Stephan grimaces at the pain as he grasps the tattoo bar and receives the second sigil.

“I have not created a mental connection with any of your minions, Ke'Sha. I could attempt to create one, but I don't know that it would have any beneficial effect. They obey your orders, not mine, and I doubt they'd care about orders issued by me on your behalf.”

[TristenC]

[One of the trolls they found had some of the tattoos, yes. I don't remember if they saw any on the 2 snake folk they fought. The dead body in the pit they found had a couple of the sigil tattoos also.]

[C6]
Allikhain stretches once the Athasian's spell releases her from the magical impediments. Aaahhh, much better. Thank you Ke'Sha. With a crooked grin she scoops up the still held form of her familiar and begins petting the limp shadowy creature like a cat. He absolutely hates it when I do this... she says conspiratorially to the dwarf and halfling. Usually. Why Binky, you're being so cooperative now! You must really be enjoying it? Come, Let's take a walk. A faint, high pitched whine can be heard emanating from the paralyzed quasit as the Necromancer moves up the stairs to the platform and vanishes again.

Ke'Sha calls out to his minions to join him buy twos. Nidrith and Thallena line up first, followed by Drommacus and the remaining skeleton. The trolls line up behind the Varrangoin. Mourkol, who seems uninterested in cooperating, hovers around the rear.


[C6a
Back in the hallway, Stephen moves forward and gains the tattoo as well. Allikhain appears and walks through the magic room unhindered, petting the frozen shadow like a kitten. Gracefully she picks her way along the beam, then unceremoniously crams him into the opening with the bar. Dragging him back out by the tail she craddles the demonic creature like a baby. There... that wasn't so bad, was it? She asks in a soothing tone without a hint of sarcasm, but no small amount of relish. Stepping to the floor beneath the beam, she teleports back to the thornslinger room.

I suppose we can retrieve the third sigil as well, from behimd the mirror in the room with the great green statue. Landro muses

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Time is 5:45 PM Waterday the 5th of Reaping [Day 3]

Ke'Sha casts Free Action on Allikhain

Allikhain has stone to mud, but unless it is on a single discreet object (like the stone statue) it affects a massive area (like 20 ft cube/level. So 16 times that for her.) It would consume the entire passage and cover everyone.

I put Drommacus' spells at the end of Ke'Sha's sheet so he can see what is currently prepared.

[Lord Torath]

“I may be able to enlarge the access here for troll-sized arms.” Stephan draws his dagger, concentrates for a bit, and the blade suddenly flattens. He quickly stabs it into the stone wall and makes several cuts, outlining a larger opening. He withdraws his dagger and sheathes it as the blade returns to 3-dimensionality, and carefully steps back along the wooden beam until he's outside the teleport zone. He steps to the side and carefully retrieves the iron spike he used to test the teleport floor's effects on inanimate objects.

“Anyone stronger than me want to yank those stones out of the way now?”

“I have not created a mental connection with any of your minions, Ke'Sha. I could attempt to create one, but I don't know that it would have any beneficial effect. They obey your orders, not mine, and I doubt they'd care about orders issued by me on your behalf.”
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I think we were a little too distracted to look carefully at the snake folk to see if they had tattoos. Stephen was, anyway...

Shrike's Dimension Blade (20): [1d20]=18
Cost: 6 psp

A weapon with Dimension blade says it can cut through columns, so I assume it can cut through this wall as well.

Regarding resources, Stephen's nearly tapped out of PSPs, although he does have some reserves he can draw on in an emergency.

[TristenC]

[Sure, that seems like it will work here.]

Stephen augments his blade and carves several blocks of material free from their neighbors. Landro steps forward and removes the stones, leaving the opening large enough for the troll arms.

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Stephen uses his Psionic Ability Dimension Blade

[Nocturno]

Jag yawns. "Maybe we retrieve the 3rd sigil, and then send a scouting party back in to retrace our previous areas of discovery. Shall we spend a night in here, or shall we spend the night at camp?"
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You said 5:45 PM right?
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I could do with a dinner, and then come back and scout a few hours to see if we can find anything new."

[DM response in-post: Sorry. yes, PM. I'll fix that]

[Lord Torath]

“I still have enough Will to get us back to camp. Unless some of you would prefer to camp out here?”

[TristenC]

As the discussion about where to camp goes, Ke'Sha leads his unholy parade of undeath up the plant-platform, over the beam-crossed pit, through the magical center room and down the Southern Hallway to receive the sigils. Two-by-two they scurry, shamble, shuffle and float along the pathway outlined by the necromancer; Mourkol eventually submitting to his masters mandate of obtaining the magical mark.

As the group reconvenes and discusses their next steps in more detail Allikhain heads back towards the statue room, trailed by the protective Landro and a curious Drommacus; supposedly to gain the 3rd Sigil. Well that is new. She says, loudly enough for the others to hear. Should anyone move to investigate, they find a stairwell in the West wall leading upward.

[Unless I missed something, everyone has the mark now.]
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After some thought initially I decided that while Mourkol is incorporeal and cannot touch the material surfaces the sigils are on, he is still able to interact with the Magic of the sigils themselves. Kind of like how magical weapons can hurt incorporeal undead but mundane versions cannot.

[Nocturno]

"Excellent. Paths hopefully become clearer." Jag wonders aloud.
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"I wonder if anything else will pop-up along the way."

[Lord Torath]

Stephen will step on the teleport floor to join the rest of the party at the base of the newly-revealed stairs.

“So.... should we explore the new stairs? Or old stairs?”

[TristenC]

Well, the new stairs lead upward and we have yet to discover a way to return to the above floor without the use of magic or psionics. The old stairs lead downward. I would like to gain the 3rd sigil before we explore either, to limit any backtracking it might prevent. Allikhain reasons