Crimson Sands of Time

You all prepare yourselves at tbe door, as Randy plays overwatch, on the count jf 'three' yiu bust the door open, breath bated, dashing toward the portal as the nightveil so3cter slashes you with his scythe, Randy knee-slide beneath ut toward tbe black gate, activating tbe portal to the gatehouse.  Pocillo flips over the sunken face of the gloamwing as it cranes its neck in a failed attempt to bite her. Trisk and Tess dash past the winged creature as Dam barrels into it, leaping into the air and knocking it to the ground. Randy blasts the creature and its rider ad he passes by, with Ethan hurling eldritch h blasts behind him as he enters the portal to join Picollo and the wizard's. Eira seems unbiased by the putrid air, and longsteider's effects continue to imbue her with great speed, allowing her to seemingly without care stroll theough the portal. As she does, she tosses one of the amber tears behind her. Your eyes follow the arc if it's path ad it falls the ground, shattering as it hits the stone.

In an instant, it fractures and shatters into thousands kf shards, which instantly animate into tiny insects, which swarm the whole of the room, devouring the gloamwing. Ten thousand ce tipedes, scorpions and spiders overrun the beat and it's rider, as well as Samogri, the Primus Tyrannus in a swarm kf bites.  Feom the writhing heap of crawling pestilence, Sam's long arm reaches into the air, his clawed fingers splayed wide, then falls limp, sinking back into the amber mass. The portal closes behind you.

Yii are once again in the familiar gatehouse. Syranna’s image appears before you and speaks.

“Hello again,” she says. “I confess that I’m surprised at how well you have persevered. Your actions have significantly disrupted activity in the Doomvault. But the task is not yet complete.

“You have a chance to deal a heavy blow to Szass Tam and the liches of Thay. The black gates have been disrupted, allowing entry into a chamber deep beneath the Doomvault. Accessible only by magic, this room is called the Phylactery Vault because it houses the phylacteries of many of Szass Tam’s high-ranking lich servants.

“You must enter the vault, defeat its guardians, and disrupt the magic there. You can enter through any black gate in the Temples of Extraction when you are ready.”

<Whenever you're ready, you cqn skip through that last bit, you'll just end up in the final boss room when you're ready. For now, what do you do about Eira?>

(Piccolo likes Eira. She is almost like a sister. All of the chosen have been horribly damaged, sustaining experiments and torture. If killing the Lich redeems Eira, she should come with.)

Piccolo plays a gentle tune, expressing her love and friendship  for Eira.

Heeding Syranna's words after dashing into the black gate whilst dragging Ethan along, Randy briefly dusts his armour free of dirt as he breathes heavily, absorbing the fact that Syranna tells them that they just need to destroy the phylactery before they take on the lich themselves. Well, he is tempted, but as Rixi and Ethan taught him: A good soldier never leaves a man behind (even though Sam...).

"Wait. Don't go in yet. I'll need to attend to someone first... since you guys are the most distant. Whoever you are, i don't care if you run from the scene or fight besides us, but I hope you can remember that we're fighting to save not just you, but for everyone too." Randy calls out the others; Turning to his mentally unstable brother, he goes over to him and gently pats him on the head, healing him for 11 HP. Once he has finally recovered, the 16 year old soldier straightens himself before he eyes the gates that awaits the team

"I'll lead the way. Unless if you need to, please go on a budget; As in, save your strongest spells for the final battle." He quickly scans the status of everyone; Piccolo seems to be occupied with the elf girl, Tetrevess and Trisk seem... Unstable. Ethan isn't any better. But... seeing the status of the rest, now would probably be the best time to step until Ethan or anyone else is willing to do so. They want a leader? Now's his best shot.

If Rixi and the gang were here... we wouldn't have any problems with this entire dungeon... He also thinks. He then looks back one last time before he steps forward. "It's now or never. Once we FBI through this door, we're not turning back! Last chance to repair anything or your mentality! Once everyone is ready... I'm gonna bust down the door with my foot!"

(OOC: anyone need healing and hasn't been healed yet by Piccolo?) Piccolo plays a quiet song, and her wounds begin to heal: (Healing Word level 2: 10hp)

Out of combat, Eira's personality, the calm and measured chosen of Rillifane apologizes for her behavior. "I AM SO SORRY!" she sobs, "your friend, he.. I didn't want to do that. I could see myself tossing the crystal, but I could not stop it. I... ever since the things they did to me, to us, The Rotting Man, the Talontyr and I.  Little more than a voice in the back of my mind all the years I've been chained, since his apparent death. Now, I wonder how long he's been.. has he been in control at other times? I.. the Thayans must pay for what they've done. For what they've made me, for so much more."

Syranna indicates a black portal in the gatehouse and a door manifests within its dark smoke

<assuming you're ready. Its fine to go back and add anything you didn't get a chance to put in.>

Randy busts through the door, followed by Picollo, Ethan Trisk and Eira

The vast, four-sided pyramidal space has a floor of rough-hewn white marble set with low circular pedestals of the same material. At the three corners of the floor stand sepulchers of white marble, each a three-sided pyramid that mirrors the shape of the vault. Engraved into each sepulcher’s double doors is a four-armed gargoyle, poised to attack. A pool of dark liquid churns in the center of the floor.

Each other surface of the vault is nearly identical. Rubble of black rock scattered near the wall and the pool on each side stay in place. It seems apparent that each side has its own gravity.

 Adjacent Floors. 

Along the edge of each floor, a pile of loose chunks of black marble rises to a height of 3 feet as it crosses to the adjacent floor. This rubble is difficult terrain.

Moving between Floors. The edges of the tetrahedron are lined with piles of rubble. Crossing to the rubble pile onto an adjacent floor requires a successful DC 13 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failed check, the creature falls prone in that rubble pile.

Piccolo looks for an entrance or opening in the sepulcher’s along with any traps she has no trouble moving in the room, her tiny hooves like mountain goats:acrobatics 23, perception 20

Ethan couldn't move at first. He was paralyzed. Paralyzed with fear and insanity. Even as Randy heals him and stabilizes him, he was too exhausted to talk and stop him from advancing. It was no use... he had to move forward in his pained position.

When Randy busts down the door FBI style, all Ethan could say was... nothing. At this point he has already been drained so much he's almost forgotten why he and Randy came to Thay in the first place other than to tear down this lich. The memories of the Wildland Shifters suddenly flood his head, from the gentle and caring Rixi to the stubborn, but headstrong Daisy and finally the dead serious, but joke-loving Shijiro, he remembers that he was fighting to help them... to help the people in the Sword Coast. Steadily, he slows his breaths as his blue eyes stop glowing for this brief bit, before he straightens up, give Randy a nod of thanks and lets him take the lead for now; He has always wanted to be leader, he said. He wants to take charge? Well, although Ethan doesn't say it, he will trust his guidance, just this once.

"Pick a target and take them down. Then aim for the phylactery." Ethan mutters under his own breath, before twirling his bat menacingly; Underneath his coat, something also begins to move in front of his lower body, though no one can see them yet. With a brief leap, he jumps over the first traps (Ath: 14) and lands besides Randy, ready to strike down the first enemy that they spot.

Quote from shimshon123 >>

Piccolo looks for an entrance or opening in the sepulcher’s along with any traps she has no trouble moving in the room, her tiny hooves like mountain goats:acrobatics 23, perception 20

 The double doors to these tetrahedral pyramids are locked. (You could try picking or breaking.)

"With a brief leap, he jumps over the first traps (Ath: 14) and lands besides Randy, ready to strike down the first enemy that they spot."

<What traps? Picollo has fantastic perception. She sees no traps, as such; nor do you.>

Piccolo studies the locks for a moment and pulls a strange set of lock picks from her tiny bag. She will try to pick the locks

24 Dex roll

(Sorry I read your post too fast and missed out a lot of stuff. Also Ethan got a 15 for his perception)

The lock turns open, allowing Picollo to open one of the double doors.

Looking inside the sepulcher, the walls hum with arcane power. On stone shelves are leather cases, amulets, daggers, scroll tubes, unholy symbols, and other ornate objects. These are the phylacteries of Szass Tam’s lich servants.

Behind you, you notice the door begin to move and shift. In an instant, both doors unfurl to reveal a pair of four-armed animate gargoyles.

Piccolo puts her instrument to her lips and plays a strangely pitched melody at Gargoyle 1:  the pitch is so high, it is hard for most to hear some of the sounds but it sounds quite off. 

Dissonant Whispers, Level 3: Wisdom DC 21: 14 damage, 

You "whisper a discordant melody that only one creature of your choice within range can hear, wracking it with terrible pain. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 3d6 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from you. The creature doesn’t move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn’t have to move away. A deafened creature automatically succeeds on the save.

Bonus action: steady aim

Wis save 9

The gargoyle is repulsed by Picollo's spell, flying as far away as it can (60ft) straight uo, halfway (actually 2.5ft short of halfway, but who's counting?) toward the point overhead where the adjacent floors meet.

Players are still up

<sorry I didn't mention this previously, I planned on posting a target initiative, I just didn't, so let's just roll with it.>

"Randy! Go!" Ethan yells out as he prepares to swing three baseballs at the remaining gargoyles with sheer force.

Baseball 1 (Gargoyle 2): 29 Damage: 15 Force, pushed back 10ft

Baseball 2 (Gargoyle 3): 14 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. Force, pushed back 10ft

Baseball 3 (Gargoyle 4): 16 Damage: 7 Force, pushed back 10ft