Crimson Sands of Time

Picollo successfully hides from the skeletons that have ignored her for several years, up to this point.

Also, two zombies that are still turned away from Sam.

<"Ethan right now is very tempted to use Dispel Magic to hopefully free the girl from her invisible chains. But, fearing that he might also trigger something horrendous in the process, he decides to hold it off for now until everyone else has any other ideas": This is part of the PC's backstory.  I thonk its reasonable dor the players to know this, and i like this motivation for the other PCs tonallow ot to resolve organically.  If you succeed in your goals, it will work out.> 

Yeah, the pillars lightning for 5ft every initiative 20 if any plants were damaged in the previous round. This is always happening as long as the skeletons are harvesting them. Some cognitive dissonance with Picollo being in the tree that is a pillar and not being aware of this, but she would have observed what you all observed, no more no less. Just unlikely she'd have been in such a tree, but we're doing some copy-pasta here and there's bound to he a few rough edges.>

So are you guys going to go through a door or?

I'll even give you this.. if you could see between a crack in the double doors, you'd see there's 20ft of corridor ending in another set of double doors. 

Hearing Trisk's encouraging voice, the girl drops down from her hiding place in the pillar, and stays near him.

She plays a tune on her piccolo happily, not seeming to be bothered by the lightning or denizens of the room.

Taking a closer look at the girl, she is 3’6” tall, maybe 30 pounds. You might guess by her appearance that she is 6 years old. She wears a plain torn dress that is dirty and stained from the foliage.  She is clearly not human, nor exactly Eladrin. She has hooves and a small hand bag at her side, that matches her clothing. She has no weapons or armor, however her skin resembles bark.  Like Trisk, a wrapped corded leather bracelet encircles her tiny wrist. At times, she almost seems to fade out of view, even though she has not moved. When she does move she is silent and graceful.  She plays a few notes on her tiny instrument (a piccolo)

(You see an image of her putting bandages and ointment on any injuries, and you get the impression she is willing to heal your injuries before you proceed: <She has healing as a feat>

Then she looks at the door to the south, and plays again

(You see as if you are in the basket of the pillar where you first spotted the girl. From there, A red wizard walks through this area with a small black dragon, some large undead looking creatures, and robed zombies. 

He opens the door south of the room, walks through with his minions and the door closes behind.  You hear in the music, “Tarul Var” in some other human males voice. )

Ethan stays 10ft away from the strange girl as he rests his bat on his right shoulder. As the illusions briefly appear again Ethan attempts to make some sense "So all someone needed to free her is to wear that bracelet you're holding? Also, those goons might need to be dealt with later. If we can't even get past them, there's no way we'll be able to handle that massive lich at the very bottom. Unless if we can somehow persuade them to join us which seems extremely unlikely." He also eyes everything that remains in this ghostly chamber before he speak with a nervous tone again.

"Not sure if anyone would like this from me but..." He pauses to eye the pillars. "...I mean... I could try and use dispel magic to erase anything that might hinder us here. Only thing I might release something horrendous...unless if you all get out of this place first before I do it. Then we find somewhere to recuperate and get to know each other better; Basically we coordinate during our short break before we resume this onslaught." He's not going to do it just yet but if everyone does agree to his suggestion he will.

<Does Tetrevess appear injured, character sheet shows 97/122?>

Quote from shimshon123 >>

Then she looks at the door to the south, and plays again

(You see as if you are in the basket of the pillar where you first spotted the girl. From there, A red wizard walks through this area with a small black dragon, some large undead looking creatures, and robed zombies. 

 

He opens the door south of the room, walks through with his minions and the door closes behind.  You hear in the music, “Tarul Var” in some other human males voice. )

 I may not have paid Ted a clear picture of just how many red wizards are in this place. This is just the one that oversees rhe blood Pena. His name is Thuria. But doubtless, Var's presence will be felt throughout the whole of the Doomvault.

<I don't know if dispel magic ends the effect on Picollo or not. It's really up to @shimsham. If it's cast on her and it's a 3rd level magical effect it works, by default. My guess is thst it isn't, but it's for the player to decide. It's their story>

<Out of Game: Dispel magic won't work. She has somehow been trapped here by the Lich, but has made a bond with Trisk and can now leave this place, via the bracelets. Likely, would need to kill the Lich to break the spell/ curse. It may all make more sense if you relook at post: 5035, but I'll repost some of it here>

FROM POST 5035 (For all to view)

"Does anyone know of a 'Tarul Var' or heard of that name before?"

Trisk moves to stand right beside Piccolo and happens to naturally end up interposing himself right in between Ethan and Piccolo.

"Let's at least get out of this pillar room with the lightning zaps before we rest. Even if we go back a room or two."

<I think I referred to him as the Castelan of bloodgate keep when you spoke with Syranna at the gatehouse. Hes hiding from Szazz Tam after his defeat and the fall of Bloodgate Keep and the closing of the vast portal to the sword coast.   Its possible that someone from the sword coast would know of this, but its a failed swcret operation by an enemy state, so very much a secret. Syranna could have told you if she didn't.  I really thought i did, but maybe not the name.  Maybe i just told Picollo? Its all in the spoiler. What you would be familiar with feom Mulmaster is the Red Wizards' research in the elemental nodes and moreover their obsession with harnessing far realm energy. These two things should raise some questions for history buffs.>

<so, did we want to continue heading south,  or turn back a room, or try the door to the west>

Already fed up with this endless conversation type of thing and the fact that his attacks on the pillars did nothing, Randy notices Tetrevess struggling to keep awake and runs over to him to support his shoulder. "You ok, bub? Hang in there. I promise we won't advance until we've all recovered our bearings." He then gazes at Trisk, Ethan, Sam and Picollo with irritation, wondering if they're actually gonna proceed instead of taking a moment to recover.

"Hey you bozos! What kind of useless chatter are you all talking about?! Hurry up before me and this guy on my shoulder leave to dress our wounds without you! And don't you dare even ask me or Ethan what this whole 'Tarul something' is because we both have no answers to that!" He then turns back and heads to the previous room, hoping to search for somewhere to recuperate first before they advance to the Western and Southern sections. Maybe... just maybe... he might be able to give something to one person in the group if they're willing to receive it. Except Sam of course. He's got too many magic items in possesion...

Recuperating after 2 rooms. OK. Just a reminder that there are still some turned zombies in the garden for a little while, anyway.

So, are we killing the zombies and short resting? I'm assuming you csn kill a few zombies. 

Trisk notices the last straggling zombies and shouts a warning of help.

"Hey guys she's just been freed let's not let these stragglers get her."

And Trisk will cast Chill Touch against the closest one.

Attack: 21 Damage: 11 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of my next turn. Until then, the ghostly, skeletal hand clings to the target.

If you hit an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

The girl stays near Trisk, (Full dodge if needed) waiting for the group to make a decision on next steps. (To be honest, you might be more creeped out by the out-of-place nature of this strange young fey girl than the shambling mindless zombies in front of you.)

She then starts playing her instrument again while you wait in the room

You have images of multiple undead creatures. They seem to be aggressive and attack other (characters) on sight.

Then you see a clock and seconds ticking on a clock (Tic-Tock-Tick-Toc. 0-10-20, (end of three rounds)
You hear what sounds like an alarm. Somewhere else in the doomvault, you again see what you now believe to be Tarul Var, a Red Wizard. As the group fights these dread warriors, you see Tarul Var become aware of the party's presence, and he sees from the eyes of the undead creature and takes control of it. (like seeing through the eyes of a familiar)

Instead of the warriors mindless relentless attacks with weapons, you see Var cast a spell, and like a puppet, the dread warrior casts powerful red wizard spells, (a fireball hits the party).

You also note that now, other dread warriors from other areas are quickly moving toward the location of the alarm.

"Ok, guess we kill undead until they overwhelm us. Can someone remind me why we're here again."

Trisk looks around worriedly wondering what else might befall them down here in the aptly named doomvault.

"Oh yeah, we're trying to destroy some phylacteries right?"

"If we can't rest, not even for a minute, let's keep moving. And we might have tom destroy any undead we come across on sight."

"Oh my- Whatever! Make it quick! This poor wizard here in my shoulder is about to faint!" Randy groans as he once again takes aim at whatever zombie he can at least target in his sights... if there are multiple he'll aim at the two closest zombies.

Fire bolt (At the one that attacked Trisk): 21, 20 Fire

BA Ballista (At the second closest zombie:  21 Damage: 12 Force and pushed back 5ft aaway from whoever is closest to it

"We're supposed to destroy a phylactery and free this poor girl from this... prison? I'm not gonna ask, let alone approach her until this is over. If anything, I'm the one who's freaked out about how she behaves. Thing is... I feel like they're just puppets for someone else, judging by the stuff I'm seeing right now!" Ethan tries to make sense as he moves 20ft towards another unharmed zombie and bashes it to dust, though he is doing his best to push out something else too... something that has haunted him in the past that connects with the REd Wizards. We're gonna need a truckload of counterspells for the fight... he thinks.

Strike 1 (the one Randy hit by himself): 26, 16 Bludgeoning

Strike 2 (the third closest zombie): 19, 8 bludgeoning