Crimson Sands of Time

As if bored of lying down, the girl grabs Trisks hand and takes him back to her former prison. In a flash and without a moments thought, and perhaps as if she has done this many times before, the girl dashes out of the rest area, moving at least twice as fast as you might expect and searches the dead zombies and other undead. (using both dash, fast hands, cunning action for additional dash movement, etc, she is looking for maps, keys, things of value) she flashes like a tiny twister from one to the next. (After searching all, she returns and drops any findings on the floor near the groups feet, and assuming she finds something of interest, smiling in satisfaction, she'll let out a several small notes of victory, ("do do do doooo do dooooo." (her tiny pipe makes the sound of ....Charge! you would hear from a trumpet).

 (For Trisk)

<Looking back on past posts, When you met NPC Syranna, she spoke of Tarul Var:   But, beware, the authark (castellan) of bloodgate keep, Tarul Var’s quarters lie in the Doomvault. Although the lich was defeated, he might have already rematerialized thanks to the power of his phylactery. Protected by his dread warriors, he is a deadly threat.>

"Sigh... look I know you guys are eager to go to the west where we all found that weird girl, but hold for a moment. Let me see if there's anything within the undead mounds we just obliterated." Randy says. Also, right now, he's holding something extra that he made from the short rest that he shows to everyone minus Sam... only with witness Piccolo and Trisk whizzing out of here in a flash. "If anyone wants it, I have a Belt of Hill Giant Strength. Thing is you need to be wearing it for a while to take effect- HEY! SLOW DOWN! Uh... we should catch up to them... right?"

Investigation once he re enters the room: 27 (If no one wants the infused belt Randy will just wear and attune to it for himself)

<Someone who does hand to hand combat should take the belt, if offered, maybe Ethan?>

(Either Ethan or Sam, since they're the only two frontliners in the group; Thing is they're both already strong enough to hold on their own)

"Alright... I'm aware you guys weren't even bothered to get to know each other well but... now that my spells have been recharged, you guys must be willing to head back to where we found uh... whoever she is right? Then-" Before Ethan could even finish, he witnesses Picollo whizzing back into the room before he can explain a potential battle formation. "Uh... for crying out loud. Randy, if you're going in there to catch up with them stay in close proximity and don't wander off until we're all ready. Once we're all so, you stay at the back with Tetris. Me and the big lizard will take the frontlines. As for those two..." His baseball bat temporarily vanishes as he watches Picollo warp back to the pack with the loot . "...they should stay either in the middle or at the front, if uh... you guys want to lead. That's my general suggestion if we ever have to fight someone else again."

Once inside there he notices Randy going to search through the undead mounds whilst Picollo does... whatever she's doing. Even so, Ethan notices the white gate that lies upon him and suspects there would also be glyph keys around too; Not the first time he's seen this, let alone with the shifters. "Tarul Var... I'm pretty sure that lady spoke of him once about him being revived. If he is still here, our biggest priority would be to located the phylactery before anyone else, let alone him, does." Thinking about the Red Wizard, the black dragon and the dread warriors and how they might be also a potential threat alongside the main boss, he'd think that splitting them from him before trapping them in another room using the white gates would be a potential option. But now's not the best time to explain... at least, not when everyone is figuring out how this section of the alley works. Even so... "What? So... If I'm right, new guy, the lich struggled to take her down... because she was more powerful than him? If she does have immense power then... then we should do our best not to lose her trust. I can't imagine what would happen if she were to take his side."

(Honestly at this point seeing that neither of the casters would want to engage in close combat, Randy should just keep it; Even though he should be commended for being a nice guy trying to give out something that could at least benefit him as well.)

(Will let DM catch up on any loot)....but....

Piccolo, hearing Ethan's comments, lets out a sour note (almost like a sarcastic snear), then she continues to play to Ethan who see's

(For Ethan)

 As the music ends, Ethan snaps back to reality. The girl is looking straight at you, only feet away, tears of pain in her eyes. She smiles, a clear look of determination on her face.

This girl seems incredibly creepy to the Simic teen, especially when he deduces that judging by the awful note she plays at him. He's very prone to sudden mood swings so to hear something sour immediately lowered his determination. "What?! I wasn't insulting you or anything! I was just- ugh never mind. I shouldn't have discussed this then. So much for-"

However what Ethan sees next perfectly describes the big picture that he was struggling to process in his head: The destruction of the phylactery and hence, the destruction of the lich. This must be what Piccolo aims to achieve as well as he calms down. Three sepulchres being destroyed... maybe that could house other enemies they might stumble upon and have trapped too. This is big news to take advantage of.

"Yes. That's what we aim to achieve, alongside ending your long-term misery. I'm sorry for lashing out earlier." He confirms as he points at her whilst he stands up. But... to actually see Piccolo isolated from the lich and trapped... wait... Oh. So Piccolo was bound here by the lich. That's why she couldn't move when they first saw her. "We'll help you finish off what you started yes. Unless if someone said otherwise we all made a promise to destroy him in whatever ways we can. But to do so we need to coordinate well as a full team. It's not going to be easy, considering that we don't even know each other at all. And the last thing I need is for any of our new allies to swap sides and turn against us. And believe me: Me and Randy are no stranger to betrayal. Hence... why both of us look moody. I'm sorry if we also creeped you out during the fight. If anything, you're scaring us more that we are scaring you."

He then raises an eyebrow at the door. "By the way, what the hell is Randy doing? Why is he taking so long to return? I hope he hasn't run off or anything..." 

Hearing his apology, She simply smiles at him and then, gives him a hug, or at least his leg. She is too short to reach much higher.  

"I hope everyone has stored up on luck because if we run short in anything else maybe luck will help."

Trisk offers up more to sound present than to actually guide. Trisk stays close to Piccolo, leading the way where she wants to go, wanting to see what is there first.

(ooc: do we have a marching order?)

<loving all this engagement. Not so much loot, but...>

Both wights have glyph keys on them. Both attuned ro this zone. 

<the white gates are basically keyed portals that keep you from passing between zones. So, with the glypg kwy you can open it up, but if you remove tne glyph key, it closes again.> Now that you have 3 glyph key, this means deciding to take the key with you and letting the gate cloae again, or leaving the key in the gate to hold it open. >

Assuming you use a glyph key to open the white gate...

Glowing pillars brightly light this chamber of white marble. Each pillar is carved in the likeness of a smiling figure with its hands held out, as if ready to accept an offering.

In contrast to the beatific pillars, alcoves around the room contain statues of four-armed gargoyles.

As you venture farther into the room, you notice a body sprawled in front of one alcove: the red-robed form of a male human.

(thanks for the healing) 

“Thank you for the healing little one.  Wonderful skill.  I feel much better.    Yes, Sam maybe should lead, Ill stay near the middle,  Try to keep luck with us.   Ahh statues wanting offerings, and gargoyle statues… probably have to give them something to keep from getting attacked, but what?   Hmm.”. Tet says.  

Tetrevess goes to the body cautiously and looks him over. 20 investigation in log- also trying to see what the statues are designed / might have previously been used to accept (coins? blood?)

As you make your way through the forest of pillars, you sense that any holiness of this apparent once - temple has been long since washed away. Thoroughly desecrated, the place storagely leaves you feeling at peace, totally serene.

The body you can now plainly see is That of a red wizard. Though bloodied and unconcious he is still breathing.

Did you remove the glyph key, or is the gate still open?

<You can see it off to the right.  I have the doors pictured closed, but I'll change it if you removed the glyph key.>

Is your token placement OK?

Does anyone touch one of the pillars at any point? Let me know if you decide to.

<I know when we remove the glyph key the gate closes. Is it a one way gate, or can we reopen and go back through if we take the key?>

The girl glances around the room, looking for traps and what is "not" easily seen? (Perception: 12, rolled in D&D beyond)

Then, in a flash, she rips some cloth from her already tattered dress, runs to the red wizard, and binds his mouth. (To stop him from verbal casting of spells)

It is unclear what kind of offering they would expect, but it would probably be small enough to hold in one hand.

Ethan lets Piccolo hug his leg from earlier as he remains stoic. One she's done he picks up the two keys from earlier but then hands one into the gates to open it (He'll leave it there in case anyone else wants to pick it up and close the gate). "Alright. Let's get in there..."

When he teleports into the next room alongside everyone else, the first thing he sees other than the gargoyle statue and the pillars is the bloodies red wizard, which causes him to have a panic attack for 30 seconds. Even as Piccolo binds his mouth just in case, it wasn't sufficient to remind him of his own awful horrors on that day...

Unsure of what the gargoyle statue might need in order to seemingly open the door, Ethan presses one of the pillars (1st on the left, top row) to see if there's anything that might give hints, or maybe distract himself from what he just saw sprawled on the floor.