"Let us see if simple force will work," Clarac says. She levels the sledgehammer she received from the dwarves, winds up, and swings it down at the sphere of ice.
Tyekanik chuckles and says, "I like it. When all else fails, hit it with a bigger hammer!"
If nothing prevents them, Tyek will try to help Clarac shatter the icy sphere. He follows Clarac through the adamantine door and into the octagonal room. As he enters that room, he enters a rage again and hefts his greataxe. He allows Clarac to strike the icy sphere first. Assuming that the sphere is still intact, that nothing changes when she hits it, and that nothing bad has happened, he uses his action to attack the icy sphere, trying to shatter it.
Movement: Walk into the octagonal room, positioning himself on the opposite side of the icy sphere from Clarac. Bonus Action: rage, growing to Large size and imbuing Annam's Greataxe as his Elemental Cleaver with [rule]thunder damage[rule] Action: Two Attacks with Annam's Greataxe as his Elemental Cleaver (thunder) Attack 1: 20, Damage: 28 (magical thunder) + 35 (force) = 63 (total) Attack 2: 35, Damage: 30 (magical thunder) + 23 (force) = 53 (total) Free Action: Talking.
The combined force and thunder of the great axe and hammer appeared to have done the trick, and the icy sphere shatters. Laying inside are two hearts, one with an oily reddish black color that is pulsating, and the other is a grey colored heart.
The combined force and thunder of the great axe and hammer appeared to have done the trick, and the icy sphere shatters. Laying inside are two hearts, one with an oily reddish black color that is pulsating, and the other is a grey colored heart.
Vrox jumps a little and covers his ears when the icy sphere shatters. Then he nocks an arrow and gets ready to fire his longbow in case they've released anything dangerous.
After the icy sphere shatters, Tyekanik grunts with satisfaction. He looks down at the pulsating heart inside with a look of disgust. He raises Annam's Greataxe and looks back to Khessa and Lord Akkron to ask, "You want me to smash these hearts too?"
Khessa agrees: "The phylactery was inside the sphere, according to Clarac. And inside the sphere are the two hearts. Let's destroy the one with an oily reddish black color that is pulsating. And if nothing happens, the other one too. Better be safe than sorry."
(Can we just have Akkron's dagger hit one of the hearts after he tossed it? I'm curious if it does anything...)
Akkron produces a dagger, lines it up carefully, and flings it with a spell
True Strike Dagger vs. Phylactery (thrown, in case of backlash) Attack: 21 Damage: 10 + 8 (radiant) = 18
[[OOC: @Aaggie - Did Lord Akkron's dagger and the 18 (radiant) damage seem to effect the pulsating heart? ]]
If so, Vrox will call down the light of the gods upon the pulsating heart. Action: Cast spell Sacred Flame, DEX 19 save (with no benefit from cover) or the heart takes damage: 16 (radiant).
If not, Vrox suggests, "Now that the crystal sphere is shattered, maybe try fire again?"
As there is nothing to protect the heart, the sacred flame does it job, and the heart shrivels into ash, a feint "noooo" on the air.
(...pretty sure Lord Akkron tossed his True Strike-empowered dagger before Vrox uses Sacred Flame.)
The lich pauses for a moment of grim satisfaction, before using mage hand to retrieve his dagger.
"I feel like there may be a moral to this story..."he says dryly. "Perhaps something about treating servants well enough that their first instinct upon obtaining freedom is not to instantly murder you..."
He pauses, then glances at the nearest devil.
"I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that everyone here apparently thought that I was the master of this place."
For all his ancient wisdom. For all his infinite patience... Lord Akkron seems genuinely offended that he was somehow mistaken for the High Mage. It's hard to tell with any certainty what may have provoked his unease at being associated with the slain lich. Perhaps he could sense something both utterly vile but vaguely familiar in the other undead that repulsed him...
In response to her mentor's puzzlement at being mistaken for the other lich, Khessa sighs and places a hand on his shoulder: "The difference between you and the High Mage was vast, Master Akkron... but sometimes it is so easy to stop at appearances. The inhabitants of this place could not see the humanity of your soul... so they were fooled by your lich appearance - an appearance in which they must have seen the High Mage more than once - or perhaps by sensing your power - an ancient and tempered magical power such as only in the High Mage they had felt before".
"They stopped at these trivial things" the blonde arcane warrior concludes, with deep admiration in her blue eyes as she meets the empty skull sockets that she knows are filled with so many precious feelings "and did not perceive the essential - which worked to our advantage, but which must not make you forget the wonderful person you are".
As there is nothing to protect the heart, the sacred flame does it job, and the heart shrivels into ash, a feint "noooo" on the air.
(...pretty sure Lord Akkron tossed his True Strike-empowered dagger before Vrox uses Sacred Flame.)
The lich pauses for a moment of grim satisfaction, before using mage hand to retrieve his dagger.
"I feel like there may be a moral to this story..."he says dryly. "Perhaps something about treating servants well enough that their first instinct upon obtaining freedom is not to instantly murder you..."
He pauses, then glances at the nearest devil.
"I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that everyone here apparently thought that I was the master of this place."
For all his ancient wisdom. For all his infinite patience... Lord Akkron seems genuinely offended that he was somehow mistaken for the High Mage. It's hard to tell with any certainty what may have provoked his unease at being associated with the slain lich. Perhaps he could sense something both utterly vile but vaguely familiar in the other undead that repulsed him...
Hanaphaen shrugs, "We have only been in service with him, and seen only one Lich, we wouldn't think we would see another. From time to time, he did put on guises to travel about, so seeing you with a group, we just thought he had gone out. He never told us his dealings." The devil shrugs again. "It doesn't matter, we're leaving and returning to our plane of existence, away from this cold place. Help yourself to whatever you find, it matters not to us."
With that, the devils disappear in columns of smoke
Khessa sighs with relief at the Devils' departure... she had actually hoped that they would leave without causing any problems, but she did not exclude, in her heart, the possibility that they would decide to stay to perpetrate misdeeds in the Prime Material Plane.
"Well, Hanaphaen practically read my mind before he left..." the blonde arcane warrior admits "Let's help ourselves to whatever we find! I'd say we deserved it - and there can be a lot of interesting things!"
And with that, the tall adventuress resumes examining the library and the armory, examining the rooms with Detect Magic to locate any magical objects (which she gives priority to and proceeds to Identify them). But the knowledge that the High Mage has amassed must be a true intangible treasure in itself, so even any non-magical books are patiently examined by her.
This is the room where you are now Khessa, you are standing at the south end before the door, behind you are the four chests, and the stairs are at the top
The map isn't loading for me, but IIRC, there were 4 chests lining the short hallway between the stairs and the adamantine door.]]
As there is nothing to protect the heart, the sacred flame does it job, and the heart shrivels into ash, a feint "noooo" on the air.
(...pretty sure Lord Akkron tossed his True Strike-empowered dagger before Vrox uses Sacred Flame.)
Heh, yes. The important thing is that one way or another, the radiant damage shrivels the lich's heart to ash.
Once the devils depart in clouds of ash that smell of brimstone, Vrox stows stows his longbow in his magical Quiver of Ehlonna and looks around the hallway. He says cautiously, "Even though the devils have returned to the Nine Hells, and we have unmade the lich, be careful. A trap wound tight is still a danger even if the one who set the trap is no more. And while we freed the devils whom the High Mage had bound to his service, there may still be other servants or creations of the High Mage here who could still do some mischief." He quotes an old adage, "Do not dance carelessly on the summit, lest you slip and fall, in ruin."
If they are not interrupted, Vrox will take the time for his own ritual casting of Detect Magic. Then he equips his shield so that he's ready for a close-quarters encounter while they start searching the rest of the tower. Vrox will start with the 4 chests that were in the hall outside the adamantine door. He examines them carefully--without touching them!--looking for signs of a trap, magical or otherwise.
Lord Akkron would be quite interested in any (Wizard) spell scrolls that we can find. Anything that dishes out Force, Psychic, or Radiant damage as we've been running into a lot of stuff that ignores/resists necrotic or cold damage. He'll also be looking for spell books that he could transcribe useful spells from.
You still have the room with the four chests that have not been checked yet. When searching the rooms below-the mortuary you do find four potions: Greater Healing, Flying, Mind Reading, and Invisibility. The only magic scrolls were found in the library on the second floor. Those scrolls were forbiddance, mirage arcana, and scrying.
Yoht comes back from the armor, holding a shield that was on one of the statues. It's an ancient shield with the crest of Gael Wode on it. "Don't know if this would be if interest to ye, but I detect it's a magical shield, I believe it's a Spellguard Shield. Haven't seen one of these in a good while."
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The combined force and thunder of the great axe and hammer appeared to have done the trick, and the icy sphere shatters. Laying inside are two hearts, one with an oily reddish black color that is pulsating, and the other is a grey colored heart.
Avery is going to head to the Unearthed Uncanna to secure a potion of greater healing for 200 gp if possible
(@Aaggie - FYI, posted about Avery to the wrong game's thread.)
[[OOC: Since we didn't need that Arcana check to break open the icy sphere, maybe it could apply to figuring out something about these two hearts?]]
Vrox jumps a little and covers his ears when the icy sphere shatters. Then he nocks an arrow and gets ready to fire his longbow in case they've released anything dangerous.
After the icy sphere shatters, Tyekanik grunts with satisfaction. He looks down at the pulsating heart inside with a look of disgust. He raises Annam's Greataxe and looks back to Khessa and Lord Akkron to ask, "You want me to smash these hearts too?"
Khessa agrees: "The phylactery was inside the sphere, according to Clarac. And inside the sphere are the two hearts. Let's destroy the one with an oily reddish black color that is pulsating. And if nothing happens, the other one too. Better be safe than sorry."
(Can we just have Akkron's dagger hit one of the hearts after he tossed it? I'm curious if it does anything...)
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OOC:
Clarac's Locate Object spell is still going. Is it pointing her to either of the two hearts?
The pulsating heart
[[OOC: @Aaggie - Did Lord Akkron's dagger and the 18 (radiant) damage seem to effect the pulsating heart? ]]
If so, Vrox will call down the light of the gods upon the pulsating heart.
Action: Cast spell Sacred Flame, DEX 19 save (with no benefit from cover) or the heart takes damage: 16 (radiant).
If not, Vrox suggests, "Now that the crystal sphere is shattered, maybe try fire again?"
As there is nothing to protect the heart, the sacred flame does it job, and the heart shrivels into ash, a feint "noooo" on the air.
(...pretty sure Lord Akkron tossed his True Strike-empowered dagger before Vrox uses Sacred Flame.)
The lich pauses for a moment of grim satisfaction, before using mage hand to retrieve his dagger.
"I feel like there may be a moral to this story..." he says dryly. "Perhaps something about treating servants well enough that their first instinct upon obtaining freedom is not to instantly murder you..."
He pauses, then glances at the nearest devil.
"I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that everyone here apparently thought that I was the master of this place."
For all his ancient wisdom. For all his infinite patience... Lord Akkron seems genuinely offended that he was somehow mistaken for the High Mage. It's hard to tell with any certainty what may have provoked his unease at being associated with the slain lich. Perhaps he could sense something both utterly vile but vaguely familiar in the other undead that repulsed him...
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
In response to her mentor's puzzlement at being mistaken for the other lich, Khessa sighs and places a hand on his shoulder: "The difference between you and the High Mage was vast, Master Akkron... but sometimes it is so easy to stop at appearances. The inhabitants of this place could not see the humanity of your soul... so they were fooled by your lich appearance - an appearance in which they must have seen the High Mage more than once - or perhaps by sensing your power - an ancient and tempered magical power such as only in the High Mage they had felt before".
"They stopped at these trivial things" the blonde arcane warrior concludes, with deep admiration in her blue eyes as she meets the empty skull sockets that she knows are filled with so many precious feelings "and did not perceive the essential - which worked to our advantage, but which must not make you forget the wonderful person you are".
Hanaphaen shrugs, "We have only been in service with him, and seen only one Lich, we wouldn't think we would see another. From time to time, he did put on guises to travel about, so seeing you with a group, we just thought he had gone out. He never told us his dealings." The devil shrugs again. "It doesn't matter, we're leaving and returning to our plane of existence, away from this cold place. Help yourself to whatever you find, it matters not to us."
With that, the devils disappear in columns of smoke
Khessa sighs with relief at the Devils' departure... she had actually hoped that they would leave without causing any problems, but she did not exclude, in her heart, the possibility that they would decide to stay to perpetrate misdeeds in the Prime Material Plane.
"Well, Hanaphaen practically read my mind before he left..." the blonde arcane warrior admits "Let's help ourselves to whatever we find! I'd say we deserved it - and there can be a lot of interesting things!"
And with that, the tall adventuress resumes examining the library and the armory, examining the rooms with Detect Magic to locate any magical objects (which she gives priority to and proceeds to Identify them). But the knowledge that the High Mage has amassed must be a true intangible treasure in itself, so even any non-magical books are patiently examined by her.
[[OOC: Before we go downstairs to investigate the other rooms, don't forget:
The map isn't loading for me, but IIRC, there were 4 chests lining the short hallway between the stairs and the adamantine door.]]
Heh, yes. The important thing is that one way or another, the radiant damage shrivels the lich's heart to ash.
Once the devils depart in clouds of ash that smell of brimstone, Vrox stows stows his longbow in his magical Quiver of Ehlonna and looks around the hallway. He says cautiously, "Even though the devils have returned to the Nine Hells, and we have unmade the lich, be careful. A trap wound tight is still a danger even if the one who set the trap is no more. And while we freed the devils whom the High Mage had bound to his service, there may still be other servants or creations of the High Mage here who could still do some mischief." He quotes an old adage, "Do not dance carelessly on the summit, lest you slip and fall, in ruin."
If they are not interrupted, Vrox will take the time for his own ritual casting of Detect Magic. Then he equips his shield so that he's ready for a close-quarters encounter while they start searching the rest of the tower. Vrox will start with the 4 chests that were in the hall outside the adamantine door. He examines them carefully--without touching them!--looking for signs of a trap, magical or otherwise.
Would that be Investigation: 20 or Perception: 25?
[[OOC: If it's Perception, the result is actually 30 because Vrox gets advantage from his Sentinel Shield.]]
Lord Akkron would be quite interested in any (Wizard) spell scrolls that we can find. Anything that dishes out Force, Psychic, or Radiant damage as we've been running into a lot of stuff that ignores/resists necrotic or cold damage. He'll also be looking for spell books that he could transcribe useful spells from.
Investigation: 29
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
You still have the room with the four chests that have not been checked yet. When searching the rooms below-the mortuary you do find four potions: Greater Healing, Flying, Mind Reading, and Invisibility. The only magic scrolls were found in the library on the second floor. Those scrolls were forbiddance, mirage arcana, and scrying.
Yoht comes back from the armor, holding a shield that was on one of the statues. It's an ancient shield with the crest of Gael Wode on it. "Don't know if this would be if interest to ye, but I detect it's a magical shield, I believe it's a Spellguard Shield. Haven't seen one of these in a good while."