Part 1: Sand and Stone

[cartomancer]

Falcnor gives a low laugh from the heart of his belly.

'Evidently not dwarven craftsmanship!' A smile creeps across his face as he and Balgar stand clear.

'Y'know, i reckon we must be underneath those there statues we saw on the way in. It's certainly make sense for there to be some relation between the pillars before us now and the idols up above. Not sure i know what the link is yet though'.

Falcnor continues

'Of course, if these ere doors be stocking anything nasty i can be blowing them open too from the safety of the hallway but, i'd like to be seeing what one has in store for us first before i go spending too much o' me strength without cause'

[danhem]

Genzo is able to wedge the butt of his staff sling into the simple handle on the door of the center pillar and open it without any difficulty. The door opens to reveal that the cylinder is hollow. There is a metal ladder inside the pillar that continues up and down into the darkness.

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Genzo waves his staff sling into the pillar and if all is safe he will take a look and see what he can make out.

Verner will examine the door frame and see if he can find the trigger mechanism for the locking door trap. It might be useful in detecting other similar traps in the temple.

[danhem]

Genzo waves his staff around inside the hollow pillar but nothing happens. He then pokes his head inside and sees only the ladder. His lantern provides light, but he still cannot see what the ladder leads up to. Looking down he can see that the ladder ends at a stone floor.

Meanwhile, Verner checks the door frame but finds no locking mechanism of any sort. It does not look like the door was capable of being locked.

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Genzo turns to the others.

"I can't see where the top of the ladder leads, but I can see a stone floor below and with the fresh blood and maintained traps there must be someone around here with food and water"

"Granted they also appear to be bloodthirsty cultists, but that just means we don't have to feel bad about taking it from them" ;D

Verner shakes his head.

"Genzo has a point, a strange point but a point none the less"

"I'll head down the ladder and scout the room below, if everything is alright I'll call back up"

"If some monster or mad man waits at the bottom I'll call for help, if you hear nothing at all it's a trap and you should try one of the other ladders because I'll be captured or dead"

"It's not the safest idea, but it appears to be the only way forward"

OOC: Verner will quickly descend the ladder sliding down and hopefully catching anything waiting below by surprise.

[cartomancer]

Falcnor and Balgar will stand in ambush postions with weapons drawn at the top of the pilar. Should anything follow our friend up, we'll be ready for it.

[danhem]

Verner enters the hollow cylinder and quickly climbs down the ladder. He descends 15' before the ladder comes to an end at a stone floor. The room is dimly illuminated to the south, east and west. Verner first sees three bright spots directly to the south of him that seem to hover above the floor. He looks to his east and west and sees a cluster of glowing spheres in each direction. Then he hears loud clicking sounds coming from each set of lights. The lights to the south start to move forward and Verner finds himself facing a 2' long black beetle with a set of massive pincers. Then the lights to the west and east also start to move toward Verner.

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Verner hits the ladder and begins climbing like giant carnivorous beetles area after him.

"Get out of the way big nasty bugs incoming get ready to repel borders"

Genzo will shuck his robe ( easy off in one motion ;D ) and transform into were-shape upon hearing Verners cry.

OOC: I don't know if they can climb up the ladders, but just in case ya'll might want to brace the other two doors so we can funnel them through one pillar.


Sorry spelling error.

[apn]

Elethiran
(Elven Warrior-Wizard lvl 1 Att: 2d6+9 Def: 11 Hits 8 Con 12 Wiz)

Elethiran finishes checking her hair in the reflection of her dagger, then looks about. "What? Beetles? Where?" she gasps, trying to look gorgeous, panicked and courageous at the same time. "Devils take this dust, it plays havoc with my hair!"

"You know boys..." she purrs "I have a marrrrvelous spell for beasties like this. But I'd hate for your fun to be spoiled. Besides, I'd like to see if Beetles are smart enough to get up ladders. If not, then let's see if they're smart enough to get out the way whilst we drop stuff on them from the top of the ladder."

Elethiran pulls out a dagger, moves to place herself with several burly looking warrior types in the way and waits.

ACTIONS: Pull dagger out, will use as missile weapon first so stands back 5 yards or so from the hatch with the ladder, attack with a thrown dagger if Beetle shows itself. If need be she has a 64 point Panic spell that would be pretty effective.

=========

Clud
(Were-Bear Warrior lvl 1 Att: 1d6+21 Def: None 35 Con 11 Wiz)

Clud rolls his eyes at the Elf Maiden. He'd stayed apart from her and the others for most of the journey thus far. He glanced down at his bloated fingers and sighed. It wasn't much fun eating food when you couldn't pick up a knife and fork. Less fun having others watch you then talk behind your back about being not much more than an animal!

"Stand back! Give me room!" he hollers, and pulls his clothing off. Instantly his body starts to sprout hair all over, there's an audible popping and cracking, and his face stretches, pulling a groan from his distended mouth. His fingers split at the ends when claws come forth, and he shakes himself, a full grown bear, snorting and huffing and looking about.

"What? Haven't you seen a werebear change before?" he huffs at the Elf Maiden. Admittedly it came out as "Rarrrah Graahhh Raaarrrah Grah" but that wasn't his fault.

ACTIONS: Set clothing, shield and possessions aside, change into a bear.

[cartomancer]

Concerned for the safety of Verner, Balgar quickly sheaths his blades and leans into the cylinder flat on his stomach, reaching out a strong dwarven arm to his comrade.

'Here, quick, grab hold of my legs' he calls out to Falcnor as he leans in further.

Also stowing his weapons, Falcnor doesn't hessitate to help to impetuous youth.

'Y'know this is why we brought rope right' he comments as he grasps his legs.

'Raise up your staff Verner, we'll pull you clear... And kick one of those bugs in the maul if ya has the chance!'

[danhem]

Verner quickly scrambles the ladder before the giant beetles are able to reach him. He makes it back into the room above without a scratch. You quickly form a defensive line in front of the open pillar, but it soon becomes obvious that the beetles are not coming up the ladder. You take a quick peek back down the shaft and see a faint glow but nothing else.

[apn]

Elethiran
(Elven Warrior-Wizard lvl 1 Att: 2d6+9 Def: 11 Hits 8 Con 12 Wiz)

Elethiran looks about, pinching her nose. "What is that smell?" she rasps, pulling a face. She looks at the two were-creatures. "Have one of you two been rolling in dung?"

Moving up to the hole and looking down, she turns to the others. "Want me to toss in a panic spell? Oh, and someone find me a stick of some kind. A long twig. Anything I can enchant. It'll make my magic go further..."

ACTIONS: If the others agree, Elethiran will cast Panic on the beetles (affects MR total of 64 points). If she needs to be able to see down the hole she'll find something to cast Will-O-Wisp on and toss it down the hole.

=========

Clud
(Were-Bear Warrior lvl 1 Att: 1d6+21 Def: None 35 Con 11 Wiz)

Clud/Bear looks sheepishly at his hind quarters. Rolling in horse manure maybe hadn't been the best of plans to attract a mate. Or anyone else for that matter.

He pads over to the hole in the floor, looks at the ladder, then at his paws, considers that he's no more agile in human form than bear form and shrugs with a shake of the head/shoulders.

"Graaaarrrr Rahhh Roooargh" he said. With a tentative paw on the ladder top he tested... nope. That wouldn't work either.

ACTIONS: Wait for 'plan B'. I expect it will involve changing back into human form and using his shield. Then being pushed down the hole because if a 3 Dex Were-bear can't climb down ladders, a 3 dex human won't either...

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Verner sweating and cursing looks down the ladder at the odious beetles.

"While magic is fine I don't want those things coming after us later, I propose that we go back to the entrance and chop off some bits from that unfortunate acting as a doorstop"

"Then we can drop them down to the beetles and when they all crowd in to get a bit of jerky we drop down some lantern oil and have us a bug barbecue"

"We should be able to handle what's left after that"

[apn]

Elethiran
(Elven Warrior-Wizard lvl 1 Att: 2d6+9 Def: 11 Hits 8 Con 6/12 Wiz)

With a sigh Elethiran puts hands on hips and says "You boys! I don't know. Leave it to the girl and stand aside!"

Whilst trying to look forceful and stunningly attractive but vulnerable too, the Elf Maiden waves her hands in the air to trace a pattern, concentrates, her eyes glow and she mutters "I would have this dungeon cleaned! With that in mind Take That you Fiend!"

ACTIONS: Take that you fiend down the hole at the Beetle. 18 damage. 6 Wiz deducted.

=========

Clud
(Were-Bear Warrior lvl 1 Att: 1d6+21 Def: None 35 Con 11 Wiz)

Clud/Bear rolls his eyes. "Bloody amateur dramaticist." which of course came out as "Raaarrrooooogargh"

ACTIONS: Scratch his butt on the wall.

[cartomancer]

Balgar and Falcnor stand back, letting the elf go about her work.

Balgar thinks to himself, 'Hmmmm... If i push her in now, we could probably get by the bugs quite happily'.

He gives a low chuckle to his internal monologue but no-one else is too sure why he's laughing in such a dire situation.