Scene 4: The Tower

Dec 4, 2024 4:16 am

Firina moves forward to comfort Alax as the others putter about the statues. The dragonborn only sobs harder.

As Hindle steps back from the golden apple, having second thoughts about grabbing it like he did the lantern, he mumbles to himself and ponders the situation. At least nothing invisible is showing up with his lantern currently.

Leana looks about trying to find tracks in the dust of the floor. With her strong tracking skills, she does find feline paw prints that circle about and seemingly under the beholder statue, but then vanish into thin air, much like when she was following the tracks at Inn Plain Sight. There are no paw prints leading to or from the statue. There also appear to be a set of footprints in the same area that does not belong to any of them, but similarly disappear like the paw prints into thin air.

Brickowsky takes this time to ponder their situation and what could have happened to Pouncy. It would certainly be no problem to leave this strange room and continue up the tower as the steps up were unchanged after Hindle removed the lantern. There is definitely another floor up as indicated by the sunlight that came through the broken floor tiles. The only way out appears to be the way they came in and the door is still wide open for them to leave. It does appear though that Pouncy's last location was in this room as evidenced from the fur and Leana's investigation.

The dwarf's head hurts a bit from the disjointed situation and cannot see much of a connection at this point. However, his arcane knowledge does remind him of stories he has heard of these birds being associated with goddesses of myth. The goddesses each commanded the poor human to give them a golden apple he held, but the wizard cannot quite remember who he gave it to. The owl usually is associated with wisdom, the peacock with royalty, and the dove with love.

Dec 4, 2024 5:15 pm

Still standing there and scratching his neck, Brickowsky looks from one statue to the next. Dove is love? And Alax seems to genuinely love his fluffy displaced friend. So... before he can overthink it, the wizard takes the apple up with his magehand and let the fruit fly to the ... BEHOLDER!

If this really unpetrifies the monstrosity this would be a brief encounter and an inglorious end to their lives. But hey! They would have encountered a genuine legen ... wait for it ... dary monster.

But: Maybe there is no beholder!

OOC:

He will try touching the beholder, setting it in sight of the beholder, or on top of it and so on, trying to coax out a reaction of the statue if necessary. :)

Dec 6, 2024 3:29 am

Fortune favors the bold! The wizard decides to use his mage hand to remove the apple from the column. Nothing appears to happen. He then moves the golden apple over to the beholder statue! He carefully touches the apple to the statue and removes it, but nothing happens. He hovers the apple in front of its eye and considers dropping the apple on top of its large head as nothing continues to happen. Finally, he decides to throw caution to the wind and carefully places the golden apple in the empty stalk of the beholder.

Almost instantaneously, the stone skin of the beholder cracks and falls to the ground. The other statues also crumble to dust.

A living purple beholder now emerges from its stone shell, still cradling the golden apple in its final stalk. Its large eye roves around looking at the room's inhabitants and a hungry look almost gleams in its eye. As Firina moves to prepare herself for what has happened, the beholder's eye stops upon the revealed dragonborn. Faster than anyone can react, the beholder zooms past everyone and pounces at Alax! Alax puts claws up in surprise, but cannot react in time! A big pink tongue comes out and licks their face! The beholder then bounces a little from side to side, staring at Alax who only stares back in shock, almost dropping the precious silvered frying pan.

Dhakhan

Dec 6, 2024 7:42 am

OOC:

Kitty became a beholder?

Dec 6, 2024 10:40 am

OOC:

Hahaha! That's so evil Quilltid! I was so hesitant, that I nearly didn't act at all. A genuine beholder would have devoured us. Good that we play LEGO. I thought: alright - this MUST be a joke or tick. They wouldn't let us die right because of a stupid mistake. At least this is what I told myself. ;)

@Dhakhan> seems so. :D good for us. ;)

Breathing out the moment he recognises this situation wouldn't erupt in violence, the dwarf puts his shaking hands on his knees and takes a few slow breaths. Gems and Stones! - what a relief!

Straightening Brickoswky places his hand in the pouch they had found and takes out the plush mouse (stuffed with catnip per Leana's experience and Druidic knowledge) and throws it towards Alax. "That's a sight for sore eyes." he compliments the dragonborn.

Taking a more thorough look, the wizard tries to discern if there can be something done about the transformation. He extends his head up his druid friend and starts to discuss with Leana.

Rolls

Arcana (maybe with help? and guidance) - if not count the 1st roll plz. - (2d20h1+1d4+8)

(319) + (4) + 8 = 31

Dec 9, 2024 12:25 am

OOC:

Heh heh, blame the adventure that includes a beholder in it! You guys did well and Alax is reunited with Pouncy!

Alax deftly catches the plush mouse stuffed with catnip that Brickowsky has been keeping in the pouch they found at Inn Plain Sight. The dragonborn looks confused, but the beholder immediately reacts: sniffing, spinning, and one of its eye stalks "pets" the mouse.

"P-Pouncy...?"

The beholder pauses its interactions with the plush mouse to lick Alax again. It now places the golden apple on the ground to instead grabs the mouse in its eye stalk and plays with it.

Alax sighs with relief.

"Thank you for finding my beloved Pouncy. I'm sorry she gave you all a scare. I insist, whenever you stay in the valley, you must stay at Inn Plain Sight. Free of charge! But now I must figure out how Pouncy got this way..."

Alax and Pouncy sequester themselves to the corner. Brickowsky, now relieved of the tension that was growing, consults with the others about what can be done about Pouncy's situation. Leana and Firina are still distracted a bit by what has happened. Merton does not appear from the shadows.

Hindle wanders over to check on what is happening. As Brickowsky explains the situation and they both look at Pouncy turned beholder, Alax's silvered frying pan reflects off the sunlight a little and Brickowsky sees one of the beholder's eye stalks is reflected in the pan as a long black tail instead. Thinking back to Merton's communication that Merry had disappeared into a door or gate thing and Pouncy's previous stone appearance, magic is at work around this place. Maybe Pouncy would be restored to its original form if one of them could dispel the enchantments in the area. Or maybe the Lantern of Revealing Hindle picked up has additional enchantments, necessitating the trap.

Dec 9, 2024 8:37 am

Sharing his knowledge Brickowsky looks to his friends and comrades for their turn on, what to do next.

Dec 9, 2024 4:21 pm

With concern she looks at the kitten and tries her best to bring it back to its original form.

OOC:

cast dispel magic; should the magic be over lvl 3 - the roll underneath serves as a dispelling roll

Last edited December 9, 2024 4:22 pm

Rolls

dispel magic - (1d20+1d4+4)

(2) + (3) + 4 = 9

Hindle Ambolong

Dhakhan

Dec 11, 2024 1:26 am

Strangely, the sounds of terror, flesh being rent and the sinews snapped did not seem to be coming. Confusion, yes. Delight and pleasure, definitely. Releasing the shadows he'd drawn about himself (certainly futile in any case given the circumstances), Hindle pulled his face out fo the the conrner of the room he had run, to begin making his own sounds of confusion, and then delight and pleasure at not being promptly destroyed. Who cares why the beholder is playing with a stuffed toy. It was evidently happy, so Hindle was happy. Edging fully out of the corner, he wanders over to see what is happening. "So, this ...is the cat now?"

Dec 11, 2024 4:34 am

Alax smiles a big toothy grin and nods happily at Hindle's question.

"Yes indeed, somehow this is Pouncy! I wonder how she got this way though..."

Alax tries to pet the beholder, but trips a little over the golden apple as he does so.

Leana, quickly sizing up the situation, decides to try to restore the poor creature back to its original form. Who knows what mischief a cat disguised as a beholder could cause? With the same sharp precision as before, she casts dispel magic straight at the enchanted beholder!

The beholder drops the plush mouse as all its eye stalks tense and freeze. Then, one by one, the pebbly skin on the eye stalks begin to crumble like the stone statues and reveal blue-black fur instead: a tail, three tentacles, and six legs. Large paws steady themselves on the ground as the beholder's round body shakes like a cat shaking off water. As it does so, more pebbly skin falls off and finally reveals a very large displacer beast. Roaring Kitty is clearly not a fan of their new companion.

"Oh, oh my, Pouncy, how are you feeling...?"

The displacer beast crouches down and its powerful jaws open...into a big yawn. It then jumps into Alax's arms and gives the dragonborn another big lick!

"Oh, truly I owe you so much for getting Pouncy back to normal..."

The dragonborn looks over Pouncy and frowns a little.

"The poor thing looks so emaciated! I need to get back to Inn Plain Sight right away. Once we reach one of those windows, we'll head out and wait for you back at the Inn with some fresh hot wings! And maybe some bath water..."

Dec 12, 2024 11:21 am

Petting Roaring Kitty so that the little furball doesn't get too stressed, Brickoswky tells him of tendies still to come and how they will see the moon together. This usually helps to calm the dear bugger.

"Displacer beast" the dwarf mumbles out of the corner of his mouth as Hindle brings up Pouncy. An animal with tentacles, the powers of illusions and a taste for human flesh. But yeah - why not: a cat now.

Suddenly standing straight, the wizard takes a more than wary look around. A valid question Alax brought up right there. How did the beast end as an eye fiend?

Informing his friends about this last thought, he asks: "Does anybody see a rune that could have triggered the transformation?"

Looking primarily around the place, the beholder had stood, it is currently unclear for Brickowsky how to proceed from here on. How do they keep ascending the tower?

"Alax? Have you been hither in the past? How do we find the stairs to the next level?"

Dec 13, 2024 2:05 am

Roaring Kitty stays behind Brickowsky, away from Pouncy, but at least no longer looking distressed.

Alax surprisingly places the displacer beast down a lot gentler than the dragonborn's physique suggests. Pouncy picks up its plush mouse and plays with it while Alax replies to the dwarf's question.

"No, unfortunately I have never been this far before. It looks like the sunlight in the tower was coming from above us though so I think we can just take that winding staircase up to the next floor. We can't go back down without sliding into those plants after our friend grabbed that lantern..."

Everyone, please go ahead and roll perception!

Dec 13, 2024 5:08 pm

OOC:

rolling

Rolls

Perception - (1d20+4)

(6) + 4 = 10

Dec 13, 2024 5:28 pm

OOC:

perception

Rolls

perception - (1d20+7)

(10) + 7 = 17

Hindle Ambolong

Dhakhan

Dec 16, 2024 2:19 am

Hindle, standing with the lantern still in hand, holds it up, smiles weakly and shrugs.

Rolls

Perception (if required) - (1d20+5)

(16) + 5 = 21

Dec 17, 2024 3:12 am

Alax whistles and pulls out a plush frog. Pouncy picks up her plush mouse and begins to follow the dragonborn. The group follows as Alax leads the way up the winding staircase to the next floor.

On this level of the tower, the open window Miet told Hindle about on the outside of the tower lets in sunlight over most of the floor. Another large set of double doors flocked by candle sconces dominates the wall opposite the window. Backed against one wall is a shrine. Carved above the shrine are five stone dragon heads, and resting on the shrine's alter is a lustrous green orb. A large key rests in a small stand on the floor. Parts of the floor are crumbled, allowing the sunlight from the window to stream down to the bottom floor and the poisonous plants. The winding stairs continue up, but all they see above is the underside of the main tower roof with its many beams and supports.

Brickowsky keeps an eye out as he follows and makes sure to avoid the gaps in the flooring. He stops to inspect the double doors on the way to examine the shrine and sees a large lock on the door. Leana instead heads directly to the shrine. Her sharp eyes spot unusual lines in the floor in front of the key and she stops Brickowsky from moving further and stepping onto a trap. Merton and Firina stay close to Alax as the dragonborn approaches the window to assess a way down. Finally, Hindle looks about the room with his new lantern, on the lookout for the spider Miet mentioned seeing on this floor. On the side of the stairs facing away from illumination, partially in darkness, Hindle's lantern reveals an alcove with potion bottle, but guarded by an invisible giant wolf spider. It is busy feasting on an unwary bird that must have paused in the window and does not bother with the party yet.

Dec 20, 2024 6:02 pm

OOC:

are the strange lines bits of spiderweb?

Dec 22, 2024 4:00 am

After keeping Brickowsky from walking onto a trap, Leana takes a closer look at the unusual lines on the floor. She first considers this might be the results of a monster messing with the flooring, but it is not spider webs or claw marks. It is instead straight lines perpendicular to the stone and grout. With a gentle push, she finds the lines are the outlines of a trap door that has not been secured. Looking underneath, the trap door would have the person fall through a hole in the ground below and then to the deadly plants on the bottom level of the tower!

Dec 22, 2024 7:50 pm