"I'll take watch duty whenever someone wakes me." Kuro said, half-yawning.

She curled into a small ball and fell asleep in no time at all.

The dragonborn doesn't take too kindly to being woken up for her watch duty. Sitting on the top step and staring downwards, only a few minutes pass by before the diligent watchwoman is sound asleep again. An hour or so later, the rogue startles awake, and aware of what she's done, immediately wakes Kuro and whispers, "You're up."

((
Perception check (1d20=3)
))

"Morning" comes, and you all find yourselves in tact and still alone.

Aesamar stands up from his post at the top of the stairs, sweeping dust off his robes and stretching his long legs. He turns and addresses his newly-awoken companions. "If nobody has any objections, now that we're all well-rested we might as well descend into the lair of these wretched beasts."


!ready

Looks around thoughtfully, then slips her shortsword back into its sheathe, and places the bundle into her pack. Thrusting the dagger into her belt, and making sure its close at hand, Zorga moves over near the fighter and the wizard.

!ready

Ralzik prepares himself to go down the stairs expecting traps before him.

The floor of the upper catacomb opens to reveal a vast underground cavity. The walls are covered with holes and recesses containing the disintegrating bones of dwarves. A stone staircase lit with flaming torches at 30-foot intervals hugs the outer wall of the shaft, leaving areas of intermit- tent darkness amid the illumination. The spiraling circle of torches appears to descend about 100 feet to the bottom level of the chamber.

Taking the path downward, it appears that every grave has been looted by goblins in the past. However, it looks like recent activity in the area has been very limited, with only a single pair of footprints in the thick dust.

When you reach the base of the spiral staircase, a torch-lit hallway leads to the east, where a large, dirt-encrusted sarcophagus sits in the center of a 20-by-20 recess. A goblin painted with clay and mud stands vigilantly over the sarcophagus.

The body of the hexer lies broken at your feet.

Before you can react, however, the goblin turns around and narrows his eyes.

"This is scared ground!" he screams, "leave now! There is nothing here for you!" He does not, however, attack.

Aesamar turns and whispers to the warlord, "You are trained in the art of diplomacy, are you not? Perhaps you could try and get him to talk to us civilly. Tell him we me– Well, most of us mean him no harm. Personally, I'd much rather have a source of information than a corpse."

The goblin eyes the whispering eladrin.

"What are you saying?" he snaps. "You cannot disrupt the ritual!"

As the shaman scans the party, he notices the rogue with the horn totem tucked into her belt.

"You!" Sancossug shouts. "You have the horn totem! Return it to me!"

Zorga slowly pulls out the dagger, flipping it casually in her hand. "I think first you should tell us what -exactly- you think this ritual is going to accomplish. If your precious Ogre King is resurrected... what then?" she says, then adds with a devilish grin, "And more importantly, what's in it for my friends and I?"

((
Hrm... Saw is there a map of this room? I'd kind of like to see where we're all at in relation to eachother, in case this bugger decides to attack
))

"The Ogre King shall reveal his divinity by raising up those of us who kept his memory alive. He shall then lead us to glory!" There is a definite twinge of insanity in the goblin's voice, and all around him you can see the workings of an elaborate ritual in the chamber with the sarcophagus.

However, at the second question, the Shaman pauses. "You come from the city of the thief, yes?" asks the goblin. "Then we leave you alone if you give us the totem."

"Fool me once..."
"He appears to be in the middle of a ritual, I think it best that we don't let him finish?"

Ralzik runs forwards a few steps, glances a curse at the Shaman and fires a blast of Eldritch fire at the shaman.
(Move to G23, curse goblin, fire eldritch blast)
1d20+7=17, 1d10+5=15 (forgot to do the + 1d6.. not sure if his REF is above 17 or not, but incase it hit....

1d6=1
((so 16 damage instead of 15))

Nimbly dodging out of the way of the warlock's blast, the Shaman dashes forward.

"Heathen!" the goblin screams. "Infidels!"

As soon as Sancossug reaches Ralzik, he makes a simple gesture with his rod and sends out a wave of darkness that engulfs the entire party aside from Tsuujin, burning all exposed flesh and blinding them in an instant.

((Sancossug moves to G24. Uses Blinding Cloud. Hits Ralzik, Zorga, Kuro, and Aesamar for 10 damage. Ralzik, Zorga, Kuro, and Aesamar are blind until the end of their next turns.))



Initiative Order:
Ralzik
Sancossug
Zorga
Aesamar
Kuro
Tsuujin

Enemy Information:
High Shaman Sancossug HP 230/230 -- AC 22; Fort 17, Ref 20, Will 22 (G24): Cursed

Player Info:
Tsuujin 31/31 HP (H20)
Aesamar 14/24 HP (H21): Blind
Kuro 14/24 HP (H22): Blind
Zorga 19/29 HP (G22): Blind
Ralzik 22/32 HP (G23): Blind

Up Next: Aesamar, Kuro, Zorga, Tsuujin

(( .... 230 HP and 22 AC? What the hell? I could barely land a hit on AC 20. ))

"Smooth move, Ralzik."

"What exactly is this ritual of yours supposed to accomplish?"

((You realize you were just blinded and hit for 10 damage, right?))

(( holy crap, what level is he?? ))
((Anyway, I think we need to work on trying to use skills that do automatic damage, like the flaming sphere, and I'll try to use my armor. Also if anyone has a silence ability that would be good! ))

((He's a level 3 Solo Controller. Who you could have easily managed to avoid fighting. ))