How to deal with the room
Subject How to handle the room
Seeing that he has the parties attention he continues "When I was living among the dwarves, a powerful undead creature began terrorizing some of the outlying caverns. It was especially dangerous because it seemed to have the ability to disappear into the very walls of the caverns, and those who survived its attacks said that their weapons seemed to pass right through it. It had no physical body, but was more of a spirit. Finally a number of our clerics were able to confront it and, though they were unable to destroy it, they were able to contain it within a small cavern until the high priest of Moradin was able to come personally and destroy it.
"Being somewhat drawn to the clerical path already, I took the opportunity to go see the cavern in which it was held. The enchantments were powerful enough that even without training I could sense them.
"These walls give me the same feeling as that cavern did. I believe that whatever awaits us inside will be a spirit without physical body."
ooc:By spirit Ragnar don't necessarily mean undead, just something that can't be touched with your hands. Feel free to ask him questions, though truthfully he doesn't know much more.
From: Porter
Subject How to handle the room
Mund doesn't like this talk of fighting a creature that cannot be touched.
"Um, maybe we should do something different here. All of you magickers -- do any of you have any way to discover if there's a key in that room or retrieve it without going in and getting it?"
From: Randy
Subject How to handle the room
Ranthir echoes Mund's response and suggests that the non-clerical folk form the back line, the wizards next, and those with any ability dealing directly with the undead in the front lines.
"I don't have any ability to fight that which is not physical. If it comes to that kind of fight, perhaps the best approach will be to draw the being out of the room and have one of us go in to try to find the key. Once found, we can try to return the creature to its prison if that is what this is, or defeat it in some other manner."
From: Porter
Subject How to handle the room
"If we are going to try to lure it, let me volunteer to be the bait. I am by far the fastest runner here"
From: Derek
Subject How to handle the room
Allistair thinks for a moment. "I do know of magical methods that could be used to do what you describe, however I do not posess those abilities. I do think though, that my magical bolts or fireballs would damage it, unless it also posessed some type of magical resistance. Releasing a fireball could be dangerous in these close quarters, however.
From: Kevin
Subject How to handle the room
Harp thinks about Ragnars words. "This concerns me as well. There is some grace I can ask from Heironious that will protect me from direct physical attacks for a short time, and my guess is that Ragnar would be even more capable of that than I. However, that grace was not one that I asked of him this day. Brother, unless you prayed for the Battle Lord to be able to provide you sanctuary if needed, then we may have to delay in attempting this room. I hate to leave it, but I think we can try another challenge, and come back to this one when we are better prepared, unless all of you want to try and fight something that can't be touched?"
After al little more thought, Harp turns to Ragnar and asks "Brother, I remeber from my studies hearing about asking Heironious to bless us with a weapon formed from his might. Would this "spirit weapon" be able to damage a creature like you have mentioned?"
OOC: Harp is thinking of the Sanctuary spell - it does provide an attacking creature a Will saving throw, but if it fails, it cannot attack the person so blessed. Thought - have Ragnar cast it on Mund (or Harp) have him run into the room, get the key, and then run out and we shut the door to the secret room. Unless, of course, it is the magic door that keeps whatever it is in there. I was just trying to think of way to protect someone. The other option is Spiritual Weapon from both Harp and Ragnar. They have a limited time frame, but if they were to plan ahead, they could have 3-4 of those ready to go.
Ideas? Harp is OK with trying another room and coming back to this one after a nights rest and having some time to reselect his prayers.
From: Porter
Subject How to handle the room
OOC: Are people not all of my emails? Mund had an idea earlier.
If it's mostly the magic people that can hurt it, Mund volunteered to be the "bait", keeping it occupied with him while everybody that can actually hurt it gangs up on it.
From: Jason
Subject How to handle the room
ooc: The short version is, spirit weapon would work beautifully. The long version is, I'm not sure how much Ragnar really would know about incorporeal creatures. He recognized the spell containing it, not necessarily anything about the creature. That being said, it does seem reasonable that Ragnar would expect the spiritual weapon to work pretty well. Also, I have magic circle against evil. I can't guarantee that it would work, as it might not be evil, but it seems likely, and Ragnar would expect it to as well.
From: Kevin
Subject How to handle the room
OOC: I think we got it Porter, we are just trying to see what us magik people can use on it while it chases you. I don't think Mund would be happy to have it chase him and then have us find out we have nothing that will affect it.
Mark, from Harp and Rangar's training as clerics, would they "know" that their spiritual weapons would deal some damage to a creature without a body? I would think they would have been given some guidance (even spiritual guidance) on how and where this grace would work. Would anyone in the group have some knowledge on this type of creature? I know Ragnar got his check on the door, but does not know much more. Do Allistair or Salix have any idea? Or am I grasping and we should just open the door and get it over with?
Porter, we may use Mund as the rabbit, but just not yet. Spell casters never have the right spell you need right now. We can go kill some other things, rest for the night, and come back to this one fresh the next morning.
From: Porter
Subject How to handle the room
That's cool.
From: Jason
Subject How to handle the room
ooc: Well we've determined that Ragnar doesn't in fact know any more than what I've said; all he knows is that the spell placed on the walls in front of us feel very similar to the spells used by the dwarven clerics to lock up the incorporeal creature years ago. With luck, Allistair might know more about incorporeal creatures. I'll stand by my assessment that magic circle against evil will be useful though, mostly since I don't know any better than Ragnar in that case :)
From: Jason
Subject How to handle the room
Ragnar replies thoughtfully. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how succesful we will be at harming it. If it *is* undead, Heironeous can grant me special protection from it, and the rest of us as well. But there may be a way to retrieve the key without directly confronting it, though we won't avoid going in...
"I have a spell that will keep evil creatures at bay. What if I were to cast it standing in the doorway, and then cast that spell there. Then Mund could enter the room, grab the key, and run back out. I can give him a similar blessing, with a smaller range, that would protect him from any of the more dangerous effects such a creature might have, such as charms or compulsions. Then we close the door and move on to the next challenge. What do you think" he asks, looking to Harp and Mund.
From: Porter
Subject How to handle the room
"It seems kinda risky, but I'm game if we can't come up with anything better."
"But if we do this, maybe we should first open the door and see if the monster is able to come out. There's no use in my jumping around in there avoiding him if he just follows me out and we have to fight it anyway."
From: Derek
Subject How to handle the room
Allistair speaks up during a pause while they are discussing what to do about the room beyond the secret door. "As to the spiritual source of what is beyond that door, I cannot say anything more than Brother Ragnar. However, I can discern it's magical nature. Whatever is beyond that door is incorporeal and doesn't posess a physical body, at least not on this plane of existence. It's touch can be quite deadly however, so great care must be taken in dispatching it. Physical objects and weapons will simply pass through it without effect. Most magical attacks will affect it though, including magical weapons, if any of the warriors posess such and the magic is powerful enough. It (or they) will seem almost invisible, and as such will be very difficult to see. Additionally it makes almost no discernable sound. Exposure to direct sunlight though, will render it helpless, although I doubt that bit of knowledge will prove very useful."