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Old 11-30-2009, 10:04 PM   #359
Abe Sargent
Hall Of Famer
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Catonsville, MD
Here is the key to the destruction of the virus. If you can cause the cauldron to tilt over far enough it will discharge its contents into the hall below, flooding the virus-laden tables with thousands of gallons of concentrated acid.

Elated by your daring plan, you look for a way to reach the winch which controls the angle at which the cauldron hangs from the ceiling. It is positioned high upon a platform atop an iron gantry, which is accessible only by ladder. Fortunately this ladder begins on the far side of the gallery.

Confident in your purpose you hurry around the gallery towards the ladder. You are within twenty paces when suddenly the harsh clang of an alarm bell fills the hall. You have been seen.

Screams of 'Intruder!' echo from below as you run headlong towards the ladder. You reach it and begin your climb towards a secondary platform, located directly below the one which supports the winch.

You are only six rungs away from the platform when suddenly the faces of two Acolytes of Vashna appear over the edge. They curse and spit on you as they try to stab you with their spears.

(Do I have Magi-Magic? Nope. Kai-Alchemy? Nope.)

I have to face them together, and one has a Medallion of Protection

Acolytes of Vashna CS 36, EP 50.

I roll a 0 and kill them both automatically.

All eyes in the hall have seen me, and as I move to the platform, they figure out what I am going to do. Vazhag archer starts firing bolts at me. I roll a number and add a Grand Huntmastery bonus. I roll a 5 which becomes an 8. They all miss.

Quote:

You reach the top of the ladder and haul yourself on to the winch platform. Now the whistling shafts strike and splinter uselessly against the underside of this metal floor which hides you from the archers' view.

You run to the winch and examine the gears and chains, trying at once to understand their workings and find a way to cause the cauldron to discharge its corrosive contents into the hall below. But the device is designed to prevent the chance of this occurring. The only way you can make the cauldron spill its deadly load is by severing a thick metal pin which secures the heavy chain to its rim.

Anxiously you glance over the edge of the platform at the confusion raging in the hall below. Three druids, having recognized your intentions, are trying desperately to gather together virus samples from their cultivation vats. The vats are fixed to the tables, triple-sealed with protective glass to prevent accidental leaks, and it is precisely this elaborate protection which now confounds the druids' frantic efforts to save their plague cultures.



Out of the corner of your eye you notice that the first of the Vazhag archers is now climbing the ladder to the winch platform, and you know you must act swiftly and effectively if you are to fulfil your quest.

(I do not have Kai Alchemy or Grand Nexus)

I draw the Sommerswerd and try to pull the pin. Roll a number. Got a 9. The support pin has popped out. The chain is falling and I have to roll a die. Got a 2. The chain glances off me and I take 3 EP. There was no Grand Huntmastery bonus to the roll, weird.


Quote

The cauldron smashes down into the centre of the hall and explodes with devastating effect, spewing its deadly contents in all directions. A tidal wave of acid engulfs the tables, submerging and burning everything not made of stone, porcelain or glass. The pitiful screams of the druids rise above the thunderous din as they and their deadly work are consumed by a merciless sea of corrosive.
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