Arbuthnott

Having shrouded the skeletons in faerie fire, Amarandé nods to himself as he strides towards the foe currently being assaulted by his pack of hounds. Gripping his staff in two hands, he swings it wide, attempting to send his opponent's skull back into the alcove it came from. OOC- we may be witnessing the invention of golf here, folks If the enemy win initiative and seriously injure anyone, he will instead turn to his curative magics and patch them up slightly.

Hefting his staff with both hands, Amarandé levels the butt at the nearest skeleton and begins to mutter beneath his breath as he traces its outline; wherever his staff moves, yellow fire flares to life on the giant's bones, casting long shadows across the chamber. If he can, he spreads the Faerie Fire to both of the giant skeletons and all of the zombies, although he prioritises the skeletal foes first and foremost. As he works, he keeps an eye on his companions as they fight their various battles, and should any of them get grievously injured and fall back he will abandon his casting to instead cast a Cure Light Wounds on them.

Before posting my next round, can you give a quick description of the room we find ourselves in? Other than the route we came in from, was there a passage leading on, or was this a dead end? The wall that spilled forth our current foes: was it just one stretch of wall or several? And were they waiting in a small storage space or did it open to reveal further passageways? Mostly trying to gauge if this place goes deeper, now that we've found either the sword we're looking for or a passable forgery.

Watching the skeletons recoil dispassionately, Amarandé mutters "That's it!" to himself, before whistling sharply to get the attention of his hounds. Throwing down their reins, he barks out "Mawr! Haswy!" directing them to attack the leftmost giant skeleton. Using what time remains, he begins to sing a soft prayer to Mystra. As his voice gains volume he grasps his staff in both hands and slowly raises it above the ground, and when his chant climaxes he slams the staff into the ground, releasing a pulse of blue light that washes over the room and blesses everyone. OOC: I know I can't cast spells in the surprise round, but maybe I could make a start casting a spell to reduce the casting time in round 1, so that the bless goes up before everyone's turn? If not, there's nothing I'd choose to do instead, so I'll use the surprise round to direct the hounds but otherwise skip it.

"Be leery; while this could be any of a number of swords that Shraevyn enchanted, if this is supposed to be the sword of the dales then forget not that Lhaeo said that Randel Morn had already found the mythical blade. Would it have been neatly reset for our convenience in the ensuing week?"

Amarandé stills as he approaches the casket, gripping his staff tightly as he sways in a non-existant wind. Gasping slightly, glances around the room quickly. "'Ware, all of you. Whether triggered by trap or by master's call, we are about to be set upon. Skeletons, and more animated than I should like." Loosening his grip on the reins of his hounds, he prepares to ensconce the party in a bless the moment he spots any danger. Edit- might actually start with a Turn Undead if he registers quickly enough that we're being beset by undead

Satisfied that the group is in no immediate danger of traps, Amarandé heads to the southern corner to examine the ghostly apparition for himself. Unconvinced, he nonetheless compares the ghost's face to that of the dead body further north. He also pays attention to the reaction of his dogs, looking for raised hackles or more relaxed behaviour. If the dogs seem less disturbed, he steps out fully from the corner he was peering out from, into full view of the spectre. If it reacts at all, he is primed to hop back around the corner and out of sight. If not, he calls out "Ho there, visage. What stills you?"

Standing at the northern corner, leaning on his staff and watching Jack at work, Amarandé's fingers twitch as he prepares to throw up a featherfall the moment any darts are released. "Aye, that could well be the case. It might not hurt to test that theory anyway, even if it proves unsubstantiated." OOC: based on the state of decomposition, do we get a sense of roughly how long the body might have been there, or whether it's been preserved at all?

Watching Jack carefully stalk North, Amarandé listens to Kord's description with interest. "That would be extremely concerning, if all is as it appears. Make no mistake, the undead are far worse than the stories do them justice," he glances over his shoulder at the gnome. "Did you get a sense of whether it is aware of it's surroundings? With luck, it could merely be an illusion."

Pausing at the statue, Amarandé places a hand on Tymora's elbow and smiles softly. "May I introduce you all to Lady Luck; pray she is watching over us." His smile dims as he reads the inscription, but he turns away from it without comment. While Kord begins blazing our path south, Amarandé crouches at the T-junction and peers into the gloom of the northern route. "Heads up," he calls out as he reaches into one of his belt pouches. Retrieving a single marble, he squeezes it tightly until it shines with warmth to his infravision, before rolling it down the northern corridor and watching its journey into the darkness. He pays particular attention to the gradient of the tunnel, whether it slopes at all in any direction, and whether it knocks against or catches on anything that would be otherwise unapparent.

Woohoo. Before the puzzle is completed, can Amarandé take a minute to use the Scrying pot to check up on the horses, as well as do a general sweep for any Zhentarim presence in the nearby area?

"What makes you think that, Kord? I know that divination is my favourite, but why do you think it should go first here?"

Hey Sellsword, can I just check what the final result of examining the pot in alcove B was? On my person I had a pouch of flour and a healing potion; did they merely open, or did they spew their contents all over the floor?

Amarandé scoffs at himself. "A shield, of course... I overlooked that detail. In that case, I should choose the opening enchantment over the alchemical one; alchemy is its own branch of magic, and thus the less pure representation. And with that, we should also pick the Lightning pot, leaving the two earthen enchantments as the outliers." With a nod, he mutters "Yes, that's it! Starting at the point facing onwards and moving clockwise: Sword; Skull; Snake; Opening; Lightning; Invisibility; Scrying; Fiery Shield. Unless anybody has any other suggestions, this is my recommendation, and we're unlikely to see if we are right or not unless we try."

"Hard to say, without knowing the nature of their enchantment; in any case, I don't know every spell in the realm, and I definitely don't know every spell currently on display." "Necromancy is the study of life and death, healing and exhaustion; the skull is the obvious contender here, representing death and undeath, but I can't rule out that fiery light as being some form of advanced healing spell. Divination is the school of learning, enhancing the senses and revealing information: again, the obvious contender is the scrying urn, but the sword was revealed via a vision. Conjuration is simple; the snake is the only contender. Similarly, Enchantment should be simple, that of the enchanted sword... and yet every pot here was enspelled using enchantment magics." "The rest are more complex. Illusion at first glance appears clear cut; Invisibility is the most famous of illusion magics, and yet such is the nature of illusion that any of these urns could represent it, especially the snake and the fiery light. Evocation, the school of power, is likely to be the lightning pot; and yet the fiery light could represent fire rather than light, and the heat in the soil is similarly evocative. Abjuration encompasses wards and protective magics, which is a truly versatile coverage; wards tend to react to stimuli, perhaps getting hotter the more they are tampered with, or causing everything to open when the target is opened, or even just a simple light ward to illuminate an item. None of these pots represent a defensive enchantment, which Abjuration is most commonly attributed to... And Alteration? The school that encompasses animation and change could apply to the sword, the snake, the light, the soil, or the pot that animated everything to burst open.." With a sign, he glances over the pots once again. "The ones I'm confident in my guess are the Snake, the Scrying urn, the Skull, the Lightning and the Alchemical pot. Perhaps the Sword, the Invisible urn and the pot that opens things. The others, I am guessing at, but my guesses are mostly from which schools are as yet unfilled, which is unhelpful if two of the pots are meant to be excluded."

Amarandé exhales deeply. "The schools of magic do have... opposing schools, I suppose you might say. Abjuration opposes Alteration, Conjuration with Divination, Enchantment with Evocation, and Illusion with Necromancy; alphabetised, and thus easy to remember. If they have a classical order beyond that, however, I know not. I elected not to specialise, you see.." "Now, if we assume that all eight schools are present, then they can all be comfortably accounted for, with two duplicates: the urn of opening and the alchemical urn could equally be applied to the same school, the school of physical animation and change; likewise, both the hot soil and the electricity could equally apply to the school of elemental power. Do you think that there are two pots that are to be excluded, or that the specific pots are irrelevant so long as the school is represented?" Inclining his head to Kord, he continues. "Based upon our discoveries in yon library, I suspect Shraevyn held a fascination with enchantment. I would lead with that if any... but maybe it's more metaphorical than that, and the pot that opens things should be placed nearest the door we wish to open... If we place enchantment forward, we'll have evocation at our backs, which is the makings of a trap if ever I've seen one, but maybe that's a bluff.." Pointing at each indentation, starting at the one closest to our goal and working clockwise, he recites "Sword. Skull. Snake. Opening or Alchemy. Lightning or Soil. Invisibility. Scrying. Light. I can't say that that is right, but magic is more an art than a science, and there's a certain poetry about putting each of those pots together. Still, I would prepare for the worst should we attempt it."

"Hold!" Amarandé calls out. "Everyone just.. hold, for a moment. These pots don't add up... I think this is a trap." Running a hand over his skullcap in agitation, he begins to pace. "We have so far assumed that the solution is related to the arcane elements, courtesy of Valandil. Water [C] and Earth [G] seem obvious, but Air [A] seems a slight stretch, and was that Fire [I] or simply radiance? And what of the others? Hot soil suggests Magma [E], which is one of the para-elements, but Lightning [J] is instead a quasi-element... Perhaps Valandil is correct and we only have to fill four of the indentations, but then which is Earth: the hot dirt [E] or the vessel of clay [G], or even the skeletal visage [F]?" "My thoughts keep returning to the symbol Valandil translated for us, the obvious hint that prompted this line of thinking. Why is it there? Shraevyn would have surely been able to remember the solution, so why leave a clue that would allow unwanted guests free access to his abode? It makes no sense! Unless it's a false lead; it's what I'd do.. and we've already encountered two mechanical traps, one of which was behind an obvious route forward." Sitting crosslegged on the flood, he beckons Korlar over and begins to idly scratch the mastiff behind the ear. "There is another avenue of thought... Perhaps more clear than their corresponding elements, all eight of the primary schools of magic seem to be present among us. The invisible pot [A] represents Illusion, while the scrying water [C] is obviously Divination. The skull [F] is a symbol of Necromancy, and the snake [H] is clearly Conjuration. The lightning [J] would be Evocation... and the pot that opened my coffers [B] is probably Alteration... hmm.." "The vision of a magical weapon [D] could either be Enchantment or Abjuration, although since nothing better represents enchantment I am more inclined in that direction.. Both of the earth pots [E&G] could be Alteration or Evocation, depending on the nature of their enchantment.. and that fiery light [I]? Was that Evocation or Abjuration? It is a complicated subject for sure, and I would never profess to be an expert." "What do you all think? I know that not all of you are learned in the arcane arts, but doesn't this room stink of something foul to any of you? I just don't trust it."

I can't count... For the sake of brevity, Amarandé is wanting to ensure that all of the alcoves are checked, so unless anybody else volunteers to take a look he'll go to G and then H after he visits F

Amarandé practically coos as he observes the vision from vessel C. "Scrying, the purest form of the Art. I assume this to be water then; it lubricates the transfer of the weave, you know, and so acts as an excellent conduit.." He stares vacantly into the distance for a good half a minute as he silently ponders vessel D. "Akin to the second urn, I would label this school enchantment, or possibly abjuration... If all else fails, perhaps you could flick through your newest tome, Lirion, to spy any relevancy to our current predicament." "So far, that is fire," he nods at Theoath, "and water, with a possible contender for air and a flimsy suggestion of ooze, or perhaps even ice... wizards, I tell you..." He rolls his eyes, before glancing over at Jack. "What of you, master Jack? Was your urn obvious or tedious?" Unless anybody else goes for them first, Amarandé will explore the final two chambers: first E, and then finally F, using his now familiar routine.

"I hope that you're wrong, master gnome, or else that you find some clue to support that theory. Ten vessels, eight receptacles... there would be more combinations than we could achieve within the narrow window of our rescue attempt." "This pot's pots enchantment has the scent of transmutation, not evocation, so perhaps this is one of our outliers? It could be ooze, I suppose..." he trails of glumly, before repeating his investigation in first alcove C, and if he survives unscathed then also alcove D. Edit: it is probably safe to say that he is becoming slightly less cautious with each investigation as they prove to be benign. Still cautious, mind, just perhaps a bit less twitchy about it

"Mmhmm, that's it," he mutters as he retreives the pot from its alcove. "I didn't notice anything particularly untoward about this particular urn, save the obvious," he waves the invisible pot around some. "If your theory proves accurate, I'd wager a silver piece on this element being air." With the same precautions as before, perhaps slightly less cautious of danger save for the mild expectation of it bursting into flames, Amarandé approaches the second alcove.

"A valid assumption," Amarandé inclines his head to Mandons, before turning to Theoath. "And a valid concern. I'm afraid I am unlearned in such feats; perhaps there is another way through the door, without subscribing to whatever twisted game this may be?" As he turns his mind inwards to the puzzle, he goes to examine the pot at marked A; at first simply looking at it closer, then poking into the empty air above it with his staff. After that, he'll tentatively poke it with a finger, and if nothing untoward happens he'll give it a little wiggle to test the stability of the stone beneath it, before finally attempting to retrieve the pot from its alcove to properly peer inside.

Stood in the centre of the library, Amarandé glances about idly before throwing another handful of flour into the air, his keen eyes tracking the room's airflow as the fine particles disperse.

Did everyone make sure they got their doses of healing potions? A couple of people don't seem to be carrying one, although I can't recall when they might have used it

I'm happy to host a wresting competition, but only if there's anybody interested. If not, dalamb probably has plenty to go on for judging each of us, so the pressure's eased up somewhat.