As the beast keeps attacking the bigger men, Olivius is content to just keep on hacking away at the thing. However, he decides to make it a little easier on his allies and find somewhere that stings. He carefully aims for a crevice at the small of the thing's "back" and thrusts his blade deep.
- add 1d6
- +1 forward to an ally acting on the enemy.
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Dambreth aims carefully and fires an arrow at the hole in the back of the creature that Olivius had just carved.
Unfortunately his shot is a bit off target yet again so instead of a potentially mortal wound he is only able to blow another chunk out of the monster.
Hawke takes a blow to the face that leaves him bloodied, but determined. His brutal overhead chop DOES damage the creature, despite the inaccuracy of his strike - but Hawke appears to have hit a "vein". Hot magma sprays from the wound and into his face, dealing damage that ignores armor.
The giant rockbeast is angered now. With a bellow that shakes the room, it SLAMS one carriage-sized fist into the wall, causing this room to begin to come apart! Huge chunks of rock and masonry fall from the ceiling all around. Where they hit the giant, they stick and become part of its body. Dembrath, a huge rock is falling toward you from overhead, what do you do?
Olivius manages to land another brutal stab on the creature, perhaps fortified by his recent brush with death. However, when the rockgiant begins destroying the room, a piece of the roof falls from overhead and to your great surprise, shatters the floor beneath! There's another room below that you catch a glimpse of before beginning to lose your footing.
Ugly choice time, Olivius. If you continue to stand where you are, you'll fall into the sudden pit that was created just behind you. However, the giant has you blocked in with his lurching, dangerous movements. If you seek to avoid falling into the unknown below, you must jump onto the back of the giant's rampaging foot, taking damage from its molten blood as the magma seeps from the wounds you've made.
Dambreth attempts to dive out of the way of the falling ceiling.
Hawke would let out a fierce howl of pain as the magma finds hold on his face. Blinded by rage, he'll swing yet again at the beast with his mighty great axe.
Vivid green eyes looked out from amongst the rubble and she shadows, searching. 'Now where did those harpies disappear to, surely they are watching.' Her companions seemed to have the rock-thing under control, for the most part. But those harpies, they would expect all of them to be occupied with the rock-thing. But not her, now would be the perfect time to strike! 'Here, harpy, harpy, harpy. Come out, Come out wherever you are.' She grins in her mind as she slinks off to look for Harpies hiding to attack while distracted or possibly make their escape.
Olivius is thrown off balance by the cascading rock. He flails wildly to keep his balance, but the monster's foot shifts and he tumbles into the dark.
He tucks and tries to right himself in the air while doing his best to spot his landing and, if possible, a direction in which to roll and dissipate his falling speed.
...Si-Yi - its fist is the size of a wagon and coming at you, what do you do?
Si-Yi takes one look at rapidly approaching fist of stone and decides that trying to stay on the creature's shoulders just isn't worth it. Quickly, he jumps off from the creature towards the ground, figuring that even if he messes up the landing it would hurt less than being hit by its fist and then falling to the ground.
Hawke bravely strikes at the thing once more! His axe buries itself in the beast's rocky hide, causing hot magma to hiss as it hits the blade. However, disaster! The beast shifts its stance and position, and transforms again! Before your eyes, the boulders that form its body rearrange themselves, forming a vaguely octopus-like shape. "Tentacles" made of rock wave in 8 directions as the creature roars again. Your axe is yanked out of your grasp by the creature's "foot" as it lifts high off the ground and begins waving dangerously quickly in the air. What do you do?
Sinathel creeps up the fallen rubble in tiger form, her extra-fine feline senses on high alert. Her tactical instincts are rewarded when she hears the sounds of three female voices chanting in unison. Their voices rise and fall together, in perfect cadence. It sounds as if it is coming from just outside the window high in the wall near to you. You remember seeing the harpy queen taunting you just a moment ago from that very window. What do you do?
Olivius, your fall isn't far enough to hurt, though your shins do smart a bit from the landing despite your attempt to roll with it. However, you stand up, unharmed, in what looks like a cellar of some sort. You see old wine barrels, dust and cobwebs everywhere. There are lantern sconces, but waxless and long burnt out. The only light is coming from the hole in the ceiling about 8 feet overhead, giving you enough light to see clearly for about 6 or 7 feet around you, and dimly for another 5 beyond that. Your backpack with your adventuring gear is hanging from the hole overhead, where its strap caught on a stone shard outcropping from what was once the floor. What do you do?
Si-Yi, you witness Olivius falling into the pit. You can tell it's a controlled fall, however, so you don't feel any immediate worry for his safety. You're far more concerned with yourself as the ground comes rushing up at you. Fortunately, your barbarian heritage has taught you the value of knowing when to jump off of big things. You land safely, without a hitch, and look back. Before your eyes, the bipedal giant that just attacked you shifts into octopus form. Perfect. What do you do?
Sinathel looks for a means of getting to that window. A ledge, a wooden pole, fallen rocks, all would be perfect for climbing. Even a fallen drap would be of some use. 'I've found you, prey.' Her tail lashes in excitement and anticipation before she falls back into hunter mode.
"" Hawke would shout as he attemps to jump after his axe and take hold of it.
Olivius is curious about this... wine cellar?... but the beast upstairs is the bigger threat. He sheaths his rapier and jumps, grabbing hold of the bottom strap of his backpack. He then climbs, hand over hand, up his backpack to get into the action again.
Sinathel, through a mixture of strength, agility, and years of experience in parkour through the jungles and forests of your youth, you reach the window. The voices are loud and clear now - you see a wide ledge outside the window, they must just be around the corner...what do you do?
Hawke grasps the haft of his axe just barely in time. However, he is yanked immediately off his feet by the force of the tentacle. He's thrown screaming into the air and loses his grip, flying straight at the monster's mouth. Take damage as the rockbeast tries to chew you into paste. What do you do?
Dambreth, when you leap out of the way of the rocks, one strikes you hard on the head! You've escaped certain death beneath the enormous stone that landed where you just were, but you take damage that ignores armor and start bleeding from the side of your forehead. You see Hawke fly through the air and into the monter's mouth, what do you do?
Olivius, your fingers miss the strap of your backpack and you land in a small puddle of water, causing you to lose your footing and land badly. Crack, your head impacts on the stone floor. You're shaky: -1 Dex bonus ongoing until you recover.
Hawke, steaming at his inability to get his axe back, slips his each of his hands into a pair of steel knuckles as he falls into the creature's mouth. "I'd bet you would look pretty with a few missing teeth you ass*#@#," Hawke would grumble to himself as the creature attempts to chew him up, an act it has very little luck with as it finds Hawke's armor a bit hard to chew. While rolling around in the creature's mouth, Hawke will see how durable it is from the inside by taking a few swings at it with his steel knuckles.
Olivius's vision blurrs the nfocuses again as a dull throb makes camp just north of his cerabellum. He groans and rolls. His hands won't stop shaking. This is just not my day. he thinks as he ponders a way back to the main floor. The hole in the roof definitely isn't doing it. He stumbles around the room in search of a door or upward staircase or a ladder. Something.
'I do wonder if they taste like junglefowl. I should have asked Scram earlier.'
Dambreth seeing Hawke in serious trouble whistles for Scram and then charges the beast leading with his spear as Scram tries to claw at the creatures legs.
Si-Yi sighs in resignation when he sees the creature switch forms into something vaguely octopus-looking. Doesn't the monster know when to quit? Well, perhaps it will come into its senses and just give up if it's slashed with pointy things enough times, the barbarian thinks and proceeds to attempt to do just that, swinging his sword at one of the monster's eight tentacles.
Hawke's mind races through numerous tactical options as he struggles to avoid getting eaten.
Ok, I lied, he goes straight for his steel knuckles. Strapping them on, he manages to punch straight upward through the roof of the elemental's mouth. Lava drips down onto the "tongue" you're struggling on and sizzles on your armor. Overhead, you see a glow in the otherwise utter darkness of the creature's mouth. A gem-studded, perfectly round orb of earth can be seen resting unharmed among the lava-like blood of the creature, where you think a brain might be on a normal creature. What do you do?
Olivius, you stumble around in the dark for a few moments. You find old, dry mugs of wood and stone, more wine barrels than you can count, and cobwebs. There is a small ladder on wheels designed to allow access to kegs higher up that you find in a corner. It doesn't reach all the way to the ceiling, but it should help you get closer.
The earth elemental is roaring continuously now, flailing with its rocky tentacles as Dembrath, Hawke and Si-Yi struggle furiously to bring it down. Entire columns are destroyed in the creature's wrath, bringing down huge piles of rubble and masonry from the ceiling, which is by now mostly open to the sky.
The elf ranger darts in close to the tentacles with his shortspear. He gets in a deep stab, but hears the attacking tentacle too late. It slams into him, doing damage and knocking him aside. Dembrath, you land heavily in the middle of the gladiator's pit, and when you open your eyes you're staring into the dead face of a monk who was forced to battle to the death. Their blood covers one side of your face where it touched the gore-slicked ground.
Si-Yi leaps at the tentacle nearest to him and swings his sword in a wide arc. With a chunking sound, the barbarian slices off the tentacle he attacked, sending it spinning through the air and landing heavily several meters away. Hot magma blood sprays from the rocks that Si-Yi injured, covering a 15 meter radius around the monster's stump. Si-Yi, I hope you played lots of "The floor is lava!" as a kid - because it's no longer just a game. Lava is continuously pouring out of the beast's messy wound and slowly covering the floor. Watch your footing!
Meanwhile, up on the window ledge, Sinathel the tiger creeps out onto the wide ledge outside the window and looks to her left. There, three harpy witches chant together around a summoning circle of some kind. You count over 10 small demonic figures that are cackling and climbing all over the witches - imps. If left undeterred, the ever-escalating numbers of imps these hags are summoning could overwhelm your friends! What do you do?
Despite the fact his armor is starting to melt around him, Hawke's face becomes consumed by a wide grim as his eyes fall upon what he assumes is the creature's gem encrusted brain. Without even thinking about it, he lashes out at it with his steel knuckles hoping a good one, two combination will finally bring this creature down for the count.
As Hawke feels his first fist make contact, he uses it to guide his second fist to it's mark.
Hawke, you feel the stone loosen overhead and roll around a bit in the lava as the earth elemental shakes its head back and forth, slapping your body against the insides of its "teeth". You've definitely done solid damage to whatever it is you were smashing - you've knocked some gems and earth loose from it, making it no longer a perfect sphere.
Outside the beast's mouth, those of you engaged in active combat with it can see its movements starting to grow more sluggish. Its roars no longer contain the ear-shattering force they once did. Victory is at hand!
'I knew you would be up to no good.' Sinathel briefly wracks her brain on everything she knows about summoning and it's rituals. Mostly trying to remember what they are likely summoning and the pros and cons of various means of interruptions of the summoning.
Her instinct was to rip to shreds the harpy with the crown, destroy their circle of three and attack the main female at the same time. Perhaps they would all fall to pieces without her.
Just remember you have to roll a 10+ for that option to be available.
Sinathel, you recall learning about demons and summoning years ago when you were still a very young druid. You learned that demons follow the behavior patterns of the intelligent beings whose emotions they hope to devour. In the case of imps, you know they feed off of emotions of spitefulness and capriciousness, and can be willful servants of an inexperienced summoner. Your instructor, Brother Ironwillow, warned you never to enter dealings with demons, as they will turn on you the moment they sense weakness.
'Time to make those little junglefowls show some weakness. May fear fill their hearts and this summoning backlash on them.'
Sinathel lets out an Intimidating Roar before pouncing the Harpy Queen. She uses her teeth, her claws and her strength to start to Tear to Shreds this so-called-queen. It would be bloody, it would be messy, and she'd learn if they tasted like junglefowl.
Olivius's unsteady hands grip the ladder and roll it along the tracks toward the hole in the ceiling. He gets it as close as be can before testing it to see how close he can get to the ceiling by scaling it and perhaps the wine case if the edges of the hole are wide enough.
Sinathel is less than 10 feet away from the harpies when she cuts loose with her Intimidating Roar. Unsurprisingly, the two harpies nearest to her immediately lose control of their bowels and take to the skies in panicked flight.
"NO, YOU FOOLS!! THE RITUAL!" the harpy queen cries after them. However, her attention is momentarily diverted by the 400 pounds of tiger rushing her. With a squawk of surprise, the harpy falls backward, exposing her dangerous talons skyward. "YOU WON'T TAKE ME ALIVE!" the mad queen screams at the tiger as her claws rake at her underbelly. The two combatants are instantly locked in a battle embrace, claws slashing at each other on the ledge overlooking a 40 foot drop. The imps of the summoning circle immediately latch on to Sinathel's fur, tearing out clumps of it and giggling to each other.
Between the harpy queen and the imps attacking you, take damage. Sinathel is left with some deep underbelly cuts and missing fur in several places, but the harpy queen lies brutalized beneath her quadripedal body. The druid is able to answer her question - harpies taste nothing like junglefowl. More like rubbery old pork. Quite distasteful.
The imps all give a cheer together as the harpy queen is slain, but continue attacking Sinathel. Your tiger body has imps crawling all over it, biting and scratching and pulling out tufts of fur painfully. What do you do?
Olivius, you're standing on a large wine cask that is situated roughly below the hole the earth elemental made. You're able to climb out without much difficulty, and the earth elemental currently isn't paying attention to the hole, so you're not in immediate danger. What do you do?
The imps screech in surprise as the tiger that just annihilated their master turns into an elf wench. Same situation, only now it's worse - they're pulling your hair out and slashing at your exposed skin cruelly. What do you do?
As her form had returned, these imps had become even more annoying. It hurt, it was painful. She starts grabbing them and chucking them off the 40ft drop.
Olivius grabs hold of the ledge and scrambles out. The beast has changed form again. Thankfully, the tentacles nearest him are quite still compares to the ones engaged in active combat. He draws his rapier and dashes forward. He vaults up onto a tentacle and races up it, running like he would on the peak of a city roof or fence. The "octopus"'s body slants up as he comes to the back of the head, but a few agile leaps make short work of the trip from the tentacles proper to the back of its head. Here Olivius finds the most sensitive crack he can, and attempts to bury his rapier in it.
- +1d6
- +1 forward to an ally action against this enemy
Trying his very best to avoid stepping into the lava-blood pouring from the creature's wounds, Si-Yi prepares his sword and performs a mighty slice towards another tentacle before the monster can recover from Olivius' stab.
Out on the ledge, Sinathel shouts and cries out as the imps bite and scratch her around her armor, then yanks off their bodies one by one and hurls them off the precipice. One by one their tiny screams of rage fade down into silence.
The harpy hags are staring down at the druid in shock. They glance at each other, their jewelry banging against themselves awkwardly as they fly. Then, they turn tail and wing off into the mountains, screaming.
Meanwhile, inside...
Si-Yi and Olivius have always felt most comfortable around each other in combat situations. Never more truly had that shown than now. The two of them attack the earth elemental in concert, inflicting serious wounds in the beast's rocky hide. The creature is clearly in its death throes.
Hawke. You're inside the elemental. Your signature weapon, your greataxe, is buried in its hide as well. Your blood is in its magma and your mark has been left on its most precious element. As your allies destroy its material body, you feel, more than see, a spirit of earth leaving the formerly-perfect sphere at the moment of its "death".
You feel a strange, alien sense of gratitude fill your mind. It occupies the same "mental space" you give to your weapon under ordinary circustances... your spirit-sense.
The rocks, masonry and hide that make up the earth elemental discorporate, and for one silent instant you can hear what sounds like a terrifically old woman laughing. Then, all of you cover your heads as thousands and thousands of pounds of dirt spray in all directions, filling up the whole room and lifting all of you over 6 feet off the former monastery ground.
The ground is now completely covered by earth, and largely open to the sky. All that remains of the monastery room that this space once was are the 4 walls around you, one of which is also destroyed. Through the destroyed wall, you can see the path leading up the mountain's slope.
Hawke, you slide down a mountain of earth as it forms beneath you until you roll to a stop between Olivius and Dembrath. The sphere is in your arms - it requires two arms to wrap around, though it's surprisingly light. Looking inside, you can see that the sphere is hollow, and empty.
After taking a moment to examine the sphere, he turns his attention to his comrades and says with a smile, "I found myself a souvenir while in there." Then, as if a thought had come to cross his mind, he starts glancing around. "Anyone seen my axe?"
You can see it sticking out of the earth a few meters away, unharmed.
Hawke would let out a sigh of relief as he spots his axe close by and in good condition. It was all that he had remaining and it would strike him a deep blow to lose it. However, now knowing that it was safe, he'll return his gaze to his prize and see if he could remember hearing about such things.
"Yes. That is right. Run or you will be next." She glares after the fleeing harpies, not feeling it's worth chasing them down. They ran in fear, and that was enough for her. She reaches and picks up the queen's crown before she heads back around the ledge to sit in the window. At ease with the height, she looks down at the others and playing with the crown as she sits there. "Have fun?"
Dambreth continues to stare at the dead monks eyes for a moment longer. "Be at peace Monk, you have been avenged."
Meanwhile, Scram scurries over to Sinathel and asks her in cougar how the ugly flying things tasted and should she eat one?
You don't recall much about earth elementals. Your knowledge of them is more tied to what people have said about the destruction one can wreak. Looking at the room around you, you can well understand that.
As for the sphere...it's covered in gems, but none of them rival the enormous red uncut ruby that dominates one entire side. You'd guess that's probably worth something.
Dambreth - you feel a breeze stirring the area. As you look about you, you realize that the bodies of the monks have been completely buried by the "body" of the earth elemental. It's fitting that by slaying your opponent you have also buried the harpies' victims, and hopefully granted their spirits peace.
Hawke will look at the material the rest of the sphere is made of. Does it appear to just be stone? Metal? Anything of any use?
Hard-packed earth. Hard enough to almost be rock, but you can break off small bits of it. Imagine something like that.
Sinathel responds to Scram, saying it tastes like rubbery old pork and eating one is not recommended. But utterly terrifying them? Now that was both fun and highly recommended.
"The harpies should leave us be now." She calls down the the rest of the group.
'I think I will keep this crown. To remind the harpies.'
Hawke looks for a portion of the sphere that he might be able to punch with the steel knuckles without harming the gems.
Olivius shields himself as the beast collapses in a pile of dirt. He lands hard on his back, again.
That battle was over. Thank the heavens. He is so thankful he's not dead this time, but his head still hurts and he can't stop shaking.
He sees Hawke's new prize and tries to remember if he's seen anything like it.
Hawke, you can punch off small bits of the stone with your steel knuckles, but it's awkward work.
Olivius, as you walk over to Hawke you see that he's about to (further) destroy an elemental lodestone, a very rare and valuable magical artifact used as a focus in summoning rituals.
Elemental lodestones are formed from basic materials that represent the type of creature that the caster wishes to connect to, but the lodestone becomes magical when the spirit of an earth elemental possesses it. The longer the elemental remains on this plane, the more the power of the spirit is seeped away into the material of the lodestone that imprisons it. Eventually, the spirit is trapped on the Material Plane permanently. You know that you did the earth spirit a favor by destroying its mortal form - it lives on now in the Elemental Plane of Earth, its home.
The way to the mountain path that leads to the summit of Mount Haujobb is now clear to you. This seems like a good time to end Chapter 1 and do our End of Session move.
When you reach the end of a session, choose one of your bonds that you feel is resolved (completely explored, no longer relevant, or otherwise). Ask the player of the character you have the bond with if they agree. If they do, mark XP and write a new bond with whomever you wish.
Once bonds have been updated look at your alignment. If you fulfilled that alignment at least once this session, mark XP. Then answer these three questions as a group:
Did we learn something new and important about the world? Yes, you confirmed the dangerous psychic abilities of the harpies.
Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy? Yes, the harpy queen and her pet elemental.
Did we loot a memorable treasure? Yes, elemental lodestones are very hard to find.
For each “yes” answer everyone marks XP.
When you have downtime (hours or days) and XP equal to (or greater than) your current level+7, you can reflect on your experiences and hone your skills.
Subtract your current level+7 from your XP.
Increase your level by 1.
Choose a new advanced move from your class.
If you are the wizard, you also get to add a new spell to your spellbook.
Choose one of your stats and increase it by 1 (this may change your modifier). Changing your Constitution increases your maximum and current HP. Ability scores can’t go higher than 18.
The lodestone is Weight 1, by the way.