"Just what we need, some enormous monster living in another even bigger monster's skull... Calistria certainly has a sense of humor..."
Tollo creeps back to the rest of the party.
Whistling a quick chirp, the wizards shakes his head.
An ancient blue dragon; how humbling.
”Looks white to me,” Timbur opines.
Loges smiles at the gentle giant.
Yes. Yes, it does, my friend.
Tollo carefully creeps back to the party on his tiptoes, trying to tread as likely as possible. Just as he arrives back with the rest of the group, a clacking sound like two wooden planks being smacked together can be heard coming from behind or inside the dragon skull. Within seconds, a giant black scorpion easily standing 12 feet in height unfolds itself from behind the skull, shaking its massive claws the size of a farmer's scythe. It midnight black carapace shimmers with an almost iridescent glow as it unfolds its stinger tail, and turns towards you and crouches as if to pounce!
Picture of giant black scorption
Timbur readies his shield, then moves forward 20 feet whilst drawing his sword.
Tollo loads and fires his crossbow at the giant scorpion!
Even if he knew something was in the skull, the sight of the giant insect fills him with dread and he fires too soon.
Loges looks on as the giant scorpion? Skipped that class because of chess club... emerges from the dragon skull. He fumbles in his robes, pulling out a scroll.
The young wizard then places a hand on Timbur's shoulder.
Diviner's Fortune for you.
When you activate this school power, you can touch any creature as a standard action to give it an insight bonus on all of its attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum +1) for 1 round. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.
Zuberi draws a javelin as he advances to stand beside Timbur and releases the projectile as he comes to a stop.
The javelin glances the dragons skull a d deflects away harmlessly.
Horek eyes the giant scorpion warily, moving away from Timbur and Zuberi to circle around it. "Spread out. When it comes at one of us, move to flank and surround it." As the half-orc moves with deceptive speed, angling around the desert creature, he draws his throwing axe, intending to throw it when it draws close.
Timbur moves up, drawing his sword, while Tollo's crossbow bolt goes wide and flies off into the gathering darkness. Loges moves up behind his bodyguard and imparts a bit of magical insight on him. Zuberi's javelin bounces harmlessly off the scorpion's chitinous carapace, causing it to momentarily recoil before it rushes at the advancing Horek. Just as it approaches the half-orc, Horek throws an axe at it, hitting it in the abdomen and causing sluggish, dark-brown blood to ooze out. Without missing a beat, the scorpion reaches out towards Horek, grabbing him in its massive claws and lifting him off the ground. The claw squeezes him, and you hear the sound of several ribs popping, as Horek goes limp (
Tollo drops his crossbow and runs around the scorpion's back side. He wants to shout, but he tamps it down- far better to let the bug forget about him until he's rammed a short sword up its underbelly.
Timbur moves up, waits for somebody to move opposite him, and slashes with his sword.
vs AC [Darn! That'll miss unless I can pick up a flanking bonus?]
, after which the half-orc goes limp, the greataxe tumbling from his two-handed grip.
Drimm moves towards Horek and places his hands on the half-orc.
"I canna believe that I am doing this but here goes. Blessing of Moridan heal this warrior so he may fight in your name ."
Cure wounds:
Loges begins reading from his scroll.
Tollo zips behind the giant scorpion while he is distracted with the half-orc,
() giving Timbur the opening he needs. He drives his sword into the creatures softer underbelly, inflicting a nasty gash.
Horek's greataxe comes crashing down on the scorpion's head, but the creature reflexively jerks him to the side at the last minute, and the deadly blow turns into a mere glancing attack that bounces off its armor. He then goes limp in the creature's claw. ()
Drimm moves up next to Horek and imparts a bit of healing to him, reviving him from unconsciousness, while Loges prepares a more arcane solution far from the fray.
Zuberi moves up to give the giant scorpion another target if nothing else. He hefts the two-hander, aiming it at the weak joint in the nearest leg, but his angle is off, and his misses. ( )
The midnight black scorpion, unaware that Horek has been revived, drops the half-orc and focuses on Timbur and Zuberi. He claws at the fighter, nearly taking his arm off with one of his giant claws. The other claw and the stinger go for the Mauxi, and he barely sidesteps them. ()
Tollo stabs at the scorpion under the tail, trying to get the soft bits under the carapace with his small blade.
Still fueled by the power of his orcish rage, barely aware of the blood that runs from his wounds, Horek slashes again at the monstrous scorpion!
vs AC (includes flanking bonus)
slashing
Tollo stabs up at the scorpion, inflicting another nasty wound. Then Horek, barely standing from blood loss, drives his greataxe into the monster's head, opening a gushing wound that spatters him with gore. The scorpion screeches horribly then slumps to the ground and stops moving.
Finishing his scroll, Loges points at the scorpion's face. Suddenly a horse appears neighing furiously with hoofs flailing.
[b]Attack, Zed![b]
Timbur topples over and bleeds into the sand.
"Hold on, lad...I'm on my way!"
Drimm rushes over to the bleeding Timbur and, with a quick prayer, heals the worst of his wounds.
CLW:
Tollo cleans his blade in the sand and reclaims his crossbow.
"Well that escalated quickly. How are you two holding up?"
He gives the scorpion a good kick to make sure it's dead.
Timbur comes to.
”Ow.”
Tollo cleans his blade in the sand and reclaims his crossbow.
"Well that escalated quickly. How are you two holding up?"
He gives the scorpion a good kick to make sure it's dead.
The ugly halfling stabs it a few more times for good measure.
"Sprung your last surprise, bugger!"
Loges (still pointing) looks at the summoned mount.
Hey, we have a horse....for an hour.
The horse turns to Loges, looking him in the eye and snorts, seeming to say: "You brought me here for this?"
Horek takes several deep breaths, seeming to calm himself almost immediately. He tiredly slings the greataxe over his shoulder, wincing with the effort due to his wounds. He looks at the horse, then back at the young wizard and chuckles. "My parents had a saying on the farm. Better late than never. I think they were talking about the crops, but I suppose it might fit in this instance. At least one of us can ride for a bit." The half-orc looks at the animal again, then asks curiously. "Is it... real? Not an illusion? And it only lasts for an hour? Magic is truly a strange thing." He reaches out tentatively to touch it, running his hand along its flank.
After petting the horse briefly, he moves to investigate the nest of the scorpion, still in awe of the giant, dragon-like skeleton in which it had been hiding. He is wary of other surprises though, and is ready to draw his axe again at a moment's notice.
”Any others of those inside the skull?” Timbur asks.
"If there are they can keep the skull. But if not it might have something of use in its lair from previous dinners. We're not in a position to turn our noses up at it."
Horek carefully inspects the dragon's skull, and happily does not find any more scorpions, large or small. The monster looks like it made itself a nest in the creature's skull, with the bones of countless lizards, birds, and other desert-dwelling animals found within.
He pokes about a bit, and notices the glint of metal coming from far inside the skull. It's beyond the half-orc's reach, however, so he'd have to crawl in to reach it.
Loges grins, shrugging his shoulders.
Admittedly, I do study illusion magic (which not much use against vermin), but I do know a few other spells. Well, mostly, magic that assists in exploration, but I am working on some others..., the young wizard finishes lamely.
Loges peeks his head inside the lair, casting detect magic.
Loges peeks his head inside the lair, casting detect magic.
"Hmm... There is something back here. Metal. I don't see any other bugs, though." The big half-orc stands up and stretches, then turns to Tollo and grins. "You could fit in there more easily than me."
If Tollo hesitates, Horek will shrug and crawl inside to retrieve the item he glimpsed.
Tollo shrugs.
"I'll earn my keep, since I escaped a fatal pinching...", he says before getting into the skull.
Tollo reemerges from the dragon's skull holding a long rope that trails back inside.
"Alright, gents. We got a chest mostly buried in that skull and it's in an awkward position. So what I done- no need to thank me- is tie off this here rope to the handle. We all give it a good pull, communally see, and we can drag it right outta there.", he says, holding out the length of rope.
With a little bit of effort, a few of you grab hold of the rope and manage to free the metal box where it has been wedged at the back of the dragon skull for years, if not decades. It lands on the ground with a dull clang, and turns over, revealing a large padlock.
The halfling gives it a thorough examination before taking out his tools and picking the lock.
To Tollo, the lock and the box do not seem to be trapped. The box is rusted in many places, but not enough to cause any one section to be weak enough to easily break. Tollo spends a few moments fiddling with the lock with his lock picks, but is not able to open it.
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"Hrmph."
Tollo makes a show of blowing sand out of the lock and then tries again.
And one more time:
"LOUSY F%!&ING LOCK!", he fumes. "Any of you boys want to break this damn padlock off?"
Drimm looks over his companions and once again calls upon his heavenly powers to heal the group
Channel positive energy:
Perhaps if you took your time, Tollo?
Horek looks over the chest even as he feels some of his worst injuries magically heal and the half-orc shrugs. "I could smash it with my axe, but if there's anything breakable in there..."