Rounding the corner and ready to plunge her bardiche into the side of the creature, she pulls up short as the menfolk make a quick end of it. She pauses for a moment to marvel.
"Truly you four are beyond compare. Astounding! There aren't words to express how much suffering you just prevented."
She nods at Quintus. "You're right, but we first must get back below. We probably have minutes before we lose any chance to recover that Scroll, and search the beast's chamber for clues, relics, and other things of interest."
She eyes the hole. "Perhaps that's our easiest method of returning below. I have my falling ring, and the climbing rope."
Okay, back down it is, and quickly. Are the worms still wriggling about now that the main beast has died?
The tendrils around it are still and no longer dangerous.
"I agree. Let's head down below. I wish I could make you invisible Rowena. With your speed, you could probably collect everything and get back before anyone knew you were gone. But perhaps the time for stealth is at an end. We have found the evil we needed to find here. Let's collect the rest of the evidence and return."
Trevor avoids the worst of the acidic spray, only to watch with satisfaction the monstrous larvae collapse under the onslaught of Kelkzar. He flashes a smile despite being weary.
Slipping back downstairs is not a an issue, and the secret door should mask it and give you time. Best to save your hero point for dim dooring back to the Coenoby before your match.
Once you get downstairs, the scroll is unprotected now, but also non magical.
Kelkzar waves at the now non-magical scroll, "At least it helps us with the evidence. Let's see about collecting anything else that might be useful later and get back to the Coenoby. You want to try talking to the priest Rauno. He didn't like talking to me."
"But there's no evidence that we were involved, and Raknian might not want the guards poking around down here. Oh, I'm sure he'll suspect it was us, but we're popular--he might not be able to kick us out of the contest without a good excuse."
"We need to find what happened to her. Let's keep searching!"
Clearly, Raknian is up to his elbows in crime, though I wonder if he knows what he was getting into...
A central pillar of green marble carved in the likeness of a segmented worm supports the ceiling of this square room. The room is dimly lit by a single incense burner that sheds a sweet, fruity aroma. The room is lined with woolen tapestries depicting coiling green worms, and contains a bed, an armchair, and a cupboard. Near the bed is a small nightstand and an ornate, elongated darkwood trunk with a steel plaque on it of a skull infested with worms..
Sitting in the armchair with a glass of wine is a zombie. The silent figure does not rise to attack but instead lifts the glass to its mouth in a semblance of drinking. The description matches that of Ekyam's sister. An angry red indentation around her neck is visible even from here.
As you move into the room you notice another figure on the bed, female in form. As she rolls over, Rowena recognizes her as her sister, now a zombie plaything.
Quintus turns away.
A clatter breaks the silence, as Rowena's bardiche falls to the ground.
"Marina-?" Rowena chokes off, as she runs over to her, forcing herself to pull up short. "But...Raknian had you killed. We heard it from...from..."
"Quintus, can you...?"
Trevor stands awestruck, unable to move or speak, caught between conflicting duties, hypnotized by the madness of the scene.
Marina? That's... Impossible!
Kelkzar stands uneasily. His huge shoulders slump sadly at the sight of the pair and the horrible words that fall from Rowena's lips. He bows his head and prays that Quintus will know what to do.
The priest shakes his head slowly, his face a mask of pain. "I haven't earned the grace to bring her back. Not yet.... I'm, I'm sorry."
"Not yet? Oh..."
She lowers her head, trying to get a grip on herself.
Then she brightens. "Perhaps our 'manager' has the resources. If he wants his sister back, he'll need to. But, but what do we do in the meantime? We can't leave her...them like this."
Does it look like this room could have been Raknian's, or more likely the tieflings?
Kelkzar nods, "That's a good idea Rowena. Maybe he can help them. But, I'm not sure what to do with them now. Maybe we better look through that other door and then decide."
Quintus tears his gaze away from the undead and nods. "Let's move on."
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Rowena bends down to retrieve her weapon, then makes her way to the west door, forcing herself not to look at zombie Marina. When Kelkzar gets there, she grips his arm hard, like a tether keeping herself from being sucked away. "You have to stop me. You have to tell me when. I can't do this without you, I'm not strong enough."
"One step at a time Rowena. First this door. Then Raknian. Then we see about bringing back your sister and Ekyam's sister. Good will prevail."
"That's not good enough," she growls angrily. "I know it's not time yet, I know it here," she taps her head, "I know we need evidence to tie him to that beast and these...zombies" (choke, sniff) "because if we just go kill him, his political cronies will have our hides. I know it, just like I know as soon as I see that piece of filth, all this knowledge will fly right out of my head, and all I'll think about is ripping his f&@$ing head off..." She goes white as she hears her own language. She stares strangely at her hand for a moment before realizing her nails have gone through Kelkzar's skin and drawn the half-orc's blood. She releases him and takes a deep breath. "I need you to say the words. When it's time, and we're there, I need you to say those two words: 'Kill him'. If I don't hear those words, I can focus on waiting for them, and staying cool. But I can't say them myself, I need you to say them at the right time!"
"Please, Kelkzar. I'm not strong enough right now to say them at the right time, but you are."
Trevor's blood has drained from his face. He looks to Quintus for help, but he knows that the cleric can't do much beyond destroying them.
Suddenly, filled with rage, he lifts his fauchard and slams it down with great strength , slicing through one of the chairs.
Good will prevail... Good will prevail... he repeats his mentor's words in his mind like a mantra, catching his breath, blood flowing again.
Kelkzar's sad eyes turn to steel as he looks Rowena in the eye. "When it is time, I will say the words."
The cupboard contains personal effects and clothing of a traveling cleric, including an ebony walking stick, a dark traveling outfit, and a rucksack. On the bedside table are a hooded lantern, a jug of red wine, and a pair of smoked goggles.
With a scan of detect magic, the trunk emanates an aura of abjuration and necromancy.
The trunk is an art object both disgusting and fascinating. Made of darkwood and bound with steel, the trunk measures 36×18×18 inches. A steel plaque representing the unholy symbol of Kyuss, is nailed to the lid. The side panels are painted in tones of black and green with a cycle of apocalyptic images that runs around the trunk like a frieze. The images are divided into two horizontal strips, underground and above ground, by a cutaway of the earth’s crust. Underground, the horrible figure of a man made of worms lies imprisoned in a huge stone monolith. The figure has been represented in perspective on all the trunk’s four sides. Huge green worms writhe in the surrounding caverns and break through the cavern’s crust to invade the above ground part of the paintings, where a sickly green light illuminates a blasted landscape. There, the writhing worms tower over a population of monstrous undead and naked, terrified victims.
Rauno, still plan to look inside?
Heading west there is a short hallway before opening into another room. A brazier in the northwest corner lights this rectangular room. A green and black checkered curtain hanging from a steel bar fixed near the ceiling conceals the south wall.
Surprise Round
Rauno, you go first. Your divination abilities alert you to something is about to happen.
The curtain pulls over and there is a shape of a shivering mess of phosphorescent green corruption surrounded by cracked, leathery coatings, always oozing, secreting, thickening, and breaking open, with dark eye-globes covering its body. It casts and a poison cloud surround this room and through the hallway covering everything of obscuring your sight.
- Rauno, Quintus, Rowena, Enemy, Trevor, Kelkzar
AC 25 T 19 FF 18 CMD 23
"Its a demon! An alkilith! Might not look like it, but they are very intelligent and quick. It will try to lash us with pseudopods or dissipate into a cloud that could kill us. Use good aligned weapons and something to smash with if you can. They're immune to toxic gases, acid, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing and very hard to affect with magic. If there are other oozes nearby, it can command them."
Does this look like something Rowena could trip?
Quintus keeps his last meal down despite his current loss of health and calls on divine protection for the party.
Rowena moves into the room. She can't see the creature, but she can see Kelkzar's direction of focus and so turns that way, getting right up to Slimo, and tries to haul it down.
If that works, she dumps it in front of Trevor and Kelkzar. She also takes a couple AoOs.
Even caught a bit off guard by the demon's attack, Kelkzar is quick to pounce on the demon and attack once Rowena drops it at his feet.
Despite it being oozy, Rowena is able to pick it up and plop it next to Trevor and Kelkzar. Rowena manage to connect with her stomp, but doing no damage, while Kelkzar's blow lands true, it hardly damages it at all due to its weird skin and outsider resistance to physical blows.
Even without Paired Opportunists, it triggers an AoO from Trevor because she has Greater Trip.