Peeking in and seeing how many foes are waiting, Clara decides to stay in the hall for now, and to buy some time by lobbing a stink bomb at one of the ninja birds.
______________
Tallak works some magic and then steps in beside Ursus and touches his flank, healing the bear.
Ursus roars and slashes out at the Ulfen near him.
Clara's bomb shakes the wooden pillars of the room as it spills toxic gas everywhere. Though the ninjas and their leader are quick enough to avoid any splash damage, the room is quickly filled with the coughs and choking noises of hapless ninjas.
Tallak manages to heal Ursus of his physical wounds, though the poison continues to course through the bear's veins. Still, even weakened, Ursus manages to rip a man limb from limb in mere seconds.
One human ninja escapes the cloud and moves out onto the balcony out back, while the other silently glides forward and engages with Tallak, a wakizashi swooshing at the Ulfen shaman.
Tallak manages to block the ninja's assault with his shield, though the ninja carves a wicked slice out of the wooden barrier.
HP: 40/48
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 16
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 3/6 (shadow splinter on Sandru)
Touch treatment: 0/6
Panache: 1/1
Spells: 1st 2/5; 2nd 2/4
Effects: mirror image (2)
Concentrating for a moment, Vashta creates another cloud on top of Clara's, this one of glittering dust.
She prepares herself in case any of them break through toward the wall of ursine rage.
Calder steps into the small space in between Tallak and Ursus and swings his axe at the human ninja who menaces Tallak. The axe cleaves into the thin human man, opening him up from his shoulder to his hip. With a gurgled cry, the ninja drops his wakizashi and falls to the ground.
Next, Vashta steps up and summons a burst of particles into Clara's cloud - though her targeting is imprecise due to not being able to see where the enemies are, she still manages to catch the ninja in the burst.
The one remaining foot soldier steps up, axe in hand, to slash at Calder. Meanwhile, three copies of the ninjas' leader springs out of the smoke. She comes out of the smoke airborne, starting off with a kick to Calder's face and then follows it up with a pair of dagger slashes against him.
The warrior gets Calder along the back with a glancing blow, which is just enough to distract him from Omoyani as she slashes him along an artery in his armpit and along the side of his neck, while also smashing him in the chest with a powerful kick.
Calder feels a strange burning sensation begin to spread from one of the dagger wounds, and simultaneously a stiffening of his muscles from the bruise raised by the ninja leader's kick.
Ursus turns and slashes at the newcomer with fang and claw.
__________
Meanwhile, Tallak uses more magic to heal Calder.
Ursus lashes out with claw and tooth against the ninja woman. He lunges forward with a bite attack that could fell a normal man instantly, closing his teeth on the woman's neck, only to find that version of her wasn't real - his teeth snap shut on nothing.
Infuriated, Ursus unleashes two claw attacks on the ninja, and though she deftly dodges the first he claws a few rents into the woman's arm.
Meanwhile, Tallak heals some of the wounds that Calder sustained - the stab wound in his neck heals over, and stops bleeding so much, and the bruise from the ninja's kick stops aching.
Seeing the twin images around the remaining Ninja--and not wanting to risk missing in close quarters with splashy-stuff--Clara instead draws her dagger and throws it at the ninja.
Clara hurls a dagger, though the ninja warrior woman is far too fast, and Clara can't even hit the illusory double that she had conjured to defend herself.
One ninja outside is still vomiting from Clara's stink bomb, and the second ninja is quite dead.
HP: 40/48
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 16
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 3/6 (shadow splinter on Sandru)
Touch treatment: 0/6
Panache: 1/1
Spells: 1st 2/5; 2nd 2/4
Effects: mirror image (2)
Vashta focuses her attention on one of her new Ulfen companions' opponent, sapping her will, before casting a quick spell.
Omoyani's mind weakens under Vashta's assault, weakening her ability to fight in concert with what few allies she has remaining.
Calder swings back at the lethal woman.
Head still ringing from her kick. "Haven't been hit like that since Mam caught me with my fingers in the biscuit jar."
Calder swings twice, but he's disoriented and not ready to be in combat with such a competent woman. She steps back a few inches away from the first strike, while his second is misjudged and fails to reach her. His joke provokes no laugh from her, but her eyes are locked on his and Calder and see her raise an eyebrow.
The warrior backed up into the corner steps even further into the corner, swinging his axe at Ursus.
His axe scrapes harmlessly on Ursus' armor.
The poison courses through Calder's veins, though his powerful Ulfen constitution manages to fight it off, expunging the poison.
Omoyani looks and sees that she has no allies and that her skin is absolutely covered in glitter. She narrows her eyes at Calder and throws up two fingers, which she points at her own eyes and then at Calder's eyes. Then, she backflips away.
She disappears into the smoke and doesn't return from it. She completely leaves her Ulfen ally to the mercy of Ursus, who easily turns and rips the warrior to shreds.
Tallak steps in and looks to Ursus, trying in vain to find a way to help his bear companion.
__________
"Close your mouth, dear, you'll get flies," Vashta admonishes Calder as she quickly looks around while Tallak treats Ursus.
"They know we're here and will be back with reinforcements soon," she says. "We should probably be somewhere else, quickly."
Tallak nods. "Lets clear this level, then proceed down."
He then moves to the nearest door and opens it for Ursus.
Despite Tallak's attempt to help, the poison continues to ravage and weaken Ursus, who begins to drool and groan with pain. Still, the loyal bear follows Tallak over to the nearest door. That door is open, and leads over to the same room which the group barricaded earlier.
The room is empty, and appears to be some kind of bunkroom. Dirty clothing and discarded weapons lie haphazardly around the room. A hneftafl board sits in the middle of the room, ivory pieces scattered thoughtlessly and the betting trough to the side of it still filled with a few silver and copper pieces. There is another door to the north.
There are no magical items in either the bunkroom or the main hall.
Vashta glances sympathetically at the bear, wishes she had some way to help.
Unable to, she nods on toward the next door, waiting for the warriors to go through.
Axe in hand Calder opens the others doors carefully, ready for any response.
Both of the doors into the room that the tengu retreated into are barred but not locked, and cannot be easily opened. The other three rooms are empty. The two rooms next to the front of the castle are guardrooms, with arrow slits and boxes of crossbow bolts and things. The third room is another bunkroom, but much cleaner and more orderly. Folded black robes sit on the bunk beds, and the air is thick with incense. The center of this room also contains a painted shrine with a statue. It depicts a scowling older man with bulging, angry eyes, a long beard, red Tian robes, and an iron crown. A small bowl in front of the statue contains a few coins, gems, trinkets, and other small offerings.
He is Lawful Evil, his domains are Death, Artifice, and Trickery and his favored weapon is the shuriken.
Vashta shakes her head, not sure what the statue represents.
Tallak administers a vial of antitoxin to Ursus. The bear complains drinking it, but soon the alchemical item takes effect and purges the poison from the bear's bloodstream.
"It all appears empty now," Tallak says as he and a beleaguered Ursus return to the stairwell. "Let's go down."
Calder will hack down the door to C6 and check what's in there just in case. "Leave no one behind to surprise us."
Calder hefts his axe and smashes it into the barred door. Once, twice, and his magically-hardened axe smashes the door down. This is an empty bunkroom just like the others, except it looks like nobody lives in this room. There is a window in this room that leads outside, and the window is open, exposing this room to an icy breeze. It seems as if the tengu that took refuge in here clambered out of the window.
Calder shrugs at the empty room and turns to head downstairs, he will take the lead.
Vashta continues to follow, her stomach churning as she anxiously awaits the next group that tries to kill them.
Your group descends the stairs into the lower floor of the castle. They go down and around two times before coming to a door that leads into the dungeon levels. With no reason to delay, you throw the door open and expose the room beyond.
Thorborg Silverskorr is waiting for you. An imposing and tall Ulfen woman, she has her arms crossed with annoyance and a wry smile on her face.
She stands among a small group of her remaining servants in a room obviously designed for her own comfort and beauty. A pyramid ceiling stretches sixty feet up, and the room is filled with small streams on the tiled floor, bonsai in planters, and the walls are draped with traditional Minkai art. The occasional wooden bench sits in a particularly beautiful spot. You can see a small book of poetry resting on one of these benches.
Doors to the left and right lead to an underground passage and a bedroom, respectively.
Standing with her are a few figures. Omoyani stands to her left, while her right hand is empty. In between the pair and the group are four more of the omnipresent Ulfen foot soldiers.
Thorborg holds something up. A long, curved blade inside of an ornate, gold-trimmed sheath. "Looking for something?" she asks. "You may have invaded my home and killed my lieutenants, but there's no way you're going to have it. I'm going to kill you myself, with my bare hands, before you ever touch it." She slips the blade into her belt, smiling at the group. "And when I'm finished with you... Well, we'll see how the latest Amatatsu scion appreciates a personal visit. Do you have any last words?"
"Why?" Vashta asks, turning her hypnotic stare on the woman. "Why do you care about the Amatatsus? What's your connection to all this?"
Thorborg smiles evilly and begins to proudly explain. "I swore an oath. I have a profane duty to stop the Amatatsu family from returning to Minkai."
Her form begins to shift. You can see muscles crawling in stomach-churning fashion underneath her skin, upon which spreads an angry red pigment. Her lower teeth enlarge and elongate, revealing tusks, and her hair changes in one cascade to a midnight-black color. She begins to grow, her limbs getting big and meaty and her head reaching higher up into the air. "You see," she says. "I am a servant of the Five Storms. Of the thunder and lightning which reach all corners of the globe. Minkai is our country now. You can remind your ward of that when you meet her in the next life I am sending you to."
Her transformation complete, she is revealed to be a massive, eleven-foot-tall red-skinned giant. From her back, she retrieves a tetsubo, which is a club tipped with a studded iron sheath. Suishen still sits on her belt.
1. Clara (mutagen, heightened awareness)
2. Sandru
3. Kimandatsu
4. Shalelu
5. Warriors
6. Tallak (bless on party) + Ursus (6 CON damage)
7. Vashta (mirror images [2])
8. Calder (grazed, 1 CON damage, levitate)
9. Omoyani
Clara feels someone else's blood boiling inside her head, as an oversized draconic voice thunders from her little lungs.
In Clara's own voice, she adds, "So, uh, yeah...eat fizzy pop you Oni-baloney! And not in a good way!"
She lobs one of her stinkiest fizzy drinks at the Oni. As she does, she announces (in the breathless pace that only an excitable gnome can manage), "Kimandatsu is an Ogre Mage Oni, an evil spirit who has taken over a mortal ogre's body. She is faster, stronger, tougher, and smarter than a normal ogre, and has a slew of magical abilities including the ability to fly, the ability to become a cloud of gas, to evoke a region of darkness, to charm any monster into a friend, the ability to become invisible, the ability to put foes to sleep and the ability to evoke a large and powerful burst of offensive cold magic.
"She has a natural resistance to magic, and is both physically and mentally tough, although her reflexes are somewhat dull.
"Oni can assume the form of any humanoid or giant between three and twelve feet high, and will regenerate from any wound not dealt by acid or fire...but I bet that fizzy pop there stung, eh CuminDancePoo?"
AC 22, t 15, ff 18 | F+7, R+10, W+7, | Perception +9, 60’ darkvision, low-light vision , Initiative +6. I'll update it if you confirm that that plan is OK.
Kimandatsu's eyes bug out as Kolung's voice booms from Clara's little frame. When Clara hurls the bomb, Kimandatsu gets a look of near-panic on her face, and a massive paw swats the bomb out of the air. It explodes to her right, releasing its payload of stinky gas that envelops her and two of her men.
Sandru charges into battle, shouting senselessly. He raises his scimitar up high and slashes at the first warrior to step in his way.
He cuts handily into the warrior, who didn't have the time to raise his shield up to defend himself. Meanwhile, Kimandatsu bursts from the smoke, rising up above it and moving towards the corner of the room. She is coughing and choking, holding her belly in obvious pain.
Shalelu takes this opportunity to nock and fire three arrows against the oni, letting them loose in rapid succession.
All three shots clatter uselessly off of the oni's thick o-yoroi armor. Shalelu hums with curiosity, squinting up at the oni to look for weak spots.
Three warriors converge on Sandru, while the last warrior charges out of the smoke and towards Tallak, the most convenient enemy.
Tallak and Sandru end up with a nice solid slice on each of them.
Tallak steps back and away from the Ulfen thug. Glad at the ogress, he snarls "So you are just another link in the chain of people responsible for Drakon's fall from honor. Another link to be broken..."
He begins saying prayers to his ancestors, and Ursus steps forward, wearily, but purposefully, to slash at the thug.
__________
"Damn fool!" Calder curses as Sandru charges a group of the enemy. Knowing this will be a hard fight he steps forward and tries to clear the foe on Vashta first.
HP: 40/48
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 16
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 3/6
Touch treatment: 0/6
Panache: 1/1
Spells: 1st 3/5; 2nd 2/4
Effects: mirror image (2)
"No getting yourself killed, Sandru!" Vashta mutters as she steps away from the closest attacker.
She concentrates for a moment, turning her gaze on the unhurt warrior battling Sandru and then casting a spell to turn him against his own friends.
Calder and Ursus cooperate to completely murder one of the Ulfen warriors, cutting him apart into several little pieces. Meanwhile, Tallak and Vashta cast spells. Tallak calls on his ancestors' strength to ward him from harm, while Vashta manipulates one of the warriors into murdering one of the other ones.
The ninja warrior Omoyani leaps into action, drawing a series of flaming shuriken from a pouch at her belt. She runs over towards Clara and hurls a single shuriken in her direction.
The ninja's throw is agile and precise, and it hits the tiny alchemist. The fire from the shuriken begins to spread up Clara's arm from where it hits her, though she is quickly able to staunch the flow of the fire.
"Ow!" Clara yelps as the flaming shuriken cuts into her arm.
"Take that!" she hollers as she throws an exploding fizzy drink at the ninja.
_____________
Omoyani doesn't scream as Clara's bomb engulfs her, though as the smoke clears it's obvious that the ninja is beginning to slow down.
Sandru slashes at one of the warriors that he faces, cutting a deep rend into the man's chest and causing him to stagger back, nearly falling to his knees. That man stays on his feet somehow.
Kimandatsu continues to cough and choke, putting away her tetsubo for the moment while she hovers in the air.
Moving to Clara's defense, Shalelu stows her how and draws a a well-crafted short sword, moving into melee combat against Omoyani. Her face is expressionless, but friends of hers can tell that she is angry.
The three remaining warriors all attack, though this time they aren't nearly so organized. The most-injured warrior redoubles his attack on Sandru, while the enchanted warrior attacks the one next to him. The injured warrior spits out blood and swings at Sandru, though the agile Varisian dodges out of the way in time. The other warrior cuts into the third warrior, felling him before realizing his folly and frowning.
Tallak continues wrathful prayers to the ancestral spirits, while Ursus charges the nearest ninja.
HP: 40/48
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 16
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 3/6
Touch treatment: 0/6
Panache: 1/1
Spells: 1st 4/5; 2nd 2/4
Effects: mirror image (2)
Satisfied with how it worked last time, Vashta repeats her actions against the same warrior, hoping they can quickly cut down the numbers and move on to the greater threat.
Calder steps up beside Sandru. "When did you become so hotheaded?" He questions his formerly calm and cunning Employer.
He swings at the man in front of him.
Ursus moves over towards Omoyani and bites down, getting her in the leg. Meanwhile, Vashta influences one of the remaining warriors to kill his allies and Calder rushes forward and, with a powerful strike, kills a third warrior.
Sandru grins at Calder. "I hate it when people threaten my friends. Besides, what am I going to do, retreat?"
Pressing her lips together as she battles two foes, Omoyani unleashes a barrage of blows against her foes. Vanishing for a moment, she re-appears with her dagger buried in Shalelu's belly. Withdrawing it, she leaps up and tries to deliver a pair of kicks to Ursus and Shalelu, spinning in midair as she does so, but her first kick goes straight to Ursus' armor and Shalelu deftly dodges the second kick.
Clara glances with frustration at the ogre mage staying out of everyone's reach. "Once she gets over her nausea she's going to be very difficult to stop, or possibly even keep here...and she has Suishen!"
She throws a bomb at the ninja but then starts to edge over closer to the flying, retching demon.
_________
Clara hurls a bomb at Omoyani - it explodes on her, searing and burning her as bubbling fizzy drink spills down her clothes. Finally, she shouts with pain, shielding her face with her arms.
Kimandatsu takes a deep breath, steadying herself as she begins to recover from the nausea. Grumbling with rage and frustration, she streaks through the air around Clara's cloud of toxic smoke. She lands heavily on the ground near Tallak and Clara, coughing out a last few flecks of disgusting fizzy-drink remnants. She glowers at the pair of adventurers, gripping her metal-tipped tetsubo menacingly.
Sandru leaps around one of the warriors to flank with Calder, slashing up and into him. Sandru easily fells the last, critically-wounded warrior with a careful and precise slash.
Shalelu swings twice at Omoyani, her sword whirring through the air with elven grace and speed.
Unfortunately for her, the ninja that she faces off against is much faster and more graceful, slapping Shalelu's sword away twice easily.