|
Mareq casts another snowball at the same time that Harrow and Lilli hurl missiles at the gooey ooze. The thing struggles under the rime forming at its edges. It surges forward, shudders once, falls to the floor in a great splash of goo, and is still.
Combat over!
There's still the matter of the goo on the floor and the strange contraption in the room. What you you like to do?
|
|
The ceiling here is 30 feet high. The green goo covering the floor is three inches deep and makes the entire floor very slippery.
The earth elemental slips and slides in the goo falling down several times.
The elemental seems to approach the machine, then suddently seems very far away from it. The poor creatures tries many times to approach it, and--just when it seems within reach--he somehow overshoots it.
Goo seems to belch forth from the machine rocking the elemental like ocean waves.
Finally, after several attempts the elemental finds itself adjacent to the machine. The machine shudders and forms a lifelike image made of its own tendrils and vile fluids. The image depicts Captain Feristal Faroon inserting the obsidian key into the machine's "flesh." Then it depicts a glowing spatial rift opening, and Faroon walking through the rift accompanied by a halfling and a troll. The machine absorbs the image back into its body and a hand-shaped depression appears in its place.
|
|
The elemental touches the gooey device. The device shudders in a way that can only be described s "unnatural." Which is saying something--the whole place is extremely unnatural.
The machine completely envelopes the elemental's arm all the way up to the elbow. Unbeknownst to the party, the extraplanar creature's mind is forcibly assailed by otherworldly visions.
,
The elemental falls to its knees in the goo, unable to extricate itself from the machine. The otherworldy device keeps thrusting alien thoughts into its head. Each vision seems to sap away a small portion of the summoned creature's psyche.
As the elemental collapses into the goo, a shimmering shape appears in the middle of the room. Thanks to the previous knowledge planes rolls, the party recognizes this as a portal to another dimension or plane.
It's almost as though the goo drained the psychic energy from the elemental to create this portal.
|
"We dont know what is on the other side! What if it is all fire and we burn to death... huh? Did anyone ever stop to think of that? 'Sure lets all walk into certain danger without knowing any risks'... fine... I guess i will go too... better than being left here all alone..." Uthred mutters to himself and then follows the others through the portal...
|
|
The trip through the shimmering portal is instantaneous and leads to the sterncastle of a black-hulled ghost ship. Though an icy wind blows the tattered remains of the ship’s useless black sails, some other force seems to push the vessel through a churning gray sea. Overhead, the sky is full of unrecognizable stars and an enormous white moon. To starboard, the gray sea is vast and endless. Several hundred yards to port, a single bleak rock, studded with strangely proportioned architecture, rises from the sea. A brass plaque mounted on the mast behind the ship’s wheel is inscribed with the name Voracious.
You can see that you are adrift in a great mist-shrouded sea and that the moon and stars above are all wrong. The ship continuously sails around a bleak, rocky island dominated by strangely proportioned architecture.
The main deck of the Voracious is devoid of any crew. The ship’s small rowboat is rotted and useless, and a small storeroom at the fore of the ship is filled with empty, rotting sea chests.
The windowless captain’s cabin at the rear of the main deck is devoid of any furnishings and its floor, ceiling, and walls are all painted pitch black.
Near the stairs to the hold (below this deck) you can hear the strange, hollow piping of an alien wind instrument emanating from below.
|
|
Mareq recognizes that the party now finds themselves in a pocket dimension! This particular pocket is located near the periphery of the nightmare realm of Leng--a distant demiplane barely known to even the greatest scholars of the Great Beyond. Leng is an inhospitable realm hedged in by titanic mountains. It is home to creatures that defy categorization, and but who occasionally travel to the Material Plane in their strange ships to collect slaves.
The place where you are in the pocket dimension has the "Finite Shape" characteristic. That means you're limited to the dimension of the ship.
Here, too, spells and spell-like abilities with the chaotic or evil descriptor are enhanced while spells and spell-like abilities with the good or lawful descriptor are impeded.
|
I presume that this is a medium sized earth elemental?
Yes, medium-sized.
Medium Earth Elemental CR 3
N Medium outsider (earth, elemental, extraplanar)
Init –1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 9, flat-footed 18 (–1 Dex, +9 natural)
hp 42 (4d10+12+8)
Fort +7 (+9), Ref +0, Will +4
Immune elemental traits
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., earth glide
Melee slam (Power attacking) +10 (1d8+12)
Special Attacks earth mastery
STATISTICS
Str 20 (24), Dex 8, Con 17 (21), Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +4; CMB +9 (+11); CMD 18 (+20)
Feats Cleave, Improved Bull RushB, Power Attack
Skills Appraise +1, Climb +10 (+12), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +2, Knowledge (planes) +2, Perception +7, Stealth +3
Languages Terran
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Earth Glide (Ex)
A burrowing earth elemental can pass through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water. If protected against fire damage, it can even glide through lava. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other sign of its presence. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a burrowing earth elemental flings the elemental back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save.
Earth Mastery (Ex)
An earth elemental gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls if both it and its foe are touching the ground. If an opponent is airborne or waterborne, the elemental takes a –4 penalty on attack and damage rolls. These modifiers apply to bull rush and overrun maneuvers, whether the elemental is initiating or resisting these kinds of attacks. (These modifiers are not included in the statistics block.)
|
|
Feeble gray light shines through narrow rectangular apertures above corroded metal cannon-like structures, illuminating this surprisingly spacious ship’s hold.
The ceiling in the ship’s hold is 10 feet high. The cannons that Sempet Sevenfingers once used on this ship "the Voracious" have been altered and corroded by the alien environment of Leng; they are now no more than cannon-shaped lumps of useless iron. The cabins to the fore and aft of this deck once held slaves, but only iron rings remain.
The alien piping music originates from a strange, multi-piped, flute-like instrument being played by a creature that the earth elemental cannot identify.
As they descend, a twisting pattern of subtle, shifting colors weaves through the air around the elemental and Uthred.
The elemental stops in its tracks--effectively blocking the stairway down.
|
|
Initiative:
The creature attacks the elemental
, ,
,
,
The elemental goes *poof!*
The creature speaks. It's words sound like an out-of-tune violin being played with broken glass in an echo chamber: "Nid ydych yn perthyn yma. Rwy'n gwarchod y lle hwn. Ni fyddaf yn caniatáu i tresbaswyr i basio."
Lilli is up next.
|
|
Lilli: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21 ==> Shield of faith
Berosius: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18 ==> Go!
Harrow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 ==> Go!
Mareq: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 ==> Go!
Uthred: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13 ==> Go!
Berosius, Harrow, Mareq, and Uthred may post. There is a 5' square in front of Uthred that's open (having previously been occupied by the elemental). The enemy is blocking the bottom of the stairs.
|
|
"Uthred, please remember that my allies are not 'thingies' but rather conscious beings who willingly respond to my call for aid," chastises Mareq gently in the midst of battle. [/b]"To call them 'thingies' is rude, sir."[/b]
"And speaking of..." whispers Mareq as he concentrates on...
...the huge basalt pillars of the Sultan's palace towering before him. The black pillars flank a pair of mammoth brass doors, shimmering before him, distorted by the constant heat permeating Fommok Mahdinat. Standing before the gleaming doors are two guardian lions, their manes aflame with primordial elemental fire...
"COME!" he shouts in the hold of the strange ship and a blast of heat suffuses the place as a fiery guardian lion from the City of Brass appears behind the strange foe and charges!
City of Brass Leonine Guardian
Lion (fire)
Large Animal(Init +7; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60ft, scent; Perception +9)
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+3 Dex, +3 natural, –1 size)
hp 42 (5d8+10+10)
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +2
DR 3/-
Immunity (fire), Vulnerability (cold)
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +9 (1d8+7, 2d6 fire, plus grab), 2 claws +9 (1d4+7, 2d6 fire)
Special Attacks pounce, rake (2 claws +9, 1d4+7, 2d6 fire)
Pounce attack sequence: