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Azalia drinks some more of the delicious water, and then goes back to the stone doors with the rest of the party.
This huge room looks like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. Stone doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but beyond this, the walls are carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the room is a large pool, with a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection. At the far end of the room, a pair of stone stairways leads up to a pulpit on which sits a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like
translucent lava. Yet while wisps of what look like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold.
Ram horns curl back from the twisted head of this tiny winged demon, and its body is thin and wiry. It wears a small black dress it's face turning into a grin as it cuts its palm... as the blood drops into the water TWO of the monsters wielding ranseurs emerge but the little horned creature looks worried suddenly.
The quasit is perhaps the least powerful demon, yet it is not the least respected—even quasits hold themselves above the dretch horde, and true to their natures, dretches lack the courage or drive to prove the quaits wrong. A quasit’s first role in life is that of a familiar to a spellcasting master, but those quasits who escape from this humiliating servitude become free-willed and much more dangerous. Cold iron is best used to get around it's unnatural toughness.
Milgen
Azalia
Drazh
Ferocia
Bad Guys
Miron
Anneka
Ferocia raises an eyebrow at some of the others muttering over returning for excavations, and treasures and book burnings, or some such nonsense. "Whatever floats your boat, guys." she replies with a scoff and a shake of her head.
She takes a few sips from her wine and puts it back in her bag, then heads back to the big stone doors.
"Knock, knock." she remarks, before pushing open the doors with a great heave.
Seeing the bat-monster make monsters, Ferocia lets out a growl. In a flash, she sprouts her claws, then stalks into the room and up the stairs. "So these freaks are your fault?" she growls. Then she lets out a scoff. "They won't protect you. Not from us."
A quasit!
How does she know this? At first she isn't sure. But she realizes that her seeing wheel is turning, even now, burning within her mind, its esoteric runes revealing knowledge to her through some mystical connection.
"A quasit!" she yells as loud as she can as she runs into the room, for the others now have their backs turned to her. She hopes they can hear her. "Milgen, it's immune to electricity! If you've cold iron weapons, use them!"
Her heartbeat racing, she focuses on the burning rune in her mind, conducting its power outward through the tips of her fingers.
Her hair begins to float up around her.
Milgen doesn't hesitate, he flings a hand out and flings a magic missile at the whatsit in the air!
When Anneka announces lightning won't be of use, he frowns, and gives the creature the universal sign of annoyed disrespect using his middle finger. "Peachy." He says with annoyance. He signs 'Thanks for the info' at Anneka, then indicates annoyance, obviously with the thing, not her.
Azalia shoots at the quasit.
and misses.
Milgen doesn't hesitate, he flings a hand out and flings a magic missile at the whatsit in the air!
When Anneka announces lightning won't be of use, he frowns, and gives the creature the universal sign of annoyed disrespect using his middle finger. "Peachy." He says with annoyance. He signs 'Thanks for the info' at Anneka, then indicates annoyance, obviously with the thing, not her.
Azalia shoots at the quasit and misses.
Drazh moved into the room, and with one swift movement sent a chakram flying at the nearest foe. Then, he raised his hammer and braced himself for their counter attack.
Seeing the bat-monster make monsters, Ferocia lets out a growl. In a flash, she sprouts her claws, then stalks into the room and up the stairs. "So these freaks are your fault?" she growls. Then she lets out a scoff. "They won't protect you. Not from us."
The little demon leaps into the air batting it's wings while making strange gestures and points at Drazh.
Hold Person!
It is trying to cast hold person on Drazh!
Your fiendish foe flies gracefully upwards staying aloft in the air, clearly not keen to get within arms reach of you.
One of the monsters moves to the flight of stairs as Drazh approaches seeking to strike the dwarven ranger down.
The other monster drops it's polearm before trying to claw and bite at Ferocia in turn with wild abandon.
Miron
Anneka
Milgen
Azalia
Drazh
Ferocia
Bad Guys Quasit -2, Blue Sinspawn -9
Miron sees the foulness in front of him with a feeling of disgust.
Arrow.
His hands are free, his spear clattering on the floor.
"Purge these monsters and the thing that created them!"
He seeks to bring righteous judgement upon the flying creature, as he draws the bow and launches an arrow at it.
Azalia tries to shoot the quasit again
Milgen steps into the room and raises his hand and flings acid at the quasit.
Ferocia lets out a snarl as the strange creature sunk its claws deep into her shoulder.
"Let's see whose are sharper." she tells the creature, before attacking it with both claws.
Miron sees the foulness in front of him with a feeling of disgust. His hands are free, his spear clattering on the floor. "Purge these monsters and the thing that created them!" He seeks to bring righteous judgement upon the flying creature, as he draws the bow and launches an arrow at it connecting.
A quasit! How does she know this? At first she isn't sure. But she realizes that her seeing wheel is turning, even now, burning within her mind, its esoteric runes revealing knowledge to her through some mystical connection. "A quasit!" she yells as loud as she can as she runs into the room, for the others now have their backs turned to her. She hopes they can hear her. "Milgen, it's immune to electricity! If you've cold iron weapons, use them!" Her heartbeat racing, she focuses on the burning rune in her mind, conducting its power outward through the tips of her fingers. Her hair begins to float up around her.
Milgen steps into the room and raises his hand and flings acid at the quasit but finds her to be a very fast and small target.
Azalia tries to shoot the quasit again.
Drazh felt his body freeze as the magic took hold of him. Gritting his teeth, he fought through it, only managing to overcome the spell because of his natural Dwarven resistance. Dodging the blow from the creature, he returned the attack with one of his own sending the creature tumbling to the ground.
Ferocia lets out a snarl as the strange creature sunk its claws deep into her shoulder. "Let's see whose are sharper." she tells the creature, before attacking it with both claws hitting with both but the creature still stands.
The Quasit begins casting a spell.
The rage of the monster is without doubt... the accuracy of it's blows however leaves Ferocia without further injury.
Miron
Anneka
Milgen
Azalia
Drazh
Ferocia
Bad Guys Quasit -8, Red Sinspawn -10
Milgen grimaces. "Hit the Quasit, it's summoning a monster." Putting actions to words, he flings another ball of acid at the annoyance.
"Those who can, strike at the Quasit!", Miron shouts, taking a step forward and firing another another arrow at the creature.
The wheel spins, revealing another rune. Anneka begins to feel dizzy, her vision blurs, and an intense pain pounds in her skull. A rage momentarily overwhelms her, hot and acerbic, but she directs it outward, into the mind of the demon.
Azalia shoots at the quasit.
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Ferocia tears into the monster in front of her.
"Those who can, strike at the Quasit!", Miron shouts, taking a step forward and firing another another arrow at the creature.
The wheel spins, revealing another rune. Anneka begins to feel dizzy, her vision blurs, and an intense pain pounds in her skull. A rage momentarily overwhelms her, hot and acerbic, but she directs it outward, into the mind of the demon but the ancient and alien intellect defies her.
Milgen grimaces. "Hit the Quasit, it's summoning a monster." Putting actions to words, he flings another ball of acid at the annoyance hitting it but doing no damage!!!
Azalia shoots at the quasit but the nimble little demon evades the attack.
Drazh moves up and finishes off the Sinspawn as he is unable to reach the flying demon.
Her foe down Ferocia draws her sling and pelts the demon!
The continous assault proves too much and the demon loses control of the spell.
The little demon begins casting another spell.
Miron
Anneka
Milgen
Azalia
Drazh
Ferocia
Quasit -19
Milgen grimaces. "One, don't cast elements at the quasit, it apparently is immune to acid and electricity. Just put more pointy things in it. Two, it's summoning a monster again."
However, the bolt for some reason, flies out sideways, bounces off Drazh's armor, and then bounces back to land between Milgen's feet. He looks around suspiciously, as if he's somehow been transported into a slapstick play on a stage or something.
Azalia shoots at the quasit again, although her last shot was pretty decent and didn't hit it, so she doesn't hold out much hope.
Her negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as her lack of confidence causes her to shoot badly.
Anneka runs up the stairs and touches Ferocia's arm, guiding her aim.
Satisfied that the group is pressing the assault ably, Miron focuses on shooting at the Quasit.
Ferocia reloads her sling and takes another shot at the quasit.
Satisfied that the group is pressing the assault ably, Miron focuses on shooting at the Quasit.
Anneka runs up the stairs and touches Ferocia's arm, guiding her aim.
Milgen grimaces. "One, don't cast elements at the quasit, it apparently is immune to acid and electricity. Just put more pointy things in it. Two, it's summoning a monster again." However, the bolt for some reason, flies out sideways, bounces off Drazh's armor, and then bounces back to land between Milgen's feet. He looks around suspiciously, as if he's somehow been transported into a slapstick play on a stage or something.
Azalia shoots at the quasit again, although her last shot was pretty decent and didn't hit it, so she doesn't hold out much hope. Her negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as her lack of confidence causes her to shoot badly.
Milgen grimaces. "One, don't cast elements at the quasit, it apparently is immune to acid and electricity. Just put more pointy things in it. Two, it's summoning a monster again."
Crossbow: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6
However, the bolt for some reason, flies out sideways, bounces off Drazh's armor, and then bounces back to land between Milgen's feet. He looks around suspiciously, as if he's somehow been transported into a slapstick play on a stage or something.
The tiny demon plummets from the sky hitting the water with a faint plop.
+1 cold iron returning dagger- 2,152gp to sell!!!
Tiny Tiara worth 50 gp
Black silk gown worth 25 gp
Obsidian unholy symbol of Lamashtu worth 10 gp
Welcome to level 3!
Azalia examines the two pools closely.
She throws in a spellcraft check if she sees any magical auras as well.
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[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+8
Milgen grimaces. "One, don't cast elements at the quasit, it apparently is immune to acid and electricity. Just put more pointy things in it. Two, it's summoning a monster again."
[dice=Crossbow]1d20+4+1
However, the bolt for some reason, flies out sideways, bounces off Drazh's armor, and then bounces back to land between Milgen's feet. He looks around suspiciously, as if he's somehow been transported into a slapstick play on a stage or something.
The quasit fell from the air, now quite dead. Khaz looked over at Milgen with murder in his eyes. The man had shot him! In the heat of battle he had been shot! He had thought that the past was behind them, and that they could work together. He would kill him!
Drazh bent over to pick up the errant bolt, but as he did so, he froze. Next to the bolt was a...hedgehog? It was curled up into a ball, and it was shivering. What was a hedgehog doing down here? Dropping the bolt, he took off one of his gauntlets and gently ran his fingers across it's spiny hide. Despite his gruff appearance, and personality, and general outlook...he had always had a soft spot for animals . The little hedgehog unrolled itself. As it did so, it looked at him, and Drazh heard a voice in his head.
Baraz-ha!
A single word. From dwarven, it could be best translated as "oath" "bond" or "promise." It was being emphasized. He stared at the little hedgehog in abject confusion. Was it talking to him?
Ek Bezek Baraz-ha!
There was the voice again. Literally, the phrase translated to "You possess honor." What was this hedgehog? Was it where the voice was coming from?
Finally, out loud he whispered to it "What are ye trying to tell me?"
Ek Unbarakit Baraz.
In the common tongue, this meant "you will permanently break your honor."
Drazh stared at the hedgehog, sitting next to the crossbow bolt, and it finally dawned on him. This little creature? It was a gift from the gods. He assumed Kols. And why a hedgehog? Well, looking at it, the creature was covered in hard spikes, but was soft and vulnerable underneath it. Was it a reference to himself? To Milgen? He assumed the latter. There was nothing soft or vulnerable about him! He would never admit to that, not even to himself. But regardless, the gods were giving him a clear sign. The path that he was about to walk down was not the right one. He had been stopped from making an unjust killing.
He picked up the hedgehog and opened his pack. It scurried inside. Then, he recovered the errant bolt and walked over to Milgen. With a calm and level voice he said "We will all need more practice to truly work as a team." before handing the bolt over.
Milgen, meanwhile, is checking his crossbow. "Not teamwork, teamwork was fine, we fried that little hellspawn. What I need is to figure out how the damn flange came loose." He takes the bolt, slides it back in the crossbow, and then fires it at the wall. Again it comes out sideways and this time shatters on the stone, 5 ft away from where it was being aimed. "Looks like shoddy workmanship." He shakes his head, it quite obviously never having entered his mind that Drazh would have thought he was trying to shoot him. "But it's not, it was well made. I think it's just time and wear. Well, that goes to show you that you need to get new weapons every few dec..." He trails off, and leaves the sentiment unfinished. "Anyway, everyone alright? Nobody dead?" He checks Drazh over. "You look in more or less one piece." Once he puts the broken crossbow away, he begins to sign for Anneka again.
Miron looks between Drazh and Milgen, watching their faces especially the lips. Then he speaks and signs.
"We can always improve upon teamwork. And that bolt was a near miss on Drazh, hopefully not one to be repeated. I am uninjured."
Milgen looks at Miron, then to Drazh. "It wasn't a 'near miss'. The bolt came out of the damn crossbow sideways. It could have hit an unarmed 5 yo like that and all the 5 yo would have gotten was a red welt."[b] He pulls a bolt out of his quiver, and holds up the pointy end. [b]"Pointy end, dangerous." he turns it sideways. "Shaft no dangerous, except to spank someone." He demonstrates by hitting his palm 4 or 5 times with the shaft, the palm is mildly red. Then he takes the pointy end, and jabs it on his palm, generating a little blood. "See, pointy end dangerous, shaft not. And it's not as if I shot it at him on purpose, sheesh. The damn flange broke."
The pool with water appears to be only as magical as the rest of the place but the one with the orange liquid... it's bubbling has stopped but the aura is probably the strongest she has ever seen radiating necromancy.
Anneka doesn't want to get close to the fountain, but Azalia's assessment is too curious. She peers into its depths, fearful of what she'll see...
Anneka spots only her reflection with her eyes but can see the aura around this area with her magically enhanced senses.
There is a really, really strong aura of necromancy around this orange pond. Anything we could maybe do to, um... bless it, or remove the taint, or ...? Really I have no idea. It's just immensely creepy.
Milgen casts detect magic, and examines the orange pond as well.
However, he's not sure either. "Honestly, we might want to come back tomorrow and I'll bring an Identify. As to destroying it, that is easy enough. The pond is enchanted for necromancy, we can stand back and cast multiple destructive spells at it over and over. Cantrips would be easiest, blast the ring around the pool, and anything else that has an aura around and in it. May take few hours. Alternately, we can also blast the ceiling over and over, until it collapses on the pool, although that's more dangerous. Finally, we could return tomorrow with a few barrels of dirt and fill it in."
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Listening to all of this, Drazh shrugged. ”Ye are the experts on the art. But, about that crossbow. What say ye let me take a look at it? I’ve fixed more than my fair share. Back home crossbows are the weapon of choice when fighting underground. Mayhaps we could work some of your art into it as well.* Truly make it your weapon.”
*
Miron looks at Milgen's display with a perplexed look, and then he seems to decide on something.
"Ah. I misspoke. A harmless near-miss. In any case, I shall examine the pool."
Miron turns and does exactly what he said he would do.
Ferocia raises an eyebrow at Milgen's melodramatic display.
"Easy with the theatrics, Princess, no one thinks you were trying to murder the guy." With a scoff and a shake of her head she adds, "It'd take more than a single bolt, anyway."
Ferocia wanders over to Anneka and Azalia, and gawks into the pool. "Zantus might be able to cleanse it, if its evil. Or that old wizard, fool... What's his name...?" After a moment she shrugs. "Old men all look the same to me."
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Anneka says nothing as she creeps behind the others as they likely debate what to do with the fountain
She has her own method.
Extracting from her pack a small sack of flour that she'd stolen this morning, she spreads out a thin layer of the white substance upon the old floor near the skulled fountain at the base (she tries not to look them directly in the eye sockets). With a finger, she draws her seeing wheel and its seven pointed star, uncomfortably similar to the runes they'd found down in this dungeon. Within the point of each star she draws the runes, those unknown symbols that had made themselves known to her. Then she closes her eyes, focusing on the necromantic fountain and how to destroy it.
Anneka's ability does not lead her to believe it will 'end the evil'.
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"Magister Moto! That's his name! He might have insight. If he can still see."
Seeing Anneka do something weird with flour, Ferocia watches with interest. When she seems done, and Ferocia catches her gaze, she asks, "Learn anything?"
Relived that someone has an idea about what to do with the weird pond, Azalia asks
Well, do you guys think any of those blocked staircases are unblockable, or should we go back and see if there are any other tunnels we need to clear out? We need to stop this attack on the town before it starts if at all possible.