Rallos darts around the corner, his blade poised for a strike at the serpent's less well defended flank.
Ea moves, unties her slings, and sends a stone toward the serpentfolk
but missssssses it.
Tucking itself tight in, the serpentfolk defends itself from Rallos' attack... whilst Ea simply can't aim her sling accurately... Uncoiling, the serpentfolk brings its sword upwards at Grayface... knocking the warrior off balance with its first swing, the blade comes down hard into an unguarded shoulder...
...looking to press its advantage, it lunges firwards to bite Grayface... but its fangs can't pierce the armour...
The precise hits of his enemy rained down on the fighter a moment after his own sophomoric verbal and physical assault, indicating that this foe would be no pushover. He could feel his leathers were now sticky wet with his spilled blood and the wounds stung fiercely. He used the sensations to summon his battle rage, causing his skin to toughen and his mind to focus. Opting out of further taunting words, he used his skill with sword and board to convey his intent.
---------
Seeing the serpent land a vicious blow on Gray, Rallos grits his teeth in determination as he thrusts his blade forward.
Stop writing about, worm, it will be less painful if you do...but that matters not to me....
If the serpentfolk is still standing, Yasmin sends forth another barrage of bolts!
The serpentfolk, seeking to end the fight quickly as it struck Grayface, leaves itself dreadfully exposed to the warrior’s riposte… almost inevitably, Grayface’s retaliation is swift and brutal – two powerful slices with his sword spraying serpent blood across the walls… and when Rallos ducks inside to stab at him, the creature’s defense ends… rasping a death rattle, it falls into the pit and its still twitching corpse is swiftly covered by the snakes that writhe below the friends…
Gray, you should sit for a minute and let Ea tend to those wounds...lest they get infected or worse.
Rallos picks up the fallen serpent's blade.
This looks of fine workmanship...might be worth taking back to the smith...
Rallos then quickly searches the serpent for anything else before moving on.
Those snakes in the pit look nasty.
Yasmin peers down into the snake pit. "I agree, that doesn't look too friendly. But they are conveniently clustered together..." The sorceress begins to weave magic, and a gout of fire envelops the slithering snakes.
She then looks down to see if the flames had the desired effect.
His brief rage had once again left him fatigued and so he leaned against the wall to catch his breath, smearing the blood of his enemy that had recently spattered there.
"Nice job Yasmin. That snake man...probably got some...good gear. I think...I have some oil...we can smoke the rest of those snakes...and find our spoils."
The fighter breathlessly shared his simple plan with the group, but waited for input before acting in case someone else had a better plan.
Murassa sighed as the serpentfolk fell, hopefully to be ironically consumed by the snakes below. Looking around, he walked up to Greyface and said while handing his a CMW potion, "Here, this should help pick you up."
"Thanks to you, but got one of my own."
Gray then pulled a healing potion from his chest strap, popped off the cork with a flick of the thumb, and drank it down in one gulp.
|
"No problem, just thought I'd offer," Murassa said as he placed the bottle back in his bag. Thinking about it, he brought images of clean clothes and the scent of soap to the front of his mind and places his hand on Grey's shoulder. As his magic washed over the man, the blood, both his and the serpentfolk's, vanished from his armor. "There ya go, all nice and clean. Can't repair armor, unfortunately."
The smell coming from the pit as Yasmin roasts the snakes is quite vile... within the flames, they writhe and jump... dying noiselessly...
...eventually, as the fire dies away and the smoke subsides, it is safe to jump down into the pit. The dead serpentfolk, scorched and blackened, is searched for valuables - a golden amulet, it's leather band near destroyed by the fire, lies beneath the corpse of the vanquished foe... the amulet displays a highly stylised set of snake's fangs..
Ea looks at the amulet
Thats a symbol of Ydersius, the god of Serpentfolk.Not really a surprise.
She looks at Grayface wounds
Do you need more healing, my friend?
"Yes please. That snake was more skilled with a blade than I originally gave him credit for."
He motions to a pair of deep red cuts along his shoulder, unprotected by his magical breastplate.
A serpentman skilled with a blade? So maybe you should ask for a shave and a haircut next time, Grayface...
There is a faint, but real smile, on Ea thin lips, as she uses the wand to heal the mighty warrior
With nothing else of note in the room with the pit, and with only one apparent exit, the friends head for the northern door… Rallos listens for noises beyond and, hearing nothing, checks for traps – confident that it is safe to proceed, he quietly pushes the door open. Through the doorway, a corridor leads from east to west…
The only illumination in the corridor is the sickly green light coming, from the orb in the ceiling above the pit, through the open door… a short flight of stairs to the east leads down to a doorway and an alcove containing a statue of a robed serpentfolk priest with its hand raised in warning; at the top of the stairs, the image of a coiling serpent is carved into the wall. Whilst, to the west of the door that the friends have come through, the corridor leads to a doorway leading north, after which the corridor continues west… and into pitch darkness…
Yasmin takes a cautious look at the statue of the serpentfolk priest with its hand raised in warning. "Do you think that statue is another trap?" she whispers, worried about yet another statue springing to catch them off guard. She looks for any signs that the statue is mobile or has some other effect.
Right now, Yasmin, I would wager anything is likely a trap down here....
Rallos looks about warily.
Let's be cautious, so.
-----------------
Gray moves along into the dark hallway, agreeing with the priestess' cautious sentiment. Keeping his voice low, he requests a light spell to be cast upon his shield to better light the way, as the only available light was pouring dimly in from the previous room.
"After you, Murassa."
The fighter stood behind the mindblade, waiting to see what lay beyond this portal.
At first glance, the statue does not appear to be exuding any form of magical aura but a more studied examination reveals the traces of a transmutation aura swirling around the serpentfolk effigy… and, in the darkness, Rallos can just about see some unusual scratching and gouging of the floor around the statue. Interestingly, Yasmin also detects a very faint illusion aura on the carving of the coiled serpent…
Murassa, having unilaterally decided that the westernmost of the doors is safe, pushes against it… and discovers it to be locked.
"Let's leave this one for later." He paused and watched as his friends examined the admonishing statue, then scrunched up his face when they revealed that there were magical auras and evidence of moving parts.
"Think you can disable that statue, Rallos? Those ones in the previous room could have been a real problem."
What is the problem with the statue?
Ea keep her eyes on the surrounding, in case of another attack
I am unsure about this statue, Gray....I might need a minute or two to examine it. These scratch marks are very odd. It might be a trap, it might be a hidden door...
Rallos break out his tools and checks the statue to see if there is a mechanism that is attached to it.
"Careful, Rallos, the statue has a magical aura on it. And this wall carving at the top of the stairs appears to have some illusion magic shrouding it. Let me finish studying them before you start poking around with those tools."
Heeding Yasmin’s advice, Rallos doesn’t go directly to the statue… he slowly descends the stairs whilst Yasmin, examining the auras a little more carefully, tries to deduce what magic may be at play here… and at the very moment that she realises the transmutation aura is animating stone, Rallos sees the head of the serpentfolk statue detach from the rest of the effigy and, with a short spinal column made of polished steel and moving as a snake’s body, ‘slithers’ to the floor…
Ea is puzzled by the new threat
I don't know what this is..I'm not sure how to fight it! It's made of stone, so perhaps we should use blunt weapons to break it!
Yasmin is caught by surprise by the statue coming to life! But perhaps she'll know something about it...
Rallos darts forward, his blade flashing in a low arc, trying to catch the snake figure with its defenses down.
Gray, I'm going to need your help up here...
Quick to respond, Rallos rushes forwards and, studying his foe intently, sees a weak spot… his rapier flashes and, somewhat surprisingly, it splinters stone from the animated serpent… rearing up and seemingly fixing Rallos with its gaze, its eyes flash an emerald green…
…and, from the darkened corridor to the west, the sound of a bell rings out…
Having seemingly studied Rallos for unarmoured areas, the snake strikes!!!
– the snake appears to be a ‘Marble Sentinel’, a construct that is often used by powerful spellcasters as a surveillance / warning system – they are ‘programmed’ to passively watch over areas and, when something unexpected occurs, it acts as both deterrent and alarm system. They are also immune to acid and to magic…
The warrior ran up to the rogue's side as he called for help, horrified at the statue-come-to-life that was snapping its stone serpentine jaws. The variety of horrors this dungeon managed to produce never ceased to amaze Grayface. He hoped that his magic sword was up to the task of cutting through animated stone. He chopped his sword in a downward stroke, somewhat clumsily after descending the stairs so quickly.
"The statue is immune to magic. And it looks like the alarm bells have sounded -- better move quickly!" Yasmin puts some magic behind her words.
She also issues a command. "Hakan -- come out and see if we have enemies coming from behind!"
A small blue genie materializes, seeming to emerge from Yasmin's very being. "How typical -- using me as a rearguard." But the genie obeys nonetheless.
I can't do much... But what little I can do I will.
Ea uses a magic wand to bless her friends.
Rallos flashes his blade at the serpent sentry even quicker after Yasmin's incantations...
edit=crit
Grayface's swing is clumsy, with a little too much power, his swing is inelegant misses the small snake... Rallos, moving unnaturally fast again, has much better luck with his weapon and twice his rapier pierces the tiny imperfections in the marble serpent's 'shell'.
Once more, the snake tries to bite at Rallos...
...and, from the tunnel to the west, comes the sound of shouting... and the unmistakable sound of armoured serpentfolk drawing closer...
Gray stepped backward gingerly to the steps until he was clear of the stone serpent then moved to intercept whatever enemies were coming from around the corner. Once he was facing the hallway with approaching enemies, he turned his head and asked his friends,
"Fall back? Should we use the pit room behind us to draw them in? Maybe we can use the statues against them!"
That sounds like a good plan Gray.....let's back up.
Rallos backs down the hallway towards the pit room.
Let's take our breath and heal whoever needs it before the next battle. I suppose you aren't into an hurry to visit Pharasma's Eternal Gardens?