Aston whistles, impressed at his own aim- and then quickly scowls as he realizes the extent of the effect the creature's strange dance has had on Graham. Without the fighter's mighty hammer, taking down this abomination would be far more difficult- and with his anti-undead spells seemingly useless against the creature, there is only one thing he can do.
Another blast from the miniature golem shrouds the skeleton in purple fire before Taicho launches into a strangely ineffectual frenzy – claws and beak lashing at the creature which weaves around each attempted attack… Aston’s crossbow is again accurate but this time the bolt merely clatters through the ribs of the monster before falling limply to the floor.
Biting down at Taicho, the jaws of the creature fail to find the evasive tengu…
"Tik'Klik!"
The golems arm pulses with bluish white crackling, and a bolt of electricity launches itself from the golem's arm.
-Posted with Wayfinder
when we are done with this thing is I will need to point out how similar it is to the goblin-head snake thing I picked a fight with
Taicho continues squawking as he attacks the creature with claw and beak
squawk
"Blasted thing! My shots are just getting caught in its ribs! I'll just be wasting ammo at this point..."
Well, if that was how it was going to be... Aston gives his crossbow a quick kiss before dropping it to the ground beside him and reaching for the light mace that hangs at his hip. He is out of practice when it comes to a melee, but with Graham incapacitated and Taicho struggling for his life against the creature, he had to do something. After fumbling for a moment to unhook the weapon from his belt , he quickly moves to just behind Graham, watching for an opportunity to move closer and strike .
"Lay on, Taicho! It is too early in the day to let this thing take us down just yet!" He hopes his words encourage the tengu, instead of distracting him.
Tik’klik persists with the salvo of acidic missiles at the skeletal creature – again finding the target. The smell of burning bone is acrid on the far side of the chamber… Taicho continues to flail at his weaving adversary – this time making contact with a claw…smashing bone as he strikes.
The tengu, overcommitted to his attack, is vulnerable to the creature rearing up and, with surprising force, striking down at him – the force of the blow leaves the warpriest unconscious and precariously close to the edge of the pit.
With the tengu down and the hammer-wielding human still entranced, the creature turns to face Tik’klik on the far side of the pit…
"Tik'Klik!"
The golems arm continues pulses with bluish white crackling, and a bolt of electricity launches itself from the golem's arm.
Oh, goodness.
Seeing Taicho go down, Aston for a moment regrets his decision to close distance and engage the creature in melee, but... with Graham still hopelessly out-of-sorts, Taicho bleeding all over the floor, and Tik'Klik firing away diligently, he gulps and takes a step forward and raises his mace.
Hefting a hammer-like mace in his hands, Aston faces the creature...
...with Graham still transfixed behind him and Taicho unconscious just beyond the weaving skeletal snake, Aston must surely realise that the fate of the group now rests on him and the small golem blasting away at the enemy...
Somehow fate guides his hand and, with a splintering of bone, he smashes his mace into the monster's skull...fragments of bone fly as the head of the creature is ruined...
Flailing wildly, and with a crater where it's eye sockets had been, the creature bites down at Aston one final time... Missing, overbalancing... and falling back into the pit. A few seconds later, somewhere deep in the darkness, you hear a series of splashes...
"Tik'Klik"
The golem walks around to the tengu, and pokes it's body, seeing if it's still alive. When it appears to have a pulse, the golem's eyes glow black*.
The golem's hand crackles with a black and red energy as it pokes the body again.
It's odd how they can glow black, it's almost as if they are absorbing the light, rather than actually glowing.
Aston lets out a long sigh as the creature slips into the pit and plummets into the darkness within. "The Lady of Graves has guided my hand this day," he says quietly. "Hasten to the Boneyard, abomination."
He places a hand on Graham's shoulder, hoping to rouse him, as he sees that Tik'Klik is attending to Taicho's grievous wounds. "Easy, there, old bird," Aston calls out as soon as he sees that the tengu is regaining consciousness. "You've taken a nasty hit. Luckily, it seems our good golem has some ability to heal."
Satisfied that no one has been lost, Aston takes a walk around the perimeter of the pit, looking for any other threats, then takes a peek at the door on the far side.
"Tik'Klik"
** spoiler omitted **
as Taicho begins to regain consciousness he looks up and sees Tik'Klik; his eyes absorbing the light and his hand crackling with a black and red energy, sitting up on his elbows he says in his shackles caw
"'is be either bloody-well greats or bloody-well terifable wroight?"
thinking for a second and then continuing in his flat baritone
"since I have regained consciousness instead of passing into the great storm it must be good"
finishing in the tian tenor
"prease accept my sincerest thanks and heart fert gratitude, Tik'Krik"
Taicho then stands, bracing himself against the wall as he regains his composure. After a moment, ready to travel again; he asks, as he smiles and looks out of the corner of his eye at Tik'Klik:
"what's 'appened ta tha bloody bony thingy, I was agonna puts 'im in a stews wroight?
"Tik'Klik!"
The golem's energy discharges after a minute, and the rapid healing of Taicho's wounds fade.
At the question of where the bones are, Tik'Klik makes an shooing motion at Taicho, shooing him toward the drop off into the pit, then makes a comical 'look over the edge'. "Tik'Klik ick iiiiiiicccccccccckkkkkkkk KLIK!" Then it jumps back, as if something had smashed into the bottom of the pit and jarred the landscape.
The golem makes another ushering motion at Taicho, obviously inviting him to jump into the pit to find his bones.
Listening at the door reveals nothing, the insistent whistling of the wind within the room onscuring any noises tht may be beyond... So, cracking the door open gently, Aston peers through. A corridor leads away to the east, where some sixty feet distant, it ends in an open room... and a further corridor heading southwards...
The corridor is unremarkable however the room itself is an abominable sight...a charnel house of blood, bones and flesh scraps - it is difficult to see from this distance but there appears to be an obelisk of some form standing centrally within the room...and you can definitely hear a snarling noise - as if two dogs were posturing to fight over territory...
The grim imagery down the corridor gives Aston considerable pause. He has seen this sort of carnage before- deep in the Undercity, when he slept in a little metal cage, when his "father" would bring home people captured from the streets above and... do this to them. Sometimes, he would force Aston to join in... but usually he would make him watch.
Aston recoils back through the doorway, a hand over his mouth. An inquisitor of Pharasma is trained to withstand such sights, but the little taste of home is a bit much. "Fellows," he says after a moment, "steel yourselves. Some horrid sight lies down this corridor, and I've heard the sound of snarling. I fear we have some more company. Taicho, are you well enough to fight?"
He lifts up his crossbow and makes sure it is loaded. "Some manner of obelisk up ahead as well. Be careful not to touch it until we have had a chance to examine it thoroughly."
He then swallows his sour memories and steps back into the corridor in order to cast a quick spell.
Taicho, chuckles at Tik'Klik's pantomime then refocuses when he hears Aston say "steal yourself"
its good to see the little guy lighten up a little...what could cause Aston to recoil in such a way
Taicho nods his head in affirmation when Aston asks if he is well; he then turns, casting light on Graham's hammer, and inquires in his flat baritone
"Hammer-man are you well enough to lead?"
he switching to the Shackles caw
"Or's do's ya want me's and me new's pet floaty lioght ta bloody well lead? makes no never-minds ta me's, wroight
"Ah... good. It's dead. That thing was strange. I'll admit to not being the type to have a lot of will power, but still. That could have easily ended me. I apologize for being of so little help." he says as he leads the group once more.
Moving forwards cautiously, Aston moves close enough to the obelisk to determine that it is indeed magical and that a strong conjuration aura surrounds it...a miasma of arcane energy spiralling around - and through - the structure.
The snarling continues the entire time that Aston is contemplating the obelisk...but, somfar as he can tell, it doesn't appear to be directed at him.
ahhh, friend Aston has skills one would not look for in a servant of Pharasma, quiet, very quiet, truly impressive
Taicho watches Astons slip ahead of Graham for a moment and then retreat, impressed with Astons skills, Taicho also hears the snarling noise placing a talon on his chakrams and speaking quietly in his baritone he says
"the sound is indicative of trouble"
Aston nods to Taicho and raises a finger to his lips as a friendly reminder. He points to Graham and then down the hall, then slips behind him and Taicho as they begin making their way toward the source of the sound.
Tik'Klik, silent for once, moves along behind the others, being as quiet as a wooden construct can be.
While not exactly silent and deadly, the wooden golem manages not to clack and klick quite as much as normal.
Drawing closer to the room, the metallic smell of blood filling your nostrils, you start to see the obelisk in more detail. The monolith stands centrally within the room and is heavily moss covered - a shroud of grey mist floats around it... You have little time to consider it though as the snarling noise stops when you are some twenty feet away...and is replaced with a wet sounding growl... and the noise of something running towards you...
Quietly approaching the snarling noise, when it stops time seems to slow down and the wet sounding growl turns into the noise of running feet Taicho, instinctively draws his chakram and throws toward the running noise as he lets out a squawk.
"Tik'Klik!"
Foomp!
Graham takes a few careless steps forward and raises his Lucerne, poised to strike yet another readied action. As he does, he whispers under his breath; "I'll not be made fool again..."
Two vaguely humanoid figures, running on all fours, come from around the corner and run at Graham...who instinctively slams the head of his hammer into the skull of the first creature.
...with a sickening crunch, the weapon passes straight through the skull of the beast - which lifelessly skids past the warrior, black blood spurting from the ruinous wound...
As the second of the beasts approaches, the stench of decay suggesting undeath, Tik'klik's arcane bolt unerringly explodes against the flanks of the creature...Taicho's attack is wild- although it may have distracted the creature as it's bite against Graham was almost comedically clumsy.
I hate it when I miss
seeing his chakram miss the undead beast by quite a margin, Tachio decides to take things into his own...talons. Attacking the creature with beak and claw voicing his disdain in his flat baritone.
"die you foul beast"
"Tik'Klik!"
+
"Good shot, Graham!" Aston shouts, impressed at finally seeing that mighty hammer in action. But what are these things? Are they undead?
Getting into quite the groove, Graham makes it a point to bring the backswing of the weapon towards the next creature in an almost luxurious twirl, sinking the piercing end of his Lucerne deep, deep, deep into the creature's chest with a resounding thud, stopping it in it's tracks and forcefully kicking it off of the tip with a satisfied expression on his face.
Between the group standing ready in the corridor, the undead wretch stands little chance – each and every attack landing with increasing ferocity until Graham, weapon still slick from his previous kill, smashes open the ribcage of the creature. In their eagerness to put the creature down, blood and guts are spread across a wide area – acid-filled pustules bursting as skin is ripped…
Moving past the dead beasts, you make your way into the room with obelisk, various chunks of meat – in varying levels of decay but clearly of human origin – are spread across the room. Dried blood stains the floor – examining the pools of blood further, you find trails appearing to come from the corridor that heads to the south…
Turning your attention to the obelisk, you are perturbed to hear sibilant whispers coming from the air surrounding it…a dark green moss clings to the majority of the monolith’s surfaces and, even though you can’t determine where it comes from, a mist slowly swirls around the stone monument.
eeewwww, I need to keep a rag to wipe my talons on when we finish killing stuff
Taicho shakes the postulated gore from his talons as he steps away from the vile carcass. Moving closer into the room, both drawn and repelled by the strange whispers and swirling mist of the obelisk, he looks around carefully making sure not to touch the obelisk or the undead they just killed.
he asks the team in his tian tenor
"Sharr we move on prease?"
then in the flat baritone
"the obelisk speaks to me in a fashion I cannot emulate"
looking up at his fellow adventurers, for the first time they see fear in his eyes, he expresses in his shackles caw
"an if in I stands 'ear, it's'l drives me bloody mads, wroight"
after carefully and quickly looking around the room Taicho goes to the other exit and proceeds down the hall with his floaty light waiting for the rest of the crew.
"Yes," Aston says flatly as he examines the obelisk from a few paces away, "Yes, I suppose it would drive one bloody mad. Let's all step away from the obelisk, shall we?" With that, he turns and follows Taicho and his pet light. "Those Festrogs- that's what one might call those abominations we just dealt with- were likely the source of all this carnage, but we must remain careful. There could be more, or perhaps they were merely feeding on these... remains. In any case, no doubt they are not the last threat we will face."
Knowing what he does about the manner in which a Festrog comes into being, Aston has much cause for concern. There is no way to tell whether whatever catastrophic release of negative energy that created them happened recently or in the distant past, but it serves as a grim reminder that the strange tunnels beneath Kaer Maga are not a place to be trifled with.
Perhaps Abigail might come down here with him at some point in the future. Matters of the arcane were more her specialty than his; she might be able to help him in identifying just what that obelisk really is. Of course these chambers would require a good cleaning before he would dream of bringing his daughter down here...
"Tik'Klik"
The golem moves closer to the obelisk curiously, eyes glowing purple.
Looking to the south, the corridor proceeds for well over a hundred feet before dropping down a short flight of stairs and reaching a junction heading to the west - after the junction, the corridor heads southwards into the dark...
Taicho, wanting to get as far away from the voices as possible; begins toddling down the hall looking around carefully as he goes.
After he gets to the intersection and decends the stairs he carefully looks down the hall facing west and up the hall continuing south.
Once assured that there is no immediate threat he sits on the stairs waiting for the rest of the team.
Aston follows after Taicho, trusting in the tengu's senses. "Don't wander too far ahead," he says, watching as Taicho's pet light's glow dims in the distance. Aston might not miss its glow, nor Tik'Klik perhaps, but Graham would need that light source should something come crawling out of the dark.
Arriving at the top of the steps without mishap, Taicho peers around the corner to see what lies to the west... A wide staircase, descending ten feet before coming to an open pit - followed by another staircase downwards beyond it leads to a heavy looking pair of wooden doors...
...whilst, off to the south, the corridor disappears into darkness...
Aston cautiously approaches the pit between the stairs and casts detect magic into the pit in hopes of spotting any magical auras that might be inside.
"Well, fellows?" he says as he casts his spell. "What do you suppose this pit is here for?" He works his mental map about and wonders what might lie on the other side of those double-doors.
Aston's wants to know what the pit is for, only one way to find out
Taicho toddles down the stairs, floaty light in tow, as he goes he proclaims in his shackles caw
"well 'airs only one ways ta find outs wroight?
as he gets to the bottom of the first flight of stairs he overemphasizes carefully looking at the pit and its surrounding area, bending over, craning his neck, looking at the walls and ceiling as if he expects the stairwell to swallow him whole.
Aston considers the distance travelled back towards the south, the steps downwards and the heavy double doors – before deducing that you are probably standing on the far side of the eastern doors into the large amphitheatre that you previously crossed on the arched bridge. Moving, with some caution, to the edge of the pit at the foot of the first staircase you realise that the ceiling opens up between the two staircases, creating a shaft above the hallway. Ten feet up, the shaft appears to connect to another passage above running from north to south. Below you, a grisly heap of decaying body parts lies at the bottom of the shaft – the air is rank with the smell of rot, corruption and pungent chemicals.
…and then you realise that three spider-like creatures are scuttling up the walls of the pit towards you…
"Tik'Klik!"