Maxim enters the chamber with the others, taking in its grandeur with an appreciative nod.
:
The wizard muses the spectral sounds and eerie lights, but his concentration is sundered by JJ's shouted warning of the Grik.
As JJ backs away the gun-mage scowls at the subterranean slug creature with disdain, and pulls out the wand the group recovered earlier from the delve earlier.
"Relax Surabar! This will hopefully render the Maw-Slug torpid..."
Maxim aims the wand at the creature and invokes its magic;
"Sluimeren!"
Sleep :)
Having heard about the creature from Cauldron adventurers lurking in the deepest ruins below the city, JJ starts to shout alerting the party and retreating next to the door entrance.
The creature then crawls, forty feet over your heads, moving his tentacles towards you viciously.
Retrieving a wand, Maxim starts to say magical words while moving it, focused on the creature.
AC = 18, Shield up
HP = 16/16
Weapon Equipped = Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
Kikinnin looks the creature over, wondering about its inherent goodness.
He moves a little, expecting good things to come from his brother dwarf, and the promise of torpor. "What do we do if it doesn't lay down for us?" He keeps his axe ready, not sure of the others' warnings that the creature can't bleed to anything non-magical.
Seeing the creature crawl the ceiling and hearing the caution in JJ's voice; Ryan appraises the creature while readying mace and shield.
"Ruben, while not normally my thing, this might be a good time for some of that poison we've been collecting. "
Maxim wryly grins at his fellow dwarf:
"Iffin' the Maw-Slug won't sleep, then I reckon I've a spell that'll sting it and I can charge my sidearm with arcane energy..."
At Ryan's shout he adds;
... B'sides LaChance can enchant his own weapons... so betwixt us I reckon we can quell Surabar's panic and put the creature down! Rest o' you give it something to hunger after har!"
Kikinnin focuses on the tentacled creature and finds no evil aura on it.
"Ya don't think it was locked in there for a reason?" calls back JJ, standing ready to close the door in a hurry when the rest of the group learns of their folly.
"Come out and we can prepare for it properly. Light torches maybe, surely fire will hurt it, just not weapons."
"Gnomes are strange...why put m-magical sound effects on things like this that would make noise anyway?" she muses. "At least the p-permanent light magic is actually useful."
As something suddenly appears and begins streaking across the ceiling above their heads, Marigold has almost no time to react before the creature has moved directly over their group!
Although none of the others seem particularly alarmed by the creature, she hears JJ call out that it's vulnerable only to magic and that they should flee. And even with several of them having magical capabilities to one degree or another, this thing was something even nastier than the skulks or creepers they'd found so far - a true monster from who-knows-where.
"શું તમે ઘણો માટે ત્યાં ઉભા છે!? ચલાવો!" she shrieks as she turns and darts back through the doorway after JJ.
"What are you lot standing there for!? Run!"
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While the situation gets tense on whether the party should follow JJ's advice or not, Maxim starts waving the wand and Marigold reacts finally following the boys lead.
The grick crawl's down the way to the floor through the wall up to a height of 5' over the ground. He let's an unpleasant grey thick slime in the wall as he crawls, and while his tentacles move in all direction during its descend, they suddenly open showing a scenty mouth with multiple rows of teeth. The head pounces on Ryan trying to bite him!
But Maxim is not one of those that breaks out lines at the first difficulty. The spellslinger holds his position with the tentacled creature dribble falling all over his head while it tries to catch Ryan off guard.
Solemnly the dwarf points to a place in the room, behind the grick, and a sudden burst of dreaming magic explodes from that point, hiting only the the aberration.
Despite the mindlessly creature's nature, it seems too focused on Ryan to fight against Maxim's magics. The magical energies take the grick which all of a sudden gets into a deep slumber sliding all over the wall and falling to the ground with a dry hit.
The creature remains there lying slept into the floor.
The bones and shredded black robe of a grick's dark creeper victim lie atop the eastern mezzanine amid the dusty desks. Amid the remains, you can find a small masterwork dagger with a poison compartment holding one application of the same monstrous spider venom you have been finding on others, two potions and a black pouch containing 80 cp and 32 sp.
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Wiping the creatures slime off of his shield, Ryan wanders over to investigate the creatures previous victim. Finding two potions within the remains he picks them up, giving them a better look. "Hey these are gonna be helpful, this one if a Cure Light Wounds and the other is Invisibility. Both useful for sneaking around places you aren't wanted and surviving. Excellent workmanship on the knife as well."
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After a moment JJ pokes his head through the door.
"Wow!" he says, a little sheepishly.
"All the stories I heard about these things... and the barries that got put up against it... and you just " he mimics twiddling his fingers and pointing a wand.
"I am so going to sign up at the Blue Crater Academy."
He starts to look around the room. "I guess this must have been a council room or town hall..." he heads off to the lectern to see if there is anything on it. Eventually when he is satisfied that the dusty room has no more secrets he ambles towards the north eastern door.
"Iffin' the Maw-Slug won't sleep, then I reckon I've a spell that'll sting it and I can charge my sidearm with arcane energy..."
As the grick stops sticking to the ceiling, Kikinnin lets out a short but loud 'hah!', before stepping up and bringing the axe up, then down upon the grick's... uh... head? He waits for resistance from JJ. Finding none, he finishes.
"Brother, that is some special snooze brew you've got there. Just like that, and it's helpless on the floor. Powerful combination, if you can keep tagging 'em like that."
The black-beard follows folk across the room to the eastern door from the grand room.
To all's dismay Kikinnin chops one of the tentacles of the grick, his axe barely scratching the beast's skin as the blade finds a difficult time to damage the creature.
The creature wakes up all of a sudden in pain and raging, but still prone at the floor.
"Well joy."Ryan says in frustration as the creature wakes back up.
Marigold peeks back into the room in time to see the creature collapse under the effect of Maxim's magics. "ઓહ વાહ...કે ખરેખર અસર- હતી," she begins, then yelps with dismay as Kikinnin's attempt to put it out of its misery does little more than ensure that it wakes up good and angry. "ના, ફરીથી નથી!"
With everyone else back in the room with the creature, she can't very well leave them to face it alone. She hustles back into the room and skids to a stop next to Maxim, placing a hand on his arm.
"તેને ફરી ફટકારવાનો, તેને ફરીથી હિટ!"
"Oh wow...that was really effect-"
"No, not again!"
"Hit him again, hit him again!"
As the grick starts to wake up from the hit, a divine halo is born in Kikinnin's arms and quickly covers his dwarven axe. The large blade, transformed into a sudden sacred implement, neatly finishes cutting the tentacle and continues chopping the other ones. The fortitude of the creature is not enough to resist the mighty cut of the dwarf and finally collapses, lifeless, under the light of the geared room.
Now, with things calmer, Ryan has time to identify the potions.
JJ approaches the geared door to the east, and assisted by Marigold, introduces the N rod into the keylock. The door moves to one side opening to a dark room.
A large wooden loom, its skeletal frame draped with cobwebs, stands in the middle of this fifteen-foot high octagonal room. Three smaller spinning wheels surround it, also covered with cobweb sheets. An iron coat rack stands next to one of them.
As JJ sets foot into the room, the spinning wheels start to spin and clatter.
The three spinning wheels radiate moderate transmutation magic, probably a permanency mage hand spell made to help the gnomes weaving.
As he sets foot into the weaver's room, Maxim notices something strange into the wall at the other side. Closer inspection reveals another stone spinning secret door that connects to the area revealed previously by Ruben.
Yeah you guys had everything under control. Ruben shrugs as he watches the party hack apart the grig whilst inwardly glad that he didn't have to risk getting any of that drool over himself.
Urgh... look at Taskerhill, he's covered in the stuff. Mud and blood is one thing but if I got any of that crap on my face I'd be showin' this lot my breakfast!
As they press on Ruben begins to recognise some features from earlier.
Yeah this is where we were earlier. Looks like we've cleared out most of the northern section of this place, what about those double doors down there?
As you walk through the corridor to the north, JJ makes everybody to stop in alert. He has spotted tiny holes in the lower parts of the walls. A closer inspection reveals a spear trap on the secret room access.
JJ gets rid of the parts of the armor that makes the job more uncomfortable. Maxim lends the previously found masterwork thieve's tools for more joy of the work.
With great expertise, JJ inserts a bypass metallic piece on the trigger of the affected tiles. This effectively blocks the trap so everybody can cross to the other side but the trap can be mounted again at any point.
The secret chamber at the other side of the trapped corridor is full of old paintings of coins mountains, and droll gnomish artifacts. The reality though is only cobwebs fill the chamber nowadays. It is clear the gnomes stored many of their most precious magic items and weapons in this musty, 10-foot-high chamber. However, these items have been probably sold or destroyed before the gnomes evacuated Jzadirune because for much you search you find nothing.
You then turn your attention to the doors pointed out by Ruben. Following the exploration the arcane duelist pushes open the southern doors.
Four circular doors—each one bearing a different rune—lead from this dusty fifteen-foot-high room.
A semicircular mosaic of engraved floor tiles fans out from an arching set of double doors set in the north wall. Unlike the other portals, the northern doors are made of iron, embossed with gearlike patterns, and held to a stone door frame by great iron hinges.
Engraved on the semicircular floor mosaic in front of the doors are nine glyphs—the same ones that appear on Jzadirune's gear doors and cover in gnome the letters J-Z-A-D-I-R-U-N-E
Maxim affords himself a wry smile as the Grick falls to the floor and is summeraly dispatched by his fellow dwarf;
"Aye... There is but half a dozen charges left, however they will be used judiciously "
As the dwarf examines the loot with the others, he nods at Ryan's deductions;
"Both potions will prove useful, and the dagger is excellent quality and the coin always welcome!"
As the group stand before the gate Maxim voices his notion of that to do next;
"Tempting as it is to forge on... there are still places yet to investigate, and there may yet be more items such as the wand that would afford us an advantage in the battles to come? My vote is to double back and finish our sweep of the delve..."
Kikinnin looks down on his axe, sure that he saw some form of light bathe the blade for a split-second. As he wipes it clean of grick blood, he frowns a bit, wondering what moment just passed him by.
"I second you, Maxim. We've been deliberate in searching, and I'm glad for the resources we've been able to snuffle out. I'd also rather the goods fall into our hands, than remain in the hands of those running against us." Kikinnin takes another look at the map.
"These four new doors seem more central, more important. If we clear the rest of the complex to the south, we should be able to return here and finish our exploration more confidently. Sound good?"
If the search team concedes, Kikinnin returns to the last secret door, and investigates its connectivity to the rest of the section.
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JJ offers not the slightest objection to the destruction of the horrible aberration.
"I've just glad we have been able to remove that thing from the world. Horrible, unnatural ...." he shudders at the very sight of its tentacle covered head.
-=--=-=-=
In the corridor he is more than happy to show off his skill with lockpicks.
"These are a really nice set. Look at this mirror.. it bends! Fantastic. The places I'd..." he glances over at the black beareded dwarf and shut up.
After a fruitless search of the secret room he nods to the others suggestions.
"Maybe we should go and check out that other secret door. Surely if the children are here they will be hidden."
He looks back toward the horrible creature killed.
Or lunch.
JJ pales at the thought and goes quiet for a bit.
The group heads back to the niches corridor and there you look at each other a last confirmation time before making spin the south secret door under the promise to Ruben of returning later to the sleeping king room.
An acrid stench fills this chamber, which contains two large tables draped in cobwebs. Alchemical apparatus clutters one tabletop, while the other table has been flipped on its side, spilling its contents into the middle of the room. Amid the fragments of shattered glass lie some broken candles, some spent tindertwigs, various sundry utensils, and a pile of rags. A five-foot-wide tunnel in the west wall leads into darkness. Against the opposite wall stands a cabinet, its doors set with jagged shards of frosted glass. It looks like someone smashed through the glass to reach the contents within. Mounted to the ceiling is a web-shrouded wooden fan connected to some gears and a rope belt that crosses the ceiling and disappears into the north wall.
The upright table bears an alchemist's lab as well as five empty glass flasks, six flasks of powder, three flasks of hardened sludge, two flasks of acid, 20 tindertwigs, and a 5-inch-long steel rod with an engraved rune at one end and notches carved into the other. The gnome glyph is that one of an U.
On the floor near the pile of rags rests a tanglefootbag.
The broken cabinet holds a few more alchemical items three flasks of alchemist's fire, four vials of antitoxin, two smokesticks, eight sunrods, a thunderstone.
"B-backtracking makes the most sense to me," Marigold chimes in. "We m-might find other clues too, not just supplies." She eyes the large doors cautiously. "A-and we m-might want to take a b-breather before we go through those doors anyway."
As they move on with their explorations, she mutters, "All these tunnels and the layout is c-crazy...why couldn't they have b-b-built this place to make more sense?"
JJ looks around the room.
"An alchemists lab... is any of this stuff magic?"
He looks at his sword and at the gear and back to his sword.
"I think it might be better for one of the rest of you to be armed with that acid and fire... though it would have been handy against that monster. Kind of odd that after finding the room they didn't loot it."
He scratches around on the map he has been making...
"Hey, isn't this the room that skulk fled towards..."
He peers closely around, taking position near the tunnel out.
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Kikinnin chuckles as the halfling tries to make sense of gnomes. "Well, to the little guys who once walked these halls, it probably felt like all kinds of sense. The extra corridors, though. I'd agree with you. I don't like unpredictable."
He picks up an alchemist's fire off the rack, tucking it in his belt pouch. "Your idea of backtracking is bearing fruit, brother. There are some goodly goods here."
Continuing their canvasing, Kikinnin waits for the others, then moves south again, this time targeting a dug-out corridor that should help them through to the next part of the map.
Everybody seems busy, Kikinnin picking up flasks, JJ checking the cabinet, and no one seems to realize as the rags in the floor start to float in the air and loom over JJ.
Before anyone can act, the rags engulf JJ by surprise, and start to tighten him. He reacts too late when the rags are already covering his head and limbs, the boy unable to move at all while the floating rags start to take control of his body.
This is a extremely strange creature named raggamoffyn made of old clothing and other similar objects. They usually are created wildly on areas of strong magic. They have construct types and no special defenses. They engulf their creatures until they gain control of them.
AC = 18, Shield
HP = 16/16
Weapon Equipped = Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = None
Kikinnin looks at the puppet formerly known as JJ, down to his axe, then back up to the clothing-gone-amok. "I'm not sure here, to be honest. How do we break down the rags without injuring the boy?" He produces his newly-acquired alchemist's fire, checking it for heft, then studies the strange thing slowly tightening around the boy.
"uymmghmmmmuhmmm" murmurs JJ through the gag as he frantically tries to escape.
But his armor seems to get in the way. Still, it is an impressive effort.
Doubting he can do anything weaponwise against the rags while they are engulfing JJ, Ryan runs over to try and grab ahold of the rags and pull them off of JJ.
Kikinnin inspects the rags but they have no evil aura.
Be it Ryan's help or just inner JJ's force, the boy succeeds at moving apart one trouser covering his left arm. With that free he removes the shirt engulfing his legs. He hits the cabinet as he escapes the creature grab!
As JJ frees himself Ruben seizes the opportunity to move in and strike, looking to rent the damned thing in twain!
Maxim smiles at the tools and concoctions of alchemy.
The blond bearded dwarf follows his fellow black beard's example and helps himself to a flask of alchemical fire and a vial of antitoxin.
Round 1
As the rags rise like a spectre, Maxim pauses... mulling its nature;
:
Recognising it for what it is, the gun-mage bellows;
"Tis a raggamoffyn! Old clothing and rags given life in areas where magicks run deep! It will seek to dominate those entwined lest we stop it... Any means will work just as well... Have at it my friends! Have at it!"
The dwarf also retrieves a flask of acid, but belays using it whilst his companions engage the creature in hand-to-cloth combat.
Ruben's attack hits the clothing but he has a great difficulty to find any vitals, instead it seems the socks he has hit bend in the air absorbing the strike.
As Maxim recognizes the creature you listen some noise from the eastern tunnel. The skulk you saw previously is there with a bag in his hands. You now realize it is totally engulfed by another raggamoffyn.
After showing up around the tunnel corner, the skulk throws the bag at Ruben.
The bag hits the tunnel exit wall sprawling a sticky gum all over the stone.
Seeing JJ escaped the raggamoffyn attempts to slam the boy.
Two ragged shirts and one trouser engulf JJ succeeding to keep him solidly grappled.
"Arghhhh" stammers JJ as he frantically tries to escape the trousers once again..
His injuries tell, and the attempt isn't quite as good as last time.
Despite JJ's franctical efforts, the ragged trousers keep holding him, warping around his head like a turbant.
Round 2
Maxim scowls as the gum filled missile falls wide.
The gun-mage pulls forth the recently acquired flask of alchemical fire from his belt then points his off hand index finger at the rag wrapped skulk in the caricature of a gun and cocks his thumb;
"Toverkracht Projectiel"
Magic Missle :)
... then glowing shot of energy fires forth unerringly finding its target:
Ryan tries once more to grab the flailing trousers and shirt attacking JJ, afraid with the mace he might actually connect with his companion instead.
ARGGH!be still. Ye damnable magics leggings As the trousers once again elude his grasp.
"Well, to the little guys who once walked these halls, it probably felt like all kinds of sense. The extra corridors, though. I'd agree with you. I don't like unpredictable."
"I g-guess so..." Marigold responds, looking thoughtful. "M-maybe they think most of the other races are crazy for not b-building things with winding corridors and secret rooms everywhere."
As they wander into what was clearly once an alchemy lab, the halfling peers around with interest at the various items still left lying about for the taking. "I've already g-got one of those fire b-bombs," she comments, pointing to the remaining alchemist's fire. "So m-maybe Ryan or Ruben should t-take the last one. One of those acid flasks m-might come in handy though..."
However before she can reach out to take one, the pile of rags suddenly comes alive and begins wrapping JJ like a mummy!
"ધ શું? તેને જવા દો!" she cries, following suit with Ryan and attempting to help pull the rags off of JJ.
Unfortunately to no avail. However, her friend thankfully manages to free himself.
Upon seeing the whirling pile of rags slam into JJ and envelop him once more, Marigold says a prayer to whoever might be listening and swings her morningstar at the thing. "ના ના ના! બંધ મેળવો!"
"What in the-? Let him go!"
"No no no! Get off!"
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Maxim let's his gun fire with a ball of magic force that strikes over the rags without harming JJ. One of the socks is reduced to dust.
Marigold closes by the creature looking for an open spot, and strikes with her mace, but even it is entangled with the grappled JJ, it seems difficult to damage it.
Ryan removes one of the shirts from JJ just in time, giving the boy enough help to free himself from the grapple in the last moment!
The ragged skulk comes absentmindedly over Ruben while drawing a shortsword.
The blade takes the arcane duelist unprepared, too focused on the flying clothing and pierces all through his belly. The human bleeding profusely due to the terrible wound.
The shirt removed by Ryan starts then engulfing him while the rest of the raggs try to slam at the cleric.
In fact trousers, shirt and the remaining sock wrap around the body tightening and causing the cleric horrible bruises.
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Ruben feels the blade bite deeply and his breeches suddenly soaked wet with blood.
Sneaky bastard! he growls before launching himself into an attack.
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"!!!"
Alarmed past coherent speech, it's all Marigold can do to keep her focus as both the flying clothes and the skulk continue to assault and batter her companions. Though she knows it's a dangerous move, the halfling moves back from the melee and around to where she can reach her companions without being in their way.
Though a part of her hates doing so, she decides that Ruben is the one in the most need of help and she reaches out and places a hand on his leg as she wills the flesh to knit together.
Ruben delivers a powerful strike over the clothing of the skulk damaging both the weird construct and its host!
He then retreats timely enough for Marigold to come close by and touch him with divine healing. The wound in his belly quickly closes leaving just a bruise on his skin.
The raggamofyn, to busy grappling Ryan seems to let Marigold pass without retribution.
Staggered by the attack, JJ quickly assesses his options. Reluctant to risk hurting his allies, he steps up to the skulk-clothing and hacks away at that, trying to reduce the number of enemies.
The blow is not an especially good one, but how tough can a pair of trousers be?
Ryan struggles to get loose from the rags that are now engulfing him, instead of JJ. Ones that pack a punch as well it appears.
More effective now that adrenaline fueled his own attempt to escape.
AC = 18, Shield on
HP = 16/16
Weapon Equipped = Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = none
Kikinnin almost can't believe his eyes, as he watches the clothes leap upon JJ, then get ripped off, then reach out at Ryan. He decides that slashing at this point seems to be better than burning it. Not by much, he supposes, as he still worries about injury to Ryan, once he's been snared.
He tries again, overly cautious. If he needs to wait for the pants to come off, he does.
Stepping to the side JJ attempts to strike the skulk, but the clothes wrapping around him seem to also have lent extra resistance because he is unable to pierce the clothing.
Ryan barely manages to escape the rags while Kikinnin tries to slash at the now free clothings without success.
Without hurries the rags seem determined to not let escape their victim now that one living being has made the mistake to brave its room.
But this time Ryan is able to dodge the trousers and the shirt as they try to wrap him.
The skulk, not worried by the targets switch, stabs JJ on his right arm.
The strike is not terrible, but the boy cannot bear anymore. He renders staggered, forced to hold his arm due to the pain.
The skulk seems terribly injured but both raggamoffyns are in very good condition still, barely scratched.
JJ staggers back five feet looking...not very well.
"Help.."
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Ruben steps in opposite Kikinin
I am not going down to a pair of bloody breeches! he yells, slicing into the Raggamofyn