"Get the ugly things! And don't use electricity Vulcan!"
"And here's something to speed things up!" Bubba casts haste on the party.
Round One:
Feres offers a quick prayer to his Goddess, calling upon Her divine power to sheathe himself in a shimmering field of magical force. Hefting his scimitar and shield, the stout priest moves to engage one of the tentacled monstrosities.
Vug lobs a flask that shatters on the wall behind the creature to the left and releases noxious vapors that render the creature temporarily helpless. Valgrim and Feres move to engage the remaining two, and Valgrim deals a severe blow to his foe. Bubba uses his magic to speed you up.
The monsters retaliate, failing to get a grip on the stout priest, but making a serious effort to tear Valgrim to pieces, grasping him with its claws and tearing for 30 points of damage.
You are all up.
Valgrim bears the pain through gritted teeth and goes full-attack on the wounded creature!
"Keep it up!"
Bubba maintains Inspire Courage +2, casts mirror image on himself and moves to K10 to engage the creature there.
Valgrim's first blow kills the monster, so he can take a move action if he likes.
Round Two:
Feres tries to emulate Valgrim and slashes repeatedly at his tentacled foe.
Vug tries throwing a stink bomb near the remaining tentacle monster without looking at it.
Targeting grid intersection again: , 9 splash damage, nausea, DC 19
Vulcan focuses his baleful stormy glare on the horrific creature that is as yet unengaged, heeding Bubba's advice and unleashing twin bolts of scorching heat at the aberrant monster.
Ranged touch
Ranged touch
crit
Ranged touch
Valgrim moves toward Friar and the creature staying 10' away, so as not to provoke an AoO.
Vug and Vulcan together destroy one of the monsters, leaving Valgrim and Feres to contend with the last one. It pinces Feres for 8 points of damage, and then you all can have a go at it.
Valgrim 5' steps and full-attacks the creature:
Valgrim and Feres cut the last of the creatures to ribbons, leaving you to focus your attention on the door.
Valgrim drinks 2 Cure Light and 1 Cure Moderate Wounds potions.
He then goes back to trying to open the marble doors (take 20 if possible).
After a fair amount of bashing Valgrim manages to smash the doors to the point that you can lift the bar off and enter the room behind.
As you pass through the doors the natural cavern yields to worked stone with a tentacle pattern. The ceilings are 40 feet high. You enter a round room, 30 feet across, with an exit to your left.
In the center of this tall domed chamber is a large brain, carved from a single block of purple-veined white marble. Its veins seem to pulsate with every breath you take, as if aware of your presence. Four stone benches are arrayed around the room, each with a pair of iron manacles bolted to the top.
"Vug, room looks suspicious to me, what with the stone brain and all. Can we send in one of those decoys to spring a trap that you mentioned earlier to see what happens?"
Before Valgrim opens the door, Feres gives the dwarf and himself a tap from his lesser curative wand.
Haste will have expired while you were breaking down the door, but the rest of the buffs are still on.
"Sure, it'll just take a minute."
Vug mixes a pinch of this and a dash of that in a vial, shakes it vigourously, then removes the cork with a pop. A tiny homunculus slithers free and grows quickly into a 3-foot-tall ugly blue humanoid -- a mite. (summon nature's ally I)
Vug addresses the mite in Undercommon:
The mite salutes Vug, giggles a little at nothing in particular and sets off into the room. As it nears the stone brain it suddenly freezes into place and then slowly turns toward you with a malicious grin on its face. With a shrill yell it runs at you, teeth bared.
Knowledge (arcana) 25 or Sense Motive 15:
"Vug! Your creature's been dominated! Everyone, get back from that brain!"
Valgrim steps 5' back from the door. "Thanks, Friar, for noticing that. Got any preventive magic that could help us?"
"Would it help if I threw a bomb at it?" Vug offers cheerfully.
The brain is definitely unusual. It's stone, but no kind of stone that you've ever seen and obviously magical. The mite was 10 feet away from it when it was turned.
"It's pretty big, Vug. Don't think one bomb will do much to it. I could try to break it, if Friar protected me from its domination magic."
Feres offers a prayer to his Goddes to shield Valgrim's mind from malevolent forces. "I have a spell that could enhance your strength as well," Feres offers the dwarf.
"Thank you, Padre." Buffed by both of Friar's spells, Valgrim approaches the stone brain hopeful that the spells protect him and starts hacking at it with his bardiche with power attack. If he notices the sharp blade is not penetrating, he starts bashing it with his morningstar instead.
By the way, Vug dismisses the mite and it melts back into a puddle of goo.
Valgrim bashes the brain into pieces, protected by Feres's magic.
Looking down the passage to the left, at the end of a long staircase, an odd chamber reveals itself. A number of tall bookcases, a desk, and a large tank full of green liquid takes up half the room. A stone door stands closed on the opposite wall.
Apart from the door, the passage continues at the other side of the room.
"Thank you, Padre, for the spells and Vug for the use of the mite. Great teamwork." Up the stairs we go, Valgrim in the lead, frost greataxe in hand.
As they pass the book case Vulcan scans the titles and glances at the odd green fluid, seeking indications of arcane activity.
"I guess we'll search on the way back..."
Buba follows after Valgrim, trying to remember where he ha seen green fluid like that before.
Vug tries to recognize the green liquid.
Craft (alchemy):
Before you have much time to identify the liquid, another of those tentacled monstrosities crawls out of it and attacks. Only this one is much larger, like if it had consumed its brethren.
Roll for initiative.
[dice]1d20+2[dice]
"Groan..."
Init:
Valgrim and Vug (and possibly Vulcan) react quickly and may act before the monster.
Go break a tentacle.
1d20+2
D'oh!