Izra looked around the room, both looking for clues to the meaning and use of the room, as well as hints of danger.
Izra can't think of any obvious religious significance to the fountain. As she contemplates the well further, she is distracted by a sudden shift behind her. She notices the materials of the building stretch and pull as if made of elastic, taking on the form of an earthen figure with thick stony arms, a roughly hewn torso, and a chiseled, vaguely humanoid head.
It turns its "gaze" to Izra then reaches back and tries to attack her with a slam of its earthen fist.
+4 w/o panache
Kwin: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Monster: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
"It is not the water that worries me!" Koshukhep exclaimed, leaping past the pool to swing his flail at the living wall in retaliation.
This is Ahkhat, an elemental entity that dwells within a single building or structure, such as a monument, temple, or manor. The f loors and walls of this structure are the ahkhat’s veins and arteries, and the doors and windows of the building are the creature’s fingers and toes. An ahkhat exists solely to maintain and protect its attuned structure. Far from a mere house servant or magical butler, an ahkhat is its structure’s consciousness incarnate.
Ahkhats are bound to their structures via a special keystone that’s intrinsically attuned to the ahkhat, and they cannot leave the premises of their own volition. Furthermore, ahkhats cannot move through or manipulate structurally damaged parts of their attuned buildings, so they have a vested interest in maintaining the integrity of their demesnes.
"Wait, what?" Kwin's hackles rose as he spotted the thing taking a swipe at Izra.
Whipping out one of his swords, he paused to look at it, then the thing of stone, then the sword again. "I... got nothin'... how do you fight rock?"
Regardless, he moved closer to the thing in preparation for what might come, then pulled a flask of acid from his backpack.
Ahmed looks uncertainly at Kwin, also feeling thrown by its appearance. "I... have no idea." He replies, flatly. Moving his hands he begins to mutter an incantation. "Maybe this will give us time to figure it out."
It's an Ahkhat! It's part of the temple, and guards it as if the temple was it's own body. We either convince it that we're here to help, or destroy it... Somehow. It cannot pass over or through broken parts of the building, like broken doors, or tiles, but I don't think we want to be breaking things. It looks mad enough already. Anyone speak Terran?
Hiding behind her shield, Izra backed slowly away from the creature as she spoke.
Ahmed uses mist to blind their enemy, just before Koshukhep lands a heavy blow. Unfortunately, Izra remembers too late that the Ahkhat has tremorsense, and doesn't need it's eyes to see them.
; Hit!
; Hit!
Kwin: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Monster: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Ahkhat 28/34 HP, 17 AC
Kwin squinted into the fog, trying to see... anything. "Yes, thanks Ahmed, this is much better," he said sourly.
"I talk 'nature,' not 'building,' " he answered Izra. "Did I just hear someone get hit?"
"Fascinating. This must be a very important location to warrant such a defensive measure." Fascinating or not, Djehuti started pulling a scroll out of his scrollcase while he scrambled to get away from the elemental along with the others.
Specific Kn question: since Izra mentioned Terran but I doubt anyone can speak it, can these things understand any other languages?
Presumably it would speak the language of its home plane, and possibly the language of the one who bound it.
"It may speak Ancient Osirian. The binders would have needed a way to communicate it; that would be the most reliable way."
Unable to see in the mist, Torin falls back.
"Who cares what the durned thing is, just hit it until it can't hit back!"
"It can feel us standing on the floor! It's part of the building! It can come at us from any floor or wall or any permanent part of the building. The mist does not help us, Ahmed." Izra kicked herself for forgetting to mention that before Ahmed had cast his spell.
"It is bound to the building by a keystone. If we find that and destroy it, we would destroy the creature - but if we can speak to it, somehow, perhaps we can avoid further fighting."
Suri turns towards Ahmed at Izra's announcement and admonishment, hearing him mutter that it was worth a shot. "I don't want to destroy this building." She says softly, nor kill a creature who is only trapped."[/b] Ahmed's eyes meet hers and he nods.
"But we do not wish to. We are explorers, and it would break our hearts to destroy a piece of history and a magnificence along with it. Mine in particular, because we are the same. I know that you have not chosen to be here, as I have not chosen to be."
Ahmed steps out of the mist in the front of the creature. "I am an Efreeti, a fellow elemental, and I too have been trapped." Raising his arms, he displays the cuffs on his wrists. "While my prison may be mobile, I am unable to take my true form, or to return to my home plane, as you are."
"I am here because I am searching for my freedom. It may not be found here. It may not be found anywhere. While mine could be anywhere or nowhere, the key to your freedom must be here - if it is in my power to, I would be honoured to give you what I may never find."
"Your masters are long dead, my friend. The place you protect is now a tomb, a memory." He pauses. "You could kill us all. But more will come to explore this place. You could kill them, too. At that point, others may simply destroy the structure from the outside in. Your prison would grow smaller and smaller until you no longer fit inside of it, and then it would crush you. I know you don't want that. I know I don't want that."
"If you'll let us help you, we will do everything we can to free you. If you are not interested in that, let us pass, and we'll make sure that no others will come through here. You'll have guaranteed protection for that which you are obligated to give your life for."
"What's going on?" Kwin asks, still trying to peer through the fog. "What's Ahmed saying? Is he talking to the thing?"
Djehuti nods, unseen in the mist. "I do not speak the language he is speaking, but I believe so."
The Ahkhat stops fighting and sinks into the floor. There is silence for several heartbeats, and then several more.
Nothing.
Koshukhep, who had been knocked silly, gathered himself up and blinked into the mist.
"What... is it destroyed already? How hard did it hit me?!" he exclaimed, rubbing his bleeding head.
Izra found her way to Kosh through the mists, and tapped him lightly on the nose with her wand. Once, twice, and then a third time, before the blood stopped trickling.
"Not destroyed, I think," Kwin called to Koshukhep. "It seems Ahmed... talked our way to victory. Or something. I have no idea what he said."
The kitsune started to sheathe his sword, then thought better of it, keeping it in hand as he continued to look about in a hopeless effort to see.
"I... explained our position and apparently struck a bargain." Ahmed replies, sheepishly. He scratches his head "I explained that if it killed us, others would come and destroy its home. It won't kill us, and in return, we'll make sure that that does not happen." He looks around the others. "I will require your assistance in holding up our end of the bargain. When we depart, we must do our best to ensure this place is treated as sacred. My apologies for the added responsibility, but given the circumstances, it seemed... more agreeable than the alternative."
"Excellent. We will do what we can to convince the priests this place should not be explored again. Though that will do little to discourage those who explore the necropolis without the Church's blessing."
After sorting themselves, the Band moves further into the room, approaching the large statue to the North.
You see a hunched figure draped in rags, peeking out from behind the statue.
Kwin quick-stepped to the front of the group and threw his hands out to his sides to halt everyone. "Wait," he said quietly, ducking his head towards the statue. "Someone's over there."
"Someone? In here?" Djehuti makes a small motion and his quartet of dancing lights zips over toward the statue.
"Yes, I'm sure I saw someone or something peaking out from behind that statue."
Koshukhep's ears flattened; he'd had about enough of these skulking trespassers and lurking monsters and living masonry. His claws flexed, and the fur on his neck and back bristled.
"I've half a mind to tear whoever it is apart and ask what they're doing here later," he whispered back, tensing in preparation to fight. "Surely it isn't another heretic?" His tail flicked as he prepared to rush the figure.
Izra readies her crossbow, but said nothing, as she peered into the dark, and waited to see what reaction Djehuti's spell would bring.
The dancing lights reveals a creature draped in rags and hunched over on goatlike legs. It possesses a featureless face, save for a large eye ringed by fangs. It reacts angrily to the lights. The fangs around its eye shuddering with disgust.
Suddenly a spectral hand appears by Djehuti.
+4 w/o panache
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Kwin: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Monster: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
This is an Agash Div. Div are evil outsiders that sow misfortune and ruin.
Aghashes embody the evil eye, a curse granted by merely witnessing these embodiments of ruin and misfortune. Terrifying, haglike beings, aghashes wander deserts of the Material Plane spreading doom with their gazes. These wretched creatures hold nothing sacred, taking particular pleasure in bringing vain and arrogant mortals, particularly spellcasters, to ruin.
They are immune to fire and poison. And are resistant to acid, electricity and magic. Good or cold-iron weapons can hurt them.
"It's an Agash Div!" Izra was slow to react, mostly being surprised to see such an embodiment of evil on this plane, in this place. Still, she managed to shout a warning to her companions.
"Use cold iron! And avoid its gaze if you can!
"Cold iron, there's one for the shopping list!" Kwin called as he swiftly moved forward, unshipping his bow and nocking an arrow as he went.
Kwin's arrow nicks the statue, sending it wide off the mark.
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Kwin: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Monster: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
"Would that my claws could be enchanted so," Koshu growled as he dashed toward the div, his eyes looking in its general direction without settling on it directly.
Djehuti flinches away from the spectral hand, pulling a scroll out of the case on his belt as he moves closer to the div.
Suri moves just behind Koshukhep.
The aghash moves the spectral hand to Koshukhep. And then the hand grasps the ranger by his shoulder.
; Hit!
Koshukhep feels his body get weaker and more feeble.
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Kwin: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Monster: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Torin moves around the statue and fires an arrow:
Fire starts to erupt from Ahmed's arms before he gets a good look at the creature. As Izra calls out what it is, he searches his mind for information about it, and curses in an ancient tongue. "Immune to fire." He mutters. "Damned beast."
Izra moved to the stairs, fumbling at the cold-iron-tipped bolts in the case at her hip. Seeing that she didn't have a clear shot from the stairs, and not wanting to get too close to the thing without some protection, she switched her grasp from the bolts to one of the wands at her belt, and pulled it free. Whispering a word of power, she tapped herself on the leg, and felt a field of protection snap into place around her.
Koshukhep feels his body get weaker and more feeble.
Feeling his resolve weaken as the ghostly hand touched him, Koshukhep desperately fumbled at the magic tokens and charms at his throat. "No! I am protected!" He thrust forward the shiniest of his charms at the hand, dismayed when the spectral hand did not disappear.
"What evil magic is this?!" he wailed, the fur on his arms and neck standing up.