Eostre moves up to the fray and prepares to cast a spell, clapping Conner on the back and causing him to grow in the crab's claw!
"This blind, shiny, double-shelled crab doesn't stand a chance against us!" Nicat cries out encouragingly, spinning his sling and taking a shot at the crab!
Nicat's sling bullet hits the crab in one of its closed eyes. It staggers and clicks its free claw in rage.
"Argh, stupid crab! This is not a dignified way to end my winning streak today!" He again tries to get free.
Blood continues to pour into Evelyn's mouth as Conner takes more damage and the wound's partially transferred to her. Evelyn closes her eyes for a moment and concentrates, sending a burst of positive healign energy outward that heals only Conner and herself.
Conner's efforts are mighty, but ultimately futile. The crab has a death-grip like a vise.
Ekan continues to pummel away at the very very glittery crab.
Ekan's first punch connects with the crab's meaty underbelly and his second goes straight into its mandibles with a *CRUNCH*. The crab wobbles for a bit before it releases its grip on Conner and topples backwards into the pool, the giant helmet it was wearing making a massive *SPLASH* as it falls.
--3,500 Silvers
--630 Gold Pieces
--40 precious stones worth 10 GP each
--A circular amulet made of jade that's emblazoned with a seven-pointed star
--A giant-sized, gold-alloy helmet worth about 3,000 GP and weighing 300 pounds.
Conner claps his hands together. "Okay, now how do we get that helmet out of here. Maybe we can break it into pieces?"
"Maybe you and Ekan can carry it together?" Evelyn opts to Conner.
No idea what that amulet is...
"Either way, I think that's it for today? Up to camp and back in the morning?"
As Evelyn finishes studying the amulet, Nicat says, "Here, I got this, lemme see that." He somehow manages to swagger while standing still looking at the thing, but an uncertain look creeps across his face. He reaches up a hand to scratch his head in thought, pursing his lips and glancing from side to side. "Yeah, I got nothing. How about you, sis?" he asks, handing the amulet to Eostre.
Turning to Evelyn as if the whole thing had never happened, he says, "Sure, sounds like a fine idea. We want to be in top form when we take on the thing behind that locked door. As for the helmet, maybe we could go back to Sandpoint and rent a cart or a donkey from the Goblin Squash Stables?"
Conner claps his hands together. "Okay, now how do we get that helmet out of here. Maybe we can break it into pieces?"
"Don't you sodding DARE!" Eostre exclaims, glaring at Conner.
"That helmet's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of find! A Thassilonian artifact THAT intact?! It belongs in a museum! I mean, we should at least show it to Brodert back in town!"
As they suggest their next course of action, Eostre strokes her chin.
"You know, we still have that tentamort upstairs. We should probably get that thing out of the way if we want to haul this stuff back to Sandpoint."
When Nicat hands the amulet to her, Eostre focuses her arcane senses on it...
...and easily determines its properties.
"Its magic toughens your skin." She bites her lip a bit.
"Green IS my color..."
"Eostre, how are we going to get that thing back over that bridge?"
Eostre rolls her eyes and pulls a golden wire out of her pocket, muttering an incantation as she bends and twists it into a cup-like shape, then squeezing it in her hand until it bursts into a spark of greenish light. Then she lays her hand on the helmet and gestures towards the ceiling, the helmet slowly rising out of the water and into the air. Then she gives it a push and it begins to drift to the side.
"Any more questions?"
Nicat nods at Eostre's approach with the helmet, clearly impressed.
"I think the problem is...solved," he says impressed. His own god is a deity of history among other things so he agrees it should be preserved.
Eostre smirks.
"Thank you. Now let's get this stuff to our camp and go kill that tentamort."
"Can we pile everything in the helmet and move it that way?" Nicat asks, beginning to scoop coins into the massive helmet. He pauses, shakes his head in disbelief, and says, "Did you ever expect you'd be piling silver and gold coins into a giant golden helmet and wishing you had a shovel to make the job easier? Life is a funny thing!"
Eostre strokes her chin.
"We might, but that might also make the helmet too heavy for even my magic to lift. Just looking at it, we could only get about a hundred pounds of stuff in it before it strains the upper limits of my power."
"We can split up the rest, it's not a problem. The real problem is I doubt there's enough coin in all of Sandpoint to buy all this stuff."
"Sure there is," Evelyn comments, not having a clue.
After the party's transported the entire treasure to the camp and the party's back inside the building, Evelyn lets out a deep sigh. "Okay... tentamort time..."
"Maybe we can trade it in for a local building even swap," Might be joking.
"Like I said, we should at least show it to Brodert. Maybe we can find a buyer in Magnimar or something, I'm not familiar with the magical institutions there, but I know at least ten Cyphermages who'd murder us for this stuff, and I think I've seen enough murder for now," Eostre replies.
"Or we can hold onto it, hang it up on the tavern. Like a trophy for the time we saved the town. Plus, scholars might want to see it."
Once the party has finished scooping up all the loot they can, they begin the arduous task of lugging the giant helmet back to their camp. Eostre's magic makes the job considerably easier, levitating the massive piece of armour through the doorways and up the stairs to the abandoned goblin fort.
Shalelu and Orik look on with surprised and confused expressions. The sellsword in particular seems quite interested in the helmet--he pokes it a couple of times to see if it's a real helmet and not, say, an elaborate illusion being used as a prank.
The ranger proves to be amenable to keeping an eye on the treasure while the party completes their exploration of the dungeon.
Eostre smiles as they get the helmet and the rest of the treasure up the stairs.
"Right, let's get this over with."
She leads the way up to the tentamort.
"I suppose no one can say our town is boring."
"It's not even my town, I was just passing through and that guy wanted to pay me for a simple job, and now here I am fighting tentacle monsters in a basement for no good reason."
Conner throws the door to the tentamort's lair open. The strange, tentacled creature is sitting on a stalactite, eying the door with a measure of bewilderment.
Evelyn laughs softly. "I was just visiting Sandpoint to see the new cathedral devoted to Desna. First time I ever visited Sandpoint."
She smiles brightly at her companions. "I'm glad I decided to pay the town a visit. It's why I met you. Desna must've wanted for us to meet."
"It certainly wasn't as quiet as I expected when I came here looking to lie low. Though I must say, I could get used to being a local hero!" Eostre says.
She smirks a bit as they startle the tentamort.
"If you can keep it occupied without going straight into the room, I've got a spell to get it off the ceiling!" she says as the battle begins
"I'm with you, Evey," Nicat agrees as the door opens, "Desna moves in mysterious ways! And now, I think she's moving for us to defeat this tentacle monster with ease!" As he speaks, he drops a sling stone into his sling and begins to spin it.
He also thinks on what he knows about such creatures.
Conner keeps his shield ready and walks closer slowly.
Evelyn grabs the sihedron medallion hanging from her neck and activates it, giving herself a pool of temporary health.
She places a hand on Nicat's shoulder and casts guidance on him.
Ekan readies his cross bow, "Just tell me when to shoot."
Conner stomps into the room, and the tentamort reacts quite poorly to this intrusion into its domain. It skitters along the ceiling and down the wall before launching its stinger tentacle at him!
Its stinger goes through his cheek, and his face feels like it's burning. The foul venom in its stinger works its way into his stomach and causes it to churn violently.
"Ekan! Forget the crossbow and get Conner out of there! I'm going to call the stone!"
Eostre waits for Ekan to follow her instructions.
"អេវលិន! តើអ្នកអាចជាសះស្បើយជិតតោពីការរងរបួសទឹកអាស៊ីត tentamort នេះ?" Eostre says in Aklo.
With the hallway cleared out, Nicat takes a risk. He moves a little way down the hall, then casts a slippery spell at the wall!
Ekan moves to get Connor out of there
"I'm fine just kill it!"
"You'll be less fine if I drop rocks on yer damn head! Let Ekan help you!" Eostre snaps back.
Ekan helps Connor anyway, "You can fuss at me later..."