Findurel finds the door locked.
With a bit of help from the elf, Quasit is able to unlock the door. Beyond the door a slightly curving passage is revealed. Roughly eighty feet into the passage it curves more to the east out of sight.
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Fin will draw his bow and cast blend before warily scouting out the passage beyond the southern door...looking for foes and/or signs of foes (tracks, etc) and trying to stay concealed as he goes...
...he will not go beyond 30' from his companions and will not enter a new chamber/room till his friends catch up to him...
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When Quasit bags up the satyr's body, "And you had a problem with me grabbing clothing?" Selena asks rhetorically with a raised eyebrow.
She then resumes position at the back to watch the rear and above.
"It could help us avoid vengeful fey coming back as undead... I'm not sure what the plan is, maybe a nice funeral pyre."
The party cautiously makes their way through the passage. As the turn in the passage becomes more eastwardly, a flickering light can be seen coming from ahead.
"Whatever we do, if I get confused I'm going to start blasting!"
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Slinking along the wall, Quasit practically bumps into Findurel before noticing him. On hearing his question, she nods.
"We didn't come this far to turn back. And for all we know, this might be where one of the keys to the Hut are kept. Or someone might actually be a prisoner in here. But most likely it'll be some new fey horror. Keep that cold iron at the ready."
Rounding the turn in the passage you can see the flickering light come from a larger cavern. The light emanating from the eye sockets of nine skulls hanging from chains staked into the walls with iron spikes. Huge stone menhiers form a ring about the perimeter of the chamber, catching the candlelight and tearing it into swaths of wavering shadow. The gutted corpses of two frost giants hang from two of the menhirs, facing each other from the east and west. Bound to the massive stones with rusted chains, the giants are soaked in their own blood, which flows into the center of the room to disappear into a huge pile of wilted wildflower blossoms.
As Quasit attempts to enters the room unseen, a shadowed figure rises from the water, her long ears tapering to points above her head. Small stones begin to fall, seemingly out of no where. The stones pelt Quasit .
Round One: Party is up.
With permission to blast granted, a toothy grin grew across Maka's face as flames grew across her shoulders. "Do you think this is magic or do the plants just like AGH!" Maka's question was cut off as the fire monk screamed and brought her hands to her eyes. With a vicious stomp she slammed her foot on the ground, followed by a pillar of fire errupting from the ground near where the figure rose from the water.
"Someone in the water! She did something to my eyes!"
Maka keeps her blast centered on the figure she can no longer see well enough that the blast hits even though the devastatingly beautiful creature avoids much of the damage.
Round One: Party, other than Maka and Quasit up.
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"SHE'S TOO PRETTY! Don't look at her!"
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Being in front of Maka, and not realizing she is blinded, Fin has already looked at the creature with no ill effect. Noting the gutted frost giants, he murmurs, "Aye, she is that; pretty but deadly," as he moves 5' south and, following Q's directive, unleases a barrage of cold iron at the deadly beauty...
Resisting the pull of the creature's beauty, Findurel lets loose a barrage of arrows piercing the creature with nearly all of them.
Round One: Selena, Sakitu, Tezuzu, and Bulvi up.
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The stones pelt Quasit
"Ow!"
Quasit touches her bruised forehead, looking to see if she's bleeding.
"Rude."
"SHE'S TOO PRETTY! Don't look at her!"
"Oh come on Maka. You're gonna tell me that and expect me *not* to look now?" says Quasit, still with her back to the menhir, with a casualness she definitely doesn't feel. She glances up at one of the skull lamps as it leeringly glows down at her.
"What're you looking at?"
Tezuzu moves forward cautiously and attempts to avert his gaze from the strange woman.
As he pushes forward he begins chanting raising his right claw towards the pointy eared beauty. In a magical flash an ethereal copy of his own claw made up of pale glowing energy flies forward and whips out at her slashing her across the face.
"Tsck Tsck...It seems such a shame to have uglied up such a beautiful face. I absolutely love what you have done with the decor by the way. Nice touch with the giants it really brings the whole room together quite nicely." The tengu taunts amusement clearly evident in his voice.
He whistles to pointing at Quasit. Yang dashes forward near her growling at their shared foe.
Sakitu avoids looking at the creature as she begins casting while Quasit strategizes. Tezuzu isn't quite sure why anyone would be enraptured by this creature's beauty, resisting its pull and responding in kind with the summoning of a weapon that attacks the creature on its own.
Round One: Selena and Bulvi up.
"It's easy Quasit just don't look... just listen." Bulvi raised his shield to block his view as he went down the last few steps. The sword in his hand begins to pulse brightly at a steady pace. Once he reaches the last step he lowers his shield to reveal he has closed his eyes and advances.
Bulvi advanced, though slowed by the rocks covering the floor his plan to keep from seeing the creature works as planned.
Round One: Selena is up.
Selena closes her eyes but faces the center of the room and loudly commands with a strangely compelling forcefulness and grace that makes her noble heritage obvious despite her current size, "Halt or die! Your looks can not save you from me!" She stands so straight and domineering that it is easy to miss that her eyes are closed, and projecting such an air of superiority that if ever there was doubt of her being a noble, such doubt would be shattered.
The creature laughs at Selena's demand, unimpacted by her attempt at commanding an action. She gestures and speaks into the room, the sounds of breezes, winds, and torrents of wind. Moments later a large air elemental materializes and assumes the form of a whirlwind, attempting to engulf Selena's small form in the wind. She manages to avoid the wind.
Round 2: Party up.
Tezuzu closes his eyes focusing his curse on the beautiful fey creature and an echoing caw escapes his beak.
His ghostly claw continues it's assault unaffected by Tezuzu's self imposed lack of sight.
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"Halt or die! Your looks can not save you from me!"
Quasit looks down at Selena, sighs, and cocks her head to one side. "I'll say this for you Shortpants, at least you're consistent."
Moments later a large air elemental materializes and assumes the form of a whirlwind...
Quasit squints and holds up a hand protectively as the wind starts whipping around in front of her, pelting her with more stones and dirt. And as the winds accelerate and coalesce around malevolent shadowy eyes within the cyclonic maelstrom, she lets a groan escape her mouth. She glances over at Findurel and the others in the passageway, then turns to face the new threat, little sword in hand.
"Hey Ugly!" she shouts at it over the screaming of the wind. "In this part of the world, we expect our vortexes to spin CLOCKWISE! Are you stupid or just upside down?"
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Sakitu finishes her spell and points to the end of the hallway and a swarm of monkeys appears out of nowhere. She races to the end of the passageway herself. As she reaches the end she keeps her eyes averted, watching the skull lamps but at the same time she points towards the center of the room. "Go there and attack what ever is there." She commands the monkeys.
The thread ends as suddenly as it began with the creature falling to the ground and the elemental returning to where it was summoned.
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Fin nods as the nymphette falls...and then checks on his friends...
”You OK, Q? That bag of wind gave you a little bit of a wallop...”
Turning back to Maka, he says, ”Nice shooting again, Mistress of Fire...” before noticing her eyes. ”Erastil’s antlers, Maka! Are you blind?”
He rushes over to her and checks out her eyes...
”This is well beyond my meager healing skills...Tez, you can fix this though...right?”
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”You OK, Q? That bag of wind gave you a little bit of a wallop...”
"OK? I'm great! I just killed that elemental with one stab! Honestly, I think maybe I scared it off! Rawr!" She flicks her sword around in some mock flourishes.
Then she steps out to finally look at the too pretty nymph with half a dozen arrows sticking out of her. She sniffs a trifle contemptuously. "She's not that great." she judges.
Then she begins to rummage around for treasure.
Beyond the stone and fetid water pool the only thing of value in the room seems to be one of the glowing skulls, which is not lit by candle.
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"Maka, I'll let Tez tend to you as his healing prowess is far better than mine. There's a pool of water here but it's most foul; once you've got your eyesight back, perhaps you can fire it up and purify it thoroughly for us to take a hot bath!"
Fin will then search the room, looking for anything suspicious and/or significant; he'll check the peculiar glowing skull to make sure it's not trapped or rigged...
Turning back to Maka, he says, ”Nice shooting again, Mistress of Fire...” before noticing her eyes. ”Erastil’s antlers, Maka! Are you blind?”
"I told you, she was too pretty!"
"OK? I'm great! I just killed that elemental with one stab! Honestly, I think maybe I scared it off! Rawr!" She flicks her sword around in some mock flourishes.
"Aw Tez fix my eyes, I want to see Quasit be silly!"
Then she steps out to finally look at the too pretty nymph with half a dozen arrows sticking out of her. She sniffs a trifle contemptuously. "She's not that great." she judges.
"No like I said, she's too pretty. Like perfect pretty, which is gross and hurt my eyes."
Findurel finds nothing of interest in the room and the skull looks safe in terms of what can be determined without magic.
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"One of you magic types might be interested in this skull...it doesn't appear to be trapped, as far as I can tell..."
"I told you, she was too pretty!"
Glad to see Maka in good spirits, he gives a wink to her, forgetting in the moment that she's blind, saying, "Why is it that all of you pretty women, including the present company, always turn out to be dangerous as well?"
Turning to Tezuzu, he says, "Aye, Tez...fix her eyes so she can make this pool water fit for a bath...I'm afraid I don't smell so good..."
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"No like I said, she's too pretty. Like perfect pretty, which is gross and hurt my eyes."
"Oh, I know what you mean. We used to call that 'vampire pretty' back home." says Quasit. She comes over to Maka now and sits down crosslegged in front of her and takes one of her hands into her own. "When the nobles went to the opera or something, they'd drink these magic potions to make themselves look more impressive. You couldn't take your eyes off some of them, they were so amazing looking, but it was kinda uncanny and wrong too. Like they weren't quite human any more. Imagine going to a theater or a ballroom full of those conceited trolls! It would have been like a room full of people all wearing too much perfume or something, you'd just want to gag and run, even though they were all completely lovely and enticing. But then I suppose when you're an aristocrat, you've got nothing better to do than to try and outdo one another with phony magical charisma."
As she chatters, she lazily waves her free hand in front of Maka's unseeing eyes. Her face betrays real sympathy even if her words sound trite.
"I always thought the handsomest men and the most intriguing women weren't the ones who were classically perfect in their appearance -- it was the ones who had some little imperfections that made them feel a little more... I don't know, what's the word? Interesting? Unique? A prominent nose or spidery fingers or something. When you were alone, it was easier to conjure them in your mind somehow and imagine making out with them."
"Anyway, I suppose that dingy b@*&@ probably was more impressive when she didn't have an arrow through her cheek. And I always thought running around naked was a bit thirsty, you know?"
She suddenly pulls Maka's hand up to her mouth and kisses it lightly. "Don't worry hon, Tez will fix you up, just like he did with Saki and me." she says with urgent calm.
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Tezuzu steadies himself along the wall before coughing up a little blood. "You will have to give me a moment the backlash on that healing hex is...well... very unpleasant...I do wish you all would be a bit more careful."
Tezuzu draws out his healing wand and activates it.
After he catches his breath for a moment he pauses for a moment and begins to size up the gutted bodies of the frost giants and whistles "I do not suppose your opinion on allowing me to animate a vanguard has changed? It seems such a waste to leave these here as mere macabre decor and not put them to use...."
Turning back to Maka he adds "Regardless, it will take me a short while to align my energies to restore Maka's sight."
He scratches Yang's ear affectionately as he sits down and begins to meditate centering himself.
Once he is done he chants a few magic words his eyes glowing turning milky white as magical energy pours out out of them and settles in his clawed hands he places them over Maka's eyes restoring her sight in a flash. "Is that better? It might take a few moments for your eyes to adjust to the light....."
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Sakitu lets the troop of monkeys disappear back into wherever they were summoned from. The excitement, and not a good excitement, of the moment still has her nerves on edge. Only now, she is able to get a better look at the room. The sight of the gutted and strung up giants causes Sakitu to gag. The odor in the room is nearly unbearable. She notices Maka and Quasit sitting and moves to join them, listening quietly to their conversation. She quickly figures out that Maka has been blinded but Tez comes over and heals her. She was made deaf, Maka was made blind. All in one day. The only thing that would make this any good is if something could make Selena mute. Sakitu chuckled to herself. That wasn't nice. Sure, Selena was all 'high and mighty', but she was still a person. She didn't deserve to be treated in a way that made her feel bad.
After a moment Sakitu recalls something that she heard Fin saying. She stands and walks over to him. "Fin. Wait! Did you say that you wanted to take a bath here? In this room? With those things hanging here?" She points to the giant corpses. "Really?"
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"Uh, I hate to tell you this Fin, but unless you plan on bathing in dead flowers and giant blood, you're out of luck. No water in here." says Quasit. She stands up and gives Findurel some friendly pats on the arm. "Cheer up. We all stink. But you elves all have a nice wholesome and honest stink, like cow manure on a farm. It's kinda refreshing." She winks to show she's teasing.
Then she turns to Tezuzu. "Tez, what can I say? You've saved our bacon three times today alone, and mine in particular. You are a hero, and I thank you from the bottom of my bony bottom. But personally, I gotta say, I'm still uncomfortable with the idea of making zombies out of these giants. I understand it. I really do. I know there's no evil intent in it. But it just feels like crossing a line that I'm just not ready to cross."
"I suppose it's kinda my 'WWKD' test. That is, 'What Would Kylee Do'? She was a friend of mine back in Absalom. A cleric of Shelyn, and one of the wisest, sweetest, kindest people I ever met. She's an elf too, Fin -- you'd like her. Sometimes when I don't know what to do, I imagine explaining my actions afterwards to Kylee and imagining her reaction, and if in my mind it makes her cry or look at me with disappointment, I know I can't do it. I know that's sorta dumb, but that's the shape your conscience takes when you're a confused wastrel like me, I guess."
Tezuzu can tell that the item is magic in nature and that the aura is to do with its function, not a trap of any kind.
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"Uh, I hate to tell you this Fin, but unless you plan on bathing in dead flowers and giant blood, you're out of luck. No water in here." says Quasit.[/b]
Fin's grin turns to a frown as he moves close to the pull. Clearly disappointed, he says. "It's a pool of blood? Erastil's Antlers, I swear it looked like water when that creature arose from it. Bloody hell! My kingdom for a bath..."
She stands up and gives Findurel some friendly pats on the arm. "Cheer up. We all stink. But you elves all have a nice wholesome and honest stink, like cow manure on a farm. It's kinda refreshing." She winks to show she's teasing.
Fin smirks as Quasit's teasing. "Cow manure, eh? Thanks, Q, make me feel a whole lot better..."
After he catches his breath for a moment he pauses for a moment and begins to size up the gutted bodies of the frost giants and whistles "I do not suppose your opinion on allowing me to animate a vanguard has changed? It seems such a waste to leave these here as mere macabre decor and not put them to use...."
"Tez, we would be lost without you and your skills...but as for the vanguard, while I can see a particular use for it, I'm still more in line with Q on this. My hatred for the undead aside, with this in front us, it'll alert anything ahead of us of our presence...
"That being said, if we scout ahead and find a nasty fight awaiting us, having one in the vanguard then could prove most helpful..."