Shocked by the danger , Hrimnagel drops his longbow and requests Count Ranalc to help his friend. The beetle grappling Nyugusk hears a painful blast of noise.
He then heads into the water drawing his dagger. The deep gnome finds that he can glide through the water almost as easily as walking.
Cladissa gives fortune to Grommuk, then cackles to keep the hexes going.
Grommuk grins widely as the water lowers to his shins, the world shrinking around him. He continues winding up another blow, dodging around the creature's stinger to punch it hard in what looks like its head. His efforts are rewarded by a satisfying crunch.
Nyugusk manages to take a big gulp of air as the beetle pulls him under the water. In desperation, he continues to lash out at it. With his heart racing, he finally manages to gore the massive bug with his tusks and his right claws.
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The eagle continues it's attack, though they scrape harmlessly along its carapace.
Argor reaches into the white scroll case, and quickly removes another roll of parchment. He reads off the incantation, and gestures towards Grommuk, and the orc begins to grow to the size of a giant.
Shocked by the danger, Hrimnagel drops his longbow and requests Count Ranalc to help his friend. The beetle grappling Nyugusk hears a painful blast of noise. He then heads into the water drawing his dagger. The deep gnome finds that he can glide through the water almost as easily as walking.
Cladissa gives fortune to Grommuk, then cackles to keep the hexes going.
Grommuk grins widely as the water lowers to his shins, the world shrinking around him. He continues winding up another blow, dodging around the creature's stinger to punch it hard in what looks like its head. His efforts are rewarded by a satisfying crunch.
Nyugusk manages to take a big gulp of air as the beetle pulls him under the water. In desperation, he continues to lash out at it. With his heart racing, he finally manages to gore the massive bug with his tusks and his right claws. With the beetle's shell cracked by Grommuk, Nyugusk is able to tear it wide open, killing the bug outright.
The remaining bug continues to attack the intrepid half-orc alchemist threatening its eggs. Now freed from its mate's grasp, Nyugusk's thick hide and nimble moves protect him from the insect's assault.
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= 1
Miss
Miss
Knowing that Nyugusk wants a flank and feeling ineffective, Hrimnagel uses his new found swimming ability to circle around the beetle.
The hellish eagle lets out a hideous screech, and rushes forward in a dive at the insect, though it's beak merely scrapes along the creatures thick shell once again.
Argor folds his arms within his robes, and keeps an eye out for any more of these things to come creeping up out of the water.
__________
Nuygusk shoots out of the water, covered in beetle guts and gasping in air.
Turning to see Hrimnagel distracting the remaining beetle at its flank, the transmogrified half-orc grins a tusky grin and takes advantage of the transformation to strike the beetle at a weak join, ripping open its shell while tearing off a leg.
Nyugusk's girsly assault kills the second beetle as well.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Cladissa notices that Argor had been looking around for any signs of additional threats. She inhales deeply, filtering through the myriad scents of the surrounding waters, hoping to pick out the presence of anything else lurking nearby.
"Well? Are they dead? Can we get on with this expedition gentlemen, and lady?"
Argor sighs to himself as he mutters the incantation to prepare himself to perform various minor prestidigitations.
I'm pretty sure the bugs won't survive what the orcs did to them. I guess their eggs were the source of their agitation. I don't know if it's wise to allow them to gestate.
Cladissa tries to recall anything she read about the water bugs' reproduction habits, and whether a mass of their eggs were any sort of hazard,
"Then by all means open the tunnel and let this muck begin draining," Argor says as he looks at the standing water with a scowl.
"Depending on the size of this entrance and the girth and extent of the passageways beyond, it could take quite some time for a path to clear. Hopefully, however, it will drain quickly and we can proceed."
As they wait for the water to clear, Argor will remove the wand from his side and expend a portion of its magics to close the wounds Nyugusk sustained.
__________
Um. If it doesn't drain, then we might need to see about some arcane means to breathe underwater. I believe there are some spells that can be acquired; perhaps even in potion form, Cladissa offers, looking around the sodden grounds nervously.
Grommuk grips the handle with both hands, and tugs hard.
As he pulls the plug out, all the water in the pond begins to rapidly drain down the small opening. The swiftness of the water is too much for Grommuk to maintain his balance and he tumbles down into the drain with all the water. Marlinchen whoops with glee, and sprints forward throwing himself into the water to also be sucked down into the necropolis below.
Grommuk manages to ride the wave enough to avoid damaging himself, though he is battered back and forth in the small corridors. After blasting through a barrier of collapsed stone, the torrent finally wedges him in the bottom of a long dead-end stairwell.
Marlinchen is right with him. He stands slowly to his feet, saying, "I shall find her at last!" and rushing off into the necropolis' interior.
Up above, the water quickly drains, revealing a set of slippery handholds that lead down into the necropolis.
Inside the necropolis, a network of 6-foot-wide, arched tunnels connects doublevaulted ossuary chambers. The once ornate chambers are now a patchwork of brown stone walls, faded paint, and crumbling plaster. Water seeps through the walls and collects in floor cracks and ankle-deep puddles. The entire necropolis is dark.
As Argor slowly follows along behind the others, he wills his magic to keep himself and his clothes clean as they descend into the ruin. He scans the surfaces of the walls of the passageways as they travel, looking for any significant symbols, runes, or markings that could help him in identifying a time period, cultural nuances, or warnings that may remain.
When they reach the first branching of their path, Argor says, "We should be methodical about this, and not pass up any chambers as we delve. Too much of a risk to leave our flanks to whatever may dwell down here. Given the nature of the catastrophe, my earlier jest regarding undead is most likely accurate, and I for one would prefer not risk getting surrounded by the vile things."
Seeing the odd man start to run off, Nyugusk hollers, "Hold on! We'll go with you." He then turns to Grommuk and offers a webbed hand to help the enlarged orc to rise up.
"" Grommuk thunders, the boom of his voice reverberating through the ruin's confined, arched hallways. He grunts and groans and grimaces as he shifts his way towards the group, accepting Nyugusk's hand with an appreciative grunt.
"Siz dost olun. Bu qapalı yerlərdə xəstə mənim yeni toplu uyğun görünür. Harada, ağlını itirmiş çəhrayı dəri üçün off əldə etdiniz? O, ən azı hatalar haqqında izah ola bilər!" Grommuk sighs, sounding more like a cavernous growl given his enlarged state. He continues wiggling down the tunnel like a worm, eager to be somewhere big enough for him to stand upright.
Heeding her instincts, she drops to all fours to effortlessly climb down the slick pathway down. Once underground, she stays crouched as she conjures four globes of light, though she keeps them back away from her, favoring the shadows they cast and seeing fine in the dim light.
She tests the air, ready to alert the group if she smells something.
Hrimnagel takes his time to descend the slippery ladder rungs. While everyone is getting ready (Argor cleaning himself and the orcs healing and complaining), the deep gnome says to Cladissa in his small, thin voice, "I'll scout ahead a bit. Underground is my home." He carries his longbow as he melds into the shadows.
Smiling, Nyugusk replies, "Mən bilirəm ki, sağ? Dizaynerlər hətta freakishly böyük tələbələrin təcrübə hesab etməyib kimi."
Mən biz Nekropollardakı olduğunuzu düşünürəm, mən dizaynerlər bütün tələbələr haqqında düşünürdük düşünmürəm, Cladissa comments softly as she slinks along the corridor.
Carved pillars in the corners of this chamber hold aloft a double-vaulted ceiling of cracked frescos. On either side of the chamber, a single step leads up into a deeply recessed area that forms an arched room of its own.
When he pops his head inside the room, Hrimnagel sees two malignant clouds of shadows boiling in the air, their skeletal maws eerily babbling as the creatures' claws manifest from the darkness, before fading away again. The quiet babbling of the creatures creeps into Hrimnagel's ears, tearing at the edges of his sanity.
The deep gnome finds himself frozen in place, fascinated by his own darkest thoughts for a full thirty or forty seconds before he comes back to himself. Luckily, the two undead creatures fail to notice him during his involuntary reverie.
Hrimnagel doesn't recognize what type of undead the creatures are, but he bets Argor will know.
Grommuk sighs, and squirms around awkwardly to look at Argor. "Can make small again? Grommuk's shoulders hurt."
Hrimnagel returns to the group after almost a minute in the short corridor. He takes a deep breath to steel himself before clearing his throat to announce his presence. "There's a cracked door at the end of the hallway. Inside there are two malignant clouds of shadows boiling in the air, their skeletal maws eerily babbling as the creatures' claws manifest from the darkness, before fading away again. They are probably undead and very frightening. I hope you know what they are to better defeat them."
While they discuss, he gathers three sling bullets from his pouch and gives them the blessing of Count Ranalc. He switches his longbow for his sling.
"Argor, why don't you take a look to see if you can offer any suggestions before we barge in."
Nyugusk will stand near the front, ready to barge in when all are set.
Pass
Fail
Argor and Nyugusk creep up to the slightly open door. As soon as they get close to the door, and can hear the undead muttering, Nyugusk freezes, a look of horror creeping across his face. Argor, slightly in front of him, doesn't notice as he pops his head into the room. He immediately recognizes the two incorporeal undead as Allips.
Though it can cause no physical harm, an allip's touch can drain away a victim's willpower. Also, an allip babbles incoherently to itself, and those who hear this babble can become hypnotized. Allips cannot, however, speak intelligibly.
It is dangerous to try to connect mentally with an allip, be that through thought detection, mind control or telepathy as an allip's mind is so tortured as to damage any other mind that touches it.
As this information fills his mind, the door creaks under Argor's weight. The two allips whirl and hiss at the wizard.
The two allips fly into the walls, and emerge a second later flanking Argor. They reach out to grasp him with their spectral claws. Both of their ice cold hands pass right through Argor's chest, and immediately his mind fills with thoughts of madness and suicide.
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Initiative
Allips 16
Party 11.8
Argor gapes in terror when he realizes the dangerous situation they are in.
"Allips! Their touch ravages your minds! Kill them quickly!"
He takes a step into the room and tries to cast a spell to render him invisible, but the creatures claws have already had a negative effect on his mental faculties.
__________
Nyugusk stares in horror and wonder at the allips, his massive jaw hanging open and drool coming down his chin.
Grommuk continues being too weak willed to resist any effect ever conceived by any creature anywhere ever. He joins the other orc-blooded Pathfinder in drooling fearfully.
Pass
Pass
Fail
Hrimnagel shakes off the fascination effect this time and realizes the creatures are incorporeal. He sneaks through everyone to stand in front of Argor while pulling out his morningstar. When he gets a flank, he attacks the creature.
Cladissa shakes off the babbling insanity in her mind. She blinks several times, then casts chill touch, designating Cole as the toucher. Then she pulls out a flask of holy water.
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