Cladissa glances about, testing the air but unable to see what it is she scents. Something's dead in here. And I don't mean the corpse. It smells putrescent. She crinkles up her nose at the foul odor.
Nyugusk looks where Argor points and tenses up, but isn't able to make it out in time to seize the initiative.
Cladissa glances about, testing the air but unable to see what it is she scents. "Something's dead in here. And I don't mean the corpse. It smells putrescent." She crinkles up her nose at the foul odor.
"It is a crawling hand, a giant one at that. Try not to cut or stab the thing, else you risk exposing yourself to its vile pus. I would suggest only using such tactics at range." He then points a finger at the thing and utters a spell, sending a flaming beam searing through the air, burning into the creature badly.
Nyugusk looks where Argor points and tenses up, but isn't able to make it out in time to seize the initiative.
Hrimnagel activates an undead bane on his bow.
Thrassk moves to the fore of the group.
The hand skitters across the ceiling heading for a lower where it can safely leap down.
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Cladissa lends Hrimnagel Fortune, then cackles to extend it even further.
Argor pursues the thing, sending another searing beam into it, melting away another large chunk of flesh. As he advances, the elemental moves ahead, keeping itself between the wizard and the undead.
__________
The transmogrifying Lotus berates himself under his breath for failing to see something that Argor noticed--but when he does see the creepy severed hand he braces to attack it.
Cladissa lends Hrimnagel Fortune, then cackles to extend it even further.
Argor pursues the thing, sending another searing beam into it, melting away another large chunk of flesh. As he advances, the elemental moves ahead, keeping itself between the wizard and the undead.
The transmogrifying Lotus berates himself under his breath for failing to see something that Argor noticed--but when he does see the creepy severed hand he braces to attack it.
Hrimnagel raises his bow and fires an arrow at the hand.
Thrassk moves below the hand, and readies himself to try biting it.
The hand leaps from the ceiling onto Thrassk's head. It is intercepted in the air by Nyugusk's claw slashing it, and Thrassk's teeth. The thing somehow manages to survive all the punishment it's receiving. However, it now resembles more of a skeletal hand than a fleshy one.
It claws at Thrassk, trying to grab him. It cannot get through his thick armor though and falls to the floor.
================================
__________________________
Hit
Cladissa stays behind the enlarged form of Nyugusk, and peers through his chitinous legs to target the undead appendage with her hex. Then she cackles to extend its effect as well as the fortune on Hrimnagel.
_______________________
saves
Nyugusk--reluctant to get too close after Argor's warning--elects to stay back. "Thrassk, you wanna shift over so we can really doubleteam this thing? Let's see if we can't finish it off before getting too close."
Once they have it from two sides, he swipes again with his accordion-arm.
Now that the thing was on the ground, the elemental surges forward and delivers its own heavy handed attack, slamming into the thing with a thunderous strike.
__________
Thrassk attacks the hand as well.
He tears through what remains of the hand with his claws.
Argor immediately floats over to the body of the man holding the staff, and looks them over thoroughly for latent auras or possible traps.
__________
Cladissa also inspects the corpse, using her trained eye to appraise its cause of death.
One of the fellow adventurers of Daling’s Delvers, this unfortunate died from several large bludgeoning wounds, perhaps from the animated statue in the level below. Something dragged her body upstairs and positioned it in the chair, adorning her with Nethite robes. Apparently it was to serve as bait for future adventurers. As an added incentive to lure in prey, something placed the third piece of Beldrin’s sigil around the neck of the seated corpse. The amulet piece easily attaches to the others.
Argor looks to his remaining elemental, and commands it in the thing's tongue to explore the rest of this level. He follows a safe distance behind, safely tucking the sigil piece in with the others.
Cladissa presses her lips together as she recognizes the wounds. "Looks like he was pummeled to death."
The dull throb of the tingling formula suddenly intensifies and she sways on unsteady feet. For a moment she leans against the pillar in the room and takes several deep breaths. She grits her teeth and tries to force it away.
Argor arches an eyebrow at Cladissa. "The serum working on you? I suggest you steel your mind, guide its flow, not resist it."
Argor looks to his remaining elemental, and commands it in the thing's tongue to explore the rest of this level. He follows a safe distance behind, safely tucking the sigil piece in with the others.
There is nothing else of interest on this level other than some more Nethite iconography.
Thrassk sees Cladissa sway and goes to her. He takes her by the arm, and rests one hand lightly on her shoulder. "Are you okay, 妹妹?" he asks, referring to her as little sister in the Tien tongue.
"Nothing remains here, aside from where this sigil appears to rest on the first level. I would assume that to be our next course of action...though had we completed our research at the museum, perhaps we would have another course of action..."
"I can't!" she snaps in response to Argor's instruction, more loudly than she intended. She continues the struggle reflexively, afraid that it will knock her out here in this ruin of a tower.
"This...is...not...a...good...time!" she hisses through gritted teeth.
"Give her space, Thrassk," Argor says. "These transformations are both painful and delicate. She needs her focus."
Thrassk glares at Argor, and continues to support Cladissa. "Breath deeply. It will pass," he says.
Cladissa writhes silently as the tingling turns into real pain. Her claws extend and she rakes them across the stone pillar, gouging white furrows in the accumulated grime. Her body shudders and spasms as she clutches her face and turns away from the group. They are able to see muscles stretch and cord in her back, but then fade to the way they were.
She feels the crawling sensation throughout her body suddenly cease, and then a white-hot knife of fire stabbing into her brain. She tenses briefly, then collapses as a puppet with its strings cut.
"我的天！" Thrassk exclaims. He catches the cat girl like she is a paper doll, and cradles her gently in his massive arms.
"We cannot continue our explorations with Cladissa like this. We also cannot stay here, lest we become trapped by the tide and drown. I will watch her, you all must continue on to find Anumet, or his remains."
Argor turns to the masked body, and uses his magic to remove the mask, just in case this was the wayward man they sought.
It is not, it's a woman.
Cladissa bolts awake after a few minutes in Thrassk's arms. She pitches out of his grasp and lands on all fours, blinking around at her surroundings.
She slowly pulls herself to her feet while sniffing at the air, ears twitching about at the different sounds around her. Her eyes are alert but lost, and slightly feral. It's with some effort that her awareness returns, and she clutches her head.
"Oww. That hurrrt," she says thickly.
"Good, you are okay. You worried me," Thrassk says. He looks concerned for a moment longer, but says nothing further. I do not want to fuss over her too much. I would hate for her to feel I am implying she's weak in front of the others, it would be a terrible loss of face.
"Shall we try the amulet in the mosaic below?"
Nyugusk watches with an expression that straddles between genuine concern with clinical fascination.
He pours water from his canteen onto a cloth and offers it for her to put on her head. "This might help a bit with the headache. Do you feel anything different, apart from the headache?"
Excited curiosity is clear in his voice.
She sniffs at the cloth, then accepts it and presses it to her temple. She fights through a haze in her mind to find an answer to Nyugusk's question, but comes up empty. "I don't know," she says finally.
With a flick of her tail, she straightens and moves toward the way down. "I wasn't out long, was I? I would hate for the tide to trrrap us here on account of me."
"Not long...but you're right that we should keep going if you're ready to proceed.
"Thassk, I agree, let's give it a try."
Argor moves forward and inserts the amulet into the mosaic. There is a loud grinding sound, and the tower shakes. The rubble filled room to the west shifts, and a huge slide of stone chunks rains down into the ruined stairwell. The collapse kicks up a cloud of dust, and several small chunks of stone scatter into the mosaic room. When the dust clears, there is a naturally formed 'ramp' of sorts that could be climbed up to wherever the stairwell previously lead.
When the tower shakes, Cladissa's hackles rise and she lets out a worried yowl. She lets herself relax when the dust settles.
"I think maybe we got here ahead of Anumet." she says, looking at the revealed stairwell and testing the air.
The air smells very stale. Hrimnagel drifts silently forward.
"I will take a look. Wait here, please." he says in his quiet voice. He disappears into his shadow and drifts silently up the stairwell. At the top it opens into another chamber. This room appears for all intents and purposes to be a vault, containing various crates and shelves stocked with countless papers, scrolls, tomes, and other wizardly items.
Hrimnagel spots a emaciated form resembling a withered, blackened corpse
with long, razor-sharp claws and jagged, yellow teeth. It hides in the shadows at the far end of the room, holding perfectly still. It is dressed in Osiriani robes that look old. The creature doesn't notice Hrimnagel.
Hrim drifts back down to his companions with the description of the threat. "There's an emaciated form resembling a withered, blackened corpse with long, razor-sharp claws and jagged, yellow teeth. It hides in the shadows at the far end of the room, holding perfectly still. It is dressed in Osiriani robes that look old."
Argor pinches the bridge of his nose as he sighs, but then takes his spellbook from his pack and begins flipping through the pages. "I suggest you all take this moment to prepare yourselves with whatever enhancements you may need for combat. As we all know thanks to our residence in Absalom, the city of the Undead, these creatures are seldom inclined for conversational negotiation," he says as he finds the pages he is looking for, and makes a few quick mental notes as he alters his own prepared spells.
He then quickly incinerates a small bag of incense, and clamoring up through the earth to join the other are two more earthen elementals, who look around for a moment and then to Argor.
"Prepare to advance up that ramp on my signal."
Cladissa casts chill touch in preparation. Tiny motes of negative energy spark off her claws as she flexes her fingers.
Seeing Argor's added reinforcements, she targets each elemental with a Fortune, cackling each time to keep the hex active on the others.
She looks at the others. "Rrready."
Argor turns to the elementals and nods at them to advance, then whispers an incantation. His image immediately shimmers into nothingness, and he floats silently behind the earthen warriors in front of him.
The group buffs themselves and then heads up to the mid level of the tower, and the wizard's vault. The creature Hrimnagel spotted is no longer there, but Cladissa can smell the stench of undeath somewhere in the room.
From somewhere near the far side of the room's ceiling a sudden short chant hisses in an ancient magical language. The Pathfinders feel an oppressive, chaotic force worming into their minds.
=======================================
Initiative:
Party 12.6
Monster 12
[dice=Knowledge (religion)]1d20+7
Hrim drifts back down to his companions with the description of the threat. "There's an emaciated form resembling a withered, blackened corpse with long, razor-sharp claws and jagged, yellow teeth. It hides in the shadows at the far end of the room, holding perfectly still. It is dressed in Osiriani robes that look old."
Nyugusk nods at Argor's suggestion, saying, "Good idea. Give me a minute." He then busies himself crushing, mixing and stirring various herbs and chemicals.
When everyone else is ready he says "Bottoms up!" and once again grows to massive size.
As he enters the room he feels a wave of confusion wash over him but for the moment he keeps hold of his senses. He steps into the center of the room and readies himself to strike the undead if it appears.
Cladissa's ears twitch in the direction of the spell being cast; listening for a clue to the location of the undead within the room.
Cladissa's ears twitch in the direction of the spell being cast; listening for a clue to the location of the undead within the room.
[dice=Perception]1d20+11
Cladissa chants quickly and throws a bit of mica in the air. Ten feet away from Nyug in the far end of the room, a cloud of glowing particles burst forth, hopefully outlining the invisible creature and possibly blinding it.