Pharris’ blade almost literally bounces off the thing’s flank – although it appears somewhat jelly-like and amorphous, the monster’s pink, human-like skin is in fact tougher than hard-boiled leather, yet amazingly supple. As the sword descends towards it, the creature closes half a dozen of its eyes under leathery lids, and draws slavering mouths back into its form.
The thing continues to gibber and howl, its thin tendrils digging up the stone floor about it as the acidic slime it exudes coats the ground in a sticky mess. Another mouth forms, and hurls a gob of sizzling spit at Pharris’ face
The thing continues to gibber and howl, its thin tendrils digging up the stone floor about it as the acidic slime it exudes coats the ground in a sticky mess. Another mouth forms, and hurls a gob of sizzling spit at Pharris’ face
Laithe struggles to regain his composure, a difficult task given the clamour raised by the creature. He tightens his grip on his spear and thrusts down at the creature, hoping the weapon's point has more success in piercing the creatures hide than Pharris' blow.
Laithe’s aim is true, and the point of his spear pierces the creature’s rubbery hide – but by less than an inch, and it is doubtful that the creature is even much discomforted by the attack. It seems as if it would take a lot of strength behind a spear thrust to penetrate the thing’s innards. As Laithe shifts to make his attack, he feels his boots sink slightly into the ground beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, at the room’s entrance, Kajetan recovers his composure long enough to cast his spell. The spectral, glowing hand by his side glows blue, then darts towards the blob, and touches it. A section of the creature’s pinkish skin blackens with the cold, before the still glowing hand returns to the mage’s side.
Keildrithe can't help but moan in fear as the hideous blob falls out of the statue. He turns his face away from the horror and takes a step back from the creature. As the thing babbles away, the Karand tries to drown out its maddening voices by reciting some gentle hymns in his native tongue as loudly as he can...
Alton cringes against the deafening, maddening assult on his ears. Seeing Laithes spear have little effect on the creature, he swings his backpack around and searches through for his flask of alchemists fire. Once locating he gets ready to throw.
Kajetan stands alone in the corridor daring any of the skulls to move, staring unblinking at them. His vigil is broken by the sounds of crashing stone and the wailing of a hundred mental institute patients. The sound fills his ears, his mind, his every sense, he shakes his head to try and drive them from his thoughts.
Will: +4(class) +1(wis) = +5 1d20+5
Initiative: +1 1d20+1
If the save is good enough:
Kajetan shakes his head, clutching his hands to his ears and staggers to the room entrance so he can see what assails his companions.
His eyes goggle at the disgusting sight and his jaw drops wide open.*Knowledge (Dungeoneering) : +5 (+4 Int, 1 rank) 1d20+5
"Oh my giant giddy god! What is that!" he screeches.
I have a standard action left, but no idea what the creature is, so I will cast chill touch on the spectral hand and try to touch the aberration.
Touch attack: +3, damage 1d6 1d20+3; 1d6
Fort save dc-15 to avoid one strength damage.
Still the same actions for me please, as long as I save.
Knowledge roll was 11.
Touch to hit was 11.
Damage was 5.
Although I think all those rolls sucked.
The stinging spittle splatters directly into Pharris’s eyes, burning, blinding her.
Kajetan Armann wrote:
Still the same actions for me please, as long as I save.
Amazingly, Keildrithe is able to identify some sort of chaotic pattern to the creature’s screeches and gibbering. The words of his hymns seem to bridge the gaps, create harmony where there was none, soothe everyone’s frazzled minds.
Alton has pulled the flask of Alchemist’s Fire from his pack, preparing to throw it at the creature, when Keildrithe begins his hymn, and the fog lifts from the halfling’s mind. He realizes with horror that he was poised to throw the volatile flask not at the gibbering blob, but at Laithe! He stands there for a moment, holding up the flask, reeling, trying to understand the reality of the situation.
Kajetan Armann wrote:
Still the same actions for me please, as long as I save.
|
“Now that is truly horrible,” mutters Nicolai, staring in horror at the many-eyed blob. “As is that,” he quips, stealing a glance at his boots, now covered in slime and mud.
Taking a step back, the mage moves his hands in the arcane gestures of spell casting whilst chanting mystic phrases, then points his finger at the creature. A ray of fire springs from his hand and sizzles into the thing, burning away a couple of eyes, scarring the mutable flesh and causing several new mouths to form – and howl in maddened pain.
“Fire and ice eh?” he says to Kajetan with a wink.
"Duck everyone! No Jump!"
Pharris swishes the greatsword at about three foot off the ground. Or so she thinks. Aims to avoid everyone as they jump out the way.
Either through extreme skill and spatial awareness, or else a minor miracle, Pharris strikes the monster truly. Her sword meets some resistance from its hide, then cuts down into the flesh, scoring a large gash on its side that weeps clear fluid mixed with red. A dozen eyes roll and blink, a dozen mouths screech and gibber and howl.
The thing twists and roils, near turning itself inside out in its throes, gibbering the whole while. The thin, slime covered tendrils that it has sent into the surrounding stone all pull free at once with an odd sucking sound – and the stone all about the thing suddenly collapses into a sticky, muddy morass. Pharris and Laithe, both adjacent to the creature, fine themselves sinking first ankle, then shin deep into the mud.
The creature stops, quivers, then shoots out six squat tentacles of flesh, each studded with several eyes and at least one snapping, sharp toothed mouth. The tentacles quest towards Laithe and Pharris, biting and snapping.
Despite the elven warrior’s blindness, only one bite penetrates her armour, and likewise only one of the mouths closes onto Laithe’s flesh, minor wounds both
Once latched on, the mouths and their attendant tentacles try to drag the two heroes down, but the creature is fairly weak, and its attempt so far ineffectual (though the mouths stay latched on, and horribly, the two heroes can feel tongues licking and sucking at their wounds).
Another mouth on the creature’s body spits out a gob of acid at Alton, but the halfling manages to dodge aside from the sizzling spit.
Keildrithe takes another step back, keeping his eyes away from the abomination as he continues to recite his chant. He recites the words ever more loudly and with increasing passion. On occasion, he seems to falter in his recitation, as the gibbering thing tries to compete with him. Still, above the vocal duel, the bard's companions begin to discern something powerful in his oration, which rallies their faltering spirits once again...
Alton gasps in horror as he realises he was aiming at his companions rather than the gibbering mass. Gritting his teeth against the sound, and taking heart at Keildrithes song, he takes a careful step into the slime, and pours the alchemists fire into the writhing mass.
Pharris spends the round trying to locate the creature by its sound, she jabs her sword forward and back until it hits flesh and intends to twist the end deep into the blubber.
Inspired by the voice of Keildrithe and keen to end the fight before her wounds fester, Pharris feels around in her dark.
But the slippery little mucking beast eludes her.
Laithe is alarmed when his spear strike fails to damage the creature. His alarm quickly grows as he finds the floor beneath him turning to mush and one of the things tentacles latching on and attempting to drag him down.
His first instinct is to attempt to pull away. But seeing Pharris in a similar predicament and hearing the rousing lyrics of Keildrithe's song he steels resolve If it's going to bite me then I'm going to bite it back, damn it! he thinks angrily.
He wills the change into wolf form and the second his jaws form he snaps them savagely at the creature, trying to rip a large chunk out of the blubbering mess.
Kajetan, who is fascinated and repulsed in equal measures, tries to touch the beast again with his spectral hand,
Touch attack: +3, damage 1d6
Fort save dc-15 to avoid one strength damage, if applicable.
As Keildrithe throws some martial, inspiring beats into his countersong, Alton steps carefully forward into the mud and pours the fiery contents of his flask out onto the freakish monster, which howls and gibbers, and throws out tentacles and tendrils in apparent agony as the burning liquid splashes over it .
Laithe shimmers into his wolf form and bites the creature, an oily, unpleasant taste in his mouth as his jaws close onto its shifting flesh. He tastes something like blood, but its difficult to bite through the leathery skin.
Nicolai chants another spell, and two missiles of force streak unerringly towards the creature, striking forcefully into it. An instant later, Kajetan’s spectral hand darts forward again, to deal another touch of cold to the creature. This last is too much for the thing – it has been burnt, frozen, cut and bitten enough that it can no longer hold itself together – it quite literally bursts apart, turning itself inside out, and then begins to rot away, dissolving rapidly until all that is left are hundreds of teeth of various shapes floating in a puddle of goo that rapidly drains away into the surrounding mud.
"Wow, that was total fantastic, what was that," Kajetan hurries over to the creature, trying to preserve some of the mouldering remains and collecting a few dozen of the teeth. He seems more interested in the creatures remains than the rest of the parties wounds.
"Wow, that was total fantastic, what was that," Kajetan hurries over to the creature, trying to preserve some of the mouldering remains and collecting a few dozen of the teeth. He seems more interested in the creatures remains than the rest of the parties wounds.
Keildrithe sighs with relief as the abomination dissolves, ending his chant abruptly. He can barely disguise his disgust when he sees Kajetan trying to collect some of its remains.
The bard then turns his attention to Pharris. "Cympharrison... how are your eyes?" he asks with great concern as he places his hands on the elf maiden's shoulders and gazes into her eyes. "Can you see?"
Keildrithe sighs with relief as the abomination dissolves, ending his chant abruptly. He can barely disguise his disgust when he sees Kajetan trying to collect some of its remains.
The bard then turns his attention to Pharris. "Cympharrison... how are your eyes?" he asks with great concern as he places his hands on the elf maiden's shoulders and gazes into her eyes. "Can you see?"
Laithe-wolf darts away from the dissolving creature, unsuccessfully attempting to avoid the deluge of ichor spilling from it. He moves over to the far corner of the room and shakes himself violently, trying his best to get as much of the goo off his grey coat as possible.
Eventually, he wills a change back into human form and re-joins the group. He looks curiously at Kajetan as he sifts through the goo, but nods in thanks at the mages valuable contribution to the combat.
He then looks in concern to the others. "Is everyone ok? I have some healing magic for anyone in need?"
Her eyes are red raw and tearing up with the pain.
"They will be fine, I'll just wash them out a bit for now." Pharris proceeds to douse her face, letting the cool water trickle down her forehead and eyes, before dripping off the nose and chin onto the ground.
Then she laughs, "I'm going to need a proper bath after this."
"Gunk and junk,... I dislike the outdoors. Even when it's INdoors!" Nicholai mutters as he scrapes the worst of the muck from his boots. Then he smirks and shakes his head wryly at Kajetan's eager form, bent over the remains of the foul creature trying to salvage bits for study. The dandy smiles outright at Laithe's canine antics before he shifts back into human form, and nods at the druid in respect. He ambles over and claps a hand on Keildrithe's shoulder.
"Excellent work Master Tale-weaver! That creatures blabbering was,... disturbing. To put it mildly." He says with a smile, then frowns at Pharris as the bard examines her eyes. A dark flicker crosses his face, it could be jealousy, or true concern, or any of another dozen various emotions. Whatever it was is gone as swiftly as it came, and the dandy's voice sounds as calm as ever to Pharris' sharp ears.
"Easy lass. I'm no alchemist, but water and acid don't always mix! Hold on, Kaj! Do you have anything in your mystic paraphernalia to counter acid? Anything to settle a sour stomach maybe? Even milk might work."
Nicholai slaps himself on the forehead, wincing at the blow. "What am I thinking?! Seriously?" He mutters, then concentrates a moment. Then he reaches up and slowly waves his hand over Pharris eyes and face.
"Laithe, come here, let me get any remnants off of you too." he says, reaching for the druid as he speaks. "Did anybody else get slimed?" He asks as he cleans the druid of spittle.
"They will be fine, I'll just wash them out a bit for now." Pharris proceeds to douse her face, letting the cool water trickle down her forehead and eyes, before dripping off the nose and chin onto the ground.
Then she laughs, "I'm going to need a proper bath after this."
Nicholai watches the maid finish washing her eyes out with water, obviously relieved when her eyesight returns. He grins at her comment, and takes an exaggerated sniff of his own clothing. Then makes an ugly face.
"Well, it's not a soak in a hot tub, but this little charm IS better than nothing!" He says as he uses his prestidigitation charm to clean the worst of the accumulated gunk and grime from his clothing and boots. When he is done his clothes are not spotless, but they ARE the cleanest they've been in a few days. He holds up his hands and waggles his fingers at Pharris.
"Ladies Next?" he asks with a charming smile.
:)
Kajetan's fascination of the creatures remains, continues and expands to the statue and recess where it lived. "You don't suppose the thing lived in there all that time," he says with amazement, completely unaware that Pharris is putting on a wet t-shirt competition only a few steps away from him. He waves Nicolai's light coin over the area, ensuring he has missed nothing of interest, the collected teeth rattling in his pouch.
Pharris spreads her arms wide, as if about to be searched from top to toe. "Nicolai, see if you can make this Lady clean. But be careful where you touch with your magic, some places are private between an elf and her lifelong mate."
One eyebrow arches.
Pharris spreads her arms wide, as if about to be searched from top to toe. "Nicolai, see if you can make this Lady clean. But be careful where you touch with your magic, some places are private between an elf and her lifelong mate."
"And... have you already been bound to such a lifelong mate?" asks Keildrithe hesitantly, suspecting that he might be treading on dangerous ground.
"Laithe, come here, let me get any remnants off of you too." he says, reaching for the druid as he speaks. "Did anybody else get slimed?" He asks as he cleans the druid of spittle.
Not usually too worried about a little dirt and grime, Laithe is none-the-less happy to receive Nicolai's aid in removing the slime and spittle of the creature and nods his appreciation to the dandy.
With no one injured enough to take him up on his offer of healing, and Keildrithe and Nicolai busy vying for Pharris' attention, he decides to join Kajetan in his inspection of the statue. He looks curiously into the hollowed out structure, almost as curious at the scholar as to how the creature came to be inside of it.
Nicolai, your cantrip does a good job of cleaning all and sundry.
Kajetan, you are able to collect teeth (there are dozens to be had of assorted sizes and types), and some ichor if you have a free bottle or waterskin. An examination of the recess in the statue (so far as you can tell, given that the statue is quite thoroughly smashed) indicates that the thing must have been really tightly squeezed in there, and with no visible means of egress. You wonder if it might have been subject to some sort of powerful magic, putting it into a type of temporal stasis, and then the statue cast around it?
Keildrithe, you’ve heard of nothing quite like this creature, although your knowledge of tales and folklore suggest that perhaps it is the result of some sort of powerful curse, or a mad magician’s experimentation. Certainly, as alien as the creature was, the tone of its skin as well as its eyes and mouths looked horribly all too human.
"I don't think anything we have met yet could cause the dead eagle to animate," Kajetan announces, "this thing must of been in some sort of hibernation, and the shadows were not shadows, so.." he pauses, scraping the ooze into an empty potion bottle, "either this whole area is tainted with necromantic energy. or there is something truly horrible waiting for us, I doubt it is towards the entrance." he hikes a finger in the direction that the statue was facing. "and I don't remember any way on apart from the plug we saw earlier back that way."
He rocks back on his heels waiting for someone to take charge and call a direction.
At Kajetan's open thoughts Pharris stops thinking about Keildrithe's question, her innate magical instincts piqued by the mage.
"Yes..that is a good question. Surely necromancy must have created the eagle? What else would do that? But I agree that the entrance is the wrong way, we have to break the plug, don't we?"
She gives Nicolai's arm a small squeeze for his cleaning spell and prepares to move on.
"Nevermind," mumbles Keildrithe, regretting that he blurted out his last question when he did, in front of everyone...
Trying to save face and to pretend that he never asked what he asked, the bard then voices his agreement with Kajetan's analysis of the situation.
"The question is... do we feel ready to confront a horror that is even greater than those we have faced thus far? If we have yet more guardians to face along the way, they too may further drain our resources before we uncover the greatest evil that lurks within the depths of this complex..."
He looks away as Pharris gives Nicolai's arm a squeeze.
"Nevermind," mumbles Keildrithe, regretting that he blurted out his last question when he did, in front of everyone...
Trying to save face and to pretend that he never asked what he asked, the bard then voices his agreement with Kajetan's analysis of the situation.
"The question is... do we feel ready to confront a horror that is even greater than those we have faced thus far? If we have yet more guardians to face along the way, they too may further drain our resources before we uncover the greatest evil that lurks within the depths of this complex..."
He looks away as Pharris gives Nicolai's arm a squeeze.
Laithe nods at the concerns of the others, before venturing his own thoughts. "The only reason I can think of continuing towards the entrance is that it could be useful to open up a quick escape route if we find a need for it. On the flip side, it is also possible that the original entrance is buried under enough earth and stone that the way is well and truly blocked. I'm probably leaning towards returning to the plug and taking another look that way..."
"Back to the plug it is then, besides, I am kind of worried about the room full of skulls this way," Kajetan stands up and rubs the slime from his robe front. "Shall we?" he gestures towards the corridor leading back towards the plug waiting for some one more martial to lead the way.
"Back to the plug it is then, besides, I am kind of worried about the room full of skulls this way," Kajetan stands up and rubs the slime from his robe front. "Shall we?" he gestures towards the corridor leading back towards the plug waiting for some one more martial to lead the way.
At the apparent consensus, Laithe takes the lead and heads back down the tunnels they have already passed through, heading towards the unusual chamber with a plug at it's centre.
Nicholai arches his own eyebrow in response to Pharris statement, but is also very careful about where he places his hands.
"There you are, good as new!" He declares with a final flourish of his fingers. If he noticed the bard's discomfiture, he gives no indication.
Nicholai peers through the gloom towards the pile of skulls and the supposed entrance. "Yes, well. We DO already have an exit, don't we? Although if anyone does return here looking for us, it might be nice to have another exit available." the dandy muses aloud, fastidiously removing a speck of imaginary dust from his vest. He shrugs as the others determine to return to the plug. HE then falls in step with them, holding his glowing coin aloft.
The circular chamber with the plug is as you left it the day before. It looks as though it will take great strength or magic to move the stone lid carved with the leering demon face.
Nicholai taps the leering stone face with the shaft of his shortspear, as if to reassure himself that it IS a stone plug and not another illusion. He winces at the looks the group gives him.
"What? Just checking." He says with wide-eyed innocence before turning back to the plug and walking around it with a light coin held high.
"Alright, let's take a fresh look at this, shall we,...?" He says softly to no one, examining the stone plug first, then continuing to walk around the room as he expands his search to the floor and eventually the walls of the chamber.
;P
"Is there a ring above that we could pull a rope through?" Pharris examines the area too.