With the last pillow destroyed, the final body disintegrates into dust, and warmth returns to the air.
Gasping for air Garim chokes out, "Thanks." He shivers again remembering the chill. "This place is one madness after another."
There are strongboxes in this room as well. In addition to four pouches of 100 sp, there is a MW silvered longsword with the Eye or Aroden on the cross guard, a silver holy symbol of Aroden, and a small phylactery with a tiny scrap of paper with writing inside. The phylactery detects as magical.
Garim examines the paper reading a portion of it but not making much sense of it.
He gives a sigh then tries to determine the purpose of the magic on the phylactery, but eventually gives up, his face a mask of confusion.
Laya smiles at Garim and tries her hand at it. After a few moments of study, she says, "This is a phylactery of faithfulness. And this...this is a piece of scripture from The History and Future of Humanity. This must have belonged to an Arodenite cleric."
You can read the above spoilers.
"Well I never thought I would be fighting pillows. "
Garisen looks over the silver items, "These Aroden types sure knew how to look sharp."
Vellica sighs in relief as the haunt is ended, and then watches as the loot is sorted. She's ready to move on once the others are.
Ofelio bows to thin air in hearing the description of the items. He starts to say something, but then stops momentarily before clearing his throat.
"Might I see the objects in question...? Especially the phylactery... If it could be attuned to Shelyn's desires, of course?"
Attuning the phylactery to Shelyn, Laya says, would be as simple as replacing the scrap of scripture with a bit of her holy text.
Anybody want the MW silvered longsword?
"I would very much like to carry the Phylactery. I don't have her scriptures on me at the moment, but I could procure some, I'm sure."
With this floor clear, you head up the spiral stairs to the third floor. Like the floor below, this stairwell has four doors, one on each wall. The door to the west bears an inverted pentagram, the south an Eye of Aroden, while the north and east doors are blank, though possessing strong locks. The Eye symbol has been desecrated with dried blood, and the stone walls in the southern half of this room bear ancient scorch marks.
Garim takes a deep breath, then tries to the eastern door.
The eastern door is locked.
Genisen pulls a set of lockpicks from his pouch and gets to work. "Lets see what I can do". He first checks for traps before getting to work on the lock.
Genisen finds no traps on the eastern door.
As he sets his picks into the lock, he suddenly smells something burning. Before he can utter a warning, a fan of flames erupt from the lock, covering himself, Laya, Ofelio, and Garim.
Reflex save DC 11 for half damage; Ofelio and Garim get a +2 bonus from cover by the spiral metal stairs.
The western wall now bears scorch marks similar to the south wall, though these are naturally much fresher.
"Did I forget to say stand back?"
"Yes, you did forget to mention that. Should I wait downstairs while you try again?" Garim states as retrieves the healing wand from his bags.
Ofelio doesn't really seem worse for the wear despite the gout of heat. He blows out a little errant ash and tilts his head to the side.
"I would echo Garim's sentiments."
Vellica stands in the back, observing these youngsters. She has a very serene countenance and hardly moves when the trap goes off. "Please be careful, we are on a holy mission after all."
After letting people get far enough back to not get flamed again, Genisen will take his time searching for a trap then work on a lock if nothing is found (use result for whatever comes up if anything)
No more traps are found or triggered, but he's also unable to pick the lock. Even taking 20, the lock is beyond him.
Garim slaps his forehead with the palm of his hand. "One second Genisen." Garim digs into his pouches, muttering under his breath, "Never where I left it last." and finally produces a large iron key. He is about to toss it up to Genisen then stops himself, and walks back up the stairs to hand the key to him directly.
Genisen finds that the key is a perfect fit for the lock. He turns it easily and the lock clicks open.
Opening the door, you reveal a scene of total and senseless destruction. Unlike the rooms in the floor below, this door opens into a double room. Large tables, now in a myriad of pieces, cover the central area, while smashed workbenches, complete with broken tools, vises, and other implements of construction, line the walls. A cobra, carved from darkwood, lies on the floor in front of the door, but unlike the one downstairs, is lifeless and still. A tall figure, human-like in appearance, though over 8-feet tall and with putrid green and yellow flesh seemingly stitched together in pieces, paces slowly back and forth in the southeastern end of the double room, the area around it clear of debris. The creature moans quietly to itself. Vicious gaping wounds cover much of its torso, though no blood or gore leak out. It looks up at the open door, lifeless vacant eyes locking on you; its features twist into an emotionless snarl and it lunges towards you.
All squares with broken work benches count as difficult terrain, preventing charging.
Initiative:
Genisen:
Laya:
Ofelio:
Timbur:
Garim:
Vellica:
Golem:
Initiative Order: Genisen, Vellica, Laya, Garim, Ofelio, Timbur, Golem
Laya Knowledge:
Laya calls out. "It's a flesh golem! A magical construct. It's immune to almost all magic and non-adamantine weapons are less effective against it. It does look like it's already damaged, though, so it might not be too hard to take down!"
HP: 36/79
AC: 20 (touch 8, FF 20)
F/R/W: +3/+2/+3
DR: 5/adamantine; immunity to magic
Map
Genisen marks the golem as his Freebooter's Bane target and fires off an arrow after stepping closer to it.
The arrow bounces off the golem's putrid, yet tough, hide.
Vellica.
Vellica casts a spell, causing a thin layer of grease to fly out and cover a section of the floor.
The golem steps towards the door and crashes to the floor.
Laya begins using her naturalist ability, adding another +1 to attack and damage for everybody.
Garim is up!
Seeing the monstrous construction of flesh and sinew Garim stretches forth one arm to let send forth steel cables stabbing forward.
His skill with the strange magic is poor though.
Ofelio lumbers to E-73 and holds his glaive out, ready to hit the monstrosity should it rise.
Timbur moves up and readies an attack (that doesn't come as the golem falls before getting in range).
The golem flails in the grease and can't quite get up.
Round 2
Genisen is up.
Genisen fires a pair of arrows at the creature.
Neither arrow impacts as solidly as it should, but both cause more icky green fluid to drip from the golem.
HP: 28/79
AC: 20 (touch 8, FF 20)
F/R/W: +3/+2/+3
DR: 5/adamantine; immunity to magic
The golem is prone.
Vellica is up!
"I have no other way to aid our fight here! Forgive me my companions!"
Garim moves forward, but avoids getting in range of the creature.
Laya continues her naturalist ability.
"I think your acid spell would work on it."
Ofelio is up!
The tables do count as difficult terrain.
-4 penalty for the golem being prone, but that still hits its pathetic touch AC. The acid sizzles on the golem, but looks like such a small wound compared to the huge monstrosity.
Ofelio moves to C-74 and tries to hit their foe whilst he is down. Dishonorable with human foes, yes, but this is a practical approach with whatever... this thing is.
However, due to the thickness of the thing's armor, he can't get a good hit in.
Timbur moves up and brings his sword down on the thing.
The golem then attempts to rise.
It gets up. As it does so, Timbur and Ofelio get AoOs.
Then the golem lashes at Timbur.
The golem nearly takes the reformed-bandit's shield arm off, but the mighty blow is deflected.
Round 3
Genisen is up! Golem is currently at 21 hp.
"Keep at it! We can do it!" As Genisen fires a pair of arrows that go nowhere...
Ofelio's AoO and Vellica are up. The golem is now standing. While it is in melee, there is still a square of its space at least 10 feet from the nearest ally, and it's tall enough to not get soft cover from ranged attacks.
On the other hand, with its attack bonus and damage potential, if it gets another turn, someone is probably dying.:)
Vellica flings another glob of acid at the golem.
The acid burns it's face. 16 hp remaining.
Laya continues using naturalist. "If we can make it move, it might fall in the grease again," she suggests.
Garim is up.
Heeding Laya's advice Garim takes a step backwards and makes an attempt at tripping the large monstrosity.
Garim gets his scarf around the golem's ankle, but just doesn't have the strength in his pull to upend the enormous monster.
Ofelio, AoO and regular attack, is up.
Botting Ofelio...
Ofelio's glaive penetrates deeply twice. As the creature continues to stagger about, Timbur makes one last desperate hack with his sword.
The sword slice isn't a deep cut and the golem barely feels it, but it does manage to catch a crucial piece of stitching. It's head flops over, then tears loose and falls to the floor. The rest of the creature soon follows.
Combat Over!
Yep. Timbur would have been salsa.
Looking about the room, you find smashed workbenches, smashed shelves, smashed glassware, and smashed books. Stains from ancient liquids mar the floor and flinderized countertops. Best guess, this used to be some sort of wizard's lab (presumably the same wizard who used the study on the first floor). Everything is ruined and totally destroyed, save for a beaten-up iron wall safe lying on the floor amid the rubble. A gaping hole in one wall shows from where the safe had been ripped out.
"Nice sword Timbur. That thing had an ill look and I'm not sure any of us could have survived its pummeling."
Genisen moves over to the safe and says with a smile, "Stand Back!" As they do, he searches for trap and attempts to open it if possible.