"Temple, complex. Whatever it is I don't like it here."
Perception:
A flapping sound from above catches the attention of both Venmirl and Algar. They look up to spot something hiding in the ceiling's shadows. This weird creature is a blackened fiendish disembodied head. It has large bat-like wings sprouting on both its sides, where ears would be on a normal person. Tentacles dangle from chin and scalp, and its fanged mouth hangs agape, revealing a number of sharp teeth. It's presently flying about 15 feet above the group.
Looking for anything of interest, Venmirl suddenly hears something ominous overhead. Once he spots the aberration, he raises his hand and a something flashes from his hand aimed at the enemy above him.
Acid Dart: , damage:
Venmirl sends an acid dart at the creature but he misjudges its speed and misses widely. Algar lacks a ranged weapon and is unsure what to do.
Instead of flying lower to attack with its teeth, the flying head utters a unnatural shriek that sends shivers down the spine of the 5 adventurers. Some of them can't help but feel paralysed in fear.
The shriek is immense and all Algar senses are locked as he freezes on his place, unable to move and warped back to his past-memories
Izbahn's face and his whole body freezes in terror. One could say it is almost comical, but certainly he is not laughing.
Darst's eyes widen as he stares at the creature.
Fortitude:
Acid Dart: damage:
Confirm: damage:
As most of his companions are paralysed by the flying head's terrible scream, Venmirl conjures and aim another of his acid darts at it. This time, his aim is true and the acid hit the monster's left wing. There's a hissing sound followed by a wail of pain but the head remains in flight.
Venmirl knows this creature isn't natural but he doesn't know anything else about it. Perhaps it came from some fiendish plane, like the demon they fought earlier.
Naomi is also frozen in place by the creature's shriek. This leaves Venmirl alone to face the monster. The flying head seems to smirk evilly as it descends to attack the only moving adventurer. It tries to bite the shoanti's face but he manages to repel the attack with the thick skull on his klar.
Venmirl looks around him and sees that his group has succumbed to the beast's powers. He stands fast and tries his best to slay the thing.
Acid Dart: damage:
Venmirl looks around him and sees that his group has succumbed to the beast's powers. He stands fast and tries his best to slay the thing.
Acid Dart: 1d20+1 damage:1d6+1
The creature flutters around Venmirl, trying to find of good angle to bite him. Venmirl is quick enough to turn with the monster and block its attacks.
Venmirl grits his teeth with determination and swings again.
Morningstar: , damage:
Perhaps still studying each other, neither combatants seem able to hurt to other one. This time, the monster flies above Venmirl and tries to bite off part of his scalp but he spins away just in time to remain out of harm's way.
The other four watch the fight helplessly, paralyzed by the monster's supernatural scream.
Morningstar: , damage:
The flying head tries to fly up and avoid Venmirl's morningstar. The weapon comes too fast however and hits the weird monster on its chin. Grimacing, its loses some altitude but keeps flying. It keeps trying to close on the inquisitor and bite him but Venmirl manages to keep his distance and remains unharmed.
Morningstar: , damage:
Venmirl pushes his advantage, moving closer to the monster and trying to finish it off. His attack misses its mark however and the flying head sinks its pointy teeth into the flesh of his forearm, leaving a nasty looking wound .
Meanwhile, Darst and Naomi are slowly regaining control of their body after being paralysed by the creature's scream.
.
Fortitude:
Venmirl is able to shrug off further damage from his wound and quickly returns the favor.
Morningstar: , damage:
Darst leaps up and runs around , slashing at the strange thing.
Venmirl's morningstar strikes the flying monster once again, this time right in its ugly face. This leave it bloodied, somewhat deformed and even uglier if that's possible. It seems badly hurt now. Meanwhile, Darst runs around the strange thing and tries to slash at it. Sadly, he stumbles and almost falls on the floor, completely missing his attack.
The flying monster shift a bit farther from the two active combatants, toward Izbahn's paralysed body. It flies toward his face, his mouth to be precise, almost as if it's moving in to 'kiss' the mage. The manoeuver leaves it open to attacks, however. Venmirl finishes it off before it can complete whatever it was doing. It fall to the ground shrieking in pain as its tentacles continue twitching for a few seconds. Once it finally appears dead, the paralysis that was still affecting a few party members ends.
Izbahn nearly collapses as the paralyzation effect wears off. The look in his face was of stark terror as the creature was about to 'kiss' him. Shakily, he dusts himself off, and turns to the rest of the group, and especially Venmirl, "Thanks for killing that monstrosity, Venmirl." He looks at the rest of the room, and then adds, "Should we turn back now? No telling what else is down here."
"Sounds good to me, I can't take too much more damage. Should we search this room first?" Venmirl says as he glances around the room.
Perception:
There doesn't seem to be much more to this room then its pool of clean water. There's no sound coming from the east door either. Venmirl kneels down to examine the only other thing he finds notable, the blood smear at the pool's rim. To his expert inquiring eyes, the smear doesn't appear very old, several days, 2 or 3 weeks at most. More peculiar is that the it ends abruptly at the water edge almost as if something (or someone?) is keeping the pool's interior clean.
"So, what do you think, Venmirl? should we press on?"
"So, what do you think, Venmirl? should we press on?"
kneeling down inspecting the blood, Venmirl glances up at Izbahn. "No, I guess it is best if we don't. I'd like to get more holy water and rid this pool if it's evil powers."
Fearful of encountering more dangerous monsters, the adventurers decide to return to Sandpoint. The group backtracks past the red marble statue and back into the smugglers' tunnels. As they past the area were the quasit ambushed them earlier, they see the dead deformed and enlarged goblin, named Koruvus according to Darst. He's still holding two of his weapons: a longsword and a handaxe (the dagger was taken by Darst during the fight). The more 'martial' of the group can see these are weapons of good quality and not something you would normally see on a goblin.
Venmirl eyes the weapons the beast holds as they pass by its slain body once more. He notices the excellent craftsmanship put into their construction, but a thought of cursed objects floods his mind. Telling himself he is strong enough to endure whatever taint may be set within the sword and axe, he picks them up.
"These are of excellent quality. Perhaps they can tell us something about the beast who wielded them, or at least put some coin in our pockets." he says.
"Well, it's pretty obvious this goblin Koruvus is, or was now, working for Nualia. I'll bet she provided him with those weapons as payment for his services." Izbahn looks at the rest of the group, and continues in a serious tone, "We are going to have to do something soon about her, no telling when she plans on launching the raid against Sandpoint. If the threat of that quasit is finally ended, then we can concentrate on Nualia. We need to tell the Mayor about this."
After getting Koruvus' weapons, the groups gets out of the smugglers' tunnels and return to Sandpoint without problems.
Izbahn tells the others, "I know we should look at selling some of these items in town, so we can re equip ourselves. Venmirl, since you are a local, I will let you handle that. I certainly trust you to do a good job."
As he heads towards the Mayor's hall, he says, "Darst, you had better come with me so you can tell Mayor Deverin about Koruvus. At least he won't trouble us anymore."
Izbahn tells the others, "I know we should look at selling some of these items in town, so we can re equip ourselves. Venmirl, since you are a local, I will let you handle that. I certainly trust you to do a good job."
As he heads towards the Mayor's hall, he says, "Darst, you had better come with me so you can tell Mayor Deverin about Koruvus. At least he won't trouble us anymore."
Darst nods sadly. "Okay then. Then what?"
Darst nods sadly. "Okay then. Then what?"
"Well, we need to strike at Nualia, which means a trip to Thistletop. If we are going to go after her, we need to equip ourselves better or we will get slaughtered. I wonder if Shalelu has returned yet."
Darst nods sadly. "Okay then. Then what?""Well, we need to strike at Nualia, which means a trip to Thistletop. If we are going to go after her, we need to equip ourselves better or we will get slaughtered. I wonder if Shalelu has returned yet."
"What should we's be getting? Ooh! Can we get's healing stick? Or big shiny of firing? Or maybe knives!"
Much like the previous day, the adventurers return to the townhall to tell Mayor Deverin about today's developments. This time however, the clerk quickly allows them in after seeing all their wounds and the look on their face. The mayor looks a bit stressed and tired but still relieved to see them. "Good to see you again friends. I feared the worst once guardsman Rickon reported you went back in the tunnels after last night attack. Did you encounter the demon again?"
Izbahn nods at the Mayor, "Yes, and this time we were able to finish her off!" He replies as he unloads his pack and takes out the items he recovered from the quasits body. "In case anyone does not believe the threat is taken care of, these should be adequate proof."
After stowing away the quasits' gear again, he waves his hand, motioning at Darst, and says to the Mayor, "This one here also did the town of Sandpoint a great service by showing his loyalty and dedication to the town and its citizens. He singlehandedly slew one of the leaders of the goblin bands working together, a vile fellow known as Koruvus." He grins at Darst, before addressing the mayor again, "I certainly hope you look at this in light of Darst's current issues with the authorities."
Darst bows his head nervously. He looks like he wants to say something, but he for once restrains himself.
Izbahn nods at the Mayor, "Yes, and this time we were able to finish her off!" He replies as he unloads his pack and takes out the items he recovered from the quasits body. "In case anyone does not believe the threat is taken care of, these should be adequate proof."
"That's wonderful news!" says the mayor. She eyes the quasit's small items with some curiosity. "Surprising that something so small could cause so much trouble. No matter, I will see to it that you are properly rewarded for your courageous acts once this whole goblin madness has been taken care off." After she looks at Darst and adds, almost as an apology: "Present company excluded of course..."
After stowing away the quasits' gear again, he waves his hand, motioning at Darst, and says to the Mayor, "This one here also did the town of Sandpoint a great service by showing his loyalty and dedication to the town and its citizens. He singlehandedly slew one of the leaders of the goblin bands working together, a vile fellow known as Koruvus." He grins at Darst, before addressing the mayor again, "I certainly hope you look at this in light of Darst's current issues with the authorities."
"I'm happy to see the goblin has been useful to our cause and he can remain in your care for as long as you wish. You might want to check with Sheriff Belor on this, when he comes back from Magnimar, but I don't think he was accused of anything. Still, with the current situation, it's better if he's not seen wandering on his own. I'm ready to trust your judgment on this but not everyone in town will be this open minded."
Mayor Deverin takes a moment to think before adding: "You have vanquished the little demon but are you sure those old tunnels are safe now? I would brick them off to prevent anyone else from using whatever is down there but we will wait if you still want to explore them further."
"Yes, we have not finished exploring those tunnels. There are some things we saw down there that are...troubling. I wish to return there in the morning and finish the job we started, but it all depends on whether my team mates agree with me on this. I would keep a few guards stationed down there, until we have finished."
"I don't mind going back, but I'm running low on scrolls. A day and I could make some more with healing written on them, but I feel it's only by Desna's Luck we've managed to avoid another invasion. We should hurry before that Luck runs out."
Venmirl returns to the room he is renting and lays out the items the crew has acquired on his bed. He makes a short chant and slowly scans the items with an outstretched hand. He stops when his palm faces a shortsword and he concentrates for a bit, trying to detect its magical properties.
Spellcraft:
Venmirl returns to the room he is renting and lays out the items the crew has acquired on his bed. He makes a short chant and slowly scans the items with an outstretched hand. He stops when his palm faces a shortsword and he concentrates for a bit, trying to detect its magical properties.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 -> (11) + 4 = 15
Here are the items I am planning on selling unless someone lets me know they would like to keep any of them.
From Tsuto
masterwork flute,
a pair silver earrings,
6 pouches of gold dust,
8 pouches of silver dustFrom Koruvus
a masterwork handaxe
Sure of it's magical properties, but unable to determine the exact capability, Venmirl packs up the items and walks over to the mayor's office. Maybe Izbahn can help. he thinks.
Izbahn takes the longsword from Venmirl, and when asked about the properties, he smirks, "Well, it certainly is sharp!" On the Shoanti's look, he amends, But, I guess you already knew that, he he."
Shrugging, he places the longsword on the table, and murmers a magical incantation, and looks over the blade....
Venmirl thinks the flute and earrings could be worth, respectively, 90gp and 30gp for the pair.
"Very well, I'll just have the cave entrance blocked off and the Watch will keep an eye on the Glassworks. I just hope the young miss Kaijitsu can make it a prosperous business again once this is all over." The mayor concludes as the group leaves her office.
Izbahn can tell that the sword holds an enchantment that keeps the blade sharp, makes it feel lighter and allows it to hurt some magical creatures but it doesn't seem to have any further power.
Izbahn, once he has finished examining the blade, turns to the rest of the group, and asks, So, what should our next step be? I think we should finish exploring those tunnels underneath the Glassworks, but this may give the goblins time to march on Sandpoint. Plus, Naomi wants to scribe some healing scrolls."
He pauses, and then continues, "There has been no word yet on when Nualia will strike, but time grows short. We need to decide quickly."