Kaul returns to report.
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Jim scratches his chin meditatively. "I don't know, mates. Maybe we should bail on this for the moment, make a plan, and come back once we're ready." He pauses and looks around at the others, then grins. "Had you going for a second, didn't I? Corliss, lay some healing on us. Dingus, use that spell you've got that makes us go faster. Let's go kill us some cultists!"
Corliss totally falls for Jim's fake-out and is just opening his mouth to remind the swashbuckler about the gathering gang back in the direction they came when he hears the true plan.
"Uh, yeah--'bout that. I'm not sure what I did to tick off dear Bessie, but I've noticed me channels be suddenly lessened an' weakened. I'll have a friendly chat with her 'bout it durin' mornin' prayers tomorrow; prob'ly nuthin' more than a passin' misunderstandin', but...well, I can always swap out a couple other spells, fer healin', now can't I?"
Apparently not. After trying to convert one of his prepared spells into a cure spell, Corliss blinks in surprise before giving his mates one of his crooked grins. "Ah...well, it seems me gal Bessie's mighty pissed 'bout somethin'--mayhaps I forgot our anniversary or her birthday. I got two channels left, but...they been misfirin' today, too. I can't affect everyone with one use--like I'm s'posed to!" His eyes raise to the ceiling and he seems to be addressing some higher power with those last words. "It might be best iff'n I saves one channel in case o' emergency--as I can use it even when monsters or cultists be threatenin' me. Dibbets--ye got any indifference ye could give to Dingus while I heals up Jim?"
Corliss does what he can to help patch up Jim with his healing stymied because he's somehow earned the ire of his mercurial Mistress. The crew then head forward to take on the creepy cultists.
Dingus girds himself in the translucent but effective green scales of a snake (Mage Armor).
"Fireball"?
"How about a haste spell, mate?"
"I can contribute Besmara's blessin' on us...I think," Corliss chimes in. "Wouldn't be needed if Dingus is just gonna blow them cult folk sky-high, though."
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Dingus goes from a giddy smile to a minor sulk.
"Gee. You guys are no fun".
He then dutifully casts haste on the group.
"Go now. Quickly". He snickers to himself a bit.
"I'd like to take the thug alive, hey? He might be a bit more kindly disposed towards us if we don't accidentally kill him."
Amped up by Dingus' sorcerous ways, Kaul jitters and grins like a loon. He shoots a look towards Jimmer, then chuckles;
"Hur. Alive... Hur. Good one... Almost got me again mate..."
Shaking his scarred noggin, the brute hefts Lopper and moves forward at pace...
Corliss casts bless and then skedaddles after Kaul, almost giggling at how fast he can now move.
The three robed cultists turn toward the weird tittering noise that fills the dim passage as a group of oversized hopped up quicklings burst forth. The room contains a moth-eaten rug stretched before a fireplace surrounded by a beautifully carved mantle. The fire burning within provides light, but no heat. An impressive wooden staircase descends from above at the opposite end of the room along with two doorways: one directly across the room and one leading to the right.
One of the figures in dark, hooded robes is dragging the unconscious pusher over to the opposite door. The other two turn brandishing strange sickles shaped like segmented spider legs.
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Dingus-
Corliss-
foe-
Corliss shouts, and the word booms throughout the chamber. The grinning Besmaran also takes a 5-foot step to the south and conjures a double of himself .
Robes billow under the cacophony of Corliss' shout leaving one of the cultists stunned.
Jim closes with one of the still-active cultists, blade reaching out to divest them of their peculiar weapon.
Jim easily catches the cultist's curved blade on his own and with a whirl and a twist, sends it skittering across the room.
Kaul launches forward at the nearest cultist, hacking at them in a speedy frenzy
Dingus claps his hands at all the chaotic mayhem, and decides to add to it by summoning a viper behind the cultist to join in the fun.
Viper
Viper
N Tiny celestial/fiendish animal
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +1 natural, +2 size)
hp 3 [5] (1d8–1) [1d8+1]
Fort +1 [+3], Ref +5, Will +1; SR 5
Celestial – Resist cold 5, acid 5, electricity 5
Fiendish – Resist cold 5, fire 5
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d2–2 [1d2] plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks smite evil/good
STATISTICS
Str 4 [8], Dex 17, Con 8 [12], Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +1 [+3]; CMD 8 [10] (can’t be tripped)
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Climb +11 [+13], Perception +9, Stealth +15, Swim +11 [+13]; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Smite Evil/Good
1/day as a swift action (adds Cha bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (+1) against evil/good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the celestial/fiendish creature rests).
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 9 [11]; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Con damage; cure 1 save.
Viper Strike
Damage (1) (Plus Poison)
Round 1:
Dibbets lines up a likely target with his musket and has at...
Musket (Deadly Aim): for
...punctuating the explosion of sound and fury with a "Have at mateys, get the bugger's wi' tha sickles eh... dinnae like the shifty look ovvum" before hustling and bustling to reload and make ready for another salvo.
Dingus claps and writhes making hissing sounds as he begins a summoning. Dibbets sounds like a dolphin with his high-pitched, high-speed exhortation. The two closest cultists have lost their weapons, one forcibly and the other dropping his to cover his ringing ears. The last cultist has his hands full carrying the unconscious pusher out the door. Dibbets adds to the ear ringing as he fires the musket into the stunned cultist. Kaul goes after the closest cultist, which Jim has disarmed. The fanatic manages to step aside, but doesn't avoid the backswing that hacks into her arm.
Nearly disarmed a second time, the woman shouts out, "Slip away, Blackfinger!" Divine intervention stills Kaul and Jim's blades as she turns and runs out the door following the cultist carrying the unconscious pusher. Only the stunned Norgorberite remains, blinking as he uncovers his ears and looks behind him in disbelief as an asp has appeared and sunk its fangs in his heel!
Jim sprints after the fleeing cultists, blade ready.
Corliss moves up to the remaining cultist and tries to poke him with the pointy end of his rapier.
"You-should-surrender; we're-feeling-pretty-invincible-right-now!" the grinning Besmaran spurts at the man.
for
Corliss zips up to the snakebitten cultist and the cloaked figure tries to dodge while avoiding the bitey snake, but ends up with an ugly slash wound. Jim bolts after the wounded cultist catching up in the next room, a large temple-like chamber once well appointed with polished mahogany walls and a beautiful glass mosaic floor in the image of a huge butterfly spreading between marble columns adorned with astrological symbols. The opulence is weathered now with time and neglect. The wooden stage at one end has had boards pried up and tossed to the sides revealing a hole before the altar.
The other cultist with their captive flees into a shadowy chamber on the other side of the temple.
Jim moves at supernatural speed to rush up behind the fleeing cultist and cut her down. The dark robes splay as the nefarious Norgorberite sprawls upon the mosaic butterfly.
Kaul grins maliciously, but rather than bringing his hatchet to bear, the scarred thug grips hold of the cultist with his mekankaul claw...
"Hur... Pleased ta meet ye. Name's Kaul. Axe is Lopper, an' this is me claw... Hold still lest I 'urt ye... bad..."
Dibbs move himself into the chamber proper and finishes loading his boomstick, holding space and squinting at the butterfly motif. Mostly to himself he mutters "Bastards cannae make up they mind eh? - Butteryflies an spiders... like pick an insect or summat"
"I'm thinking this is an old temple to Desna, and for them it's just another stop on the route." Nice place, though. Wonder if there's anything of value left in it. Bet the Desnans would pay for its return....
From his erudite position as a religious sage and scholar of the finer points of worship Dibbs scoffs, hocks up and dispatches a loogie and pontificates "Both bloody wanky wee animals anyhow..."
Whilst Dibbets opines about insectile representations in various other religions, Jim's eyes light upon the excavation before the altar and he thinks that if he were to bury a sacred relic of value, that might be the place.
Meanwhile, Kaul lays the pinch on the last cultist in view.
Dingus charges after the others, planning his next step of magical mayhem as he goes.
With his weapon remaining on the ground next to the snake, the cultist in Kaul's grasp demands that the snake to bite the thug, but the viper slithers after Dingus into the next room. There, Dingus takes in the old Desnan temple with the excavation by the altar, double doors at the south end of the chamber and the dark doorway where the last cultist retreated to the west.
Kaul eyes his prisoner with a mako grin;
"Hur. So we don't need this un? I can gut 'im?"
Shrugging at Kaul's words Dibbs muses "'Pends iffin he's a talker or a curser.... so lad, which one is it eh? Ye goan spill yer guts, or ye goan let ol' Kauly do it fer ye?"
Only Corliss remains behind with Kaul, but Dibbets shouts back his advice.
Corliss's head whips back and forth as he considers two possibilities: "Did they dig somethin' up an' steal it or was they buryin' somethin' they'd already stolen?" He moves to the hole in the floor to better investigate.
Corliss leaves Kaul to deal with the captive and follows the others. Upon spotting the excavated spot by the altar, he moves to investigate. The broken wooden planking exposes rough-hewn steps down into dripping darkness,
Kaul eyes the cultist, then constricts the claw as his iron grip tightens...
"Hur. Now we's alone. Lessen ye got sumthin' tasty to tell yer about to get sliced..."
Corliss stares down at the exposed staircase into darkness but makes no move to descend. "Looks like these spidery folk dug up somethin'...."
After casting guidance on himself to hopefully fire some of his damaged synapses, the priest tries to think what sort of Desnan treasure or artifact might interest a bunch of spider cultists.
Corliss finds the whole situation a riddle wrapped up in a mysterious cocoon, in the middle of an enigmatic spider web.
The cultist hisses at Kaul defiantly, but finds himself immobilized in the Claw.
The other cultist with their captive flees into a shadowy chamber on the other side of the temple.
Jim strides after the fleeing cultist. "Kaul! Get your axe over here! Got a door to open!"
Jim realizes that one of the cultists is getting away and dashes to the open doorway with darkness beyond. With only the faintest light from the fireplace in the room on the other side of the temple room, he can see the hints of a ruined room covered in silken sheets. He hears only a bubbling sound and smells the bitter tang of a drug cook.
The Taldan charges up his blade, casting a flickering blue glow over the room.