Tutavak bares his teeth and rushes the golem, longspear aimed high. Too high, but still scores a touch.
Tutavak hurls himself towards the Eye Golem once more but manages only a glancing blow as the eyes flare, momentarily distracting him.
Surrounded now, the golem responds as best it can, desperately trying to fend off its attackers.
Arianwyn (with mounting frustration) attempts to get a shot in again.
To save time, Chary crawls forward to be adjacent with B3, and plinks at it with her rapier. She then chides Whiteclaw "Come on, stand up, this is no time to lay down on the job!" The irony of her saying that while crawling around is only too clear in the tone of her voice.
After this, she yells to everyone "This thing has got to be almost done...stay strong and I will try to get you some more strength in a moment!"
Crawling forward, Chary knocks out one of the Blinded and restores Whiteclaw with a few well chosen words.
Kia fires off a last desparate arrow at the golem before once again changing to her sword. Hoping to give her allies an edge, she tries to expose the golem's weak points.
Preparing to rush in and help her friend Whiteclaw, Kia swaps her bow for her sword once more.
Horrified by the sight of Whiteclaw falling yet again, Kia takes aim and eliminates the last Blinded en route to putting a severe dent in the Eye Golem's marbled hide.
Whiteclaw pulls herself to her feet once more and she lashes out at the golem with her axe.
Rising, Whiteclaw' axe drives into the golem's legs, sending cracks up the length of its radiant carapace.
Tutavak strikes another light blow, looking chagrined as he waits for the proverbial hammer to fall.
Tutavak's glancing blow adds to the damage, but the golem still, barely, stands.
Once more the ancient hands reach out to the companions, but the attacks lack any kind of force.
Arianwyn snarls "ENOUGH OF THIS!" and charges forward, leaping over the unconscious bodies of the blind beggars. Firing a beam of dark energy at the Eye Golem, he joins his friends in facing it head on.
As Arianwyn's blast of eldritch energy strikes, all the golem's eyes open at once and it screams - the sound rising like a beacon through the Labyrinth. Light blazes from the creature as it cracks and breaks apart, momentarily blinding everyone in the glade. As the scream and dazzle fade, the golem is gone, leaving only hundreds, perhaps thousands of perfectly preserved eyes on the floor of the glade. Each is warm and still living. Many belong to shadow fey, but others are the property of other, stranger beings. The great central eye is so huge and so ancient that it might once have belonged to a primordial.
Battered and bleeding, Tutavak stares at the ground and curses fluently in his own tongue.
@RevDM:
I was thinking of three options:
1) level to 14 and stay there until we all level to 15 together, or
2) stay at 13 and progress together again at 14 as a group, or
3) RevDM has a plan in mind and I ask her what it is?
Thoughts?
Kia feels very battered and, looking at the peacefully sleeping blinded around her, wonders if we should emulate them. "Is this a good time for a long rest? or should we go on? I can do very little to keep myself whole until I have had such a rest."
Tutavak stomps over to the center of the glade, heedless of his step, and hefts his spear, directing it at the former central eye before hesitating.
Arianwyn tries to procure shadow fey eyes.
Kia goes about trying to make sure the eyes are put in a safe place where they will not be harmed by careless feet. She is expecting the the blinded will be peaceful when they awake and would very much like their eyes back. Kia would be quite happy to sit and meditate among the eyes and comatose blinded, waiting for them to revive while taking an extended rest at the same time.
Of course she could be mistaken about the safety aspect of resting here...
Tutavak crushes 8 eyes in his quest to stab the gigantic central orb of the golem and stands spear poised as though waiting for agreement from his fellow Chosen.
Arianwyn in the meantime looks more carefully while Kia gathers the warm eyes and moves them to a safer place. They do not feel unpleasant to the touch, merely very, very strange.
"Clumsy oaf!" Arianwyn berates the young man, "Don't!" he adds as Tutavak prepares to strike.
"We have no way of knowing what power may be unleashed by doing that!"
He examines the eyes.
With the death of the golem identifying the arcane link to the owners is easier. In some cases, no link exists - possibly the owners are dead, although their eyes live on. All the Blinded can be easily rejoined to their property.
As the group examine the glade, footsteps can be heard and more denizens of the Labyrinth, including Ardevallissen, come into view.
"Then stand clear, Chosen," Tutavak answers. He relaxes his posture slightly, waiting for the eyes to be recovered by the others.
Chary tries to help gather the eyes together and distribute them to their owners. She is unable to help with the heal checks...she is not trained in healing (her focus has been emergency triage care ,i.e. during battle, and less on traditional health care procedures).
After helping distribute the eyes, she begins to look around at the surroundings to get a feel for how far into the center of the labrynth we are (and consequently, how much farther we might have to go to reach our mad king).
Chary looks around the clearing and sees that the centre of the Labyrinth is very close now. Beyond the glassy wall surmounted by now closed eyes, the outline of a radiant tower can be seen.
Arianwyn storms over to Tutatvak and grabs him by the collar, his eyes flashing, "I told you to stop," he says quietly, "I assume that your training involves some knowledge of anatomy. You will cease this futile display and do something useful."
Tutavak meets Arianwyn's eyes, and replies as quietly. "Arianwyn, you are Chosen, and I have been privileged to ride with you. I have seen strange things and fought stranger in your company. You are Chosen, but I am a prince of the Kargzant. You have twice laid hands on me in anger. Do not do so again."
Arianwyn replies "And I am a Prince of the Fey. Neither of these facts is relevant at this point, nor is your arrogance." He releases the young man.
"Believe me, I know the fruits of rashness. Now, come and assist us in healing these unfortunates."
Tutavak remains tense a moment longer, then lowers his spear wordlessly. Ignoring the giant eye, he quickly restores sight to the Blinded.
Tutavak has been well taught by the shaman. All the expertise drummed into him during his initiation seems to come to fruition in this strange grove as he moves among the blinded, guiding eyes to their rightful owners. With the restoration of sight, comes merciful release from the glamour binding them. Brightspur kneels at the young warrior's feet.
"Might of Kargzant - so named in jest - truly you have earned your title in all seriousness this day."
The moment passes and Brightspur seems more himself almost at once, turning to his lord. "We should guard you all, I think. Restoring Kings is no task for the weary and we have a debt to pay."
He looks around the dusky glade at the remnant eyes and flinches slightly at the sight of the huge object of Tutavak's special wrath.
Arianwyn nods, "Thank you, my friend."