"Anklebiter is right, maybe they are just scared, but they might fight if cornered." Nodding at Calla's suggestion, Kel creates another illusion and a false Lefrik and Brue clank down a knotted rope to the stone door and fumble at opening it.
The two huddled figures burst out of the mud at the first sign of the illusion nearing the trapdoor. Armored in dense, bony plates, the two small figures ripped into the illusory figure with fangs and claws. After a moment of not actually hitting anything, both creatures began looking about. Finally, they looked up and saw the open trapdoor in the ceiling above them and began pointing and jibbering in an unknown language. one of them began thumping on the trapdoor below in a rhythmic pattern.
"Well, guess they know we're here," Calla says. "Do we just kill them now or does anyone want to waste our time trying to talk?"
"Hi there, mud lovers, do you mind if we find the evil glyph and destroy it? We'll leave you alone after that" Kel offers hopefully.
initiatives:
creatures
anklebiter
kelendra
bruendor
calla
lefrik
The creatures stared up at you with complete incomprehension, then one reared back and spat a stream of black bile into the air. The spurt of concentrated cold filled the trapdoor, catching several of you in the face. Immediately your skin went stiff with cold, and the shock was intense.
These creatures are charda. Native to the magical underground realms, they are naturally heavily armored and can spit black bile up to 60 feet away in a heavy stream.
Everyone takes 23 cold damage, Reflex DC 18 for half
R1: creatures, anklebiter, calla, bruendor, kelendra, lefrik
current status:
anklebiter 66(55?)/77
bruendor 99(88?)(/110
calla 73(62?)/84
kelendra 80(69?)/91
lefrik 157(146?)/168
"That answers that," Anklebiter says in a dry tone, as the vile bile seems to evaporate off of him without doing visible harm.
The little Goblin chants, and sends five darts of pure force rocketing towards the critter that hasn't spat yet, then ducks out of the enemy's line of sight.
HP 81/92
AC 26/29, touch 18, flat-footed 21/24
Fort +11*, Ref +9*, Will +13*; CMD 26
Divine retribution (DC 18) 0/6; Judgments 0/4; Bane 0/11; Discern lies 0/11
cold iron arrows 0/21; elf-bane arrows 0/3; human bane arrows 0/4
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 0/5 (second level); 2/4 (third level); 0/1 (4th level); Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 0/3
Effects: heroism (+2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks); greater magic weapon (+1/+2 to bow)
"Bastard chardas," Calla snarls as she avoids the worst of the cold bite. "Knew they sounded familiar!"
She doesn't hesitate, launching arrows toward her foes .
Already expecting the worst, Bruendor flings himself out of the way of the black bile spray. "Alright, to Hell with these chardra things," he says, flying towards the chardra that has not spat. "Focus on the other one, I'll tie this guy up!", he shouts, stabbing at the thing with little intent to kill.
[ooc]We should still have our flight going, so I'll float on down to the one that hasn't spat. No need to land - I'll grab higher ground bonus from that. Combat Expertise and fighting defensively gives me a +6 AC bonus for a current total of 30. Unsure if they qualify as evil outsiders, but if they do, just up the attack and damage by 2.[/dice]
"Well, that was rude." Kel floats in after Brue to get the proper angle and unleashes a spray of color into the faces of the bile spitting creatures. "How do you like it when someone does that to you?"
Lefrik snorts and tries to JUMP down the remainder to land near a foe and carve him into itty bitty pieces.
Landing smoothly and rolling up to strike at one of the foes that looks the least wounded, "Hey, Bastard chardas! Yes! I HAVE heard of them too. Grand Uncle Wulftong fought some of them once... he said their great weakness was.. damn.. let me think." Hie cold iron bastard sword that works so well against demons slices here.
+
+
The spitting charda was beset by arrow and spell, though both it and its companion managed to shake off Kelendra's color spray. Both of them turned to their melee opponents, ripping into Bruendor and Lefrik with tooth and claw.
Lefrik is hit 4 times for a total of 22 damage after DR
Bruendor is hit 4 times for a total of 27 damage
R1: chardas, anklebiter, calla, bruendor, kelendra, lefrik
current status:
anklebiter 77/77
bruendor 72/110
calla 73/84
kelendra 80/91
lefrik 135/168
charda 1 -55
charda 2 -21
"Bruendor, how are you holding up?" The Bloody Barbarian asks with concern as he slashes and hacks away at the same foe as before. He's fairly torn up himself, but hey, new scars.
Targeting the charda that looks most hurt, Anklebiter peppers its hide with another barrage of magic missiles! (Unless it's already dead, in which case he shifts tarvets to the other one, of course.)
HP 81/92
AC 26/29, touch 18, flat-footed 21/24
Fort +11*, Ref +9*, Will +13*; CMD 26
Divine retribution (DC 18) 0/6; Judgments 0/4; Bane 0/11; Discern lies 0/11
cold iron arrows 0/21; elf-bane arrows 0/3; human bane arrows 0/4
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 0/5 (second level); 2/4 (third level); 0/1 (4th level); Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 0/3
Effects: heroism (+2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks); greater magic weapon (+1/+2 to bow)
Calla launches another trio of arrows, but trying to avoid hitting her companions throws off her aim as they thrash around. Finally she finds her mark.
Kel fires a single shot that is hampered by the crowd.
"I've been worse," he replies, gritting as the chardra tears into his flesh. "Keep focusing on yours, I've got this guy where I want him." He slashes down at the creature with probative strikes, easily deflected by the beast.
Between you, you manage to kill both of the charda guardians. They did not seem to have any treasure on them, though they did wear simple "barbarian-style" loincloths and baldrics. The only item of interest here seemed to be the stone hatch that apparently led below.
"right...ha. You know? I'm starting to think of every place we've bleed. It's actually pretty impressive.. shows how far we travel."
"Should we check the final structure before we go down there?" Anklebiter asks.
He pats Lefrik on the knee. "It's … impressive. Yes. Now to heal you back up."
"It's probably smart," Calla agrees as AB suggests checking the final structure. Once the group is healed , she flies over there, bow at the ready.
Kel tends to the healing.
Calla flew over to the other tower, finding it to be much like the first. The central areas of the tower was empty, with the ground covered in dirt and mud.
"Thanks, Kel" Lefirk feels, MUCH better
HP 87/92
AC 26/29, touch 18, flat-footed 21/24
Fort +11*, Ref +9*, Will +13*; CMD 26
Divine retribution (DC 18) 0/6; Judgments 0/4; Bane 0/11; Discern lies 0/11
cold iron arrows 0/21; elf-bane arrows 0/3; human bane arrows 0/4
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 0/5 (second level); 2/4 (third level); 0/1 (4th level); Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 1/3
Effects: heroism (+2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks); greater magic weapon (+1/+2 to bow), gravity bow
With nothing in the third tower, Calla returns to the first. Once everyone's ready, she waits for Bruendor to make sure it's (relatively) safe and descends into the muck. Just before going through the trap door, she activates her gravity bow ring.
Anklebiter scans the door for magical bother!
The trapdoor is not trapped or locked. Apparently the guardians were enough to keep intruders out in the minds of the locals. Looking down, you see a circular room with no furniture, only a pair of stone doors leading from it, and the hanging rope-ladder leading down from the trapdoor above. There was also a tunnel to the northwest leading out of the chamber.
"Let's make sure we don't leave anything behind us," Calla says. "Brue, can you check the doors?"
"Careful, they triggered some kind of alarm, an ambush could be waiting."
"And we need to be careful of the glyph as well," Anklebiter says as he re-casts detect magic. "Hrrm. Can I persuade you all to group around me? When we meet more chardas, I can cast Communal protection from cold, to defend against their spit."
"On it," Bruendor replies to Calla, and true enough, he was already beginning to examine the doors for any sort of security these savage chardras had placed upon them.
"Looks safe to me," he reports.
Bruendor found no traps on the doors, or even latches. They simply appeared to hold closed by gravity and friction alone. Both seemed to open onto hallways that did not go far before more doors blocked them. The tunnel leading out of the northeast corner of the entrance room split in two, with a door to either end of the passages.
Calla indicates her general preference, whispering for Bruendor to check the doors again before we go through them.
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inits:
anklebiter
kelendra
bruendor
calla
lefrik
trog
babau
Bruendor followed the right hand path, opening doors as he went. Finally, he opened one and jumped back in surprise at what he saw. The high ceiling of the long chamber glows with the light of a large sigil floating against the north wall. Mud surfaces give way to hard, slate-like stone to the north, while to the south the floor is thick with a several clusters of skull-sized eggs nestled into the muck.
An enormous troglodyte squats on the far side of the room, next to an object you know must be the next glyph. As the doos swings open, the creature stood and cracked its neck menacingly, then motioned. A pair of blood red demons moved forward to attack, glaives pointed at Lefrik's chest.
Everyone feels like someone has an eye on you. Like you are trying to sneak into a vault while a guard watches you...with a club in his hand...and a whole pack of guard dogs on a fraying leash.
R1: calla, bruendor, troglodyte, kelendra, lefrik, anklebiter, babau
current status:
anklebiter 77/77
bruendor 72/110
calla 73/84
kelendra 80/91
lefrik 135/168
trog -0
babau (yellow) -0
babau (blue) -0
HP 87/92
AC 26/29, touch 18, flat-footed 21/24
Fort +11*, Ref +9*, Will +13*; CMD 26
Divine retribution (DC 18) 0/6; Judgments 0/4; Bane 0/11; Discern lies 0/11
cold iron arrows 0/21; elf-bane arrows 0/3; human bane arrows 0/4
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 0/5 (second level); 2/4 (third level); 0/1 (4th level); Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 1/3
Effects: heroism (+2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks); greater magic weapon (+1/+2 to bow), gravity bow, Destruction judgment (+3 damage); Justice judgment (+3 to hit; +6 to confirm criticals)
Calla moves into the room, calling on her goddess to strike down their foes, and launches an arrow around Blondie's big, in-the-way head directly toward the big, in-the-way head of the nearest demon.
Bruendor races behind Calla's arrows, his cold iron blade preparing to cut down the demon in front of him.
Calla slipped into the room, already firing off an arrow into the nearest babau. The broadhead cut into the demon, distracting it from Bruendor's attack, which drove deeply into the creature's chest, bypassing the unnatural toughness of its hide. The protective slime covering the babau splashed, and Bruendor was forced to yank back his rapier or have it corroded by the foul liquid.
The troglodyte looked as if it was going to charge Bruendor, but then hesitated and held off for the moment.
Bruendor must make a DC 18 Reflex save or have his rapier take acid damage
Everyone who end their turn within 30' of the trog (Bruendor and Calla now) must make a DC 16 Fort save or be sickened for 10 rounds.
R1: calla, bruendor, kelendra, lefrik, anklebiter, babau, troglodyte
current status:
anklebiter 77/77
bruendor 72/110
calla 73/84
kelendra 80/91
lefrik 135/168
trog -0
babau (yellow) -44
babau (blue) -0
Anklebiter moves forward, chanting, and unleashes a volley of force-darts against the trog!
Lefrik weaves to give the crazy archer a clearer shot and takes his place.
But hey, demonbane blade. If he can hit, they'll feel it.
*Plus Bane*
*Plus Bane*
*Plus Bane*
Unable to enter the crowded space, Kel takes up the rear guard and prepares a defense should the party be attacked from behind.
Kelendra held the rear as Anklebiter moved forward to spray magical missiles at the troglodyte, even as Lefrik rushed forward and dealt a huge series of blows at the lead babau. The sticky demon practically exploded at the blows, showering Lefrik with burning acid. The other babau struck at Bruendor with its spear, but the rogue knocked the weapon away, then ducked the javelin thrown by the troglodyte.
Lefrik must make a DC 18 Reflex save or have his wonderful sword takes acid damage
Everyone who end their turn within 30' of the trog (Lefrik, Bruendor, and Calla now) must make a DC 16 Fort save or be sickened for 10 rounds.
R2: calla, bruendor, kelendra, lefrik, anklebiter, babau, troglodyte
current status:
anklebiter 77/77
bruendor 72/110
calla 73/84
kelendra 80/91
lefrik 135/168
trog -0
babau (yellow) -119 (dead)
babau (blue) -0
HP 87/92
AC 26/29, touch 18, flat-footed 21/24
Fort +11*, Ref +9*, Will +13*; CMD 26
Divine retribution (DC 18) 0/6; Judgments 0/4; Bane 0/11; Discern lies 0/11
cold iron arrows 0/21; elf-bane arrows 0/3; human bane arrows 0/4
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 0/5 (second level); 2/4 (third level); 0/1 (4th level); Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 1/3
Effects: heroism (+2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks); greater magic weapon (+1/+2 to bow), gravity bow, Destruction judgment (+3 damage); Justice judgment (+3 to hit; +6 to confirm criticals)
Calla steps alongside Bruendor and launches arrows toward the troglodyte.
Anklebiter focuses his attention on the trog, whispering Words of Power that become a tissue-rending wail in the reptile's head!
Kel continues holding the back line as the party rips through the foes before them.
"Blast..." As the acid threatens to eat the blade that serves him so well. And he moves to the next demon, "Hang in there, good blade. Hang in there."
*plus bane*
*plus bane*
*plus bane*