"If I may ask, where are you going?"
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In response to the head's question, Senja gestures at the double doors and says, "I guess the Creche is that way? You said if we take you there you can redirect the Reclaimers' aggression? Sounds like a good idea, right, gang?"
Looking around the room, he studies the painting above the fireplace, of an arcane caster battling a dragon, and says, "Before we go, though - who's that? The Prince? Tell me what's happening in this painting, would you?"
Eva, the tea was remarkably satisfying.
The head replies to Senja's questions in order.
"It...is possible, although the Reclaimers have never tried to come from that way. The first chamber through those doors is the Oasis. Massage One and Beauty Two are the only servitors remaining there. There is a door in the Oasis to the Apothecary, but no one has gone through since Machinist One tried to repair it after the explosion. That has been a very long time."
"That is the Prince, yes. The imager shows many of his great deeds. I fear I do not have the details."
The image does change every few minutes to some other scene depicting the wizard defeating powerful enemies, speaking at arcane symposia, performing ritual magic, and the like.
The doors open onto a luxuriously-appointed room. A large pool fills its center, and the steam rising from the warm, perfumed water fills the air with comforting scents. The lighting is indirect and soft, and the relaxing sound of faint chimes is a quiet background. An automaton stands by a beautician's station with salves, powders, and files, while another stands next to a curved massage table. Towels, fresh fruit, other delicacies, and a few books are close at hand, near four lounge chairs.
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Senja nudges Asvald and gestures with his chin toward the beauty station. "You should give that a go, Asvald," the little wayang suggests. "You're a handsome fellow, no doubt, but a little magical makeover could really take you over the top."
As he waits for a response, he scans the area for arcane effects.
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Eva stretches, glancing around the room. "I could definitely go for a massage or a soak, but I don't suppose we have time..."
While waiting for Asvald to "make up" his mind about Senja's suggestion, she crouches idly by the pool and trails her fingers through the water before standing up and searching the room for anything hidden.
Senja, there are enchantments on the pool and the automata, as well as the lounge chairs. With a bit of consideration, the witch is able to determine that the pool carries a permanent effect that partakes of create water, prestidigitation, and purify water, to maintain a supply of clean, warm water. The beautician automaton can use mundane skills together with prestidigitation and an effect similar to alter self to change hair length and style, or skin color. The masseur automaton can provide a lesser restoration effect with a massage, while resting in the lounge chairs will give the benefits of a full night's rest in only four hours.
Eva finds nothing noteworthy.
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Senja considers setting the automaton head down for a little makeover, but decides he'd rather not experiment with mixing the various magical effects involved.
"You going to update your look, Asvald?" Senja asks, with one eyebrow arched, before a thought strikes him. "I wonder if there's an expectation that we all look our best when we go through that door, and that's why this little spa is along the way?"
He waits a bit for Asvald to enjoy the ministrations of the magical spa, then heads over to the door on the far side of the room. After studying the door a bit, he steps aside once again for someone else to take the lead.
The door is untrapped, as far as Senja can tell, and the witch likewise hears nothing from the other side.
The door opens to reveal the ruins of a dusty workshop. At one point this looks like it was an alchemist's dream: there are fermentation vats, tubes still filled with traces of phosphorescent fluids, a vast array of mixing vessels, and a small bottling system set up against one wall. But two of the massive tubes are shattered, and most surfaces in the room are covered with a shiny purple resin that might have been some sort of slime before it crystallized. Torque can also feel heat radiating from a chute in the southern wall.
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Senja looks briefly down at the automaton head cradled in the crook of his elbow and asks, "Can you tell us anything about this place? Like what was in those massive tubes, or what the purple goo is everywhere?"
As he speaks, he studies the purple resin to see if he's come across descriptions of anything similar in his studies.
"The Apothecary was built for creating magical potions. None of us know what happened to it, though."
Senja isn't sure about the purple resin.
Senja detects a well-defined magical aura in the wreckage, as well as a more diffuse aura in the SE corner of the room.
Torque finds a pair of bracers in the west end of the room, the source of the well-defined aura that Senja detected.
Senja has just gotten an impression that the diffuse aura is a magical potential when a mass of the crystallized resin in the eastern half of the room shatters, the fragments flowing together with incredible rapidity into a fluid mass of crystalline shards.
Round 1:
Initiative order
Eva
Senja
Torque
Asvald
Enemy
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"Very interesting..." Senja muses aloud. "That thing is a carnivorous crystal, an extraplanar sort of earth-based ooze. I know they're called carnivorous, I wonder what they eat?"
Noting the crystalline nature of the thing, and setting aside his question about their diet, Senja conjures a massive shadowy hammer and attempts to thwack the thing with ill luck.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Eva
Senja-acted
Torque
Asvald
Enemy
Shadowy cracks spread across the surface of the ooze as Senja's hex bites on it!
Eva hits the ooze solidly, but its tissues prove surprisingly hard to damage.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Eva-acted
Senja-acted
Torque-acted
Asvald
Carnivorous Crystal-
Torque hits the rocky ooze, his heavier blade doing more damage than Eva's temple sword.
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"Unless you think I sing it to sleep with a lullaby, I'm going to have to stick to weapons", Asvald answers Senja's warning before brandishing his weapon. He punctuates the blows with the verse of his battle chant.
+4 Strength (morale)
+4 Constitution (morale)
+4 Constitution (enhancement)
+3 Will Saves (morale)
-1 AC
Savage Dirty Trick (1/round, DC 24 or DC 27 in Bear Form)
[`spoiler=Once per round while raging, the barbarian can attempt a dirty trick combat maneuver in place of a melee attack. This attempt does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If successful, the target takes an amount of damage equal to the barbarian’s Strength modifier and must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the barbarian’s level + the barbarian’s Strength modifier) or take an additional penalty from the dirty trick based on the type of dirty trick performed and the following table.
Initial Penalty -> Additional Penalty
Blinded -> Staggered
Dazzled -> Dazed
Deafened -> Staggered
Entangled -> Anchored in place and unable to move from that square
Sickened -> Nauseated
On a failed Fortitude save, the opponent takes this additional penalty on top of the dirty trick’s original effect. The additional penalty lasts for 1 round (though the initial penalty lasts as long as normal), and can be removed with a move action. The initial effect cannot be removed via mundane means until the additional penalty is removed (though magical effects like remove blindness/deafness work). Removing the initial effect also removes the additional penalty. If the target is immune to the initial penalty, then it is unaffected by the additional penalty.
For example, a barbarian using this rage power attempts a dirty trick combat maneuver against her opponent to blind him. She succeeds and her opponent fails his Fortitude save, so he becomes staggered as well as blinded. Regardless of whether he had succeeded at his saving throw, the opponent still takes an amount of damage from the barbarian’s combat maneuver equal to the barbarian’s Strength modifier (unless he has damage reduction or would otherwise be able to prevent this damage). Likewise, if her opponent were immune to blinding effects, he would not suffer from the blindness or the staggering effect, regardless of his saving throw.
Asvald hits the ooze, damaging it further. Then it starts emitting a low hum that disorients everyone in the room. It gathers itself and lashes out at Asvald, hitting the skald despite the miasma of ill luck surrounding it.
Round 2:
Initiative order
Eva
Senja
Torque
Asvald
Carnivorous Crystal
Eva finds it easy to hit the ooze, connecting with all four of her attacks. Her first blow glances off of the creature's tissues without damaging it, though, and her next three do only a little damage.
Round 2 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Eva-acted
Senja
Torque-acted
Asvald
Carnivorous Crystal
Eva's first two blows did no damage, and her final pair did a bit. Torque takes a few chunks out of the crystal.