Round 5 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Senja-acted
Asvald-acted
Kali
Eva-down/up
Torque-acted
Dragon-
Asvald lands a solid blow on the creature!
Kali's attack is on target, but the dragon's armor turns her blade. The dragon rears up and lashes out at Asvald, its blindness apparently not robbing its blows of accuracy. Its fangs close on air and one wing fails to hit, but its claws rake down the skald's torso and a wing buffets him .
As the water drains away from the chamber, Senja suddenly remembers something important about the "window," knocked out of its place by the first dragon. The window suddenly glows white-hot, pooling into a molten mass and preparing to attack!
Round 6:
Initiative order
Senja-
Magma ooze-
Asvald
Kali
Eva
Torque
Dragon-
Senja is aware that it's vulnerable to cold and water-based attacks, can be staggered by large amounts of water, and will split if struck with slashing or cold-based attacks. It's also hot enough to potentially damage weapons that strike it.
Round 6 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Senja-acted
Magma ooze-acted
Asvald
Kali
Eva
Torque
Dragon-
Senja's hex bites on the ooze. That keeps it from hitting Torque with a slam attack.
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Undeterred by the fiery foes, Asvald begins his rousing chant.
"Finish the dragon first!" he warns his companions. "Senja, do what you can slow the newcomer down!"
If you accept the raging song:
+2 strength (morale)
+2 constitution (morale)
+2 constitution (enhancement)
+2 will saves (morale)
-1 armor class
Access to raging dirty trick
no spellcasting
Round 6 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Senja-acted
Magma ooze-acted
Asvald-acted
Kali
Eva
Torque-acted
Dragon-
Torque moves Eva and himself, then assists Asvald. Asvald breaks into song and hits the dragon, wounding it further but not dropping it.
Round 6 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Senja-acted
Magma ooze-acted
Asvald-acted
Kali-acted
Eva
Torque-acted
Dragon-
Kali taps the dragon and leeches some life from it.
The dragon falls!
Round 7:
Initiative order
Senja-
Magma ooze-
Asvald
Kali
Eva
Torque
Round 7 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Senja-acted
Magma ooze-acted
Asvald
Kali
Eva
Torque
The ooze is unable to evade the militant thundercloud, and is also unable to hit Asvald.
With the defeat of the ooze, nothing more remains to threaten you on this level. There is a tempting staircase leading down into the unknown, but for now it's time to return to the surface, report, and heal up.
You spend a few days enjoying sunlight and fresh air while waiting for any items that aren't available in Fort Inevitable, before your return to the depths. Sadly, Kali is unable to join you for your next descent, having been called away suddenly to deal with an urgent matter.
Interestingly, a message from Kreighton Shaine arrives with your items. The Master of Scrolls has encountered a mention in an old Sarenite record of an individual or creature called Yarrix, who was supposedly defeated a couple of millennia ago and entombed in a place that (based on your reports) he concludes is probably the Emerald Spire. He would be quite pleased if you could find any further information about Yarrix.
With that in mind, you reenter the Spire. The other Pathfinders in the upper levels have access to Spire transport tokens, and are able to bypass much of the intervening levels to deposit you in the magma vault. (Your return is your problem, but you're a resourceful lot.) You make your way past the place you so recently slew the magma dragons and take the stairs down into uncharted territory.
The air soon grows cool again, the stench of sulfur and volcanic gasses fading away. Your steps echo down the ancient ways, and eventually the sound of the reverberations changes in a way that suggests an open space ahead. Sure enough, you come to a landing in a small chamber of dressed stone blocks, illuminated by the glow of the Spire core as it protrudes from the western wall. The stairs continue their descent around the shining crystal, but to the east stand a pair of bronze double doors now coated with verdigris. The doors are sealed with red-and-black wax and hung with lead seals suspended from rotting silk ribbons. A few of the seals have fallen to the floor, threads of silk still clinging to them. Runes are engraved around the door frame.
Senja is able to read them, as they are in Thassilonian over one door and Azlanti over the other. The two bear the same message:
"Beware! Within lie the remains of the dark heretic Yarrix, cursed be her name. Enter not her tomb, lest you join her restless soul in its banishment in the spaces between the worlds."
The door is locked.
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"Well, I guess we found Yarrix, like Shane asked," Senja observes absently, studying the door and translating its message. "Shame it's locked, Kali would have made short work of it," he adds sadly.
Turning to Torque, he offers a suggestion, "I can carry all of us with a dimension door spell, and try to just get right to the other side of the door, say five feet past it, and I'm sure you could do the same. Unless someone has a better idea? I'd prefer to get the door open if we can, in case we need to leave in hurry - though maybe keeping it closed would be better for the world, from the sound of that warning."
Tapping on the door gives Senja some idea of their likely thickness. They're probably less than a foot thick.
The party vanishes...and reappears where Senja thinks he's directed the spell to deposit them. No one has time to register much about their surroundings, as Asvald and Eva are standing practically on top of a pair of emerald automata, who quickly move to attack!
These automata look slightly different from those the party has encountered before: they are covered with a furry brown growth that (based on the bitter cold in the area) Senja and Asvald conclude is brown mold, and are illuminated from within by an orange-brown light the color of fire agate or golden tourmaline.
Round 1:
Asvald-
Senja-
Automata-
Torque-
Eva-
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”Of course, right into a fight!” Senja gripes. ”Should have known, with this place! At least we didn’t land on top of them!” He speaks a few strange words and gives a series of accelerating finger snaps, granting his companions incredible speed! Telling them all he knows about the creatures, Senja also take a moment to pull a rod from his belt.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Asvald-acted
Senja-acted
Automata-acted
Torque-
Eva-
Senja knows that brown mold absorbs heat in its vicinity, inflicting nonlethal cold damage on anyone adjacent to it. Magical cold damage will destroy it, but fire brought within five feet of it will cause it to grow rapidly.
The emerald automata are resistant to non-adamantine weapons, and since they are powered by magic they are vulnerable to effects such as antimagic or dispel magic as if they were magic items. Once they have taken significant damage their magical battery creates an aura of electrical energy around them that can inflict minor damage on anyone near them.
Asvald's blows rock the automaton, but don't destroy it. It begins sparking, though.
Both of the constructs take short steps back and strike at Asvald with their guisarmes. One misses, but the other one hits him solidly .
Eva hits the emerald automaton solidly, the frigid aura around her fist withering the brown mold covering it. The automaton falls to pieces as well.
Round 2:
Asvald-
Senja-
Automaton-
Torque-
Eva-
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"Nice work, Eva," Senja remarks as a single hit takes out both threats on one of the automata. "I think you and Asvald have got this. But I'll still help." He conjures up an enormous horseshoe-shaped magnet from the shadows, which jerks about the remaining automaton and yanks it one way, then another! Senja then takes a tactical step backward and scans the hallway behind.
Round 2 (ongoing):
Asvald-acted
Senja-acted
Automaton-acted
Torque-
Eva-
Asvald unleashes a devastating flurry of blows against the last automaton, but it's not quite enough to drop the construct. It's unable to resist Senja's hex. However, the chill of the brown mold seeps into the skald's bones.
It falls back and cuts at Asvald again, the blade whistling over his head.
The automaton falls!
This wide corridor is finished in dark, glossy stone. The walls feature prominent stone ribs every two feet, and meet in a pointed arch twenty feet above the door. Narrow passageways lead north and south, terminating in 5' wide doors, and down the hall from where you entered is another set of bronze double doors.
The doors you teleported past are featureless on this side.
|
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"Well, the rule of left says we should check out this first small door on the left-hand side," Senja observes. He scans the narrow hallway for magic, then waits for someone else to take the lead. As he waits, he idly flings twisted bits of shadow at his companions, each one landing on a patch of exposed skin and taking the form of a gruesome scar.
Senja detects a magical aura radiating from the hall.