While still rubbing the disgusting gunk out of her eyes, Cora casts a spell to help her get back in the fight.
Rowane and Machi-e pour curative magic into the half-elf, who can't manage to damage the creature clinging to him. The mouther continues to savage him.
Round 6:
Initiative order
Party
Foe
Coughing and spluttering to get the terrible goop out of her mouth, Cora nevertheless gets out another spell to help herself.
Nezos is starting to feel the draining saliva more than the countless bites that inflicted it.
Nezos lands a mighty blow on the mouther, leaving it clinging to its peculiar existence by a thread.
The earth elemental whacks at the mouther again.
Machi-e folds his arms. "That might do it," he says appraisingly.
The elemental hammers the mouther, splashing its substance around, and this time it's unable to reform. It releases Nezos and slumps into an inert puddle of flesh.
"We need a restorative for Nezos," says Machi-e, rushing to the fighter's side. He nods at the elemental, letting it go back to its plane, or the Ethereal Plane, or whatever happens to summons.
"Did that freakish thing have anything of value?" He peeks inside the skull. "We have to wait a bit before my conjured grease goes away--didn't bother the mouther one bit, blast it."
Once you can access the inside of the skull, you find nothing but the remains of various prey animals that the mouther has fed on.
"I bet the town would cough up, too," Nezos says, sinking his sword into the puddle and leaning against it. "Whatever the thing did to me seems minor, but we could need all the strength possible. Is it worth about three hours round-trip?"
Cora nods. "We have more than enough time on the dragon's deadline. Let's look around this hill first, find whatever door or cave it is that's here, then go and come back ready."
"That little gnome fellow was good at spying things, but I'm not..." Machi-e shrugs and rubs his eyes. "Too much reading scrolls, I'm afraid."
Nevertheless, he follows around the skeletal remains to see what's there.
Set into the other side of the mound is a stone door, partially overgrown with weeds and vines. A single keyhole is in the door's center, still clear of dirt and other detritus.
Cora takes the key Bassy gave them and inserts it into the lock. She tries to unlock the door, then if it works she locks it back up.
"Alright, we found the door, lets head back to town."
The key fits into the lock easily, and proves to unlock and relock the door with similar ease.
"Locked is good," says Machi-e.
"Rowane, can you appeal to Abadar for a restorative spell?"
"Ugh, now I feel like a burden," Nezos chuckles. He sets most of his equipment aside. "But this needs doing. And the consolation is that I'm stuck here too."
"You can tell us a bedtime story, since you're too weak to chop firewood," says Machi-e, chuckling.
Machi-e amuses himself by first writing Mwangi glyphs in the...residue...of the sides of the skull, then hums tunelessly and gets down to cleaning it, one square foot at a time. "I'll be the scullery maid; you can be the bard." He continues to cast Prestidigitation relentlessly, making dirt and unsavory skull bits vanish.
We can either carry on and hope we can handle the dangers inside, or, we make camp and I can pray for the power to restore tomorrow.
The night passes uneventfully.
The door opens to reveal a 5 foot by 5 foot alcove, with a 5-foot diameter shaft that descends into the hill. The walls of the alcove and shaft are close-fitting but rough, so it wouldn't be impossible to climb down. Those of you with darkvision can tell, looking down, that there's a stone floor thirty feet below with what appears to be a statue of a rearing warhorse.
Cora describes what she sees . "I have a rope. We can tie it to the door handle here and throw it down."
Nezos follows just behind Cora. He helps securely fasten the rope, and, provided the aasimar doesn't see any trouble, is the first to climb down. "Unless you'd rather do a flyby first?"
Nezos easily climbs down the rope. The statue at the bottom is positioned in such a way that it acts as a sort of staircase for the final part of the descent.
The chamber at the bottom is oval in shape, with two alcoves to north and south. The floor is covered with a fine layer of dust; it's clear that the door has remained well-sealed over the years since the tomb was built and closed. In each alcove are two child-sized stone sarcophagi.
Machi-e casts Mage Armor on himself, and heads down after Nezos.
"Hmmmm."
He casts Detect Magic, frowning at the sarcophagi.
Rowane looks uneasy at the cramped space before climbing down.
Rowane, Machi-e, and Cora all make it down without issue. Machi-e notices nothing in the way of specific magical auras, although when he enters the northern chamber he can hear a disturbing sound, as of children sobbing.
Nezos returns his sword to his hand the moment he stops climbing. It proves a comfort at the sight ahead. "I'll poke one at your say-so, if it means we don't have to cleave through them. This soon after the mouths, even."