Andel attempts to identify the tentacle creature.
I am not sure it its on our side or just attacking everything. Relan admits. Perhaps it blames the plant creature for the fire damage. Lets fall back and regroup and wait an d watch. He delays to see what his teammates will do. If they fall back he will withdraw to where his bow was dropped and pick it up.
Vuloo and Andel fall back to a safe distance behind Relan. Andel describes the creature to the others.
Cold hard ground greats Nalar as he gasps, Vuloo's bond dragging him from the brink. As his vision begins to clear he sees the last plant monster being savaged by an abomination. Nalar gives himself a push up from the ground, speeding past Vuloo and Andel. Thyrl speeds after it's master, worry emanating through the familial bond.
The party pulls themselves west, recovering Nalar and watching in fascination as the ray crushes and suffocates the plant creature, starts to consume it and then violently rejects the pulpy mess. It glides back into the gazebo, stuffing itself up along the ceiling squeezed in and nearly invisible
Watching the scene Relan asks So who does that thing work for? Do we need to take it out?
Vuloo shrugs, "If it's not trying to kill us I say leave it alone. Let's find a way in - quickly, before it changes its mind."
He flies over to what looks like a door.
"Agreed..." Braelex follows Vuloo.
"I agree, the sooner we're inside the better. Though I suppose if we need to we could lure something else out here if we get in over our heads, what ever that was didn't like to be disturbed."
It can't be very bright if it blamed the plant creature for your fire damage. Relan muses.
Vuloo leads the party quickly around the gazebo to the eastern entrance of the manse pushing the large wooden doors open easily.
The ceiling in this room rises to fifteen feet, and a single enormous picture window takes up most of the northeastern wall. A long, elegant wooden dining table and eight high-backed chairs stand in the center of the room. The only decorations are two life-sized clay statues of soldiers in exotic armor, one standing at attention to either side of the doors leading in from the garden.
Vuloo detects magic on the room and scans for any signs of danger. He then follows the others in.
"There's no way those statues are not golems..." Braelex comments, moving forward cautiously. She scans the area for signs of traps.
...
Nalar hangs back outside the door, still feeling the bruising from the time he took the lead.
Vuloo detects no magic and Braelex doesn't spot any traps right off the bat, but as she looks away from her close scrutiny of the statues, something causes her to look back in time to see the statue's head snap towards her and reach for its katana.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Suspecting the statues all along Relan is ready. He 5' steps and swings at the nearer of the statues, power attacking.
Vuloo withdraws out of range of the statue.
Andel steps away from the nearest statue and then attempts to identify the constructs.
"Terra cotta guardians, constructs from Tian Xia!" Braelex calls out to the group.
Braelex reacts before the terra cotta soldiers, moving beside Relan and firing her crossbow at the eastern one.
; plus
"Formidable guardians." He says as he cautiously floats steps away, snapping his fingers as arcane runes burn themselves into the air. "Lets try and separate them." He says as a pit forms beneath one.
4
Confusion
Charm Monster
Wall of ice
Dimension Door
3
Deep Slumber
Heroism
Fireball
Magic Circle against Evil
2
Hideous Laughter
Create Pit
*Create Pit *
Mirror Image
Scorching Ray
1
Charm Person
Mage Armor (Cast at start of day)
Mage Armor (Cast at when the first one time outs)
Sheild
Floating disk
Magic Missile
Magic Missile
0
Read Magic
Detect Magic
Light
Prestidigitation
Braelex steps up on the table and fires wide as Nalar creates an opening in the floor to the east sending the construct tumbling into the pit. Vuloo gasps as the floor disappears from him but is able to fly out safely as Andel studies the creature.
; fail
Relan steps around the corner of the table and attacks the western construct sending it crashing to the floor. He gets two strong cuts in that are slightly blunted by the tough clay exterior of the construct.
Both constructs get up, the western one provoking an AoO from Relan ... moves in to attack the warrior cutting above his head.
; miss
As the construct tries to stand Relan attacks it again.
Relans strikes it hard, but it continues on.
Seeing the party has everything in hand and not wanting to waste spells, Nalar leans back floating above ground with his arms behind his head. "Kick it's ass Relan!"
After being missed Relan power attacks again.
If its still up he trips and hits it again.
Andel begins reciting the weak spots in the design of the contructs .
Naturalist (Ex): An archivist who has identified a creature with a Knowledge check appropriate to its type can use performance to share strategies for defeating it with allies in combat. The archivist and any allies within 30 feet gain a +1 insight bonus to AC and on attack rolls and saving throws against exceptional*, supernatural, and spell-like abilities used by creatures of that specific kind of monster (e.g., frost giants, not all giants or all humanoids). This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. This language-dependent ability requires visual and audible components.
Vuloo flies into the room and allows the life link to heal Relan
Relan cuts down the guardian and it loses its magic, crumbling into a pile of broken clay parts.
Braelex circles above the pit and fires her crossbow at the guardian.
; plus
; plus
; plus
; plus
; plus
; plus
; plus
; plus
Braelex floats above the pit and fires down upon the construct. After the first hit, the construct adopts a defensive stance, attempting to slash at the bolts as they come down and moving left and right out of the way.
In the end the tiefling turned Azlanti strikes the construct five times out of eight shots. The fifth one gets it right in the neck and the acid burns a hole all the way through. Once the head separates the entire thing collapses.
Nalar floats into the room as the pit disperses and returns the broken body of the clay soldier to the surface. "Good shooting." He says, looking around. "Where is everyone though, you'd think a man this important would have some servants around?"
The party presses on into the manse, opening a couple doors quickly and looking out.
This kitchen appears partially automated, with several spindly mechanical arms extruding from counters and holding rolling pins or chef’s knives. To the northwest, a window looks out over a scrap heap and the edge of the balcony. A smaller door stands in the southern corner. By far the largest feature in the room is a potbellied iron stove along the western wall, its several extruded arms holding pots and skillets.
Visible from the entrance to the kitchen, this door is open and it appears to be a small closet packed tight with sacks, jars, and crates of foodstuffs.
One wall of this hallway is covered in an elaborate mural of a pastoral landscape in which every object—trees, animals, and even people—is its own clockwork mechanism of exposed gears and belts.
Vuloo and Andel look around but find nothing. Vuloo shrugs his shoulders, "Let's check out the hallway."
He follows the others into the hall.
; Vuloo
; Andel
Nalar pokes his head into the kitchen a look of interest on his face as he examines the arms above the stove. "Fascinating, is it some sort of culinary automaton?" He ponders, tapping a chin.
Relan does not like this place. Best not touch anything. he cautions.
Nalar looks like he's going to disregard Relan's words for a moment before sighing. "Probably for the best. We can always return once we've Berkain in our custody." He says, floating out of the ktichen as he follows vullo into the hallway.
"Yeah, let's stick to the quarry." Braelex moves to follow Vuloo.
This room is lined with bookshelves, each packed to bursting with tomes, folios, and scroll tubes. A stuffed chair upholstered with a bear pelt sits in the corner, the bear’s head rising from the top of the high back and holding a glowing glass orb in its jaws.
The ceiling and two outer walls of this room are made entirely of panes of glass. The light coming through the windows seems amplified, and the room is as bright as noonday. Several tables and racks stand covered with green, leafy plants in pots, as well as four identical marble busts of the same young, clean-shaven man. A plain wooden chair sits in the center of the room, facing a small desk with a mechanical arm protruding from the top. Part of the wood is scarred and stained.
This large room has a staircase in the corner and several overstuffed armchairs facing each other on a large and ornate rug. Along the walls stand various cases or hangers displaying an assortment of strange trophies, such as a spear with a glass reservoir at the end, a small mannequin elaborately carved from bone or ivory, a marble lion head, and a number of framed schematic drawings.
The party moves west into through the hallway into the parlor, poking their heads in the doors to the library to the north and hall of judgement to the south.
Nalar floats down the hallway looking around curiously, drawn to the bright room. As he inspects the hall of judgment he raises an eyebrow at the four identical busts. "Creepy." He mutters, floating over to the desk with the mechanical arm. "What do you do little guy?" The wizard muses, scanning the room with detect magic.
With his curiosity about the room sated Nalar moves into the parlor, scanning the room with detect magic. "Our quarry does appear to be a hoarder." He says, examining the room's contents with a cautious eye.