Dantrian, help Janos! That thing is going to tear him apart!
As the creatures lash out, Dantrian barely has a moment to consider what they might be before they are in the midst of a close quarters fight once more. Inwardly rueful that Janos held his ground rather than falling back a step to safety, Dantrian sees little other option than to strike at the tentacled thing beside him.
HP: 52/52 +6 temp // 5 non-lethal
AC: 22 [15 T/ 21 FF] (+6 armor, +1 dex, +5 natural)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +6/+6/+4
Spontaneous Healing used: 0/35hp
Hero Points used: 4/7
Prepared Mutagen: Strength (darkvision, scent) [X]
Prepared 1st Level Extracts (3+1): cure light wounds [ ], shield [X] [X] [ ], open [ ]
Prepared 2nd Level Extracts (3+1): ablative barrier [X], barkskin [X], false life [X], levitate [X]
Prepared 3rd Level Extracts (1+1): thorn body [ ] [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
mutagen: 55/70 minutes used
barkskin: 55/70 minutes used
ablative barrier: 5/35 damage converted, 7 hours
inspire courage: +2/+2
power attack: -2/+6
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The two violet fungi creep slowly forward through the moldy water. They lean their furrowed caps forward, and magenta tentacles shoot out to lash at Janos and Dantrian. Janos gets struck but Dantrian dodges the blow. The tentacle whips across Janos' chest and his flesh rots away under it with alarming speed.
The tentacled plant creature wades its way across the room as well, closing in on Janos and Dantrian.
B'yelka sees the flora come to life and nearly screams out loud. Inetead she reaches down and uses her strength of will, This is shameful!
Seeing yet another horror in this freakshow castle Anton continues firing as best he can. Three of the paladin's arrows tear into the stalk-propelled plant in front of Janos. The plant's main trunk and stem are shredded, it certainly can't take much more damage.
Janos screams as the fungus latches onto his chest and arm. He can feel the plant eating away at his flesh with remarkable speed. "Get it off, get it off!" He whips his sword at the basdirond in front of him, cutting at it furiously to get to the violet fungi behind. The already-shredded plant stands no chance against Janos' fury, and the ranger prunes it from this wicked garden.
Drosil brings his daggers up defensively and makes his way into the room. One of the violet fungi whips him with a slime-laden tantacle, but Drosil's flesh resists the toxin.
"Dantrian, help Janos! That thing is going to tear him apart!" Anton cries.
As the creatures lash out, Dantrian barely has a moment to consider what they might be before they are in the midst of a close quarters fight once more. With Janos and Anton having removed the basidirond, Dantrian surges forward through the murky water to tear open one of the violet fungi with his claws. The creature quivers, but makes no sound as the alchemist shreds its cap.
Tibideau gags more on the stench of the corpses from the cages next to him, flapping his hands around in front of his face. Bon bon, whatever have we done getting ourselves to thoroughly involved with this group of ruffians? I will never feel clean again! Between retching, Tibideau manages to flop a hand towards the mushroom creature which wounded Janos so badly. "Bugger off!" he says to it, as a malaise of black and gold sparkles settles over the fungus. See how well you swing those tentacles now, beastie!
================================
The remaining violet fungi puff communicative spores into the air, and turn their tentacles on the wolf-man who is destroying their colony so efficiently. Eight fuschia, tongue-like lashes whip out at Dantrian. Darting and flicking about him as they try to coat him in their flesh-eating toxin. Miraculously the alchemist manages to either dodge or absorb on his armor all of the blows, and emerges from the tentacle-storm completely unphased.
________________________________
Crit, No Confirm, Miss
Pass
Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss
Anton simply keeps shooting, putting more and more arrows into this thing, hoping for it to fall.
B'yelka maintains her inspiring song, not sure what to do about the water and the plant predators. What animal could eat these things?
B'yelka maintains her inspiring song, not sure what to do about the water and the plant predators. What animal could eat these things?
Dantrian holds his position and tries to tear through the violet fungus beside him, but his focus on avoiding their seemingly endless lashing tendrils steals considerable fury from his strikes.
HP: 52/52 +6 temp // 5 non-lethal
AC: 22 [15 T/ 21 FF] (+6 armor, +1 dex, +5 natural)
CMD: 19
F/R/W: +6/+6/+4
Spontaneous Healing used: 0/35hp
Hero Points used: 4/7
Prepared Mutagen: Strength (darkvision, scent) [X]
Prepared 1st Level Extracts (3+1): cure light wounds [ ], shield [X] [X] [ ], open [ ]
Prepared 2nd Level Extracts (3+1): ablative barrier [X], barkskin [X], false life [X], levitate [X]
Prepared 3rd Level Extracts (1+1): thorn body [ ] [ ]
-Ongoing Effects-
mutagen: 55/70 minutes used
barkskin: 55/70 minutes used
ablative barrier: 5/35 damage converted, 7 hours
inspire courage: +2/+2
power attack: -2/+6
Drosil swings his daggers at the fungus nearest him. Blast this water! I can't maneuver around this thing!
Janos lunges forward, trying to keep his distance from the fungus. He slashes at the plant, but his arm is far weaker from the fungus eating away at his skin than he expects.
With a flurry of attacks the remaining fungi are put down, and the sounds of combat slowly cease to echo within the tower.
Drosil searches in the water for anything of value, then turns to his companions, "Well, seems we've reached a dead end, here. Shall we try the other direction?"
"Tibi, can you use your wand on Janos?" The Diva's voice is strained, as if she knows how bad one of her friends was just hurt.
The wounds and bruises on Janos fade quickly, but the plant seems ot have eaten some of the muscle from his shoulder. "Thanks Tibi. These things always seem to want to take a piece out of me, eh? Well, thankfully this bit doesn't hurt as much as that iron maiden."
Janos points up at the two doors on the walls. "What about up there? There were two doors like that in the other room too."
B'yelka comes into the room, shedding some light as she comes. Looking up she says, "There are doors up there?" She looks down at her boots just barely poking out of the water, "If there are, it'd be better to get out of the water."
Agreed. But did anyone see any stairs? Or are we climbing Dros' rope?
"How do you propose we all get up there?" Tibideau asks. "I can fly up and have a look at the door, but some of the rest of you might have some trouble...Maybe if I open the door, Drosil can use that magic rope to give you all a way up?"
Well, since we have the rope, we should make use of it and get out of the murk!" B'yelka turns to Drosil, "Be a dear and please get us out of this vegetable soup!" She smiles, glad to know the Rope makes all the difference for her when it comes to heights. It's not like I can do everything, right?
Dantrian recovers his spear as Tibideau tends to Janos, remaining silent as he inwardly struggles, and ultimately fails, to reassert his humanity.
----
"Your ability to fly combined with Drosil's rope do seem to be the most expedient way forward, Tibideau. Though I recommend we not stand beneath the doors when they are opened, in case something tumbles free."
Once Tibideau opens the doors, Drosil sends his knotted rope of climbing snaking up the wall toward it.
"Go ahead, Tibi, Anton and I will cover you if anything tries to hurt you. We just need the door opened or something for the rope to grab onto." Janos draws his bow, noting how the pull of Anton's better let's him use his strength to the fullest.
"Certainly, darling," Tibideau replies. He concentrates for a brief moment and then floats up out of the water, streaming murk and fungus from his feet. He takes a moment to sneer down at his ruined (yet again) wardrobe. The witch shakes his head, tisking, before flying the rest of the way up to the door on the wall. Tibideau puts his ear against the door to listen, and after hearing nothing, opens it.
"There's a hallway. Ooh! What treasures are these? Looks like there's also a shelf with potions. 'Potion of displacement', a potion
of 'gaseous form', and two vials of blood."
B'yelka waits for the boys to make their way up the rope and then climbs up herself. Good thing this rope is better at climbing than I am!
Anton struggles but eventually makes it up the rope to join the others
"Blood? Why would someone store vials of blood with potions? Dantrian? Is it some component needed for something?" Janos moves down the hallway and proceeds to stop at each door to listen.
Drosil waits until everyone else has climbed the rope, then climbs it himself and retrieves it. Once that is done, he makes his way to the end of the corridor and examines each door for traps, in turn.
Anton looks on anxiously whilst the others check the doors.
The doors are not trapped. Dantrian examines the blood and determines that is alchemically preserved basalisk blood. The blood is useful for reversing the effects of petrification.
Tibideau speaks up. "Looks to me like these two doors must go into the two other towers we saw from outside, and then this door must lead to the last, highest tower, right?"
"Mister Almaeus, shall we assume the rest of these towers hold more horrors and move past them to the high tower? "
Dantrian secures the basilisk blood alongside some of his extracts, "Interesting. If not of helpful practical use for us, these vials should trade for a fair bit of coin with the proper party. Basilisk's blood is neither casually acquired nor easily preserved."
He looks up from the find to regard B'yelka and her question, "At this juncture I believe I agree with you, B'yelka. Though I am admittedly curious if these smaller towers might hold similar caches as this one, in which case it might benefit us to recover their contents."
"Curiosity killed the cat. And don't quip that satisfaction brought it back. I say unless you, or anyone else, has good reason to suspect another cache then we look in the tallest tower." Her words sound harsh, but she smiles sweet as honey in contrast.
Dantrian looks to the others in the group, "While I do not believe there are any ressurective powers within 'Satisfaction', feline or otherwise, B'yelka's rhyme makes a point: there is risk, of course, in looking through the smaller towers, perhaps even needless risk. Have any of you a preference as to which course to follow?"
Drosil grins, "As someone that has come close to death multiple times in the past day or so, I vote that we proceed along the path that is most likely to be the least painful, if it's all the same to everyone else."
This place has brought us nothing but unpleasant surprises thus far, who know what could be in these towers? I say move on, that last tower is the only other place likely for the master and Aaron to be - if they still live of course.
"You guys are soooo boring. Whatever, let's go straight to the end," Tibideau sighs dramatically. We'll never know what delicious oddities and horrific hooligans hide in those two towers. He adjusts his coat and prepares to follow the others out of the menagerie complex.
Drosil checks the door, and then Janos moves to the front to open it. Outside a grand stone bridge arches over the gorge to a stack of rock on
which perches a high tower topped with a lightning rod. The tower perches atop a sheer stack of rock above the river. The tower climbs to an elaborate iron steeple, from which a huge lightning conductor calls out to the skies.
Janos moves to the edge of the bridge and looks down and around the open air. "Uh, Dros. You mind taking a look? Or maybe Tibi? The last two bridges haven't really been kind to us."
Dantrian steps forward, holding Drosil and Tibideau back with a clawed hand. "I'll go first, Janos. The rest of you can come forward once I've crossed."
Drosil nods at Dantrian's suggestion, his face grim. Considering how much has happened recently, Dantrian's probably right to scout ahead. Stealth has not served me well, recently.
B'yelka watches Drosil when Janos suggests he scout ahead. Drosil looks away from the bridge and it looks like worry or dread crosses his brow. The Diva reaches out and takes his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She doesn't say a word as Dantrian suggests he scout instead. As he steps onto the bridge she whispers to the Fetchling,
If Drosil holds her hand, she doesn't let go.
Yeah, let us take some of the lumps for a change, brother. Anton says without jest as he squeezes past the rogue and diva. If anything comes out of that tower with the same attitude as the rest of this place, I'd like a clear shot at it.
He turns back to Drosil with a sudden grin.
Why does this remind me of the time we were waiting outside the Mistresses' office after the incident with the pig stomach full of water. Hahaha.
He laughs at the memory, when times were simpler, and whispers a small prayer to Desna.
Ongoing Status effects:
- Eagle's Splendor (7 minutes - cast in the water tunnel)
- Protection From Evil (7 minutes - cast on stone bridge to tower)
Janos nods as he sees Anton take magical preparations. He whispers the woodland secret the old oak told him. Instantly his skin becomes craggy and tough. "Anton, tell me when you need the arrow spell. It should extend your supply."
He slowly walks out onto the bridge to join Dantrian on the other side.
Dantrian moves to one side of the door, giving Drosil room to inspect it for trouble. As the fetchling begins to cross the span with the others, the alchemist performs his own preliminary search of the door while he waits.
The Diva moves up to the foot of the bridge, No fear, Girl! She looks down, then across to where Mister Almaeus and Janos are checking the door. "Should I cross now?" or wait for Drosil's rope?
Drosil makes his way across the bridge and inspects the door, as indicated by Dantrian.