"Traps, traps, traps, I reckon. I recall a wayang shadow puppet story where the skulls' mouths were filled with blowguns..."
"There is a secret door over there," Absinthe says, pointing the way with her rapier. "Follow."
The tiefling skips ahead, senses alert to the possibility of traps, her equipment prepared to disarm any that she might find.
Cherias keeps his sharp eyes scanning the walls, looking for anything dangerous.
Absinthe moves cautiously towards the secret door, wary for signs of traps. Seeing none, even with the ominous-looking wall decorations, she makes it to the wall panel without trouble.
A few moments after she begins a close examination of the door, you all hear a scraping from ahead and behind... the sound of clattering bones across stone. Three of the skulls dislodge from the wall, trailing a skeletal snake's body. Their heads are human, but with a viper's lower jaw that drips acidic venom.
One emerges just beside Absinthe, biting her in the leg, while two others are to the south. They rear and spit acid globs at Cherias and Seren, catching them both flat-footed.
;
;
Cherias exclaims in pain, both from the acid, and from Absinthe's injury that floods across his lifelink with her. He steps back between Melianthe and Seren, and shifts his cane to a weapon-style grip again. Then with a gesture, he calls upon the power of Nirvana to strengthen his teammates' attacks.
Depending on how things fall out, Seren will withdraw to the middle(assuming space is available).
Absinthe screams her pain -- and lashes out with her rapier, hacking at the animated bones before taking a step back. "Segang, get behind it! Flank with me!"
On his turn Segang 5' steps up to the creature treatening Absinthe and attempts to crush it with a power attack.
"Lesser necrophidius!" shouts Melianthe. "They aren't undead--more like a bone golem. More evidence--anyhow, don't let them confound you with a hypnotic dance, and their bite is poison and magic!"
Melianthe hexes the necrophidius near Abby with Misfortune and laughs maniacally.
Absinthe hexes the northern snake, just before it tries to bite Absinthe again and misses. The southern two continue to spit acid globs, but missing both closely.
Segang steps up and slams the near snake with a powerful strike. It crunches underneath the hammer, but continues to attack. Cherias casts a blessing over the group. Absinthe moves, stabbing her rapier ineffectually at her attacker.
"Cursed constructs and undead ... aren't there normal wizards around here?" Seren spits as he fires an acid dart and then moves to the other side of Mel
Cursing under her breath in Infernal, Absinthe attacks the bone-based construct again, her rapier flickering in the gloom.
Segang tries again to end the creature, bringing his earthbreaker down upon its brittle bones.
Die you thing that should never have lived! he pronounces.
"Abby--that rapier won't work against the necrophidians...anything with bone will resist; I'm fairly certain."
Melianthe hexes the AA27 necrophidius with Misfortune, chuckling all the while. How she cackles and speaks is anybody's guess.
Cherias runs to the location directly behind Absinthe and casts Guidance on Segang.
Seren retaliates, throwing his own glob of acid back at the snake before retreating behind Melianthe, who then successfully hexes one of the two southern targets. It responds by starting a hypnotic, swaying dance, dazing Cherias, Absinthe and Melianthe. The other snake slides forward, charging to bite at Cherias. Even in a trance, Cherias manages to avoid the snapping jaws.
The third construct turns on Segang, biting him on the leg, leaving a bloody mark and acid burns. In turn, Segang crushes it again with his hammer. This time, it collapses into a clatter of bones.
*
; plus
Being bitten and seeing his friends threatened make Segang mad, but he does not loose his temper completely (controlled rage). He moves to engage the construct on Cherias and power attacks it with his large hammer.
Cherias snaps out of his daze, seeing the creature right in front of him, he gives an cry of distress and shrinks back away from it, trying to get room to cast a spell.
Melianthe snaps to awareness and hexes the skulled snake in front of Cherias. She frowns. "We may need different spells later on, Seren...and a club or two...and some vials of acid..."
Fire again with acid.
Crit?
Cursing, Absinthe starts a series of cartwheels and flips that end in a leap, landing her in front of Cherias. Instead of using her rapier, she lashes out with a hoof, attempting to crack the construct's bones.
Melianthe shakes off the effects of the entrancing dance and drops a hex on the other snake. It continues to bite at Cherias, but the hex is effective and spoils the attack. The other snake continues its mesmerizing dance.
Segang moves over and smashes the nearer snake, but it continues to fight. Cherias backs away, giving Segang a small blessing of guidance. Absinthe remains standing entranced by the dancing snake, while Seren lands a well-aimed acid glob.
*
Nodding to Mel's comment about clubs and the like, Seren continues to chip away with acid.
Moving like the dancer he once was, Kit twirls his way out of the range of the creature's biting jaws and hurries over to Absinthe. Again, he calls upon the blessings of Nirvana to give Abby a small amount of holy guidance.
Segang's plan is simple, Smash the one near him and then smash the last one.
Melianthe maintains Misfortune on the hexed necrophidius, doing little else, her eyes full of concern.
Melianthe maintains her hexes, as the dancing snake maintains its own spell against Absinthe. The other snake bites again, this time at Segang, but is again foiled by the curse. Segang slams it again with his earthbreaker, breaking it apart.
Cherias tries to help Absinthe out of her mesmerized state with a small blessing, but she remains entranced by the remaining snake. Seren conjures another acid missile, but the snake dodges out of its way.
*
Melianthe maintains Misfortune mercilessly, moving minutely.
Segang moves to engage the creature. Die already!
The necrophidius makes one last attack, moving to bite at Segang before the Shoanti demolishes it with one crushing hit.
*
Slowly, Absinthe comes out of her stupor. The tiefling shakes her head and growls angrily. "One desperately requires some magic item to bolster one's willpower," she mutters once she has regained her composure.
The barbarian lets his rage fall from him as he bends to examine the remains of the strange constructs. I grow tired. he says. I am not sure how much longer I can keep up my raging combat. I can still fight, of course, but I may not be as effective.
And we are low on spells and equipment. Nevertheless, perhaps we can journey a short while further this day."
Cherias casts Cure Light Wounds on himself. Though the surge of healing energy was not as great as he hoped, he decides not to spend another. "I'm ready to continue."
Further examination of the secret door reveals a narrow passage roughly cut into the bedrock. It runs north then bends sharply to the west. The dimensions are only about four feet high and wide, and would be require crouching.