Very well. I think you have the right idea. We can just surprise them. Lead us in. What would you suggest?
Very well.
Seoni keeps the wand handy, and stays to the rear.
The group proceeds quietly down the hall, eyes open and alert for signs of danger.
A statue of a woman with a water urn stands in the hallway, which upon closer inspection from the duo seems rather uninteresting.
Continuing down the hall, you all reach a bend that heads left revealing seven doors before it bends again to the right.
A heavily muscled Kellid female, wielding a sword bigger then she is, hustles down the corridor behind the group.
"Sorry I'm late guys! I can see you have already been having some fun..."
Glad you made it! We were just about to start the real fight.
Zora detects only silence from beyond the door and gives a nod to Charis and Amiri to open the door.
This chamber is a small barracks with a pair of double bunks and a small privy in the north wall. The eastern portion of the room is partitioned into a pair of cells with doors made from iron bars. Inside each is a shoddy bunk and a rusty bucket.
Initiative:
As you all step into the room to give it a quick search, something shapeless oozes out from one of the beds.
The horrid mass of eyes, mouths, and formless flesh stares in all directions, its countless maws yammering ceaselessly.
Round 1
23 Zora :
22 Mouther :
19 Maiden :
9 Seoni :
8 Sigil :
7 Amiri :
Now Up: Zora!
Zora moves in and sinks her sword into the creature's amorphous mass, seeming to barely nick it with her blade.
The creature begins to babble as a cacophony of maddening sound echoes through the room.
Roll 1d4:
1 = Act normal
2 = Do nothing but babble
3 = Deal 1d8+Strength damage to self
4 = Attack nearest creature
Then the dozens of slavering mouths all snap at the halfling rogue.
for
for
for
for
for
for
for
Several mouths latch onto poor Zora , leaving several dripping wounds behind.
Then the creature defies all possibility as it manages to spit a foul smelling mass at Amiri's face.
Round 1
23 Zora : Moves, stabs for 1
22 Mouther (-1): Gibbers, bites Zora for 11, spits at Amiri
19 Maiden :
9 Seoni :
8 Sigil :
7 Amiri :
Round 2
23 Zora :
Now Up: Everyone!
A weird look crosses Amiri's face, and she starts raging, attempting to annihilate the creature that just spat at her.
If she can see at all, it's wand time again.
Amiri's eyes roll back, but she's not confused enough to not murder something spitting at her as her oversized weapon cuts a deep gash in the creature. Sigil attacks himself while Seoni's magical bolt hits the creature and the Maiden struggles to land an arrow in the melee.
The mouther immediately turns its attention from the minor halfling threat to the raging woman, with each mouth in turn seeking to latch onto poor Amiri's exposed flesh (normally a good thing against male opponents).
for and HIT
for and
for and HIT + Grapple
for and HIT
for and
for and HIT
Mouth #3 begins a grapple, causing Amiri AC to go down by -2 along with mouther attacks by -2 (it's a wash between those two, but note all others will be attacking a lower AC).
7 damage from mouths
As mouth after mouth lashes at the barbarian, you all begin to hear a disgusting sucking noise as four babbling grins each latch onto Amiri.
The remaining mouths all cackle gleefully.
Round 1
23 Zora : Moves, stabs for 1
22 Mouther (-1): Gibbers, bites Zora for 11, spits at Amiri
19 Maiden : Fires and misses
9 Seoni : Magic missile for 9
8 Sigil : Confused, strikes self for 6
7 Amiri : Slashes the mouther for 25
Round 2
23 Zora :
22 Mouther (-37, grappled): Bites Amiri for 7 and begins grapple
19 Maiden :
9 Seoni :
8 Sigil :
7 Amiri (grappled):
Round 3
23 Zora :
[b]Now Up:[b] Everyone! (and Zora twice)
Managing to resist the maddening song of the creature, Amiri, still raging, tries to take control of the grapple.
Seoni acts normally, and pumps 2 more missiles into the beastie.
Seoni and Zora's respective missiles thud into the creature's bruised flesh while the Maiden struggles to land an arrow through the creature's rubbery skin.
Mouth after mouth lurches at Amiri but the barbarian warrioress manages to dodge all but one . Luckily, it doesn't latch on.
The creature continues its maddening babble, yet the Pathfinders seem to be resistant to its effect at this point with the thrill of battle and the risk of death at hand.
You save until you make one. It will babble each round as a free action applying 1-round duration confusion effects to people who haven't made their first save yet.
Amiri
fail
made
Sigil
fail
made
Seoni
made
Zora
made
Maiden
made
for with CMB
for with CMB
for with CMB
for with CMB
for with CMB
for with CMB
Round 2 Con't
19 Maiden : Shoots but misses
9 Seoni : Magic missile for 4
8 Sigil : Channels for 8
7 Amiri (grappled): Breaks grapple
Round 3
23 Zora : Fires bullet hitting for 3 (no crit)
22 Mouther (-44) : Bites Amiri for 3
19 Maiden :
9 Seoni :
8 Sigil :
7 Amiri:
Round 4
23 Zora :
Now Up: Everyone!
Seoni lets loose another volley from the wand.
Die, already! she says, exasperated.
Amiri, finally free of the creatures grasping mouths, takes a swing!
Amiri stands free and as she brings her sword down in a heavy arc, an arcane bolt from Seoni whizzes past, stirring the barbarian's hair.
WHOOSH
Little pieces of gibbering mouth explode onto Amiri just as the edge of her oversized sword was a mere inch away from cleaving the hideous aberration in half.
Yes, it would be fair so say, Seoni stole Amiri's kill.
As the gibbering subsides, the room feels quiet again, which feels slightly strange giving the echoing babbles that drove you all mad moments earlier.
Beyond the beds and chamber pot (slightly full), there appears to be nothing else of note in this room.
Amiri pulls a blanket from one of the beds, and uses it to clean chunks of aberrant flesh and blood from her sword, before heading back out into the corridor.
"Well, I am glad *that* is over! That was extremely unpleasant..."
Let's check out those doors, Seoni suggests, indicating the 3 in a row.
|
"Yah, me too. I tend to concentrate on precision strikes rather than brute force, but this... thing... seemed to not have any points of weakness. It is clearly not natural, though, and I don't even want to know what caused it to exist."
Zora nods in agreement to the door selection, and proceeds to check for traps and sounds.
Clattering dinnerware, plates and the low voices of several men and women talking.
Something, something, Jaris's poison...
Something, Tarrin, something, initiation rites...
The conversation continues, but it's hard to make out details through the heavy door. Perhaps a good thing as the thickness of the door surely prevented the folks on the far side from overhearing the nearby fight with the gibbering mouther.
|
"They didn't hear us? They didn't hear the cries for help? No wonder I've never heard of these Splinters. Then again, they didn't mind a..." she shudders, "Whatever we just fought- in their presence."
"It may be better for us to find an alternate entrance to the room. I'm not in the mood to charge in."
Good idea. We might find a more advantageous way to go about this.
Zora detects nothing on or beyond the door across the hall, and giving a nod to Amiri and Charis, the duo step up to open the door.
This chamber is someone’s personal quarters. A comfortable bed stands in the southwest corner. Several small keepsakes, including a couple of small leather journals, clutter the wall shelves.
The keepsakes on the shelves include a gold chess piece worth 25 gp, an ivory comb worth 40 gp, and a statuette of a woman with a lyre worth 15 gp.
Zora moves on to the next door and listens again, while checking for traps.
Finding no traps, and hearing nothing beyond, she gives Amiri and Charis the cue to open that door as well.
The double bunks and footlockers in the alcoves of this large room suggest it serves as a barracks. The walls are decorated with simple paintings and murals, which include sketches of building, temple, and ruin layouts with notations suggesting how to get past obstacles and traps. Two small privy chambers stand against the southern wall, and doors exit to the southeast and the northwest.
Three men seem to be resting within this room, one sitting on a footlocker sharpening a blade, one lounging in a bed, and one apparently returning from the privy with some reading material in hand.
The one sharpening his weapon rises.
"Hey! You're not supposed to be here..."
The other two begin to dart towards weapons as well.