Bloody the "cultist" looks over to Suny and snaps his fingers, and Suny is cleaned up by his magic. "I know its no bath but it might bring up your spirits a little bit." He gives her a wink and a crude purple flower appears in his hand offering it to Suny.
With talks about fighting the beast, "We sure that he want to fight that beast?" He points to the hidden passageway, "We could also find out whose place that is, then if there's nobody there we could ambush the cultist and find out more information?"
Suny giggles brightly, shivering as Flag's magic tinges over her. She curtsies demurely and accepts the gift of his flower, deftly tucking it behind an ear and smiling shyly. (^_^)
"Um...Does we rilly want ta go lookin' at th' big beasty?" She asks quietly.
"As fer ambush? That'll only work fer the nasties whut don't get word of whut we done here..." She points out, "What, with folks thinking that be an escape tunnel yonder." And she points to the door way and tunnel that Flag have explored to the end of.
"Them's what got away would be seekin' out they's fellow weirdo's. May-hap fromin' a group ta come flush us out?"
"Let's get out of here for now. Suny needs to recover, and we have a swift exit here that might lead us to safety."
"You know those cultists we trapped in that cold storage area, do we leave them there? Their cruel following of that beast, deserves their deaths. I think we should remove the rest of the cultists down here before we leave. Sunny can still fight, if she stays towards the back and shoots arrows or something. We can always use this exit if needs be!"
Silas scratches his chin. "True, I had forgotten about them. Well, Suny, what do you think? Up for the slaughter of iced cultists?"
Suny nods.
"Or, we can see if'n the change in climate has bin given 'em second thoughts about whut ever t'is they be doin' down here." (^_^)
"Let us take them for justice at the Temple, our Lady would introduce them to the pleasure of her vengeance." says Kariselle without emotion. "Let us free them from their cold nights rest and seek the embrace of the Savored Sting. Let us have rope ready to bind their freezing hands." she smiles.
"A reasonable plan. Anybody object?"
"Nup!" (^_^)
"Agreed, I do have our dear captain's earrings they could be proof enough for our client. I mean after the whole vengeance thing."
Suny skips along, eager to get out of the place, round up the/an prisoners and get back to some where 'civilized'...
You begin to make your way back toward the cold room. You barely begin back toward the temple before you hear the slam of something against wood ahead of you. As you near the temple, the sound grows louder and more insistent.
"Uh-oh..." Suny opines.
"Dammit! Let's make our retreat. We'll have to get that hidden door closed after we're through, or this thing is going to get more than just us. Move!"
Silas readies his swords, and takes up a defensive position nearest the door where the noise is coming from.
"You could be right Silas, or we take it out now, before it has a change to threaten the folks of Freeport!"
Suny prepares to bravely either shoot said pending monstrosity...Or 'regroup' outside some where.
As the party debates what to do, the door bursts into shards. Splinters of wood fly across the room and slam into your flesh. A horror lurks on the other side. Countless glazed-yellowy eyes and worm-like orifices filled with jagged rotting teeth roil across a surface of decomposing, maggot-filled flesh. Its almost as if they bubble to the surface and then immediately are covered again as its flesh continues to warp and ooze.
Silas
Karsielle
Suny
BF
Mishael
Monster
Mishael takes one look at the creature and yells, "I agree with Silas! Quick, let's run for that door!"
Suny 'squeaks' in surprise as wood comes flying every where. Then squeaks again in shock, horror and surprise at the...thing which comes roiling though the ruined door frame. She doesn't need to be told twice and follows Mishael.
"Go go go!"
Silas retreats with measured steps, always making sure that he is between his party and the monster.
Seeing the creature like this for the first time, Karsille tries to recall from her studies whether she has seen such a one before.
Karsielle retreats casting as she goes, calling upon Calistra to make this area holy in her sight.
School evocation [good]; Level cleric 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a vial of holy water and 25 gp worth of silver dust), DF
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area 20-ft.-radius emanation
Duration 2 hours/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This spell blesses an area with positive energy. The DC to resist positive channeled energy within this area gains a +3 sacred bonus. Every undead creature entering a consecrated area suffers minor disruption, suffering a –1 penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves. Undead cannot be created within or summoned into a consecrated area. If the consecrated area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture dedicated to your deity, pantheon, or aligned higher power, the modifiers given above are doubled (+6 sacred bonus to positive channeled energy DCs, –2 penalties for undead in the area).
You cannot consecrate an area with a similar fixture of a deity other than your own patron. Instead, the consecrate spell curses the area, cutting off its connection with the associated deity or power. This secondary function, if used, does not also grant the bonuses and penalties relating to undead, as given above.
Consecrate counters and dispels desecrate.
His senses telling him to be the first one out of there he forces himself to turn at the creature with his voice shaky at first he finds some courage as he finishes his spell. "Let's see if I can't distract this beast!" As he finishes the words a swarm of bats appear before the creature.
In the face of the most horrific monstrosity he has ever seen, Bloody Flag holds his ground and begins casting a spell. Karsielle stands with him and attempts to identify the creature. She has never seen its like before, but recalls tales of something called a gibbering mouther. Still, there is something altogether different and worse about what she sees here.
Referring back to this map might help. Monster is at F7, you guys just came through door right under the #4.
Karsielle retreats through the door while Silas remains to bravely defend Bloody Flag in case the monster approaches.
Suny and Mishael follow Karsielle, running for safety. Just as they flee, a horrible mind-wrenching sound like a thousand tortured minds screaming for help erupts from the roiling mass approaching Silas and Bloody Flag. It lurches forward, but apparently cannot move quickly and fortunately does not reach the pair. From one of the multitude of mouths, a cough like a diseased man in his last days erupts and a ball of phlegm erupts toward Bloody Flag. It strikes Flag right in the forehead and he feels acid begin to dissolve his skin as the fluid drips toward his eyes.
Just then, what seem like a thousand bats erupts from a dark rent in the air right in front of Bloody Flag and swarm across the amorphous body of the creature.
"Just keep runin', jus' keep runnin', jus' keep runnin', jus' keep runnin'!" Is Suny's mantra as the soft patter of her nekkid feet sound along the exit through which every one is making their way.
Bloody Screams as the acid hits and blinds him, "AHH! WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS IS THAT?" He stumbles back to retreat reaching out frantically for his teammates to help lead him away.
Silas continues to slowly back away, ready to attack at any moment.
Karsielle hearing BF's cry, stops and looks back, calling "Are you all right? Need any help?"
attack the nearest creature...which happens to be Silas.[/ooc]
Moments after he screams, Bloody Flag makes a wild attempt to slug Silas in the face. Fortunately, the haymaker whistles harmlessly in front of Silas's nose.
The ranger takes a few steps further back as Karsielle stops to call out, getting no answer from the now bewitched and befuddled Bloody Flag.
Suny turns and looks over her shoulder at Karsielle's cry.
She stops and waits, trying to think of a way to help.
"I think this thing somehow bewitched Flag! He's making wild swings at me!"
Unwilling to harm his ally, Silas instead moves in to attack the beast.
Silas bravely steps forward in front of Flag and swings his longsword at the mass of bloody eyeballs and grasping mouths. He connects and is rewarded with a scream from the creature as his sword cuts through it roiling flesh. Blood and ichor splash across the flagstones and some of the bats swarming around the creature, flock away.
Karsielle turns back, hearing Silas' cry, praying as she goes.
Hearing Silas' words and catching a glimpse of what's going on, Suny looks around for cloth or rope and bindings.
"Who's got some rope?" She calls.
Karsielle rushes back to the room. Emerging from the doorway, she can see Bloody Flag blindly flailing his hands about and Silas standing bravely in front of a swirling cloud of bats that envelope the horrible writhing mass of eyeballs and toothy maws. Praying, she reaches out to touch Silas, offering Calistria's blessing on the ranger in his battle with the horror.
Suny follows Karsielle back to the room. She can see little through Karsielle's shape in the doorway, but she recalls that most of the room was made of stone and the only decor consisted of frescoes and the flowing runes of the cult. The only cloth she can recall is the robes of the cultists the group slew the first time they passed through the cultist's temple.
The naked brown form of Suny zips back into the temple chapel. She darts past Karsielle and spies one of the dead cultists still sprawled where the group slew him earlier. Suny skirts the edge of Bloody Flag's swarm of bats and pauses near the dead body.
Frustrated that Silas has interrupted its planned meal, the creature unleashes its full fury on the ranger barring its path. It spits a gob of acid at his face and then attempts to latch on with what seems like a swarm of razor-toothed bloody mouths.
The acid flies harmlessly over his head to splat against a fresco on the wall. It immediately begins fizzing and dissolving the evil symbols and images.
The mouths clutch and tear at Silas and a couple of them manage to pierce his defenses. But, try as it might, the creature is unable to grab hold of him. Spotting a softer victim get nearby, it moves toward Suny.
"GAH! Not teh kissy attack!" Suny cries, even as she rips cloth and robes from the body before racing back towards Silas, Flag and the others.
"Here! Lets wrap up Flag an' then we can wrap up even bein' here!"
Karsielle makes a grab at BF, hoping to pull him out of the conflict as she speaks to him, "Come now, away from this thing." and she moves him and herself away from the combat area.
If she succeeds in this, she calls out, "Come out now retreat!"
"Go! I'll hold it off!"
Silas bravely attacks again, attempting to draw its attention.
Bloody grabs either Suny or Kariselle and shouts "Just lead me out!
As soon as Bloody Flag calls out for help, Karsielle grabs him and guides him toward the door. Together, they manage to escape back through the doorway.
Silas continues to battle the disgusting, nightmarish pile of eyes and mouths. Both sword and dagger connect with satisfying gravity, but the creature continues to fight on.
Suny attempts to use the pillar as a shield to help slip past the gibbering terror, but just as she thinks she is about to escape, a tendril of tissue with a maw of yellowed teeth lurches out to snatch at her. Fortunately, the teeth merely snap loudly closed, narrowly missing her exposed hamstring as she hops past. Suny also makes it through the doorway and into the hall.
As Kariselle reaches the hallway, Mishael grabs for her and Flag and helps them move further to safety.
A terrible howl erupts from the creature as all of its victims except Silas escape from the chapel. It turns its frustration on the ranger standing in to protect everyone else's retreat.
A gob of acid strikes Silas just above his hairline and begins running down into his eyes. Many mouths lash out attempting to lash onto him to pull him into its mass. Three of them strike him