"Most definitely, in due course. But first, may we ask who you are? And what is this place? Has it not been very long since you've received guests? This place seems very ancient." The creature's abruptness seems suspicious to the sorceress, but she tries to be polite.
At Titania's suggestion, and excitedly ignoring Yasmin's questions, the costumed creature grins broadly, "That is most excellent indeed! Let us begin!" He then bows, draws his conductor’s baton and begins the entertainment by blasting an arc of lightning, emanating from his baton, through the grate in the stage... and moments later, a strange chorus of voices starts to sing out - some singing, some shouting, some laughing... all gibbering...
With the group as experienced in devilkind as most, it doesn't take much to realise that this 'troubador' is an imp...
Born directly from the pits of Hell, imps are among the least of the true devils; these vicious, manipulative fiends, however, hold an important role in the corruption of mortal souls. Unfettered from the ranks and duties of diabolical armies, imps delight in any opportunity to travel to the Material Plane and subtly tempt mortals toward acts of ever-greater depravity. Willingly serving spellcasters as familiars, imps play the role of dutiful servants, often granting their masters cunning advice and infernal insights. In truth, though, an imp works to deliver souls to Hell, assuring that its master’s soul—and as many collateral souls as possible— faces damnation upon death.
Unlike most devils, imps often find themselves free and alone on the Material Plane, particularly after they’ve been summoned to serve as familiars and their masters have perished (often indirectly due to the machinations of the imp itself. With no way to return home, these imps, freed of their bonds to arcane masters, can become dangerous pests or even leaders of small tribes of savage humanoids like goblins or kobolds.
Ea, recognizing the threat, don't waste time and calls for Pharasma's protection
Rallos spins and slashes at Tot with a wild look in his eyes.
Tot staggers away from Rallos as his sword finds a chink in her armor and dives deep into her side. She grimaces, but only for a moment before she begins to laugh. A surprisingly clear and childlike sound more befitting her stature than her station. As she laughs, she begins to twirl about as if she were dancing with her sword.
"The room just keeps spinning and spinning and spinning! C'mon Ea! Dance with me as the room spins! Wheee!"
As Rallos and Titania fall under the madness of the Mouther, blades slash and thrust in all the wrong directions - cutting Ea as she fails to move out of the way quickly enough... The imp giggles and smirks as his cacophony of noise has such an extreme effect, "And now.... the second movement - introducing our chorus!!!"
Emerging from the walls of the orchestra pit, clouds of shadow bubble and boil into semi-skeletal faces... and, as the grinning faces form from the darkness, more voices add to the noise echoing around the chamber...
"No, no, get away!" cries Yasmin as the shadowy faces appear. She starts swinging her metamagic rod wildly, and in doing so, whacks herself in the head.
[dice=Will]1d20+11+2
Rallos pokes his leg with his blade.
Tot stops spinning, though she staggers about as her sword causes her to overbalance. She begins to babble something about kittens, puppies, and bunnies all forming a cult in Infernal.
Still lost to the madness of the mouther, Yasmin and Rallos turn their weapons on themselves - whilst Titania rambles on in the obscene language of devilkind...
Fortunately Murassa has finally focussed... and moving forwards towards the grate, stabs in at the amorphous mass within.
Ea cast a spell and a sharp dagger, Pharasma's choice weapon, appears out of nowhere and rushes to the attack, trying to hit the imp
As the imp shrieks indignantly at the Pharasmin's dagger, the cacophony of noise in the orchestra grows louder still... a droning, monotonous babble from the cloud of skeletal faces joining the endlessly maddening song from the mass of mouths and eyes...
Turning the conductor's baton on Ea, the imp attempts to summon more lightning from it... but this time, it merely sparks and fizzles...
Rallos looks at Tot and seems to answer her babble with his own in Infernal
*Thwap* Yasmin's flailing continues as she bonks herself once more.
Tot's voice harmonizes with the droning from the Allip and the babbling from the mouther as she begins reciting a cake recipe.
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As a wave on energy once more washed over him, Murassa felt his anger get the best of him. "WILL YOU LEAVE MY HEAD ALONE?!" he screamed, feeling his own energy flood his body before channeling down into his weapon. Glaring at the beast in front of him, he lashed out, trying to end this battle before anything else happens.
Rallos, Titania and Yasmin remain lost within the Mouther's madness... and Murassa barely avoids being captivated by the drone of the allips - his attack though, with his mind clear, is devastating!!!
Ea continues to assault the imp with her summoned dagger, hitting their small extraplanar foe
Ea's blade sinks deep into the imp's flesh... so much so that, as it flops forward dead, the weapon reappears on the other side of the diminutive troubadour. Although the conductor is dead, the orchestra continues its maddening song - the thousand songs of the mouther echoing around the orchestra pit whilst the allips drone on... and on... and on...
Somehow, in the midst of all this confusion, Yasmin has a split second of cogent thought! She has in mind only one thing--stopping the mad cacophony of the gibbering mouther! She tries to form a solid sheet of ice around the mouther.
Get it off...get it off! Rallos shouts as he stabs at an imaginary rat on his leg.
"...47.99283093 grams of plutonium sugar mixed with–" Tot comes to with a vicious shake of her head.
She looks about confused for a moment before looking for the closest thing to kill.
Ea traces the spiral of Pharasma in front of her, and a wave of energy burst, catching the allips
Momentarily seeing things for what they are, Titania sweeps her blade in a furious arc - twice the blade strikes although it is the first, spraying teeth across the floor, that is the most ruinous...
...and still, after Murassa's blow echoes and rings through the mouther's ice, the chorus of voices babbles on - although it is growing noticeably dimmer...
Yasmin comes to her senses again, and as she does so, she is really, really pissed off at this Gibbering Mouther.
She channels the power of the metamagic rod in her hand and fires a deadly spray of ice at both the Mouther and the allips!
Rallos smashes the pommel of his blade against his knee, making the rogue grunt in pain.
Tot stumbles as once again her mind slips and the monster's gibbering and droning render her ineffective. She sways as she begins to sing a lullaby that harmonizes with the drone and the gibbering.
...and finally, her mind focussing beyond the madness of the mouther’s song and the incessant drone of the allips, Yasmin sees the scene ahead of her with alacrity - and responds, as she has so many times before, by ripping ice from the air and flinging it at her enemies. The screams are many... but they quickly die away as the mouther is finally stilled and the few allips that survived the cruelly frigid blast dissipate to nothingness once more.
As everyone else slowly returns to their senses, there is time to take stock of the situation... it is clear that this chamber has always been some form of performance space, and just maybe what the friends endured was a case of right intentions but terrible delivery. There is little here of value although the depleted conductor's baton wielded by the imp may have some worth. The chamber itself has no other exits beyond the one that the group entered through and hence, retracing their steps, the group stand once more at the overlook to the subterranean gardens.
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As the battle winds down, Murassa took a moment to take stock of himself. Mind still intact, all his limbs, in fine working order. Yup, he's good. Then he looked over at the others. "So, do anybody else feel like staying away from music for a while?" he asked wryly as they made their way out of the area. "Also, for an evil thug, your voice isn't half bad, Hellknight." He refused to look at her as he said his backhanded compliment.
"Ha! Take that!" shouts Yasmin as she is able to send the mouther to a frosty demise. She gives the creature a hearty kick for good measure. "Where do they find these gibbering mouthers? It's like there's a hatchery somewhere in this spire."
Yasmin snags the "conductor's baton" and sees if it still has any zapping potential in it.
She also sees if Ea needs healing, and offers her Infernal Healing wand if desired.
Otherwise, she looks down over the strange flora below. "Why do I get the feeling this won't be an ordinary garden?"
Rallos closes his eyes and shakes his head vigorously.
I hate this place! My sanity might snap. Gah!he says venting his frustration at the mind affecting creatures.
Good job....sorry I couldn't help out more with that... he looks around at the trappings of the room.
With the death of monsters, Tot's song is left to echo alone in the cavern that served as a theatre. She blushes as she comes to her senses, then her pink cheeks turn a deep cherry as Murassa takes note of her singing.
"C-could you please not call me 'Hellknight'? Titania or Tot's fine."
As they overlook the garden, Tot gives a chuckle at Yasmin's words.
"Perhaps because it's a garden under gods only know how much stone?"
Please do call her Titania, if you feel "friend" is too soon, Murassa.Her Fate is no longer tied to the Hellknights, and she has shown Nothing to us if not loyalty, valor and fighting prowess. She isn't more evil than I am. Or less trust worthy than I am, if you ever trust me, Murassa.
Ea uses Yasmin wand to heal some of her wounds