More traffic this way. Grit indicates to the southeast. And more recent. But that does not necessarily tell us to go that way. Use a feather?
With the finger-bone talisman pointing clearly to the east, the southeast passage seems the most likely course. As you come closer to the portal, you see that someone - the belgoi, judging from the content - has scrawled crude, rust-colored pictograms across the patchwork door of stone, bone and hide. Bells and skulls figure prominently.
The door is lashed to the walls on the other side, but a sharp knife is enough to cut the cords and allow it to swing freely. It opens into a gently curving passage lined with more burial nooks. Across the corridor, another narrow alcove contains more bone-filled niches, and two obvious doors - one to the south, another to the northeast can be seen. Closer, a poorly-fitted burial niche betrays the location of a concealed passage to the east.
The talisman points east and slightly to the north of Grit's position.
We need to move east from here. East and north. Grit confirms. Lets try that secret passage.
Raun looks at the once again narrowed passage with a grimace, but her malcontent muttering doesn't increase much and she continues to follow Grit's lead.
The kreen sticks with the group, doing his best to remain at the center of the group.
The concealed passage opens with a grinding screech, dust and sand swirling as a noxious stench billows out of the passage beyond. A few steps in, the narrow corridor opens into a roughly oval chamber, its floor littered with gnawed bones and piles of rotted fabric reeking of decay. You part tattered curtains as you proceed to the east.
You emerge onto a macabre platform built of piled bones, lashed together with strips of hide and cement made of bone-dust. A crude altar rises on the eastern end of the platform. Your light illuminates a vast, circular chamber, with ancient stone columns rising toward a ceiling lost in shadow.
Gorkhan and Raun barely have time to react as several shadows - belgoi, three on the ground and another seemingly suspended in mid-air - begin to move.
Raun takes one look at more of the mind controlling figures, hefts her hammer and takes a running leap at the floating figure, bounding from the stage to the altar, and finally into the air with a roar as she swings her hammer at the belgoi.
Gorkhan hops down from the platform and moves to attack the nearest belgoi, positioning himself so that the pillar partially blocks him from the floating one.
+
Not waiting for the others to move, Raun charges up the grisly altar and launches herself into the dark gulf, hammer hurtling through the air. The robed figure folds over with a gasp as the half-giant's sledge slams into it, pushing it back through the air as Raun crashes to the ground.
Gorkhan darts to the ground more gracefully, his blade flickering out to slice deep into the shoulder of one of the other belgoi.
The gaunt creatures react quickly, attempting to overpower the group with an all-out mental assault against everyone in sight.
Grit and Gorkhan manage to withstand the mental attacks but Grit's tigone again falls under the influence of the belgoi's mind control.
Raun, meanwhile, is driven to her knees, her hammer falling from shaky hands, as the wounded belgoi matron looses a psychic scream of rage. With the half-giant neutralized, the figure floats higher into the air as it turns its attention to the rest of the party.
Grit becomes aware of the Tigone's control when he tries to send it against he belgoi Gorkhan wounded. He excerpts his will in a push of the animal's resolve.
[
All this happens in an instant as Grit first casts his Call Lightning spell against the floating belgoi and moves forward 20' following Gorkhan. He pulls his steel scimitar as he moves.
The kreen will focus on the flying enemy, figuring those in the clutch with demonstrated melee ability could take care of the others.
- Will try to add the one flying out of reach into the collective by expending focus as a move action (DC 19 will negates).
- If that does work, Drain Health as a standard (15hp, Will DC 19 halves, save at a -2).
- If that does not work, will attempt to add it into the collective again as a standard action (DC 19 will negates).
Gorkhan, focusing on the belgoi before him, lashes out with his blade.
Blood splashes across the chamber walls as Gorkhan dispatches the belgoi in front of him.
Stunned by the mental blast, Raun crouches motionless as lightning plays around the belgoi matriarch, who seems relatively unfazed by Grit's spell.
With a swift mental attack, Nnn'tkklik'l is able to draw the levitating female into the collective. But she quickly reasserts her mental defenses, easily brushing off his attempts to drain her life force.
Counter-attacking, she looses another psychic howl of energy, catching Grit, Gorkhan and the already stunned Raun in the area of effect. Gorkhan manages to withstand the mental assault, but Grit is stunned, dropping his sword and shield as Raun is driven to the ground once again.
"Kill the others," one of the belgoi screeches to Grit's tigone, as it and its brother charge forward to claw at Gorkhan and Raun. Gorkhan fends off the attack but Raun shudders as the belgoi's talons draw blood and life force from the wound.
Unable to ignore the belgoi's commands, Grit's tigone lunges around the corner, snapping at Daina, who manages to side-step the attack while continuing the chant of her summoning spell.
and
Raun rages, trapped inside her own head as her body refuses to obey her.
Gorkhan begins his attack on his new opponent, hoping to dispatch it swiftly, knowing the effect of their claws. His blade flicks out and cuts deep.
"Lasau soti!" A rift opens up and from it erupts a blue and white tagster. It flanks with Gorkhan, coming out and trying to drag down it's foe into the dirt.
Daina calmly steps back from the tigone, then throws a small web up into the air. "Svorcra!" It vanishes, then appears in larger scale behind the battlefield, catching the other two belgoi in its sticky fibers.
The kreen will attempt to drain life from the matriarch, feeding it to Daina. (DC 19 will halves, 15hp, matriarch save at -2)
The kreen will attempt to drain life from the matriarch, feeding it to Daina. (DC 19 will halves, 15hp, matriarch save at -2)
Daina calmly steps back from the tigone, then throws a small web up into the air. "Svorcra!" It vanishes, then appears in larger scale behind the battlefield, catching the other two belgoi in its sticky fibers.
The kreen will attempt to drain life from the matriarch, feeding it to Daina. (DC 19 will halves, 15hp, matriarch save at -2)
Gorkhan and the summoned tagster dispatch the northern belgoi in a spray of blood as the the chamber erupts in arcane webbing.
The webs catch Raun and the land-bound belgoi to the south, but the levitating matriarch avoids the sticky strands.
Shrugging off Nnn'tkklik'l's attempt to drain her life force, the matriarch launches a mental counter-attack, lashing Nnn'tkklik'l's naturally fragile ego in an attempt to destroy the thri-kreen's sense of self.
Nnn'tkklik'l is able to divert the worst of the damage, but his resolve cracks - another attack would be overwhelming.
The webbed belgoi launches a similar assault on the summoned tagster, which falls unconscious from the attack.
Unable to resist the mental compulsion, Grit's tigone continues its attack on Daina, who falls unconscious from the combined damage of the tigone's teeth and claws and the frostbite spell Grit cast on the beast earlier.
Grit and Raun remain stunned.
The kreen will attempt to drain life from the matriarch, feeding it to Daina. (DC 19 will halves, 15hp, matriarch save at -2)
Heh... fair enough :) I figured it was worth asking in case this was the case.
Gorkhan speeds along the edge of the webbing, keeping it as a screen between him and the floating belgoi. He squeezes himself around the stunned giant and rolls past the entangled belgoi before spinning and slashing his sword at him.
Deftly avoiding the summoned webbing, Gorkhan darts around the chamber to strike at the ensnared belgoi. His blade slides deep into the chest of the creature, whose eyes dim as it falls slack against the webs.
Poised to strike again, Grit's tigone comes to its senses as the belgoi dies. Whining, it nudges Daina's unconscious form and looks plaintively at Nnn'tkklik'l, who is locked in mental combat with the belgoi matriarch.
The mindbender's will is strong, but it isn't enough. Like a pack of zhackals, the thri-kreen's psyche tears at the belgoi, draining the last of her life force and using it to heal some of Daina's wounds. With a psychic howl of pain and rage, the belgoi's mental awareness flickers and dies. Her body falls like a rock into the web below.
Daina wakes with a gasp, looking at the tigone for a moment in fear before she sees the fighting is over. She gives a weak smile and pats him on the head. "Shh, I know it wasn't your fault." Daina turns to look at the chaotic battlefield, then dismisses the web.
Shaking away the dazed condition he goes to his Diana to see how baldy she is hurt. Here, let me help you. he says almost tenderly as he calls upon his command of nature to close some of her wounds.
And I can try to repair the damage to N'nn or Raun, but not both. Tell me friends, who needs this help the most?
Raun tears herself free from the spiderwebs and having been once again bested by the psionic creatures, proceeds to mutilate the bodies to exercise her frustration. The process is much more efficient this time as she uses her hammer.