Ugh, probably not worth searching, however...
Zelkin goes through the room in case something important is present. When finished he continues to the door south of his present location. After he completes the same in that next room (assuming its a room), he will then do the same to the hallway to the south.
It's hard to hear anything over the ruckus. It sounds like their's machinery in this room too, but impossible to identify through the door.
He opens the door to see a weathered metal work table, a rickety steel-framed bed, and several bookshelves along the walls seem almost out of place amid the strange alchemical and mechanical apparatuses that fill this room, their pipes and tubes covering the walls and hanging from the ceiling.
Ready for you is a strange creature, blue-skinned, a six-armed giant lurches to life, its armor and twin swords glittering with jewels. It was ready for you!
A Calikang! These rare creatures are incredible fighters with some magic capabilities. They can use all of their arms in perfect harmony, making them very dangerous. +1 per 5 over DC.
"You've met your match now intruders!"
He has cover due to the mess of equipment here. Everyone NOT in melee has cover to and from.
Round 1:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Go
Zelkin: Go
Sven: Go
Baddie: TBD
Zelkin grunts and moves into the room to confront this thing!
for
Zelkin's attack clangs harmlessly of the creatures armor, "You've come to your doom."
Round 1:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Go
Zelkin: Miss
Sven: Go
Baddie: TBD
Sven is unable to recognize the creature. Having cover he decides to just commands Whitestripe to attack.
Attack !
At his master's order, Whitestripe moves and bites the creature.
Whitestripe gets through the things defenses. He grunts in pain, but already his wounds seem to be closing...
Round 1:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Go
Zelkin: Miss
Sven: ATK
Baddie: TBD
Baddie: 24
Aiuda sighs and mutters, "Calikangs. More coordinated with all those arms than you'd expect, good at fighting and magic. Let's kill it quick."
She fires her bow through the door at the creature.
No DR, Immune to electricity (and resistant to all magic in general.)
Aiuda's arrows can't connect. A few hit the target, but the hide and armor combination makes for a powerful defense. The creature laughs. Whitestripe's bite looks like naught more than a scratch.
Round 1:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Miss
Zelkin: Miss
Sven: ATK
Baddie: TBD
Baddie: 24
"I hope your spells are strong, Bill. Don't bother with lightning against this thing."
Bill hastens the party, Aiuda's warning taking a higher pitch as her voice speeds from the spell. The spell comes in the nick of time as the creature's arms starting swinging hammers and ...lab equipment.
Versus Zelkin:
MISS
MISS
The warrior tries to dodge and parry, but the onslaught is too overwhelming and the hammer crunches bone more than once. He also sticks the syringe into Zelkin, injecting something horrible. FORT Save DC 20.
Versus Whitestripe:
MISS
MISS
MISS
THREAT
MISS
MISS
The tiger continues to be literally untouchable, almost. A half dozen swings, each strong enough to fell a horse and swift enough to catch a falcon, strike nothing more than empty space. The creature's eyes grow wide with disbelief, but finally one hit nails the tiger.
Round 2:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Go
Zelkin: Go
Sven: Go
Baddie: TBD
Baddie: 24
Aiuda winces. They hit stronger than I remembered. She raises her bow and tries to lay down some cover fire for the boys up front.
Zelkin fears the worst as the needle plunges into him! Despite that, he attacks again, activating his judgment of protection!
for
for
for
for
Zekin feels something cold and thick injected into him. For the moment he doesn't feel anything... For the moment.
Aiuda manages to make a trio of hits. The creature's body is repairing itself, but not as fast as the wounds accrue. Zelkin, however, can't find an opening to hit...
Round 2:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: ATK
Zelkin: ATK
Sven: Go
Baddie: TBD
Baddie: 71
Bill seeks cover from the lightning-charged calikangs as Aiuda informs him of their abilities. "Best of luck to you!" he cheers from the back ranks.
Whitestripe continues to bite and claw the strange creature.
Sven casts Hunter's blessing on all his comrades and friends.
May our community be best in contructed lands and against monstrous humanoid.
Despite the savage attacks from the tiger, only a single claw swipe draws any blood. The creature barely pays heed to the normally deadly feline. Meanwhile, Sven tries to help the party out, spreading a magical boon for the combat.
The creature's wounds heal with shocking alacrity. It opts for a different approach this time. It spreads its arms and gives forth a massive war cry that and lightning erupts from his fingers. The bolt cracks at Aiuda, spreading to everyone else:
Ref DC 20 for Aiuda, DC 18 for everyone else.
Round 3:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Go
Zelkin: Go
Sven: Go
Baddie: TBD
Baddie: 91
Hasted, Whitestripe continues to bite and claw the creature despite its tough skin but now guided by Erastil.
Sven dodges a part of the lighting.
This time, guided by Erastil, Sven decides to enter the fray and begins to shoot at the creature, asking for the strength of the Bull and the Dexterity of the Tiger.
The tiger redoubles and finds an opening in the monster's defenses. Tooth and claw tear flesh from bone. The damage is devastating.
But the creature doesn't go down!
Round 3:
Bill: Go
Aiuda: Go
Zelkin: Go
Sven: ATK
Baddie: TBD
Baddie: 196
Zelkin manages to evade some of the electric damage! He then tries to aid himself in taking this creature down!
for
for
for
for
for
Sven opens up with Zelkin adding cuts to the arrow array. With a grunt and curse, the beast topples, crashing to the floor!
Out of combat.
The creature's hammers are clearly magical, but nothing as potent as your own gear. The only thing of interest that jumps out at you is the desk.
It's mostly correspondence uncashed payment slips to the banks owned by Minister Sultur, and hundreds of luckies stamped with consecutive serial numbers. Sultur's seal appears on many of these documents...
Zelkin, beat up from combat once more, looks to heal up before something else happens while others examine the papers.
That will have to do.
Sven uses his wand to heal himself and Zelkin
Bill avoids a majority of the lightning blast, but his robes are singed once more. "Damn creatures not respecting my arcane authority..." he complains as he cleans himself up with Prestidigitation while Sven and Zelkin decimate the calikangs.
The arcane master looks over the desk and quickly adds the relevant books and receipts to his pack. "Perhaps these will be useful." he concludes.
"Lead the way, Zelkin. I think we are done here." Bill remarks.
Is these real or fake ? Sven asks to Bill
Zelkin nods his approval and leads the party to the hallway outside. Might as well go down here. Pelkin will take a good look around before proceeding.
It's hard to see in the room. It's obviously the source of all the noise. The air itself is thick with fumes. Zelkin suppresses a cough just being where he is.
Enormous furnaces line both walls of this elongated room. Grimy smoke leaks from the edges of the smokestacks connecting the furnaces to holes in the ceiling. Complex machinery links the separate furnaces and their boilers, and metal gears crank slowly among the various devices. A large pile of coal fills the southwesten corner of the room .
Zelkin can just make out the forms of gnolls within. They seem to be immune to the fumes. Deeper in the room there's another figure, but the fumes block any kind of identification.
Zelkin turns to his comrades to see if they wish to continue on here or go elsewhere. If we wish to take them now, does anyone have a way to combat the fumes?
"I can grant one of you a bubble of air to protect you, but I would need to travel back to Alkenstar to find something appropriate to deal with these fumes." remarks the wizard.
"Or..." Bill says as he glances at the coal, furnaces and boilers.
The fumes give concealment at range, but you're more worried about them choking you. It looks like the room was made for the ravages of the forge, nothing looks fragile or explosive.
So then heroes, what do you do?
Is there any passage to go around the fumes ?
Asks Sven.
I've highlighted the other option. It involves using the conveyor belt in the eastern area. No guarantees, but it's the only other option to exploration.
With this "air bubble", would I still be able to fight in melee? If so, perhaps I could take point while the other support from range. Otherwise, we can explore other areas first.
"You would. I believe unless there is an acidic component to the gas that will affect your skin. Either way, time to commit." he says as a bubble pops up around Zelkin's face.
"COME AND GET SOME, GNOLLS!" he bellows from the doorway as he bestows the group with his last Haste for the day.
Zelkin can only smile as the decision is made. No time like the present!
So is Zelkin heading forward alone? Initial tests show that the bubble does protect him.
Have you other bubble available Bill ?
Asks Sven
Aiuda puts her bow away as Zelkin heals her with her wand. She notices the air bubble that Bill is preparing and pulls out a small necklace from beneath her clothes. "I already have this ward against poisonous air. I can follow Zelkin to scout ahead and if needed I can pass it on to someone else and stay back."
Aiuda stalks forward and tries to report back on what she sees.
You stick to the shadows and a see all manner of machinery. The smoke and noise hides your path. You see a total of 3 gnolls toiling away. What really gets your attention though is their overseer. An azer warrior with a wicked bastard sword barks commands at them. The room itself is quite long and goes almost all the way back to the entrance.
Aiuda quickly moves back to the party. "Three gnolls working, lots of machinery. They've got an azer overseer with a nasty looking bastard sword. I think we need to take him out first. I'm going to sneak back up and start firing. Follow if you can, otherwise I might draw them back here."
Aiuda goes back into the room, sticking to the shadows and fog again. Once she is in position, she fires at the leader.
Aiuda slinks back into position, using the fumes as cover. Her necklace keeps the fumes from choking her.
The azer never sees it coming! The arrow lodges into her? him? The resulting cry is enough to alert the gnolls nearby.
Round 1:
Zelkin: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: TBD
Sven: TBD
Aiuda: TBD
Black:
Red:
Blue:
White:
Azer: 15
Zelkin takes advantage of his Haste and moves to the first gnoll and attacks, activating his judgment of protection as he does!
for
for