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Dale stands in awe as the door finally crashes down and that thing he saw finally comes fully into view "They called the creature a xacarba... a powerful fiend from the deepest darkest depths of the Abyss, that reveled in corrupting and destroying all it came across! If the cyclopses couldn't fight this then we sure can't, GET THOSE DISCS!"
Just then he starts to hear a little grippli speaking words of magic, Dale looks up to see what exactly, but with all the commotion he misses some key phrases.
Dale does some quick calculations in his head... 3 tails vs 6 of us, 5 without Tad. "Get in there at the discs! Hopefully the tails can only hold three of us!" Dale cautiously starts to make he way underneath the creatures towards the discs.
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Monty yelps as he snatched up into the air. The tail wraps around him, and he feels his ribs creak. His voice lets out a primal scream of pain... or should have, but the air is crushed out of him. Suddenly, a flow of magic slides over him from the flail that is crushed against him. Suddenly, a soft boom of magic pushes the wrapping coils away from him... just a fraction of an inch, not much at all really, but more than enough for the monkey monk to seize his opportunity!
Gripping the coils he launches himself out of the coils, landing on the back of the snake for a brief moment. His eyes widen as he realizes where he is and he starts pelting down the back of the creature trying to exit as quickly as possible!
THANK YOU MR. FLAIL YOU ARE MY NEW BEST FRIEND AND I WILL FIGURE OUT HOW TO THANK YOU LATER!
Hoping off the creature he continues moving as quickly as possible over to the disks.
BAD DAY BAD DAY BAD DAY!
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As the door breaks down and Faliana is almost overloaded with sensory information, such as the sudden light, the palpable fear, the sudden warming of the pendant. Unable to process the fear and not able to do a thing about the light, Faliana takes a second to focus on the one thing she can handle, the pendant. Taking a few seconds to stop and focus on the object she loses track of the fight going on around her...
Until Fritannia, deciding she's not dying a second time and especially not to an actual snake, starts to make a ruckus. Fali, what in the seven levels of hells' names are you doing! We can't just stand here!
After a second the spirit takes control of the body, scoffing slightly. "Fine if you're not going to do anything, I will!" The woman looks over the snake in front of her. ...Oh heavens above and hells below that thing is massive! What the hell are we going to do against something that big! But states in a voice of pure assurance, "Eh, I've seen bigger."
Taking the long spear in both hands like a quarter staff, Fritannia moves under the giant beast, trying to bat away some of the tails that come after her.
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With a tremendous effort (and perhaps a little help), Monty is able to slip free from the xacarba's grip, leaping away and sliding down one of the coils to the ground. A second tail swings around, trying to snatch him up again, nearly knocking him over , but unable to gain a hold on. It flails at him again, as he darts underneath it and through the door, and once again, his attempts to emulate the serpent style prove ineffective, as it smashes him against the door on the way through. But it fails to get a grip on the quickly moving vanaran, and he manages to get out of range before it can try again!
Another tail snakes through the doorway, attempting to pluck Brady back from the discs, but the half orc dives to the side, just as it smashing down where he was only moments before. Though the floor remains surprisingly undamaged from the impact. He is able to reach the corner, and can see both discs up close now. One of them flickers faintly, but it is barely noticeable beneath the sun-like glow from the other. He quickly picks up the fainter one, and it proves to be just as heavy as all the others... but the second disc will not budge! It is almost like it were part of the floor itself!
The third tail tries to wrap itself around Dale, but the alchemist manages to quickly get out of the way, darting forward beneath the thrashing coils! Another tail sweeps in as he does, almost taking his feet out from under him ! It quickly starts trying to coil around him, but he is able to roll to the side and get back to his feet before it does!
Faliana tries to emulate Brady's defensive approach, keeping her spear held high more as bait then any sort of actual defensive technique. It proves surprisingly effective, and the lashing tails miss her entirely, as they instead grab ineffectually at the haft of the weapon.
- Round 2 -----------
Tad, Dru, Monty (-23), Brady <----- We are here
xacarba
Dale (-10), Faliana
Group Buffs: Bull's Strength (+4 str)
Tad and Dru to go!
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"Yes, I think we do need help! One of these is too heavy to pick up. I haven't figured it out yet." Brady calls to Dru, about to ask her to come help, but another thought occurs.
"You know what... put that other disk in place! The Moon one; there's no question that this heavy one in here is sun, so Moon is good to go! Be careful; it's heavy too!"
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As Tad finally realizes he was under the xacarba's evil influence, he quickly prepares a heal spell, in case Dru needs it!
Which proves to to be far quicker then he would have liked. At Brady's urging, Drusilla starts to back away. Realizing she has little chance of doing damage through the creature's thick hide, she starts to move towards the unplaced disc on the floor, intent on placing it in the panel. But Brady's words were available for everyone to hear... including the xacarba! Suddenly one of the fiendish snake's tails darts over, smashing into Drusilla before she gets more then five feet. So quickly, she barely has time to give a yell of surprise. The coils wrap around her, and haul her back towards the main body, squeezing tighter and tighter, slowly crushing the life out of her! You definitely hear ribs cracking!
The xacarba's other two tails work on plucking out the two annoying mortals trying to dodge beneath it. One tries to wrap itself around Faliana, while the other tries to pick off Dale... but they are both able to dodge out of the way unharmed!
The xacarba manages to lock its fangs onto the Monolith's iron helm, crushing it like it were made of tin, but the golem's grip does not loosen!
- Round 2 -----------
Dale (-10), Faliana <----- We are here
- Round 3 -----------
Tad, Dru (-17), Monty (-23), Brady
xacarba
Group Buffs: Bull's Strength (+4 str)
Party is up!
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I DON'T THINK IT'S BIG ENOUGH! AND IT SEEMS KINDA BUSY!
Monty reaches down and tries to pick up the other disk that Brady hasn't gotten yet. Assuming that it moves, he picks it up with a grunt and starts moving as fast as he dares to get the disk to it's proper spot, dodging ducking and weaving as best he can.
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Fritania, snorting over the fact that she wasn't able to do athing before the men get there, turns around. Still using her spear to try distract or deflect the tails, she tries to move closer to the far side of the room.
"Geez if ya didn't need any help ya could have warned me! Risking my neck when I didn't have ta!"
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Tad tries desperately to keep Drusilla alive, the role of bodyguard and charge suddenly reversed! He has a hard time making contact with the woman as the fiend slowly crushes the life from her , only managing to touch long enough for the briefest of heals! It is enough to keep her conscious however, but barely, as Dru's world starts to go dark.
Brady starts back with the flickering disc, and Monty tries to pick up the second and follow. Surprisingly, he is able to, even though Brady could not. Though still heavy, it does not appear to be part of the floor anymore, and with a heave, he is able to lift in with one hand, the other still holding the flail, and start after Brady.
The xacarba starts to focus on the both of them now, its dark soulless eyes straining to see where they are as they finally come back into view. Monty barely manages to knock one of the tails aside with an awkward backhand swing of the flail, almost losing his grip on it in the process. Dale quickly uses his spoon, to heal some of the vanaran's wounds as he does, the gargantuan fiend over head threatening to crush them both!
Brady is not so fortunate, as the same tail that Monty just deflected, whips around again, and strikes him hard across the ribcage as he rounds the doorway, knocking the breath out of his lungs . A second tail quickly follows the first, and he only barely avoids it as it slams into the ground and starts trying to wrap him up. With a desperate effort, he rolls out of them at the last moment, not entirely sure how he is managing to avoid getting grabbed! He knows he's not that skilled, something else is at play, and he's thankful for it!
As Monty comes back into view, his eyes meet with Faliana's in a brief, wordless exchange, before she suddenly gives a startled yelp, and is plucked unceremoniously off of the ground and pulled away! Her spear goes rattling across the stone floor, and the yelp shifts to a cry of pain, as she finds herself dangling off of the ground, wrapped up in its coils as they start to squeeze!
You can sense the xacarba doubling its efforts to escape the Monolith's grip, and hear a painful metallic sound, as the golems right leg collapses beneath the fiendish serpent's assault, the entire joint destroyed. The metal titan collapses to one knee, but still manages to maintain its hold on the xacarba.
- Round 3 -----------
Dale (-10), Faliana (-18, grappled) <----- We are here
- Round 4 -----------
Tad, Dru (-31, grappled, disabled), Monty (-15), Brady (-9)
xacarba
Group Buffs: Bull's Strength (+4 str)
Party is up!
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Tad grasps his holy symbol and points at Dru, using his last emergency plea to the Lady of Light, asking her to help Dru get free before she dies.
I believe Tad has the ability to still do his normal action. He moves forward (gulp!) and channels energy to try to help all his friends. Excluding the demon thing with selective channel, not excluding the monolith.
As Tad calls on the Dawnflower, to help Dru escape the fiend's clutches... he once more feels the magic of his spell getting pulled away from him! Again, the xacarba appears hijack the magical energies, and redirects them... at itself!
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Again, the golems grip starts to loosen, as the xacarba thrashes and pulls, trying to take advantage of the moment to break free. But, like the previous attempt, the Monolith maintains its hold, though not much is left of the left side of its torso after thwarting the effort.
His spell gone, Tad then steps bravely forward hoping to help all of his friends! The last unoccupied tail whips out as he does so, the heavy scaled appendage smashing across his side, and trying to loop over him, and bind him fast ... but somehow, surprisingly, the little grippli is able to break free at the last moment. With a plea to his goddess, everyone suddenly feels the warm glow of Sarenrae, if only for a moment!
- Round 3 -----------
Dale (-7), Faliana (-15, grappled) <----- We are here
- Round 4 -----------
Tad (-9), Dru (-28, grappled), Monty (-12), Brady (-6)
xacarba
Group Buffs: Bull's Strength (+4 str)
Everyone but Tad to go!
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Monty sees Fali snatched away, and his eyes grow wide for a second as he sees her carried off.
FALI!
He begins to chase after her, then looks at the massive creature, then down to the glowing disk in his hands. He had to save Fali... and he wasn't going to do that with his own fists, no matter how much he wanted to. Clenching his teeth in a canine bearing growl, he moves quickly to the wall, forgoing some of his defensiveness and praying his skill can keep him free... just a little bit further!
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Fritannia gives a grunt of surprise as the tail comes in and swoops her off her feet. She starts a litany of, "No! No! NO! NO!" ... Snake Bad! Snake Bad! SNAKE BAD!
The spirits attmepts to protect her decendant fails as Fali catches sight of Monty. Taking back over, the woman starts to wave him away. "Go! Don't worry abo-" She, however gets cut off as most of the air is squeezed from her body. Giving a grunt, she tries her hardest to get free from the damnable coils around her. "You know giant snake thingy it's rude to cut people off like that!"
As she realizes she's not getting free readily she pulls out a potion, keeping it at the ready.
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Two of the tails are occupied by the task of horrifically crushing his friends, leading Brady to increase his speed at the risk of lowering his defenses. I don't understand how it hasn't wrapped me up yet... but I hope whatever brings that luck is still on my side!
He hustles through the space occupied by the snake-beast, scampering over the mass of its body and sliding across the juncture of three tails as he attempts to get to the other side so that he can be in position to set this stone into place quickly.
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Through her pain, Drusilla manages to get one hand free enough, to reach the potion she received from the Ekujae, back in Nantambu. Even as she desperately brings it to her lips, trying to drink it down in a effort to stay conscious, the xacarba crushes her one final time, and she ceases to struggle. The vial, some of its contents still undrunk, falls to the stone flagstones, shattering into dozens of pieces. With an almost contemptuous flip, the fiend flings her remains after it, and she hits the ground with a thump, unmoving.
Faliana is faring little better on her side, unable to break free despite her desperate struggles.
For the briefest of moments, Monty is torn... try to help Faliana on one side, or stopping the powerful evil from killing everyone on the other. Even now, he can see Dru, her body laying motionless on the floor ahead, ... and Faliana... he can't bear to look her way at all, for fear of what he might see! He comes to a decision, and races under the xacarba, brightly glowing disc in hand, caution thrown to the wind. Slotting the runes quickly, maybe the only real chance to save anyone! Dale races after him, hair poking up over the top of the over-sized mask still wrapped around his head like a topknot, hurrying towards the last disc, still leaning against the wall where you left it.
The xacarba has other plans though, as its free tail sweeps across, trying to snag the vanaran before he can reach the back wall! A second tail, having discarded Drusilla, reaching for Dale!
The first intercepts Monty before he can get there, massive coils slamming into the monk with painful force, then trying to wrap and coil themselves around him! The second slams into Dale so hard, you think you hear bones snap, sending him flying across the room.
You almost lose sight of Monty beneath the bands of scales, even the light from the disc momentarily blocked... when he suddenly slips out the bottom, rolls to his left, and dashes the last few feet to the panel, throwing his back against the wall, just as the fiend's tail sweeps by again, just out of reach! Dale's path is not so graceful, the force of the blow sends him flying... but in the right direction, and he crashes into the far wall below the panel, ending up leaning up against it, just like the disc he ends up beside.
In all of the chaos, Brady finds himself completely forgotten, as all the tails seem preoccupied with Dale and Monty. He reaches the final panel, only slightly short on breath, but without further harm.
The xacarba really starts to struggle now, the two free tails suddenly finding its main quarry just out of reach. One tears at the Monolith with renewed vigor, ripping off metal plates, and crushing armored sections, as it tries to reach the back of the room. The second tail, reaches for the only Pathfinder still in reach, slamming into the little grippli cleric, bravely standing exposed in the middle of the room. Tad has no chance to get out of the way, and it wraps around him before he can do more then send a prayer to the Dawnflower . It takes only a moment for the gargantuan fiend to crush him like a dried flower, and drop him beside Drusilla, neither of them moving.
It throws another loop around Faliana, and starts to crush her just as easily as the others, intent on finishing her off as well. She doesn't even have enough air left in her lungs to scream, as it squeezes one final time! But even as it does so, a faint gold light radiates outwards between the coils engulfing her. She somehow manages to hang on to consciousness, as she pulls in another breath, one leg still kicking weakly, as she dangles in its grasp.
Somewhere, in the back of your head, you're pretty sure you can hear Fritania yelling at you, though for once, you seem unable to process what she's saying.
It takes you a moment to realize that one of the spots and blurry effects bouncing off your vision, has taken on an actual form. You can just make out a large cyclops, both of its giant hands gripped onto the xacarba's coils, pulling. You're not sure, but he looks vaguely familiar to the faint image you saw earlier when the haunt triggered, though this one has only a large gaping wound where his eye should be.
He looks at you with his single sightless eye, then gives up on pulling on the coils, appears to yell something at you, though you hear nothing, then thrusts his hand towards you, palm out, to contact your chest.
Instantly, you feel a rush of air entering your lungs, and a warm glow of healing racing through your body. Your vision starts to clear, including whatever spiritual hallucination you were just seeing.
Of course, that air comes at a price, as the warm glow also appears to have chased away the numbing pain of oblivion that was descending... and now you can once again feel every broken rib, every crushed bone, once more. A process that is still going on. Whatever just happened only a momentary delay!
Around your neck, the golden sun pendant crumbles to dust, only the chain from which it hung still a warm feeling pressing against your neck.
- Round 4 -----------
Dale (-23), Faliana (-17, grappled) <----- We are here
- Round 5 -----------
Tad (-28, dying), Dru (-40, dying), Monty (-20), Brady (-6)
xacarba
Group Buffs: Bull's Strength (+4 str)
Party is up!
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Brady focuses on the disk in his hand, reaching up and carefully placing it into position, the satisfaction of the scrape of stone on stone as it slots in proving to be one of the most delightful sounds he's ever heard. His singular focus finally accomplished, he looks down the wall at Monty and Dale starting to slot theirs into place as well, then turns and really takes in the dismal state of the rest of the room.
Dru! Tad!
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Monty slams the disk home, pushing it in with all his might as he spins around. The massacre occurring before him is just to much to bear as he screams out.
DRU! TAD! FALI!
He quickly begins reaching for his own potion,his toes gripping the stones tight as he prepares to make a desperate dash for his friends!
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Dale weakly leans up against the wall and grabs on to a disc for the first time, dropping his wooden spoon at his feet. Ugh this is heavy and I don't feel very well...
He looks back over his shoulder for a second and sees a trio of bodies strewn about the snake demon. He looks over the other shoulder and sees the expectant eyes of Monty and Brady. Dale gives them a resolute nod before hefting up the last disc and sliding it down into place. "I hope this works! We really haven't studied it enough to know exactly how quickly it'll work, or efficiently really. Get your healing potions ready!"
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Faliana, possibly in a state of delirium, stares at an open space and mutters, "You poor thing! Don't worry about me, just take care of your eye first!"
What is apparent is that she is still alive and, barely kicking. Deciding not to risk anythign furhter, the half-elf brings her potion to her lips, pulls the cork and chugs the contents.
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As Dru and Tad lay motionless and possibly dead on the floor, Faliana barely clings to consciousness, as she desperately reaches for the healing potion at her belt, while at the back of the room, Dale, Monty, and Brady attempt to place the warding discs!
Brady gets his in place first, his height making it relatively easy, if a stretch. The gently flickering disc clicks into place in the fourth panel. Monty follows suit, though his arms do not reach quite as high, and he has to jump a bit to get the brightly glowing disc into place on the third panel.
At which point, it comes down to Dale. Unfortunately, the alchemist is not used to the kinds of punishment he has endured, nor as strong as the others. He not so much lifts, as slides, the last disc up the wall, using both hands to push it along. As he rises to his feet with the disc, he seems to be having trouble standing, and its quite possible his leg is broken! Still, he gets it raised over head, teeth gritted from the pain raising his arms over his head seems to be causing, and with a last final cry, pushes the moon disc into its slot!
All four panels suddenly shift, each of them fusing into each other, forming a single panel across the back of the room. At the same time, a magical wave of energy seems to blast outwards, washing across the room towards where the Azlanti Monolith and the xacarba are locked in their struggle. Although it seems to have force behind it, it doesn't appear to effect the Pathfinders, beyond that of a strong breeze.
Its effect on the fiend though, are quite different. The xacarba's entire body seems to convulse, and all its coils suddenly collapse to the floor with a thunderous sound, Faliana along with them as she is buried beneath its bulk. The Monolith seems unaffected, as it continues to haul the giant serpent through the doorway.
Whatever the effect was, it lasts only a moment, as the xacarba quickly recovers, all its length coming back to life and furious motion all at once, all its attention now focused on fighting against the golem. But the damage is done, as its massive bulk is at once pulled by the golem, and pushed by some other magical force, thrashing and writhing, back into its erstwhile prison.
Faliana is dragged along with it for the first five feet or so, before she weakly manages to break free, just before the doorway getting pulled through the doorway as well.
And a good thing to, as that very doorway immediately starts repairing itself! Your last vision of either the Azlanti Monolith or the xacarba are of the two of them locked in their struggle, before the massive metal doors rise back into place, and re-seat themselves in a stone frame that, even as you watch, also starts repairing the damage done to it. In fact, the walls throughout the entire room seem to be repairing themselves. Cracks and fissures that have developed over the tens of thousands of years since the place was abandoned, as well as newer damage from the golem and xacarba, slowly start to seal and fix themselves.
Tad (-29, dying), Dru (-41, dying), Monty (-20), Brady (-6), Dale (-23), Faliana (-14)
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Monty sprints forward, moving as fast as his monkey feet will carry him before sliding to a stop next to Falinia, kneeling down next to her and looking over her, pulling his cure light potion out and holding it to her lips.
Fali! Oh gods above and below Fali are you okay?! When that thing snatched you I thought... oh gods I thought... Damn it Fali I'm suppose to be the one who gets knocked about and nearly dies all the time!
His eyes are wet with restraint, and he seems hesitant to touch Fali, less he aggravate some unseen injuries, but he can't help but put his hand on her shoulder. Internally, his mind is screaming in frustration and confusion... but all that really matters is that he can see she's still breathing, he can see her open eyes and that she is still with them.
You scared me near to death! You should be more careful!
The weak smile on his face makes it very obvious that he is well aware of the irony of him chastising her for being reckless.
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Dale watches and smiles as the serpent is dragged back inside the prison by the Golem's hand "Well now, good thing none of us were in there!" He stoops over painfully to grab up his wooden spoon as quickly as he can.
"Quickly now, we don't want any casualties!" He makes his way to the sides of Tad and Dru, giving whoever looks the worst off the tap from the well used wand first, then follows it up on the next person.
"MMM SOUP!" Giggle!
"MMM SOUP!" Giggle!
"MMM SOUP!" Giggle!
"MMM SOUP!" Giggle!
After the initial round of healing occurs, Dale starts checking over the wounded for anything serious like poisons or broken limbs or bones. "Woah now, easy Tad, easy Dru. Let me take a look to be sure you aren't missing anything you may need for the trip home!" He starts poking and prodding their anatomies to check things out.
Dru would look by far, the worse of the two.
And everyone is beaten, battered, bruised, and other violent b-words... but all alive, and likely to live to see more days after this one!
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Dru seems delirious, in the throes of a painful agony, calling her mother...
Mama, life had just begun ...But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama..Ooooo
She Withers in pain
Didn't mean to make you cry ...If I'm not back again this time tomorrow ...Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
She gasps, searching for air in her crushed lungs
Too late, my time has come.. Sends shivers down my spine ..Body's aching all the time
Suddenly, she seems more concious of her surroundings, and grabs Dale as he come closer to heal her
Goodbye everybody - I've got to go ...Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth ..Mama, ooooo
Another scream of pain, then a whisper
anyway the wind blows
Crying, she implores Pharasma
I don't want to die ..I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all