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42 is still stunned by what ever the crystal has done to him. But he was smart enough to buckle into the Dragonkin's saddle and as such, hasn't been thrown off.
Meanwhile the Dragonkin will fly around Alden (hope fully far enough away to avoid an AoO.) and swing with it's sword.
42 will be daze and confused for another round.
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Bescaylie pounds on the crystal furiously finding that it is actually not difficult to hit the thing, but rather the difficulty is damaging its remarkably hard surface. He two hits leave only slight scratches
Similarly, the crystal isn't any good at dodging, but as with most crystals, it does not burn well at all (though Efrixes' fiery breath is potent enough to leave just a few scorch marks).
Talsune and Exiel strike strong blows against the crystal as well, but as with Bescaylie's attacks, they find that the crystal is rather difficult to damage.
Efrixes notices that crystals were growing rapidly on him where the crystal had savaged him and quickly brushes them off.
But seeing that Efrixes is still close at hand and seeing no reason to change targets, the crystal surges against Efrixes once more.
The crystal tears into Efrixes, leaving him very bloodied, and the mighty dragonkin slips into unconsciousness.
Round 3:
Alden
42
Exiel
???????????????
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Alden is still unable to shake off the effects of the strange vibrations in the air. Efrixes falls, but even unconscious his draconic constitution serves him well - several crystals that had lodged in his body fall off as his body resists whatever it is that they are trying to do to him. But the effort causes him to keep bleeding. Concerned for her companion, Bescaylie drags Efrixes a little further from the combat.
Talsune, Exiel and Nevra continue to hammer away at the crystal, chipping it and wearing it down slowly but steadily. Exiel notices that his bite and horn are completely ineffective, but Nevra more than compensates with a mighty blow with her glaive that leaves a very deep crack running through the entire crystal.
Still animate, however, the creature takes a swipe at Exiel.
But Exiel sees the attack coming and easily steps out of the way.
Round 4:
Alden
42
Exiel
???????????????
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Furious at the wounds sustained by Efrixes, Talsune and Nevra attack the crystal in a frenzy and (finally) shatter it to pieces.
As soon as the crystal is shattered, the strange vibrations incapacitating Alden and 42 subsides, and they are able to move once more. Nevra quickly shoves her wand of CLW into Exiel's hands and gets him to start casting.
It takes most of the charges in the wand, but Efrixes is brought back to consciousness, and then back to full health.
A search of the cavern that the carnivorous crystal came from yields numerous glittering crystals, many of which are worthless, but also a small collection of aquamarines worth a total of 7000gp. Talsune remarks that at least they would pay for a few new wands of CLW. Nevra talks about making a necklace with some of the aquamarines.
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"Phew! That was a deadly creature, to be sure. I am glad to see we are all alive and relatively well. I will work harder to keep you all from being damaged, from now on."
Alden is going to stop riding the dragonkin and get back on Naala, asking all his allies to stay near the ground so he can aid their AC.
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"Hey Alden, what was it you kept saying back in Artrosa when we were stumbling about in there? 'cos I think the same could be said about this place..."
"Here, the insects are giant and trying to eat us, the snakes have legs and breathe lightning AND are trying to eat us, heck even the mineral deposits that should not be moving are moving...oh and trying to eat us."
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The next chamber is large, but nondescript. The roof is relatively low, only about 15ft high, requiring the dragonkin to resort to walking rather than flying, but fortunately there are no signs of enemies in the chamber.
But a few seconds after you enter the chamber, Talsune, Nevra and Efrixes start yelling out and pointing to the ground. You feel the ground beneath you rumble ever so slightly... before a horrendous white beast burst from the ground before you. It is an immense white worm that has a single circular eye in the center of its head. Wisps of icy fog waft up from between its mandibles as it looks hungrily at you.
Init order:
Exiel
Worm
Alden
42
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Seeing the "wisps of icy fog" that "waft up from between its mandibles" Exiel quickly casts resist energy (cold) on himself and yells out "fan out!" whilst gesturing with his arms. Lauriel provides the translation to the draconians.
He flies around to one side of the worm, and Nevra executes a power-attack-vital-strike-flyby-attack.
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Exiel, Lauriel and 42 recognise the creature easily, though more from its popularity in horror stories and cautionary tales than any real personal experience. The creature is a frost worm, perhaps best described as a ravenous blizzard sealed in a tube of frozen flesh.
Nevra's glaive glances off the frost worm's tough, slick hide without penetrating. As Exiel casts his abjuration, the worm looks around at your scattered formation, and quickly works out the best way to catch as many of you as possible.
As if that were not enough, another frost worm bursts up from the ground behind you...though it does not act yet.
Baknarla seems oblivious to the cold, but appears to realise that it fully affects the rest of you. Seeing that you are in a bit of a bind, she places her palms against the ice and concentrates. Moments later, a towering block of ice in the rough shape of a humanoid rises before the newly-arrived frost worm to block its path. Baknarla takes awhile to get back to her feet - it is apparent that what she just did took a great toll on her, and she is not likely to be able to repeat the feat in the imminent future.
Init order:
Exiel
Worm 1
Worm 2
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
Alden
42
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All four take full damage. :-S
Alden spends another use of his Tactician ability, giving all his allies the ability to move around without provoking AOOs, as long as they're adjacent to another ally.
Bescaylie, Efrixes, Alden and Naala all position themselves within melee range of the worm. Bescaylie strikes at the worm, and Efrixes breathes fire on the worm.
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He was able to dodge.
42 sees the other frost worm burrow through the ground behind him, He casts a cloud of stink to enclose the new frost worm.
Before 42 casts the spell, Talsune breaths his breath weapon at the new frost worm, after 42 casts the cloud of stink, he tells Talsune to move north.
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Exiel flies towards the newly-arrived worm.
"Be careful, Alden, you don't look like you'll be able to withstand another of those breath attacks!"
Exiel flies closer and casts glitterdust over the new arrival. He also directs Lauriel to activate the spell tattoo that he had kept on her, hastening everyone except Talsune, Nevra and 42.
Nevra does a fly-by attack on the worm to the south, hoping to take down the worm before it can breathe on Alden and Naala.
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Despite taking the full force of the first frost worm's breath weapon, Alden, Naala, Efrixes and Bescaylie stick around to fight! Efrixes fails to drive her lance through the creature's hide, but Efrixes' breath proves devastating.
Talsune fares better at evading the frosty breath and responds with a breath weapon of his own whilst 42 conjures a cloud of noxious vapors around the worm.
The worm shakes off the vapors and dodges much of the acid.
Exiel tries to blind the other worm.
It is just barely able to shake off Exiel's spell, but it is enough. Nevra drives her lance into the creatures' side, but that does stop the worm from seeing the opportunity - it shuffles back and catches ALL of you in a torrential blast of frost and ice!
Baknarla and her ice elemental are completely unfazed by the cold. Enhanced by Exiel's spell, they attack the wounded worm in front of them.
Baknarla and especially her ice elemental attack the worm, savagely beating it. Jets of intensely cold air shoot form beneath the puncture wounds and cracked icy flesh of the worm. You are reminded of one of the 'special attacks' that 42 said such creatures have...
Init order:
Exiel
Worm 1
Worm 2
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
--------------------------------------------------
Alden
42
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Alden, Naala and Bescaylie all move out of the blast for the most part, but Efrixes takes the full brunt. Naala is looking extremely hurt, with ice crystals covering all of her fur and her eyes partially glazing over, but she stays conscious through sheer force of Will, thanks to her master being near.
Seeing his companion's peril, Alden shouts "Someone heal Naala quickly!" He will continue to try to help his allies not get hit by the stupid worm, though.
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Exie evades most of the blast and his resistance takes care of the rest. Nevra is not so lucky and takes the full force of the blast.
"Alden, those things blow up when killed! You and Naala need to get away from that thing now!" Exiel yells out as he tries again to blind the worm, and then flies in to provide a distraction.
Nevra does another swooping flyby-attack, this time on the other worm.
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42 casts Dragons Breath and fires a line of fire through the middle of the cloud of stink, aiming at were he last saw the frost worn.
The Dragonkin flies through the air to a new location.
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Alden and Naala move back away from the creatures at full Naala-speed, able to move 100 feet away very quickly. They move back to where Alden hopes it out of range, then Alden yells "Thank you, Exiel... we are in dire need of healing, when you can get away from that thing!"
Bescaylie lances again
And Efrixes swings his glaive
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Alden and Naala retreat upon Exiel's recommendation, but Efrixes and Bescaylie choose to fight on, having not understood the warnings of 42 and Exiel. They drive their weapons deep into the frozen flesh of the wounded frost worm, causing it to rear back and give out a high-pitched screech. Its body convulses and begins to bloat, as if a tremendous pressure was building up within its body. Seconds later, it explodes in an enormous burst of intense cold and frozen chunks of worm-meat. Alden rounds the corner just as the blast catches up with him, just in time to avoid several sharp shards of frozen-worm-carapace that would have cut him and Naala to ribbons.
Efrixes and Bescaylie are not so lucky. In fact, neither is anyone else still in the chamber.
Init order:
Exiel
Worm 1
Worm 2
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
Alden
-------------------------------------------------- BOOOOOOM
42
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Nevra is knocked unconscious by the blast, and very nearly killed outright... Lauriel also sustains significant damage from the shrapnel, but is at least still conscious. Exiel asks Lauriel to tell Barknarla to keep the other worm busy with her ice elemental, then has her return to her tattoo form before she is hurt any further.
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Surprised by the sudden backlash of their attack, Efrixes and Bescaylie are overwhelmed by the worm's explosion. Both fall to the ground, unconscious. Efrixes' head has a regrettably large chunk of ice wedged deep through his skull. Though further away, Talsune and 42 are also overcome... and to your horror, neither appears to be breathing.
Init order:
--------------------------------------------------
Exiel
Worm 1
Worm 2
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
Alden
42
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As 42 falls to the floor, the rune on his body that he had copied from Thrune flares brightly. It does not bring him back to consciousness, but it is enough to keep him from an early meeting with Pharasma...
Exiel sees the rune and realises the significance of its glow. He quickly flies to 42 and casts a minor healing spell, stopping the bleeding, but it will take a bit more to get 42 back on his feet.
The remaining frost worm is also wounded by the explosion of its mate, but its immense constitution allows it to shrug off the stinking cloud once more. Bursting forth from the cloud, it sees Exiel and goes for a bite.
Fortune currently favours the group. The worm misses Exiel more from luck than Exiel's defensive spells.
Bescaylie's bleeding stops, but Nevra's severe wounds continue to stain the ice red.
Baknarla sends her ice elemental to fight the worm whilst she goes to perform first aid on Nevra.
The ice elemental nearly trips over Exiel and misses.
But Baknarla is at least able to stop Nevra's bleeding.
Init order:
Exiel
Worm 1
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Alden
42
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Alden sees that 42 is at least alive, and sighs with relief. However, he and Naala are in such dire straights that they will surely die without some healing. Knowing he's no use to his friends dead, he stays where he is, hoping for 42 to get to him quickly, so that he can at least be handed Alden's wand of cure light wounds.
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Exiel leaves himself exposed to the worm for a split second to attempt to revive 42.
The worm tries to bite Exiel, but gets distracted by its own reflection in the ice.
42 gasps and shudders as he regains consciousness from Exiel forcefully pumping him with necromantic energy. He finds his actions jerky and uncoordinated as his body is moved more by Exiel's necromancy than his own strength. For a rare moment, 42 wonders if this is what it feels like to be undead... and for a moment Exiel fears that he might have animated 42 as an undead by mistake...
Nonetheless, 42 picks himself up from the ground and starts heading towards Alden.
The worm doesn't mind. Exiel is still there to be eaten.
The worm is very distracted by its own reflection...
With great effort, Baknarla starts dragging Nevra towards the mouth of the tunnel where 42 is retreating to. Her ice elemental continues to try to hammer the frost worm into submission.
After a whole lot of aimless swinging around, the ice elemental finally manages to deliver a punch to the worm's side. The worm feels the punch, but only ever so slightly.
Init order:
Exiel
42
Worm 1
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
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Alden
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The worm chitters angrily as Exiel drains its strength.
Alden continues to wait out the battle while Baknarla and 42 pull Nevra and Bescaylie to safety.
The worm seeks revenge on Exiel.
It comes close to hitting, but misses because of the foul necromancy that Exiel used to steal its strength.
The ice elemental pummels the worm.
The ice elemental hits with both fists, with the second one hitting the worm's head with a loud crack.
Init order:
Exiel
42
Worm 1
Baknarla + greater ice elemental
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Alden
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The party retreats as the frost worm and ice elemental slug it out.
The party hides around the corner of the passageway as the two monsters in the cavern battle it out. It does not take long before a rush of intensely cold air rushes into the tunnel, signalling the demise of the second frost worm. Less than a minute later, the ice elemental withdraws back into the ice and disappears. All is now silent.
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Glad the the immediate threat is over, Exiel focuses on using what meagre healing he is able to provide to revive the survivors of the battle.
He then calls out Lauriel to act as translator.
"We've lost Efrixes and Talsune... the rest of us are badly hurt, and we are low on healing. Those things... were far tougher than we'd imagined. Even if we spend a day resting, I am not enough of a healer to patch us all up. And if I recall correctly, we are on a bit of a schedule, notwithstanding that we are currently taking a short-cut."
He sighs with a hint of exasperation.
"I'm open to suggestions. Baknarla, is it safe to rest here?"