Zack releases another volley of arrows into the water.
Zachary's first pair of arrows pierce the elemental and the water loses all cohesion, splashing back down into the pool below. His next shot misses but his third again sticks into the water beast.
Jennix dances forward but slips on the wet rock in the process of stabbing at the elemental; it takes a swing at him!
The elemental hurts itself in the process, thanks to Terflynn's hex, but it angrily pummels Jennix and Miso despite this setback.
"Oof!" Jennix grunts as he is hit. Why in the Nine Hells did I get this close....?
Jennix keeps attacking the elemental, but has little luck. He then vanishes!
Jennix barely scrapes the elemental but then decides now is a good time to disappear.
Terflynn curses the future of the elemental, bringing bad luck upon it.
Zack sends more shafts into the wall of water.
Zachary's arrows once again prove effective in taking down the next elemental!
The elf situates himself and dusts off his shozoku before approaching the water's edge. "Well gentlemen, I won't have any trouble crossing here, but I can't very well carry you all. How do you plan to reach the other side?" He inquires, surveying them for hints of ideas.
Miso considers the water a moment. Not every answer is difficult; some are simple. I can leap to the other side, as the grasshopper crosses a field of grain.
Inside the room beyond the drawbridge, the walls are carved with more obscenities: bas-reliefs of half-human, half-beast creatures copulating with and feasting on each other, creating an endless panorama of lust and gluttony.
To the south, a repulsive pile of waste and rot fills this chamber, home to a large number of ugly fungi.
Directly ahead (to the east) a storeroom contains enough dried food (mostly badly cured meat of dubious origin and dried fungi) to feed 50 creatures for 10 days as well as mundane materials such as backpacks, fishing nets, picks, poles, spades, 12 flasks of oil, 100 feet of silk rope, and a small crate holding 5 flasks of alchemist’s fire. Hidden behind a loose stone at the back of the room are a potion of invisibility, a fan feather token, and 97 gp.
To the north, a revolting statue of a repulsive, strangely goblinoid creature dominates this chamber. The statue stands on a bed of nails and has four demonic heads—one smiling, one angry, one eating, and one screaming. The statue is obscenely pregnant, with multiple teats sagging over her swollen belly, and is shown giving birth to monstrous creatures, some humanoid with demonic goblinoid features, others wormlike with human faces.
the humanoids as ja noi oni.
A pile of offerings is heaped on the floor in front of the statue, including the mummified arm and head of an aranea, numerous dead giant spiders, a brooch of shielding (that can only absorb 13 more points of damage before melting), a scroll of spike growth, a set of masterwork artisan’s tools (Craft [armor]), a pair of good locks with keys, a gold-plated merchant’s scale worth 100 gp, 11 obsidians worth 10 gp each, 91 gp, and 203 sp.
A set of stairs along the east wall lead up.
"This appears to be a depiction of a 'ja noi' oni birthing others of its kind, as well as spirit nagas." Terflynn pauses, contemplating, considering the statue more than feeling a reaction. "I'm not sure I've heard of such a thing before. Perhaps it's symbolic..." the weathered elf produces a log from his pack and begins paging through.
"Do be careful of curses and such if you're to go poking around."
Up the stairs, a broad balcony with wide openings overlooks the lake from the pagoda’s upper floor. The walls of this room are covered with carvings of bound prisoners being subjected to agonizing tortures. A barrel containing 100 arrows stands in the center of the room.
"How pleasant." Zack says sarcastically after taking a glance at the statue.
Jennix nods to the arrows. "Are they magical? Zach, you might want to restock."
Looking around, he asks. "Which way? Through the double doors?"
I believe so, replies Miso, for I do not think a swim in the lake is in order just now. He tries to avoid looking at both the statue and the disturbing carvings.
Terflynn detects for magic in the statue room as well as the room with arrows, in case anything beyond the ordinary might be lingering in the air. "You don't like swimming, Miso?" Terflynn asks with a hint of a smile.
Beyond the double doors, a steep staircase climbs upwards. Base-reliefs of faces distorted by pain cover the steps and walls and a large golem made of clay guards the way up!
"Wonder how the residents get by this?" Zack muses as he steps back and begins using some of his newfound ammo on the golem.
Sizing up the creature, Jennix glances back at his companions. "I got a bad feeling about this....."
Drawing a deep breath, Jennix exhales and rushes in to attack the beast.
After attacking, Jennix calls on his ninja training and disappears!
Miso charges forward with the grace of the wind, reaching out to grapple the construct!
Terflynn blows a handful of glowing dust towards the creation, the cloud flying towards it and bursting into brilliant gold hues. "Mind yourselves, gentlemen! Don't be ashamed to fall back!" he calls out.
Zach plants a few arrows in the golem as Jennix rushes in and hits a vital joint! Miso is not quite strong enough to grab the thing but Terlynn's glitter blinds the construct! It swings wildly at Miso and Jennix:
Terflynn bends fate away from the golem, cursing it to failure.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Terflynn again changes fate in your favor!
Zack looses another volley at the golem.
Miso tries to grapple again.
Zachary's arrows blast through the golem and leave the way up the stairs free of obstacles. . . other than the large chunks of clay, that is.
Ascending the stairs, you see several interesting things in the large chamber before you:
The immediate ledge is bare except for the arched doorway ahead, which is decorated with carvings of tormented dragons. Three hobgoblins wait here for you, their skin leprous and rotting.
Ahead is a wide pit with arched openings in each wall above the pit. Six thick iron bars crisscross the pit, from which a greenish-gray, bitter-smelling mist rises. You can hear movement below but more immediately you can see three more hobgoblins, females this time, off near the arch to the left. They look ready to brave the iron bars crossing over the pit.
Miso activates Dragon Style and charges past Jennix so quickly that the ninja barely feels the breeze from the passing. He launches an assault on Red!
Miso plunks the first leprous hobgoblin in the face!
red: 19 dmg
Terflynn hexes the lone rotting hobgoblin with a tempting nap.
Terflynn puts one of the hobgoblins to sleep as the other two attack Miso!
The three female hobgoblins deftly move across the iron bars above the pit, balancing with little effort, and end next to Jennix!
red: 19 dmg
yel: asleep
Jennix begins attacking the center hobgoblin, then quickly vanishes again.
Jennix slices into one of the female hobgoblins and then disappears to let the others take the brunt of the attacks:
---
---
red: 19 dmg
yel: asleep
blu: 31 dmg
Zack takes a step down the stairs and unloads on the hobgoblins in front of him.
Terflynn hexes another hobgoblin, taking care to leave Zachary his target practice.
Miso flurries on Red, moving to Orange if Red drops. He'll spend a ki point for an extra attack.
He will then take a five-foot step closer to Jennix (well, where Jennix was, anyway) after his flurry.
Zachary sends one of the female hobgoblins falling to the ground and then sticks his final arrow in another! These hobgoblins are clearly sleep-deprived, as another one falls to Terflynn's lullabies. Miso punches at one of them as the three remaining hobgoblins converge on the monk to punch and hack at him!
red: 19 dmg
org: 46 dmg
yel: asleep
blu: 55 dmg
grn: asleep
Taking advantage of his invisibility, Jennix calls on his luck and begins attacking the hobgoblin to his north.
Terflynn hexes another, methodically assaulting the minds of each waking foe.
Jennix reappears and slices one of the female hobgoblins to pieces as Terflynn puts yet another to sleep. The last hobgoblin doesn't stand much of a chance against Zachary and Miso and it quickly falls as well!
"Fine work, as always, gentlemen. Is anyone wounded?" Terflynn asks, brandishing a wand.
"You know, I'm starting to think this area is unsafe for travelers." he adds without a hint of sarcasm as he looks around.
As you start to pick through the hobgoblin's gear and dust yourselves off, a voice bellows from the south, "You'll not be getting out of here alive!" Two more female hobgoblins ready to race across the iron bars as a menacing hunchbacked, fiery-skinned humanoid with black eyes beneath the bony ridges of its brow flies out from behind the screens to hover above the pit!