Spugnoir burns the golem to a pile of coal and ash. Let's not talk about Darius' and Stam keeps out of this one, as it's clearly work cut out for Grergof.
The remaining golem throws himself with all its might at Gregof again. And douses all in sight with splinters.
Stam moves into the room and takes a shot with his crossbow.
Stam adds a twig to the tree.
Don't risk yourselves! I told you I have this.
Attack 2
Attack 3
And his flail makes his words true.
One smashing later Grergof reduced all of it to those little splinters. The remains of that one are not even good for firewood anymore.
The only treasure found are the staked bodies and the stakes.
Well this was a waste, we burned through a lot of resources for kindling.
"I feel like a really unlucky carpenter. I got splinters everywhere!" Darius complains. Holding up his holy symbol he calls to Iomedae for healing.
Grergof searches around to see if they missed anything.
There is one basins near the far wall that is filled with holy water rather than vampiric humors, and contains several severed heads floating within.
Holy Water... I wonder if this is one of the ways they disposed of vampires.
Grergof looks at one of the floating heads to see if it has fangs.
Well shall we continue searching?
Works for me Spugnoir follows
Indeed the heads have the typical vampire fangs. Grergof remembers that the murder victim they investigated had no head.
The group moves on to the secret tunnels. As it is obvious that there have to be secret doors at every dead end it isn't hard to find them. Besides the two ends leading to already known rooms there is one that takes a bit longer to find, as it is a trap door in the ceiling that leads to the winery .
Looks like we have cleared this place, although the witch escaped.
Then we missed something. As the Whispering Way must be connected to this in some way. Didn't the Vampire say we would find information here?
Unless he... Lied????
*gasp!*
"Hehe, we are his stupid pawns to get thoroughly rid of the vampire killers." Darius chuckles. "I'm not sure if this is a win or a loss for us, as they were vampires too."
"But I wouldn't say cleared. There is this glowing cave we skipped earlier. We probably won't find the lead to the Whispering Way there, but who knows."
No doubt some weird glow monster in there. Might as well.
As there is nothing more of interest the group moves on to the cave they skipped earlier. Luminous lichen illuminates this natural cave, reflecting from shallow pools of stagnant water on the floor. The sounds of the waters of Avalon Bay echo from a cave opening to the east. Discarded bones and half-eaten bodies lie scattered about the floor and in the pools, seemingly the remains of sailors.
As the group proceeds cautiously the cave is suddenly lit by a ball of fire.
You see! You see! I knew there were things here.
We didn't disag... OUCH!!!
"I slowly get the feeling we're not welcome here." Darius states the obvious.
Stam follows along much more quiet than normal, trying to piece this all together. "So we killed the vampire hunters or killers, for the Vampire Lord in the sewer. Now we don't know where the Whispering way is or are going...
Stam is caught fully unawares as the small bead of fire explodes into his face
Stam looks at the creatures trying to ID them.
"These are naga, ones who can wield magic too." Stam says while launching bolts of magical force at the closest one.
The naga takes the hit and casts some spell with no visible effect.
Darius has no idea what to do against those snakes. He for sure will not go toe to toe with a snake in a cave.
The next naga throws another fireball to painfully light up the cave.
Greater Counterspell (Su) Counterspell exploit only needs equal level spell when countering.
Counter spell (Su) Use 1 reservoir as an imm action, counter with spell 1 level higher or same spell at +5 bonus.
Stam holds his hand up and waves it at the fire ball.
AC 17/12/15 (21/14/17 with mutagen) (+25/18/21 with mutagen and shield spell)
Saves F11/R11/W7 9 Fear Poison Immune
Weapon in hand:Mace+1
Special effects: Mutagen ,Heroism(+2 saves,attack,skills),Shield spell(+4 AC)
Bombs:2/18
I'm running real low here on my bombs
Spugnoir chucks two bombs at the one that Stam targeted
While Stam makes the spell of the naga fizzle, Spugnoir deals some fire damage. But the naga can take it.
Grergof Charges the nearest Naga.
By the holy light of Sarenrae you shall not stand.
And as he does so he refreshes himself.
Grergof ends the already burnt naga. But there are more and they still have plenty of magic.
"Anyone in dire need of healing?" Darius asks.
AC 17/12/15 (21/14/17 with mutagen) (+25/18/21 with mutagen and shield spell)
Saves F11/R11/W7 9 Fear Poison Immune
Weapon in hand:Mace+1
Special effects: Mutagen ,Heroism(+2 saves,attack,skills),Shield spell(+4 AC)
Bombs:0/18
Spugnoir throws his last two frost bombs at a naga.
When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can choose to have it inflict cold damage. Creatures that take a direct hit from a frost bomb are staggered on their next turn unless they succeed on a Fortitude save DC 20
Grergof manages to raises his shield and is able to avoid most of the fire.
Hey stop that!
Spugnoir is very effective at freezing the naga. You see the shiver running down it's spine. But even then they can throw fireballs.
Gregof moves over to the next Naga and swings with a powerful swing.
Grergof brings down the next naga. The last one isn't interested in being next and flees deeper into the cave to the back where it opens to the shore of Avalon Bay.
Pursue? I am pretty crispy and drained.
"That is to many people for me to counter, if he has retreated to more of this kind like that I won't be able to stop that many fire balls." Stam says. "I also didn't prepare spells for creature like this, I would need time to prepare spells better suited for this environment and this many enemies..and I could use some healing yes." Stam says
I think we have purged this place of evil. Or was it weevils?
Grergof looks around for any hint of where to look for the Whispering Way.
We missed something, But at least we cleansed this abby of evil.
Looking around Grergof notices a dagger and some coins between the bones. walking a bit further some more coins are lying in the small pits of water on the cave floor. Some coins here, some mundane item there. The skeletons are wearing rags - what is left of the shirts, headscarfs, leather armor, ... a scimitar in a bony hand, an eyepatch on a skull and finally a chest in a natural alcove, barely covered by a rotten blanket.
The chest is unlocked and contains some items that were spared by the ravages of time. It's a pouch of coins (412pp),
a small wooden box containing a littel pillow with a perl on it.
Also another box with a ring ,
an elaborately gem encrusted dagger
and a fine short sword
"Quite the find, I wonder if these were just unlucky souls who washed up here or were trying to hide their booty." Stam says with a smirk, "I will never understand why they call it that. I agree Grergof we have missed something but we are not ready to go back up there."
Stam gives the cave one final look in the magical spectrum.
There are no further magical items in the range of the spell.