Round 2, Initiative 17
Weapon Equipped = Bow
Cold Iron Arrows = 13/20 (2 misses)
Silver Blunt Arrows = 9/10 (1 miss)
Adamantium Salted Arrows = 5/5
Ghost Salted Arrows = 5/5
Bardic Performance = 9/12
Shard Major Image = 1/1
Bard Spells Remaining: (First: 3/3) (CL 3, Con: +6, SR: +5)
0) Detect Magic, Light, Mending, Prestidigitation, Spark
1) Cure Light Wounds, Feather Fall, Grease
Bibic shoots the remaining Nupperibo trying to end it before it does any more damage to the party - however slight. He hits once more, but does little damage (DR). He shrugs and says, "They are protected by something, my cold iron does not seem to penetrate their hides as it should. I recommend trying silver folks!"
He loads a silver arrow with his next attack, but it flies wide ruining his ability to determine the truth of his theory.
Round 2, Initiative 4
Clement grunts as each of their foes swing and connect with him. Despite his fresh wounds, he reveals a crooked smile that suggests he enjoys being the center of their hostilities.
"Is that the best you can do, devil? Come on!"
Clement closes his stance slightly while dropping his mace and drawing a blade. He nods thanks to Bibic in appreciation for his wisdom while continuing to position his shield in front of Rhesus.
for
Round 3, Initiative Delay
Spasi delays, letting others get a share of the glory...because Spasi is a sharer and a giver and all-around great guy. He's like that..he doesn't need to hog all the kills for himself.
"Oh yeah, Clem! You tell 'em! Swing hard now!" Spasi shadowboxes the fight, pretending he is Clem.
Round 2
If anything remains of their foe, Rhesus attempts to end it.
And does.
The two creatures disolve into noxious fumes and the disappear completely. In the end, only their spears remain. The door in this room leads back to the original room you fought the larva in.
Bibic gathers his arrows and checks them for breakage.
Bibic gathers some arrows from his pack to replenish his quiver. He briefly searches the guards for anything of value - casting detect magic to aid the search.
"I wonder what they're guarding? We should be careful there aren't more of them beyond the (doorway/hallway/archway). They weren't too tough, but given enough of them they'll be hard to overcome. With luck the shard won't be too much farther."
That done, he takes up his position in the marching order - ready to lend the leaders a hand in the next chamber.
Spasi nods as Bibic gets ready.
"I'm sure the shard is nearby...how big can this place be? It's probably over here in this dark hallway I saw as we walked here," Spasi says, pointing to hallway that leads to C13, C14, & C15.
"This is exactly the way, I think."
Clement glances at his wounds - a mere scratch from the fight with the grayskins, before looking over the others for injuries.
"Well, that was a simple scrape. Who'd have thought so many hostile monsters were living out here?"
Shrugging off any concerns to tend his wounds, he steps ahead of Spasi and nods to Rhesus.
Passing down the hall you push open a door to a small room (C13), inside you find 3 more of the hideous melted creature. They hiss and move to attack.
Combat Round 1
19 Rhesus
17 Noya
16 Bibic
13 Spasi
13 Baddies
3 Clement
XP 400
LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 12, touch 10, flat-footed 12 (+2 natural)
hp 5/5, 5/5, 5/5
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +2
DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, mind-affecting effects, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee: 2 claws +1 (1d4)
TACTICS
Nupperibos unerringly follow the orders of their commander. They are relentless in their pursuit and attack, and continue to assault anything in their path until ordered to stop by their commander. A nupperibo killed in battle is 99% likely to be reformed (by a duke or arch-devil) into another nupperibo; the remaining 1% are “promoted” to lemure status, having proved their worth in combat.
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 4
Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 11
Languages Infernal (cannot speak)
Round 1
"What'd you say these things are again?"
Rhesus moves up and swings at the closest.
Promptly blasting the creature back to it's own plane.
Round 1, Initiative 16
Weapon Equipped = Bow
Cold Iron Arrows = 20/20
Silver Blunt Arrows = 6/8
Adamantium Salted Arrows = 6/6
Ghost Salted Arrows = 6/6
Bardic Performance = 9/12
Shard Major Image = 1/1
Bard Spells Remaining: (First: 3/3) (CL 3, Con: +6, SR: +5)
0) Detect Magic, Light, Mending, Prestidigitation, Spark
1) Cure Light Wounds, Feather Fall, Grease
Bibic keeps his bardic performance for tougher foes, though he’s not happy that they’ve encountered more of these creatures. I bet there’s a lot of them. he muses to himself.
He draws back his bow, using silver arrows, and fires at the Nupperibo remaining after Rhesus’ blast!
He, I think, hits them both, dropping one and staggering the other.
Round 1
Noya replies to Rhesus
"These things are evil, so don't care about the name just yet"
"What'd you say these things are again?"
Round 1, Initiative 13
"I think they are called target practice," Spasi replies as gore rains around him.
Know (Planes) - What are these things?
The feeble creatures barely pose a threat and you quickly dispatch them.
Two door lead beyond this room. The one in the east wall appear to be jammed shut, but the southern door opens easily. Inside there is a short stairwell that ends in a clear shimmering wall that appears to hold back the sea. Beyond it you can see strands of seaweed drifting in the current and the occasional fish pass by. This room also hold another door that open onto a spira staircase leading up.
"Do you think this door is jammed because they're afraid of what's on the other side - or as a delaying tactic to keep us from that hall or chamber?"
Bibic looks for some leverage to open the door.
"They weren't that tough - I say we open it."
He gives the door a shove himself to see just how 'stuck' it is.
"Pretty stuck. Can anyone lend a hand here?"
Spasi finishes shadowboxing along with Clem's punishing blows.
"Yeah, that's some good work, Clem. That's how I would do it...just like you did."
Spasi looks around the chamber, not having an answer to why these things were here.
Following Bibic, he looks to the mighty Rhesus to help Bibic open the door.
"Sure Bibic, let's find out what's in there."
Rhesus moves to the east door and attempts to force it open with Bibic.
"Huh, yeah that's stuck pretty good. Let's both try it."
Bibic nods to the big man, and pushes to aid a few times.
(curse)
(curse)
(curse)
...though he's not terribly helpful, getting in the way most of the time.
"Rhesus, perhaps you and Clement? You make such a good team in combat. Or you Noya? You've got the strength I lack I think!"
Bibic steps back and lets other, meatier folk, help open the stuck door.
Clement gives Spasi a curious look as he holds he mace, knowing it was not even swung in the most recent battle.
Shrugging, he returns it to his belt strap and steps up to aid Rhesus.
"Hrmmppphh"
"Urrhhmphhh"
"Huhhhhh"
"I'll give a hand
Noya assists.
As you try to breakdown the door, you start to hear muffled wails and gurgling sobs coming from the other side.
Spasi stops the smashing.
"Hey wait! Do you hear that!?" Spasi moves closer to listen.
"HEY! YOU IN THERE! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" Spasi will try out a few more languages as well, trying to figure out what is what.
Clement ceases his attacks on the door and stands upright, blushing briefly as he hears the voice beyond - as if he were doing something he should've have been doing.
His mix of guilt becomes admiration as he hears Spasi rattle off a half-dozen languages, a few he recognizes from the less desirable neighborhoods of Magnimar.
Leaning towards the door, he struggles to hear any response from beyond.
Rhesus pauses his struggles as Spasi begins to speak to the wood.
"Sure Spasi, take all the time you need."
The big man unlimbers his earth breaker, ready to destroy the door on command.
You hear what sounds like words coming from behind the door,
Bursting through the door, you find a chamber whose walls have been coated in dried black ichor. Rudimentary lines and smears within the layers of gunk have been added to create crude examples of simplistic art. Cowering in the corner there is a hideous creature, appearing as nothing more than a man-sized lump of molten stinking flesh,
Rhesus covers his nose at the stench of the place.
"Gah, what's that smell? Clem, you been slipping me beans again? You know I don't like vegetables. And what the hell's that thing?"
"Yeah, what the hell is that? And that's some kind of crazy language, huh?" Spasi says, trying to understand.
Know (Planes)-creature
Linguistics (untrained)
"Yep, I think that's gnome...definitely gnome...but that creature...it's weird..."
"I don't think that was gnome. As the sound of the words felt dark and logical, not carefree and happy like gnomes are."
Clement rubs his chin at Rhesus' inquiry.
"Beans are a vegetable? I thought they were protein and thus meat..?"
Clement pauses for a moment in contemplation before inching closer to the hunched form, speaking as if he would to a child. A dark and logical child.
"Hey there, little fella. Are you lost or hurt?"
Bibic keeps his distance from the sad creature and lowers (but does not put away) his bow.
He waits for the creature to speak something we can understand. He stands back in case the poor person tries to flee. If he does, Bibic will not stop him.
Although among the most loathsome creatures in existence, lemures serve a vital role in Hell's perverse ecology. When at the end of a mortal life a creature's soul is damned—whether because it revered diabolical forces or failed in the worship of another deity—it joins the masses of suffering souls filling the plains of Avernus, Hell's first layer. Here a soul's torments begin as lesser devils marshal it along with similar spirits in preparation for a long, perilous journey to one of Hell's deeper layers—typically one suited to the punishments appropriate to the soul's crimes, or merely the domain of a devil who has need for slaves. Upon reaching the realm of their damnation, souls face untold lifetimes of torment at the hands of devils, other fiendish beings, and the deadly machinations of Hell itself. As the formerly mortal essences slowly go mad, they forget their lives, grow bestial, and eventually become little more than automatons of fear and hatred. After ages of such existence, the cruel processes of Hell either utterly annihilate the soul or—in the cases of the most profane spirits—reconsecrate such forsaken beings into lemures, the building blocks of devils, unthinking waves of filth and diabolical flesh. Such repulsive beings assemble in vast mobs, waves of putrescence thousands upon thousands strong. Greater devils can spot the most corrupt of these fiends and, either through mysterious tortures or the powers of Hell itself, reshape them into true devils, newly born and ready to obediently serve in the legions of the damned.
"Ugh.."
Clement turns away, barely able to step closer and gives Bibic a look.
"Bibic... talk to it? You should speak it's language, right?"
Spasi looks at Bibic, surprised.
"You can speak to it? Well, ask it where the shard is," Spasi suggests. "It's got to be here somewhere. He probably has it."
"Sorry Clement, I'm no linguist. I can't quite tell what it is, let me take a closer look..."
Bibic, breathing as shallowly as he can through his mouth, leans in to get a closer look at the poor shrinking creature.
(shard)
He backs away from the stench quickly. "I don't know what he is, but he's not human that's for sure. He doesn't seem hostile either. I say we close the door and let him alone to find his own way in the world."
Bibic takes out some rations and offers it to the poor mass of flesh. Satisfied he's done what he can for the creatures comfort, he's ready to move on.
Spasi casts Detect Magic and looks around before going, in case the lemure poops magic or something.
There is nothing magical in this room, and if you leave the devil alone, he does the same to you.
"Shall we proceed then? This poor retch is deserving of our pity I think." Bibic is ready to move on following the tougher Rhesus.
Spasi nods at Bibic.
"Sure thing. Yeah, we'll leave it alone. She should tell whatsherface about it. We might get a finder's fee."
Spasi points the way.
Rhesus looks disappointed at leaving the creature alone, but shrugs and moves to the next area.
"If there's one, there's more than one. Keep your eyes open Clem."
With a few attempts, Clement intentionally widens both eyes before nodding to Rhesus while bearing the expression of someone who has been startled.
He gestures ahead with his mace.
Ingnoring the foul hellspawn, the party moves back to the room with the stairwell to the ocean. A little nosing about the translucent barrier finds that, while it holds back the ocean, you can easily pass your hand through it and from the desicated fish scattered about your feet, the same holds true from the other side.
With no pressing reason to enter the sea, you move back to explore the spiral staircase heading up. At the top, you find a small observation room with a large glass window.
"What's this, a hidden cubby hole, and it has some stuff in it."
Spasi looks at the cubby, wondering what is inside.
"Hold up a moment...this is interesting, ain't it?"
Spasi waits to see what Noya pulls out.
Bibic too stops and waits, "What did you find Noya?"
Clement waits patiently for Spasi and Bibic to identify whatever Noya's found. He bumps shoulder-to-shoulder with Rhesus for a moment and gives him a nod.
Rhesus nods at Clem and prepares to club Spasi over the head then take whatever is in the cubby. He hesitates, his eyebrows furrowing.
Wait, was that the club them over the head nod, or the what are we doing here nod, or the man that curry sure gives me gas nod. Hmmmm.
"What'd ya find?"
Noya finds:
"I've found two scrolls and some Googles"