Before going to sleep, Merephel channels the remaining energy of her Goddess in order to heal her allies. You sleep for about 12 hours, after which you wake up. Fortunately, nothing happened while you were sleeping.
---
You’re now ready to resume your exploration of the Second Ring of Xin-Grafar. After a few hours, you stumble across two gold-plated columns carved to resemble female warriors flanking the entrance to another bridge over one of the city’s canals. They appear to be normal, albeit golden, statues supporting the bridge’s roof.
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Only Calden and Shirzon realize that those columns are actually alive before they suddenly move toward you.
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Calden
Korech
Merephel
Shirzon
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Shirzon sees one of the columns start to move, and her eyes narrow as she steels herself for a fight. "Figures," she mutters. "The columns are moving! Look alive!"
After her rallying cry, Shirzon dashes toward the far statue and tries to smash some of its gold off before it can react properly.
Korech spends an extremely uncomfortable night lying on the the hard metal floor, dreaming of trees. He's slept on worse though, and in the morning he is up before the others and ready to go to see the end of this cursed city. This changes when the statues start coming for them.
"Why do all the statues want to fight me?!" groans Korech as he fumbles for an arrow.
It take Merephel a long while to fall asleep, but once asleep, she stays asleep for the full night. She dreams of some of her friends from Kassen, chasing her through the streets of her hometown. As she runs, her friends and family start to turn to gold. She awakens in a sweat, and prepares her spells quietly.
When they are attacked by the statues, she is still thinking back on her dream, and is caught unaware.
"Shelyn take this place! I'm fed up with all the city's defenses. Can we just be done with these cursed things?"
Calden finds rest in is meditation. At one point, it occurs to him that the potion that he drank today was one left for him by Ilimama in the Crypt of the Everflame. Somehow, he didn't even think he actually needed it. The clarity is provided felt good, but all too temporary. He liked trusting in his own facilities. Despite their surroundings, he actually finds a deep and envigorating sleep.
--
At the bridge, Calden thinks he sees movement in the corner of his eyes, and he turns back the way they came. "The statues, they're alive. Watch out!" He takes a step back and draws his sword, preparing to cover Merephel despite her demonstrated ability to take care of herself. Only then does he watch over his shoulder, seeing Shirzon charge at another of the statues. Crap. "We're getting close, Meph. Hold on..."
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After warning the others, Calden steps toward the westernmost statue while Shirzon charges the easternmost one. The half-orc darts with uncanny speed and swings her mace with impetus. Once again, the gold coating the statue proves no hindrance to Shirzon, who’s able to hit a critical spot with ease. The half-orc notices, however, two important things: the first is that the column appears to be partially resistant to her weapon, in the same way in which she has seen some statue being resistant to Korech’s arrow; the second is that her own weapon seems to have been partially damaged by the impact with the golden mass making up the animated column’s body.
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The golden statues react soon thereafter. The one near to Calden just moves closer, and everyone in the party is now completely sure that Calden and Shirzon are not suffering from hallucinations, since they can see the columns moving with their very eyes. The caryatid Shirzon attacked retaliates right after, swinging his well-crafted golden falchion at the half-orc. There’s something eerie in the way in which the column swings its weapon with silent yet supernatural strength. Anyway, Shirzon is ready as usual and nimbly dodges the falchion swung at her.
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Now that everyone in the party is completely sure that neither Calden nor Shirzon has gone mad, seeing animating statues where there are not, the battle can truly begin!
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Merephel clutches her mace, and moves to aid Calden against the column he is fighting. She tries to duck under it's massive sword, and aims for a blow to land on the column's arm. She doesn't properly anticipate the swing of it's sword, and misses the statue entirely.
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Seeing Merephel and Calden engaged with one statue, Korech fires at the one Shirzon is attacking.
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Shirzon manages to avoid the swing of the statue, slightly unnerved by its eerie, silent strength. She steps to the side and catches sight of the others near a second statue. Her stomach sinks just a little, realizing that she's stranded herself in one on one combat with a pillar of animated stone and gold.
She calls out to Korech in Orc:
Swallowing her fear, Shirzon takes a couple of shots at the sword weilding column.
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Calden braces for an attack that doesn't come yet. Seeing Merephel move in, he shifts a step to the side, so that Merephel can join him. "They seem quite slow. And sturdy. We may have to use their slowness against them, depending on how sturdy they are." With that, Calden tests the statue's defenses. He slices his temple sword across the column's side, then takes a kick at where its legs would be.
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A strange curse appears to have been cast on the party, since all of its members somehow manage to fail to hit their targets with their latest attacks.
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The golden caryatid in front of Shirzon attacks her again with its falchion. This time, Shirzon is not able to dodge in time and the falchion almost cuts her throat as it slices through her breast, piercing her lungs.
The other golden column attacks Calden, and misses a vital spot only by a few inches.
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A strange curse seems to have been cast on the party, or is it just bad luck?
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His face screwed up in concentration, Korech tries a single arrow.
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Shirzon wheezes a wet breath, blood bubbling out of her mouth. She scowls, but doesn't dare try crying out in pain and anger for fear of further aggravating her damaged lungs. She tightens her grip on her weapons, knuckles pale and shaking, before making more attacks on the statue.
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Merephel swings again, trying once more to take the sword arm off the statue. She's panting already, realizing that the party are only chipping away at the statue. She squints, lines up a swing, and puts her whole body into it.
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Calden looks a bit doubtful as both of his attacks fail to connect. He turns to Merephel to discuss while dodging and making another set of attack, taking more care with his placement this time. "They didn't look all that agile, but we seem to have trouble hitting them, regardless. Do they have some kind of magical defenses? Should we try and surround it?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Fortunately, bad luck seems to have finally left the party alone. Calden’s sword slashes through the caryatid, although his unarmed strike fails to connect: unfortunately, however, he’s only able to deal minor damage to the living column. Korech tries a single arrow, and this time he’s luckier too: his arrow hits the caryatid and lodges into its golden body. Merephel, in the meantime, swings her mace and hits the caryatid she and Calden are facing, but she’s only able to deal minor damage just like Calden. It seems like both Merephel and Calden only scratched the gold-clad caryatid with their attacks. Lastly, Shirzon hits her opponent twice, but again she fails to deal full damage and she can only scratch the living column.
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Fortunately, it seems like bad luck has now turned to your opponents, as both caryatids fail to connect with Shirzon and Merephel respectively.
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Korech
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Frustrated she isn't succeeding at damaging the column, Merephel reaches out and tries to place the tip of her mace on the column, trying to channel a power granted to her by Shelyn. She holds the thought in her mind, and reaches out.
Charm Domain Power:
Dazing Touch (Sp): You can cause a living creature to become dazed for 1 round as a melee touch attack. Creatures with more Hit Dice than your cleric level are unaffected. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
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Shirzon swings out again, bearing her blood stained teeth. She huffs out a tired breath, spraying a light mist of blood. Even though her hits don't seem to be doing much, she's still getting some scratches in and struggles to finish off the golden foe. Realizing she's getting too far away from her friends, she starts shifting back toward the group to draw the column closer to destruction.
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Keeping his attacks to one shot at a time, Korech fires off another arrow, although he badly misfires as his sweaty hands slip.
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Relieved that the columns don't seem to be totally warded from attack, Calden shifts the grip on his sword. "It seems like some more brute force is required." He doesn't sound too pleased with that, but grits his teeth and sets into an offensive stance. Putting all his weight behind the attack, he slices his sword at the column, spins around his axis and slices again. He furrows his brow in frustration at feeling his attacks slide harmlessly across the golden-clad stone. "How about that one, Shirzon? Any more luck?"
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Putting all his weight behind the attack, Calden steps to his side in order to flank with Merephel and slices his sword at the column, spinning around his axis before slicing again. His first attack is parried by the caryatid, while the second one slides harmlessly across the golden-clad stone.
Keeping his attacks to one shot at a time, Korech fires off another arrow, although he badly misfires as his sweaty hands slip. His arrow flies high over the caryatid’s gold-clad head.
Merephel reaches out and tries to place the tip of her mace on the column, trying to channel a power granted to her by Shelyn. She manages to actually touch the caryatid, infusing her divine energy in it. The living column seems to fall in a comatose state soon afterwards.
Shirzon swings out again, bearing her blood stained teeth. She huffs out a tired breath, spraying a light mist of blood. Although her opponent is critically damaged, this time she doesn’t manage to hit her target with any of her attacks.
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The gold-clad caryatid flanked by Calden and Merephel stands still thanks to the Kassenite girl’s divine power. In the meantime, however, the other column swings its falchion at Shirzon with appalling violence. Fortunately, Shirzon manages to avoid being beheaded by the attack, although it was close. In doing so, however, the half-orc exposes her right arm and gets another deep wound as a souvenir for her close encounter with death.
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The battle is turning bad for the Heroes of Kassen. They’ve some great difficulties in hitting their targets, and when they do, the living columns appear to resist to much of the damage. Anyway, apart from the heavy wounded Shirzon, the group has still plenty of resources and is in relatively good health. The fight continues!
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Korech
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Shirzon grimaces at her new wound, letting out a quiet grunt of pain. She calls over to Calden, unable to put much volume into her voice, "Sort of."
She strikes out again, her new wound stinging in the hot air, but not preventing her from getting at least one solid hit on the column. Whether it will damage the creature at all is dubious, however.
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"Hang in there," Calden replies to Shirzon. "They're unbelievably tough, for fortunately not too accurate." Seeing the column dazed by Merephel's touch, Calden decides to go all-out. He takes a deep breath in, turns frustration into raw energy and unleashes it into a whirlwind of strikes.
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Unfortunately, due to Merephel having her back to Shirzon, she doesn't see the column bearing down on the half-orc woman. Instead, she does see that her magic works on the column, and tries to take advantage of it's stupor.
She weaves her hands through a series of holy grips, and sends forth a Holy blessing onto the party.
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Calden unleashes his frustration in a whirlwind of strikes, hitting the caryatid twice. In the meantime, Merephel blesses the party and Korech fires a single arrow at Shirzon’s caryatid. The arrow is enough to destroy the column before it can even attack again, and the once-living column turns to an unanimated pile of golden stones. Her opponent destroyed, Shirzon moves closer to the last standing caryatid .
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The gold-clad caryatid flanked by Calden and Merephel attacks Merephel with its falchion, but Merephel easily parries the predictable strike.
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With only one caryatid left, the group now has a strong advantage on its opponent!
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Merephel lets out a whoop of excitement as she hear the column clatter into a pile of rocks. She waits until after the attack from the column's falchion, and strikes on the backswing.
"Now! While it's off-balance!"
She swings her mace under it's arm yet again, this time aiming up past the arm, at the column's face.
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Shirzon prepares to attack the column, but Korech's arrow shuts it down. She breathes a sigh of relief and turns her attention to the remaining foe. Knowing that she can't take another hit like the ones before, she drops her mace and quickly springs a wand into her hand. She holds it up and concentrates, trying to push her pain into focus, and two bolts of force shoot forth to hit the statue.
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Shirzon once again tries to command the wand to her will. Trying to use her pain to focus her will she gets close to activating the magic. However, it backfires as the pain overwhelms her with a sudden intense pulse that shudders through her chest and arm. She clenches her teeth and sucks in a breath before quietly muttering some Orcish curses.
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Relieved that o of the threats has been dealt with and that he has managed to connect some swings, Calden grits his teeth and keep up his attack.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Thanks to the group collaboration, the caryatid goes down, destroyed by Calden’s, Korech’s, Merephel’s and Shirzon’s attacks. The living column crumbles in another pile of golden stones.
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Calden breaths out deeply once the living column is defeated, letting his sword rest on the ground. "Well fought, everyone. These may have been the toughest foes we faced yet. It's lucky that their attacks were slow."
Shirzon smirks at Calden, chiming in despite her injuries with a small voice, "I dunno. Remember that arrow-shooting pillar back in Kassen's crypt? We didn't do great against that." She starts to laugh, but stops quickly from the burning pain in her chest. "Ow."
Merephel laughs at how quickly the tides turned.
"That is Shelyn's Grace right there. We went from a bad situation to victory. All you need is a little luck!"
She winks.
Korech groans, wiping sweat from his brow as the statues crumble before them. He slumps down on the ground, completely overwhelmed at the state everything is in.
"I in old city made of gold fighting statues with friends. Not long ago I hide from Anarma because she want me to do more drills."
He nods over at Merephel.
"The gods are with us. We pray and do good, and they help. This city is so cruel."
"Indeed it is Korech, but you are right. Shelyn and Erastil shall guide us through to the end. We've already accomplished what seemed impossible. Not that much longer now."
After defeating the shining sentinels, the group pushes forward into the ruins of the Second Ring of the fabled city of Xin-Grafar. After about three hours of exploration, the group stumble across an opening marking the beginning of the Third Ring: the Heroes of Kassen are getting closer to their goal.
The Third Ring of Xin-Grafar is the source of the city’s powerful flows of molten gold. Third Ring stands 40 feet above the level of the Second Ring, and its ceiling is 40 feet high. A small building sits atop a flat, stone island inside the Third Ring, completely surrounded by a 25-foot-wide canal of molten gold and accessible only by a small bridge. The building at the center of the ring is the Tabernacle of the Jewel of Everlasting Gold, the heart of the city’s power. It stands about 30 feet tall and is topped by a peaked, gold-tiled roof. The building has one door in the south wall and no windows. The outside of the tabernacle is covered in ancient, gold-inlaid runes from the ground to the roof.
Without hesitation, feeling that you’re getting closer to your final goal, you cross the small bridge leading to the small building on the flat, stone island.
An enormous skeletal dragon, plated from head to tail in gold and sparkling in the greenish glow from above, stands guard on the bridge ahead.
You’re pretty far from the dragon, and you have the advantage to be able to prepare for the fight, hoping that your preparations will not draw its attention.
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Shirzon quietly releases a long breath as she spots the skeletal dragon. In hushed tones, she says, "This has got to be the place. Definitely fancy enough for these Razmir followers. Do you think this dragon can still breath fire? Is that something most dragons can do? I'd guess that something just made of bones couldn't breath at all, but usually bones aren't moving around on their own either. In any case, I'm gonna try my wand before I consider running up to a dragon."
She draws her wand of shield and starts trying to activate it, hoping that each utterance of the command word doesn't attract the dragon's attention.
Impressed by the grandeur of the Third Ring and the Tabernacle, Calden lowers his voice by instinct. "So, the Razmirans should be in there. It all comes down to this?" He clasps a hand in front of his mouth when the skeletal dragon comes into view. "Holy gods, a dragon? In gold? Skeletal?" Once he has recovered from his initial shock, he huddles everyone together to start planning.
"You're right, Shirzon. This must be the place. I was going to suggest using the horn of fog to give us cover on the way in, but the Razmirans inside will surely hear us. Meph, what can you tell us about a creature like this? Any guesses? Blunt weapons, I suppose, to break its bones. Anything else? It seems like we have to approach the thing head-on across the bridge. There seems to be little cover to hide our advance..."
Calden looks around his backpack for anything useful. "I have two potions that should help. A bit..."
Skeletal dragons are resistant to channel energy, at least to some extent. They're immune to cold and possess all the undead traits. They're also formidable melee fighters, but lack the breath weapon of a living dragon. Also, they lack the ability to fly, since they have no wings.
Anyway, you're pretty sure that this dragon is not just a skeletal dragon. Its bones are covered in gold! If this works as you've seen before with the gold-clad creatures you've met before in Xin-Grafar, the dragon should be able to resist to some critical attacks and sneak attacks, as though it was wearing a magic armor.
Skeletal gold-clad dragon picture
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Until now, the dragon has failed to notice the party. Shirzon and Calden have buffed themselves without producing any loud noise, and so they have not attracted this towering guardian's attention.
Korech looks slowly, steadily at the dragon, his mouth gaping in awe. He very, very silently nocks an arrow, his bow creaking.
"This... this look very bad. Very mean. We have to fight good. I think I need use mace? Maybe shoot arrows strong enough. Will figure out. I think using horn is good idea - we need cover. It notice us when we hit bridge anyways."
Partway during the discussion, Calden suddenly stands as if stunned. "I can't imagine I'd forget something like that. When I was little, once picked up a book in the library, about the undead. I really wasn't supposed to read it, because Father Prasst took it away as soon as he saw me with it. But I saw a picture of a skeletal dragon inside, with some notes. I think I can remember most of it..." Calden closes his eyes for a few seconds in concentration, then opens them again. "Most of it makes sense, when you think about it. They can't fly - because they don't really have wings - and they can't breath fire or such. That ends the good news, though. It said they were ferocious combatants, and quite tough. Cold can't touch them, and there was something about being resistant to positive energy." As an afterthought, he adds to Korech. "I'm not sure about the mace or arrows. Just try, you'll see soon enough. Oh yeah, it's also got the gold-thing, of course. It shores up some weak spots, as we've seen."
When it comes down to it, Calden returns to his own suggestion. "Foghorn, yes or no? I don't think we need it. The dragon will have to come up close anyway, to fight us. Without the fog, at least Korech can get some arrows in while it closes the distance to us."
"I have plenty of spells we can use, so maybe we back up just a little and I can cast them? I've got several."
She turns to Calden.
"Let me cast a few empowerment spells, and then yes to the foghorn. We will need every edge we have. That's a dragon!"
Whispering, Merephel gives a rundown of the spells she can cast, and what they do.
"Yeah, Meph can use the horn for cover while she casts," Shirzon agrees. "Like all the other things in this place, it's probably guarding the bridge. I don't think we'll be able to lure it out too far. Our best bet is probably to hit it hard, and hit it fast. I'll go up on the left side, Calden, go right. If we can surround it, I can make it hurt. Korech, I think you can do a lot if you just hit it with as many arrows as you can. Merephel, maybe see if Shelyn will lend us some luck - it looks like we'll need it. Sound good?"
"If you could make me stronger," Calden says to Merephel as he hands her the magical horn, "that would be much appreciated. I've been practicing putting more speed in my attacks, but it's come at the cost of accuracy and punch. With some more muscle, I think I could smash those bones, even at high speed."
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Korech looks at the group before shaking his head to Merephel.
"You use spells on Calden and Shirzon. I probably have to fight up close with mace, but they best use for your spells."