Helena prods at the goblin again, with no more success than her last attempt.
...miss
Monster Stats
Archer 3: hp 1/19
Bruthazmus: hp 8/45
Round 5, continued
Turning herself invisible, Gwyn positions herself to stab the bugbear in the back at unawares.
Shalelu fires at Bruthazmus, grazing his cheek with an arrow. A streak of blood drips down his face. "You'll die for that, elf!"
Orik then says, "Not today, Bruth, you ugly sadistic bastard," as he cuts off the bugbear's ear. Blood rushes out of the wound as the overgrown goblin shouts in rage and pain.
Helena tries to impale the remaining goblin, but can't get the right angle.
Cerin taunts the stricken bugbear, then tries to attack. The pillar between them provides the bugbear with some cover, and the druid can't strike a decent blow.
Round 6
The goblin, realizing that Bruthazmus may be his only ticket out of here, casts a spell. Helena sees and opening and stabs, but she ducks out of the way. The goblin then touches Bruthazmus, and some of his bleeding stanches.
Somewhat invigorated, Bruthazmus steps up to Orik, and smashes him with his heavy flail. But Orik, expecting exactly that move, easily deflects the blow with his heavy shield.
Orik sneers at Bruthazmus as the bugbear grows frantic. "" He slashes at the bugbear, ready to rid himself of this nasty reminder of his recent past.
Gwyn now finds herself facing a dilemma. On the one hand, she could use some of her arcane power to torch Bruthazmus and his last ally. On the other hand, she doesn't have much of that power left and the wand wasn't all that powerful, she had to admit.
The side of her that wants to put a knife in Bruthazmus' gut wins and she lunges low to do just that.
As she reappears, her sword missing even hitting the burly bugbear, her expression was one that anyone could have recognized.
This is gonna suck!
Meanwhile, from Helena's shoulder, Fluff mutters to the oracle.
"Told ya she'd do something stupid."
"I can't say I'd have much use for his ears, Orik. You could never tell him much."
The ranger winces in pain as she moves forward, firing at the bugbear.
Round 6, continued
Gwyn suddenly appears next to the severely wounded Bruthazmus and stabs at him, but her blade barely scratches his thick leather armor.
Shalelu's arrow his the bugbear in the shoulder, causing him to shout in pain and let go of his flail. And then Orik sees his opening and strikes Bruthazmus right through the chest. The bugbear regards you all with a look of sheer hatred. "Elves... must... die..." and he slumps over, dead.
Cerin then bounds over to the remaining goblin, slashing its throat with his flaming scimitar, ending that creature's existence.
Combat Over
Orik exhales in relief as Bruthazmus falls, seizing the opportunity to hack off the bugbear's head. "Never liked you, you stinking son of a b!$~&," he says, spitting on the creature's corpse. "I hope whatever is waiting for you is painful." He slumps against the wall, relaxing as Cerin heals his wounds. "One down, two to go," he says, to no one in particular.
"Thanks to Helena," Gwyn mutters, looking more than a little embarrassed at her ineptitude this fight.
Unable to do anything else, she begins checking the door for traps as Fluff flits over.
"That was bad," the thrush teases Gwyn, "If you're going to risk getting clobbered, you could have at least stuck him first."
"Thank you for telling me that," the elf grumbles as she sets to work.
"Gwyn's fine," Helena calls back to Cerin, pressing a hand to the wound in her chest and making her way to the gnome. "And I will be." She prods Bruthazmus' corpse with the butt of her spear. "Is he carrying anything of use?"
Now that the fight is over, you are able to take in the room itself.
Two pillars support the ceiling of this room. In many places, the floor, walls, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south walls contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book in one hand and a glaive in the other. The entire room is canted toward the west, and whatever long-ago upheaval caused this complex to tilt has knocked all of the statues from their bases, such that they all now lean against the western walls of their alcoves.
One of you casts detect magic and discovers that a few of the items carried by Bruthazmus and his two goblin allies radiate arcane auras: Each of the goblins has two potions, while Bruthazmus has three magic arrows in his quiver. The grisly necklace of elf ears he wore around his neck also radiates magic.
You recover the following items of interest from the two goblins:
- four flasks of alchemist's fire
- four potions of cure light wounds
- two tanglefoot bags
- 2 masterwork dogslicers
- six tindertwigs
- 6 gp, 12 sp
Bruthazmus had the following items of interest:
- three +1 elf bane arrows
- necklace of sensitive ears (Grants +2 competence bonus to Perception; +5 when trying to detect an invisible creature)
- Masterwork heavy flail
- masterwork composite longbow (Str +4) with 20 arrows
- 5 cold iron arrows
- coin purse with 30 gp, 15 sp, and 12 cp
Gwyn examines the stone door leading east, and does not discover any traps. It is unlocked.
|
His face twisting into a mask of disgust, Cerin gestures towards the necklace. "That is truly monstrous, creating an enchanted item from parts of a sentient being! It should be destroyed. Let us just take the potions, flasks and tanglefoots, Shalelu can replenish her arrows, and move on!"
He allows the others to take the items as he removes the wand of produce flame from his pack and tucks it in his belt for easy access. He takes a closer look at the statues, trying to determine what people might have created them as he waits for everyone to get ready to continue.
After checking the door, Gwyn waits for everyone to get ready before carefully opening it.
After looting Bruthazmus' and the goblins' bodies, Cerin turns his attention to the damages statues that line the room. The druid is fairly sure that the damage to the statues wasn't exclusively due to the sudden shift in the pitch of the floor: Something had regularly hit or scratched the statues over a long period of time. The damage to the statues have somewhat obscured the features, but it is pretty clear that all of the statues are of the same man. Thinking back to the fragmented history of Thassilon, Cerin does remember that the ancient wizard-kings of Thassilon each used a polearm as a symbol of office. Then the title of those wizard-kings comes to mind: "Runelord."
Meanwhile, Gwyn feels confident that the door itself should be safe to open. She pushes on the side, and with a scraping sound, the door pivots open.
The door reveals a short hallway that rises in slope to the east. Five feet from the western door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floor elsewhere. A pair of stone statues depicting stern robed men wielding glaives stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. At the eastern end stand two stone doors leading north and south, their faces carved with runes. Just past these doors is a third alcove in which a partially collapsed statue sits: the top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind a ragged stump of a torso.
Gwyn frowns at the shiny patch, so out of place with the rest of the floor that was dusty. Why would that patch be shiny?
Slowly and carefully, she creeps up to the patch to examine it and anything nearby.
Kneeling beside the shiny area, Gwynn thinks that it looks like someone has mopped this section of the floor, and this section only. At first, she doesn't see it, but then Fluff alights on her shoulder and cocks her head toward the floor.
"Hey Gwyn, do you see that seam on the right?" Sure enough, there does appear to be a razor-thin seam along a five-foot section of the floor in front of the two statues... and then Gwyn sees a set of small depressions in the stone just outside of that section... There's definitely something fishy here.
"Quietly Fluff, speak quietly," Gwyn tells the thrush as she pulls out her tools and begins to carefully probe around.
It takes several minutes, but Gwyn manages to lift an edge of the flagstone to reveal the most complex magical-mechanical trap she's ever seen: The flagstone is a pressure plate that reacts to at least 25 pounds of pressure. When triggered, first two portcullises drop, trapping the person on that square. Next, the two statues would animate and start slicing through the area with their glaives in a complex pattern for while... at least 15 seconds. Then, the flagstone falls away on hidden hinges, dropping the sliced-up victim into a pit: 20 feet deep and lined with spikes!
She frets a few long moments, pondering which subsystem to try to deactivate first... when she sees a braided metal cable leading to the north. Quickly realizing that the cable is connected to a bypass system, Gwyn disconnects the cable and sets the trap to the "safe" position.
The craftsmanship of this trap is sublime... and ancient.
|
|
Cerin whistles as he looks over Gwyn's shoulder while she is working on the ancient mechanism. "The Thasillonions sure knew how to build a trap!" he mutters just loud enough for her to hear. "But I see even they are no match for your skills." he continues.
Once she assures him it is safe, he glances at the statues before continuing forward to examine the doors and the broken statue, being sure not to touch anything until Gwyn has given the all clear.
"No sign of Nualia or Tsuto, and that concerns me," Orik says quietly. "That means they knew about this trap, and were hoping we'd fall into it. What else have they prepared for us?"
Cerin can just barely hear an 'eep!' come from Gwyn when he speaks up. She looks back to both he and Orin and holds a finger to her lips.
"Not so loud, I don't know what's ahead and I'd rather not round a corner to run into Nualia or Tsuto waiting to do me in," she whispers to the others before turning back to the corridor before her.
Like a ghost, Gwyn moves past the trap and to the doors at the end of the corridor. She listens at both before trying to quietly open one.
Pressing her ear to the doors, Gwyn hears nothing to the south. But to the north, she hears the faint sound of a woman's voice chanting in a sibilant tongue she does not understand.
Gwyn whispers to Fluff as quietly as she can.
"Sounds like someone's casting a spell in there. Tell the others and tell them that I'll need their help as soon as I throw open the door."
The little thrush then quietly flits to the others to relay the message.
With nearly-silent flaps of her tiny wings, Fluff flies to the rest of the group, alighting on Helena's shoulder.
"Gwyn said something about someone casting spells, and that she needs your help in there," chirps the songbird.
Orik follows suit, but sneaking about was never his style. The clanking of his armor does little to assist him.
Hearing Orik move, Gwyn readies an arrow.
...hit
Monster stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 73/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp 52/52
Hound: AC 15, hp 30/30
You all take a moment to cast some spells of your own. Gwyn meets everyone's gaze, then throws open the door. You all rush in.
The room is elliptical in shape, with a vaulted ceiling. Wooden bookshelves line the curved walls. A pair of low tables and three comfortable-looking chairs are haphazardly arranged in the room. The room is well-lit, with the light provided by four burning skulls that sit on the tables and the shelves. The shelves are otherwise covered with a disordered collection of books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed creatures soaking in brine, oddly-taxidermied animals, and other strange objects.
The northern end of the room is a raised platform that stands about six feet above the floor. Part of the platform juts out into the room, and atop that is a low fountain bubbling with water. Two stone staircases flank the protrusion. On the platform stand two statues of the stern-faced, robed man holding a halberd.
Standing behind the platform is a strikingly beautiful woman clad in black, red-streaked armor. She wears no helm, allowing her long, metallic-silver hair to flow luxuriously. Her armor is abbreviated, showing her abdomen... which is terribly scarred with what once must have been horrific wounds. One of her arms is in stark contrast to her unearthly beauty: Her right arm is larger and more muscular, with bright red skin and fingers that end in black talons. She holds a cruel-looking bastard sword in that arm.
As you move into the room, weapons drawn, the woman smiles haughtily. "Welcome to my sanctum, Heroes of Sandpoint. And Orik. I should have known better than to trust a Vancaskerkin. You've been terribly inconvenient to my plans, but this ends here, now. The Queen of Demons welcomes your bodies as sacrifices to her magnificent Abyssal glory!" She nods.
Round 1
Seemingly stepping out of thin air, Tsuto Kaijitsu appears next to Orik, and smashes his fist into the side of his former ally's face.
From the ceiling of the chamber comes a frightening howl. You look up to see another of the demonic hounds you'd fought in the demonic temple yesterday. The horrific howl burns into your very souls, and a wave of panic washes over all of you.
And then Nualia herself utters words of a language whose sound defiles your ears. A chaotic blast of multicolored lights surround her in, moving in a random pattern.
If Nualia hoped to get a rise out of Orik, it doesn't seem to work. "I'm good at disappointing people. It's sorta my thing. Anyway, I quit, you b-", he says, his oath interrupted by a powerful blow to the face. He sees stars for a moment, and his nose breaks, taking a step back. When his eyes clear, he sees a familiar face, already preparing to launch another attack.
"Tsuto," he spits, getting ready to attack the wayward Kaijutsu, when another howl arises from the ceiling. A chill runs down his spine as he spies the remaining hound, and he almost feels the fear take him again...
...but with Nualia here, and Tsuto...
...and the heroes...
...no. He stands his ground. "You two die today," he says. "Get her! Kaijutsu is mine!" He swings a powerful attack at the half-elven archer, hoping to bring Tsuto to his knees swiftly.
Between the speech, the howl, and Tsuto punching Orik in the nose, Gwyn's temper snaps it's leash.
"Really? Really?! That's the best you could come up with," Gwyn asks Nualia, her eyes glittering dangerously.
She pulls out a wand, and mutters a word in draconic, completing the magics for a moment and blasting Tsuto and the bookcase behind him with a fan of flame.
She elf steps out from behind Orik as wood and parchment sputter and smolder.
"I mean, come on, between your angsty teenage dalliance and the whole 'I hate my dad' thing, you'd think your life was too f$!&ing hard to bear. So what's this, a delayed super-powered teenaged rebellion? Wearing black and red 'cause it's the most cliche evil color combo in existence and thinking 'Ooo woe is me everyone treats me like I'm a freak,' 'cause you felt constrained? Killing a man in cold blood 'cause you got jilted? Get over yourself! You wanna know what hardship is? What it really, f&+*ing is?! It's growing up on the streets of Korvosa and having to do every s#@& job that the older kids can throw at you just so you can get enough to eat and live another day. It's picking pockets and running from the guard and angry nobles. It's nursing bruises every f~!&ing night while your stomach devours itself and you wanna puke from the pain. It's having to knife people in the back just so you can run away. It's watching your friends grow up, grow old, grow bitter, and die three f@!#ing times before you've even finished growing. It's having almost every f&!+ing elf look down at you just because you grew up without parents among humans. It's becoming the slave to a cruel bastard of a wizard for five years then the whipping girl for the entire, f#%#ing Acadamae when it turns out that you can cast magic for another two!"
Gwyn's eyes blaze and fire wreathes her arms and hair. Her voice a snarl as she literally becomes incandescent with rage.
"You think you've had it bad?! Come down here and I'll show you and your b&~*# goddess what bad really is! By Cayden's Cup I'll f%&%ing show you the difference!"
Helena stands strong against the terrifying howl, gritting her teeth as pain blossoms across her cheek. A mass of smashed flesh and cracked bone spreads quickly across her milky, pale face, even as the damage on Orik's own skin knits together slightly.
"You've gone and made her angry," she mutters, stabbing once at Tsuto before moving back carefully.
|
|
Cerin spares Gwyn a quick glance filled with concern before charging across the room towards the platform. He looks at Nualia's arm with dismay and revulsion, trying to figure what she might be trying to accomplish with this horrid transformation.
"This ends now." he states with quiet determination as he hops up the stairs to slash at Nualia with his scimitar which bursts into flames as it nears her flesh.
...miss
...miss
...hit
...hit
...hit
...hit
...overriding. 14 hp.
Monster stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 73/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp 32/52
Hound: AC 15, hp 30/30
Round 1, continued
Gwyn blasts Tsuto with a burst of flame, then delivers an angry soliloquy of her own. The half-elf manages to dodge the flames completely. Her words don't really seem to phase either of them.
Orik, reeling from the sudden sucker-punch, spins and slashes at the smug rogue, cutting through his armor. He looks down at the gash with an expression of shock and anger, but keeps fighting.
Helena stabs at Tusto with her spear, but he easily dodges the attack. She then moves back toward safety.
Cerin shouts a challenge then bounds for the stairs to engage Nualia. However, as soon as he steps on the third stair, he hears a loud metallic clanking from the statue to his left. It swings its glaive at Cerin in a wide arc. Cerin manages to evade, but it looks like the statue wis winding up for another attack! He then attacks the demon-worshipping aasimar, but she manages to parry his scimitar.
Shalelu moves next to Helena to get a clear shot at Nualia, and lets fly an arrow. But the shot is deflected by the swirling motes of light around her target.
Round 2
Tsuto assumes a defensive boxing stance, luring Orik into beginning an attack, but then lunges at him with a powerful right to the jaw, followed by a left hook to side of his face. Orik reels a moment.
Nualia nods at the flying demonic dog says, "To me!" and points at Cerin. The dog flies down, alighting just behind him. It snaps its horrific jaws on Cerin's shield arm, shaking violently, ripping into Cerin's flesh and knocking him to the ground! A wave of fear suddenly wells up within him.
Nualia shakes her head at you all. "Pathetic. Just like that pissant town you're so keen on defending. Now, taste the power of the Mother of Monsters!" She casts a spell, and a beam of corcuscating, unholy energy fires from the blade of her bastard sword at Gwyn. The beam strikes the elven sorcerer, and she is wracked with indescribable pain.
"Damn, son," Orik says with a dark chuckle, spitting blood. "You sure pack a punch for a scrawny son of a b*$*+. I took harder beatings from Papa Saul, though. You know what I'm going to enjoy most about this? I get to kill you in front of the crazy lady. First you, then her. Dunno which I'll enjoy more!" He leaps at Tsuto again, another deadly slash aimed at the man's midsection.
Gwyn looks as if she's about to collapse after taking the brunt of the attack. Her arms are black from burns and bruises and she bleeds from several cuts and gashes. She doesn't scream, doesn't even grimace, as the pain wracks her body.
She looks up at Nualia and gives the Priestess a manic grin that she hadn't worn since her time at the Acadamae. It's the grin of someone who's punch-drunk, who knows they might die, but they'll keep talking and fighting as long as they can. It's a grin of someone who might not be totally sane. It's a grin that would make any sane person think twice about getting close.
"Tastes like pent-up sexual tension and teenage angst," she laughs before muttering an arcane phrase and disappearing.
"I have to say, if anyone could use a night of getting drunk and getting laid, it's you. I bet that would help you blow off some steam. Then again, you probably like fellows that are as stiff in bed as half-points over there seems like he'd be given that half your collection seems to be bad demonic romance novels. Sunset? Isn't that the one where the prettyboy demon sparkles in the sunlight? If this is what you've got on the shelves I'd be doing you a favor setting these aflame. Blegh! You've even got the complete works of Crima Gonsa?! What were these, a gag gift?"
Bruises continue to spread across Helena's face, fluttering into view as she staggers. As the energy from Nualia's sword hits Gwyn, the woman doubles over, clutching at her stomach with one hand. Gritting her teeth, she steps around the chair in front of her and thrusts her spear at the unearthly hound.
...hit
...miss
...miss
Monster stats
Nualia: AC 20, hp 73/73
Tsuto: AC 19, hp 11/52
Hound: AC 15, hp 17/30
Round 2, continued
Vanishing from sight, Gwyn starts unloading a string of insults directed at Nualia. So far, they don't seem to be bothering the demon-priest.
Reeling from Tsuto's one-two punch, Orik quickly recovers, to Tsuto's surprise. Orik thrusts his blade at the half-elf's belly. piercing his armor, and cutting deeply into his gut. Blood starts oozing from the wound. Clutching his side, Tsuto's smug grin turns to a grimace of pain.
Gimacing in pain herself from the life links connecting her to Gwyn and Orik, shadows of the wounds they suffered appear on her own body. Gritting her teeth, she attacks the demon-dog fighting Cerin, stabbing it. Yet, she feels that the attack should have done more damage than it did...
On his back at the base of the stairs, fear comes over Cerin as he desperately fights the demon-dog. His fear becomes a weapon as he finds an opening, slashing the monster's belly savagely with his fiery blade. Yet, he feels that such a solid strike should have left more of a mark. He is also glad he decided to stay prone, as the glaive weilded by the statue passes harmlessly over him.
Shalelu moves farther into the room, where she can get a bead on all three of the enemies. She makes a split decision that Cerin is in the direst of straits, and fires at the demon-dog. The arrow sinks into the beast's shoulder, but it keeps fighting.
Round 3
Looming over Cerin, the evil hound snarls and snaps its jaws on Cerin's leg, shaking its powerful neck violently. Its jaws tear deeply into the gnome's flesh.
Tsuto's pain turns to anger. "Bastard! I'll kill you for that!" He then tries another one-two punch, but this time Orik is ready and dodges.
Continuing to watch the fight, Nualia gasps as Orik stabs Tsuto. "We can't have that!" she says. Gesticulating with her demonic arm, she utters guttural sibilant words and then points at Orik. With a loud screech, a beam of force fires from her talons to Orik's sword.
At that, another voice calls from the doorway.
"Aww. What's a knockout like you doing messing around with demons?"
Kyrian Lynwood stands in the doorway, bow out and an arrow drawn.
Flashback...
As he crested the ridge on the Lost Coast Road, Kyrian looked over his shoulder. The placid village of Sandpoint seemed even tinier here, five miles back. He paused to rest, taking a drink from his wineskin.
He felt torn.
On the one hand, the mercenary he'd pumped for information had real news on the slaver gang that once held him and his sister... but time was of the essence. His contact in Magnimar was sailing for Nidal at dawn in two days... and it's a two-day journey to the city.
On the other hand, his friends were going back to Thistletop without him. Into the hands of the priestess of the Demon Queen. What if something happened to them... Could he forgive himself?
"Oh, f**k it!" Swallowing another mouthful of watered-down wine, his mind was clear. Going to Magnimar now was a mistake. He wasn't going to let his friends fight Nualia alone.
Turning around, he started back toward Sandpoint, increasing his pace.
* * *
Three hours later...
Kyrian pushed through the Tickwood game trail into the clearing. The day was misty but bright, as if the sun shone just above the thin fog still rolling in from the cliffs in front of him. Looking past the maze of thistles, he sized up the goblin stockade atop the giant rock. The rope bridge still hung. No goblins were in the sentry towers. He then made his way through the tunnels through the thistles, across the bridge, and to the Thistletop stockade. The main gates were ajar, and he slipped in.
Taking a few minutes to case the ground floow, Kyrian found nothing alive other than a few rats and a lot of roaches. He then made his way downstairs, poking around. He caught a whiff of brimstone and fresh scorch marks in a few rooms, including one that contained the charred remains of about a dozen particularly small goblins. He shrugged, making his way to the room where they'd encountered that Garundi witch that Orik had a thing for. The doorway was open. He descended the stairs.
Making his way across the slanted floor of the lower level, he smelled more brimnstone. He was not surprised to find the looted corpses of Bruthazmus and more goblins. These corpses were fresh. And then he heard the sounds of battle coming from down the hallway. Including some very familiar voices. Nocking an arrow, he quickly made his way down the hallway...
"Yes we can, b*tch!", Orik shouts back to his old employer, moving his blade away from her magic just in the nick of time. "Too stubborn to die?", he says to Tsuto with a snarl, pulling his blade free from Tsuto's midsection. "Guess we do have something in common after all. Won't save you though." He lowers his shield for a moment to bring an overhand strike down upon the half-elf's shoulder, feeling the crunch of his collarbone as it connects.
"Aww. What's a knockout like you doing messing around with demons?"
Orik spins as he hears a new arrival behind him, smirking as he notices Kyrian's arrival. "Now there's something I didn't expect to see. Hoorah, the f**king cavalry's arrived!"