Since this looks like the source of the disease, can Tragershen hypothesize what it would take to restore the temple, or at least purge the disease? Would cleaning the statue do it? Or would it take a dispel magic/remove curse/consecrate/etc.?
If it applies, knowledge check religion . If knowledge (religion wouldn't be right, his spellcraft is one higher and his arcana is three higher.
Bedlam looks upon the bubbling pool, the bloody statue, and the bloated hands.
Dis be disgusting!
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Anzath: It's a short but unnerving jump from the outside of the fountain to the statue at the center. You'll have to grab on to the statue to steady yourself, as the pedestal is small and partially in the goop.
Tragershen: You know enough to know that cleaning the statue is both a good idea and unlikely to solve the problem by itself. There may be a way to heal this place without big magic. If you went the magical route, you are pretty sure the trouble here is demonic, so you'd want to counter that influence.
The shapes in the pool begin to solidify.
Anzath draws her crossbow and a potion of Vanish, “Ve are not alone.”
Bedlam puts on his mean face....
Tragershen casts mage armor on himself, and watches the shapes forming to see if he can tell what they are.
A faint look of disgust is omnipresent on the cleric's face as they wander the diseased halls. As the group readies itself to meet with whatever is solidifying from the pestilential goop, Aurora pitches in with a blessing over her allies.
The forms in the bloody pustule of a pus-pool continue to coagulate--small bodies, tiny hands, and, at last, little horns, little fingernails that keep growing until they turn into little talons, little gleams in little eyes that start to size you up, and little lips that laugh squeaky little gleeful laughs at the little things they are going to try to do, as soon as they can...
Tragershen and the rest of you recognize a clutch of little demons like the one you already fought down here.
Bedlam quickly puts together a Tanglefoot Bomb.
Tragershen blasts the lot of them with glitterdust to minimize the chance of any invisibility shenanigans.
DC 16 will or blinded.
Anzath takes careful aim on one of the pestilenzi and fires.
Aurora moves up to the edge of the pool, getting into position with her quarterstaff at the ready.
Bedlam's bomb goes a little wild, but the explosion catches a couple of the demons in their foul bath...
...despite their quick reflexes, they both end up with a layer of goop on top of their... goop.
Tragershen's glitterbomb poses another problem entirely:
Two of the little monsters are blinded, and all are festively illuminated.
Anzath's bolt goes wide.
Talathel considers his options and decides a longbow shot won't be amiss here:
Vael trusts to her holy good health and advances alongside Aurora.
Aurora, by the way, finds herself inhaling the miasmatic vapors of the pool. It's almost like she can feel the microbes as they settle on her skin... and hair... and eyes...
...despite her careful preparations and generally sturdy constitution, she's got the pestilence now.
Initiative
The pestilenzi finish forming and begin to take action!
The blinded one hurls itself at Aurora, attempting to bite with its nasty teeth!
...but the glitterdust in its eyes keeps it from locating the cleric.
The entangled Pest twirls up out of the filth and, despite its heavy-laden wings, makes a bolt for the library
The blinded AND entangled one follows the first, but aims for Vael instead.
Again, no dice.
Tragershen's magic proves its worth, yet again.
The fountain continues to boil...
Aurora shudders. "As a note! Do not approach the pool!" She swings at the pestilenzi pest trying to snap at her before taking a five-foot step away from the pool's edge.
"Don't let dem eskape!" shouts Anzath as she chases down the one that got past.
Bedlam then takes out a different flask, tossing it at those in the pool.
Source Ultimate Equipment pg. 107 (Amazon)
Price 35 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Category Alchemical Weapons
Description
This simple clay pot has two sealed, airtight inner chambers containing alchemical liquids. The jar is thrown as a splash weapon. It shatters on impact, covering the target with a mixture of the two liquids. One round later on your turn, the liquids react and explode with concussive force. The target takes 1 point of sonic damage, is deafened for 1d4 rounds, and must make a DC 12 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round. Creatures within 5 feet of the explosion take 1 point of sonic damage. The target can use a full-round action to scrape or wash off the liquid before it detonates, depositing the material in its square or an adjacent square; the material detonates as normal, though the original target only takes damage as if it were within 5 feet of the explosion. Crafting this item is a DC 25 Craft (alchemy) check.
Construction
Craft (Alchemy) DC 25
"Don't let dem eskape!" shouts Anzath as she chases down the one that got past.
Tragershen looks down where Azath is following one of the Pests. He sees the wisdom in Anzath's exclamation and acts on it. He shouts an unintelligible arcane phrase and... nothing happens. At least until you follow the line of his finger down into the corridor. Just beyond the tip of Anzath's blade, spider webs silently blossom in the passage, filling it in mere moments until the way is nearly entirely blocked by strong, sticky cables of webbing.
Vael prepares to smite the demons! But a quick nip from Valrah convinces her to save some power for later, and she goes for a good old fashioned Earthbreaking instead:
...that might have been a bad idea. The demon's inherent resilience soaks up most of the damage.
The only fully healthy Pestilenzi screeches in frustration. It blinks out of existence.
“Damn.”
\
The pestilenzi in the hallway (and just in front of Anzath) is not yet captured by the sticky Webbing.
"Damn, they may be getting reinforcements from elsewhere. And Yaza is watching this room; if we take too long, she may send minions!"
Tragershen holds a hand up and casts a spell. At the end of it, his fingers contort so that one is pointing at each of his companions, and they feel the familiar burst of adrenelin rush as the world seems to slow around them.
Casting haste targeting all PC's except Tragershen.
Her quarrie’s egress blocked, Anzath continues to cut it down from the air, now with arcane celerity.
Anzath's swift series of slashes hurts the demon, but its extraplanar defenses soak up a lot of the pain. You could fell an ox with such an onslaught, but not this little guy.
Hastily joining Anzath, the dwarf swings his heavy mace at the stubborn critter.
The pestlienzi's flesh crumples under Bedlam's cold iron--it's dead!
A pair of quick, sweeping strikes are directed at the pestilenzi the cleric is fighting.
Talathel silently resumes assailing the disgusting demonic foe, adjusting his position to maximise his chances of intercepting their potential escape routes.
As Talathel approaches the fountain, his pestilence is at risk of escalating:
He feels worse and worse.
VaelBot Hastens to dispatch the pestilenzi currently biting at her face:
This time, her clobbering brings better results.
Bedlam's bomb explodes, but it doesn't seem to do much to the fountain. You do note that, among the ripples that follow the explosion, the forms in the muck seem a bit larger than the last ones... too big to be pestilenzi, more human-sized.
The other two pestilenzi try to bite their foes:
They can't make any headway.
Hastily joining Aurora, the dwarf swings his heavy mace at the stubborn critter.
Anzath gives Bedlam an appreciative nod, and as he returns to the group, she’s quick to follow, joining Vael in the hastened demon dispatchery.
Prescience , 2 of 7.
Disturbed by the disappeared demon, Tragershen calls on his divination abilities to see if it has eluded his glitterdust spell and has gone invisible.
Tragershen does not see anything invisible.
VaelBot:
Rorabot:
TalBot:
With Talathel's help, Vael kills the demon. Talathel uses his second stab to assist Aurora in her work.
The pool spits out two fully formed plague zombies! They will act at the end of the round. The fountain begins to hiss and squeak, growing louder and louder.
The last pestilenzi bites at Aurora:
...it can't make an impression.
Talathel continues to stab and stab!
The fountain begins to hiss and squeak, growing louder and louder.
Prescience , 3 of 7 used.
Seeing zombies emerging from the fountain, Tragershen flicks his wrist, causing his wand to appear in his hand. He invokes its power, and sends a shimmering white beam at the closer zombie.
Ready wand of disrupt undead, use it on the zombie.
Ranged touch attack to hit
Damage
Aurora moves away away from the pestilenzi, back towards the rest of the group — if it hasn't yet died under Talathel's assault, she'll first send a swing of her staff as a parting gift.
"I think we need to back off until this thing calms down!"
Anzath’s face twitches at the sight of the zombies, “I hate dese dings.”
Staying clear from the muck’s edge, she positions herself to stand in the zombies’ path should they come to shore.
"I think we need to back off until this thing calms down!"
"I can drop the web if we need to retreat. But there may be a limit to the fountain's summoning. The two zombies seem much weaker than four demons! If I had a minute, I could likely sort out the magic at work here..."
Bedlam steps back behind the line. The dwarf then begins to rifle through his pack.
Be blowing da durn ting up!
VaelBot helps out with the pestilenzi:
NOW it's dead.
The zombies emerge from the pool. Also arriving are a horde of rats, called by the squeaking of the fountain--they come galloping down the opposite corridor!
Anzath's blade flashes out and slashes the zombie as it rushes towards her! But it is a zombie, so it can't take any actions after climbing out of the fountain.
The other shambles towards Vael.
Tragershen suddenly spots an invisible pestilenzi flashing into being on the far side of the room, where it hovers over the rat horde.
The fountain boils... snakelike forms writhe in the murky muck.
Bedlam applies blasting jelly to the foundation of the fountain.
Aurora takes another five-foot-step back, and casts shield of faith on herself; as is typical of the cleric buffing herself, as a swift action she will proc a use of Divine Vessel and a spark of divine essence flows out to her nearby allies.
Watching new threats arrive from the periphery, Anzath tries to focus on whats immediately in front of her.
Knowing what happens next, Anzath covers her face with her arm, squeezes her eyes shut, and holds her breath.