Iolana sends a Magic Missile at one of still standing creatures.
Ayako is rather doubtful that anything can survive the might of Sebastion and Tyrando, so Ayako pulls out her long neglected sling and heaves a stone at a froggie.
Iolana sends a Magic Missile at one of still standing creatures.
Sebastian has no trouble gutting the fleeing frog and its corpse slides down the slope leaving a long steak of red blood across the stones.
Iolana hits the nearest boggard on the wooden platform with her magic missiles.
Tyrandro then aims at the same one and finishes it off. It likewise topples off the platform and slides down the hill adding to the mounting pile of bodies.
Ayako pulls off a trick shot with her sling and pings the other standing boggard, who is hardly visible to Ayako from her position, right on the nose. It grunts with surprise but shakes off the minor wound.
Laori laughs with amusement in the background.
The three stooges wedged against the wall stand up and immediately slip and hit their heads again. The remaining boggard on the platform, while raging, is unable to think clearly enough to realize that stepping on the slope is a bad idea, leaps off while swinging its club and Sebastian's skull. Sebastian is nearly caught off guard by the reckless move, but the attack misses him by a hair's width and the boggard then tumbles down to join its compatriots.
Tyrandro moves to the platform looking at the pityful guardians of the queen.
I believe these are just to delay us so the actual defenders can prepare.
Seb slips around and stabs at the Boggard right in front of him.
Iolana flies and and Casts Cone of Cold on the Boggards.
Ayako holds, letting her alies finish off the frog-men
Sebastian stabs the prone boggard multiple times in the back and it does not get back up.
The boggards prove again that they have no grace and all take the full force of Iolana's cone of cold.
Tyrandro shoots one of the boggards from the platform. The boggards may be dim-witted but they are hardy.
At last, two of the boggards gain their footing and stand up. They team up against Sebastian and one actually lands a glancing blow bruising Sebastian's shoulder.
Tyrandro shakes his head and continies to shoot.
Seb tries to parry the attack.
He attacks the nearest enemy.
Iolana liked how well that last attack went, and cats Cone of Cold again.
Sebastian parries the one attack that would have hit him and stands the boggard through the heart in a deft riposte. The boggard tumbles backwards dead.
Sebastian then turns on the next nearest boggard and slays it as well.
The last boggard fails to dodge Iolana's spell again and takes another blast of cold to the face.
The battered boggard is felled by Tyrandro's first arrow and the awkward combat comes to an end.
To the northeast of the boggard quarters is a storage room. A horizontal wooden platform has been built into the northwest portion of this chamber. On the platform are a large barrel and a heavy wooden chest. Several big fillets of smoked, spiced fish hang from a row of pegs along the wooden platform’s edge.
The fish fillets come from a giant gar. The barrel contains boggard cranberry liquor mixed with honey and foul-tasting herbs. The chest contains more than 100 pounds of groundnut tubers and other swamp legumes, but there is nothing of any real value stored here.
From here, there are no dry paths to continue. The pyramid slopes downward and there are three choices of tunnels the lead into dark murky water. However, the ceilings are high enough that you can fly/hover above the water without entering it.
Tyrandro looks if there are any ways leading upwards, as he has no interest of taking a bath in swamp water.
"Let's try the smaller hallway to the left first, and see what we discover. We can skim across the water, and hopefully one of those leads up eventually."
Works for me.
The rest of this floor is unguarded so you do a quick once around to get a lay of the area.
Shaft Down: The water darkens here indicating that it goes deeper down. There is only one level below you, so you'd be venturing into the tentacled beast's lair.
Flooded Chamber: The walls of this flooded square chamber are thick with reddish algae. Dozens of light yellow tadpoles the size of a human hand swim in all directions through the room.
Crystal Tube: A crystal tube emerges from a dark hole in the floor up to the ceiling, where it splits into dozens of small tubes that wind along the walls and ceiling above until finally sinking into the stone, presumably burrowing upward to a level above.
Water Storage: The east corner of this chamber is fitted with a wooden platform that seems to float on the water’s surface. A few barrels sit on the platform. The platform contains three barrels of drinking water.
Shaft Up: A soft, purplish light illuminates the northeastern part of this flooded chamber, where a large, square shaft opens in the ceiling.
We go up I suppose. I suspect that we will be confronted by foes up there. I can send some summoned creatures upwards to help protect us.
"I'll be right behind that creature." Tyrandro agrees.
Ayako stretches forth her hand and several small lights form and begin zipping up the shaft
Ayako instructs them to distract any creatures they find up their so her group can fly up
"I see you believe in strength in numbers." Tyrandro comments, before he follows the archons upstairs.
Iolana gets ready to fly up after Seb and Tyrando. "Good job Ayako. Those should keep any enemies busy for a few minutes."
Ayako's lantern archons soar up the shaft and the rest of you follow on their tails.
The air in this large room is warm and pleasant. The floor, walls, and ceiling are tiled with polished, rose-colored marble slabs. Climbing from the floor to the ceiling above and weaving in and out of the walls are dozens of thin crystal tubes. One shaft drops away in the floor to the southwest (where you are coming up), while a second shaft rises up through the ceiling to the northeast.
Right at the end of the landing, a nightmarish creature is waiting, fully aware of your presence in the ruins. This crimson horror walks upon six long, thin legs. Its face is neither that of a skull nor spider, but some horrid mix of the two.
Merely looking upon the monster subjects you to its eerie blood-draining gaze. Thin streams of blood pour from your eyes, flowing through the air and into the eye-socket-like pits in the creature's face.
The creature acts first and fills the shaft where you are flying with a bank of thin mist that weakens your mental resistance: Mind Fog.
It then casts a quickened lesser confusion on Sebastian.
Tyrandro goes with the plan of shooting first and asking questions later.
Iolana manages to shake off the effects of the spells.
Seb saves against the bleeding, fails against the fog, but manages to find enough will to avoid the Confusion. He uses his scarf to give himself reach and flies to the front line. He attacks.
Realizing it's some type of spell caster, Iolana casts Greater Dispel magic on the creature. She hopes it will take care of any helpful spells the creature has on it. She curses as her spell fails against the creatures resistances.
Ayako gags as black blood flows out of her eyes and into the creature
Ayako's alien mind manages to throw off the effects of the fog. Knowing, that Tyrando and Sebastion can deal with it with their weapons, Ayako casts Blessing of Fervor to aid their attacks while the archons unleash their beams of light.
With this blessing, you call your allies to move forth and empower them to conquer and become victorious. Each round for the duration of this spell, each of your allies can choose one of the following bonuses for that round at the beginning of its turn (their choice).
Increase its speed by 30 feet.
Stand up as a swift action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Make one extra attack as part of a full attack action, using its highest base attack bonus.
Gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and a +2 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves.
Cast a single spell of 2nd level or lower as if it were an enlarged, extended, silent, or still spell.
These effects are not cumulative with similar effects, such as those provided by haste or a speed weapon, nor do they actually grant an extra action, so you can’t use it to cast a second spell or otherwise take an extra action in the round. Blessing of fervor does not stack with haste.
The Archons take the speed blessing and open fire with a barrage of holy light,
13 damage inflicted
Iolana doesn't know much about this creature but determines that this must be a variant of a scarlet walker that lives in the nightmare realm of Leng.
Sebastian lunges forward midair and stabs the creature. He think he stabs somewhere vital but the scarlet walker's unusual anatomy makes it difficult to determine where its organs actually lie. It seems to take no more damage than a regular wound.
Tyrandro takes his turn and fires a stream of arrows. For a creature so huge, it is surprisingly nimble. Only one arrow hits, and like with Sebastian, what would have been a critical hit on a normal creature, is only a flesh wound on this horror.
Ayako cast blessing of fervor.
The archons swarm the beast at Ayako's command. It dodges most of the rays in a mind-boggling acrobatic dance but a few hit their mark.
Iolana attempts a greater dispel magic but Ithier's spell resistance is too strong.
+5 if this is lingering effect
The scarlet walker's wounds begin healing at a rapid pace before your eyes. It attempts another quickened lesser confusion on Sebastian then it vanishes from sight with greater invisibility. You'd expect to still hear skittering on the floor, but it if moved, it was completely silent.
Sebastian goes, then after his turn, four erinyes teleport into the room. Unlike the other erinyes you've encountered, these four are wielding flaming tridents inside of bows. One says, "You stand before Ileosa's Furies and will proceed no further! Queen Ileosa will not be disturbed on pain of death."
"Not that again! S$&&ty invisible enemies." Tyrandro curses. He shoots the devils instead.
Laori follows up after the others.
To help out with the issue of disappearing enemies she casts invisibility purge.
Seb's luck doesn't hold and he's confused. Luckily he acts normally, and stabs at the Erynes in front of him using the extra attack from BOF.
Iolana rises above the others in the room an points her Staff of Evocation at the first sends a bolt of Chain Lightening at the erinyes to the far left (1). She sreams in frustration as her spell doesn't do anything again.
Ayako has had enough of these MF Erynies in the MF pyramid and grasps the stand of blessed beadsand focuses her will upon the one that pierces the planar barriers.
It's time we clear out the chaff and focus on the queen.
Sebastian refuses to be confused when his enemy is so clearly in front on him. He stabs the erinyes to his right twice then a third time driving the holy rapier through her dark heart. The erinyes immolates while still impaled, leaving nothing but black ash in the wind. Sebastian spins and gets a critical hit in on the erinyes to his left as well.
Since Sebastian is taking the left, Tyrandro takes the right, and dusts one of the erinyes as well.
Ayako grasps her bead of summons. Upon use, the bead shatters in her hand and a portal to the outer planes opens before her. Out steps a morbidly beautiful woman clad in a gown of spider silk leans upon a staff seemingly topped with a giant spider. The morrigna psychopomp greats Ayako, "Well met Ayako. Pharasma sends her regards. Ileosa's vie for immortality must be stopped. I am to serve you until you complete this task."
Iolana fires a bolt of lightning from her staff...to no effect.
Laori's invisibility purge fills the room and reveals the scarlet walker's position.
Ithier ups the ante with an insanity spell targeting Sebastian. Then another quickened lesser confusion on Ayako.
The erinyes in the back drops on unholy blight that hits everyone.
The closer erinyes stabs at Sebastian but he is frustratingly hard to hit.
As Ayako calls for an all out fight, Laori pulls out the oil of greater magic weapon from Tyradro's backpack and applies it to his bow.
Tyrandro takes the well known hurt from that lame spell in stride. But that ugly crab will feel his wrath.
The archons focus their fire on a single devil woman(4) before the combined spells send their summoned forms back home
Ayako will wait to see if Sebastion falls prey to the Insanity so she can use a Heal spell on him.
The psycopomp will approach Erynies 4 and stroke at her with it's wrappings, seeking to entangle it
Seb smacks himself in the face.