Tyrandro takes a deep breath and concentrates to not shoot the cavern wall again.
Iolana blasts the last garden guardian with cold and Tyrandro finishes to off with a hail of arrows. It dies in a poof of spores. The last cloud of spores also dissipates shortly clearing the path to traverse safely.
The threat removed, you work your way around to the rope bridges.
Rope Bridges:
This protrusion rises from a rocky beach overlooking the sloshing waters of a sea cave. Three rope bridges descend deeper into the cave, connecting three progressively lower ledges on the wall until finally reaching a stony protrusion at ground level.
About midway down you come across and landing with a closed simple wooden door on the northeast wall. Behind the door, you can hear the barking and whimpering of a dog-like creature (or wolf =P).
At the very bottom is a pier. And to the south, a set of stone double-doors with a great tiger's head sculpted into them.
Pier:
At the bottom of the vast cavern, a wooden pier extends out into a gently sloshing pool of blue seawater. A shallowdraft barge is docked at the pier, an unlit lantern hanging from its bow. Supporting timbers and brickwork line parts of the lower edge of the immense cavern to both the west and south, showing where the original sea cave has been artificially expanded. To the north, a twenty-five-foot-wide waterway provides an aquatic exit from the cavern—the distant, muted sounds of the surf and sloshing water echo down from that direction.
"How is everyone doing? What about your bag's inhabitant?" Tyrandro asks as the dust of battle settles.
"I could use some healing. Did you hear that barking and whining? We should check out where it's coming from." She drinks a potion of cure light wounds.
"Cheerio." Tyrandro toasts towards Iolana before downing a potion himself.
"So what is that? A puppy to bait us into the next threat or the next threat itself?"
Ayako taps herself with her rapidly depleting CLW wand
Ayako than opens the bag and a very sick looking piggy pops out.
Bweee..Bwee..
Hold on Mu Shu, I will fix you up.
Whispered chants from Ayako manage to remove the worse of the spore's damage from the pig.
There you go. Best you stay in my pouch until we can figure out a way to help protect you.
Bweee... The piggy looks disappointed.
After healing up, you open the door where you hear the animal behind.
This simple chamber contains a bed and a number of shelves carved into the stone walls. All manner of animal figurines, some crude and carved of wood, others exquisite and sculpted from stone or even metal, decorate these shelves. A heap of raw materials for crafting more of the animals lies against the western wall.
Also inside is a young wolf in a metal cage that it barely fits within. An unfinished figurine in its likeness is nearby.
Several of the sculptures are skillfully made. The most valuable are a 1-foot-long blue-coral gecko worth 300 gp, an exquisitely crafted firepelt cougar carved from redwood worth 200 gp, and a gold flame drake with tiny pearls for eyes worth 1,200 gp.
Iolana studies the carvings, and detects magic on them. She looks really tempted to take them. "Anyone have an issue with me taking these lovely sculptures? What a pretty wolf. We can't leave him here."
"And what are we going to do with it? Release it into the garden? It might even be dangerous and attack us." Tyrandro replies and approaches the wolf to see how it reacts.
"He'd starve if we leave him here. Try to make friends with him. We can name him Fluffy, and turn him loose outside of town if we have to."
The wolf is like wagging it's tail. Or more like the whole wolf is wagging. Or trying too as the cage is restricting it's movement.
And it's whimpering heartbreakingly.
"I stand corrected. That doesn't look dangerous." Tyrandro opens the cage and steps out of the way to give way for Fluffy.
Fluffy squeezes through the opening and jumps at Tyrandro.
And starts slobbering him.
Tyrandro keeps standing. "Drop it! Sit! Down!" he orders while trying to protect his face with his hands.
Fluffy drops it, sits and lies down looking at Tyrandro still wagging his tail.
"That's disgusting." Tyrandro wipes his face with his sleeve.
About the figures he tells Iolana "You can rob this Arcona until he is in his last shirt for all I care. Is there something else we need to take care of here or can we move on in our search for the Seneschal?"
"So cute." Iolana reaches out to pet the wolf.
Might as well take some kind of compensation.
Mu Shu peeks out of the satchel and is dismayed at the sight of the wolf, backing back down into his nest of adventurer's clutter that occupies the nooks and crannies of their magical containers. After all, it was doubtful his mistress would be needing these 10 candles,torches and iron pot anytime soon.
Tyrandro looks around for any sign that someone stayed in that room recently and for hints where that person might be now.
Iolana takes the clearly valuable sculptures and puts them in her bag.
The room definitely seems lived in. Someone was here earlier today. But you can't be certain who or where he or she is now. Likely this person is still down in the caverns somewhere.
Perhaps the wolf you just befriended can help...
So where do we go now? Down further?
"So far it's the only way to go on. Let's go then." Tyrandro readies his bow and together with Sebastian takes the lead further down.
Fluffy still lies on the floor and starts whimpering again as everyone is leaving.
"Oh, come on!" Tyrando calls out rolling his eyes.
Which is good enough for Fluffy as it contains 'come'. Fluffy follows Tyrandro insisting on walking beside him. Which isn't really helpful in narrow places.
Iolana laughs at Fluffy's antics while taking up the rear of the line. She reaches out and casts a spell on him. "Here's some protection for you. If Mu Shu will climb out of the pack, I'll Mage Armor him too. Is your new friend a him Ayako?"
Indeed, can you spare the magic? I will have to get him a proper adventuring outfit to help protect him. Hmm...A Hand of the Mage so he can distribute potions and a haversack.
Bwee!
"If he's going to stay in your pack, I'll save the magic. Otherwise I'll use the spell. I want our friends safe."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Mu Shu will stay safe for now. Things seem to be just a little too hairy right now.
Oink
Sebastian and Tyrandro take the lead down to the bottom level near the water. Tunstall senses your intention and sniffs the floor before lopping into the lead. He stops and the double doors and starts growling.
Sounds like there might be something there that is pretty hostile.
"Everyone ready or is someone still wounded from the last encounter? I mean besides piggy in the bag." Tyrandro asks to make sure this isn't a set up for fiasco.
I can Bless us and help protect us from Evil for a few minutes if we plan on going in ready for combat
Once prepared, you push open the doors to what appears to be a temple of sorts.
Four lit braziers illuminate this vast chamber, a cathedral-like space made all the more immense by its lack of benches or other concessions to comfort. The floor is polished tan marble, with the walls rising up to form a domed ceiling sixty feet above. Alcoves line these walls, six in all, inside of which stand human-sized statues of a tiger-headed man. To the south, a few steps lead up to a pulpit-like area with three more statues of the same figure—the central one being twice as tall and holding out before him two lances from which hang flags. The left is the flag of Korvosa, while the right bears the Arkona coat of arms.
Two 18-foot long emperor cobras dwell in this chamber as well as a regally dressed tiger-headed man (although not the same man as the statues). Bloody partially-eaten carcasses of animals and at least one man little the floor. In addition, one of the cobras has just finished shedding, and the tiger-man is sharing the shed skin as a meal with his two pets.
He looks at you when you enter the room and releases a guttural growl. "Interesting. I don't normally get company down here. Tell me, are you friend or food? Glorio doesn't usually send me so many offerings at once but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth."
He spots the wolf next to Tyrandro. "You've been in my room. That was very rude and unwise. It seems you are nothing more than common thieves. Reparations are in order and I'll take me due in flesh."
This is a Rakshasa.
The rakshasa is an evil spirit that cloaks itself in the guise of a humanoid creature that it might walk unseen among its prey. They embody what is taboo among most societies, and in the shape of those it seeks to defile, a rakshasa gorges itself on these hideous acts. Were they human, these acts of cannibalism, blasphemy, and worse would mark them as criminals condemned to the cruelest of hells.
When not disguised as a humanoid, the otherwise humanoid rakshasa has the head of an animal. Often, they possess the heads of great cats (such as a tiger or panther) or a snake (like a cobra or viper), yet other heads are not unknown—apes, jackals, vultures, elephants, mantises, lizards, rhinos, boars, and more are possible. In most cases, the type of head a rakshasa possesses speaks in some way to its personality—a tiger-headed rakshasa is stealthy and ravenous, while a boar-headed one might be gluttonous and crude. These changes rarely impact the rakshasa’s base statistics, although there are more powerful variants of the standard rakshasa that possess multiple heads, more potent spellcasting powers, and additional deadly and unusual special abilities.
Rakshasas scoff at religion—they understand the power of the divine, but see themselves as the only thing worthy of worship from the mortal races.
In addition to their shape-changing ability, they have very strong damage resistance and spell resistance. The damage resistance is only overcome with good, piercing weapons. They can also cast a number of various spells like a sorcerer.
The creature is not immediately attack but he is poised to strike at any moment. The snakes are likewise tense.
Ayako blesses the group before they head in
Spend Harrow point for Reroll
What an unusual room and guests. Glorio did invite us down here to locate some guests of his and we were rudely assaulted by some walking dead so perhaps some grumpiness can be expected, but we certainly did not come down here to rob and assault our hosts. Perhaps we could be allowed to continue our way to Glorio's other guests and consider this a very unfortunate misunderstanding.
"Do you live down here? Are these your pets? May I ask your name? We were sent here, as my associate said, to find another guest."
Tyrandro sees how Iolana and Ayako torture their brains to make sense out of this situation. But obviously the only misunderstanding was that we are invited to anything but our own death. And this will only get us a 'Yeah, go further I'll feed your remains to my snakes later.' These Arconas are cannibals and obviously evil.
Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes? he thinks before he starts shooting one of them .
"Sorry for ruining your diplomatic efforts. But I'm not going further with that man eater in the way of our retreat."
"So much for diplomacy then." She quickly casts Haste on the party.
I wasn't counting it on working really. Ayako will cast Protection from Evil-Communal on her group.
Tyrandro catches the cobra off guard and pieces it with two arrows.
The rakshasa casts a spell and a semi-circle shield blinks into existence before fading to invisibility.
Iolana goes, then the snakes surge forward. Fortunately for you, the snakes' size works against them and only one can fit into the doorway to attack you.
The injured snake bites at Tyrandro but it crashes into the door frame instead.
+5
Iolana squeezes up to where she can see, "There goes my Magic Missiles, and the Tiger Man's armor just went up. He cast shield." She decides to fire both Ray of Colds at the Tiger man.
Ayako shuffles back to Sebastion can bring his blade to bear and points at a cobra and her mouth starts moving at weird angles as words slither through the air and impact on the lead Cobra, triggering it's animal fear instincts.
Tyrandro sighs as there is no place to step back but shoots anyway.
Fluffy doesn't like these snakes and hates the tiger man. And as Tyrandro seems to share this feeling he attacks the snake.
Ayako gives the lead cobra a glimpse of the void and its simple mind can't comprehend.
The cobra strikes again at Tyrandro when he draws his bow nearly ripping off his arm.
Tyrandro plants two arrows into the (red) cobra, killing it, and and then two more arrows into the (blue) cobra behind it.
The next cobra lunges at Tunstall when he moves up to attack but the wolf dodges underneath the attack. Unfortunately, Tunstall isn't able to score a hit either.
Sebastian slips around the remaining snake and stabs it through. It wobbles unsteadily on its last legs.
The rakshasa stands his ground and conjures a magical arrow of acid that he launches at Sebastian but his aim is spoiled by the fierce combat between Sebastian and the cobra.
Iolana hits the rakshasa with two rays of cold. The attack appears to hit but the effect washes over him like water. Its innate resistance to magic shields him.
The injured cobra withdraws (with the withdraw action). Unable to escape the room, it curls up in the far corner to nurse its wounds. Due to its size, Sebastian still gets an attack off on it but slithers away too quickly.
"I hate snakes!"
Ayako taps Tyrando with her wand of CSW
Tyrandro finishes off the cobra with his first arrow and fires the rest at the rakshasa but with its magical defenses, the arrows are deflected harmlessly.
Ayako heals the grievous wound that Tyrandro took.
Sebastian steps up the Rakshasa to attack but his sword is also deflected.
The rakshasa enters into a flurry of attacks and amazingly Sebastian parries most of them but he is taken by surprise when the creature leans forward to bite him with its large tiger maw. Luckily Ayako's protection from evil flares into effect and shields him.
"You've been lucky so far but it won't last." It growls. "You can't hurt me and I like to play with my food. I'll make sure you suffer for killing my beloved pets."
Tyrandro drops his bow and moves over to kitty cat drawing his sword on the way. "Fluffy get the cat!"