Bellum comes around the party and tries to bit the women.
A low growl comes out of his mouth as he lunges at her.
Riori points at Talia, incanting a simple orison, stabilizing her.
Riori points at Talia, incanting a simple orison, stabilizing her.
Cade nods at the angry women.
Bellum sick balls...
and with those words the dog runs back around the party to the other side. Cade looks back at the women. The angle makes it hard to strike true and he bobs and weaves until he gets the opening. He rushes the attack and misses the target badly. Damn it...nicely done my lady... He nods across the way slightly to her side...but this might hurt...
Bellum comes around the party and tries to bite the woman. A low growl comes out of his mouth as he lunges at her. His teeth find a place to dig in, and he breaks the skin, twisting his head and pulling. Nualia finds herself off balance for a moment before she pulls her leg free and stays on her feet.
Talia lies on the ground, still unconscious.
Nualia strikes at the bear before her, trying to cut it down.
The falchion bites into Karjys yet again, sending more of the bear's blood to the ground.
Karu and Karjys mount a counterattack.
Nualia defends herself from most of the attacks, but Karjys manages to bite her.
Nualia - 15/59
Hound - dead
Karjys - 2/22
Talia - -8/22
Cade darts in again trying to find a gap in the women's defense but again the corner makes it difficult to connect.
Cade looks at the bear who seems to enjoy being in the doorway.
Bellum tries to bite the women but also find the corner to be to much to get around.
He then looks to the bear that is on the front lines with many wounds. The little swordsman then looks to the cleric again waiting to see if she reacts.
Cade stares at Riori as she hesitates. His smile is still there.
...and...
..we...heal...the bear that has been taking the brunt of the attacks from the bad breath woman who obviously has anger issues, possibly some daddy issues and really does not make good career choices....
Cades words come out jovial and good-natured.
So focused on the wounded fellow half-elf, Riori starts as Cade calls attention to the blood seeping through Karjys's thick fur. "Oh gods, I am blind!" she says in contrition, and casts a healing spell on the bear.
Cade darts in again trying to find a gap in the women's defense but again the corner makes it difficult to connect.
Cade darts in again trying to find a gap in the women's defense but again the corner makes it difficult to connect. Cade looks at the bear who seems to enjoy being in the doorway.
Bellum tries to bite the women but also find the corner to be to much to get around.
He then looks to the bear that is on the front lines with many wounds. The little swordsman then looks to the cleric again waiting to see if she reacts.
Cade stares at Riori as she hesitates. His smile is still there.
"...and we heal the bear that has been taking the brunt of the attacks from the bad breath woman who obviously has anger issues, possibly some daddy issues and really does not make good career choices...." Cades words come out jovial and good-natured.
So focused on the wounded fellow half-elf, Riori starts as Cade calls attention to the blood seeping through Karjys's thick fur. "Oh gods, I am blind!" she says in contrition, and casts a healing spell on the bear. Many of Karjys's wounds close.
Talia remains unconscious.
Nualia glares at Riori - she was close to finishing off the bear - and instead tries to cast a spell.
Unfortunately for her, her desire to avoid attacks while she casts causes her to fumble the spell.
Karu's spear misses, as does Karjys's bite, but both of the bear's claws connect. Nualia falls to the ground as the second spins her about.
Cade moves quickly to the women, kicks her weapon away and looks up at Rioir.
Go and see what you can do for Talia.
Riori runs over to Talia and using her last spell she had prepared, converts it into a healing spell.
Cade smiles as he see Talia respond to the spell. He then turns the angry women over and proceeds to remove items of interest from her.
Talia gives Riori a grateful look. "Thanks for that!"
Sitting up with a pained grunt she looks around. "Did we win?
Cade starts by removing the easily taken off things - a medallion in the shape of a seven-pointed star, a very nice longbow and 20 arrows, a golden unholy symbol of what he assumes is Lamashtu, a coin pouch containing 7 platinum pieces and 5 gold pieces, and a journal. Then he is left with having to remove her breastplate armor.
Riori nods with a smile. "We did indeed."
While Cade roots through Nualia's pockets, Riori checks Nualia's pulse, and satisfied she is beyond healing, she lets forth a burst of positive energy to help everyone feel a bit better.
She then goes to the end of the hallway to retrieve her starknives, and then steps into the room Nualia and her hound were waiting, looking around.
"She talked about summoning something, let's be sure that still isn't in process. If we're attacked by some fiend, I'll have nothing to defend against it with."
As cade starts to remove the armor he looks up at Talia.
How you feeling?
Tallia gets carefully to her feet. "Like I got stomped." She answers Cade dryly.
She will look around the room for anything hidden.
You notice that Riori's healing also healed Nualia, and she's now faking being dead.
At the last moment as she stands and finishes expelling the energy, she notices the seemingly dead woman take in a breath. Giving Cade and Talia a silent, warning glance, she pulls her last, best starknife off her belt and slashes downward at the prone, faking-death woman's throat.
Cade notices the silent warning but is not prepared for the attack that comes afterwards.
He jumps backward as the star misses him as he is standing over top of the women. The moves proves to be enough to give him the time and the space to draws forth the little rapier.
Still smiling.
Do my a favor angry women...say hello to Lamashtu for me.
...and he stabs down at the women.
Cade and Riori finish off the playing dead Nualia.
Riori exhales breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. "Sorry for the close shave," she says, even while giving the body another whack with her blade to be sure. "I didn't want to waste time. God she was a tricky minx, wasn't she? Let's take her body and burn it to be sure."
"Now I want to see what's in her office. If she was summoning a fiend of some sort we want to be sure that's put to a stop."
NOW she gets up, wipes the blood off the starknife in her hand, and goes and retrieves her other two starknives before entering the north room.
Cade shrugs as if it does not matter...
Talia...can you tell us anything about what this women had on her?
Wide stone ledges of red marble line the curving walls of this room, which is well lit by four burning skulls that sit approximately equidistant from each other on the ledges. Three chairs rest in the room, and both ledges are covered with old books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed creatures soaking in brine, taxidermied animals and limbs, and other strange objects. To the north a large round fountain filled with frothy blue water fills the room with the gentle sound of bubbling.
The books, scrolls, and various objects scattered about the ledges are items sacred to the worship of Lamashtu.
Talia's search of the room reveals nothing hidden.
Riori sneers at the ickier things in the room. She puts her hand close to one of the burning skulls, curious as to whether the flame is magical (and if something akin to a continual flame not hot) or not. If it is not hot, she will pick one up to illuminate the shadows in the room while seeing if anything important stands out.
(If the skull is not in arm's reach she leaves it be.)
Talia looks over Nualia's possessions carefully. "That amulet, it's called a Sihedron amulet. It's a symbol of the Runelords of Thassilon. The seven points represent the seven virtues or vices."
She thinks a bit. "We found a statue of one of the Runelords in the tunnels under Sandpoint. Same symbol on it. I think the statue was of the Runelord of Wrath?"
"There's an expert on the Thassilonians in Sandpoint right now. We can poke him for information."
"All here has been in service of Lamashtu, going by the stuff in this room. I wonder how she might be tied to these Runelords... or the entity Nualia was hoping to summon."
If she finds nothing of interest in the room she is in, she goes to the unopened door and checks it for signs of trouble. ()
Talia joins Riori in checking the door. :)
Riori finds that the burning skull isn't hot at all, and is easily picked up. Looking through the room, she finds it to be full of Nualia's notes and journals, surely further outlining her plans. It will take a little time to read through them, though. Examining the water she finds that it appears to be perfectly drinkable and very fresh.
Examining the unopened door, neither Riori nor Talia finds any sign of danger. Opening the door, they find a short, 10-foot hallway with another door at the end. That door is also free of danger, so they open it and emerge into an L-shaped hallway. The southern wing ends in a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of 2 skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.
"Is it me or do lots of little things covered in tiny, spiky runes scream 'this is a trap' to you?" She sighs and addresses the group.
"It looks like this fortress moves ever deeper. I hate to say it but while time may be of the essence, I am out of resources and Karu said she was flagging earlier, and Talia you've taken a lot of hard knocks. I don't think we'll make it if we don't take some time to rest."
Let us gather all of her gear and finish exploring this place. I am fine if we leave and come back but I figured since we are here....
"As ominous as the creepy Lamashtu room is, it seems sealed off from everything and while we might test it further, it has a source of fresh water. Perhaps we should rest here?"
Cade looks around the room.
I have passed out in worse places. They do not call them dives for nothing.
Bellum and I will take middle watch. Get some sleep.
The rest of the day passes uneventfully - nothing disturbs your rest. Once Riori has prepared her spells, the group is ready to move on.
The next place to explore is in the L-shaped hallway. The southern wing ends in a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of 2 skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.
"I don't like to imagine what'd happen if those 'coins' get knocked loose. Be buried alive, I reckon. Let's tread carefully."
Riori will aid those with sharper eyes to search the area for whatever might trigger any trouble, both at the coin stack or the doors.
Talia finds the coins rather suspicious. "Right, a pile of gold sitting here innocently in the open. I'm sure it's harmless."
"And the spiky runes merely artistic embellishments."
You are the expert in all things...trappy like. I will take your expert opinion on this matter. We leave it alone.
Choosing to leave the apparent pillar of gold alone for now, you turn your attention to the doors with skeleton motifs.
Finding no traps, and the door being unlocked, she opens it to reveal a long rectangular room. Four pillars support the domed ceiling of this room. Several dark alcoves containing standing sarcophagi grace the walls, and a statue of a stern-faced man holding a glaive and a book stands in the southern part of this chamber.
The carvings on the walls and the statue depict the ancient Runelord, Karzoug.