Quint's stellar eyes manage to catch a break in the trees. Moving forward, he tries to utilize the line to take down his foe.
Yelek sinks his blade deep into his target, but somehow it manages to remain upright.
Sighting in one of the visible foes, Egg launches an arrow straight into his shoulder. The satisfying *Thud* of the arrow followed quickly by a shriek from the man.
Pavo, focusing on the more injured man swings his blade hard and true, separating the foes head from his shoulders.
Another of the blood thirsty men jumps to his feet and rushes to take the fallen mans place. Meanwhile another comes into view of the group, squeezing through the break in the trees, he heads for the pistol wielding man. Out of the corner of his eyes, Quint spies a third making his way through the mist.
Pink Enemies
Quint
Yelek
Egg
Pavo
Blue Enemies
John
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Working his way through the thick underbrush John makes it up to the fray. Seeing one enemy lying in pieces on the ground he yells out at one of the remaining humans,
Special: You also gain a +4 bonus on Intimidate checks if you are larger than your target and a –4 penalty on Intimidate checks if you are smaller than your target.
Moving closer to the fight, John offers some cutting words of wisdom to their combatants.
With a might swing of his club, the man tries bashing in Yeleks skull, while getting a taste of his flesh. The thin mans wild swing goes wide, while the mist causes his bit attempt to just miss the nagaji.
Pink Enemies
Quint
Yelek
Egg
Pavo
Blue Enemies
John
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Quint scuttles back out of the reach of the cannibal approaching through the bushes . Out of the corner of his eye he can see another one approaching from up the trail a little. He scrambles for his powder horn and quickly reloads his pistol . Quint steadies his shaking hands at the savage tearing it's way through the bushes and steadies his aim , then he fires:
Quint is shocked and disappointed when he misses ..
Quint twirls away from the foe before him, popping off a shot. Unfortunately, the spinning motion throws off his aim...or was he aiming for that tree?
Seeing the ease that Pavo removed the previous foes head, Yelek tries to follow suit. His aim is a hair off though...and he slices the man in half at the waist.
Zeroing in on the previously injured opponent, Egg fires off a volley. The man, attempting to hide from John takes the first arrow in the chest. Swaying backwards, the second shaft impales his throat. With a muffled gurgle, he collapses in a heap next to Yelek.
Attempting to protect his pistol wielding friend, Pavo hacks away at the undergrowth.
The man squeezing out from between the trees finds a blade suddenly thrust into his skull. Touching the sharp curve just above his nose...between his eyes, a shocked expression appears. Noiselessly falling to the forest floor, the foul man licks at the blood seeping down his cheek.
The barbarian remaining upright hustles towards Quint and tries to taste his flesh. Ripping out a chuck of the poor mans arm, he cries out "RaWgulaCK!" Licking his lips with a triumphant smile, he raises his club in anticipation.
John
Pink Enemies
Quint
Yelek
Egg
Pavo
Blue Enemies
John
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John moves over behind Quint and Pavo and fixes the last man standing with a glare, "I hope that bite will last you through the afterlife, because that is coming quite soon."
Special: You also gain a +4 bonus on Intimidate checks if you are larger than your target and a –4 penalty on Intimidate checks if you are smaller than your target.
The wizard steps forward and foretells of the savages bleak future.
Hoping his companions can cover him, the Godfather makes a tactical retreat away from the mangy human.
While his party mates converge on some unseen threat, the ophidian rushes forward and strikes down the motionless man. With but a single "RAAAAAAWWWRRRGggg" the mans remains still.
The bowman fires off a shot, skewering the remaining enemies left eye. The collapsing socket, gives him a frightful appearance...made more disconcerting in this mist.
Swinging the large weapon about, Pavo doesn't alleviate the mans growing fears. He does, however, give him a reprieve from death.
White frothy bubbles begin flying from the mans mouth at the sound of his companion's scream. Thinking back to the words of the man, his eyes narrow. Rushing forward, stumbling a bit in the overgrown brush, he tries to sink his teeth into John.
John
Pink Enemies
Quint
Yelek
Egg
Pavo
Blue Enemies (-36, Down) (-19, Down) (-12, Shaken Rnd 1/2)
John
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"Hahaha! You fell right for my trap! Now... DIE!" John begins carefully drawing out chaos from his body and transferring it to the blood-lustful enemy.
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Quint pants at the savage attack from the ugly humans. He touches the bloody mess where the man sunk his teeth in his shoulder. Quint reloads his gun quickly but, sees combat is winding down and instead stays ready in case another attacker charges him. Do any of you gentlemen posses healing ability? Or should I use one of my healing droughts?
As the man rushes passed Pavo, his eyes go wide. The torso crumples to the matted forest floor and slides up to Johns feet. However, the man's head sails in the opposite direction, jaws gnashing at thin air.
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Quint shuffles forward and starts to rifle through the corpses of the strange cannibals . My first combat and I performed like a buffoon! Missing two shots practically at point blank!.The others don't seem too concerned but, I'll have to do better if I'm going to pull my weight on this expedition. Quint turns over the body of one of the cannibals and notices some strange markings or tattoos on the man. Hmm this is interesting.. As Quint bends over the wound on his shoulder begins to open a little and he grunts in pain. Um.. hate to be a bother..but do any of you have training as a healer? If so could you check my wound for infection? It seems one of the savages bit pretty deeply in to my shoulder..Or perhaps one of you has found favor with your God and possess divine healing gifts? I must confess I'm not a very devote man myself, but I do acknowledge the Gods exists.... Quint pauses for a moment and scans his companions to see if any of them volunteer aid.. I could even make a donation to your temple of choice upon or return to more civilized lands? Quint grimaces at the pain in his shoulder, reluctant to use one of his two healing elixirs so early in their quest.
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John helps search the bodies, hoping that one might still be alive so he can ask a few questions. When Quint asks for aid he takes a look at the wound.
"Looks like a wound alright. Yup." He looks over to the armored chelaxian. "Hey Pavo, if no one else can help Quint can you use my wand on him? I don't want him getting any more blood on my shoes."
Hmmm... I've met two pathfinders from Cheliax and both seem to be good people. Maybe my wariness is misplaced.
Searching the bodies of the fallen men, you find a club and hide armor on each of the combatants. The one that screamed at the start of the fight and never stood up is dressed in simple rags.
As you continue to inspect the strange carvings adorn by your foes, you realize it's some kind of righting and Pavo recognizes a symbol as deific in origin, but you can't quite place it.
Moving deeper into the brush, you cautiously pick you way, keep an eye out for further danger. Just a few paces from where you encountered the savages, you find a statue of sorts. Skewered here by a crudely carved post is a gruesome scarecrow constructed of tree branches, jungle vines, and bloodstained human bones. The skull-headed effigy accusingly points a bony arm down the trail.
Coming up to a fork in the trail, a narrow section branching towards the north and a the larger section curving to the northwest, you see a large stone. Must be twelve feet high at least. From the distance, you can just make out the carvings of dozens of one-eyed creatures on the totem.
Not wanting to get caught with something behind you, the party glances down the narrow path prior to getting a closer look. A crack in the earth splits the ground here, most of it covered by thick weeds and the roots of a huge strangler fig tree. There are several gaps between the roots through which an adventurer might squeeze. Below the tangled roots is a deep shaft that descends into the gloom.
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John looks around at their options... crawl down into a dark hole or go look at a statue that might eat us?
He ponders for a moment, oh wait I almost forgot!
Rustling around his scroll box he pulls out a parchment. "Look here, this thing the captain gave us says we need to get up top and find a way down into the tomb. That crevasse over there sure looks like a way down. Maybe even one that bypasses a trap on the probably hidden door!" Happy with his own logic he waits to see if anyone agrees.
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Quint nods his head slowly and reluctantly, at the overly exuberant Sorcerer. Truth be told his reasoning did have a mad logic to it. Careful now Quint just because you were not accepted in to the Arcane academy in Taldor, is no cause to resent this young man. No cause to be jealous that his magic is in-born and you've study years to master the simplest cantrip ..to no avail...regardless of what the Gods or universe or random chance has granted this man...his point is still valid.. Quint looks up with tired eyes and says, John Carlos may have a point..but should we inspect the glyphs or runes on the Totem first? Just in case they hold a clue to what we might find below us?
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After examining the bodies, he notes that one looks different than the rest. "Who killed this man? He was not dressed like the cannibals, and he never held a weapon." He shakes his head at whoever answers and then tends to Quint's wounds.
"If someone thinks they'll have better luck deciphering the runes than I did, feel free," Pavo says in response to the suggestion of inspecting the totem. "But I agree with John: let's see if this crack in the ground is a gift from the gods."
The thirty-foot-long, root-covered crack extends deep into the Gloomspire. Numerous gnarled tree roots creep down the sides of the shaft, a few of them hanging almost to the muddy floor. Dozens of shallow niches are set at irregular intervals down each of the four walls of the shaft. Though some are empty, most of the recesses hold squat, four-foot-tall stone idols of leering, horned fiends.
Though the shaft extends a good 30 feet down from your perspective, you easily realize the roots stop about 10 feet from the floor below. The niches, however, continue to the bottom, forming a ladder of sorts. About one third of the idols are missing from the niches, shattered on the floor below.
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Pavo ties the borrowed rope to the fig trunk and feeds the remaining rope down the crevice. He strikes a sunrod and secures it on his belt before squeezing into the break in the ground. He holds the rope and supports himself against the roots as far as he can. "Not that I don't trust the roots to hold--they look sturdy--but I know the rope will hold."
Pavo manages to shimmy down the soaked, slippery roots almost to their end. Just another five feet and he runs out of slippery roots. A pool of muddy water awaits in the room below.
Attempting to follow his paladin companion, Egg grabs hold of the slimy roots. Nearly loosing his grip, the man steadies himself, going nowhere.
John cautiously climbs down his knotted rope, desending towards the pool below.
As the two scurry down the shaft, the contact a few of the nearly invisible fibrous filaments. A series of cracks echo through the shaft as 3 idols fall out of their holes, plummeting to the ground.
All 3 projectiles manage to find their marks, raining down on the pair below.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Landing with a soft Sploosh and a much louder THUNK, John becomes painfully aware, it's not a deep pool.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Quint looks on in shock at his companions misfortune. Is everyone all right down there? Yelek and I will be down to aid you shortly! Quint turns to his reptilian friend with pleading eyes.., Yelek you look strong..do you suppose I could just tie the end of the rope around my waist and you just lower me down? There is genuine concern in Quint's voice as he ask .. You I'm afraid I'm not that athletic and posses no skill in climbing at all.
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Pavo grabs hold of John's now-abandoned knotted rope and shimmies down after the sorcerer.
"Good. You're alive." He helps John to stand and leads him clear of the deadfall. He then pulls out John's wand and tends to the man's bruises.
He switches wands and tends to his own wounds.
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Yelek considers carefully the problem posed by the idols when they gt activated and fall on his companions below him...
... and this startles him enough he loses his grip on the rope falling down on the floor below...
"Everything'sss rigged! Be carefull!!!" he hisses from his position prone on the floor.
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Quint considers his options for a second..hmm my companions all seeming more athletic than I..to a man have taken a tumble through this treacherous crevasse. I've never had any training in mountaineering but I know a knotted rope is easier to climb than an un-knotted rope. Quint starts pulling up Johns rope and checks to make sure it is securely tied off he then proceeds to take his time and tie knots up and down the length of the rope giving him holds for his feet hand hands as he descends in the crease. Just hang on one moment my friends! I'm attempting to make our return climb a bit easier!
After a few minutes of tying knots Quint is satisfied that it's the most precautions he could take under the circumstance and begins to shimmy down the rope. Step aside my friends! The knots make it easier for me to climb...but that by no means guarantees success with my skill level *scoff*! Quint is glad his worried frown is not visible to his comrades bellow.