"Yowch!" Frizz cries out as the fangs sink into her shoulder, before slumping to the ground.
Wymond, seeing the creature about to chomp down on Frizz, tries to interpose the head of his bardiche with the snake-man's mouth!
Just as Wymond winds up to deliver a terrific blow, Jharun scorches the degenerate serpent-man with lightning! It drops dead, smoking!
COMBAT OVER
STATUS
Wymond - 13/99 hp, Wounded 2
Jharun -
Lilika - 35/74 hp, PRONE
Frizz - 0/74 hp - Dying 1, poisoned
With the fight over, Wymond immediately drops his bardiche again and goes to the fallen Frizz. He takes another potion from his pack, holds her mouth open and trickles it down her throat.
When it presumably wakes Frizz, she feels Triath giving her a reassuring nuzzle and sees Wymond looking down on her with an "I-told-you-so" glower.
Frizz starts to giggle at the gentle nuzzle of Triath.
"Hehehe! Stop-hehehe-stop it!" She laughs.
As her eyes open up, she sees Wymond's serious face.
Her hand snaps up to her own face before saying. "AM I A DWARF NOW TOO?!?"
With a laugh she rolls up and dusts herself off.
"Roonie, that sounds like a righteous idea."
"No, Frizz. Yer still a gnome. You didn't DIE like I did," Wymond grouses. "Aye, we can search this room later, when we're more hale and hardy. That was TOO close."
He stands up and picks his weapon back up, shooing the rest of the group back to the hallway, letting Jharun take the lead.
"Ooooo! Ya think they have anything worth selling!?" The excited gnome says before scouring the pockets of their fallen foes.
I should remind you that this is a jail. It is not unoccupied. Slumped in the cells is a single delirious serpent-man. Smaller than the brutes you just fought, but covered in bruises and emaciated.
The two guards had nothing but their scimitars.
Tiawask, Jharun's partner? She ain't here.
Wymond walks up to the delirious-looking snakeman in one of the cells.
"Hey there...You look in rough shape. I got some water."
He takes his waterskin out and offers it through the bars.
Frizz lingers just behind Wymond. Suspicious of the prisoner but surprisingly silent on the matter.
The bruised serpent-man snatches the waterskin and drinks greedily, eyeing the various monkey-men (that's you) eyeing him.
"What's yer name? Uhh...do ye understand Taldane?" Wymond asks.
"Do you speak Azlanti?" Frizz asks in the ancient language.
The cringing serpent man speaks to Wymond, but doesn't seem to understand Frizz's odd language. “I am nothing! No one! Once this was Draa, but now it is Kro’akoth’s slave!”
"Hey...hey, easy...why'd they lock ye up here?" Wymond asks gently.
The serpent looks fervent, as if reciting a catechism.“We fought Kro’akoth’s holy priest and were defeated. The others are dead now, but not Draa! Kro’akoth has saved Draa!”
"Welp. Now we're saving you." Frizz chimes in. "Whaddya know about this level? We can get you outta this place if you help us out.
Look at Slaagh here" she says, throwing a thumb over her shoulder at their troglodyte companion. "He's got the honorable position of torch bearer and gets to follow us around while we explore these ancient runes."
"Yeh, Kro'akoth's priest is dead by our hand. We've proven stronger than him, and our faith stronger than his."
Triath gives a matter-of-fact nod.
The former Draa snorts in feeble derision. “Sartoss is the high priest of Kro’akoth. You have not met Sartoss or you would not be here."
"Kro’akoth, the Fire Serpent, is the true god of my kind! Ydersius is dead! Kro’akoth is all!”
"So Sartoss wasn't that guy at the smithy?" Wymond asks.
"No! Sartoss is Kro'akoth's chosen. That was just a smith."
"I don't understand what this guy is saying. There are already too many gods to keep track of." Frizz says to the group matter of factly.
She turns back to the prisoner.
"Look, do you want to get out of here or what? We ain't worried about no Croakath or whoever and are just looking for my friend's friend here. If ya don't know nothing, just scram. We'll handle this Sardine fella just fine."
With a look of pure disdain, the one who was Draa says "This one knows only the commands of Kro'akoth."
"Leave him for now," Wymond says. "We'll deal with his leader an' then see if he wants out. I imagine he'll be in-track-table while that Sartoss guy's fillin' his and others' heads with this "Croaker" god."
So what and where now?
YYyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnn.
"How about that hut now? I'm wiped." Frizz suggests.
If the team agrees on rest, go for it.
"Aye...let's rest and recover," Wymond says with a nod.
Jharun, where is your "safe space?"
Wymond shrugs.
"He's not goin' anywhere. If you're worried about him warnin' them, I can't imagine they didn't hear the fightin' so far, so they're probably gonna set up an ambush either way, an' we'll be ready either way, so it evens out, right?"
"This is going to be so cool. I've never slept in a cabin in an ancient tower IN AN ENCHANTED FOREST!" Frizz says with excitement as Jharun brings a cabin into existence in the forge room.
Wymond shrugs.
"I dunno, I've lived around Echo Wood my entire life, and I ain't seen much enchanted stuff."
Triath gives a bemused grunt.
"Well, yeah, not until ye revealed yerself an stuff...Once I started on this path things got real enchanted real quick."
Jharun erects his magical cabin inside the forge. It is swelteringly hot, but secure. The team rests and restores its spells. Occasional indistinct sounds are heard from down the hall, but nothing comes to disturb their rest.
Wymond spends much of the time in the cabin saying his prayers like a good Erastilian boy, and tending to his and the others' wounds before getting a little shut-eye.
"So, we ready to find this Sartoss fella an' kick his arse?"
Frizz whips out a sickle with a grin.
"Yea!"
She relaxes a bit as the sickle drops to her side.
"Ya know, this adventuring is really turning me into some kind of murder hobo or something. Maybe we can just talk to the guy?" She shrugs.
You head cautiously down the hallway and around the bend, arriving at an open doorway. This chamber is full of statues. In the center is a basalt statue of a serpentine figure, its head wreathed in flame. A dozen smaller statues are clustered on the floor. These depict a different serpentine figure, but all the heads have been chopped off. A pathway through the statuary leads to double doors on the north wall.
Frizz whips out a sickle with a grin.
"Yea!"She relaxes a bit as the sickle drops to her side.
"Ya know, this adventuring is really turning me into some kind of murder hobo or something. Maybe we can just talk to the guy?" She shrugs.
"Doubt it," Wymond says with a shrug. "He worships a demon, an' we've slain his followers."
He cautiously takes the lead, bardiche forward, waiting for something to come out and smack him or lob a fireball...
Assuming Wymond is headed for the double doors, he gets there without issue.
Lilika thanks Wymond for his healing magic with a nod, then examines the slivers of her broken shield. In time she admits it's a lost cause and places the wooden pieces back into her bag—perhaps she could use the wood for something else.
"Does anyone have a shield they're not using?" she asks. Eventually, she settles in to sleep.
---
The next "day" she follows the others back out into the dungeon. As Wymond approaches the doors, Lilika examines the weird statue.
Frizz steps into the room behind Lilika and moves to investigate the smaller statues.