Mikhail gathers all his companions around him and calls upon Abadar and then he moves to help Piotr and Aristu further.
Aristu, soaking wet and dripping, bends over and coughs up water. He gathers himself and stands up straight while Mikhail tends to his wounds.
Aristu looks around at the others and sees that they are equally drenched. He looks over at Piotr with a wry grin, "I don't suppose you have a spell to summon a towel elemental?"
Alister breathes a sigh of relief as he sees his brother still alive. "I mean, it is an air elemental. I bet it could blow dry you right off. As long as your hair can stand it, of course..."
He looks at the pool of water, now more calm. "I guess water does have a fear."
STATUS
Kernithar - 91/114 hp
Piotr - 89/89 hp
...Living Whirlwind (AC 24; hp 50) - 39/50 hp
Mikhail - 94/124 hp
Aristu - 55/80 hp
Alister - 79/107 hp
Piotr asks his companions, "Should we see where the water flows? Or up the stairs?"
He looks in the two directions before inspecting the fountain.
Mikhail gestures to the double doors to the north and says, "Shall we stay to the sinister path? Also, if you are still hurt, remember that I provided you with potions to aid you." He will then walk over and look at the pool to see if he spots anything in the depths.
The reeking pool is perhaps ten feet deep and contains deposits of yellow sulfur in its depths, but you see nothing of value.
"Follow the water. All things that live need water." Kern says before inspecting the doors to the north.
"Smart, though we have encountered a lot of things here that aren't 'living'." Alister nods for Kern to proceed though. He casts a healing spell on him and his brother.
STATUS
Kernithar - 91/114 hp
Piotr - 89/89 hp
...Living Whirlwind (AC 24; hp 50) - 39/50 hp
Mikhail - 94/124 hp
Aristu - 79/80 hp
Alister - 91/107 hp
Kern downs a potion before addressing the door.
STATUS
Kernithar - 108/114 hp
Piotr - 89/89 hp
Mikhail - 94/124 hp
Aristu - 79/80 hp
Alister - 91/107 hp
STATUS
Kernithar - 100/114 hp
Piotr - 89/89 hp
Mikhail - 94/124 hp
Aristu - 79/80 hp
Alister - 91/107 hp
Checking himself over, Aristu finds nearly all of his wounds healed.
"Ready."
"I am also ready to continue," states Piotr.
Alister nods. "Let's proceed."
This chamber stretches forward into darkness. A channel of sulfurous water runs down the center of the chamber into a placid pool tinged in red and surrounded by kneeling, headless human forms. Nearby sits a small stone shrine decorated with several freshly severed human heads. Just beyond this grisly altar, a hideous throne made of bones looms above the pool.
Seated upon the throne is an immense one-eyed cyclops. Atrophied and desiccated, its eye glows with baleful red light as it leans forward, contemplating the depths of the bloody pool before it. The ancient being holds a carved staff in its withered hands and flickers of fire dart from between its withered fingers. The horrid tableau possesses something of savage majesty - a time when power undreamed of ruled over all Golarion.
"The time has come which I have foreseen," croaks a leathery voice, unused for millennia, yet redolent of power and authority. "The Occulus of Abbadon has taught me much of the decay at the heart of your weak and lesser world. You squabble unseeing amid the ruins of greatness. Yet what was shall again be. I have foreseen it and the Lady has sworn it."
Rolling its giant shoulders as if shaking off the sleep of ages, it rises in place, towering over you and continues. "I am your god. I am Vordakai, Seneschal of Abbadon. Golarion is mine to rule by right and I shall spread forth my hand reclaim what is mine and harvest all as I have harvested these."
"I have watched your attempts to rule for some time. I know your names. I know your powers. I know who stands behind you, for there is no thing that may be hidden from me. I see you, Eldest! Your machinations will not match the power of Abbadon!"
"Kneel," it says directly to you. "Your deaths will be swift and you will rise again to serve me as I conquer all the River Lands and then all the world!"
A terrible fear washes over you. Vordakai's frightful majesty makes your knees turn wobbly.
With decades of willfully repressing the darkness within, Kern stands fast in the presence of this otherworldly evil.
"Predators do not kneel to prey." Kern states laconically.
Alister's eye go wide and the Baron's hands begin to shake a bit. It takes a couple of tries before he can reply to the cyclops. "Vordakai, the time for you cyclops is over. Your people have perished long ago. The strength of my people and the centaurs control the Riverlands now, and you are unwelcome here!"
Mikhail takes a step back from the vile, horrible sight in front of him.
Piotr quakes in fear.
A chill runs through Aristu's bones, but he holds his ground.
Piotr reaches deep within himself to withstand the horror ...
Vordakai is a lich, but there's something strange going on. You're pretty sure that back in what ever long-forgotten age he ruled, he was some sort of god-king, a spellcaster of immense might. But he seems a bit atrophied now. You've heard that after millennia of death, even the deathless can begin to lose some of their power. Awake now and with all the knowledge of a cyclops god-king, he could soon represent an existential threat to all of the River Kingdoms, but just now, he is vulnerable. Still terrifyingly powerful, beyond anything you've ever faced, but not a god.
Immunities death effects, disease, paralyzed, poison, unconscious; Resistances cold 10, physical 10 (except magic bludgeoning)
Finally, if he hasn't re-established his lich's phylactery yet? Why then he can really die here. If...
Old lessons against prolonging an already long lifespan rush through Kernithar's mind. A elderly druidic elf speaking with the youth...
"It's a lich. Powerful once, but deathlessness looses it power with millenia. If it hasn't re-established it phylactery, it's vulnerable. Be wary nonetheless, deathless magic is still quite powerful." Kern relays to the party.
"Use the usual tactic for undead, but his magicks will protect him from cold and most physical damage. Mikhail, if your god is with you, we will need holy powers now more than ever."
Some elves, for which centuries of life isn't enough, have considered lichdom. None in Kern's memory were foolish enough to pursue it...
+2 for Initiative
”Fools,” says the cyclops god-king. ”Then you will share the fate of your pathetic neighbors. Feel the wrath of Charon!”
STATUS
Kernithar - 100/114 hp, Frightened 1
VORDAKAI
Aristu - 79/80 hp, Frightened 1
Mikhail - 94/124 hp, Frightened 2
Piotr - 89/89 hp, Frightened 1
Alister - 91/107 hp, Frightened 2
Even in undeath, the anatomy of a body has tells for the thing it's about to do. Kern thinks.
Seeing the tell as Vordakai starts his movement, Kern swiftly unleashes a flurry of arrows.
With lightning-fast reflexes the elf druid unleashes a trio of screaming arrows that explode around the ancient cyclops. But when the explosions stop, the lich is unharmed. Is it smiling? Or is that just the skin pulled back from the teeth by age?
Vordakai steps forward and raises its arms to encompass you all.
"Charon! I offer you their lives! The best this weak and fallen world can offer, apparently."
Your blood and life force begin a rapid and painful exit from your body and flow into the god-king!
Piotr tries to resist the vampire's attack.
"Spread out!" Kern shouts as he retreats out the door. Pausing outside the door, he unleashes arrows at the lich.
dice=Skybolt vs Prey (1) 2xFort Save on Crit (24/27)]1d20+19[/dice]
r
"Spread out!" Kern shouts as he retreats out the door. Pausing outside the door, he unleashes arrows at the lich.
r
Aristu is out of the cone.