The two-headed man-thing charges forward, all power and inarticulate rage. It swats away Silas's falchion like a child's toy, but the creature runs right onto Tilver's set spear, impaling itself and receiving a horrific wound in the chest. Greenish fluids join with red blood in the wound.
The creature roars in fury and slams its two fists together on either side of Silas's neck with the force of an avalanche. At the same time, some strange purplish light emanates from its arms and hands and spreads out across Silas's head and shoulders! The litorian reels, seeing black and unsure of what just happened.
Initiative Order
Tilver (1 damage
Silas (30 damage)
The Cobbledman (22 damage)
Holys (2 damage)
Velika
Dain (4 damage) (-1 level)
Holys cast Protection from Evil on Silas, then moves out of the way.
Lesser Selective Metamagic Rod uses remaining/total: 1/3
Spells remaining/total:
2nd (2/4)—scorching ray
1st (2/7)—burning hands (DC 17), mage armor , protection from evil, ray of enfeeblement (DC 15), vanish
0th (at will) —acid splash, arcane mark , detect magic , flare (DC 16), light, open/close (DC 14), prestidigitation, read magic, resistance
Velika grunts as the Cobbled Man attacks Silas, feeling the echoes of the blow in her own body. Taking a deep breath, she moves to try to get a clearer shot and fires at the abomination.
Tilver watches Silas take an incredible hit from the monstrous man even as his own spear nearly seemed to tear a hole in him. Tilver steps up beside Silas and jabs his longspear towards the abomination.
Dain hurries forward onto the bridge calling loudly to the spirits of the city to lend him divine power to heal his friend. By the time he reaches Silas, Dain's arm is aglow with positive energy. He touches Silas and the energy flows into the Litorian in a burst of healing.
Holys casts a protective charm over Silas while Dain rushes forward to bless him with healing. Velika fires her pistol, putting a bullet into the Cobbledman's shoulder. It roars in anger. Tilver stabs his spear at it, but the Cobbledman bats it aside easily.
Initiative Order
Tilver (1 damage
Silas (17 damage)
The Cobbledman (31 damage)
Holys (2 damage)
Velika
Dain (4 damage) (-1 level)
Silas rages and tries to kill the giant monster in front of him.
Furious, Silas leaps at the Cobbledman, his falchion biting into the creature's flesh with enough force to kill any normal man. The brute barely seems to notice as it pummels the litorian with fists the size of hams and roars in inarticulate rage. The same strange purplish light emanates from its arms and hands, spreading over Silas.
Initiative Order
Tilver (1 damage
Silas (28 damage)
The Cobbledman (46 damage)
Holys (2 damage)
Velika
Dain (4 damage) (-1 level)
Silas continues to rage and attack the strange creature in front of him.
Holys takes no action this round.
Tilver continues stabbing at the mutant man. He jabs with his longspear, putting his weight behind it.
Silas and the Cobbledman fight like a bull and a wildcat. Power versus grace, rage against rage. Into this melee, Tilver's out-thrust spear drives deep into the Cobbledman's side. Blood and glowing green fluids spill down the hideous chest. One head drools dumbly while the other snarls out what might be "Kill!"
Initiative Order
Tilver (1 damage
Silas (28 damage)
The Cobbledman (60 damage)
Holys (2 damage)
Velika
Dain (4 damage) (-1 level)
Moving carefully past his companions, Dain steps forward to add his spear to Tilver's.
Velika shifts to the side and tries to shoot at the Cobble Man around Silas' bulk. Then she reloads.
Dain and Velika both miss as the battle rages between Silas and the Cobbledman. The muscular creature tries to seize Silas in its bare hands, but the litorian dances out of the way.
Initiative Order
Tilver (1 damage
Silas (28 damage)
The Cobbledman (60 damage)
Holys (2 damage)
Velika
Dain (4 damage) (-1 level)
Holys takes no action this round.
Tilver is amazed at the punishment the cobbled man seems to be able to take. He thrusts his longspear again at the man.
Dain slides around the brute and tries again to stab him with his spear.
Inspired by Velika's magically-empowered cheer, Tilver shifts his aim ever so slightly. His spear floats just above the Cobbledman's counterblow and rises up, catching the monstrosity directly through the throat and stabbing out through the back of his right head. The left head mewls piteously as the creature moans and falls to the stones of the bridge...dead.
COMBAT OVER
Silas pants and leans against the parapet slightly as he looks down at the strange creature. "What was that thing?"
Tilver checks the corpse of the monster. "I think that was the Cobbled Man. I didn't know why he might be called that, but it looks like his body was cobbled together. I wonder how he became like this."
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Dain wanders over to the Cobbledman's tower as Magill scurries across the bridge to join him. He pokes his head into the open doorway and looks around.
Hands shaking slightly, Velika pulls out her wand of cure light wounds and goes over to use it on Silas. "I thought we might lose you in that one."
Silas nods to Velika, "That first blow was something. But we all have made it this far. Do you see anything interesting Dain?" Silas stretches to test his freshly healed wounds and then moves over to join Dain.
Holys, wrinkling his nose, examines the corpse tentatively to see if he can figure out anything about it.
Dain finds only a bare round tower with many bones of small animals in it. A ladder leads up to a trap door.
Holys theorizes that this is the Cobbledman referred to in Maquent's journal and that it was the result of some sort of cruel experiment in creating life - something akin to a golem, but truly alive. He finds pinned to the inside of the Cobbledman's shirt half of a metal disk about five inches across that portrays half of a red spiral.
Party Status
Tilver (1 damage
Silas (2 damage)
Holys (2 damage)
Velika
Dain (4 damage) (-1 level)
Holys takes the metal half-disk.
"I do not recognize this disk. Does anyone know what it represents?"
Dain takes a look at the disk, "I think it is Radanna's half of what the journal calls 'the spiral contrivence' - the object that will unlock the way to the basement of this house."
Silas climbs the ladder to see what is in the next level of the tower.
Holys follows, assuming Silas gets up without being immediately assaulted.
Velika prepares to climb the tower as well.
Tilver catches sight of the object as Dain turns it over in his hands. "Hang on, that's part of the symbol of the Crimson Coil. They're one of the chaos cults. If this key was created by them, whatever it unlocks could be very dangerous."
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On the crenellated top of the southeastern tower, a trap door leads down to the bridge entry. The rooftop is sixty-nine feet above the ground.
Silas climbs back down and heads to the room that has the ladder but stops along the north wall and begins searching. "It looks like we are missing an area. Its possible we have to go up and come back down, but there might be more secret doors as well."
Silas finds nothing like that amidst the swirls and loops of the many magical sigils on the walls.
After taking a quick look around the top of the Cobbledman's tower....
...Dain joins Silas in the Ritual room.
Silas heads up the ladder to the next floor moving as quietly as he can up a ladder.
Which turns out to not be so quiet.
So...back up.
From the roof of the southeast (Cobbledman's) tower, you got a view of the roof above the ritual room. And you could clearly see the two DOGS MADE OF FIRE that roam the rooftop.
Dogs. Made of fire.
Okay, back to you. :-)
"Well, I have some protection against getting struck, but little against fire. Does anyone have such a protection handy?
Velika shakes her head. "I have nothing that protects against fire. I think we should avoid that tower for now. Hopefully we can find what we're looking for elsewhere."
"Unless I am being forgetful we have to either go past those flaming dogs or past the ghost to get to unexplored areas. And I think we are better off facing those dogs. But my weapon is not mystical. It would be nice to know if I could even hurt those beasts."
"That's true. But the journal also mentions a secret door. Which is vague, I grant you, but let's look around for that. Maybe it will get us into the roof of this central tower?" Then she points over to the tower in the southeast. "Also, a few levels down we saw a trapdoor into that tower. It's possible we could jump over to it. It may be a way around the ghost ... or it might just make him mad ... but we could explore that.
If we do have to fight the dogs, maybe we could do it from a distance - like the top of the Cobbled Man's tower.
What do you think, Holys? You have a mastery of fire. Any insights?"