| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hey! I make the flanking buddies!" Issil laughs. Then she looks at Nerren. "Hey Chuckles, you and me will dance today."
|
Marty makes demands of the Silver Ravens' resident arcanist, and then glides in to slash and barb the evil necromancer, but he misses!
Nerrenn floats idly in place, Issil's curse taking over his will to serve Menotheguro. The shark snaps at Geoffrey blindly, and is easily avoided... afterwards, it narrows its eyes on Geoffrey as if it's just spotted its prey.
Menotheguro's tentacles bubble with arcane energy as he starts to cast a spell.
A bright rainbow of color flickers through the water, and Marty finds himself in a trance! Or does he?
Morvena (Mage Armor, 5 Mirror Images)
Pádraig (Touch of Sea)
Geoffrey (Touch of Sea)
Issil (Spiritual Ally, Touch of Sea)
Marty (-26, Slimed)
Rosebud (Dominated, Depth = 155 ft.)
Nerrenn (Blind, Cursed, -32)
Menotheguro
Shark (10 NL)
Environmental Conditions: Aquatic Terrain
Party Buffs: Inspire Courage +2/+2, Good Hope
"Ya ya, sparkly bits. That works better on Issil than me!" He ponders just where to stab this time.
Geoffrey continues his attack on the shark here, glad the damage was only temporary.
,
,
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Though she still can't actually 'see' beyond the illusory wall Morvena swims closer, coming up beside Padraig. There, she begins casting a familiar spell...and everyone suddenly finds themselves moving with increased alacrity.
"And there you go. Do you require fried potato sticks with that?" she calls out sarcastically.
3rd - Dispel Magic,
2nd -
1st - Adhesive Spittle, Enlarge Person, Grease,
Cantrips - Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Flare, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
______________
Issil concentrates in front of the haughty sea elf and his pet shark. She does a quick spin and snaps her fingers (or tries anyway, it's really difficult underwater.) A Spiritual Weapon appears behind Menotheguro.
The attack misses, but maybe it's enough to distract it.
|
Singing and swimming even faster after Morvena cast haste, Pádraig Henry swims forward with his potion-bestowed webbed hands and feet.
He recognizes Menotheguro for who and what he or she is. "Menotheguro is a __________, with the following resistances and special attacks, __________ and __________."
Recognizing the spell as it's cast, Pádraig Henry warns the team, "Menotheguro's casting hypnotic pattern!"
The halfling tries to slip past the shark, hoping to avoid its ferocious teeth, then he casts cure light wounds on 'Marty'.
This is kinda nice... another dose of Morv's sweet speed. Padraig is healing me and his singing is quite nice too. If only this aboleth would stop slapping me with its arms... Oh did she say fries? Marty snaps out of his distracted state at the offer of fries.
"Umm, yes?! Let's wait till we surface though, no one likes soggy fries." He lets his blade flash in the dancing lights, cutting at tentacle face.
|
|
Pádraig recalls having read of aboleths like Menotheguro in his last study of Awfully Annoying Abberations Vol. II. They have no resistances to spells or damage of note, and the Slime special attack that Marty is already somewhat familiar with:
A creature hit by an aboleth’s tentacle must succeed on a DC 20 Fortitude save or his skin and flesh transform into a clear, slimy membrane over the course of 1d4 rounds. The creature’s new “flesh” is soft and tender, reducing its Constitution score by 4 as long as it persists. If the creature’s flesh isn’t kept moist, it dries quickly and the victim takes 1d12 points of damage every 10 minutes. Remove disease and similar effects can restore an afflicted creature to normal, but immunity to disease offers no protection from this attack. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Speaking of which, Marty's fins are now entirely crusted over - so much so that he feels suddenly weakened from it.
Issil conjures up a spiritual weapon while Morvena heeds Marty's request, and imbues the party with a magical speedup. Geoffrey turns his arm back and smacks the shark twice more, bruising its internals enough that it stops swimming and starts to float idly.
The aboleth necromancer proves difficult to hit; Marty whiffs twice with his dagger and his tail barb.
"Sesskerress? Are you there?" Nerrenn reaches to his side and notices the shark is .. gone! "My loyal companion! What have you done?!"
... Yet again, he stays where he is, and rubs his eyes frantically, unable to see anything.
"Fret not, fleshy ones. Since you seem so eager to swim into my lair, be assured I've enough tentacles and slime for all of you!" The aboleth gurgles before cracking its tentacles at Marty again.
Morvena (Mage Armor, 5 Mirror Images)
Pádraig (Touch of Sea)
Geoffrey (Touch of Sea)
Issil (Spiritual Weapon, Touch of Sea)
Marty (-46, Slimed (-4 con))
Rosebud (Dominated, Depth = 155 ft.)
Nerrenn (Blind, Cursed, -32)
Menotheguro
Shark (37 NL, Unconscious)
Environmental Conditions: Aquatic Terrain
Party Buffs: Inspire Courage +2/+2, Good Hope, Haste
Geoffrey grits his teeth and swims past the blinded Nerrenn, moving to engage the true threat!
"Dude, I can see through myself..." Is all he can say as his skin turns slimy and he's beaten into submission.
Between the curse of slimy doom, and the constant barrage of squid slaps to the face, Marty the Manta gets KO'd. He drops his dagger into the mass of corpses and junk along the bottom of the cave, then floats still, bleeding.
Resiliency (Ex) (Pathfinder Unchained pg. 22): Once per day, a rogue with this ability can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to twice her rogue level. Activating this ability is an immediate action that can be performed only when the rogue is brought to below 0 hit points. This ability can be used to prevent the rogue from dying. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. If the rogue’s hit points drop below 0 due to the loss of these temporary hit points, she falls unconscious and is dying as normal.
Rosebud swims another 15ft toward the surface.
Must fetch elf druid...
As the Spiritual Weapon swings, Issil frowns as Marty falls.
"Dammit, Marty." Issil backs up and starts casting Admonishing Ray.
She takes aim at the horrible monstrosity and smiles. "I'll save your shark if you stop trying to killi us, Nereen."
Having realized that she's really not a very good swimmer when it counts - as it does now - Morvena fumbles for her own potion of Touch of the Sea and drinks it down.
______________
|
|
Menotheguro's tentacle whack has Marty sleeping with the fishes - temporarily. Issil quickly dives in front to stop the necromancer from trying to strike him again, and Pádraig reaches down, healing some of Marty's wounds.
Geoffrey easily slips past the blind sea elf, plunging his trident into Menotheguro's slippery flesh, and Issil conjures up her signature magical whip, slapping the tentacle monster silly.
Nerrenn is about to reach over to strike whomever's next to him once more, but then, clarity washes over his face.
"Where am I? Sesskeress?!" Even his eyes seem to be working again, falling as he looks at his companion. "I was being controlled by you, you monster!" He scowls at Menotheguro.
"At first, I was going to use you as a sacrifice. Now, I'll just have to kill you," the aboleth gurgles back. He strikes at Geoffrey, who now floats in front of him.
... And all four tentacles bounce off the man's armor.
Morvena (Mage Armor, 5 Mirror Images, Touch of Sea)
Pádraig (Touch of Sea)
Geoffrey (Touch of Sea)
Issil (Spiritual Weapon, Touch of Sea)
Marty (-35, Slimed -4con)
Rosebud (Dominated, Depth = 140 ft.)
Nerrenn (Cursed, -32)
Menotheguro (-14, 25 NL)
Shark (37 NL, Unconscious)
Environmental Conditions: Aquatic Terrain
Party Buffs: Inspire Courage +2/+2, Good Hope
Rosebud swims another 15ft toward the surface.
Must fetch elf druid...
Now blessed with webbed digits, Morvena is able to make headway in the water and closes her eyes as she swims forward and through the illusory wall that still looks so very real...and almost crashes into the now-sane Nerrenn.
"Whoop! Pardon me!"
Turning to the nasty-looking aboleth she scowls before casting a spell...and then spitting a glob of thick, adhesive spittle into its face!
"Chew on that for a bit!"
3rd - Dispel Magic,
2nd -
1st -
Cantrips - Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Flare, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
______________
Marty floats cockeyed for a few seconds in the water, spanked nearly to death thanks to this fishy bugger next to him. Good thing he's got friends. "Not dead yet? NOT DEAD YET!" He questions his decisions briefly before righting the ship and drawing another dagger and getting back to work!
"You can't stop all of us, especially not the man with the kinda creepy mustachio!" He grins as he tries to stab.
"You are going down, like my friend says here...waitase, my moustache is NOT creepy!"
,
,
,
,
The Spiritual Weapon swings again, trying to crack Menotheguro's flesh.
"Oh hi, Nereen. Sorry about the curse. We'll get that squared up once this is over."
Issil starts casting Admonishing Ray.
"Your thick armor doesn't matter when all I have to do is touch ya!" She laughs.
|
|
Pádraig continues to work on Marty's wounds, while the rest of the party teams up to take the necromancer down.
Uncharacteristically, Morvena horks up a globule of thick mucus and spits it at the aboleth, watching as he frantically wiggles his tentacles to get most of the goop off.
Geoffrey brutally cleaves open Menotheguro's side, clouding the water in a thick, blood-like substance. Marty gets his revenge, gouging a cut in the tentacled monster, and Issil's whip crackles with energy, slamming into the aboleth's three-eyed head.
The creature's tentacles spark, bubbles appearing as it begins casting a spell...
Menotheguro is casting invisibility!
Suddenly, the aboleth disappears from view, and other than water being displaced from somewhere, it's near impossible to locate exactly where he's going.
Morvena (Mage Armor, 5 Mirror Images, Touch of Sea)
Pádraig (Touch of Sea)
Geoffrey (Touch of Sea)
Issil (Spiritual Weapon, Touch of Sea)
Marty (-22, Slimed -4con)
Rosebud (Dominated, Depth = 140 ft.)
Nerrenn (Cursed, -32)
Menotheguro (-57, 55 NL, entangled, invisible)
Shark (37 NL, Unconscious)
Environmental Conditions: Aquatic Terrain
Party Buffs: Inspire Courage +2/+2, Good Hope, Haste
"News flash, he cast invisibility. Quick find it before it gets away!" He looks to the casters, and the sea elf to do something as he looks around.
Marty turns and sees a blob of weird looking water moving out of the cave and through the fake wall "Bingo. Found it." With a smile he rubs his hands together, building an electric charge. With a kick of his tail he moves close enough to reach out and shock the slippery bastard.
Rosebud swims another 15ft toward the surface.
Must fetch elf druid...
"I think the... whatever it is is over here."
Issil redirects her Spiritual Weapon and it whiffs, Issil focuses.
She casts a Fireballin the general vicinity. "Fried calamari, coming up."
Once the scalding water from the fireball fades , Geoffrey moves in to finish it off...
,
"Oof!"
Morvena grunts as the beast from the depths vanishes - sort of - and then proceeds to push past her and everyone else in an attempt to flee.
"Oh no, you were so eager to welcome us earlier," she calls out as she draws out the wand with lightning bolt etched down the side. "And now you're leaving? It's bad manners to run out on your guests, you know."
And with a lazy flick of her hand, she discharges a lightning bolt practically point-blank at the thing's back.
______________
|
|
Marty swims towards where the very obviously displaced ball of water is, and then reaches out, touching the aboleth's outer tentacle (in a completely platonic way, if that's even possible), and delivering a shock! Issil fries its internals with some superheated water, and Morvena dispatches a bolt of electricity for good measure. The displacement in the water doesn't change shape after that.
Nerrenn swims down to his shark's side, where he takes out a vial, and dumps it into the creature's mouth.
"Sesskeress, you alright?" The shark thrashes about as its awakened. "There, there. Calm yourself. Oh, and don't attack these people. They're actually on our side."
A few minutes later, the invisibility wears off, and Menotheguro's body becomes visible. The aboleth's side rises and falls, as if its still breathing.
Rosebud snaps out of her trance, and finds herself alone in the deep.
"So, someone want to finish this thing off?" Issil grins.
"Hey, Nerrenn. Sorry about the curse. I'll heal your shark, at least."
She then turns to Marty's slimy arm. Er, fin. Er, the other side. "Ew... did someone say I could Remove Disease and fix Marty's arm? Eh, I can try."
"Thanks Issil. I'm not sure I can handle being see through the rest of my life. That and I feel like crap, kinda like the day after a fun night out..."
Once the aboleth is visible Marty will be sure to make sure its dead with his dagger. "Shoot, where's my good dagger?" He looks down at the bottom and zooms off to find it.
Maybe I'll find something else good while I'm down here...
Must... no longer fetch elf druid.
"Coming, PH!" The lyrakien swims back to join the team.
When she finally gets there, she helps search the area.
Geoffrey makes sure the aboleth necromancer is truly dead, stabbing it several times where the sun don't shine, before he rejoins the others.
Sorry about your pet shark here, Nerrenn."
He gratefully accepts a charge (or 2) from Padraig's wand.
Marty also soaks up some more hp before he looks for his lost dagger. "He watches in disappointment has the remove disease isn't effective. [b]"Orca balls. Didn't work. Thanks anywho."
"Its really hard to see much down here with all these dead Elves in the way. We should probably figure out the best thing to do with them? This isn't a good final resting place."
|
|
The runes covering the walls in this chamber radiate a strong aura of necromancy, but deciphering their function require specialized knowledge.
The runes focus foul energies into the Drowned Eye by siphoning motes of negative energy from the Negative Energy Plane, so as to infuse those who die within with unlife. Furthermore, someone has recently been adding to the runes to enhance and focus them - the work is far from complete.
The creator is attempting to channel the negative energy into the creation of a powerful oceanic undead creature known as a sea bonze.
Rosebud soon returns to the party, and joins the others in looking for treasure and other noteworthy things. Of note is that one rune amongst the walls that seems to be at the center of a pattern of pulsating light, as if it's anchoring the rest of the runes.
|
|
Marty heads straight for the loot, first checking out the aboleth's body just as Geoffrey makes sure it's deader than dead. Menotheguro carried a pale blue rhomboid ioun stone, a ring worn on the tip of a tentacle, and strips of preserved seaweed inscribed with runes - something Morvena recognizes as a spellbook.
But there's more loot in a pile at the northern portion of the cave, including a chain shirt, a greatsword, a rusting longsword with a golden jeweled hilt depicting prancing swans mounting lustful mermaids (!), a waterproof golden hip flask sealed with an opal stopper, and a silver pillbox inset with a miniature depiction of a woman with two heads (one human, one gargoyle-like). The flask seems to have a liquid inside, but opening it would surely cause it to spill out.
"Huh. The runes focus foul energies into the Drowned Eye by siphoning motes of negative energy from the Negative Energy Plane, so as to infuse those who die within with unlife. Furthermore, someone has recently been adding to the runes to enhance and focus them - the work is far from complete." Marty rattles off the meaning of the runes.
"Then there's a bunch of gobbly-gook about religious stuff, seems pretty intense."
Marty sees.. no he SENSES the pillbox and goes to it "Hey now, look at this baby? Hubba hubba! Best not to open it down here though.. could be 'delicate'." Full of goodies!.
"That's a big mess." Issil looks at the runes.
"Dammit." Issil spasms a bit as the pressure weighs down on her.
She casts Lesser Restoration on Marty, hoping to alleviate his poor health. He needs to be in tip top shape.
She peers at the runes. "Let's destroy this thing. If we can't do it magically, we'll do it the hard way."
|
|
Pádraig Henry studies the runes covering the walls in the chamber radiating a strong aura of necromancy. "The creator is attempting to channel the negative energy into the creation of a powerful oceanic undead creature known as a sea bonze."
Then the bard takes a look at the magical items among the loot. "The ring is a ring of protection +1, and this is a mithral chain shirt +2. I'm unable to identify the properties of the enchanted greatsword. One of you want to take a look at it?"
Finally, he examines the rest. "The rusting longsword is pretty fancy, especially with that amazing golden hilt. I estimate its value at about 400gp. Masterwork, maybe? I'm not sure about the flask or the pillbox."
"Ring of Protection. 1 out of 5, I'd say."
"Mithral? Chain Shirt? 2 out of 5? Beautiful!" Issil eyes the chain shirt. If it weren't for the water pressure, she'd wear it right then and there.
Issil grins as the checks the sword's hilt. "Now we're talking. Greatsword, 1 out of 5. Also you can use it for Mighty Cleaving."
"Speaking of cleavage!" She grabs the longsword. "I'd value it at around 400 gold pieces."
"The flask is about 750 gold pieces."
"The pillbox is about 400 gold- FINE MARTY, keep it!"
Rosebud floats next to the bard. "Let Milani's guidance sharpen your little brain, PH." The azata repeats the phrase and the orison another half dozen times, intoning it as mantra.
Then she draws her wand and taps Pádraig Henry with it, before stowing it back in her handy haversack.
"I could definitely use that blade, though I will need to learn how to cleave opponents first..." Geoffrey replies here, stroking his mustachio. "Anyway I think it's time to destroy that rune."
"Euurgh...whatever we wish to do, I would like to do it quickly so we can be shed of this place," Morvena winces, blood beginning to leak out of her ears due to the incredible water pressure. "I...can attempt to dispel this rune here and now but I will be opposing powerful magics so the odds are not in my favor at this particular point in time."
"Damnation! We will either need to return and attempt this again later or we can try to physically destroy it here and now, if we wish to risk whatever consequences may arise from doing so."
"I'm not gonna let them suffer any longer. Let's destroy this thing now."
Issil begins casting Spiritual Weapon to conjure a whip to lash it to pieces.
|
|
"Didn't the elves tell us that this was once a barrier meant to imprison evil? It appears someone or something, Menotheguro perhaps, has recently been modifying the runes to accomplish something nefarious."
Pádraig Henry tries to recall what they'd heard. "Maybe we shouldn't be too quick to destroy what we cannot repair. The elves might be better able to do that once we've eliminated the threat."
"I hope that we have already eliminated said threat," Morvena remarks as she looks around. "Are there any other paths for us to take from this place or is this a dead-end?"
Issil does not conjure the magical whip. "...Fine. We'll go back and figure out what's happening up there. Maybe Menotheguro tried to tap into whatever's down there." She huffs.
"I just... don't want more people to die." She mumbles.