"Hold still..." Aster concentrates on closing more of Rexi's wounds. "Let's... oh, at the end of the wall is a table, we can crawl over it without getting hit by the fire. You go, I'll follow."
Bazzle's lightning attack passes through the wall of fire, and goes right over the skeleton's head. Yet, a few feet behind it, a levitating Ostovite receives the full blast, nearly killing it in a single hit. Meanwhile, Aster heals Rexandi back to perfect condition.
Rexandi looks around in the chaos for the table that Aster's mentioning and then does her best to get away from the skeleton, keeping her mithral dagger up for defense, as she retreats to the corner of the room and tries to squeeze out without getting cooked and killed.
She attempts to crawl up onto the table, slips off and lands on her ass in a humiliating and ineffective fashion.
Vandomir 5' steps forward and heals Abbo, converting his silence spell...
"Our situation seems much improved. Once we regroup, shall we keep killing those things while the fire wears itself once? Are any of the enemy not quite dead yet?"
He scans the fallen to determine if any are merely knocked out...
Rexandi retreats to the small gap that Aster and Bazzle used to get around the wall of fire, but she has a few troubles navigating the environment. Vandomir gives Abbo a bit of a pickmeup, before Abbo goes over to Rexandi and around her to the other side of the fire. Vandomir gives a quick glance around for the living, and sees that the young Aulorian woman is still alive. The Dottari man, however, has been cooked in his armour to the point of nonrecognition. At that moment, Vandomir feels his body jerk. He sees the eyes of the two frontmost Ostovites from the other side of the fire, which glow red. His body shakes and tears, and he feels a pull towards the fire. Fortunately, he is able to resist the worst of it. Then, the other two Ostovites lob acid across the tunnel and through the fire, both of which splatter all over Vandomir and burn terribly. Not only is it acid, it's hot acid!
The skeleton comes over to claw Aster, and while it does scratch her hide from top to bottom, it simply cannot hurt her. The Ostovites in the tunnel reposition, two of which leaving entirely.
/2=16
"Bazzle, can you be a dear and throw me my morning star." Aster doesn't have a weapon at the moment, having dropped it to help pull the gnome off the devil wench.
Until then all she had was her mouth.
Bazzle tosses Aster's morning star to her. "Here to you go. Don't let it hit your toes."
Bazzle throws underhand, allowing Aster an easy chance to catch her morningstar. With a bit of time and patience, the group manage to safely dispatch the last bone-chariot and all the remaining Ostovites.
The demonic sludge from Xyl's body finishes dissipating, revealing a gruesome-looking scorpion whip made of hair and razor-sharp bone.
As the wall of fire burns out, all of the illusions surrounding the underground complex begin to fade. What's left is little more than a barren stone room, barrels of rotting food, rubbish, and scorch marks. Maria Aulorian is still out cold, but the Dottari man has been burnt to a crisp. The wizardess' spellbook has yet to be identified, as well as the rod she had on her person.
Where the tunnel once was is a simple open door, leading into a very large room supported by stone columns.
Aster doesn't know much. She knows the whip is powerful and magical, she knows the rod is a metamagic rod of some sort, and she knows that the spellbook isn't just an ordinary spellbook.
"The Dottari is not going to rat us out. What about the priest and I think a wizard? Still breathing?"
He moves to check on the other allies/victims of the succubus.
"I don't think she is really dead, unfortunately." Aster shifts back to being a middle aged wooman again, then works with Bazzle to check on all the victims. "We should tie them up until they are awake and we can determine if they are safe to release, or might decide to join up."
The wizardess, whom Vandomir identified earlier as Maria Aulorian, the eldest daughter of a major noble house in Kintargo, is already bound. She's currently unconscious due to receiving a (non-lethal) beating from Abbo.
The next room was once an illusion of a jungle paradise, with large bonfires in deep pits, and vines hanging from the ceiling. Now, this barren stone room has a multitude of hooks hanging from old ropes. The pits remain, but the fire does not. Upon a large stone table lays the same naked woman as the group saw earlier. The restraints on her arms and legs no longer exist, and as you look at her, her gaze turns from one of ecstasy to confusion, and then swiftly to fear. She wraps her arms around her chest, and crosses her legs. "D-d-don't look at me!" She blurts out. She swivels around to show her back, then says "Who are you??"
Aster pulls off her cloak and moves toward the woman "Here, take this." she says softly. "My name is Aster. We were lured down here by a creature of beauty but filled with pure malice. She is gone now."
"She may not be dead, but she's done with her plans for this place for now. This place is markedly safer for the present because of our fight against her," says Rexandi firmly.
She searches for something to give to the naked woman so that she can cover herself and says, "Don't worry, we'll help you get out of here."
"Her poisoned kisses taste dead. Especially at the end." Bazzle finds a drape or blanket to offer the woman covering.
"We will need to see about getting you some help Bazzle. I wager that you feel pretty rough about now."
Very little can be found in the vicinity to clothe the woman, but Aster's cloak will do. The woman starts wrapping the cloak around her, only to break down in tears. With a bit of time, she says
"I'm Korada. I'm a farm girl just outside Kintargo. You've saved me, and I'm so grateful, but I, this, how do I go on?"
Rexandi knows that the succubus Xyl is not truly dead. Her twisted soul will return to the Abyss. From there, she would need to find some way to return to the material plane, and to Kintargo specifically. Although it is possible she returns to exact revenge, there is no guarantee it would even occur during Rexandi's lifetime, if at all.
An open gate hints at the next portion of the complex
Vandomir looks to Aster, "can you help Bazzle?"
Energy Drain and Negative Levels
Some spells and a number of undead creatures have the ability to drain away life and energy; this dreadful attack results in “negative levels.” These cause a character to take a number of penalties.
For each negative level a creature has, it takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature’s negative levels equal or exceed its total Hit Dice, it dies.
A creature with temporary negative levels receives a new saving throw to remove the negative level each day. The DC of this save is the same as the effect that caused the negative levels.
Some abilities and spells (such as raise dead) bestow permanent level drain on a creature. These are treated just like temporary negative levels, but they do not allow a new save each day to remove them. Level drain can be removed through spells like restoration. Permanent negative levels remain after a dead creature is restored to life. A creature whose permanent negative levels equal its Hit Dice cannot be brought back to life through spells like raise dead and resurrection without also receiving a restoration spell, cast the round after it is restored to life.
"No I don't think so." Aster says apologetically to Bazzle's problem. To Korada, she says with honest sympathy "You go on. It is as simple as that. Simple, but not easy. I know that... we all know that. Things you've seen, things that have happened just don't go away, no matter how much you'd wish them to. All you can do is keep going on. One step, one action, one day at a time." Aster gives her a soft smile "But you don't have to do it alone, if you don't want."
If she seems trustworthy, Aster will offer to show her a place she can be useful, a place she can help make a difference against the evils like this.
Bazzle raises a hand to wave off the concern, "I'll be okay." Mid wave he looks up startled at his own hand making his words just a brave face.
"Oh! You are hurt, not just withered from demon magic. Here..." Aster exclaims, fumble a bit then lays her hand on Bazzle and prays for healing.
Korada certainly seems honest, but it isn't clear if she'd support the cause. It's also unclear if she'd have the skills to be particularly helpful.
Korada nods sullenly at Aster's advice. She asks "What should I tell my parents? If my fiance finds out, he might demand a higher dowry."
When Aster heals Bazzle back to as close to full capacity as he's able, Korada also asks "Are you a priestess, ma'am?"
"They need not know what happened here. There was magic, illusions, and violence. None of which was your fault. But yes, I am." she realizes what the question is about and says "Interesting, I could try to heal... that." turning to Bazzle, Vandomir, and Abbo. "Gentlemen, could you search that way for a few moments? Rexi, maybe you could help here?" she leads the young woman out of sight from the men.
Bazzle moves off in the direction Aster indicated with a nod. "Let's see what is over here."
Rexandi says, "I understand where you're going, Aster..."
"On the up side, while this succubus has simply had her body destroyed and her spirit returned to the Abyss, she's unlikely to come back any time soon unless someone summons her specifically."
"I've never really considered using healing magic specifically to repair a hymen. Frankly I'm not terribly fond of the whole business of valuing women according to our sexual history, but if that's the reality, we'll deal with it as best we can," she says. "Listen, you've gone through a traumatic experience, and it's going to take time to process it. We'll do what we can to help get you back to safety and make sure that people understand that you were a victim here."
Rexandi provides a soothing healing hex for Korada.
"Demanding a higher dowry would be ridiculous anyway. The point of providing a dowry is so that you can be supported if something happens to your husband, so his family has money to help you if he's hurt in an accident or something and can't do his job. Deflowering is not devaluing."
Korada can't really be sure if the spell functioned as intended, but it's appreciated nonetheless. "Thank you. But that's not what a dowry is. Not here, anyways. Dowry is when my parents pay my fiancee to marry me. If the price isn't high enough, he'll go marry someone else. And if I don't get married soon, I'll be sent to the church as a nun. The reason he'd demand a higher price is, well because I'm not... pure, anymore." Though she speaks freely, it's clear Korada feels shameful.
------------------------------------
The next room reveals a fifty-foot-diameter pool of rancid, brown slurry that fills most of the circular chamber. Chunks of plaster have fallen away, leaving ragged patches behind in the walls and ceiling and mounds of rubble on the floor. What wall space remains is decorated in crude drawings and symbols of sinister form. Greasy-looking chains run between four stout pillars rising from the muck and anchor to various points on the wall. A naked human man hangs pinned to a pillar by the chains, a Shoanti man that Aster recognizes as Wambleeska, the bruiseball coach in Old Kintargo. He looks nothing more than skin and bones, a husk of what once housed a human soul.
Rexandi can read the scrawling, which is written in Abyssal. This cursed text forms the beginning of a summoning circle to the Abyssal Midnight Iles. If it were completed, even a non-magical creature, with the correct prayers and incantations, could summon demons from that realm.
The opposite side of this circular room is blocked by a terribly rusted iron door.
Vandomir will assess the health of the restrained man.
Mostly looking for things that can be cured by spells and such.
Vandomir isn't sure how exactly, but this man is very dead.
Oh! It wasn't clear from the description that he was dead, just in really bad shape.
Rexandi says, "Should we try to get Korada here back to safety first... ?"
To Korada, Rexandi says encouragingly, "Well, your body should be repaired. How you deal with this experience and get through it is not as simple. It'll take time."
"Sounds like your dowry is basically just 'buy-a-bride.' I hope your husband-to-be is a reasonably decent man, that aside. If he did decide to change his mind about you, well, this is a big city—it should still be possible for you to find another match. But I understand how... draining that can be."
The tiefling woman looks distracted for a moment, perhaps thinking about her own as-yet unsuccessful quest for a companion.
Korada says "He's alright, from what I know. He's a travelling merchant, so I'll get to see more of the world." She gives a half smile. "It is draining. I'm always nervous."
"Bazzle could you quietly slip through the rest of the lair to see if there are any more prisoners. I agree with Rexi, the saving victims are the most important."
"On it."
You swear he was just here.
Bazzle goes unseen, but not unheard. When he approaches the rusted iron door, it takes several minutes before the little Gnome can push it open, and the squeaking simply can't be reduced. Fortunately, no enemies wait on the other side.
Inside this moderately sized chamber lie multiple rooms of various sizes. These rooms have fallen mostly into disrepair. Chunks of plaster hang from the walls, exposing rough stonework beyond. Scattered furnishings that once outfitted bunkrooms, a kitchen, and even an armory lie scattered about in states of complete disrepair, and doors hang from hinges in the crumbling archways that lie between the chambers.
One of the chambers is filled with dried gore and smells of sulfur. Inside stands a disturbing giant spider with a human torso, constructed completely out of humanoid bones. It does not move, suggesting it is an unused Ostovite construction.
The old armoury mainly carries weapons that are rusted or rotten beyond any hope of repair, but a few new additions are perfectly usable. The two most impressive items are a two-bladed sword, and a Gnomish hooked hammer, but also stored in the armoury is a rapier, a light crossbow, a longspear, and a bladed scarf.
Not as much armour can be found, with only a reinforced tunic, some quilted cloth armour, and a set of dancing scarves being found.
One of the rooms has a broken and soiled bed, with two treasure chests standing on the far side. Both chests are unlocked. The first one is nearly filled with coins (mostly coppers and silvers), as well as minor precious stones, jewelry, and other items of minor value. The second chest smells terrible, and a quick glance inside reveals rotting flesh. A side table holds a mass of parchments, each one being a love letter. On the back of some of these love letters are lists of people's assets, secrets for blackmail, magical items to obtain, and notes about the Rose of Kintargo. There is also a letter from none other than Barzillai Thrune.
Once Bazzle is reasonably sure that there are no further dangers. He finds the others. "Ahh I am gonna need some help with what I found. Follow me." He leads any volunteers to the stuff he found. "We have some nice weapons here." Pointing to the masterwork weapons. "Aromor." He points to the tunic, cloth and scarves. He sits on the chest full of coins. "This one is all coins and jewels. Sadly copper and silver but beggars shouldn't be choosers." He then lifts handfuls of papers. "This is the real money here. Blackmail notes, burglar shopping lists and a letter from the devil Thrune."
Aster is impressed with what Bazzle found. "I truly do hate this creature, but she might have helped us out a little in the end." she looks at all the things "There is no way we can transport all this through the streets. We'll have to send someone else back for it. Gather up the paperwork, and anything anyone is interested in."
"What a horror show. Let's not stick around here any longer than we have to," says Rexandi.
Succubus,
I graciously give you the right to exist and hunt within the district of Redroof as you see fit. In return, you are to eliminate any rebels to my rule of Kintargo that you encounter. You must also seek out the Rose of Kintargo, and the Silver Ravens. Deliver them to me, alive, and unspoiled. I will send my assistant, Riza Vori, to be available for contact each Starday in the former Cloven Hoof Society building. Do not attempt to sway her, or you will die a most painful death.
My word is bound with honour,
- Barzillai Thrune, Lord-Mayor of Kintargo, Cousin of Queen Abrogail II of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune.
The group gather what they can before departing the succubi's lair. They leave Maria to her own devices, and set up Korada in the Villegre Inn with some simple, but decent new clothes. When they arrive at the Wasp Nest, they let Laria know about some loot in the old Fair Fortune Livery, and she sends a message to the Salties to pick it up.
A few hours later, curfew is enforced in Kintargo. Rexus spends some time going over the magic items in the hopes of identifying anything. He manages to identify just about everything. The scorpion whip is no less than a minor artifact with an intelligence. The metamagic rod is a minor rod of elemental spell, allowing casters to change the element of their spells. The spellbook functions similarly to a familiar, and not only contains wizard spells, but contains pages of spell knowledge.
When the group goes to bed, they will wake up feeling revitalized and more powerful.
Minor artifact, empathetic intelligence
This +2 Scorpion Whip brims with the red power of the Abyss. The cords are made out of braided succubus hair, the handle out of an erect phallus turned to stone, and the blades are made out of sharpened and serrated thighbones. It functions as an evil weapon for the purposes of bypassing DR.
Against targets that are good or lawful, the whip has a x3 critical multiplier and a 19-20 critical threat range. This stacks with feats, spells, and other effects that improve critical multipliers and threat ranges, except those from magical weapon special abilities.
In addition to the regular traits of scorpion whips, this whip can be used as a grappling weapon with the ability to constrict. Once per day when maintaining a grapple with the whip, the wielder can immediately subject the target to a Calm Emotions spell (DC 18 Will, CL12). The wielder does not need to concentrate to continue the spell, and it lasts up to an hour. While under the effects of Calm Emotions, the creature is treated as a willing recipient for a single enchantment spell of 5th level or lower, meaning it will not make a saving throw against the spell (spell resistance still applies unless the creature can lower it).
As a full-round action, the wielder of this whip can choose between the following species: Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Human, Halfling, or Tiefling. Against the chosen creature type, the whip functions as a +4 Scorpion Whip, and the DC for the Calm Emotions effect increases by 1.
This weapon can only be further enhanced by a succubus or lilitu.
Cursed: Wielders of this whip must make a Will save whenever a harmless good or lawful aligned spell targets them. Failure results in the negation of the spell.
Used by sorcerers who infiltrate wizarding academies, this spellbook grants special boons when held in the hand. When held by an arcane spellcaster, the spellbook grants the wielder a +3 to Use Magic Device checks, and grants the caster the ability to cast Detect Magic and Read Magic at will. The spellbook can contain pages of spell knowledge in addition to regular wizard spells. Finally, when using a wizard spell in the spellbook as a scroll, there is a 50% chance that the scroll is not consumed. These powers are not granted if the wielder already has a familiar or bonded item.
Pages of Spell Knowledge:
- Detect Fiendish Presence
- Chill Touch
- Unknown
Wizard Spells:
- All wizard cantrips
- 6 unknown spells
- Acid Arrow, Make Whole
Vandomir was able to read the note to the group, although I assume others could read it too.
"Not sure what to do with all of this stuff. The whip is... bad. I wonder if we can figure out how to destroy it," opines Rexandi idly while the team is meeting and discussing their recent escapades. "The spellbook... I might be able to make use of, but it might also be worthwhile to trade to a wizard or arcanist who could put it to good use, someone we want on our good side."
"And speaking of getting on our good side," she says as she stands and adjusts her drape, "I need to go see Mr. Haace at the Devil's Threads, he said he'd have something for me today that might help with my chirurgery."
Rexandi heads out to the Devil's Threads for the meet that she previously arranged. Having cleaned up from the prior expedition, she has magically mended her clothes, though there are still some stubborn stains (as she doesn't know prestidigitation to perform magical cleaning). She also applies a bit of her perfume.
"Mr. Ha- Haace," she stammers a bit shyly. "I, uh, it's me, uh, Rexandi? We talked yesterday about me coming here for some things to help with my work as a chirurgeon? Did... did you have something for me?"