Only the creature's desire to exploit Talon allows Haka to rummage a potion out of Rohini's belongings and force it down her throat. This was a nerve-wracking thing to do, considering even an errant wind could have killed her completely.
Her eyes refocused as she was wrenched back into consciousness just in time to hear the screeching deathcry of her attacker as Talon slashed him apart in the fashion that the party had to be accustomed to by now.
Drovya continues to bleed out.
Kanthuun leaves the killing to the melee'ers, mindful of the remaining daemon's resistance to spells. He pulls a potion out of his quiver and drinks it, and immediately grows terrible and beautiful to behold.
"YIELD," he intones to the leukadaemon, his voice like the piping croon and howl of raw Chaos itself.
The creature shrinks back, though to be honest, it's hard for everyone else in the room not to.
Rohini looks up at Haka with grateful eyes, with a depth of feeling reflective of her perception of Haka as she lay in her moment of death. She channels and then crawls away from the remaining daemon and its swarm of flies.
Drovya shudders back to life, gasping for breath from his supine position.
Drovya concentrates, contorting his fingers and barking out a sharp hiss before vanishing from view.
Hearing the call to yield, Hanethes holds his attack, but keeps the mithril blade close enough to the body, if he can do so without suffering consequently from the fly swarm, to warrant a genuine threat.
Rohini's channels brought Drovya back into the fight, albeit on the ground, and he blinks out of existence, hiding his righting himself.
The call to yield did not cause the creature to stop, but it was still not very happy about the state of affairs.
It crossed its claws across its chest and vanished, leaving Han to fall to the ground.
[ooc]And auto-succeed on landing on his feet.[ Break Initiative./ooc]
"Nice Trick. That phasing thing. Can all daemons do that, or just certain ones?" He asks the more knowledgeable members of the party.
Normally very composed and controlled, Rohini seems quite shaken as the daemon disappears.
Rohini stands and asks, "Could it just be invisible?" She draws her spear and waves it in front of her as she maneuvers to put her back to a wall.
Drovya tried to determine what the Leukodaemon had done, and to remember any of its more transportation oriented abilities.
Whatever happened, we need to move quickly, his disembodied voice called out. If it's gone to bring friends, I don't want to be here when they arrive. Which way Kanthya?
"Yea, I think it's gone. Everyone alright?" Talon asks mainly looking towards Rohini.
Talon's question snaps Drovya back to reality. He grips Rohini's shoulder with an invisible hand and says in a low voice, That spell took quite a bit out of me. Could I impose on you for a bit of Desna's favor?
One corpse remains behind, some of its bulk still immersed in the wall as if it were water.
Recovering her composure, Rohini responds, "Of course, let me first channel my Lady's healing energies, then cast a spell, and then continue to heal you with my wand as we continue to move. It seems to make sense to save my strongest spells for the heat of the battle, but let me know if you disagree as a matter of strategy." She also mentions: "It may make sense to quickly examine that corpse before we continue."
Rohini channels positive energy to heal anyone who is wounded:
Rohini casts cure moderate wounds:
Rohini uses her wand of CLW on Drovya as the group starts to move again:
once:
twice:
three times:
four times:
a fifth time, on herself:
"No you're right. We need to keep moving." Talon will do a quick search of the corpse before moving on.
Haka waits, uncharacteristically quiet, while Rohini heals herself and Drovya, and Talon searches the dead monstrosity. He was glad to have saved Rohini, but the experience had taken a lot out of him, and he hated to imagine what horrors lay ahead.
Hanethes peers ahead, ready to find the next danger that awaited them.
(+4 to spot traps)
Talon manages to find that there is a large longbow that can be pulled out of a wing/arm tipped with his name sake, though it does seem to be... a little attached. That is remedied with a quick tug.
Additionally, the creature has a large belt lines with dried sinew and beads. It pulsates in his hand.
Lastly, there is a belt pouch with twelve rubies, 590 gold pieces with foreign markings, 8 sizeable soul gems, and a single, glowing bit of purple stone.
The belt, the bow, (the soul gems, which you know by now), and the stone are magical.
The bow is a +2 longbow, the belt seems to have a location-specific passwall spell imbued on it, and the purple stone is a Luck Stone.
As for Hanethes, he didn't see anymore immediate danger so much as a bend.
Haka waves a hand in the direction of the items that Talon has recovered, and says "They're all magical, that's sure." He then studies the auras they give off, and the items themselves, a moment, and adds, "And just as sure is the fact that I don't know what any of them are." He casts an inquiring eye at his arcane colleagues, in the hopes they have a better idea what Talon has found.
Rohini will follow Drovya over to the items, to allow him to examine them while she continues to heal him.
My thanks Rohini, and yes, save your strongest magics for later. We may very well need them. Drovya fades back into visibility as he crouches down and invokes his arcane sight, examining the leavings of the Leukodaemon.
The bow carries a strong enchantment, definitely useful, this belt though, there is some kind of wall passing spell on it, though it seems specific to one location, not useable just anywhere. Hmm, perhaps we will be able to use this to our advantage. This last purple gem though, a low whistle breaks forth through his teeth. That is distilled luck. Just a bit of extra help in useful situations. Very nice.
"It seems to me that either Drovya or Talon should use the luckstone right now. I have a blessing from my Lady that will give us all a similar grace of luck when we reach the ultimate conflict.
Should we continue? Would it slow us too much for myself, Drovya, and Kanthuun to scan the hall in front of us for magic as we proceed? I believe such a measure of precaution would have prevented us from being surprised by this most recent ambush."
"Could always use more luck. We can take a moment for you to do your magic thing, but make it quick."
While everyone else is doing their thing, Hanethes fastidiously cleans under his nails with a small file.
"It lasts less than a minute, so I'd need to cast it when the final battle is upon us. But probably you or Drovya should carry the luckstone."
Drovya passes the purple gem over to Talon, and the belt to Kanthuun. I'll hold onto this bow unless someone else wants it. Drovya admires the eerie, twisting pattern carved onto the dark wood of the bow. Yes, this would suit me I think.
I think your idea to scan is a good one Rohini. Let's proceed.
Kanthuun takes the belt, grimacing. "I don't really like to go first, Drovya, especially through a potentially solid wall..."
Kanthuun nods at the idea of scanning ahead.
You're the only one of us guaranteed to be scarier than anything we would meet on the other side, Drovya barks back with a wolfish grin.
"That only fools them for a minute, Drovya, and with our luck, it's an undead beast waltzing with another golem," retorts Kanthuun.
Always a waltz, never a mazurka... Drovya shakes his head sadly while he scans for auras.
"Which wall are you going through, Kanthuun?"
When he knows which one, Hanethes studies the wall carefully for traps, hoping to prevent disaster for his friend, should he attempt to walk into it and fail.
There are no traps you can detect.
"Hmmm, should be okay to walk through, I think. I can't really sense any traps inside the wall itself."
"I'm not going through any wall. I will make the passage and then Talon and Drovya will go in first."
Kanthuun looks at the walls to see if any are unique in some way.
Kanthuun shrugs and chooses the wall closest to where the daemons appeared. "Weapons out, my friends..."
Kanthuun's use of the belt causes a rippling drawing aside of bits of the fleshy, image-filled wall, as well as another and another ahead, besides. It looks like the corridor would have just continued and bent about in some sort of maze.
The process would bear repeating three times before anything of interest occurred... A set of stairs headed down into the bowels of the salted earth and unnatural darkness.
Drovya peers down the stairs hesitantly, especially when the darkness swallows up the light of his ioun torch.
I have a spell that could pierce this blackness, but it will take me a quarter of an hour to prepare it. I'd rather not spend the extra time here, but I don't see that we have much else in the way of a choice, unless Haka can drum it away?
"Errr... don't know if I can stand any more of that inky blackness. I still remember what happened last time."
Haka begins to beat a quick, quiet pattern on his drums, and gives a quick nod of thanks to Rohini as she gifts him with Desna's blessing. He focuses on the darkness filling the stairs, one hand continuing to drum while the other waves in a forceful, dismissive gesture.
Drovya bobs his head to the beat of Haka's drum, unconsciously swept up in the rhythm.