Hedran slashes a nasty gnash on its ribs, revealing part of a wooden frame stuffed with straw.
+1 Longbow, Point-blank Shot, Normal Arrow on Red.
Robert tries to shoot red, but in trying not to hit Grenwold shoots too far to the left and the arrow hits the stone wall and shatters.
Gren drops his glaive and draws his Morningstar as he moves up with Fenton. He whispers the prayer of Turtle and his skin appears like a shell briefly.
Free- drop glaive
Swift -animal focus Turtle
Move - move with Fenton to square northwest of red, drawing Morningstar
Standard - some attacks!
Grenwold manages to clonk the stuffed grizzly bear on the head, but Fenton's horns do not manage to penetrate the creature's toughened hide.
The red grizzly bear begins to bite and claw at Hedran and the bite looks about to hit when weasel snaps at it, and it tries to swipe weasel instead but misses.
The other grizzly bear attacks Grenwold and does manage to give him a nip on his arm as Fenton stumbles on the uneven floor and is unable to
ward off the bite with his horns.
The other two claws clang off Grenwold's toughened skin.
Father Noelan fires two shots at the red grizzly bear, but one bounces off the door frame while the other goes high.
Cirieo tries to stay on bear with only his knees, then reloads the heavy crossbow after urging bear forward.
Nigel tries to club the large bear but he does not smack it hard enough to cause any damage to its hide.
Grenwold and Fenton continue to attack the large "bear", but Gren draws his shield and switches his focus.
Swift - switch to bull
Move - draw shield
Standard - attack attack red (then unbordered if red dies).
AC is now 22-14-20
Grenwold does not manage to make any mark on the grizzly bear's hide, but Fenton stabs it in the throat, and it collapses onto the ground.
"Let's try to make short work of this one too."
PA
PA
Seeing the stuffed undead bear go down, Ratel moves beside Hedran and swings his scizore at the beast.
Hedran tries to stab at the bear but it dodges out of the way, while Ratel tries to stab at the creature but his scizore does not pierce the creature's hide.
Robert moves up then shoots a single arrow at the creature, but it bounces off its hide.
The creature tries to bite and claw at Grenwold, but its teeth and claws bounce off his breastplate and shield.
Father Noelan moves into the room and feathers the creature on its shoulder.
He then orders Cavall to attack the creature, but even though Cavall tugs at its leg, he is unable to drag it down to the ground.
Cirieo rides bear into the room, but is not quite able to keep balance, and quickly grabs the harness with one hand,firing with the other. Bear's jerky movements throw his aim off and his shot goes wide.
Hedran sees the oppertunity for another swing.
PA
PA
Hedran cuts into the creature's flanks but does not manage to hit anything vital. Nigel manages to clobber the creature over its shoulders.
Nodding his head in agreement with Nigel, "good Idea." the then steps forward, swinging his scizore then slamming with his shield, followed up by a backhanded swing with the scizore again.
+1 Longbow, point-blank shot, normal arrow on unbordered.
Ratel stabs the bear in its chest and it collapses on in a heap on the ground.
"Would you believe it, I rode on a Bear and shot a stuffed bear!" Cirieo brags proudly.
"Well I can sat not many can brag about doing that."Father Noelan answers with an amused twinkle in his eyes.
Searching the forge, the party finds a hidden compartment containing six +1 crossbow bolts, three adamantine bolts, and a single bolt of magical beast slaying.
The party goes up the stairs.
The stone of this room has been smoothed and reshaped like soft clay. A door stands to the north, but the stone wall flows over the jamb, blocking it shut. Stone rods crisscross arrow slits in the southern and eastern walls. A staircase descends on one side of the door, but the ascending staircase has been completely sealed at the ceiling. Beakers and woodworking tools cover the low stone tables lining the walls, while the center of the room is filled with a six-armed wicker mannequin stretching from floor to ceiling. A wooden box the size of a footstool rests in an opening in the mannequin’s chest.
A squat korred with thick, wiry hair that sticks out from his head and ears yells at the party, poking at the incomplete puzzle box with his hands while his animated hair shifts the pieces around yells at the party, "I said absolute privacy!" Then throws a bunch of rivets in the party's direction and gets back to his work on the puzzle box.
"I don't care about parties. I hate them as a matter of fact. They're noisy, rowdy and get in the way of intellectual pursuits." The korred gives a disdainful snort.
"If you must know, I'm trying to figure out how to get this puzzle box open. I believe there must be a most wondrous artefact of awesome magical power inside it."The korred replies querulously. "And I'm using the place for my research."
|
Nigel nods sympathetically.
"I can appreciate how zat vould be irritating. I myself am more interested in the modification of organic systems, but zat said, I have had a reasonable level of education... Vould you like some assistance with ze box? If not, zen, if you truly have no interest on vhat else is going on around here, I vill leave you to your vork, and trouble you no more."
"Yeah maybe that's not too a bad idea. This box has had me stumped for days." The korred admits grudgingly. "Look, if you can open the box, leaving its contents undamaged, I'll give you my belt and you can keep the puzzle box as well. I just want whatever that is inside."
"While our friend works on the box. May I ask, what are your other intellectual pursuits? What kind of research do you do?"
Smiling at Nigel, Ratel replies, "My pleasure."
As they work on assisting the oddly bearded fey, Ratel grunts to Nigel, "My mutagen is going to wear off, do we have enough time for me to make more?"
I don't mind.
"Oh, constructs of various kinds." The korred gestures at the mannequin. "Once I figure out the puzzle box, I'll find a way to animate this mannequin as a research assistant."The korred answers. "I've already had some success creating Guardian constructs to keep the partying korreds out."
"My work is of paramount importance and I cannot afford any distractions!" The korred explains.
Don't forget the additional +1 from the Belt of Incredible Dexterity that I wear. The ability score section of profiles don't handle split scores well. Well, not at all. Here goes ...
And again.
So, the last two tries of the second set and the first try from the third is three consecutive checks of Disable Device at DC 25.
And yet again.
After about nearly a minutes work, with Father Noelan's guidance, Robert manages to figure out the combination to open the puzzle box, and the puzzle box opens to reveal a ceramic cube.
The korred takes the cube from Robert eagerly, then passes him a belt. "Here, as promised, this is my belt of giant strength. Since you helped me open up the puzzle box, you can have it."
"Oh,I'm also a wizard of considerable power, so I'll offer you my spellbook for you to copy from. You can pay for your own inks and spellbooks, I'm not providing those."He adds as an afterthought.
"Now please leave me to my research of this ceramic cube." He bids the party.
The party heads down the stairs then heads up the other set of stairs.
Doors and staircases cap both ends of this long, twisting hall. Several arrow slits look out on the forest along the eastern wall. The walls of this gallery are scratched, seared with fire, and stained with blood.
A dozen bunk beds have been rearranged in this room. The straw mattresses have all been stacked to make a ludicrously high bed, and the metal bed frames have been pounded into uneven shapes and stacked to the north to create a dais surmounted by a metal throne. Scattered empty bottles, casks, and cups litter the surrounding area. Four squat stone blocks, each about two feet square, stand around the room, sealed to the floor. Two Spriggans, one large, one small sized are capering around the blocks at the bellowing commands of a red-rimmed, bulky korred in a chain shirt.
"Սպանեք զրուցակիցներին, եւ դուք կողջունեք Կարմիր ժայռը:" The korred commands imperiously.
Kill the interlopers, and you willl be welcome to the Red Rock Revel.
Gives the Belt to Ratel. "I'm already wearing a belt. You can use this, however. And see which spells out of the spellbook that you can use as an Alchemist."
+1 Longbow, Point-blank Shot, Precise Shot (if needed), Durable Cold Iron Arrow on Korred.
Hedran will be copying spells from the spell book.
"If we find another belt like that it would be very useful for me."
Politely taking the belt from Robert, Ratel puts it on, ”Thank you Robert, I will put it to good use.”
Seeing no way of not putting himself in danger from the larger creatures spiked club, Ratel tries to duck the inevitable attack, moving close to the wall, he attacks the larger humanoid with his scizore.
The large spriggan clobbers Ratel as he approaches, and Ratel returns the favor by stabbing him in the gut.
The bulky korred begins to start a blood curdling song."Նախ `մենք շոգ ենք եւ հետո թխում ենք: Հիմա թշնամիների արյունը մեն." He then steps away, seemingly content to watch the Spriggans and the party fight it out.
First we brew and then we bake.
Now the blood of our foes we'll take!
The muscles on the red Spriggan begins to bulge as the red spriggan tries to club Ratel again with his morningstar.
Ratel gets clobbered on his head by the spriggan.
Cirieo delays to give the party more room to move in. "Hey, I think you guys should move in, else there's no room for us all." He urges the party.
Robert shoots the korred in the shoulder, drawing a curse from him. "Now you've done it. I'd be happy to spectate the brawl, but now I can't just sit back and watch."
Let try something a little different Two-Handed Power Attack. Swift action to make the weapon frost and shock.
PA
As Hedran moves into the room, the Spriggan takes a swing at him, catching him in his ribs.
He slices deep into the Spriggans chest using his blade, now crackling with electricity and frost, but the Spriggan still remains stubbornly standing.
+1 Longbow, point-blank shot, precise shot if necessary, durable cold iron arrow on Korred.
Okay. Especially since it will soon be nine, and I've got to be up early.
Gren watches the exchange with the puzzle box interestedly, commenting at the end, ”It was a pleasure to meet you. Please take care of yourself, and avoid the northern Fangwood.”
Gren moves with Fenton around the chair, looking to use the cover from Hedran and the chair to avoid an attack of opportunity.
He strikes at the enlarged spriggan with his glaive.
Move- move
Standard - just Gren attack