Barely hanging onto consciousness, Layaali rasps out a prayer to Viledeis, begging her goddess to take Layaali's wounds upon herself.
With Layaali safely behind him, Drael turns and lashes out once again at the remaining undead blocking their progress.
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Drael drives his enchanted straight through the face of the last remaining undead foe as it clings to his throat. The corpse bursts in an explosion of dust, bone shards, and rags, its form laid to rest - perhaps, finally. The suli irritably shakes off the clawed skeletal hand of the thing as he turns to survey his party.
A few moments later, a plaintive cry comes from the darkened end of the passage where the team descended down the well. A split-second later, the pink-haired kineticist runs towards the group, all smiles.
"Is everyone alright? Can we move on? That was kind of a rough ambush. We should be careful, others might follow their example."
Min waggles his finger at Rab-rab. "Don't run off like that! You could've been killed!"
"I couldn't help it! They were so spooky! Right, King Jack-jack."
King Jack-jack nods his head in agreement.
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The numbing silence takes after the shock of violence. Little remains of the undead forms within their individual piles of ruin, nor is there anything of interest in any further burial niches.
Despite this, the team resumes inching forward, checking each crypt and reacting to any unexplained sound with weapons and spells ready. Ahead, the western crypt passage ends in an elaborate stone door bearing a life-sized symbol of Sarenrae, except that where the symbol’s head should be, a blackened scorch mark mars the portal. The door stands very slightly ajar.
Drael reaches out and gingerly touches the scorch mark, doing his best to wipe away any ash or soot that obscures what remains of the deity's head. Moving slowly, he moves up to the crack in the door, doing his best to peer inside.
Before they move on, Layaali sheathes her dagger, gathers everyone close, and prays for their wounds to be healed.
Satisfied, she reconnects her life-force to those of her companions. Then she draws and loads her crossbow and follows Drael down the hall, crossbow in hand and gnomes on her trail.
Razif follows further. "I have to say, this place is bigger than I anticipated."
Razif lays his hands on the door and looks at Drael, ready to help push the door open.
Once Razif is at his side, Drael quickly pushes the door open, before returning both hands to the handle of his axe.
Rab-rab quivers in fear, more than a little worried about this place. As they push the door open she whimpers.
"I hate this place..."
Min stands nervously beside his sister.
"Me too..." he admits.
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Drael reaches out to the door, trying to scrub away the ash where Sarenrae's head used to be. He drops his arm to the side almost immediately in the realisation that the head has been destroyed. As his team forms up behind him with a sense of dread, the suli pushes open the stone door...
The chamber beyond stands in stark contrast to the craftsmanship of worked stone of the rest of the crypt. Here looms a vast cavern. The air is damp, cold, and moist, writhing roots hanging down from the ceiling twenty feet above. Puddles of reeking fluid dot the floor, and at the far end of the chamber, a jagged upthrust lance of stone rises from the ground to form a steeply-sloped platform.
Standing upon the upthrust stone shelf is a familiar form - a towering muscular man wielding an immense axe — Kardswann, the Mouth of the Carrion King.
As you enter the room, the Carrion King chuckles - a dry, inhuman, croaking rasp that sounds nothing like Kardswann.
"Many years have I languished in this foul place, trapped here by the wards placed by your Pactmasters. Endless decades have I endured the whispering spirits of the wholesome dead, cursing my captors, hating the world I could no longer corrupt. When the Templar came eight weeks past, he walked through the walls, curse him. The red-men’s seal remained intact. But you, you have broken the seal, and my long captivity is finally at an end."
"But before I go, I will kill you one by one until the last of you willingly allows himself to be my slave. Which one of you, I wonder, shall that be?”
Razif moves into the room, arrow trained on the hulking figure. He ignores his words and threats, and instead opts for a simple judgment.
"You are an affront to the Dawnstar. You defaced a city worshipping her name and turned her faithfuls against the world they strive to better. That alone is reason enough for us to take you down."
A short pause.
"... But I'm after something a bit more personal as well. Know this, Kardswann, or whoever you may be: every arrow I shoot at you, I do in name of Uzma Mahdi al Kalid!"
Drael hefts his axe, showing no surprise at their foe having taken on the appearance of Kardswann, whose axe he now bears. We broke the seal for a reason. It is time for your captivity, and your life, to end.
Rab-rab and King Jack-jack adopt a flamboyant pose. "Yeah! We're gonna kick your butt, pal! And your lair sucks!"
Min groans an slaps a hand to his face. Here they were, face to face with a horrible evil, and his sister was taunting it.
Ugh. Sisters...
Oh, yeah. Look at that. And his friends were too. That's what he got for hanging out with tall folk...
Min gives his sister A LOOK. It's a very pointed LOOK. Full of scolding and superiority. It's a shame she's not looking at him to see it. A perfect look, wasted.
He adjusts his glasses and surveys the area. This was a fight they had to win. He and Rab-rab couldn't escape this one. With the demons they could've ran. With Kardswann they could have leapt off the building unharmed and then ran. But here? They couldn't climb up and out of the well. They couldn't escape. Not without one of those tall folk to give them a boost.
"This is a fight we have to win," he tells his sister. "There's no running this time."
"Your reign of terror has ended. Your death is at hand. Soon, even your deeds will be forgotten, alongside your name. Your stain will be purged. You will leave no legacy." Layaali raises her hands to the sky in prayer. "May the Cardinal Martyr protect us."
Razif moves into the room, seeking cover behind one of the pillar. Knowing he refuses to let a single arrow be wasted, he closes his eyes and mutters a prayer.
When he opens his eyes, they've taken the form of a bird of prey, and some of his hair appears to grow into feathers.
Drael steps out in front of the group, righteous fury at the foe before them causing him to grow in size until he blocks "Kardswann's" view of his friends.
He hefts his massive axe and smiles, Bring it on, ugly.
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Razif jets into the room, taking cover behind a stalagmite. Drael steps in and grows to twice his normal size. The two martial characters become immediately aware of a strange, droning buzz permeating the room.
With a snap of his fingers, the figure calling himself Kardswann sends a twisting pattern of subtle, shifting colours weaving through the doorway of his chamber into the hall beyond, bathing Layaali and the gnomes in the mesmerising strobe effect.
Min slinks into the room, looks up at Karswann and sings a series of long notes. As he chants, his body glows with a bright, brilliant light. Then he claps his hands together! The light from Min extinguishes and a bright ball of light surrounds Kardswann Number Two.
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Min's positive energy seems to sear the form of Kardswann in a painful fashion.
Additionally, the true nature of the chamber is revealed: it is a large worked chamber perhaps forty feet square. Two rows of three marble columns flank the main walkway leading from east to west. A series of low, curved stairs at the opposite side of the room leads to a large concave recess in the western wall, with an elaborate throne perched at the top of the stairs.
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Rab-rab stares at the pretty lights.
Layaali shakes Rab-rab to wake her up. "Rab-rab? Rab-Rab! Are you alright? Focus. You need your wits about you."
Once she's sure Rab-rab's fine, Layaali moves up right behind Drael.
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Layaali shakes Rab-rab free of the entrancing effect of the strobe effect. Min notices the droning effect within the room.
Both of the martial characters within the room gurgle and spout gibberish. As they do so, the form of Kardswann levitates off of the ground and looks in the direction of the sorcerer, his eyes still overstimulated by Min's attack.
"You know that you can't defeat me, but I like you. You could join me, little one."
The offer sounds genuine...
Layaali passes by her babbling companions with concern, then fires her loaded crossbow at Kardswann.
Min curls up his nose at the creature. "Uh, you look hideous! No wonder you're trying to look like Kardswann -- you'll never make any friends looking like that! Yuck!" Min calls out to his sister. "He's a really big bug demon! Stay back!"
Min looks around at all his companions and sees the tall folk are useless. He sighs. "Typical." Looks like he and his sister would have to take him down alone. "Stay back from the others, something's wrong with them. It's just me and you!"
Min sings a series of long notes. As he chants, his body glows with a bright, brilliant light. Then he claps his hands together! The light from Min extinguishes and a bright ball of light surrounds the bug monster.
Then Min takes cover behind a nearby pillar.
"I know your tricks, bug-man!" Rab-rab says. She takes a deep breath, dashes up to the door, peeks around Drael, and shoots a super big blast of wind across the room at bug-man!
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The creature called Kardswann growls as the burst of positive energy sears its forms again. With a pop, Rab-rab's blast of concussive wind smacks Kardswann across the face.
The suli swoons in confusion, his face screwing up in rage. Suddenly, he smashes the flat of his great axe into his face, bloodying his nose!
Razif plugs his ears, trying to resist the noise. "Get out of my head, Kardswann!"
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The ranger shakes his mind free of the droning buzz.
"Xulthos will make you PAY for that, little one!" the form calling itself Kardswann growls. Kardswann then vanishes, replaced by an immense insect-like fiend with huge claws, a multi-eyed face with slavering mandibles, and a long serpentine tail tipped with chitinous blades. Its wings are nearly transparent, and it moves with an almost hypnotic grace, its wings droning and light reflecting off his carapace in a dazzling display.
Xulthos then flies slowly down from its perch towards where Min cowers behind a stalagmite, lashing out at the sorcerer with its mandibles as it reaches its position.
The bite snaps inches in front of Min's face as he swiftly ducks behind the stalagmite.
Min takes a five-foot step back and tries really hard to cast his defensive spell defensively -- that looks like it would have hurt!
"Shields up! Defences prepared! Bad stuff, be GONE!" A cool blue aura emanates from Min, protecting him from evil!
Rab-rab fires another blast of wind at the bug-monster, right through Drael's legs!
Seeing Min in danger, Layaali puts her own needs aside, takes a quick five-foot step to the side, and casts out her arms, "Stay away from him!"
A burst of brilliant radiance surrounds the bug.
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Layaali shakes her head, freeing her mind from her bewildered confusion for a brief moment.
Xulthos growls again at the holy energy scouring his form, but manages to avert his multiple eyes from the most intense part of the flash. Rab-rab sends a blast of air hurtling past the daemon, her eyesight somewhat dulled by the glare. The villain snarls at the appearance of the ward against evil surrounding the diminutive sorcerer.
Razif takes a shot at Xulthos before moving back behind the pillar, building up distance between himself and the confused Drael and Layaali.
"This isn't working well enough... I'm going to need a bit to light my arrows ablaze, but I'm gonna need it."