Regeris can see the one over Tassira's head, so I'm assuming that's the shot he takes and misses.
"No!" Helvara calls back to Emi. "The shrine must be just around the corner! You promised to get me past the door and what lay beyond it. We can't turn away because of some bugs."
Spike looks back at her doubtfully.
"You can go just a bit farther. To settle the girl's debts!" she pleads.
The bugs dash hungrily into the fray. The bug on the ceiling drops down next to Tassira, hooking her with a sharp claw that draws blood.
Another flies out from the shadows behind the pillar and rakes Regeris badly.
A third bug, flies up out of the rift to attack Spike. The underarmoured guard connects with a wild swing as the monster comes on. It hits the ground and flips back over onto its feet, buzzing angrily. From its badly damaged state, it's likely the one Nebbin knocked into the chasm that's come back.
Tassira yelps and staggers back, pointing her fingers at the bug that just clawed her.
There was no way she could miss at this range. A blast of green lightning flies right at the bug!
Madame Helvara's shout back frightens Emi. she expected Helvara to be inexperienced, but she sounds like a fanatic as well. Inexperience can be mitigated by reason, fanaticism can't. She shouts back.
"If you don't want your first trip to that shrine to also be your last, we must be careful. These bugs are hunters and their bites are poisonous. We don't know if there are 6 or 106. Until we know more we have to be able to reach safety!"
Regeris yells in pain as he is bitten badly by the bug. He quickly backpedals, calling out a prayer to the Everbloom and firing an arrow which misses badly.
Tassira fries the frightful critter. Its moldy antennae twitch violently with the shock. He best viable step away from this bug that doesn't put her right back in trouble with the one battling Regeris is more of a hop, off the bridge and back onto the near-side precipice. The black gap yawns wide at her feet.
Regeris can feel the power of his righteous cause infusing him with new life.
Helvara fishes a sunrod out of her backpack and strikes it, filling the far-side cavern with light. She holds it ihigh with her off hand like a torch, her rapier held at guard. Lefty stands fast by her side. Spike reverses his grip and drives his sword through his foe's back, killing it. He puts his foot on the beast and yanks out his blade looking for a new enemy.
Emi isn't happy with Helvara's noncompliance, but she has a bridge to clear before they can use it anyway. The lack of new bugs arriving in the last few seconds is good, but she's not holding her breath yet.
She moves back onto the bridge and cuts at the bug lately menacing Tassira.
Kayleigh fearlessly (and perhaps a bit foolishly) steps between Regeris and the eastern bug, certain that Nebbin can handle the one still on the bridge. With a snarl, she attempts to brain it with her morningstar.
for
Emi's attack narrowly misses the ugly creature as it skitters under the bridge rail in pursuit of the slender mage.
Similarly, Kayleigh's attack crashes into the floor sending a chip of stone ricocheting into the darkness.
HP 26/34
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 to all when raging), DR 1/-
Fort +5, Ref +3 (+1 vs. traps), Will +1 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 19 (21 vs. grapple)
Rage: 1/13; Harrow points: 3/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6) 0/1
Effects: Fatigued 2/10 rounds
"Be *gasp* careful, Kayleigh!" Nebbin gasps as he rushes to help the priestess, swinging his sword wildly.
Nebbin's wild swing misses badly.
The two bugs are locked on to their targets. The one pursuing Tassira strikes out and hits first with a wicked hooked claw, then with a viscous bite that lays the arcanist low. She slumps to the ground, perilously close to the edge of the dark rift.
The bug that last hit Regeris flies at Kayleigh. One of its claws works around the cleric's shield, digging into the flesh of her shoulder.
HP 26/34
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 to all when raging), DR 1/-
Fort +5, Ref +3 (+1 vs. traps), Will +1 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 19 (21 vs. grapple)
Rage: 1/13; Harrow points: 3/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6) 0/1
Effects: Fatigued 3/10 rounds (-2 Str and Dex)
"Leave *puff* them *gasp* ALONE!" Nebbin roars his battlecry, hefting his sword again and slamming it into the bug attacking Kayleigh despite his lack of breath.
He slumps for a second after the impact and then spins to help Tassira.
As the bug on the bridge goes after Tassira, Emi chases it. She watches it carefully as she follows behind, attacking as soon as it stops moving forward.
Regeris winces as Tassira hits the ground, but a quick glance shows that she'll survive. He moves over to her side nonetheless. Keeping himself disciplined as always, he fires another arrow, taking a moment to fire at whichever bug looks the most injured.
Kayleigh winces as Tassira falls to the bug she'd assumed Nebbin would deal with before coming to her aid. She's surprised when the big man's hack doesn't kill the bug before her, and gritting her teeth she tries to finish the thing off herself.
for
Regeris's shot pierces the monster in front of Kayleigh causing it to screech in desperation. It charges into Kayleigh's attack, taking the morning star directly to the head with a loud crunch.
Spike charges over the bridge and attacks the last remaining beast, striking it a glancing blow. The monster wheels around to face its attackers, swiping a hooked claw across Emi's shin.
Helvara and Lefty come back to the far-side foot of the bridge but do not advance further.
"Kill the damned thing!" she shouts at Spike.
Emi winces from the claw cut, but keeps her movements restrained. The bridge would be a very bad place for a misstep. She counters by using her greater height to strike down over the extended claw at the body immediately behind it.
Kayleigh steps north , squats down, and casts a healing spell on Tassira, hoping to get her mobile again in case a third wave of bugs is incoming.
"Don't move! At least not yet," she warns the wizardess, knowing that the last bug is still within striking distance.
As his wounds continue to close, Regeris reorients on the last bug, firing yet another arrow.
Emileva's angry cut takes off the offending appendage along with both antennae and a wing. The bug careens off the side of the bridge and spirals down into the depths of the dark rift.
Spike takes cautious steps back across the bridge to join Helvara and Lefty, his head turning this way and that as he scans the cavern for more bugs.
"Is the pretty spellcaster okay?" Helvara asks with some apparently genuine concern. She fishes through her small bag and produces a sealed vial, holding it out as an offering as she advances back across the bridge. She leans down over Tassira to offer the elixir, shamelessly revealing her low-cut bosom to the injured girl as she does.
Nebbin gasps and pants for thirty more seconds as he catches his breath.
"Are you OK?" he asks Kayleigh, though his eyes keep turning toward Tassira, wishing there were something he could do to help.
He relaxes a little as Helvara begins helping her, shaking bug ichor off his sword and sending strange shadows flashing around the cave.
Tassira gasps for air as Kayleigh heals her, her eyes snapping open and her hand flying to her chest. "OW! By Nethys' raging lightning, that hurt!"
Then she sees the offered elixir--and the daring neckline of the madame offering it--and her face turns red. "...um--y-yes, I think I'll be okay now..." She takes the potion with a shaking hand.
She manages to drink most of it down, but a bit of it spills out of the sides of her mouth. Tass stands up and pops open her backpack to reveal a spooked calico tabby, her tail bushy and her ears folded back. "Ravnos? How're you doing, buddy?"
The tabby hisses and growls. Ravnos' claws stick into the sides of Tassira's backpack.
Regeris scowls as he draws, and then returns an arrow back to his quiver. He quickly shoulders his bow to check on Tassira.
"Nasty creatures. Let's hope that fungus doesn't go for people."
Ignoring the madam, he helps Tassira up to her feet. "Good thing we're down here - those creatures could have torn less-able combatants apart."
He gives Tassira a quick once-over for any kind of weird mold infection, but quickly realizes he has no idea what he's doing.
Regeris gives the madam a piercing look. "Is there anything else we should expect down here?"
After watching the last bug fall until out of sight, Emi gives her falchion a couple of flicks with her wrist to remove excess insect goo.
She's still upset with Helvara, but she holds her tongue. After all, Emileva reasons, this isn't just about fulfilling the agreement for Carawyn. It is also about building a reputation for good-faith negotiation and trustworthiness. She is sure all of this will make it's way to the King of Spiders quickly enough.
Besides, Helvara's spending a magical potion on Tassira is no small thing, whatever the Madame's particular motive for it might be.
Emi limits her remarks to a nod and a "nice work" comment to Spike.
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"I'm fine--just a couple of scratches," Kayleigh reports to Nebbin. She notices his post-battle panting and wonders idly what gets him all worked up like that...could he have asthma? She takes a moment to use restorative touch (fatigue) to calm and refresh him.
To her horror, this moment gives Helvara the opening to present Tassira with an unknown potion, which the wizard takes and drinks without question. Didn't your mother warn you about drinking stuff offered by strangers? the priestess thinks, but it's too late. Having just healed Tassira, Kayleigh's got the second-breast...-best view of Helvara's cleavage when the woman presents Tassira with the alleged healing potion. Kayleigh's brain--still addled by the smoke from the drug den--starts making a series of connections and/or wild leaps. First she realizes, with a deep blush, that Helvara is doing more than just trying to befriend Tassira--she's seducing the wizardess!
Though she's slow in coming to that particular realization, Kayleigh's drug-induced paranoia kicks into overdrive. Holy Roses! I'll bet that was no healing potion--probably some sort of love potion! Helvara's a brothel madame--that sort of thing would be her meat and potatoes!
Convinced that she can't be wrong about this, Kayleigh careful examines both Tassira and Helvara in the aftermath of the incident, trying to see if the offered potion indeed heals Tassira's lingering wounds before trying to get a read on each woman's reactions to one another after the fact.
"Oh, OK. I mean, good!" Nebbin says.
The madame returns Regeris's glare, clearly unintimidated by the inquisitor's questioning.
"I have no idea what might be down here. If this is Camina's Grotto - and I believe that it is - then we should find a shrine nearby. The statue over there makes me think it's true. If the shrine's undisturbed, there may be a magical circlet to be claimed there. She wrote of the item many times in her diary - how it helped her to seduce and ultimately manipulate the weak men of her day. That's my motivation for being here - you've earned the right to know that truth through Tassira's blood." She favors the shaken mage with a worried smile.
"Camina followed the savored sting. And she used the powers of the circlet to engage in acts of jealous vengeance - as is the wont of the goddess she served. But the bad blood she created through her acts was her ultimate undoing - she herself was betrayed and murdered. But Calistria is not my goddess, and my motives are not so dark. I simply wish to recover the item and put it to more basic and lucrative uses."
"I give you my word that I've never been beyond the locked door you defeated. And that's enough honesty for one day, thank you very much. Now if everyone's capable of going on, let's see about that tunnel over there." She nods in the direction of the far side of the bridge.
Tassira clears her throat. "...yes. Let's."
...did she call me pretty? And she doesn't follow Calistria?
Huh. Colour me surprised. Then which deity DOES she follow? I'll have to ask her once we're done here.
Nebbin takes the lead again once he's finished catching his breath and Tassira indicates she wants to go on. He holds his sword above his head, using its light to show the way.
Beyond the bridge the tunnel only extends about two hundred feet before ending in a new chamber. This cavern is half-filled by a huge rockfall - the left chamber wall has essentially collapsed into the room. On the far side of the cavern is a set of wide stone steps leading up to a stone archway.
As the light from Nebbin's sword reveals the arch you see that the door standing within has been splintered by some great force. Pieces of the door still hang off the hinges and lie scattered across the steps. The space beyond the door is completely dark.
Helvara lets out an audible sigh of disappointment when she sees the wreckage.
"So I'm not the first to solve this riddle," she mumbles, advancing cautiously towards the steps. "Let's hope whatever did that is long gone."
Pointing to the door fragments on the stairs, Kayleigh whispers, "Doesn't that indicate something broke out and not in?"
The priestess scans the chamber for lurking threats and/or anything out of the norm.
Regeris looks over Helvara dispassionately before dropping a nod and getting back to business. He also shoots a somewhat concerned glance over to Kayleigh who is still acting a little loopy, but as is his wont he remains silent as he pushes further into the cavern.
"Interesting."
Regeris shifts his light spell over to the doorway and begins investigating the area, particularly looking for signs of recent activity.
Tassira blinks in surprise when she sees the destroyed door, and rubs her temple while mumbling some arcane incantation under her breath. Her eyes sweep over the rubble, looking for signs of magical damage.
Tassira's magic doesn't detect any auras. If magic shattered the door, it happened long enough ago that the magical auras have faded.
Regeris's light spills into the room as he examines the steps, the arch and the remaining fragments of the door. The dust layer on the steps and in the room beyond is thick and undisturbed. It looks like no one's visited this place in a long time.
The flooring and walls at the top of the steps and in the room beyond is all smooth flagstones and masonry. This place must have been elegant sometime in the distant past, but the ravages of time and some evident disaster have turned it into a ruin.
Helvara waits half-way up the steps for Regeris to finish his examination, holding her sunrod high to give him as much light as possible.
"That's good, right?" Nebbin says after Kayleigh's question. "I mean, that means it wouldn't be here anymore..."
Once Regeris indicates it's OK, he moves to the archway and keeps going, relieved that whatever was here that probably would have tried to kill him isn't here anymore.
Once the bridge is crossed Emi sticks closer to Madame Helvara. She seems to do unexpected things, and Emi doesn't want her to end up dead as a result. It does cross her mind that a dead Helvara takes care of the debt just as handily as finding the shrine, but she still has fish to fry at Eel's End, and it could look bad.
Besides Helvara has a sun rod and Emi doesn't have a free hand for a light of her own. Emi keeps her eyes peeled.
"Nothing has been through this doorway in a long time," says Regeris. "If we encounter anything hostile on the other side it's unlikely to be a recent arrival. Let's go."
Switching his light spell to the tip of his bow, Regeris nudges Nebbin to get the big man to lead the way in.
The chamber beyond the door is about 20' x 40' with a ceiling maybe 12' high. Its walls are covered with frescoes, but the fine artistry has been destroyed or obscured in most places by lyme flow. On the northern end of the chamber is a statue of handsome female but the statue has been defaced, its head removed, and in its place sits a gaping skull. At the foot of the statue near the far wall is a macabre pile of bones and rotted cloth, like several corpses were piled here one upon another and left to rot.
Beside the pile of carnage is a rough hole in the wall where the masonry has been punched through, revealing a tunnel that was once sealed. The blocks from this excavation are scattered along the far wall.
Immediately to the left as you enter is an alcove that holds a basin filled with some dank brown fluid. Dark stains on the walls and in patches on the floor speak to the slaughter that was done here. The layer of dust throughout the room and the advanced state of decay implies that what happened here happened a long time ago - perhaps years.
Helvara steps carefully into the room with the rest of the group, her expression one of disappointment and disgust.
"The circlet was said to be a plain ivory band, unremarkable in appearance but potent in effect. It could still be here I suppose." It's pretty obvious she doesn't believe her own words.
Tassira starts sweeping the room with her magic-enhanced vision.
"We might have to explore that tunnel over there if there's nothing here..."
"I think something was here before we were," Nebbin helpfully points out.
He looks around to see if there's an ivory band.
"This doesn't looking like the usual smash and grab looting job" Emi says, stating the obvious. "Somebody really had it in for Calistria, your saint Madame Helvara, or both."
Emi checks the room in a number of ways. She looks for anything to suggest how long ago the door was broken and the statue defaced.
She carefully checks the pile of bones and cloth using her blade tip. The fungus on the insects has her concerned about similar predatory funguses and molds, along with who knows what kinds of aberrant living things. She tries to determine the number and type of individuals in the pile.
She also checks the hole for anything it might reveal about what happened in the room.
Kayleigh moves to Nebbin's side and does a bit of lookout duty while Emileva does her in-depth investigation; she focuses her attention mainly on the hole in the wall as she stifles a yawn.