"The well is sacred," Douena translates. "Oh, and he says we're their prisoners and should drop our weapons." She calls out cheerfully to the charau-ka in Polyglot.
Tar'kanas's free hand hanging down to one side while his bow is gripped by the other, he twitches his fingers as he readies to grab an arrow and launch it at the nearest charau-ka in case Douena's warning proves true.
Sensing something clearly wrong, Untari goes into a crouch, pinning her ears back as a low growl escapes her.
Urza stands ready.
The charau-ka pauses a moment and ponders Douena's words. Then he calls out defiantly.
The charau-ka rush to attack.
Order: Mahjik, Alton, Urza, Lorenz, Pezock, Douena, Ishirou, Untari, Charau-ka, Tar'kanas, Sasha, Makoa, Shokambe, Jask.
First Up:
Mahjik moves to in front of Douena and spends a few moments in contemplation - his skin takes on a slightly rougher, browner hue. "Gnarly."
Urza unleashes hell centered on #01
Fireball DC 16 for half
Mahjik moves to the front of the group and turns barky.
Alton waits for Sasha's order.
Then Urza unleashes hell.
-- fail
-- pass
-- fail
-- fail
Flames explode around the four nearest charua-ka. All four screech in pain as the flames burn their fur and flesh--and then their screeches stop. As the smoke clears, all four are lying on the ground. One still twitches slightly, but the other three are nothing more than charred remains.
Screeches of fear and protest come from the remaining charau-ka to the north.
-- hit
-- hit
Lorenz, who was starting to aim an arrow at one of the burnt charau-ka before they were burnt, turns and instead shoots off an arrow at #6. He follows that up with a second quick shot. Both arrows find their mark, leaving the charau-ka standing but wavering.
Pezock yells in Polyglot. Surprisingly, he holds put for the moment, waiting to see if they run.
Next Up: Ishirou, Untari, Charau-ka, Tar'kanas, Sasha, Makoa, Shokambe, Jask, Mahjik, Alton (subject to delayed action), Urza, Lorenz, Pezock (subject to delayed action).
"Oh, poor monkey-men," Douena flinches as the magical flames come and go in an instant. She turns toward the charau-ka approaching from the north and calls out in Polyglot.
"Ydersius... there was something about him in Ieana's cave back on the Shiv, wasn't there?" She draws her starknife as she grips her butterfly symbol and prepares to cast a spell if the charau-ka remain aggressive.
Mahjik whistles between tight lips, "That... that is impressive Urza."
Ishirou waits.
Next Up: Charau-ka, Tar'kanas, Sasha, Makoa, Shokambe, Jask, Mahjik, Alton (subject to delayed action), Urza, Lorenz, Pezock (subject to delayed action), Douena (subject to readied action), Ishirou (subject to delayed action).
Untari adjusts her limbs within her crouch, awaiting the creatures to near so she can pounce.
Seeing their fellows burned to a crisp, the charau-ka to the north pause only very briefly before turning around and rushing away. The one pelted by Lorenz's arrows moves more slowly than the others and falls behind. The ones in the lead screech at a further group of charau-ka, who also turn and run.
Pezock calls after them.
The charau-ka hurry back into the trees and out of sight. Only the injured one remains in view, hobbling along. After a few seconds, their screeching stops and the area falls silent apart from the buzzing of insects.
"Well, that was easy," Lorenz says, putting his bow away. "I've never seen you do anything like that before, Urza. That was incredible."
"We should be prepared for them to try ambush tactics next," Shokambe says. "We've frightened them, but that will probably not deter them for long."
"Bah!" Pezock says with a dismissive gesture. "Let them try! They are no match for us."
Douena lets go of her readied spell as the charau-ka retreat. "It's nice to meet some people who will listen to reason," she remarks. "Most everyone wants to fight us. They said the well was sacred, and they worship Ydersius. Isn't he the snake god?" she asks Jask. "The non-vampire one? Have you heard anything about him and a well?"
Urza staggers a bit. "Yes. It is something I've been working on. Calling upon my dragon like that. But now that I've done it, I know I can do it again." He looks at Douena, [b]"but ONLY if necessary." The group has seen the changes that come over Urza when he is casting or gets angry, smoke from his mouth, scaly skin, eyes like that of a dragon. They do not last. This time, though, the group will notice his eyes stay that way.
"If Shokambe is right and they'll come back, wise man would hurry. That well may have the clue we need - but sleeping here overnight would seem like a bad idea."
"You did excellent work, Urza. Perhaps things will be a little easier with a dragon in our pack..."
Tar'kanas looks a bit surprised at the turn of events. "Fascinating," he simply responds. "Mahjik speaks true. Let us move quickly before they regroup. We have them frightened for now, but once they collect others, their courage may return. We should investigate the ruin and determine where to go from there. I would gather down the huge pit but we shall see." Tar'kanas immediately moves toward said destination.
Urza also goes to the pit.
Douena would like to cast stabilize on the burned charau-ka that made his save, if it's not too late. We might be able to question him and get some more information.
You head over towards the pit. The columns surrounding the pit are heavily covered with jungle plants, but taking a closer look, you can see that under the vines are carvings of stylized pictographs of a confusing arcane nature.
Looking into the pit itself, you see it descends into darkness more than 60 feet (as that's how far those of you with darkvision can make out). About 20 feet down, however, there is an opening in the side that appears to connect with an underground tunnel.
Knowledge (arcana)
"Why would monkey-men worship a snake god?" Douena wonders. "Shouldn't they be worshiping some sort of monkey god? Do we have rope to tie him up?" she asks of the stabilized charau-ka. "And more to climb down to the tunnel? Only I don't know how we'll untie it again. I hate to leave it for Raogru." She carefully places her arcane mark on the charred and hairless back of the burned creature's right hand, where the glowing butterfly can't possibly be missed.
"I've got rope," Lorenz says, pulling out some rope. "I will never be accused of not having rope again." He smiles, but then frowns. "But that's a good point about untying it again."
"Ooh," Douena turns to Sasha excitedly, "can Alton fly up and untie it with his beak? Or, maybe ... peck through it or something?"
Jask looks up from studying the carvings on the columns. "Is one of us skilled enough to climb without the rope? If so, that person could wait until last, untie the rope and then climb down. Could be a little risky though."
"Ooh, ooh, or I could untie the rope and hold onto it, and you all could hold the other end and pull me up again when I fall!"
"Ooh," Douena turns to Sasha excitedly, "can Alton fly up and untie it with his beak? Or, maybe ... peck through it or something?"
Sasha scrunches her face and looks over at Alton sitting on a tree branch. "He probably could if we could make him understand," she says. "However, I have no idea how to tell him that's what he needs to do."
"You should teach him untie," Douena advises, "in case we're ever all tied up and they go off and leave us because they think we can't get free but Alton is hiding up in some tree and he could flap down and untie us all."
"Ooh, ooh, or I could untie the rope and hold onto it, and you all could hold the other end and pull me up again when I fall!"
"Except we don't know how deep this thing is. You could hit the bottom and go splat before we could pull you out."
Looking into the pit itself, you see it descends into darkness more than 60 feet (as that's how far those of you with darkvision can make out). About 20 feet down, however, there is an opening in the side that appears to connect with an underground tunnel.
Douena lights up a pebble and drops it into the pit to see how far down it goes.
Looking into the pit itself, you see it descends into darkness more than 60 feet (as that's how far those of you with darkvision can make out). About 20 feet down, however, there is an opening in the side that appears to connect with an underground tunnel.
As the pebble falls, it lights up the way ahead of it, revealing first at about 90 feet down a sickly green bulbous form and then numerous tentacles before revealing the floor that this creature is sitting upon. The creature looks like some sort of massive octopus but with at least 10 tentacles. As the pebble lands on its massive head, the creature twitches and its tentacles start to writhe. The head turns to look up, revealing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Its tentacles lash out at niches and handholds in the sides of the pit, and the creature begins to pull itself up the pit in your direction, moving remarkably quickly.
"Hey, I bet that's Raogru!" Douena realizes. She grins at the others. "Lucky I woke him up before we were hanging over him by ropes, huh?"
"Extremely." Makoa says a little dryly, taking one look at the creature and starts putting on his shield. "Everyone move a little closer to me." He raises his head to the sky and growls out a spell.
Tar'kanas raises an eyebrow, turning to the others. "Did she say, 'lucky'?" Not waiting for a response, Tar'kanas immediately points his bow down the pit and fires multiple arrows at the creature. He then mutters a quick prayer in elvish to Ketephys before retreating back.
Use Scroll of Enlarge Person on Mahjik. Next round cast Enlarge Person on Makoa.
"It's a decapus! They're illusionists and mimics ... unless it's just an illusion of a decapus."
Mahjik grins a little unevenly. "Aaah... illusionist. Of course. There's not really a ... 8... no, 10-tentacled horror down there. Such relief. That -" suddenly Mahjik grows nearly double in all directions - "Hey-what? Oh." Mahjik gauges the progress of the decapus and figures he has enough time to collect a good handful of dirt into one hand. Then he waits.
Douena laughs. "Be glad it's not an icosapus! Bite it good for me, Makoa, and may Desna keep you safe," she touches the half-orc with a protective spell before scampering away from the edge of the well to put some obstacles between herself and the tentacular monster.
Untari backs away, awaiting to attack.
As the creature climbs up the wall, you all move into action, getting ready for its appearance. Urza begins casting spells, causing Makoa and Mahjik to grow to giant size. Tar'kanas fires arrows down into the well. The first pair rebound off the decapus's tough hide, but the final arrow penetrates for substantial damage. The elf then backs away, casting a spell.
Lorenz also begins shooting arrows down the well.
-- hit
-- hit
Both of his shots hit home, causing the creature to bellow in pain. Lorenz then pulls back with Tar'kanas to allow the melee fighters to get in close.
Douena casts a spell on Makoa just before scurrying off, and Makoa casts one of his own. Sasha, Ishirou, and Pezock position themselves by the edge of the well, weapons ready to attack. Jask casts shield of faith on Mahjik followed by aid.
Then the decapus nears the top.
Roll-off between Douena and Alton:
Order: Urza, Mahjik, Untari, Pezock, Lorenz, Shokambe, Tar'kanas, Ishirou, Alton, Douena, Decapus, Makoa, Sasha, Jask
First Up:
Urza will hold his action.
Everyone should have Bless as well.
Next Up: Untari, Pezock, Lorenz, Shokambe, Tar'kanas, Ishirou, Alton, Douena, Decapus, Makoa, Sasha, Jask, Urza (subject to delayed action)
Untari keeps alert for possible reinforcements as she moves up a bit.
Mahjik smashes two massive fists into the decapus in quick succession. His first fist reverberates slightly on impact - jarring the flesh underneath.
-- pass
Mahjik's first attack manages to hurt the creature through its tough, leathery skin, but his hope to stun it is not successful. It shifts away from his second attack.
Untari moves up closer. Meanwhile Pezock grumbles that the beast came up the wrong side of the well and moves around Sasha to get to it .
-- miss
He attacks the decapus, but despite the fact that it is still clinging to the side of the well, it easily dodges aside.
-- miss
-- hit
Lorenz attempts to aim arrows at the decapus. The first rebounds off one of the pillars, but the second manages to skim past the cover and right into the creature's bulbous head.
Shokambe holds back.
Next Up: Ishirou, Alton, Douena, Decapus, Makoa, Sasha, Jask, Urza (subject to delayed action), Mahjik, Untari, Pezock, Lorenz, Shokambe (subject to delayed action).