The party moves to the bottom of the stairs and Roary is content that the door does not appear to be trapped. Nodding to the group and insuring everyone is ready he opens the door and steps in to the room.
Tall vaulted ceilings disappear into darkness high above as candles and torches barely illuminate the lower reaches of this room. Along the south wall are three cell doors, thick wooden affairs bracketed by solid steel bracings with small, six-inch square windows set high in them. Enormous crates, barrels, and sacks of goods are stacked neatly in the southwest corner of the room. The floor is clean granite, etched with a wavy line pattern that permeates throughout the entire room; the design even climbs the walls and disappears into the vaults above. A rat-shaped chalk drawing dominates the floor in the center of the room, clearly depecting a dire rat leaning forward as if to pounce.
In the middle of the room towards the eastern wall stands a man wearing a metal breastplate and holding a heavy flail. Immediately between him and the party stands a ghastly looking creature with shriveled skin and glowing azure eyes. Its hands end in wicked claws and its mouth is filled with rotting but sharp teeth.
The undead creature rushes at Roary, its teeth and claws chattering together as it approaches its next victim. It lashes out with a claw...
...and fails to connect.
The man spits a curse to his vile god and moves up behind his foul servant. As he closes in on the group your minds cloud and your thoughts grow wild and disorganized. He cries out, "Welcome, oh welcome my friends. I'm so glad you could join us! I will take great pleasure in watching the skin peeled from your bones! You will know the true power of Groetus this night and will serve him in your afterlife!"
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"Hmmm having my skin peeled from my bones sounds really painful... why would you want to do that? I am curious what I would look like as a skeleton though. I'd be less scary than your ugly bitey friend over there! I don't think I'll be serving this Grobgus fellow I was never very good at following orders!
Than out of no where Twigg lunges at Makena and tries to bite her.
Twigg doesn't carry a weapon so this is his only option.
Makena starts a frenzied dance, moving past the undead creature and into the large room.
[dice=Acrobatics to avoid AoO from undead creature]1d20+7
Gryne steps up and lashes out at the clawed beast with his hammer, but the weapon misses the mark and makes a dull thud against the creature's shriveled flesh, failing to damage it.
Roary bellows his demand and hacks at the undead thing with all his might, scoring a staggering hit on the creature. He notes that as his blade passes through it, the damage appears to be lessened, as if it is resistant to his assault. Nonetheless, the sword shears off a massive piece of the creature, sending it staggering, but it regains its composure and clicks its wicked claws together, eyeing the barbarian with an evil glare from its glowing orbs.
The undead creature, pieces of its body dropping to the ground around it, lashes out at Roary with the remaining strength it has, its claws raking against the barbarian as he attempts to deflect the attacks with his blade...
In its pitiful state, it cannot properly control its shattered limbs enough to accurately attack, and the claws find no purchase on the barbarian, scoring against blade and armor but missing their mark.
The evil cleric, seeing the poor state of his minion, howls in rage and curses at the party, "Lucsilia is on her way, and she will delight in helping me send you to your doom! Together we will raise you from death, and then you will serve us forever!" He cackles madly and clutches the amulet around his neck, drawing forth the power of his foul deity...
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The sudden wave of negative energy sickens Makena and brings her back from her altered mental state. She immediately places her right hand over the bleeding cut and sings a soft, four-note chord progression. As she takes her hand off, her wrist is healed, but her left hand is drenched in her own blood. Feeling better, she draws her shortbow and prepares to fight from a distance.
Roary winds up and smashes into the undead creature with a tremendous swing, sending the thing flying across the room in pieces. The look of shock and dismay on the face of the cleric is priceless, and he screams out in a deafening roar of defiance. His teeth clenched, he begins to prepare a spell...
Astarton, taking advantage of the situation, begins to taunt the cleric, and this inspires the group to press on and end the madness of this unholy man.
Twigg sends forth a rainbow of delicious magic, spraying the cleric cleanly in the face...
The colors wash across the cleric, dazzling him and driving into his eyes. Ironically, he seems to enjoy the effect, as if the vivid colors only drive his madness even further. "Yes, yes, YES! Master I come to you!
And then he falls to the ground, knocked the hell out.
rounds
Roary shackles up the cleric, who finally awakens and spends the remainder of his time with the party murmuring behind his gag and rolling his eyes about like a lunatic.
On the cleric the party finds a strange amulet inscribed with runes.
Half of the crates in this room are marked with gigantic red X’s, painted on with a wide brush. The supplies include flour, grains, sugar, coffee, tea, dried goods, and so on—everything the cult needs to supply its operations.
The three doors to the south are unlocked from a key the cleric had on him, and hold the missing Pathfinder that the party was tasked with finding as well as a dozen more citizens who had been kidnapped.
The citizens held captive in the cells to the north thank the PCs profusely for helping them and tell tales of dark- or gray-skinned humanoids with enormous gray eyes who came frequently to negotiate with Dalirio before buying a handful of captives and taking them from the room. Where these creatures took them, the captives don’t know and Dalirio won’t say, he's too busy promising each member of the part a very colorful and creative death when his gag is removed.
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"I told you my magic was strong! AND the third time was the trick! The best part is Mister Grobgus enjoyed it too so I don't have to feel bad for putting him down."
Twigg turns to the group "You guys are a lot of fun! I hope Gryne and I get sent on a mission to see a dragon together, oh boy would that be fun!"
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Astarton will take note of the crates with a red X on them. He finds a kid willing to run an errand for him and gives him a coin to take a message to his superiors. "I need to take charge of these crates for a friend of mine. Unfortunately I won't be able to make my show by this time, but you are all welcome to come tomorrow if you aren't saving lives and learning secrets." He gave a smart bow to each of them.
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Makena chuckles at Twigg's excitement, and claps appaluding the gnome. "Well done, little one! You are the mightiest sorcerer I know, taking that man down so quickly. When you two find that dragon, don't forget to invite me!" She winks at Twigg and then turns to Gryne. "I'll walk with you back to the Grand Lodge."