Konrad assumes a defensive posture, attempting to shield his allies from any incoming attacks.
As Lankesh starts to cast a spell, Elenial fires off a couple of arrows at the man. One of them manages to hit, grazing the man's arm. However, the arrow seems to pass right through, failing to injure him.
The damage is almost enough to disrupt the spell the man is casting. However, he manages to recover enough to send large bolts of electricity streaming from his fingertips.
"Fools! Face the wrath of the Ebon Destroyers!
The man's figure suddenly becomes indistinct, as his features re-arrange themselves. When the transformation is done, a bat-headed humanoid with backwards bending fingers stands before you.
Quarr fires a crossbow bolt at the thing, but it flies wide.
Nox's attempt to blind the thing does not work, as it continues its onslaught.
1st: Elenial, Konrad
2nd: Lankesh
3rd: Drax, Quarr, Nox, Ananta
|
Drax's head snaps up from his argument with Quarr and he grins enormously. "FINALLY!" he roars in answer to Lankesh. "I DO NEED TO FACE IT, I CAN ALREADY SEE IT! IT IS A PUNY WRATH."
Adroitly, the big man runs forward drawing his kukris, circling around the Lankesh creature. From behind him, he stabs once at the man-bat-thing-gone-wrong, slicing at a kidney.
"YOU WILL HAVE TO TURN AROUND TO FACE MY WRATH!"
|
Ananta nimbly dodges out of the way, but electricity does manage to scorch his flesh, burning out a scale or two.
He quickly gather his wits about him and begins chanting as new scorch marks appear on him and others disappear off on Konrad's body. His feet become firmly planted in the ground, almost... melding with it.
"And the master of masters said, "Holding onto anger is like carrying a hot coal with intent of throwing it at someone else."" he announces sadly, blessing everyone in the area.
|
Not wanting to even momentarily leave an opening for his enemy to strike his allies, Konrad hunkers down through the electricity. He roars at the electricity surging through his armor. As the creature reveals itself, his mind chases memories of his studies
He recovers, helped by Ananta's healing, and rises to stand tall once more.
" Is that the best you can do?"
Konrad winds up his hammer and lets loose a sweeping horizontal swing. The massive movement creates a short gust of wind.
Drax circles around behind the bat-headed monstrosity, relishing in the fact that combat has broken out. He swings at the creature, and lands a solid blow. The wound, however, does not seem to be as severe as he had hoped.
Ananta dodges most of electrical bolt. He casts a spell to bolster the party's attacks.
Elenial fires off another round of arrows. Only one manages to hit, but it does not phase the creature in the slightest.
Konrad swings his mighty hammer, landing a solid blow on this foe. Again, the injury seems to be much less than the force of the blow would indicate.
Enraged by his attackers, the rakshasa draws a kukri and launches itself at the armored man in front of him, unleashing a flurry of attacks.
Only one of the attacks manages to penetrate the man's armor, slashing through a weak point near the shoulder.
1st: Elenial, Konrad
2nd: Lankesh
3rd: Drax, Quarr, Nox, Ananta
|
|
The wound on Konrad's shoulder seems to close partly. Meanwhile, Ananta smiles serenely as another viscous gash appears across his face. A mere trace of a sigh crosses his lips as the boots seems to solidify
, his stride bold as he draws a distinctive sword made of the crusader metal, nexavaran steel.
"I beg your forgivenessss creature. But you mussst be shown the path."
|
|
Drax's kinda feral grin only grows larger as he realizes this bat-headed creature has not fled from him. "YESS!! GOOD! STAND AND DIE!" he roars happily. A vein stands out on Drax's forehead as he starts a deadly flurry of his curved blades-- using the same sort of blades the creature has, but with a bit more oomf behind them.
"HAHAHA!" Drax barely notices that he's not hitting quite as hard as he'd like-- he's just soooo happy to be fighting something again.
|
Elenial shares her knowledge about the creature. "Evil beast, called rakshasa. Cloaks itself to move between humanoids undetected, coward. It is resistant to weapons damage, but I remember that it can be hit with a special combination. Although I have no idea what that was."
Elenial moves throught the room and sends a ray of frost at the creature.
Drax lets forth a fearsome shout, as he lays in to the rakshasa. Two of his attacks hit home, opening a gruesome wound in the creature's side.
Quarr fires off a bolt from his crossbow. The round hits, but does not seem to affect the supernatural being.
Nox attempts to injure the creature with a blast of negative energy. The thing seems to be resistant to the magical effect.
Ananta swings at his foe, landing a solid blow. The inflicted wound seems less severe than the paladin would have expected.
Elenial fires a magical ray at the beast, which again shrugs off the magical attack.
Konrad swings his mighty hammer, again landing a solid blow that seems less effective than it should.
Sensing the greater threat from behind him, Lankesh whirls around and unleashes a flurry of blows on Drax.
Only one of them is able to find its mark.
1st: Elenial, Konrad
2nd: Lankesh
3rd: Drax, Quarr, Nox, Ananta
|
|
Drax laughs wildly when the bat creature actually bites him. "YOU CALL THAT WRATH?" he mocks, barely noting the pain. "You call yourself a DESTROYER? DRAX HAS BROKEN THE BODIES OF WORSE THINGS THAN YOU OVER HIS KNEE, in the pits of Egorian!"
Despite his bravado and boasting, Drax is somewhat less accurate this time around, and only one blade strikes home, less forcefully than before.
|
|
Quarr looks down disappointed at his crossbow. His wings droop just a bit. His hands shake as they clasp around a small vial. He looks up with pleading eyes. "I don't want to have to do this... I don't like losing control.
He flaps his wings around to the side of the room and instead drinks an elixir of barkskin.
The rakshasa looks around desperately, realizing he may have bit off more than he can chew with this group. "May Dhalavei consume your souls!"
He shouts this last curse as Drax and Ananta land fatal blows on the beast.
Lankesh was carrying a kukri, a bill of sale for 20 square yards of undyed silk from the Apananda Silk Mill, and a ring of keys. A quick search finds only neatly filed papers in his study detailing his mercantile dealings. It appears that Lankesh made most of his money from sales of consignments of silk from the Apananda Silk Mill, which he apparently owns.
|
|
"May your next step take you closer to the Master of Masssterss, misguided one" Ananta hisses saddly, bowing before his oppoenents' dead body. He stands there for a few more minutes, letting the powers of the earth close his wounds as he takes on Konrad's burden.
"A ssstrong combatant musst always have his feet firmly planted upon the ground." he offers by way of explanation once he has healed. "Sssso, what have you found?"
|
|
Drax is outright disappointed when the battle is over. The big man lowers his hands, and knives, to his sides, breathing like a bellows, his adrenaline rush fading. "I will destroy your Dhaleevi too," he informs the corpse contemptuously.
He gathers the blades the rakshasa was using, since they're the same style as his own-- the other things, he pays little heed whatsoever to. Words on paper, bah. He can read... technically... but that's what there's other Pathfinders for.
"This cult is not very impressive so far," he says to Konrad. "Very ugly, but not great warriors, ha!"
He gives a stiff nod to Elenial for the healing wand she had used on him. "Do the papers say where to find more cultists? That would please me! You wizards! Are these blades of my enemy worth keeping?"
|
|
Quarr sighs in relief as he did not have to drink his mutagen. How he trans transforming into....that beast.
Clearing his head he smiles at Drax and hops over to the papers to begin to see if he can figure anything out about them.
He spends several minutes mumbling to himself, or what he believes to be mumbling as he is actually speaking quite loudly.
|
|
"This cult is not very impressive so far," he says to Konrad. "Very ugly, but not great warriors, ha!"
"You are quite right, my friend! Luckily, ve have both good looks UND good varriors on our side, ja?" He heartily slaps Drax on the back.
Konrad returns his hammer to his back, then throws up his arms, waving for everyone's attention.
". If you find something vith magical properties, please allow me to take a look! I cannot detect magicks on my own, but I have this hand vand that makes me very good at identifying them, vonce they have been found."
Konrad begins to scour the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary or possibly significant to the group's investigation.
The kukri detects as magic. . Nothing else in the house registers as magic. The party finds nothing else of interest beyond what was mentioned above.
|
|
Drax ambles along with the guidance of the others, his irascible mood ratcheted down to "easy-going" by the benefit of the adrenaline ride-then-crash of having had a fight. He admires his new back-up kukri, grinning to himself with his filed teeth on display.
"There will more cultist flesh-changers at the silk shop? Then it is good! Let us go!"
Asking around, the group is able to get directions to the Apananda Silk Mill, which is located in the Low-Caste District. It is a 20-foot high brick building with a sloping terra-cotta roof. A grove of mulberry trees, each covered in silk cocoons, sits behind the mill.
|
|
Drax bares his teeth absently at Quarr's look. He flips a kukri in hand, testing the blade's balance and looking forebodingly at the mill.
"Some may flee," he says with a growl. "It is tedious, to chase down cowards! I can go to the other side of this building and wait. If some run outside..."
He flashes a grin, showing his filed teeth. "Then I will say hello to them. And then also I will kill them, after saying hello." Drax pauses. "No, it is better to kill them at the same time that I greet them. That would be quicker. I will do that."
Drax considers some more, then shakes his head. "Forget all that! It is even QUICKER if I just come inside and destroy them BEFORE they flee. A much better plan."
The group makes its way to the front doors of the mill. They are unlocked, and the group steps into the workings of the mill. Huge looms cover most of the floor in this area. On each loom, hundreds or thousands of yards-long warp threads wind through intricate wooden frames, and spools of silken thread hang down from tall wooden stands that rise up toward the rafters of the high-ceilinged roof, ready to be loaded onto shuttles. There are windows high on the western wall, and the crowded floor space between the looms is a mess of clutter.
Four men are here, working on various stages of the looms. As soon as they notice the party, the closest man turns to confront the group.
"Hey, you there! Visitors aren't allowed in the mill. You need to leave right now!"
The others turn towards the front door at the sound of his warning.
|
|
"We are not jussst visitors my good man. We are here on orders from the highest power in the land. And if you'll excuse me" placates Ananta who then makes a gesture, as if he was pulling something intangible from the ground and with great effort pushes it forwards in front of his face, his thumb and index forming a window of sorts. A chant of sorts erupts from his throat, praising Irori and begging for clarity of mind and vision.
|
|
Drax looks disappointed when screaming cultists don't immediately attack him. He keeps his blades in hand though, tapping the flat of the kukris against his thighs as he peers around through narrowed eyes.
"What the snake-headed man said," he grunts brusquely. "We are looking for murderers. The chief of your land, although he is a soft person in a stupid palace, has given authority. Have you seen any people with the heads of bats?"
Drax pauses, then clarifies. "I do not mean they have the severed heads of bats with them. I mean people whose heads are the heads of bats."
Ananta scans the workers, who all show a faint aura of evil.
After hearing Lankesh's name, and Drax's description of the bat-headed rakshasa, the men glance at each other in alarm.
"INTRUDERS! KILL THEM ALL! SARPINI! UTKROZA!"
At the cry, they all move to attack.
Initiative:
1st: Drax, Quarr, Ananta
2nd: Workers
3rd: Nox, Konrad, Elenial