|
Naomi yells out to all nearby "Enemies headed our way! Just went invisible!"
She then ducks into the crowd and stealthily finds a corner, especially a high corner if she can find a quick way up, to await the entrance of the masks and tengu, with the aim of dropping on, or at least flanking, them as soon as they enter the fray.
|
Before they disappeared from view, Lox recognises them as spirit onis. Onis are a race of evil evil outsiders, native to the Material Plane, that manifest physical bodies based upon the shapes and desires of humanoid mortals. Spirit onis take the form of animated masks. Lox recalls that as such, they are able to regenerate themselves while they are injured, so long as they are alive. They attack with their evil looking horns, which carry a nasty poison which gradually deadens the victims' personality .
Naomi calls out to warn the other Pathfinders and contestants, but they are clearly busy with their own combat as they battle iron snakes, tengus and hother strange and evil looking spirits. She dashes up some steps and finds a low wall to crouch behind, uncertain if the spirit onis have seen her.
The area around the party becomes deathly quiet as all of you strain your ears, trying desperately to get some sense of where these creepy flying masks might be. It is almost a relief when they suddenly appear right in front of Lox and Ouncius, striking at them with their horns. The one attacking Lox bashes ineffectively against his magical shield. The one in front of Ouncius manages to break skin with its horns, barely doing any damage but that is enough to inject its unique poison into him.
As soon as they appear, Lox chops with a mighty force on the red oni, splitting a deep crack down it, although still continues leering at him. Ouncius similarly strikes the one in front of him, cutting a nick on its surface. Azhagoth attempts to spear the one in front of Ouncius but finds hard to strike the tiny floating mask. Bishop also attempts to strike but he is too far away from the spirits.
|
|
Lox steps away from the oni, and with another might cleave, chops the mask in half. It drops onto the floor, motionless. On the ground, however, the two halves start to knit back together!
The remaining one floating in front of Ouncius ignores its companion. The crack on its surface starts to close as it again gores Ouncius with his horns, dealing little damage but injecting another does of the poison into his system.
|
|
Azhagoth steps up to the fallen animated mask and smashes it into smithereens. Ouncius, ignoring the effects of the poison in his system, slices two long gashes across the surface of the spirit oni. Naomi closes in with the monster, and slashes at it with her blade but misses. Bishop and Quan Tai similarly closes in flanking the creature, but have similar luck when they strike.
|
|
As Lox steps on the trapdoor, he hears a disturbingly loud creaking sound coming from underfoot as suddenly, the trapdoor gives way!
The cracks on the surface of the spirit oni continues to knit together. Again, it draws back and gores Ouncius. Again, its horns pierces through his armor, injecting another dose of the poison into his system.
|
|
With the first mask destroyed, Azhagoth turns his attention to the one using its poisonous horns against Ouncius. The crowd of warriors surrounding the remaining oni makes an all out attack risky, however, so he steps beside the samurai and grants him a blessing to strengthen him against the effects of the poison.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lox tumbles down the artificial pit, hitting the bottom hard. He feels that he might have broken some ribs. The pit is constructed of wooden beams, and he figures the climb up would not be too difficult.
Azhagoth steps up and grants some divine guidance on Ouncius. Unfortunately, the tiny mask proves too agile and flits past Ouncius double blades. Thankfully, one of Quan Tai's fists connect, causing another large crack to appear across the spirit oni. At the same time, Bishop lunges past Ouncius from the opposite side, stabbing deeply into the monster's leering face.
Seemingly oblivious to the serious wounds it has taken, the spirit oni once again flies against Ouncius, piercing through his armor. Again although the gore does little damage, the spirit injects yet another does into Ouncius.
As the once raging battle begins to slow, a strange cloud of translucent smoke appears in the center of the arena, coalescing into the demonic form of Kiang Zhen. The oni raises her hand, and the remaining creatures suddenly fall back and drop to their knees as if to acknowledge defeat.
”Well done, well done!”
”My minions accept your victory, and you have adequately the Emissary. Please, lower your weapons. I congratulate those of you still alive, for you have grown that much closer to qualifying for the Ruby Phoenix Tournament!”
The oni pauses for a minute to study the crowd before continuing, ”Beneath the trapdoors lies a series of subterranean passages. Scattered within the passages I have secured a collection of small, but nearly priceless porcelain vases. Your challenge is to locate one of these vases and return it to me. However, there is a catch – there are fewer vases than competitors. Only those who present me with a vase shall pass on to the next part of the competition.”
|
|
Lox attempts to climb up the beams but his foot slips on a rotting one and does not make any progress.
Meanwhile back up on the arena, Quan Tai and Naomi gives a one-two strike, cracking the spirit oni badly enough that it falls onto the ground, seemingly lifeless. To stop it regenerating, Ouncius, Bishop and Azhagoth gather around to chop, stab and pummel it into pieces with no hope of it coming back together again.
As soon as the spirit oni falls, Quan Tai quickly descends the pit and collectively, the party helps him ascend, just in time for Kiang Zhen to rematerialise!
|
|
After stopping for a breather, the party gathers itself at one of the indicated trapdoor entrances. A rusty pulley, threaded with a worn rope, connects to a wooden lift platform at the shaft’s base 20 feet below. However the pulley no longer turns. Still, the thick hemp rope remains strong enough to safely hold the weight of two medium-sized creatures without snapping. Carefully, you descend down the rope one by one.
You reach the bottom of a subterranean passage which immediately turns to form a longer hall to the south. A quick investigation of the area reveals a dead-end passage that branches off from its middle that heads towards the west. At the end of the hall, a shaft contains a pump , although the operations of it seems to be rather complex. From the smell emanating from the shaft, it appears to be connected to sewage water further below.
At the end of the long hall, another tunnel heads to the east which opens to a small room . In this area stand three large straining tubs, which from its contents, seem to be collecting items sifted from the sewage waste. On the walls hang several nets and rakes, implements for sifting through the sewers. In this room, a narrow flight of stairs head down.
beneath a carpet of harmless gray fungus, you uncover a wood carving engraved with instructions for operating the pump in area B.
|
Bishop never one known for climbing takes his time to move down the rope. He looks around to get a better idea of where he is.
'Did they build this themselves or was it always here?'
Navigating through the passages with the others they finally find the right tunnel and continue passing a sewage pump and finally coming to a room with a set of stairs heading down.
Intrigued by the south wall he moves back to the alcove and looks around.
"I found something." digging up the debris and fungi Bishop moves it aside pulling out a piece of wood with some intricate details carved into it. "Hmm seems like it details how to operate the pump."
|
|
As the party defeats the last of the mask spirits and Kiang Zhen reappears, Azhagoth bends down and picks up one of the shards of the mask and slips it into his coat for later study. He then follows the others as they head toward the nearest trap door and descend into the tunnels below.
Azhagoth descends the rope and takes a look around the subterranean maze, his orcish blood giving him sight even into the darkest corners of the hall.
The half-orc nods in agreement with Bishop's assessment. "Especially since the device seems to be designed to be difficult. Or perhaps if we drain the pool it will open up another passage for us to explore where we might find a vase." Azhagoth moves toward the pump and attempts to operate it based on the directions he and Bishop had discovered.
|
|
"I'm going to hide our trail so others don't realize we've come this way, and play rear guard. Starting that thing might attract unwanted attention."
Naomi goes to the last intersection, peeking all ways first, she brushes away any footprints, then stepping back into the hallway, she quietly casts silent image to make it appear as though the hallway isn't there.
|
|
With his strong fortitude, Ouncius' system easily repels the remnants of the oni poison in his blood.
After some careful searching, Lox, Bishop and Azhagoth find the wood carvings hidden by some gray fungus, while Naomi works to hide their tracks. After deliberating for a while, Azhagoth decides to operate the pump. Although a bit stiff initially, he eventually gets it turning. As soon as it gets moving, all of you can hear the sound of draining fluid coming from the stairs.
That done, the party heads downstairs. As you descend, the stench of raw sewage grows stronger with each step down, til your eyes practically start to tear. Eventually, you reach a large chamber. A walkway encircles a 5-foot deep empty pool in the centre. From some of the remnants, you surmise that this likely used to contain sewage that has since been drained by the pump. Right in the middle of a pool is a shaft where the sewage seemed to have been drained from. A quick look reveals that the shaft descends approximately 20 feet, connecting to bisecting stone sewer pipe below. Although the smell of sewage is stronger here, you see none at the bottom. Stone handholds in the side of the shaft allow for an easy descent.
|
|
Holding your breath, the party climbs down the sewer pipe. The pipe is wide enough for everyone, even Ouncius, but you inevitably get some raw sewage onto yourself. After a nauseating 20-foot descent, you reach the bottom. Holes in the floor connect to 6-inch-diameter, grate-covered runoff pipes that drop into darkness. This is likely where the sewage from the pool above has drained into.
The pipe that you descend from connects to a similar 5-foot wide stone sewer pipe (that is thankfully dry). It runs level and branches up ahead. Next to you a circular flight of stairs that ascends a short distance.
Suddenly, you all hear the distinctive sound of clanging metal armor coming from up ahead. As carefully as you can, you creep forward in the stone pipe to investigate.
The pipe you are in is approximately 5 foot below ground level. It opens into a wide room with arched stone ceilings. On either end of the room, three channels allow sewage to flow into a mazelike series of channels that flow beneath stone walkways. The stench of the sewage is overwhelming and you likely would not want to fall into it.
Just south of the center of the room, precariously fixed to the ceiling by a five-foot length of chain, hangs a small iron cage , suspended 8 feet above the level of the floor. Within it balances a small porcelain vase, likely the one you are seeking.
Walking in the stone pipe, you are hidden from view, but you clearly hear voices coming from below the cage.
"Yes, we've found it! As usual, the Aspis has beaten those Pathfinders to the game!"
You hear someone jumping, clearly trying to reach the cage. Before they can get their hands on the vase, with a quick silent signal among yourselves, you quickly clamber over the top of the pipe, surprising the Aspis agents!
|
|
Below the cage at the other end of the room, you see four Aspis agents, who are clearly surprised by you. Right in front is a half-orc wearing banded mail and wielding a greatsword . Opposite him is a female human dressed in chain mail, wielding a handaxe, with a greataxe hanging by her side . Behind the half-orc is a human man in studded leather wielding two short swords , while behind the human woman is a female half-elf dressed in robes and holding a crossbow .
|
|
Lox wonders if he threw a bomb would that go poorly for our party with all the methane gas?
If he is positive that the entire place won't blow, I mean really positive, he will lob an explosive bomb at orange (with a range increment penalty and he will use his precise bomb discovery to make the bomb not effect the square that the vase is in.)
If he is not sure about the explosion he will drink his shield extract.