"Oh my, that will take time to heal and replenish," Alahazra gasps at the outpour of blood and influx of toxins. Having already seen the technique work once on the creature, she blasts it again with her wand.
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The Elven man tosses another glob of acid wide against the cavern wall.
"Well, my aim seems a tad off today." he remarks.
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The ooze, pleased with the meal it is getting, attempts to tighten its hold on Li Shuo, but no longer paralyzed, he easily slips free from its grasp.
Although one prey has escaped, another presented itself. It sends out another pseudopod towards Slade, this one successfully slamming into his waist. Again the slime spreads numbness into him system. The ooze coils its pseudopod tightly around Slade, and also starts draining blood from him.
Roderick continues stabbing at the ooze with his longspear. The weapon connects, tearing chunks of its fluids off from its body. Li Shuo staggers away from the battle, leaving Slade to face the creature alone. Alahazra fires another beam of raging fire at the ooze but this time, Slade is in the way and to avoid hitting him accidentally, she aims conservatively and misses the ooze. Manathiel similarly tries to fire a glob of acid at the ooze, but the ooze is rather dextrous and squirms out the way. Slade's swing with his falcata meets the same fate, as the creature shrinks back in time before the weapon connects. Jasmine fires her crossbow at the ooze, but it similarly dodges out of the way.
The creature, sensing another humanoid attacking it, slithers a short distance towards Roderick, then sends two pseudopods lashing out, one towards him and the other towards Slade. The first slams against Roderick's armor harmlessly, while Slade shifts back just in time to avoid the second.
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Roderick continues jabbing his spear into the almost-transparent ooze, puncturing out more of its internal fluids. Slade swings with a mighty blow, cleaving the badly damages ooze in twain. One part melts away into the ground. The other half weakly reaches out towards Slade but is unable to hold itself together and similarly melts away shortly after.
Across the room lies haphazard piles of bones, the remains of some hapless orcs which had fallen prey to the slithering tracker. In one corner, within a badly decayed leather bag, you find a number of vials of alchemical items. They are likely the loot from the wagon you had found in the room with the giant skull. However, the orcs clearly did not manage to make use of them before meeting their demise.
All in all, you find 12 flasks of acid, 12 flasks of alchemist’s fire, 2 vials of antitoxin, 2 vials of antiplague, and 4 vials of shadow essence poison. In addition, you find a vial with contents that radiates faint evocation magic to those with the sight.
"Phew, that thing could take quite the beating," Alahazra sighs in relief as the ooze collapses. "It seemed to dish out a bit of hurt as well. I'll see what I can do about the wounds and toxins."
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"Well done guys! I am sorry, I wasn't more helpful there."
Looking through the pile, he smiles. "Oh, nice. That's an elixir that ignites your breath."
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Taking a while to recover from the vicious attack of the life draining ooze, the party finally sets off again, pushing to find the remains of the fallen samurai.
The western passage leads to a side room, which when you enter, reveals a gargantuan square pool, twenty feet wide and four feet deep, which occupies most of this chamber. The steaming water releases a pungent odor. This might once have been an inviting bath built by the dwarves, fed by an underground hot spring, but something beneath the ground must have spoiled the water over the years and the smell is most foul. You quickly depart the room before you catch anything.
You then come across a couple of rooms which contain little else than broken weapons and the eye-watering stench of fouled smallclothes, and another abandoned barracks. Orcs had clearly occupied these ancient dwarven temple for some time, but why did they mysteriously abandon this place? And if they had, why was there one still guarding up front? Unfortunately, you find no answers.
The next chamber you enter appears to have been an ancient shrine dedicated to dwarven ancestors. Imagery of skulls, dwarves in burial shrouds, and young dwarves praying adorn this long hall. Heraldic charts from several dwarven clans cover the southern wall. An ornately carved stone pedestal stands in an alcove to the south. Rather out-of-place, the skeleton of a large, serpentine creature is coiled on the pedestal. Stone debris litter the floor around it, suggesting that some dwarven statue had once stood here, but it had been destroyed, and replaced by the taxidermy of some animal. However, it was clearly badly preserved and its fleshed had long been consumed.
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"Though I see many things in here to peak my inquisitive thoughts, I don't believe anything here is pertinent to our mission. Anyone disagree? "
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Roderick and Slade inch closer, examining the pedestal and in particular, the button more closely, without touching anything. They spot a barely visible crackline on the pedestal, revealing a small door, which you surmise is opened by the button. Other than that, they do not spot anything unusual or dangerous.
When Roderick presses the button, however, a arc of electricity burst forth from the pedestal, first hopping onto Roderick who is closest, through Slade beside him, then onto Jasmine before dissipating into the corridor behind her.
If there is any consolation, the small door opens smoothly, revealing a small compartment within, containing 3 potions and a wand.
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"Oh, well...this wand summons the fires of Asmodeus to burn your foes. It's not as precise as say, an arrow. More...point and spray method?" advises the elf as he takes a look at the items.
"Oh, and this potion helps restore your vitality some. Not enough to combat the life stealing aspects of powerful undead, but would help against some poisons and such."
"Slade, I'm not sure what your concern was...I feel fine." Smiling, he tosses the injured man a wink. "I do apologize, but I never received training the the type of magic your life-stick requires."
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15, 16
After taking the time to take stock of what you've found, and to address the wounds, the party continues on. Next to this ancestral shrine, you come across yet another shrine, this time to what appears to be a dwarven god. A statue of a dwarven man strangling a snake stands in the
northwest part of this irregularly shaped room, and has miraculously not been harmed.
Further ahead will bring you back towards the pool room where you encountered the assassin vines earlier so instead you turn south, through a passageway and a short flight of stairs down. As Li Shuo nears the room, however, he hears scuffling noises from the room ahead. Just as he enters, three orcs come into view to the rear of the room!
A broad and muscular orc stands imposinglyin the centre, his fists at the ready. He is dressed in bone studded leather but carries no weapons on his body. He is flanked by two other orcs, each bearing wardrums by their sides. The one in the centre, clearly the leader, calls out in his guttural voice, "Intruders! These ruins and all it holds belong to Groblek! Die!"
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"Oh! That's Kols, son Torag. He appears to be strangling Droskar in this depiction." shares Manathiel as they pass the statue. "Really quite a fascinating legend. You see..." and he drones on a bit as you continue to walk through the tunnels.
At the suggestion of the orc, he replies simply "No thanks.."
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Roderick sheathed the wand unless another could use it
Turning to the orc
"Intrudes? I daresay you are mistaken. We have been all through this area and have not seen any intruders...but we will let you know if we do."
Roderick moves into the room and to the north wall east of party fighters to get a view of the speaker (on phone cannot update)
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Roderick also recognises from his stance that the orc is a trained martial unarmed fighter, having the ability to adjust to different combat abilities per day. Moreover, he would likely have a devastating attack that can knock its victim unconscious.
Roderick moves into the room to get a better view. Li Shuo takes a step back and fires an arrow at the leading orc. The bow slams into him with great force and he grunts out in pain.
One of the wardrummers starts beating his drums, filling the small chamber with a rousing rhythmic beat that inspires the orcs in their battle. The other starts drumming as well, and calls forth a pool of grease that appears at the entrance of the chamber under Roderick and Slade. They then quickly retreat to the other room to protect their flanks.
The brawler growls angrily at Li Shuo and charges at him. He swings his mighty in a powerful uppercut, slamming into Li Shuo's solar plexus, cracking some ribs and threatening to knock him unconscious in one blow!
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"That other pair of orcs are drummers." explains the elven man. "They boost their companions during a fight. Would be helpful to take them out quickly."
Spying the greasy mess between him and the fighter, he quickly considers his options. Deciding to stay where he is, he mumbles in a language of old. "在所有的事情中增強並不總是正確的。" With a flick of his wrist, a dark, translucent energy shoots forward, snaking around his companions.
"Strength in all things is not always right."
"Not much room in here. Stay strong, everyone!" Alahazra uses her magic to empower the party.
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Both Slade and Roderick are caught by the grease and fall prone. Slade climbs carefully to his feet, unable to proceed further. Manthiel quickly seizes the opportunity before he does so to get a clear shot at the orc, hitting him with a ray that drains his strength. The orc grunts as he feels himself weakening but is hearty enough to resist part of the effect.
Jasmine fires her crossbow and with great accuracy, threads the bolt past his allies in front, puncturing the orc's shoulder. Alahazra calls for divine blessing upon her party.
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Not liking the greasy floor, Roderick looks for a chance to stand.
He will stand and assuming he survives, then 5' step back and drink an extract of invisibility.
Li Shuo, he gave you a pretty brutal rap on the noggin. Are you ok?
If Mr. Punchy is down or distracted from AOO, Roderick will still attempt to stand and hurl a bomb at the closest of the two drummer boys in back
for 10'r splash, 7 fire dmg (DC14 for half).
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Li Shuo manages to keep to his feet despite the debilitating blow to his solar plexus. He fires three arrows in rapid succession right beside Groblek, all which slam into him with great force. The blows are too much for him and he falls unconscious.
Roderick quickly takes the chance to gets up onto his feet, and step out of the grease area. He gulps down an extract and disappears from sight.
The two wardrummers look stunned to see their champion taken down so quickly. The one in front pulls out a scroll and reads from it. A cloud of glitterdust descends on the area near the room entrance, showering upon Roderick, revealing his position, as well as on Li Shuo, Slade and Manathiel.
The other focuses his attention on Li Shuo, drumming a spell as a force of enchantment attempts to grip his mind and hold him in place. They then retreat further back into the room.
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Wiping the dust away from his eyes, Manathiel skips across the grease, winking as he passes Slade. "Nothing to it, sir."
Turning his attention to the drummers, a scowl forms over his face. "Now, it's not nice to do such things. You could have blinded me! Lets just see how you like it, eh?" With a pinch of mica from the sack at his waste, he mumbles a quick phrase and tosses it towards the orcs. An explosion of the same materials showers the pair.
Alahazra tries to navigate the slick floor, but ends up barely keeping her feet and must retreat behind Slade. She tries again to the same effect, despite her normally nimble feet.