The freed centaurs cough and gag as they make their way out of the cloud. "Who are you warriors," *cough!*, "and how may we thank you for freeing us?"
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I am Sir Magnus Landros, of the Silver Crusade and the Pathfinder Society, and it has been my honor to save you. We Pathfinders are here at the behest of the fine warrior Nashota." he says, his voice taking his most noble timbre. "She was worried that you would not have survived this, and it is my great pleasure to see you alive at this point."
Magnus looks around, and continues, "I am sure that my friends here will want to search this lair to see what the bull-men have hidden here, but then we shall make our way back to your village."
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pai felt sort of bad, seeing the rough shape the centaurs were in. "I've never seen minotaurs that could create an odious cloud like that before. See something new every day! I'm glad all of you are okay, though. Let's check this place for any stragglers and we can be on our way."
Bluff
Sense Motive DC 14 or higher
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Aw, Magnus, I was just being sneaky about it. I would probably have apologized anyway. Yeah guys, I'm sorry that you lot got caught in my spell. It's always so much bigger than I think it is going to be. You'll feel better in less than a minute, I promise. But at least you are safe!". While she speaks, her head is down, looking at the ground, clearly Regretful either for making the centaurs sick or having been caught in her explanation.
“We are tired and battered,” *cough* “but we are doing much better since you came to rescue us.” The centaurs look rather greener than they should and one turns to quietly retch again before wiping his mouth off with a bit of cloth ripped from one of the dead minotaurs. “I am Anatoly, and these fellows are Charlemane, and Hanor.”
As you search the chamber that you're in...
Pai, Tink Tink and Vendel notice some interesting arrows and a bunch of gems in the pile of ashes that was formerly called a troll. Pai confirms that the arrows are magic. Although most of the gems are mundane, a dark blue rhomboid stone glows with magic as well.
Another centaur, Hanor, clears his throat. “We’re not”, *cough*, “the only centaurs who were captured. Our friend, Talias Swifthoof, was dragged away by their leader, Dahrunn Firehorn, through that door to somewhere deeper in this accused mine.” He looks up at you. “Do you think you can help us find him or... recover his body? I fear the worst for him.”
|
|
"Of course we can, Hanor. It would be our honor to save your fellows. Would you prefer to remain here, while we investigate further?" replies Magnus. He thinks a moment, "And should the worst have happened, perhaps we would still have time to return Dahrunn Firehorn from the Boneyard, Abadar willing. How long ago was he taken there?"
"Um, Talias is our companion." Hanor looks at Magnus, correcting him nervously. "Dahrunn Firehorn is the minotaur chief."
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Vendel kicks around some of the ash, "I do know what you mean Pai! I'm glad yer learnin ta talk right!"
Then he looks serious a moment, "So guys, I'm a bit sneaky, and can burrow, so what say once we find this Chief Firehorn's lair, that I scout it out before we all just barge in, know what I mean?"
Click. Whirr.
Click. Whirr.
Grigorii grins. "This is a blue rhomboid ioun stone! Very nice indeed! It makes you more alert!"
Grigorii starts tapping out a tune again to the patterns that Pai previously found. "Left, right, right, left again... Oh, I think I found the pattern, Pai! Here it is! We just started in the wrong place this time."
"Magnus, you clever warrior. You found some more minotaur fur and blood. We're on the right track, though I don't like the sight of this."
With Grigorii confidently getting you back on track in the Labyrinth, you go deeper and deeper into the mountain until you hear chanting. Vendel sneaks up.
Small piles of rubble cover the floor of this roughly hewn rectangular room. Statues of bull-headed warriors in various states of completion line the east and west walls, while a double row of polished black stone columns form a path down the center of the chamber. At the north end of the room, a massive stone figure with the face of a snarling bull rises from a pit carved into the floor. Flames flicker in the hole, filling the air with the acrid scent of burning grease. The bestial statue clutches an altar at the edge of the pit, posed as though it were trying to wrench the stone pedestal down into the chasm.
A large grey minotaur is praying at the altar, while an evil-looking trio of emaciated, leathery horned creatures are dragging the body of a centaur towards the altar. Their tight hide glistens, almost with a sort of slimy substance.
What do you do?
|
|
Vendel whispers through the message to Masafusa.
And then Vendel begins burrowing under the minotaurs and leaps up to surprise the main guy.
Vendel, I'm assuming that your burrow speed comes off your delving armor? . Yeah, this is one of the first places that the Minotaurs built, and definitely worked stone. So let's go with Plan B, flitting behind the pillars.
The room is filled with distractions, including chanting, incense and rising excitement that a coming sacrifice always gives demons. Vendel manages to stealth along the pillars and spring out for a surprise attack against the minotaur. He lashes out with his fighting fans, spilling a little of the minotaur's blood. However, this is the toughest minotaur Vendel's ever seen. This one looks like he has a lot of strength in reserve.
This gaunt, abyssal creature is a babau, a demon that specialises in stealth and assassination. This result reveals all outsider and tanar'ri traits. As well as its natural attacks, a babau can also take advantage of foes that it catches unaware to place a telling blow, much like a trained rogue does. Babau speak Abyssal, Celestial and Draconic. Resistant to many forms of attack, babau are, however, vulnerable to good aligned weapons, and those made of cold iron. They do however have a protective coat of acidic slime which can damage or destroy most things that touch it. Babau have a limited range of spell-like abilities. They can at will cast the following: darkness, dispel magic, see invisibility and greater teleport.
The rest of you get one surprise round before the initiative starts!
Everyone gets a surprise round, and then Masafusa, Grigorii, Vendel and Tink Tink are up!
|
|
Magnus steps forward a bit, and calls upon his guiding angel to boost the power of his weapon. "Abadar, Lord of the First Vault, your humble servant asks for assistance in ridding this land of the foul chaotic beasts that have come here!" His falchion glows brightly in a golden light, as the power of his deity infuses it in holy terror.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Vendel 5-foot steps into flank with the minotaur and full attacks, slicing and dicing with his two fighting fans. The ghost touch mithral fighting fan slices for the eyes while the heartseeker cold iron fighting fan rips at the groin of the vile beast.
Vendel insults the Minotaur, "Take that you vile beast, if you know what I mean!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Click. Whirr.
"They can see invisible, dispel, teleport and their slime destroys anything it touches! It can even damage weapons."
He applies oil of bless weapon to his furious battle axe.
He runs forward, and sings his rage song.
optional each round:
+4 morale Str/Con
+3 morale Will
-1 AC
20% concealment vs. reach, ranged
Spirit Slam +12 (1d4+4)
fast healing 4
"I'm Grigorii and I'm here to say
We got a bunch of demons to slay
Rage, let your anger out
Save the centaur, win the rout
But watch for the demons and their slime
It's Babau killing time!"
Pai casts stoneskin on Magnus. Tink Tink flanks with the minotaur, after casting shield on himself. Masafusa casts invisibility and sneaks around the room...
and then notices that one of the Babau demon's eyes seem to track his movements as he passes. It clearly can see him, and it grins ferally with a creepy fanged smile as the tiny fox passes. Magnus prays and Abadar blesses his weapon with holy and keen properties.
Vendel full attacks with the fighting fans. The first two fans dance as they slice through the minotaur's thick hide.
The greying minotaur succombs to the scorpion poison, but fights off the giant wasp poison and roars defiantly at the rogue, eyes narrowed, and he easily dodges the fans as they pass a second time. "သင်လာမည့်င်!"
Grigorii sings a rage rap that isn't quite up to par with his normal performances.
And now it's time for team demon!
Red and Blue flank Tink....
...but the tengu rogue is too dodgy for them!
The third charges Grigorii, hoping to take out the buffing skald.
...and misses, bouncing off the back beat of Grigorii's rage song.
Then it is the minotaur's turn. He full attacks Vendel. ""သင်ယဇ်ဖြစ်စေခြင်းငှါလိမ့်မယ်!"
The first three attacks cut cruelly, but the last the sneaky ifrit just barely manages to dodge!
The whole party is up, and you can rage if you want to!
|
|
Masa continues his rush down the back side of the statues, stopping his little fox feet at the corner.
He focuses his stare at the Blue Babau, dropping its Will Save, before throwing Shadowmind on Red, Blue, and the Minotaur.
The Shadowmind clouds the vision of one of the two demons flanking Tink Tink.
Dahrunn laughs. "သင်သည်ထိုထက် သာ. ကောင်း၏ပြုပါရန်ရှိသည်မယ်!"
___
EDIT: Masafusa did not beat Blue's DR, so only Red was affected by the spell..
Nothing is more terrifying than a holy Paladin raging against demons. Magnus hits the demon doing 35 points of damage...
...but some of the corrosive slime sticks to his weapon. It's magical and adamatine, but this is unpleasant to see.
The demon looks down, surprised, as all the damage goes through. "ကမကောင်းဘူးအိုး။ ကိုယျတျောသစစ်သည်တော်ထက်နောက်ထပ်သီးအခြား!"
Telepathically, you all hear: So you're holy warriors. How unfortunate. For YOU!
Then Vendel, his fans a flurry of blood, cuts into the minotaur over and over.
Grigorii, Tink Tink, and Pai are up!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Click. Whirr.
Grigorii full attacks the demon with his blessed battleaxe, but does not bring in his bite or Glorymane, since neither would be likely to get through the creature's defenses -- besides he does not like risking either his teeth or his intelligent shield companion to the creature's corrosive slime.
rage, heroism
rage, heroism
does not benefit from buff/debuff
Both times hitting with the battleaxe he manages a clean, fast cut and avoids getting corrosive slime on his weapon.
He continues his song.
Tink, Vendel and Pai do between them massive amounts of damage to the powerful old Minotaur and finally bring him down! Working together with a series of mighty blows and a pair of holy weapons, Grigorii and Magnus manage to just barely slay the Green Babau demon.
This leaves two Babau demons left. Red takes a five foot step back, casts, and then steps back with his regular movement. As he casts his spell, he throws the cavern into magical darkness.
Then Blue full attacks Tink Tink, using the flank.
Tink's reflexes are so honed he deftly avoids corrosive damage from the creature's slime every time!
The whole party is up, with two demons left.
Vendel slices the demon with his mithril fan, but not all his damage goes through.
Tink turns on the lights, and then trips Red!
Both Red and Blue take their attacks of opportunity on Tink.
He trips the Babau and then nails it with his beak!
Masa feints both demons with his cute little tail!
Magnus double-moves!
Grigorii and Pai are up!
Click. Whirr.
Grigorii double moves. "Do you have a haste, Pai? We're finally close enough together for it to work!"
|
Vendel slices the demon with his mithril fan, but not all his damage goes through.
Tink turns on the lights, and then trips Red!
Both Red and Blue take their attacks of opportunity on Tink.
[dice=Red Claw]1d20+12+2
[dice=Concealment]1d100[dice=Blue Claw]1d20+12+2
[dice=Damage+Sneak Attack]1d6+5+2d6[dice=Tink Reflex to avoid Slime]1d20+23
He trips the Babau and then nails it with his beak!
Masa feints both demons with his cute little tail!
Magnus double-moves!
Grigorii and Pai are up!