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Round 5
In rage, Brenton turns around and strikes hard into the goblin mutant, who was already wounded. It screams as it slumps to the ground.
Megekki attacks a remaining sinspawn, and hits with his hair for 7. Ameiko attacks it...
Emrys hits the last one with a snowball...
and dazes it.
Enemy's Turn
A wolf appears out of thin air in front of the party and attacks.
The little quasit in the back, clearly frustrated at seeing her forces fall, mutters a curse...and disappears.
Status
5' Zeriax (-2/19 Prone, KO, Bleed 1), Emrys (6/14 ), Meggeki (16/16 ),
PFL Brenton (13/13 Shield, Fight Defensively, Prot F/Evil), Ameiko (13/26 Flank),
5' Wolf (Good) Sinspawn C (Hurt, Dazed),
45' Erylum (Perfect, ),
Party Buffs Song +2, Bless
Megekki's yards of flowing hair grab up the fallen wand, and he uses it to heal Zeriax.
Brenton tries to figure out what the quasit just cast.
Brenton lets the others know what the spell was (if he knows).
When Megekki takes the wand he gives him a smile and a nod.
Ameiko looks around, angry. That little she devil got away. Some sort of invisibility magic. Combined with her ability to fly, we'll never catch her.
She wipes off her rapier before putting it in the scabbard.
It looks like that well or pool over there somehow created those creatures when she spilled her blood into it. It appears the magic is spent for now...but she did say something about the goblins somehow empowering it again.
Megekki takes up a watch in the doorway, his hair spread like a spider's web. "She cannot leave.", he says.
Brenton channels a few times to heal up the party.
Brenton tries to recollect anything from his readings regarding a way to destroy the pool from further use.
He looks around the room for things of value or use with detect magic.
"Let me take a look at that sword," he says studying the goblins weapon.
"Yup, its magical."
"This will come in handy," he says as he picks up the silver dagger.
He studies any other magic items he finds.
Getting up after being pummeled hard, Zeriax bows - "Thank you friend Benton and Megekki, I was caught by surprise by that monster onslaught..."
He then stands watch, attentive for any sounds that may give away the quasit presence, while his friends search the room.
"HE was caught by surprise. HE did not expect the priests, to be warriors."
"Let us leave the big book as our offering..."
Megekki casts Guidance on himself.
"Why do you give us the book, that tells us so much, and then call demons to fight us? You were truly broken-minded. If you go to Her, She may welcome you."
Megekki channels as he finishes speaking to the Mutant's corpse.
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As Brenton looks at the pool, he remember something he read on it earlier. The well is an ancient Thassilonian artifact called a runewell, a device capable of extracting magical essence from the souls of certain creatures who, in life, exemplified specific spiritual traits, in this case, wrath. This is one of the lesser ones. You believe that as long as you smash it while it is out of magical energies, that will render it inert.
As Megekki puts his hair all over the one and only exit, nothing happens. She's either got away, or invisibly hiding in one of the rafters of this very tall room, it would seem.
The longsword the mutant wielded was indeed magical (+1). The dagger is silversheen and the handaxe is masterwork.
The party earns 1 hero point for defeating a 'boss/epic' level encounter.
Ameiko looks around carefully before turning to Megekki. She raises an eyebrow at his hair spread out all over the door.
She may have gotten away. She was pretty fast in the air.
"She did not go past. Maybe quiet-of-sight? Hiding in the trees above. She listens, maybe. What now?"
How can you be so sure? No offense, but you didn't put your hair trap out well after she went invisible.
"I'll tell you what now," Brenton says as he wields his weapon like a baseball bat and starts smashing away at the pool. {b]"We destroy this runewell while its inert."[/b]
The water from the pool floods the room.
"Does anyone want the sword? It feels awkward for me to wield in battle. I would rather sell it. This axe too." He picks up the weapons and offers them to whoever can use them. If no one looks interested he carries it to sell later and divide the loot up between the party.
"And let us pray that there is no other relic like this anywhere. This artifact was built with only the purpose of evil intent."
Hmmm..I have to say I agree with Brenton on this one. I, too, share a strong interest in artifacts and magic relics. But, judging by the sinspawn she was summoning from the pool, what he did may have been for the best. At least we found what appears to be an ancient text out of it. I'm willing to bet that the Pathfinders would pay a tidy sum for that.
How can you be so sure? No offense, but you didn't put your hair trap out well after she went invisible.
"I take no offense. But Ameiko does not watch Megekki. Hair is tired too soon, so when hears 'invisible', Megekki hides the hallway. Because too soon, cannot do."
"Alright, everyone says she has got away, so she has got away."
Megekki's hair begins to braid itself into his usual yards of weave...
Emrys looks in horror at Brenton's callous disregard of the ancient relic.
Wha... what the hell are you doing!? That pool is over 10,000 years old, there may not be another one like it in Varisia, maybe anywhere! It belongs in a museum.
"Pool is mother-hole of the evil things. You were not touched, you were not made wrong in mind by them. Brenton is correct. But yes, too often, too quickly, Brenton destroys. This time, he is right."
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I'm sorry I don't buy that. It was made for an evil purpose by an evil power. But that doesn't have to be its only use. You may as well call Megekkis spear evil, or Zeriax bow. They are tools to be wielded for either good or evil. We have no conceivable idea of what other uses it had... and now we never will.
He begins sketching the pool in his notebook as well as he can remember it, muttering to himself as he does so.
I agree that the same fire that warms a home can burn in it to the ground, but I fail to see how a portal designed to spew forth demons powered by wrath could ever serve the causes of good. Odd, but didn't you tell me earlier how you refused to make a deal with a devil? She smiles at that. You were wise to do so. Trifle with evil, like my brother, and you take the first steps to becoming evil yourself.
Brenton mumbles to himself.
Greg Rye's voice comes from the carved mask, "You watched it bring demons. You watched them attack us. Perhaps it was all clearer from the front line. Or perhaps its destruction is the sort of decision only ever correctly made by a scholar...?", the teasing note was plain. And then absent, when he continued, "Emrys, you're steadfast. I'd trust you with the pool. But we can't guard it. And we've already fought things clearly born from it. We nearly lost Zeriax. Brenton's choice was correct, if early."
Megekki shakes his head, the braids rustling in chorus, as though driving out an idea. "Megekki...", he growls in the orc-voice.
"Much of our power is spent. Do we find the dogs, or guard against them, and restore our powers? If the demon fled, past the dogs, that might be the barking. And a warning to those beyond. This may not be the best time."
They sounded like they're coming from...below? Did you all find a way down to a lower level?
"I think we need to investigate. This could be the start of another raid.
"So then, how to get there?"
"The way down was caved in. Let us go to town to get some rest. There is a book with mysteries I would like to uncover."
"Two books. One the wizard writes of and in. Another speaks of Lamashtu. Both call for caution. Both should be read. Remember, the lost wizard's words."
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The sounds of the wolves stopped shortly after they started. You could have sworn, however, that they came from below. For sound to travel from a floor below you must have been pretty loud. As you retrace your steps, you find the collapsed stair case that leads into further depths. There's something foreboding about what lies beyond the collapse stone and brick, but there's no doubting that its a complete cave-in. You are relatively sure that outside of a concentrated, long term effort, or some very powerful magic, that nothing is going in or coming out of it.