Silvio seems to need a moment to recover from the sickening stench
"Abadar's power of law," responds Silvio to Cherry's comment. "It helps to ensure that the most logical, correct outcome occurs. It only works because you are so naturally skilled with your weapons."
He examines the various valuable finds. "Whoever slept in this bed had quite a lot of wealth." He then picks up the boots, examining it to try and understand its wearer. He checks if the boots seem magical.
"Saul's 'sponsors' perhaps?" Orendel offers.
"I'm not that great at sword fighting," says Cherry. "Just had some good positioning. And the magic rapier helps, too."
She takes some time to go over the various treasures from the box.
The boots are fine leather quality but of a make you have never seen before. They are likely highly valuable (for boots) and when Cherry examines them, she whistles in admiration. The soles are exceedingly soft and make almost no sound when walking, even across the scrunchy gravel floor of the cavern.
"All yours, Cherry," says Silvio as the boots are revealed as exceptionally quiet.
He then responds to Orendel. "Troglodytes as sponsors? It doesn't seem right to me that these putrid creatures would be so wealthy."
Silvio gestures toward the path forward. "Let's find some more trouble."
Meghan belatedly looks at the clear liquid in the brass jar and tries to recall any magical uses for a black onyx or diamond dust.
Cherry says, "Uh, thanks, I uh... guess... I can try them on?" as she gingerly handles the boots. She gives an unconvincing smile.
Rubbing at his face and offering Cherry a smile, "I doubt you needed the magic, even if you want to say you have little skill we have evidence to the contrary."
"All yours, Cherry," says Silvio as the boots are revealed as exceptionally quiet.
He then responds to Orendel. "Troglodytes as sponsors? It doesn't seem right to me that these putrid creatures would be so wealthy."
Silvio gestures toward the path forward. "Let's find some more trouble."
Orendel shakes his head.
"Whoever was sponsoring BOTH Saul and the troglodytes. Remember what Kwava said? There's some sort of puppet-master at work here, and we're cutting their strings one-by-one."
He moves towards the next hallway and looks ahead.
Meghan does not have any idea what the clear liquid in the brass vial is. Not magical, and hard to identify even with knowledge of alchemy.
The supple leather of the boots seems to stretch and self-adjust as Cherry slides her feet into them. Most of her footwear has had to be custom-made, but these boots fit as well as any she's ever worn. They do allow her to move across the loose stones with an uncanny degree of silence, and she is in love with them at once.
Orendel looks down the remaining unexplored passage and sees a long narrow cavern that runs as far as he can see into darkness.
Cherry takes the boots and retreats to a dark corner of the room. She glances over her shoulder as she sits with her back to the group and says, "Don't look!"
It's an odd admonition, considering that it's not like she's stripping off her clothing.
When Cherry pulls off her current boots, her feet are revealed to be strongly arched, with wide heels, and instead of having five toes, she has only two toes on each foot - one large toe on the inside and a larger one on the outside. Each toe has a thick black toenail. It's like her feet are somewhere halfway between a human foot and a cloven hoof.
She's obviously quite self-conscious about them.
With some struggling she gets the new boots on and eventually stands and experimentally tries walking around in them.
"Huh. They fit better than I'd expected."
"Comfy, too."
She notes finally, "Still feels a little weird. I think this is the first time I've ever literally taken the boots off someone else."
With Cherry in new footwear, the party matriculates down the darkened hallway, rounding a small curve. Faint illumination can be seen as the passage widens into a room ahead. The murmur of a woman's voice can be heard, but what she is saying is unclear.
Meghan respects Cherry's wishes and doesn't try to peek...though the strangeness of the request severely tempts her to do so.
Before heading out, Meg gathers the wounded for a quick positive energy heal.
As the group assembles to press further on, Cherry thanks Meghan for her healing magic, then whispers, "All right, shall I sneak ahead and see what I can spot, then head back?" With her fiendish eyes she should be able to spot whoever's out there in the darkness.
"Wait, it's not as if you're putting on a new piece of armor," says a confused Silvio, as Cherry puts on her boots. "Whatever your feet may smell like, it's really nothing compared to these troglodytes!" Silvio of course, just adds insult to injury as he misunderstands. Regardless, being a law-abiding sort, he does not go against her wishes.
As Cherry offers to sneak ahead, Silvio nods, standing still to allow the much quieter tiefling to proceed.
"It's, uh, just a sensitive subject," says Cherry to Silvio. "Thanks for bearing with me."
Politely keeping his gaze averted. It is to be assumed that there is something odd with her feet due to her blended blood. There was that man with the scaly skin and that brimstone smell. But he was so much fun. Oh and the woman with the really long fingers that she was so skilled with.
Memory lane is a strange place and can easily fill time. Turning to watch her walk off, "Just be careful please."
Meghan can't quite stifle a chuckle at Silvio's stinky feet remark but quickly catches herself. When Dougal tells the tiefling to be careful, Meg gives Cherry a very serious nod of agreement.
As they approach the sound of a woman's voice, Silvio lets Cherry sneak on ahead, waiting with anxious anticipation.
Orendel averts his eyes at Cherry's request while she puts on the new boots. When she's done, he looks back and smiles.
"They look good, too!"
He nods at Dougal's words and follows after her.
Wearing her new boots, Cherry creeps forward to peer into the dimly lit room ahead of the others. As she does, she can see that the room opens into a wider cavern that appears to have been recently enlarged at the east end., where a massive, curving stone carving protrudes from the floor, wall, and ceiling. It is covered in strange runes that appear strangely familiar and it appears that some of them have bee chipped away. A table nearby holds several stoneworking tools and a thin book.
The room is illuminated by the same dim glowstones that you have seen in the last few rooms. Standing near the table, is a tall, dark-skinned elven woman with bone-white hair. Her skin appears to have more of purple hue in the dim light. Her eyes are white and pupilless voids. She wears an intricately crafted chain shirt and equally exotic weapons, including a hand crossbow fitted with a pair of slender blades that can be wielded like a dagger.
Also in the room are a pair of 4' tall sloth-like vaguely humanoid blobs of bloated flesh. They stand near the door keeping watch and as Cherry slips on a loose stone, one of the blobs begins gibbering and howling in an unintelligible way, clearing alerting the room to intruders.
Excavation Site- Round 1
22 Cherry
20 Meghan
18 Silvio
13 Purple Woman
9 Blue Blob
9 Red Blob
5 Orendel
3 Dougal
Silvio marches forward, though his heavy armor makes it difficult to advance very far.
Meghan likewise closes the distance with the creatures.
Excavation Site - Round 1 -continued
Moving quickly as the alarm is raised, Cherry rushes to stab the closest of the blobby, misshapen things. Her rapier runs into some sort of magical resistance, but her strike is true enough to still greatly harm the dretch.
Silvio and Meghan, who had both held back while Cherry explored, hurry into the fray, seeing the purple-skinned elf, the lumpy guards, and the strange cyphers on the arch of exposed stone.
"So Saul's playthings have tried to grow some teeth, eh?" says the dark elf in accented Common. "I told him to kill you long ago, but that pawn just wouldn't listen, would he? Now, I've got no time to waste!" She fires a bolt from her hand-crossbow at Silvio. The aim is true, and the small bolt sinks deep, wounding the inquisitor. Worse, the bolt's stike causes Silvio to waver for a second. His world spins around, and even though he tries his best to remain in the fight, he collapses into unconsciousness within moments of being struck.
The pair of demonic adds both turn their attention to Cherry. the nearest slashes and rips at the tiefling. The bite chomps only on empty air, but the first claw rips deep inside Cherry's flesh, ripping and tearing, while the second claw just misses a kill stroke but still creates a deep scratch.
The Red Demon lunges out at Cherry also after closing in on her, looking for the kill. It does bite her fiercely, but she manages to avoid most of the bite, saving her life for now.
If there was anything left in his stomach it would have come up watching Silvio collapse and hearing Cherry be attacked. Honestly not seeing it is somehow worse.
Running forward with his rapier pointed out and that wand in the other hand.
"So YOU'RE Saul's puppetmaster!" Orendel declares as he joins the others in the room. "What have you got against nobodies like us, anyhow?!"
He doesn't wait to hear whatever excuse she had as he rushes to the front to join Dougal in attacking the demon!
"THIS is what I got this cold-iron spear for!"
Cherry stabs wildly at a drench, fails to hit it, tries to escape the fray but stumbles due to her wounds, and presumably dies from the drench AoOs.
Excavation Site - Round 1 - concluded
Orendel moves up and attacks the nearest demon, but his attack fails to stab the blobby foe. "Saul was a controllable fool," the white-haired elf answers to the warrior. "Your group, on the other hand, is idealistic and driven. You can't bought off, and apparently aren't easy to kill. Eventually, I assumed you'd get wise to my plans here, and come calling. But you are too late to stop it now! The Starfall is coming -- it's just a matter of time now." And she laughs in a crazy enough way to make you really worried.
Moving up shoulder to shoulder with Orendel, Dougal also tries to skewer on of the smelly dretches, but cannot penetrate the rubbery hide.
End of Round 1
Excavation Site- Round 2
22 Cherry (18hp dmg)
20 Meghan
18 Silvio (9hp dmg, asleep, 10 rounds)
13 Purple Woman
9 Blue Blob
9 Red Blob
5 Orendel
3 Dougal
Cherry tries to stab and step away, but her wounds slow her more than she imagined. Her stab is turned aside, and her step is blocked by the claws of both dretches. Fortunately, both sets of slashing claws miss the nimble tiefling, who stay sin the fight.
She's crazy...but not my kind of crazy! And why would an elf prestidigitate her hair white and her skin purplish-black??!!
Though she wants to take the fight to the strange elf, getting Cherry out of a jam takes precedence.
"Hey uglies!" the bard shouts at the demons as she closes on them, drawing her sword as she comes. "Swordmistress Meg is here, and I'm gonna dice you up into bite-sized pieces!"
Meg's not sure the things can even understand her (and she's quite sure she's incapable of dicing up the things on her own, but that's not the true plan: Just get them to turn her way and take their eyes off Cherry for a split second.... As she completes the bit of magic, she's happy to notice that she can still see the tiefling; she just hopes their foes can't.
"Zzzzzzz....Zzzzzzz...."
Excavation Site - Round 2 - continued
Meghan tries her disappearing trick for Cherry once again. Maybe they are too close, or maybe the bardic performance just doesn't work well on denizens of the Abyss, but the dretches are not fooled, even though the elven woman seems to be.
Taking time to reload her hand crossbow, the dark elf fires at Meghan this time. The small bolt hits painfully, and Meghan feels groggy as the poison seeps into her veins. Unlike Silvio, however, she is able to shake off the effect and remain in the fight.
Red Dretch turns and attack Dougal with claws and teeth. The claws both are stopped by the cleric's armor, but the teeth hit an exposed portion along his neck, tearing a bit of flesh out.
Blue Dretch takes a small step up, and rather than finishing off Cherry, it also tries claws and teeth against the cleric. but can hit only once for minor damage.
Having previously withdrawn from combat, Cherry sprints around to the other side, trying to get behind one of the demons to finish it off quickly.
Growling when Cherry moves before he can heal her. Hissing at Orendel, "Take my spot please." Cayden please don't let her die!
Taking a step around the creature and poking Cherry with the wand.
Excavation Site - Round 2 - continued
Dougal takes a small step back from the line, fumbles out his healing wand, and hits the seriously hurt girl with it before she starts scampering off for more combat. The healing is not a huge amount, but its something.
"Will do," Orendel replies as he steps into the gap Dougal has left. He stabs at the monster with his spear.
Excavation Site - Round 2 - concluded
Stepping into the gap left as Cherry and Dougal move away, Orendel attacks but fumbles his tiger-fork, nearly dropping the thing in the face of the brimstone-smelling foes.
End of Round 2
Excavation Site- Round 3
22 Cherry (16hp dmg)
20 Meghan (10hp dmg)
18 Silvio (9hp dmg, asleep, 9 rounds)
13 Purple Woman
9 Blue Blob
9 Red Blob
5 Orendel
3 Dougal (6hp dmg)
Eschewing any more healing, Cherry goes back on the offensive. She skates around the flank of the dretches, coming up behind and stabbing one in the back. She is able to skewer him effectively, but notices his demonic nature makes the attack not quite as damaging as she'd have liked. Her attack also ends the magical effect from Meghan, making Cherry visible to the elfin woman again.
"We'll try to keep the elf preoccupied!" Meghan shouts to the others and then she--both of her--close with the elf.
Excavation Site - Round 3 - continued
As Meghan moves to engage the dark-skinned elf with the poisoned hand-crossbow, she uses her Calistrian trickery to seemingly split in two, an exact replica adjacent to her.
The leader of the excavation just steps back from the pair of Meghans that now threaten her, and fires her hand-crossbow at one, once more. This time the shot is on target again, but the small, envenomed bolt hits the copycat image, and while it bursts, it is a harmless act. The elven woman curses in a strange guttural language, and does not move to reload her missile weapon, rather readying it for melee fighting with the dagger-like protrusions.
After Cherry stabs its companion, Red Dretch turns its series of attacks on her. It hits with one claw, scratching a groove in her shoulder.
Blue Dretch, wounded from behind, also makes its attacks on Cherry, ignoring Orendel for the moment. Fortunately, all the demon's sharp parts miss the tiefling, who still hangs out even if only narrowly.
[ooc]The round goes quick, and we are back to Orendel and Dougal to close Round 3
Frustrated by the loss of her flanking position, Cherry tumbles away from one of her foes and resumes a position opposite Orendel against the other one.
She manages to land another punishing blow!
Orendel recovers his grip and tries to skewer the demon again.
1d20+5; 1d8+2
Excavation Site - Round 3 - concluded
Orendel recovers from the near fumble and tries to skewer the nearby dretch. Unbelievably, he nearly drops the weapn again as he tries to attack.
Dougal moves and readies an action to use the curative wand should Cherry come back within reach.
End of Round 3
Excavation Site- Round 4
22 Cherry (18hp dmg)
20 Meghan (10hp dmg)
18 Silvio (9hp dmg, asleep, 8 rounds)
13 Purple Woman
9 Blue Blob
9 Red Blob (10hp dmg)
5 Orendel
3 Dougal (6hp dmg)
Cherry shifts her position to continue to harass the Blue Blob from behind. Once again her rapier sinks deep into the adipose tissue of the dretch, and this time she is rewarded as the demonic creature expires with a whistling death rattle.
With Cherry close, Dougal taps her lightly with the healing wand restoring a bit more of her lost vitality.