Passing under the broken arch of the lower gatehouse that once housed the monstrous hyena that mauled the bard some months earlier, Falear leaves the others to quickly move down the old road in an attempt to catch up with the fast moving robed figure. He is a short distance ahead of the others when he reaches the intersection at the center of the lower town between the bridge, inn, and slave market. Undra is nowhere to be seen.
Her delicate hand touches your arm and you suddenly feel very warm. "Come, let us find some place safe to talk. The night holds many dangers."
Kzrira begins to move at a double pace.
Whisper via Message: Faelar, where are you going? Wait for the rest of us.
I follow Undra to a safe place, my hand no where near my blade now, unlike before while following her.
Sighing, she glances about nervously, "Yes, I will make you some tea and we can talk, but let us get out of the night." You both continue down the road and cross the bridge to the tannery. You hear the music from outside the door and she leads you inside where men and ladies in various states of undress lounge smoking pesh and laughing. A small band consisting of the tabla drum and a stringed oud play music.
Undra asks one of the women to bring tea and leads you into a small room that holds only a worn bed. She bows asking you to please sit upon the bed while she modestly kneels on the ground before you. A tea pot is brought in a few moments later and Undra pours for you both. She chastely moves the cup beneath her veil to drink. She asks, "Do you take pesh? All I have is yours. Just ask."
Noticing Undra slip her drink under her veil I stop drinking to look at her, "Why do you still cover your face so? Do you still not trust me enough to show me what you look like beneath your veil?"
Do we follow or wait for some signal?
Quietly: He is a good elf, perhaps too good and too trusting. We follow as quietly as we can.
Kzrira moves ahead quietly hoping to see what the non-so-good Undra is up to.
Stealth:
Perception:
While Kzrira is paying a lot of attention to what is happening in the old inn, she is not paying much attention to where she is stepping and manages to kick a few stones in the process.
"Maybe you two should, since you are sneaky. I do not think I could be that quiet." Karethas pulls out a potion and hands it to Amir. "Use this if you need to, it lets you see and hear from a different location. Save it if you can."
So saying, she lifts her small gloved hands and pulls off her veil to reveal... an incredible beauty. Long cascading black hair falls around a wide, but fetchingly round face. Faelar especially appreciates the roundness that reminds him of Qilue. Undra's eyes are large and dark with long lashes that flutter downward. Her jaw is strong and lips full. Faelar is filled with intense emotion.
"You are a very beautiful woman, so why do you hide your face from others?"
Kzrira kicks aside a few bits of broken wood that remain from the lost door. She winces, but it really isn't as loud as it seems to her. Inside, it's pitch black as the faint starlight illuminates nothing beyond the door. Outside, Karethas offers Amir a potion of clairvoyance and hopefully a source of light.
Kzrira looks to Karethas: Can you give us some light? Perhaps cast a spell on my dagger so that I can sheathe it to shut the light off if necessary?
Amir summons an everburning torch from his sash and nods as Karethas turns over the potion. Amir does his best to hold the torch and put his hand close to it to shape the light be as minimal as possible. (luckily they aren't that bright) He then follows the girl.
Amir handily produces an everburning torch and steps forward soundlessly as he easily avoids the door fragments that Kzrira has kicked aside. In the doorway, he cautiously shades the light to let just a faint glow sweep over the room. Kzrira hears a creak on the stairs and they both turn to see a pair of feet step up from the stairs to the upper floor.
Karethas follows as far as the doorway and then stays very still. He nervously looks over his shoulder out into the street. At the first sign of trouble he will begin a summoning spell.
Kzrira quickly, but cautiously, goes upstairs following the pair of feet.
Stealth: <-- not sure if needed or whether the first rolls continues
Kzrira moves up the stairs and stops short before stepping onto a mesh of nearly transparent webbing. She glances around and finds that although the roof remains mainly intact, many of the interior walls have crumbled away leaving the upper level a cavernous mess of sagging boards and piles of timber and plaster held together by messy webbing. She has just a moment to consider where the webbing came from before the unseen glossy black spider the size of a camel descends upon her!
It's short sword sized chelicerae graze her shoulder, but it is enough to leave a painful wound covered in venom.
Amir
Karethas
Kzrira
Spider
Fort save:
Seeing the spider before her, Kzrira quickly steps back and fires two arrows at the arachnid.
5' step back
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Unfortunately her aim is off from the surprise.
As she fires, she calls back to the others.
Spider, we've been tricked.
Kzrira takes a step backward and hastily fires, but rushed shots deflect off the great arachnid's chitin. The creature responds by shooting a mass of webbing from its spinneret. The sticky bundle entangles the archer keeping her from further retreating.
An evil laugh fills your heads as a floating horned head appears behind Amir and bites the rogue.
Karathas begins the complex motions to summon an ally.
Amir winces at the sudden pain and turns to face his assailant head on. Seeing the skull Amir steps to gain better position dropping his torch and pulling his blades in the process.
Amir tries to attach the creature before him.
The torch tumbles down the stairs casting wildly dancing shadows across the room. Amir draws both blades in one action as he steps up to better his position against the bestial head. With an array of curved horns and tangled hair covering it, the creature could be the brother of the whispering div he killed with his blessed mace in the retaking of the Kelmerane Market. Amir wishes he had that mace at hand now as his deadly sword strikes only bounce off the div's accursed hide.
Below at the doorway, Karethas begins an incantation. Hopefully summoned aid will come quickly.
Karethas! We need a creature of divine power, I cannot hurt this creature!
Despite the webs tangling around her, Kzrira continues to fire at the spider.
Attack-Rapid Shot:
Damage:
Attack-Rapid Shot:
Damage:
Kzrira fires quickly while bobbing and weaving as much as she can while enmeshed in the sticky webs. One arrows pierces its horrible many eyed face as it draws near. The great bloated spider lunges at Kzrira as she quickly draws another arrow, but its chelicerae grate off her armor. It is enough to throw off her second rapid shot though. As she recovers, a venom tipped fang finds a joint in her plate wounding her.
The div bites the rogue again leaving only a scratch, but its poisoned saliva coats the slight wound. The rogue calls for aid as Karethas finishes his summoning.
Karethas ends his spell with a dramatic flair and the abandoned building lights up with a warm, glowing presence. A small glowing orb appears above Amir and the Div, it's light changing from a calming blue to an enraged red. He then casts another spell and a quick blast of water threatens to knock the spider off the stairs to the floor below.
Spider and Div should make Will Saves (DC13) or –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon.
Archon Ray attacks (Overcomes DR of any type):
Range Touch Attack: Damage
Range Touch Attack: Damage
The div and great arachnid are unfazed by the sudden appearance of the glowing red ball of radiant holiness. The div gleefully darts about avoiding the archon's bolts. The spider however, is surprised by an unexpected tidal wave that blasts it from behind, knocking it from the stairs and onto its back where its eight great legs churn the air as it seeks to right itself.
Seeing the spider fall back. Kzrira fires two more arrows.
Die you stupid bug.
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Amir continues to shrug off the insidious venom of the div and seeing the lantern archon he feels less panicked.
Seeing that the div is now occupied (and knowing that he gave the thing his best and did no damage to show for it)Amir turns his attention to the spider.
Amir to acrobatically move off his position on the stair and come down on the spider with both of his swords.
Fort:
Stupid bug.
Amir leaps from the stairs at the spider, but his blade at a poor angle as he lands on his feet. Kzrira however, strikes near the red hourglass mark on its abdomen with one arrow before it rolls and her second shot misses. The spider turns on Amir sinking envenomed fangs into the hapless rogue.
The fiendish head floats up and commands Kzrira to toss her bow to it.
Karethas unleashes another spell and a thick layer of grease appears under the giant spider. Meanwhile, the glowing orb unleashes two more beams of light shoot out at the div. Kzrira, cold iron arrows on this head creature!
Will:
Kzrira feels the fiendish head attempting to overcome her will. Stubbornly she shakes her head to resist. As she does this, she hears Karethas' advice and recalls how Amir's good blessed mace damaged the alien creatures she fought the year before.
Turning toward the head, she reaches into her magical quiver and draws two arrows with cold iron heads which she launches at the div.
Attack-Snap Shot-Cold Iron Arrows:
Damage:
Attack-Snap Shot-Cold Iron Arrows:
Damage:
Confirm Crit:
Damage:
Amir gasps as the fangs bite deep into his flesh but continues to fight on. Amir moves his swords in a dramatic way hoping to catch the spider off guard as he strikes.
The great arachnid has trouble regaining its feet as Karethas slicks the ground beneath it. Amir makes an effort to wound it, but is thrown by the wildly waving legs. The black widow clambers back to its feet granting Amir an opening!
In the air above, the glowing archon strikes the howling div with glowing bolts wounding it. Kzrira follows it with a deadly barrage and the horned head is returned to wherever it came in a greasy cloud.
Seeing the skull disappear, Kzrira again turns toward the giant spider and looses another barrage of normal arrows.
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Attack-rapid shot:
Damage:
Once again, Kzrira is only able to get one shot to land, and this one just grazes the giant arachnid.
AoO!
Amir continues to fight against the spider.