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Icilias notes the solid hit that Yngvilda took from the creature, and suddenly feels her lack of armor. "Best defense is a strong offense," she mutters to herself as she shifts her position again, studying her target for a weakness, and takes a swing at the massive grioth.
5-foot step
Move Action: Studied Target
Standard Action:
Thanks to both Tyken't hex and Yngvilda's bash, the slayer's scythe finds purchase in the large grioth's back.
The creature roars in pain and turns from Yngvilda to whirl on the Chelaxian woman, thrusting its cruel blade through her chest twice . Staggering and barely clinging to consciousness, the grioth lunges forward and takes a bite out of her neck with its wickedly sharp teeth.
Icilias collapses on the ground as her blood paints the stone floor a dark red.
"Death will not take us this day," Tykent intones, and Hope trills a ringing cry. "It comes only for you!"
Cwm curses and decides to do something stupid. He moves up beside Icialias and lets loose the fire held in his hands.
"Nooo!"
Yngvilda takes a step and redoubles her efforts to topple the mountainous monster before it slays them all.
seeing Icilias collapse, Penny begins to lose her cool. "Enough of this!" She reaches out her hand to grab a hold of the bones of this massive beast, rattling him from the inside.
Casting Elemental Ray.
The grioth is close to falling after the party rallies when Icilias drops, but it isn't until Eldon's ray is cast that the large creature topples to the ground next to your fallen ally's body.
The creature is wearing a breastplate and was wielding a +1 cruel Medium voidgloss falchion.
Cwm kicks the grioth when it finally falls. "that sucked. Let's get Icilias awake again and everyone healed up."
"Eldon Giant Slayer!"
Yngvilda drops her axe and shield to lift the halfing into the air in her excitement at not being dead again. Only when she remembers how injured she is does she turn to Icilias.
"Will she be OK Tykent? Is there much spare magic in the wand? We've got a lot of wounded warriors"
Gentle light radiates from Hope as she perches on Tykent's shoulder. The old man smiles, soaking in the radiance. "There we are." He bends down to help Icilias to her feet. "No need to worry, Yngvilda - she's made of sterner stuff than these old bones."
Suffering no damage from the back of the line, Penny wipes some dust off her clothes... "Well that was enough excitement I think. Come Icilias, back on your feet. Good show out there everyone. Job well done if I do not say so myself."
She pauses to look around at the options, looking to the east first. "Lets head east! No time to stop now!"
As an added precaution, Penny will cast detect magic in the passage to the east, just to assure they are not running into anything wonky.
Cwm ignores Penny for the moment, "can anyone use that falchion? It's a little heavy for me." He brushes some dried blood off Icilais's shoulder.
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The Chilaxian woman sits up, seeming a bit disoriented at being sprawled out on the ground... that is until she notices the blood stains and damage to her travel clothes. "Well that's just lovely, now isn't it?! Blood is so hard to get out!"
Despite her complaints, she seems little the worse for wear and manages to get back to her feet, leaning just a little on her scythe for balance.
She takes a moment to adjust the damaged cloth, then casts a simple spell to stitch the fabric back together. While not like new, it will at least prevent any unsightly exposure. "There. That should do until I have time to take a proper needle and thread to it. Thank you, Tykent, for the timely healing magics. I suppose that I should take better care to defend myself, yes? Especially if we plan to kill a dragon."
"Oh well done Tykent, I feel ready to take on the dragon myself!"
Yngvilda pats Icilias forcefully on the back approvingly as she picks herself up. She looks over the falchion disapprovingly.
"I could use it, but not with my shield."
As she is saying that she is loading one of her acid flasks into her breakaway shield boss before she stands up, shield and axe in hand, ready to move on. She looks at the two passageways for barely a second before deciding and marching toward the eastern one.
"Let's go!"
Leading east, Yngvilda comes across a door on the southern wall not too far into the eastern passage. Opening it up reveals metallic coffins with vents in their lids form a line along the southern wall of this room. Numerous large stones are heaped atop the westernmost coffin, and a foul smell of decay fills the air. The ceiling is low, making the space feel cramped.
Tracing the source of the smell, you find a recently deceased half-orc located in the western most coffin.
Cwm looks around the room, appalled at the smell and whatever was going on here.0
Tykent shakes his head sadly. “May they find peace in the Great Beyond,” he intones.
Moving along from here, Yngvilda leads you down the corridor which twists north, east, south and east again before you come to a closed door. After Cwm clears it, the Ulfen fighter leads you Numerous statues of robed men and women occupy the niches in this curving hall.
As you move through the corridor, Tykent calls a halt as one of the statues catches his eye. It appears that it's head is slightly askew, different than the others. Attempting to correct it, he finds the head moves and when it does a large section of the wall adjacent to the statue slides away to reveal a hidden chamber beyond.
Moving in, you find a recessed mesh of iron gridwork crisscrosses the northern end of this room. Hundreds of tiny blue runes have been painted inside of each of the small squares formed by the grid pattern. A long-dead figure lies slumped against the wall to the northeast.
As a few of you move to inspect the runes, the smoke appears in the far corner of the room and begins to move towards you. Dull, red eyes, grasping claws, and leathery wings give a demonic aspect to this creature’s smoky form.
Eldon moves up too look past Yngvilda at the approaching create. He takes aim and fire an experimental ray of energy.
Eldon's ray hurts the creature enough to get its attention. The smoke creature surges forward, flying directly at Eldon until it is all around him. He can't help but take a breath, inhaling the creature into his lungs ...
"Eldon!"
Yngvilda takes a step and tries to distract the creature, hoping that her weapons are enough to hurt the wispy weirdness.
She's so focused on holding her breath though, though her aim is very poor.
Cwm steps a little closer and waves her blades at the smoke creature.
Yngvilda's weapons swipe through the smoke, missing the creature completely. Cwm lands one strike on it, but in this smoke form it seems to have a very high defense and his attacks do not damage it.
"Stand back, you fiend, lest you find yourself outmatched." Once more the unseen wind whips at Tykent's cloak. "Your hatred will be your doom."
Tykent recognizes this creature as a belker, hateful elemental air creatures resembling fiends made of smoke that can switch between corporeal to a gaseous form where it gains high level damage reduction to everything other than magic attacks.
Eldon holds his breath and takes a step away from the creature. He then carefully makes the gestures for a spell and speaks the magical words in a single exhalation. With the final gesture his hand is wreathed in sparks. He reaches out to touch the creature.
"What in the?!?"
"We will have enough of this! Show your true form!"
penny reaches out her hand, as a ray of negative energy blasts through.
16 fort for half
After a grueling encounter with the smoke monster, you find a cache of supplies which may prove useful for the trials ahead:
Making your way east you find another set of steps ascending further into the east tower. You rise into a library that is full of frescoes and bookshelves without any other obvious exits. Taking your time and thoroughly examining the room however, you locate a secret door in the southwest of the room that leads to a narrow five-foot corridor that wraps around the library before heading south into a much larger chamber.
The iron door to this chamber is covered in complex sigils and runes painted in delicate black lacquer-a message repeated over and over in several languages, including Common: "Beware! Dark Oblivion Lies Within'" Using the key you found earlier, you move beyond the door.
A drone, like the sound of a vast wind, fills this room, yet the air is cold and sti ll. A fifteen-foot square of arcane symbols is inscribed on the floor. Two five-foot-square areas of similar writing sit to the northeast and southeast of the larger one. Above the larger square hovers what appears to be a vertical hole in reality-a window that looks out into a night sky in which only a few tiny stars are visible. The window itself is fifteen feet square, running from the north and south points of the symbol below. It's suspended a foot off the ground, and comes within three feet of the ceiling above.
Tykent pulls his cloak closer around himself. "This is not natural," he states simply. "It must be the Dark Window Azmur spoke of. Let us find a way to close it, and quickly." The old man stares at the portal, but does not move any closer to it.
magical effect, such as a spell or a triggered magic item, generated by a creature standing in one of the smaller squares that targets anything within the larger arcane square (including the Dark Window) has any save DC associated with its effect increased by 2.
Cwm is captivated by the window. He moves into the room, careful not to get too close. He suddenly shudders and steps back, shaking violently, "don't look!"
“Better to know that they are watching us as well than to be taken by surprise,” Tykent replies grimly.
“Eldon, Penny, do you have ideas how to close it?”
"Don't look? How will I know how to close the window if I don't look at it?"
"Ahh, foul creatures pearing back at us. For this I agree with Tykent. Azmer mentioned using some sort of dispel magic, or enhanced force magic, neither of which I possess. We must study the window more to better understand what we can do."
Penny looks around the room, trying to figure out and learn as much as she can about the window.
"What are you all looking at?"
Yngvilda looks confused at all the worried looks.
"Maybe we should scratch out the symbols? Or smash the window?"
She hooks her axe into her belt and starts getting out her bow to test shooting an arrow at this strange floating window.
"All windows have glass, and glass shatters"
"Ahem, the wind in here spoiled my aim"
Eldon examines the magical symbols on the ground and says "If you stand in one of those two small squares, any magic you use will be empowered"
Eldon further deduces that the three squares are linked. The smaller squares serve to amplify magical effects that target points within the larger square, and destroying any of the squares doesn't affect the Dark Window. In fact, doing so can make destroying it even harder.
Icilias dips back into the hallway to retrace her steps to make sure that you aren't flanked while you inspect the window.
As Yngvilda prepares to fire an arrow into the strange window, there is a brief flash and a six-eyed horror that looks like a dead tree with claws, tentacles, spidery limbs, and a mouth bulging with tentacles appears in the room.
The ugly tree speaks in Yngvilda's mind and says Defend me from all attacks with your life!
Eldon takes a step closer to Yngvilda, "Wow, what is that?" Raising his hands he begins chanting and points toward the creature.
Yngvilda looks transfixed, before suddenly being horrified that Eldon would do something so awful.
"It's so beautiful- Don't hurt it!"
She drops her bow, draws her transformed axe in both hands, and attacks Eldon!
Tykent is uncertain about what the alien tree has done, but Yngvilda’s attack leaves little doubt that something has clouded her judgement. “Come to your senses!” he bellows, and harsh light begins to radiate from Hope’s feathered wings. “Whatever dark magic has clouded your thoughts, let it be gone!”
Cwm ignores Yng's strange behavior, certain Tykent can handle it. He races toward the wall, kicking off and coming down next to the tree, blades catching the light as they hit nothing buy empty space.
"Yng, your personal preferences now explains so much, but this it not a time for that. Get yourself focused!"
Penny takes a step back before blasting the creature with her own ray of negative energy, attempting to weaken the foe.
vs touch
dc 16 fort for half
Tykent pauses, waiting to see what's come over Yngvilda. Her intentions become clear after she watches Eldon land a ray on the strange creature. After his attack, she buries her axe into his back, injuring him badly.
Tykent steps in, casting his spell and breaking the strange creatures control over the Ulfen warrior.
While that's happening, Cwm performs some amazing acrobatics on the wall only to come up empty on his strike actual strike against it.
Penny tries to cast a spell but is also unable to land it on the clawed tree.
Turning its attention to the rogue, the tree lashes out at him with two claws and four tentacles, landing every single strike.
Cwm crumple to the floor, nearly dead.
Yngvilda feels a rush of emotions. Shame at having been so easily controlled to attack her friend, rage at having been so violated, and then fear at seeing Cwm so easily dispensed with.
Rather than following her instincts to rush in, she takes the safer course and retrieves her shield.
She steps toward the beast, shield raised and shouts:
"Get away from him you vile blob!"
Staggering from Yngvilda's axe blow Eldon coughs, tries to speak and then coughs again. Finally regaining some of his composure he starts chanting again and points at the horrifying creature.
Hope cries out as Cwm slumps to the ground, and Tykent strikes the floor with his walking stick again. "Death will not find you today!"