"Just give me a few hours to digest...I'll be fine."Sir Amrivast gives Howard a rueful smile. "I'll be able to fly, just don't expect me to do any aerobatics."
Late that night, after Sir Amrivast has partially recovered from his bout of gluttony, Howadrd planeshifts then teleports the party to Armun Kelisk.
Howard casts planeshift and finds himself sitting on a puffy white cloud, looking at the night sky filled with stars. A Greater teleport later, Howard teleports himself and Sir Amrivast to the city edge and walks into the city to find a busy market street floating in the clouds, the night sky, visible with stars above. The streets are lit with floating orbs of blue light, imitating balls of lightning. The buildings appear to be made out of magically frozen storm clouds and slyphs, djinns and gnomes have colourful stalls lined with magical blue glowing orbs of light by the road side, and are busily peddling their wares in the crowded night market square, filled with Air elementals, mephits, air wysps, djinns, and slyphs. A passing Djinn in blue robes, wearing a badge of a storm cloud greets the party, tells them he’s a constable, and they should be careful of their belongings in market square, lest it gets stolen by thieving invisible stalkers. And yell out to him or any of his colleagues if they run into any trouble.
"I've never seen anything like this before."Sir Amrivast's voice holds a note of wonder, as his wings labour to hold him aloft.
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Howard nods.
"Well, I wasss planning to find a nice inn in Armun Kelisssk, if that helpsss...?"
First order of business is finding an Inn for the night, then, with the room key in his possession, Howard goes looking for a few very specific items:
In the morning, when Amrivast is feeling a bit less bloated, he presents him with the clasp, and the mask.
"Thisss classsp will let you damage ssswarmsss effectively, and the masssk will render you immune to the plague carried by thossse undead we encountered earlier."
He then pauses, allowing Amrivast to don the items.
"Now, asss long as you are ssstill willing, I can try my hand at making you able to sssee the unssseen. Thisss may feel a bit weird."
He then uses the Scroll of Greater Possession.
Howard's body turns to incorporeal mist, which gushes forward, and floats down Amrivast's throat.
For a moment, there is blackness, and then Howard finds himself in control of Amrivast.
"Hmmm. It'sss a bit different to what I wasss expecting, but I can ssstill work with it. Now, where were we? Ah, yesss..."
Howard/Amrivast then casts See Invisibility, and makes it Permanent. Nodding in satisfaction, Howard concentrates. For a moment, he feels like he is in two places at once, as the mist pours out of Amrivast, and re-coalesces into his 'true' form, but it quickly passes.
"There. Now, you can sssee the unssseen. May it ssserve you well."
He then takes Amrivast back to the Giants' camp, ready for the next leg of their journey.
"Yeah, that would help, my wings would thank you."
Howard heads towards thd inn called the Dancing Slyph, and the proprietor, a slyph in a green dress, is happy to rent Howard a room. The room itself is made from cloud walls, but the furniture is mundane and just made out of pine, painted white. There is a table with a chest of drawers. The white beds spots a mattresses made out of cotton, and the bedsheets are white.
"Thanks Howard. I really, really ate too much."Sir Amrivast pads over to the bed and plops himself on it. "This place is safe, right?"
"Don't include me in the keep watch tonight. I just want to sleep it off." Then he lays down his head on his paws, curls up himself up, and falls asleep.
"Oh wow Howard, thanks for all these!I'll put them to good use. " Sir Amrivast thanks Howard as he dons them on.
"Yes, I'm still willing. Do I need to lie down or something?" Sir Amrivast asks Howard.
Sir Amrivast lets out a gasp as he sees Howard's body dissappear into mist then Howard floats down his throat before he can react.
"Howard? Is that you?" Sir Amrivast asks Howard telepathically. "Hey that's my body you're talking about!" Sir Amrivast adds in when Howard comments the bodies are different.
When Howard is done, Sir Amrivast shakes himself all over, "Well, that was strange. I've never imagined I'd get to see myself use a spell component pouch and wave paws, you know."
"Is that it? I don't feel particularly different."Sir Amrivast shakes his right paw.
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Howard nods.
"It ssshould be sssafe. Enjoy your ressst."
However, Howard still Keeps Watch.
"No trouble at all - after all, the better equipped/protected you are, the better for both of usss, in the long run. There wasss one other thing that I wanted to get you, but unfortunately, they didn't have it in ssstock; ssstill, it will be sssomething to keep an eye out for..."
Howard/Amrivast gives a lopsided-grin.
"Well, you can't really blame me - thisss isss a new experience for me, asss well... Don't worry, I'll be out of your head soon."
Howard smiles.
"You ssshouldn't feel any different, but you will notice that you can now sssee thingsss that you could not before; for example, if you went for a walk outssside right now, you would be able to sssee the Invisssible Ssstalkersss (a type of Air Elemental) that you couldn't before. Hopefully, it will be an ability that ssservesss you well in the future."
He then prepares to continue his journey.
"Yeah hopefully they'll have it in stock later."
"The heck? I can feel my facial muscles moving but I'm not doing it?" There's a feeling of incredulity projected along with the speech.
"Hmm. I'll go test it out." Sir Amrivast walks out of the inn, looks around the streets. "Yup, I see them now. Kinda insubstantial, aren't they?"
Breakfast at the Dancing Slyph is cereal the shape of stars and milk. Sir Amrivast politely asks for his portion to be changed for bacon and eggs, which the proprietor does so.
Howard then pays the bills, and then planeshifts and greater teleports himself back to the Ash Giants encampment.
On the campfire, there's a pot of mutton and noodle soup and on the table there is a pot of stew made out of all parts of the sheep.
Sir Amrivast, learning his lesson from yesterday, only indulges in a small bowl of stew, then follows Howard out. Once out of the encampment, Kalathath pops out and starts pointing the way to Neruzavin.
The day passes uneventfully except for Howard and Sir Amrivast seeing piles of bones lacing the landscape. At the end of the day, Howard brings the party back to his demiplane.
Sir Amrivast lounges around in Howard’s tower. ”You know, I really don’t understand Ash Giants.”
”I mean the world is going to come to an end and they freaking don’t care? You’d think they think that if the world came to an end – so would their lives, but no, they’re happy to just watch the world burn, with them in it. What the hell is wrong with them?” Sir Amrivast fumes.
”Of course I have issues with them. Life should be held sacred – and they have no qualms just killing for sport. If they killed because they were hungry, I’d understand. I’m a carnivore too. But just for amusement?” He shakes his head. ”That’s just wrong.”
”And I said nothing to them, not a word, and they start calling me myopic and flawed in my views.” Sir Amrivast grumbles.
”Was it absolutely necessary that you had to speak to their leader for information? I don’t even know what she was talking about. “
"So what happened, did?" Kalathath asks.
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"Well, from the sounds of it, they worship Groetus, the Lord of End Times, ssso I am not sssurprised by their nihilissstic viewpoint; their God isss not evil, but he isss chaotic - hisss entire ssshtick isss that the world isss, ultimately, doomed, and there isss nothing that can be done to ssstop it; but he doesssn't ssseek to actively caussse it, either. He will sssimply be there to consssume the ssshattered fragmentsss when it does happen; think of him asss the uncaring janitor of Creation.
I don't, personally, sssubssscribe to their view, but we did get ussseful information - we know for certain that the city isss filled with more of thossse fungal undead (which isss why I bought you the masssk); that Lowlsss definitely went inssside; that there are three pillarsss to invessstigate; and that there isss at leassst one flying polyp loose in the city."
He then turns to Kalathath.
"We met with the giantsss. Their leader isss a bit unhinged, but ssshe had useful, almossst prophetic, advice. They were rather rude to Amrivassst, but after we proved our ssstrength by dealing with a rather nasssty ssscorpion, they treated usss to a feassst. We alssso made a quick ssshopping trip to Armun Kelisssk, and I used Greater Possssssessssssion to equip Amrivassst with a Permanent Sssee Invisssibility. That about bringsss you up to ssspeed."
"Well of course the world would come to an end if no one was willing to step up to do something."Sir Amrivast makes an exasperated noise. "It's a self fulfilling prophecy. Like oh the world's going to come to an end and I believe that there's nothing that can be done about it, so I'm not going to do anything about it. Of course that's going to happen because no one did ANYTHING about it."
"I would never serve under such an uncaring God."Sir Amrivast declares.
"Another of those flying monsters?" Sir Amrivast shudders. "Urk. But we'll need to put it down before it harms others. And when we find Lowls, we'll bring him to justice."
"I see, good to know it is. Find my fellow Yithians, and reunite with my body, I wish to as well. Hopefully arrive soon, that day does."Kalathath replies. "Know anything about the Inmost Blot did their leader?"
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"It takesss all sssortsss to populate the world, with different viewsss on life. The giantsss' isss not my own, but I ressspect that they have faith. That sssaid, I completely underssstand why the Lord of End Timesss doesss not appeal to you!"
"The giant leader called it 'The World Eater', and sssaid that it ssslumbered in the city, sssurrounded by many of itsss 'children', and the Lowlsss had itsss taint upon him."
He then nods.
"Looking for your body isss one of my goalsss."
"I do not respect their faith. How could I respect a God who teaches his followers to watch the world burn?!" Sir Amrivast replies angrily. "It would have been better that they had worshipped no God."
"Furthermore - there are evil gods like Asmodeus, Zon Kuthon, Lamashthu - does that mean because you have faith, you have the right to kill or corrupt others because your God told you to do so?!"
"You are responsible for your own actions. I call out Iomedae's name in battle, but know also that besides that she approves of my actions, my actions are what's right."
"So know about the Inmost Blot, the giant leader does, yet gather I do she chooses to do nothing about it? Strange they are indeed. Perhaps to the Inmost Blot Lowls has been calling."
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Howard shakes his head.
"No, I ressspect the right of any sssentient to choossse whom, or what, they elect to worssship, but only up to the point at which it impingesss upon the rightsss and choicesss of another sssentient. If sssome giantsss choossse to worssship the janitor of the universsse, that isss their call. But if they ssstarted to try and actually *end* Golarion, or ssstarted sssacrificing sssentientsss to their deity, I would take umbrage at that, and deal with them accordingly. To ussse your other example - if sssome Zon-Kuthon worssshippersss decided to torture one another, or if sssome Asssmodeansss had congressssss with devilsss, that isss their choice (albeit one that I certainly would not make, and would consssider actively foolish, consssidering what would happen to your sssoul in the afterlife). But if they ssstarted harming thossse who did *not* elect to go in for that sssort of thing, then I would intervene."
He then turns to Kalathath.
"You have no idea jussst how ssstrange they were. Ssstill, we acquired what we needed, and that isss the main thing."
"I suppose that's one way to look at things, though had they worshiped some other god, perhaps they might not look upon the end of the world so apathetically. Would you view that their apathy towards the end of times would be infringing the rights of other sentient - since if the world ends - other sentients would have no rights?" Sir Amrivast asks Howard.
The next morning, Howard buffs up then planeshifts and teleports himself back where they left off.
The journey through the parchlands passes uneventfully and finally Neruzavin seemingly materializes on the horizon. Anemic clouds silently whip overhead, far above lifeless streets practically untouched by the desert winds, as though any hint of motion would offend the barren terraces, towers and tiles. Streets bend at irregular angles and end abruptly as if such mundane thoroughfares were never intended to be functional. Walls seem to retract inward out of the corner of one's eyes, only to bulge uncomfortably on closer examination, like malignant architectural tumors granted unholy animation by optical illusion. Millennia of erosion and seismic aftershocks have gradually toppled some of its towers and senseless arches, but even so, many edifices remain. Averaging 400 feet high, they loom far taller than even Absalom's impressive cityscape. When combined with the narrow trails, each carved with uncanny precision in mockery of humanoid trails, it is easy to lose sight of the sky unless looking straight up.
Most of the buildings are uninhabited. Of these, a baffling number have no entrances or windows, and several attempts to break in show that at least some of these towers are either solid stone or riddled with incomprehensible tunnels.
A gust of wind originating from the ground stir the dusty streets, causing the tunnels to whistle with jarring harmonics.
"This place looks...alien and...particularly uninviting. It's not hell, but it's like there's something out there...watching us."Sir Amrivast comments.
Howard detects waves of magical energy around the area that disrupt teleportation from outside into Neruzavin. It is however, possible to teleport within Neruzavin, or teleport out of it.
The unsettling geometry and lesser otherwordly signatures disturb animals, increasing DCs of Handle Animal, Ride and wild empathy checks to control them by 5.
The sensory distortion makes it easy to miscalculate attacks, giving creatures a 20% miss chance against range attacks that originate from more than 60 feet away. Neruzavin's long term residents are immune.
The maze-like layout reduces travelling speed to 3/4 normal speed, due to having to dodge around the improbably tall structures and angled streets.It'd be 1/4 except the entire party is flying.
As Howard and Sir Amrivast enters the city, they see a humanoid traveler heading down the crossroads, turning down the path. "Hey, can you tell us more about this place?" Sir Amrivast asks the humanoid, but he does not reply, and continues down the path. Howard and Sir Amrivast follow the human only to have 3 creatures with the lower body of a decaying lion, while its upper toros that of a human with ropey fungus for hair, with a web of grotesque fibres spread from its body come out from behind the buildings, followed by 3 seeded creatures, one of them in black robes.
Howard recognizes those that have the lower body of a decaying lion are seeded lamias.
They have a touch attack wisdom drain, and the usual DR 5/bludgeoning or slashing; resist cold 10, electricity 10 and fast healing of the normal seeded.
The blackrobe casts unholy blight on Howard and Sir Amrivast.
The unholy cold misma tries to envelop Howard but is repelled by his green shield. Sir Amrivast resists the spell partially.
Then the other seeded draw their daggers and charge at Howard and Sir Amrivast.
Both do not manage to land their attacks.
Sir Amrivast tries to rip apart the creature that tried to stab him and does a fairly decent job damaging it.
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Howard chews his lip thoughtfully.
"That getsss usss into a bit of a ssslippery-ssslope sssituation; I mean, charging them on the basssisss of sssomething that they didn't do... I could argue, for example, that you are resssponsible for what happened to me in Thrussshmoor, by virtue of the fact that you weren't there. I feel that religiousss freedom, provided that all you are directly harming isss yourssself, isss acceptable."
Howard charges straight for the black robe!
"I suppose you're right. I can't charge people for things they didn't do, since you omit to do everyday things that are not done. And I'd have stopped what happened to you in Thrushmoor, except I didn't know about it, and I was somewhere else - I can't be in two places at one time. Not to mention if I'd get chased out of Thrushmoor for not being human. "
Howard pounces on the black robe and damages it badly.
The black robe retreats then drops an unholy blight onto Howard.
It bounces off Howard's green shield.
The lamias move up to Howard then start touching him.
Howard feels their foul touches on him, leaving him confused and muddled.
The dagger wielders move to flank Sir Amrivast , then stab at him with their daggers, and one of them with its tendrils.
One of them gets a lucky strike in.
Sir Amrivast seeing Howard reeling from the effect of the lamia's touches, pounces forward on the nearest lamia, as the two dagger wielders stab at him.
One of them manages to stab Sir Amrivast.
Sir Amrivast rips blue apart with his claws, and the body falls out of the sky, releasing a puff of spore clouds.
Howard rips the Blackrobe apart, and he goes down with a relieved sigh, exhaling a spore cloud. Howard theb turns on unbordered and claws him twice.
One of the seeded lamias move up and continue flanking Howard.
Howard feels his thoughts become an incoherent muddle.
The dagger welders move up to stab Sir Amrivast.
Sir Amrivast gets shanked by one of them. .
Despite his bleeding wounds, Sir Amrivast, seeing Howard progressively deteriorate, he pounces on the red seeded lamia."Hang in there, Howard, I'm coming!" The dagger wielders try to stab him, but do not get through his woody hide.
He rips the red seeded lamia apart and it goes down in a puff of spore clouds.
Howard manages to bite and claw into the creature and it puffs out a cloud of spores before its body falls out of the sky.
Sir Amrivast's two shankers follow him, one moving around to give the other flanking, the other 5ft stepping to flank.
"Howard! Are you all right?" Sir Amrivast calls out, worried."Stay out of fight. Leave the rest to me, I can handle it." Sir Amrivast then rips into purple.
However as it had healed slightly, when Sir Amrivast went after the seeded lamias, it does not go down.
Sir Amrivast quickly shifts out of flank and lays on paws himself.
Howard bites pink into two with a single bite, releasing a spore cloud as both halves fall to the ground.
The remaining dagger wielder tries to attack Sir Amrivast and manages to slap him with a tendril.
"Howard, which part of stay out of this do you not understand?I can handle this one." Sir Amrivast scolds Howard as he tries to tear the remaining seeded apart.
He manages to land a claw and a wingbuffet.
The seeded continues to stab him with its dagger.
Sir Amrivast then finishes the seeded off, after an exchange of blows.
He then channels some healing energy into Howard. "Do you feel any better?" He asks Howard, concerned.
Seeing no improvement, he then tugs Howard's arm over his shoulder and guides Howard to the ground, propping him up seated against the walls of a nearby building in the W position. "Rest here. Howard, do you know what those things did to you? You seem rather confused and disoriented after they touched you. Do you have any healing supplies in your pack that may help? Otherwise I'll have to dimension door us out of here to find help."
"OK, good. Don't worry, I'll fix you. You'll be fine in no time." Sir Amrivast assures Howard then pulls the scroll open then begins to read from it. A bubble of gold healing energy envelops Howard 18 seconds later, cleansing his mind from the muddling effects of the lamia's foul touch.
"Are you all right now?" Sir Amrivast asks Howard.
On one of the bodies, Howard finds a +1 spear, a +1 chain shirt and a cloak of resistance +2, a scroll of major curse, a scroll of flame strike and 548 gp each.
On two of the bodies, Howard finds a +1 chain shirt, a +1 hand crossbow with 20 bolts, a +1 punching dagger, boots of striding and springing, cloak of resistance +1, masterwork thieves tools and 296 gp each.
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Howard nods.
"Yesss... thossse lamiasss were jussst ssstripping away my sssanity with their attacksss. That ssscroll fixed the damage that they did. Come on - let's sssee about finding that ssspire..."
After collecting the gear (and sanitizing it), and healing Amrivast, he then continues on his way.
"Praise Iomedae that the scroll worked." Sir Amrivast heaves a sigh of relief. Then he looks over Howard, concerned."You really had me worried out there. But at least you still retained enough of yourself to get that scroll out." He helps Howard to his feet.
"I think you'd better tell me where everything is in your pack - and what it does - so that should you be incapacitated, at least I'll know what to grab to fix you." Sir Amrivast advises Howard.
After Sir Amrivast is assured that Howard is fine, he starts healing himself.
"Are we burning the bodies?" Sir Amrivast asks in a subdued voice. "On one hand, I don't want the plague to spread - but on the other, I don't know if it is wise to alert the denizens of Neruzavin with fire and smoke." He gives Howard a wry twist of his lips, "When I first started all this, I thought we could just put this place to fire and sword...now I doubt that would be the prudent choice. I'd settle for taking out the great evil, then slowly clearing up the rest."
Kalathath pops out of her portable hole, "So in the Neruzavin, arrived we have - this place is dangerous is. Wish travel with you I could - but only my death would result should I try. If see anything interesting, inform me in the portable hole you should, for there may be advice I can give." Then she pops back into the portable hole.
Howard and Sir Amrivast hear a proclamation, "We're turning right here; I have foreseen this path before", echoing several times.
"There, did you hear that?" Sir Amrivast follows the sound of the voice, and Howard follows Sir Amrivast. Then they find themselves at an intersection, and hear the screaming of a delirious person. "Damn it," Sir Amrivast curses. "If only I could pinpoint where that person is. He needs help." He states urgently.
Then Howard hears a worried voice, "This isn't good - tendrils are growing out of Gareth's body - I think we'll have to burn his remains once he expires."
"Iomedae, guide my path - grant me speed so I can reach them in time." Sir Amrivast prays, then heads in the direction of the voice. When Howard and Sir Amrivast get there - all they see is a charred stain on the ground, and the humanoid shaped figures at the intersection ahead.
Sir Amrivast rushes ahead to catch up the humanoid shaped figures, "Please - don't run off - we want to help you,"but they ignore his pleas and turn down the path before he can get to them.
"Are we chasing ghosts?" Sir Amrivast asks Howard uncertainly.
Then Howard and Sir Amrivast hear a proclaimation,"We're turning right here; I have foreseen this path before", echoing several times.
Sir Amrivast follows the sound, with Howard following him, then they both hear the screaming of a delirious person, out of sight. "Or are we retracing the memories of those who came before us?"
Then Howard hears a worried voice, "First it was Gareth, now it's Mara - I think we'll have to burn her remains once she expires."
"But we were staying in close proximity with her, are we going to contract what she got?" Another worried voice adds in.
"Please, I have a family waiting for me back in Thrushmoor...I don't want contract some dreaded disease and die here!"
When Howard and Sir Amrivast get to where the voices are, they find only a charred stain on the ground. "This is really, really depressing. It's like you know they need help and you want to help them, but when you get there, you find nothing." Sir Amrivast's voice carries frustration. "It's like chasing ghosts and shadows."
Following these apparitions, Howard and Sir Amrivast eventually find themselves at the base of a dark bastalt tower 400 ft tall with severe corners and concave sides that notheless appear to bulge outward. Most notably, the tower has a broad set of stone doors, which only Howard can see.
Standing before the doors are two of the indistinct travelers. For once, they do not run. They speak to one another in distorted voices, seemingly unable to see the massive entrance nearby. From a distance , the shadowed-shrowded travelers appear to be more of Lowl's phantom hirelings, but as Howard and Sir Amrivast get closer, they realize the two travelers have no mouths and carry burning swords that match their flaming wings.
Howard recognizes the two travelers as Excinder Archons . They have 10 DR/ evil, have spell resistance, and are immune to acid, cold, fire, electricity, petrification.
They have the following spell like abilities:
At will—cure light wounds, detect thoughts, discern lies, hold monster, holy smite, invisibility, locate creature, locate object, modify memory, protection from evil, repress memory, stabilize, zone of truth
3/day—dispel evil, fireball, flame strike, plane shift
1/day—discern location, find the path
They turn to face Howard and Sir Amrivast, lowering their flaming swords towards them. They look at Howard disapprovingly, but when their eyes turn on Sir Amrivast and the holy symbol of Iomedae he wears upon his neck, they seem to be mollified.
They then speak to the party telepathically, "We are excinder archons Aumensilakos and Yrisolma - and we seek to know what business you have in this forsaken city."
"Do you want me to handle this?" Sir Amrivast asks Howard.
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"Thank-you for that. It wasss certainly a mossst disssconcerting experience."
He then points to the bodies.
"If we pile them up, I can do sssomething about them."
Once all of the bodies are within 10' of each other, he casts Defoliate, purging the fungus.
"Now, I can only do that a few timesss per day, ssso hopefully, we don't run into too many more of them."
Howard is quite curious about the architectural choices.
"It isss almossst asss if we are moving through non-Euclidean ssspace. Fassscinating..."
He nods thoughtfully.
"Yesss, we probably *are* hearing echoesss of what came before... it paintsss quite a grim picture."
"Of courssse! By all meansss, pleassse, take point in thisss diplomatic encounter."
"No worries - that's what partners do.They're there for each other." Sir Amrivast replies.
"I don't know about that...if this is the source of the infection - there are likely to be others - it's whether they find us or not." Sir Amrivast states glumly.
"Not my kind of thing. Looking at all these weird shapes too hard would probably give me a headache."Sir Amrivast replies.
"Yeah I know - it seems that this man, Lowls, just took a gilded carriage down to hell - but how many innocent souls did he drag along with him?"
Sir Amrivast moves forward and gives them a respectful bow. "I am Sir Amrivast, a paladin of Iomedae, and this is my companion Howard. We are honored by your august presences. We have come here in search of a man named Lowls - who we suspect may be awakening the great evil. We wish to bring Lowls to justice and destroy the great evil that seeks to consume the world - mayhap you may wish to join us in our quest?"
The excinder archons reply telepathically, "No, we have our orders - we have been sent here on rumors that the vile Necromonicon has been taken from its mortal custodians in Katheer, and we have tracked its foul presence to this locale. We believe it lies within this tower - but we have been unable to find a way in. The book has an alien creature with abnormally long tentacles and runic symbols on it, and is about this big." The archon gestures the size of 6 inches by 9 inches.
"Should you find the dreaded book - do not open it, but put it in this bag," One of them gives Sir Amrivast a bag decorated with mystic symbols, "And then call our names - so we can come and destroy the tome before it causes more harm."
"But don't you think you should help us get rid of the great evil that seeks to consume this world?" Sir Amrivast asks them.
"No - our orders were to seek and destroy the Necromonicon before it can cause any more harm - we regretfully inform you that any other pursuits would be in perversion of our orders. Furthermore - any peripheral threats will be handled by the forces of heaven, should there be a need for intervention."
"Now, we will try to find another entrance to this tower." With that, they head around the tower, looking for another way in.
"I wish they could have helped us - but I am NOT going to countermand their orders. Heaven works in mysterious ways and anyway - when they talked about the threats being handled by the forces from heaven, they might have been talking about us. Just that they didn't see it. " Sir Amrivast comments.
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Howard nods.
"Yesss. Asss beingsss of pure good and law, they have a habit of ssseeing thingsss sssimply asss either black or white, without recognition of the fact that the mortal world hasss many ssshadesss of grey. Come on - Let'sss sssee what isss actually inssside the tower."
He then heads for the entrance.
"I used to see things in black and white - then those flying polyps knocked that out of me. If those things are a result of a breach in the Yithian wards down here - I shudder to think what the great evil can call up - stopping it is an imperative. Even if we need to sneak around and do unchivalrous things to do so." Sir Amrivast admits.
"Wait what entrance are you talking about?" Sir Amrivast stares at Howard, puzzled. But he nonetheless follows along cheerfully as Howard opens the door. "I don't see any entrance - it looks like solid rock. But I'll follow your lead." Sir Amrivast states, then raises a paw and puts it onto Howard's claw.
"You'll need to lead me through this, I think. I only see a building exterior." Howard takes his paw and leads him through the open doors.
Sir Amrivast shudders as he passes though. "Eeesh. It's like being pulled through rock. I could feel every part of me passing through the rock."
The walls of this hall bulge and curve with unsettingly organic concavities. Thousands of sinuous etchings trace their way down to the walls, as if the walls were scarred by roots or marred by burrowing worms fleeing some peril from above. Three staircases arch, dip and intertwine as they ascend dizzingly to a series of hexagonal passageways.
There are three seeeded humanoids, one wielding a longspear , one wielding a greataxe and one with a bow in its hands and a humanoid figure bound in a partial cocoon of seeded tendrils.
The spear wielder takes a 5 ft step, then takes his hand off his spear and points at Sir Amrivast and Howard. A empowered lighting bolt, cackling with electricity, fly at Sir Amrivast and Howard.
Sir Amrivast manages to get partially out of the way but is still slightly singed from the lighting bolt.
The lighting bolt passes through Howard without effect.
The longspear wielding seeded tries to stab Howard as he approaches, but the blow is deflected by a green shield.
Howard pounces on the spellcaster, and manages to bite and claw him four times, sending greenish ichor spilling everywhere.
The longbow wielder begins firing arrows at Howard, but does not manage to get through his shell.
Sir Amrivast moves up to the longbow wielder, then tries to grapples her, in which she tries to strike back with her tendrils, but he ducks out of the way.
The greataxe wielder begins to swing his greataxe at Sir Amrivast, but does not manage to hit him.
The longspear wielder takes a 5 ft step back, gives a maniacal laugh, then lobs a fireball at the corner.
The little bead of flame bursts into a fiery conflagration, catching both Howard and Sir Amrivast.
A green shield forms around Howard, shielding him from the blast. Sir Amrivast is less fortunate, and manages to partially get out of the way, but he still gets burnt.
Howard bites and claws twice into the caster, then rends him with his claws, ripping out a cloud of spores.
"Thanks Howard!" Sir Amrivast calls out as Howard drops the caster.
The longbow wielder continues to fire at Howard.
Sir Amrivast claws and wingbuffets the longbow wielder.
Only one of the claws get through her breastplate.
The greataxe wielder continues to try to cut Sir Amrivast up, but does not manage to cut through his bark-like skin.
Howard pounces on blue, biting and clawing her savagely.
Blue continues to fire at Howard, without any success.
Sir Amrivast tries to claw at blue, managing to finish her off and she goes down exhaling a spore cloud.
Red continues to try to slice Sir Amrivast up, without any success.
Howard manages to claw red.
Sir Amrivast moves into a flanking position and joins in the red clawing party.
Red continues to try to slice Sir Amrivast up, without any success.
Red goes down, exhaling a spore cloud.
On the longspwear wielders body, Howard finds a wand of shield (33 charges), +1 longspear, cloak of resistance +2, headband of alluring charisma +2, spell component pouch and 235 gp.
On the greataxe wielder, Howard finds a +2 chainmail, +2 great axe, +1 returning throwing axe, belt of giant strength +2 and 130 gp.
On the bow wielder, Howard finds a +1 agile breastplate, a +2 composite longbow with 20 arrows, a masterwork short sword, a ring of protection +2 and 840 gp.
Sir Amrivast runs over to the cacooned humanoid, who trembles in fear within his cacoon as he approaches. ”Look, your ordeal is over – we’re here to rescue you. “
”No! No! You’re one of THEM…get away from me!” The human weakly gasps.
Howard can see the human cocooned in seeded tendrils is nothing but skin and bones, and his complexion is pale. He assesses that the human is weak and delirious from starvation.
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Howard piles the corpses (and their gear) up with the cocooned man, and then uses Defoliate to purge the area.
He then pulls out the Wand of Diagnose Disease, to confirm that the taint has been removed, and, with a calculating look in his eye, tries it on the man, as well.
"Don't be foolissh. We are not of them."
The man shudders and twitches in his cocoon as Howard piles the corpses up and when the deflioate is cast, gives a horrific scream and passes out, falling to the ground on the ground as the cocoon holding him decays.
Sir Amrivast quickly stabilizes the man, then lays his body on the ground in a comfortable postion, then looks at Howard, his voice uncertain, "Howard, are you sure you know what you're doing?"
Howard uses the wand of diagnose disease on the man, and to his dismay, he realizes that the man is still infected.