Nalun's swing is narrowly turned aside, but his strike leaves the skeleton open to being hit by Ortik's hammer as he surges forward!
Demitri's target is struck by his burning blade, and then savaged by Karri's summoned hounds. They chomp and bite, but the skeleton maintains its footing.
Wow. Time really seems to go slower when you're invisible, Lyla notices while standing and watching the action unfold. Indeed, the sensation is that of being there and elsewhere at the same time. Like being a ghost. The situation also brings her a sense of calm, and she moves around the battlefield at ease, going past both her friends and enemies confident that she cannot be caught.
In an instant, Lyla finds herself on the other side of the battlefield, ready to attack the skeletons from behind. She mixes a bomb and, again, a strange sensation overtakes her. Although her eyes cannot see her hands at work, it feels as though her mind does. So, being invisible is a little like being a ghost, but not, and being blind, but not? Hah. Hadn't stopped to think about that before. The girl smiles as she prepares to throw her bomb. As soon as it leaves her hand, she can feel her body materializing again, with a rush of adrenaline. She is back in the game.
Lyla's grenade arcs through the air with ease and explodes in the slimy skeleton's face. It staggers briefly, but the vast amounts of slime coating it seems to have dampened the explosion's power somewhat.
The other skeleton in the explosion barely even notices the bomb's blast.
The skeleton targeted by Nalun & Ortik swings once at the dwarf...
...drawing a gout of blood from his stomach with a single precise stroke before turning on Nalun...
...only for the sellsword to turn the wicked blade aside.
The surrounded skeleton is more interested in killing the dogs that are chewing it apart, and swings twice...
...and despite having its front paw hacked clean off, the blue hound is still alive and biting!
But not for long, as its second strike ends its suffering.
The bombed skeleton swings at the green summoned hound...
...and carves massive, haemorrhaging wounds into the demonic beast's flank!
Nalun studies his target and attacks
nope
However, his attack gets tangled on the skeleton's bony carapace.
Demitri takes a step to flank with a hound and he strikes!
Darn! Looks like fire doesn't bother them much... and a rapier will go right through their ribcages, barely nicking a bone. Time for a new plan, Lyla.
Devising a strategy that can give her allies an advantage over the fungal skeletons, Lyla starts mixing another bomb—only this time it is full of tar, resin and other sticky components, rather than explosive ones. If I can't hurt them, at least I can glue them in place so the rest of the gang can take them down more easily.
[dice=Ranged touch attack - Tanglefoot bomb]1d20+11[/dice]
This time, Lyla's bomb is much more effective. The tar and resin mixes with the slime coating the fungal-infested skeleton, forming a VERY sticky (and smelly) mess that roots the beast to the spot!
Demitri's strike carves a wet gash across the skeleton's chest with a *SQUELCH*. It lurches once before its legs get gummed up by Lyla's tanglefoot bomb.
Ortik hisses as the skeleton's blade cuts deep into his flesh, swinging his warhammer at the creature's exposed kneecaps, hoping to drive it back down.
Ortik's blow is narrowly deflected by the guardian's shield.
With a hellish shriek, Karri wrenches more demonic hounds from her flesh and casts them forth...
Three more hellish hounds appear in a cloud of blackish-green smoke, howling and biting at the guardians! The wounded dogs join in!
Demitri's skeleton fends off a bite from the maimed hound flanking it, only for a newly-summoned one to leap upon its shoulders and knock it down. The dog's jaws clamp down on its neck and violently shake it around until it comes free with a sickening *POP*.
The glued guardian takes a bite to the kneecap.
The remaining two skeletons swing their blades anew...
The gold & green hounds whimper in pain before collapsing into black smoke that races into their summoner's skin.
Demitri steps into a flank with a skeleton and slashes at it.
Demitri's blow strikes true, and though the skeletal guardian does not catch fire, his blade hacks through it all the same.
Nalun slashes twice at the nearby creature
Nalun's first swing misses, but his second blow is a decisive one: it hacks off a chunk of fungal-encrusted bone from its pelvis, and it hisses in response, wobbling and pointing its scimitar at him.
Rushing to combat, Lyla unsheathes her rapier and dashes against the skeleton glued to the floor. I wonder if this is gonna be even effective than my bombs, but I could use some practice anyway. "Here goes nothing," she utters while struggling with the unfamiliar weapon in her hand.
Spying an opportunity, Ortik shifts foes, swinging his hammer at the skeleton between himself and Demitri.
Both Lyla's & Ortik's blows strike home, causing the surrounded guardian to flinch. The dogs all start dogpiling on the surrounded beast...
And though it manages to ward off most of the bites, one manages to bite it in the bony thigh.
Karri opts for a different approach this time--this time, greenish bolts of force fly from her hands and hone in on the surrounded beast...
...and blasts away more of its fungal essence.
The two guardians swing their swords again...
...and Nalun's opponent manages to score a nick across his collar. The other skeleton's blade clangs twice against Demitri's shield.
Demitri continues to slash at the flanked skeleton.
Demitri's strike hits the beast's neck and lops the skull off, causing it to crumble into a pile of bones, fungus & metal.
Nalun snarls and ripostes
Nalun's first strike sticks it through the chest. It staggers, falls to a knee, and rises once more!
Returning to Nalun's skeleton, Ortik tries to crush the remaining undead horror's skull.
Ortik's strike is deflected by the skeleton's shield.
Lyla dances around Karri's dogs and stabs the remaining skeleton in the back, taking advantage of the distraction provided by Ortik and Nalun.
Lyla nicks the skeleton, and the dogs descend upon it to rip it to pieces...
...only they find themselves unable to find purchase. Karri gives a contemptuous snort and throws another volley of magic missiles at the beast.
And promptly blasts it to pieces.
The skeletons were each carrying:
--1 razor-edged scimitar with jagged rocks engraved on the blade
--1 suit of well-polished chainmail that's weathered the fungus & combat without much wear
--1 masterwork light steel shield.
"Good work everyone. Anyone hurt?"
Lyla swipes her forehead. "Whew. Not a scratch here, chief." She sheathes her rapier and winks at Nalun. "How did you like my moves, slim? Getting better, huh?" The halfling then proceeds to scavenge the remains of the fungal creatures.
"Magical scimitars and magical chainmail suits," she says, starting to stuff them in her bag of holding. "Unless anyone wants to change gear right now, I'll put them away for later, 'kay?" Bended over, she knots the bag and straightens back up. "Let's keep moving, we haven't even scratched the surface of this maze, and we're already dealing with weird stuff. Can't say I'm not curious about what's ahead of us," Lyla says with a sly smile on her lips as she begins to march forward.
"Agreed. I suspect we are only just starting." Demitri follows suit and looks for an exit to progress forward.
"I took a decent cut, but I'll tend to that myself," Ortik says, withdrawing his oaken wand. "I'd hoped we were through facing the undead after dealing with the Cult of Urgothoa. So much for wishful thinking there."
Good work short stuff. You'll be dangerous with that thing in no time. Nalun says with a grimace.
I took a small wound.
The exit to the lower reaches is a rocky protrusion that rises from a rocky beach overlooking the sloshing waters of a sea cave. Three rope bridges descend deeper into the cave, connecting three progressively lower ledges on the wall until finally reaching a stony protrusion at ground level.
Demitri continues on sword in hand taking a look around.
Nalun follows behind Demitri, Willbreaker at the ready low position.
Lyla follows Demitri, also paying close attention to their surroundings while the group delves deeper into the underground.
"Maybe we oughta leave a trail, if we want to find our way back? I mean, we're supposed to be entering a maze, right?" She goes through her pockets and doesn't find anything that suits her needs. Lyla then halts and pulls out the alchemy crafting kit from her bag of holding. After opening the case, she selects a few components and starts mixing them up. "I think I can come up with something quickly," she explains to her friends, justifying her stop as she starts working.
Lyla's easily able to make a bright green paint that contrasts nicely with the earthen, brown walls.
The rope bridges travel further and further down, stopping at one rocky landing at a simple wooden door built into a hole in the cliffside. Further down another rope bridge is a set of large, stone double doors, with images of elephant heads carved into the stone.
Demitri keeps his eyes peeled as he continues to lead the group towards the door.
Lyla takes the front and holds Demitri back. "Wait, chief. You know how much these guys love traps. Let me check first. Care to give me a hand, Slim?", she asks approaching the doors carefully.
Demitri nods and steps back to let Lyla and Nalun look for traps.
The stone doors don't appear to have any traps on them.
Nalun checks things out
"Do you all see anything?", Ortik asked nervously. His eyes widened, and he suddenly realized he could assist, so he prayed to the Old Dame. Please, grant me the sight to see the magics that dwell beneath your streets.
"I'm not sensing anything," Ortik says as he ends his spell. "If they've trapped the doors, they've done it exceedingly carefully."
"Yeah, I didn't find anything either. Get ready then, people. We're going in," Lyla announces opening the stone doors.
Hold on. Look there Lyla. A door set into the stone, almost invisible. Nalun says
Lyla opens the stone doors with ease.
Four lit braziers illuminate this vast chamber, a cathedral-like space made all the more immense by its lack of benches or other concessions to comfort. The floor is polished tan marble, with the walls rising up to form a domed ceiling sixty feet above. Alcoves line these walls, six in all, inside of which stand human-sized statues of a tiger-headed man. To the south, a few steps lead up to a pulpit-like area with three more statues of the same figure—the central one being twice as tall and holding out before him two lances from which hang flags. The left is the flag of Korvosa, while the right bears the Arkona coat of arms.
Standing with his back turned to you is what appears to be a shirtless bipedal tiger-man, powerfully built and tensed up. He looks over his shoulder at the party before turning around, the green sashes looping around his shoulders and attaching to his puffy violet trousers shifting in the wind. A pair of massive green cobras lie before the statue, snacking on what appears to be recently shed skin.
"Who is it--oh." The tiger-man turns to face the party completely, wrinkling his whiskers in annoyance. "I was not aware the Arkonas allowed guests here at this hour." His voice sounds more akin to a tiger's growl than a human's, and it drips with feline contempt.
"Normally they don't. We, however, have important business. I don't suppose you've seen a pair of men down here. One being Seneschal Neolandus and the other Vencarlo Orsini? They may be accompanied by a female member of the Arkonas household."
The tiger-man snorts. "Ah. You're here for Vimanda, then."
"Yes, I have seen the men you seek. However, I must ask you--what lies did 'Glorio' tell you?"
"Listen, whiskers, we're not interested in this family feud. Whatever beef you got with Glorio's lies, you can take it with him upstairs. We're just going to fetch Vencarlo and Neolandus and then we'll be on our way. There's no need to make this... unpleasant for anyone. So, where are they?"
The tiger-man turns his feline contempt on Lyla, not saying anything but extending one arm. The limb looks much like a human's arm, just covered in tiger fur--except the hand looks like it was put on backwards.
He points his hand outside and in the direction of the secret door Nalun spotted earlier.