"Down, boy!", Valiana laughs out as the dog crumbles, panting in her feet. Never one to not kick someone who's down, her boot begins trying to crush the beast with its massive heel.
Miriel's brow furrows as she realizes the hound's mind is too strange and alien for her to do much at all to it. Without many options left, she focuses on the approaching giant - both hands outstretched towards the brute, she brings them together and then apart, in a motion like peeling apart two pieces of parchment stuck together. She incants a spell as she works, attempting to unweave the transmutation magic the hound had left on it.
As combat begins Korva starts by administering a pale potion from a small vial along his waist, as soon as he does a pale foggy aura seems to emanate from his mouth. He then downs the Potion of Blur he had previously had at the ready, almost immediately he spits the potion back into its vial and resheathes it on his belt with his agile tail. The first vial was an Alchemical Allocation vial, it created a strange effect that would mimic the magical nature of a potion and allow him to consume the aura it generated rather than the potion itself. It was an incredibly useful concoction he had discovered some time ago. As he moves forward he doesn’t attack but positions himself near the casters so that he can intercept any attacks leveraged against them. He averts his eyes and calls out what he knows of the opponents to anyone less well versed on the beasts, “They are Hounds of Tindalos. Do not try to penetrate their thoughts, they are immune. Magic can overcome their natural resistances but if you meet their gaze it can tear apart your very flesh. They can also become invisible and summon up mists, be wary of them!”
Drink Potion of Blur [Move]: Accelerated Drinker lets me drink as a Move. I have Blur granting 20% miss chance against me due to concealment.
Stash Potion [Swift]: Prehensile Tail allows me to stow/retrieve items as a swift action.
Guide Mount with Knees [Free]: DC 5 Ride Check to move his mount in front of Misraria. He cant fail the check with his +10.
Valiana's boot comes down with a sickening crunch and crushes the more aggressive hound's skull against the hard stone floor, covering her leather boots in strange bluish blood. The second hound snarls as Aramondis's cutlass leaves a thin cut across its thick hide. Miriel takes a moment to be certain, but she can feel as her magic overcomes the hound's power and strips the gug of its enhanced speed. Meanwhile, Nimue and Korva position themselves around the witch to face the giant. The gug roars and a strange guttural growling echoes through the tunnel as it charges at Aramondis, as he's closest to the giant. The force of the blow lifts Aramondis off his feet and sends him hurtling backwards, crumpling to the stone floor, momentarily staggered by the sheer force.
As the Gug charges into the fray it is clear that the Assassin will have to act. Still, with its back turned to the Assassin, the creature is right where A'streth would want him...
Elven Curved Blade vs. FF Gug - - Damage
---
If the Gug attacks A'streth - Opportune Parry and Riposte - - Damage
The hound growls as A'streth moves past and slashes at the giant, leaving a deep cut in its furry hide. It backs away a step and howls, the strange light reaching out and sweeping over the party. The world seems to slow slightly and their bodies feel heavy and sluggish.
A'streth takes a step back effected by whatever it is the creature did, his feet become a bit loose on the gravel below and his stance becomes a bit more anticipatory.
A'streth goes toe to toe with the brute, nota place he generally likes to be but this effect has left him a bit staggered.
Melee Attack
Damage
Miriel takes a sharp breath as the light washes over her, but finds that as soon as it began, the feeling in her legs and arms goes back to normal. Afterwards, she glances up at the gug, three fingers on one hand pressed to her temple, the other pointed at the giant. Sleep, she silently wills of it.
Nimue casts Grace (swift action), neatly strolling right up to the creature, avoiding its massive reach. Attempting to move a little earlier than Miriel, she lightly touches the Gug with a glowing hand.
Shrugging the spell off, Valiana grins at the gug. "Come on, handsome!", she shouts as she leaps towards the beast's massive maw.
Aramondis is surprised by the giant's quick advance and isn't able to dodge out of the way from its vicious blow. Hurling through the air, he lands in a tumble and pops up to his feet half-staggered. "Right... Giant doesn't like his pets being touched." he says half-jokingly. Before he can really regain his composure, however, magic washes over the group, slowing his thoughts and movements.
Korva wasn’t going to risk putting himself in a precarious position immediately, especially when his companions seemed to have things fairly well in hand. Then as the creature howled at them his whole world seemed to slow down, the beasts strange howl staggering him with its eerie nature. As he worked to regain his senses he pulled a different small vial off his belt and downed it. As he did his arms seemed to stretch, crack and extend out. With this extra reach he would better be able to threaten the Gug or the Hounds if they approached. He was too unstable to move as well so for now he simply focused on keeping himself in between Miriel and the Gug.
Staggered/Slowed [Effect due to Failed Save]: Only a Standard or Move each round. And -1 to AC, Reflex, and attacks. 1 Minute Duration.
Valiana leaps through the air, swinging her fists and feet at the towering monster. It howls in response and manages to slam its club into her gut, leaving a painful bruise, but that hardly deters the half-orc. Her blows pummel its body, causing it to stagger under the onslaught.
Nimue steps forward and invokes her divine power, channeling Lamashtu's madness into her hands, infusing it into the giant. Miriel attempts to force the creature to drift off to slumber, but it defies her with a shake of its head.
The gug roars and drops its club, swinging out with it clawed hands in blind fury at Valiana. It manages to sink two claws into her body and tear a large chunk of flesh out of her, leaving her bleeding and injured.
A'streth steps forward and swings at the gug as well, slashing it and leaving another cut in its thick hide. The hound growls and steps back, opening its eyes wide and they begin to glow.
Miriel sighs when she feels the gug's mind reach out, repelling her own. Tilting her head back to keep the hounds out of her field of vision, she locks eyes with the giant. She takes a deep breath, trying to disguise her own fear of the four-armed monstrosity under a veneer of indifference. Once re-centered, she peers deeply into its eyes, into its very mind, trying to hamper its ability to bring down the people in-between herself and it.
"Valiana will not be standing for much longer," she murmurs. "I'm doing what I can to hold it back, but the giant needs to be dealt with, quickly."
Aramondis barely manages to stumble up before the hound's gaze tears at him, leaving him in even more pain and misery. "Oh give me a break," he grouses as he's unable to do much more than stand.
A'streth gets the foes back as it turns towards Valiana, he takes a chance and alters his swing a bit wildly.
Melee Attack
Damage
Korva sees the hits that Valiana took and realized that if someone didn’t intercede one of their frontliners was likely about to go down. Moving forward until he was just behind her he would use a swift action to draw out one of his own custom alchemical infusions. It was something that anyone could use, though it could cost Valiana time to take it, it would potentially buy her some to recover or reposition. It was an Infusion of Invisibility, should Valiana drink it then she should be invisible until she attacked again. As it was that was all he could do. He would stand just behind her and use his enhanced reach to deal with the Gug should it approach to attack. If Valiana was able to drink the potion he would attempt to parry the Gug’s blow. He was putting himself into a tricky spot but Valiana needed help.
Longarm: 10 Foot Reach. 7 Minutes.
Staggered/Slowed: Only a Standard or Move each round. And -1 to AC, Reflex, and attacks. 1 Minute.
And Riposte:
Crit Confirmation:
Riposte Damage:
Nimue observes the figure, preparing to unleash one of her strongest curses against it, but decided to wait and see if it would fall to repeated blows before unleashing her divine magic.
The bruised, battered and bleeding half-orc grunts out in pain. As the hound roars, she feels darkness fall around her.
Still struggling under the effects of the slow spell, Korva and Aramondis have difficulty even moving as they try to force themselves to act. Valiana finds her body wracked with pain as the hound's supernatural gaze leaves slashes across her skin and she passes into blissful unconsciousness. However, Nimue easily lunges forward and places her hand on the gug, channeling a deadly curse into its body and attempting to cripple it. A'streth takes his chance to leap forward and slash his blade through the monsters body. The gug howls one last time before it crumples to the ground and goes still. The last hound looks at its defeated master and leaps into a jagged crack in the cave wall and vanishes.
Miriel kneels next to Valiana and draws a wand from her pack. She bends over her and taps the tip against her neck, channeling enough positive energy into her until she regains consciousness. Once she does, she murmurs, "Hold still. Don't get up yet." She continues to drain her wand until the worst of the half-orc's injuries have healed over.
"...ugh...", mutters Valiana, only to see the drow leaning over her with a wand. "Thanks, Ladyship.", she grunts out, feeling over the wounds, turning to fading bruises. "Last time I underestimate anything on the land.", she mutters out. Lamashtu's triple-nippled t&*!, I was this close to kicking the bucket..., she thinks to herself, sitting upwards slowly.
Aramondis gathers himself after the fight, feeling the ribs that had been cracked when he'd been knocked back by the Gug and the lacerations from those damned hounds gaze. "I've heard of staring daggers, but this is a tad bit ludicrous," he says to no one in particular. "Tormh.. Ah, s#@*..." he says, realizing in the middle of calling for his first mate that he wasn't around. Seeing Miriel helping Valiana with some healing, he hobbles over. "Don't suppose you'd care to point that nice stick of yours over here and shoot some healing energy my way, would you Miriel?" Despite his wounds and pain, he manages a flawless wink and a grin with his obviously loaded request.
Nimue winces a little at the damage the team had taken, even though the healing would have mitigated most of it. It certainly looked painful in the least.
"That was certainly a frustrating challenge, I wonder if something similar led to the likely misfortune suffered by the previous team or if it was something else entirely." she muses out loud, wondering about the circumstances.
'Ugh. Men. Predictable and one track minded.' Despite her inner monologue, Miriel smiles and bats her eyes at Aramondis. "Oh? I'm not a tavern wench - a lady of my caliber demands a little warming-up first," she responds flirtatiously. "But I can make an exception for a dashing man such as yourself, since you asked so nicely," she purrs, moving behind him and pressing her wand sharply and painfully into his lower back. Miriel tended to flirt with most people - it gave her a heads up as to who would be more susceptible to her charms and spells - but at the very least, she found this one attractive... for an over-dressed buffoon of a sailor.
Once Aramondis' wounds heal over and he's able to stand up straight, she moves away from him, addressing Nimue. Placing her wand back into its sheathe, she shakes her head. "I doubt it, but it is worth taking a look around to see if there are any signs of their passing through here. Once that is done, I feel that we should press on. This is not a safe place to linger."
The serpentfolk cuts off a piece of the Gug for a trophy to show certain interested parties, "If we are all healthy in body letsss go, I ssshall once more take point.
Point me in the right direction map maker".
Korva stretched and composed himself as his body slowly started to respond in the proper way once again. After he had shaken off the unnatural slowness imposed on him by their attackers he pulled out his maps. He had a fairly good idea of where they would need to go at this point. Looking up as the party spoke he agreed, “It is entirely possible that they were waylaid in a similar manner while passing through. But it's strange that no one made it back, not a single sign of them. Though dangerous those beasts could not have taken all of us down.”
He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. He had dealt with danger before but he tended to rely on stealth and solo exploration to get through the depths. Traveling in a large group that attracted attention and charged at problems rather than sneaking around them made him anxious. Still he had seen how well some of his companions had handled themselves in battle and that did encourage him somewhat. Seeing how much Lady Miriel had to deplete he wand after a single encounter was somewhat worrying though. Then again, that was simply all the more reason to push forward quickly. Consulting his maps again quickly he indicated the direction they should proceed, “This way should be our quickest route. Everyone stay alert, we didn’t dispatch the hounds after all and there are any number of other dangers.”
Miriel nods at Korva. "I agree. I think there is more to this tale yet." Dusting herself off, she continues. "Well then. Let's go."
A'streth takes point once more about 60' ahead of his companions.
Perception -
Stealth
Cracking her jaw with a brutal sound, the half-orc leaps up with surprising speed. "The biggest risk is overconfidence.", she mutters to nobody in particular, picking up her bag. "Well, embarassing accidents aside, I think we're ready to go.", she nods, once again going into a stride that matches the mounts.
Looking around the immediate area, Miriel doesn't find much of interest. However, after a few moments of searching they do find what appears to be the entrance to a small side passage. The tunnel dead-ends after only a dozen yards with what appears to be the giant's den. There is a small hollowed out section of the floor that seems to serve as a bed while a strangely carved monolith stands against one wall, with a pile of grizzly trophies at the bottom. Most appear to be the bones of beasts, still stained with blood, but one is clearly a recently killed duergar. The body is half rotted, but most of its gear still seems to be on the body.
Miriel purses her lips. "Perhaps I spoke too soon." She pauses for a moment, twisting one of her familiar's tentacles around her pointer finger, appearing lost in thought... but truthfully she is preparing to cast a spell.
A'strath waits by the entrance to ensure nothing comes along while his allies search the lair.
Miriel focuses her magic and can feel a faint aura of magic from the duergar's body, but little else. Despite the monolith's strange appearance, it doesn't seem to be inherently magical.
"Hm. I don't sense much." Miriel gives the monolith a cursory look over, but doesn't recognize it... instead, she scrutinizes it for any visible mechanisms or seams that could mark it as a trap. Once she is done, she kneels next to the duergar and pulls the body over to get a better look at it. She checks its pockets and packs to see if there are any valuables or anything that could give them a clue as to who this duergar is or where he came from. Afterwards, she glances around the cavern to see if there is anything else of note.
While the party stands watch near the mouth of the cave, Miriel pokes around the giant's hideaway to search for anything interesting. She sees nothing by bones and the bodies around the base of the monolith, though she does notice that there is in fact a second duergar corpse, half eaten and stripped of most of its flesh, beneath the first. Both corpses seem to still be wearing most of their gear, including finely made warhammers and breastplates. Nothing else seems to have survived the torn up body, but the other still also has a belt pouch, containing two vials of blood red liquid and several rolled sheets of parchment, and a purse loaded with platinum coins.
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"Fine, I suppose I shall do all of the work," Miriel says, irritably, as she conducts the distasteful business of scrounging around the half-eaten dead bodies strewn about the giant's lair.
"Hm. There's another body, see?" she says, pointing out the other body. "Their gear is finely made, not surprising - the duergar make for valuable craftslaves after all."
She kneels down next to one of the bodies, pulling out a belt pouch. "Hmmm... what do we have here?" she says, emptying out the contents into her ashen palm. "Looks like two potions of cure moderate wounds and...some plain parchment? Hm." She turns it over, not noticing anything of interest.
"Pity... still no idea if these are members of the duergar caravan we are seeking."
She pockets the potions and the platinum. "I'll keep hold of the platinum for now, we will distribute the funds evenly once we have completed our mission here. House Misraria asks that you refrain from wanton murder for an extra share of platinum until your task is done and reported to the Guild," she says, cooly. The last bit sounds rehearsed - and indeed it was - a phrase she found herself repeating over and over in response to certain inquiries sent to her office via sending back when she worked primarily out of the Guild Hall.
Nimue indicates the altar's dismissively. She doesn't much care for the patrons of some of the elder gods although she respects the stories of the power they wield. Therefore she stays away from the altars after giving them a quick once over.
"Those are altars to the gods of the Dark Tapestry. Clearly these gugs worship one or several of them" she advises, before glancing at the parchment, noticing the magical writing. Idly, she wonders if it was a prayer, or spell of calling or communication, something to explain its proximity to an altar.
Korva stayed near the entrance with A’streth to ensure that nothing came up behind them. Additionally since it seemed that they would be taking a short while he took ten minutes to map out the areas they had traveled over so far. Getting a good read on it would help him if they had to backtrack at any point since he would be well studied about the route. When Miriel decides to riffle through the bodies Korva mentally chastises himself. Working in their organization meant that he wasn’t quite as restrained by social customs as he had been before. But it was never a good idea to get on the bad side of a female drow, especially not one whose house nominally sponsored your way of life. He should have offered to inspect it for her. As it was he made no argument about the pocketing of the coins, that made sense to him, he did nod towards her at the mention of the potions.
“Perhaps we should ensure that Valiana has at least one of those. It would be good to have a source of emergency healing if she is going to be on the front line for us,” Korva suggested in the most deferential tone he could manage. Anything that would keep the various aberrations off of his own back was in his interest.
Miriel raises her fingers to her lips and chin. "Hm." She thinks back to the fight prior, remembering the half-orc was strong enough to nearly knock out one of those hounds of Tindalos in one punch. The cartographer was right - her life was valuable to her. Her face erupts into a smile framed by writhing, blue ringed tentacles, her mercurial mood shifting back to impish flirtation. "Ah, Korva, I was right - you are such a smart one. Here you go, love. Catch." She draws one of the little vials from her belt pouch and tosses it at Valiana.
Nimue looks over the strange altar for a few moments before she dismisses it as worship for lesser gods. As she examines the parchment however, she notices something odd. The magical paper is not a scroll or a prayer. Instead, it seems to be a completely mundane list of supplies being carried by whatever group the unfortunate duergar was traveling with.
Valiana nods. "I'm not getting caught off-guard next time... or, you know, leaping in half-cocked.", she grins, pocketing the potion. "So, this duergar... how long's he been dead?", she frowns, glancing down at the half-eaten body. "Can you guess by the non-eaten bits?"
Nimue notices the magical sheen on the parchment, and it immediately draws her full attention. In her experience, it looked like an illusion spell, which meant the seemingly innocuous parchment was actually more than it appeared.
"This parchment has an enchantment placed upon it, a Secret Page spell. I could attempt to dispel this tomorrow, unless anyone else has the ability to decode its contents?" Nimue offers to the group, flourishing the paperwork like a mini banner.
Miriel shakes her head with a small smile. "No need to wait until tomorrow. If you give me a moment to commune, I can attempt to dispel the enchantment."
Afterwards, she attempts to find a clean corner of the vile giant's den to sit down cross-legged. Sitting down, she sighs. "It's harder for me to concentrate so far from the sea... but I will make do. Please be quiet." She clasps her hands together and leans her head back, eyes closed. Caramia, her familiar, crawls down from her hair onto her shoulder. Wrapping itself around her upper arm, it draws two tentacles across her face, caressing her. It presses its face against hers, as if whispering in her ear...
After some time passes, Miriel's eyes open suddenly. She exhales and then stands up, muttering the incantation to a spell in a language similar to Aquan but not quite, her hands forming a gesture akin to ripping a series of sheets of paper in half. Once done, she places her hand, palm-side down, on the paper.
"Reveal your secrets," she says, commandingly.