Giving his rapier a few practiced swings, Kadrian agrees with the eidolon's sentiment.
"You will harm no more, goblin!"
The goblin shambles forward, his longsword dragging along the floor behind him. He stops shy of exiting the tunnel and his mouth opens impossibly wide, like a snake trying to eat more than it can swallow. Instead of swallowing though, he releases a stream of bile that sizzles as it hurls through the air.
Rak is able to sidestep the worst of the splash of bile. Frustrated, he drops his rapier to draw a spear, which he chucks down the hallway.
Akuleh is not fast enough to avoid the stream of bile erupting from the mutated goblin, and as the burning fluid drenches his chest and arms, he cannot help but feel overcome by a bit of sickness himself. He struggles to keep the contents of his own stomach in place as he wipes the bile off of himself.
Kadrian creeps his way around several of the cages to get in position near the mouth of the hallway.
Keeping to the northern wall, Izbela carefully makes her way around the pits in the floor and finally gets a view of the new horror her companions are facing. "Gods be good." The savage little menaces were already hard enough to look at; this hideously transmuted goblin before her is truly sickening to behold. Curiously, it makes Bela's conjuring and hurling of an orb of acid at its deformed self all the more satisfying.
Algon restrains himself from rushing into the tunnel to meet the monstrosity head on, but his patience wears thin. "Come, you spineless fiend!" the golden warrior taunts again. "Come and fight!"
Lowering his gruff voice as much as he can, Algon tells his comrades, "If the beast will not come willingly, I will go in and face it myself. Those of you with longspears are welcome to stand behind me and put them to good use." So saying, the eidolon prepares to slash at the goblin if it dares to show its deformed face.
Rak's spear would have skewered a normal goblin, but against this monstrosity, it simply deflects off of it's hardened skin. Izbela's aim is true, and the acid strikes the goblin square in the chest, but it only cackles with glee more before it charges forward. It's longsword slices through the air, missing Rak's face by mere inches.
Despite his missed attack previously, Kadrian strikes again at the mutated goblin.
Once struck, the swashbuckler takes a 5-ft. step back as a free action, then takes another 5 ft. step back.
"Akuleh, I made a hole for you if you like", Kadrian called out to the shaman.
"Thank you, Kadrian!" Having overcome his feeling of illness, Akuleh moves in to take advantage of the opening Anthys provided, stepping into a flanking position with Algon. He thrusts forward with his spear, aiming for the goblin's side to really start it bleeding.
Rak grumbles. "Now that I've dropped my rapier, now it moves up to engage." He bends down to pick up the rapier and strikes at the mutated goblin.
Izbela plucks a bit of lambswool from her pouch of spell components and whispers a few words of arcane power over it. "Treu els vostres sentis." Closing her fingers around the now enchanted piece of fluff, the summoner points at the deformed goblin and weaves her spell over his (hopefully) feeble mind.
Surprised by goblin's lack of self-preservation, Algon makes a hasty overhead swing at the three-armed creature as soon as it clears the tunnel. But his eagerness to fell the monstrosity betrays his aim and his swing goes wide.
Kadrian's rapier punctures the mutated goblin's chest, but all it can do is cackle in glee. Kadrian steps back to allow Akuleh in and the goblin takes a swipe at him. Akuleh takes advantage of the distraction and plunges his spear deep into the goblin's thigh, but again it just cackles. It ignores Rak's attack and Izbela's magic seems unable to find the goblin's lost mind. Algon readies to strike but something startles him at the lasts second and throws his aim off.
The goblin laughs manically as it launches itself at Akuleh with abandon. It is a flurry of slashing blades and metal but the chaos of the attack seems to have no effect of Akuleh.
The little quasit fades in out of nowhere and swipes at Izbela with it's claw.
You can't take 2 5-foot steps in one turn with out a feet or class ability. You only take 1 5-foot step (that doesn't provoke) if you make no other movement in your turn. Since you moved 10 feet, the movement provokes, but the attack did not hit
"Ahh!" Izbela gives a cry of surprise and pain as the demon reappears beside her and delivers a stinging scratch to her arm. "It's here!" she calls out, taking a step back to put space between herself and the fiend. But rather than withdraw to the safety of her companions, the summoner holds her ground, sliding a bolt into her crossbow before taking aim at the quasit.
Algon's gleaming golden eyes widen as he hears Bela's startled cry. Righteous fury boils up in the eidolon at seeing the summoner stumble away from the demon clutching her arm. Leaving the monstrous goblin in the capable hands of his fellow warriors, Algon rushes to Izbela's side, interposing himself between her and the creature. "You will not touch her!" he snarls, letting his greatsword drop to the ground with a clang as he reaches out to try to snatch the fiend in his hands.
"Not this time, monster," Akuleh shouts at the mutated goblin as it slashes at him furiously, but to not avail. "Now die!" He throws down his longspear and pulls out the morningstar given to him by the town guard what feels like a lifetime ago. He steps out of the way to allow Kadrian a space to move in and attack as well, then raises the morningstar high and brings it down toward the goblins head.
The attack misses its mark, however, and the shaman curses loudly in his native tongue.
"You think we need different weapons, Akuleh? Pointy sticks not going to do it?" Rak follows the Shoanti's lead and drops his rapier, again, drawing his own morningstar.
He steps into the opening of the hallway and waits for Kadrian to step forward so that they can strike together.
Kadrian looks with concern to Izbela but nods to confirm Rak's plan. The swashbuckler drops his rapier, and draws his light mace, takes a 5 ft. step forward, and engages the mutant goblin.
Izbela's surprise is enough to throw off her aim as the bolt soars by the quasit. Algon's fury clouds everything except the quasit, even the scratch he suffers as he grabs the tiny fey by the neck. It struggles to free itself scratching and biting, but the paladin notices none of it.
The crazed goblin almost seems immune to blunt weapons as Kadrian, Akuleh and Rak all switch weapons to no avail. It's laughter is practically boisterous as it hacks and slashes at Akuleh. The Shoanti is quick, but the goblin's handaxe proves quicker as it opens a gash along the man's bicep.
"RAH! No more, monster!" He raises his morningstar again and swings at the mutated creature.
Once again his weapon bounces harmlessly off of the goblin's leathery hide.
Rak is befuddled at the poor showing the team is making, their strikes just aren't landing the way they should... but was it some special protection of the goblin, or just their own weariness? Still, he keeps it up, swinging the heavy spiked morningstar with a view towards exploding the creature's head.
Observing Cayden's inquisitor approach for a flanking attack, Kadrian leans in to just wail on the goblin freak!
Izbela's relief is plain to see when her guardian comes to her aid, but when Algon secures the fiend in his mighty grasp, her relief is palpable. The end of a day filled with naught but death and bloodshed is at hand, but only if Algon can maintain his hold on the flighty demon. With trembling fingers, Bela shuffles her heirloom Harrow deck, channeling the otherworldly energies tied to the cards into her eidolon.
"I have you now demon," Algon taunts, his hands tightening around the fiend's frail body. It isn't enough to contain this evil; the golden warrior wants to crush it within his grasp.
The goblin easily dodges Akuleh's spear but his luck quickly runs out. Rak's morningstar conneccts with a resounding crack that spins the goblin around. Kadrian's mace connects as well and sends the goblin toppling to the floor unconscious as it's blood flows freely from the cracks in it's skull.
The little quasit continues to struggle as Algon squeezes the life out of it. Trapped in the outsider's gigantic hand, it has no chance at escape. Instead it focuses it's attention on slipping from view and turns invisible.
"Well done, friends," Akuleh shouts with a victorious call, "Now let's turn our attention to our host." He turns and moves carefully between the boarded pits and steps up beside Algon. "What is happening, Spirit? Izbela?"
Unsure of what is going on, Akuleh raises his weapon and prepares to attack if an enemy appears.
Knowing the tricksy quasit has already made it a steady trick to go invisible and flee, Rak moves into the hallway to cover one possible exit. He picks up and readies his rapier along the way.
Again, taking the wiser dwarf's lead, Kadrian comes the other only exit out of the room of cages.
"Bela!" The young noble called out. "Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine!" Bela calls back, her gaze never straying from her eidolon and the now unseen fiend he is locked in a grapple with even as she shakily shuffles the deck and draws another Harrow card. "It's just a scratch..."
To Akuleh, Izbela frantically answers, "He has the demon in his grasp but it's trying to slip away! I don't know how much longer he can hold on. We have to kill it now!"
Algon's golden eyes turn red as the eldritch energies from Izbela's Harrow magic suffuses the outsider's body. "Show yourself!" Algon demands in an even rougher voice than usual. "I want to see your wretched life fade once I break you."
Though he can't see it, Algon can feel the quasit still struggling within it's grasp.
"Let go of me you great oaf!" it screams.
"Algon!" shouts Kadrian. "Twist it's head off if you can!"
Dismayed the outsider's life continues, the swashbuckler makes his way to assist the eidolon.
"Alright, let's give this a shot. Algon, hold it as still as you can." Akuleh raises his morningstar overhead aims for the seemingly empty spot just above Algon's closed hands, and swings.
Izbela continues to draw and empower her guardian with her Harrow cards, seeking to give Algon whatever edge she can over the evil fiend.
Algon grins savagely at Kadrian's suggestion, clearly envisioning that brutal scenario. A moment later, the red bleeds from his eyes to be replaced by their usual golden color, and the paladin minutely shakes his head as if to clear it from the darker impulses his summoner's magic had brought out. Algon is still furious, of that there is no doubt; but his fury is once again born of a righteous cause and not merely for violence's sake.
Algon briefly meets Akuleh's gaze before giving the Shoanti tribesman a nod of understanding. Algon hoists the struggling demon in his hands up above his head before slamming it against the wall. Then, while he tries to keep it pinned in place, Algon lowers his head marginally to give his fellow warriors a clearer shot at their unseen foe.
Not liking leaving the passage undefended, Rak joins the others at Algon's side, carefully moving through the crates that clutter the room. He reassures himself with the fact that the quasit must have to flee past him; if it escapes, perhaps he'd still get a chance to strike.
With the invisible quasit firmly pinned within his grasp, Algon can feel it stop squirming.
"You may as well kill me. I won't tell you anything, and if you don't, I will hunt you down and slay every one of you, and anyone I find along the way that even knows you."
It fades into view and looks up at the outsider restraining it. "You are Algon huh you big oaf? And you" it says, turning it's head to look at the woman.
"You must be Izbela." It's eyes continue to scan those surrounding it.
"And which one of you is Akuleh?" it asks, contempt clear on it's little face.
Kadrian approaches the evil outsider, light mace in hand. "Hold him still", Kadrian said grimly.
Akuleh stands towering over the immobilized quasit, a look of stony calm on his face. "I am Akuleh Speaks with Ancients, demon. Hear my name and know that it belongs to the man who will hunt you down and destroy you if you ever have the misfortune to return to this world from the Abyss." Before joining in beating the quasit into a smear of demon-paste on the stone floor of the underground complex, he asks the outsider, "A creature such as yourself seldom operates such complex plans on its own. Tell us, before we send you to your torment, who is your master?"
Hearing the quasit call out them by name, and actually seeking Akulah, has Rak's curiosity piqued. "You're dead now anyway, but it's time for you to tell your tale. How do you know us? Who is behind all of this?"
When the little demon briefly turns its attention to her, Izbela answers with a glower. "First it threatens to kill us all, then it wants to make introductions," she stage whispers to Kadrian so as not to detract from Akuleh and Rak's interrogation.
Kadrian makes his way over to Izbela after he heard her concerns. Once there, the swashbuckler holds her hand for mutual support. With his free hand, he switches from a sap to the short sword, should the nobleman need to defend the lady or put the outsider down.