Amigail attempts to the strike the huecuva but misses her blade cutting into the stone altar.
A ebon battle axe manifests in the air and hovers right beside Amigail. The black axe swings and the blade rends apart her chain shirt.
Merelda attempts to stab the hound again!
Cinder moves again to Aid Amigail!
Lililinda tries again, aiming her grease spell at the undead cleric's symbol.
Amigail waits until Cinder distracts the spellcaster before launching her next hack. The results are better.
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Innis comes down from the wall and continues to manipulate the battlefield from afar.
Taking the chance Cassandra lashed out with her glaive at the hecuva putting as much force behind it as she could. She knew it was the one that had to die quickly if they were going to survive this.
Boros moves with swift purpose and almost engulfs the hound you hear the bone beneath its hide crack and pop as the snake begins to the squeeze the life from it. Given no where to move Kirzon remains hidden behind his shield. Quickly Merelda rushes forward and stabs whatever remaining life the hound had. Like the previous one before it dissipates into a sulfurous cloud.
Cinder flies around the head of the former cleric distracting it enough for Amigail to strike deep into it's shoulder. Cassandra tries to follow suit but the huecuva proves to be a formidable foe and strikes down on the glaive deflecting the blow.
Lililinda tries to grease the symbol again and the item falls to the floor.
Ignoring the fallen item the huecuva turns it attention to Boros and speaks one malevolent syllable.
The ebon axe swings at Amigail's chest trying to beat her back. She puts up her buckler fending off the attack, however she is not quick enough to also the skeleton's morningstar as it glances off her hip.
" 'Weak and unprepared' when you meet your god in oblivion know that you were no better than the rest." Innis taunts the huecava sensing victory within her grasp.
As the Huecava's unholy symbol slips once more through it's grasp Innis holds her own in an iron grip. Innis' mind swims with pleasure as the holy symbol is seemingly abuzz with greater and untapped power. Sensing her goddess's will Innis weaves the Lady in The Room's blessing around all of her allies.
Merelda moves quickly to Amigail's aid, bringing up her shield to bash the culprit, knowing the 'fighting skeletons 101' rules!
"Cinder! Get the amulet!"
Cinder flies over and attempts to grab the evil holy symbol for his master, while trying to avoid the monster!
BuuuzzzzuuuUUUzzzz!!!!!
Merelda hesitates for a second, then comments suddenly with worry in her voice.
"Did my giant wasp just Buzz-LAUGH...manically?"
Lililinda joins in Cinder's laugh as the wasp goes in for the amulet. "WAHAHA! We've got you now!" She punctuates her taunt with another disruptive ray.
Amigail finds Kirzon flanking the huecuva and tries to take advantage of the distraction the dwarf provides, hacking at the undead's neck with her falcata.
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Boros slithers away from the huecuva leaving the room while forcing Kirzon to face the huecuva.
Merelda moves to assist Amigail and slams her wooden shield into the back of the skeleton as she calls out to Cinder to grab the fallen symbol. Cinder picks up the symbol and is met with a swing of the huecuva's mace. A manical gnome's laugh rips through the air as a ray of positive energy tears into the huecuva.
Meanwhile Amigail swings her falcata and watches as the mace quickly meets the heavy blade. The ebon axe swings at Amigail and out of the corner of her eye she watches as the skeleton's mace crashes down towards her. Luckily she moves out of the way dodging the blow.
With his symbol now in the clutches of Cinder and about to fly away the huecuva swings again at the wasp.
Badly hurt, Cinder flies haphazardly over to Lillilinda's position and drops the evil symbol next to her. He then quickly hides behind the gnome's legs, his bravado now total gone.
"Bzzz. Zzzz?"
"CINDER! YOU DIE NOW BONEFACE!"
With a look of harsh anger plastered on her face, Merelda raises her shield again to bash the skeleton into a million pieces!
Innis smiles devilishly as her scheme is a success.
She call's upon Calistria's light to restore her wounded allies in this prolonged battle.
Cassandra saw how badly Cinder was hurt a the wasp flew away with the unholy symbol in it's grasp and felt a surge of relief. She quickly slipped back to stand with Boros before lashing out with her glaive putting as much effort into the strike as she could.
Amigail is relieved to feel the wave of healing discharged by Innis, even though she's still feeling rather battered. She again looks for an opening in the huecuva's defenses before sweeping her falcata forward toward the thing's neck.
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"HA!" Lililinda cries out triumphantly as Amigail's bow lands with a satisfying CRUNCH. She fires off one more ray, to add insult to injury.
[spoiler=DM Screen]
Kirzon swings as he quickly moves out of the reach of the huecuva even while Boros cowers away from the druid's sight. Innis then calls upon Calistria's name breathing a small amount of life into each of her companions.
Cassandra strikes the huecuva taking Boros' position taking it's attention away from the heavy blade wielded by Amigail. The creature almost drops when the falcata breaks several of the hollow ribs. Lililinda takes a shot but it misses.
Merelda continues to bash at the skeleton with her shield.
Clearly facing defeat the creature attacks Amigail along with it's spiritual weapon hoping to punish the warrior.
The skeleton turns and attacks Merelda striking the inquisitor.
Innis eagerly awaits the battle's conclusion. Her powers still inspiring her team's efforts from afar.
Accepting the hit on her shoulder, she retaliates again!
Lililinda keeps up the barrage.
Amigail executes a half-hearted feint toward the skeleton to keep it honest but then launches another cut at the weakened huecuva.
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Kirzon launches the snowball finally putting the huecuva to final rest while Lililinda and Amigail finish off the huecuva's skeletal bodyguard.
The huecuva now destroyed you look about the room.
A large altar of white marble stands atop a dais against the far eastern wall. On the wall behind the altar is a huge bas-relief carving of an armored woman holding a blazing sword over her head, though her face has been chiseled away.
Near the western end of the chamber sits a large square fire pit, though instead of coals or wood the pit is fueled by a large pile of human skulls that burn with an eerie pale green radiance.
Merelda immediately moves to check on Cinder. Picking up the wasp gently and cooing over his partially healed body, and rubbing him gently between his antennae.
"I'm so sorry! You were SO brave. I think you saved us ALL!"
Innis smiles genuinely amused by Merelda's coddling of her oversized wasp companion. "You all performed marvelously if i do say so myself" she spreads her arms in a grand gesture emphasizing the recently ended mayhem.
With the ecstasy of power still a buzz in her wild mis-colored eyes she announces."The Goddess will be pleased with the defeat of these champions. I can feel her desire to see us triumph!"
She riffles through the huecuva's belongings and the that of the other defeated foes in search of clues and treasure; noting anything magical in the process.
With the fall of the hecueva Cassi felt a wave of relief. This wasn't as bad as the last one but it was bad enough. She turned her focus to where Merelda was making over Cinder and, despite the way such a large insect made her feel she had to agree. Approaching Cassi said to Cinder, "I agree, you've done amazingly well Cinder." She leaned forward then and placed a brief kiss on the top of wasp's head between her compound eyes and then stepped back as she say, "May Shelyn protect you as well as Calistria Cinder."
"BuzzzzuzzzzZZZZ!"
Cinder seems to feel that he deserves the praise!
Lililinda looks down at the remains of the undead, chuckling to herself. "After everything we hit him with, it was a snowball that finished him off!"
She turns about, getting a good look at the room for the first time. "Only one door. Could we block it and rest here? I'm certainly spent on magic."
Innis responds to Lililinda's concerns by addressing the team. "Take a look for clues first, we need a direction. After that we'll secure a position to regain our strength."
Amigail is her normal stoic self after the tough battle and the speech by Innis. She nods in agreement before walking over to examine the bas relief of the sword-wielding woman more closely.
As you catch your breath you almost stumble back as the white marble altar begins to glow with a soft golden light.
While looking over the huecuva and the contents of the room you are able to find several items of interest.
On the huecuva:
an ornately decorated breastplate (magic)
heavy mace (magic)
a hooded cape (magic)
silver unholy symbol (dedicated to ??? DC 14 Religion)
three onyx rings (worth ??)
another onyx ring (magic)
Amigail moves over to the wall with the bas relief of who Kirzon assumes must be the vandalized image of Saint Naratha. She catches sight of something on the leg of the raised image. Looking closer Amigail sees the knee joint of the armor is slightly discoloured from the rest of the image.
While Kirzon checks out the latest pile of loot, Amigail quietly brings the discoloration on the bas relief to the others' attention. She doesn't fiddle around with the graven image. however, until all other matters are dealt with.
Lililinda gets into the loot with Kirzon.
After a few minutes, she notices the altar begin to glow. "OH! What's this? Perhaps someone somewhere is happy we cleansed this shrine?"
After the items have been examined by the team Innis will take a look at the discolored knee joint that Amigail pointed out.
"Other than the 'Happy' alter i suppose this place must have been worth guarding for some reason. Go ahead press it or something we still lack a way forward. Perhaps you found one?" she gestures for the other woman to further the investigation.
Amigail nods to Innis and begins fiddling with the relief's knee area, pressing it, trying to slide it to the sides, and trying to pull it open (in case it's hiding a lever or button).
Merelda hugs Cinder close.
"Such a brave boy! Such a good wasp! Wuvuvuvuv U!"
Suddenly she is looking up at the others with a reddened look on her face that could stun a dragon at full charge.
"If you ever tell anyone I just did that. I will...I swear by Calistria herself..."
She then turns away trying to find calm and releases the bug to crawl back onto her shoulder who suddenly seems to want to comfort her in return now. She turns back to the members of the group staring intently at the statue.
"What are you and Amigail doing with that statue sister?"