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The Nue is rendered lifeless when Uesugi's blade slips in and through its brain.
Then, you hear a loud woosh from past the portcullis. The cloud platform and cage at the bottom of the shaft begins to rise in a fast, steady motion. Within 20 seconds, it reaches the top. The cage opens and out step three large constructs whose bodies are comprised largely of clouds and metal.
-- Bold is up --
Sir D
Blue, Green
Gallix, Uesugi, Cup, Sirettis
Red
Mr. Peppers, Longjing
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"Are those... hmm. Yes. Incoming." Sirettis recognizes the enemies coming up. "Well, I can't put these things to sleep. Mister Peppers, do you know if they have any Special Defenses? I am not sure."
Sirettis uses her Prehensile Hair and Flight Hexes before casting Heroism on Gallix.
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Tall, dark and handsome nods in appreciation of Sirettis's skills "As potent as ever." As the elevator begins to rise he reassesses the situation and his personal array of spells. He draws out his waning wand of mage armor and gives himself a tap before putting it back in its sleeve.
"Oh yes, look at these constructs.. I've read about these before...
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Sirettis immediately recognizes the Greater Cloud Golems, and knows that they have Immunity to Magic.
• A control winds spell destabilizes a cloud golem’s body and dazes it for 1 round.
• A magical effect that deals electricity damage affects the cloud golem as per haste for 1d6 rounds and ends any slow effect on it.
• A gust of wind or wind wall spell affects the cloud golem as per slow for 1d6 rounds and breaks any haste effect on it.
• An alter winds spell deals 2d6 points of damage to a cloud golem.
Mr. Peppers knows this too, and he also knows the golems have no special attacks or resistances.
Gallix slams the golem with his own set of punches, his metal gloves showering the ground with sparks upon impact.
-- Bold is up --
Sir D
Blue, Green
Gallix (-14), Uesugi (-31), Cup, Sirettis
Red (-36)
Mr. Peppers, Longjing
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The green cloud giant raises his arm up to his eyes quickly enough to avoid the dust, but red isn't so lucky, and swats the air as he loses all vision. As Gallix pummels the green golem, Uesugi slashes at it, a thick sheet of metal falling off of its side.
The blind golem manages to hit Uesugi once, and the impact of its fist against the enlarged samurai causes the glitterdust to fall out of its eyes.
-- Bold is up --
Sir D
Blue, Green (-50)
Gallix (-8), Uesugi (-39), Cup, Sirettis
Red (-36)
Mr. Peppers, Longjing
"I will save you my worthy steed. Have no fear!"
Longjing uses the wand of cure light wounds to touch the back of enlarged samurai as the golem's fist crushes into Uesugi's chest however Longjing is not able to activate it successfully.
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Mr Peppers take a deep breath and sighs audibly at his predicament "These beings being immune to magic is a problem for me. There isn't much I can do to help here.. I'll try to blind them for a bit long as Miss Cup did."
He too flicks some glitter into the eyes of the red and blue golems, adding in some of his own personal goodness to make the glitter oh so much stickier.
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The air hums again when D accelerates another kinetic blast at the green golem. The giant falls forward magnificently, causing the entire tower to tremble from the impact of its weight.
Mr. Peppers uses extra potent glitterdust and blinds both remaining golems!
Blue feels around, and knows Uesugi is still in front of him. The golem swings its fists in blind hope that they will connect...
Uesugi feels his clavicle shatter as the blue golem lands two solid hits on him.
-- Bold is up --
Sir D
Blue
Gallix (-8), Uesugi (-62), Cup, Sirettis
Red (-36, blind)
Mr. Peppers, Longjing
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Gallix is a blur to the golem as he steps away, and easily dodges its left fist, retaliating with metal knuckles of his own. Uesugi channels his inner strength with determined focus, slashing an X through the golem's chest that proves fatal. The creature collapses in a heap.
-- Bold is up --
Sir D
Blue
Gallix (-8), Uesugi (-40), Cup, Sirettis
Mr. Peppers, Longjing
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The golem pays no mind to the new puddle of grease under its feet, though it can't ignore D's sand bullet, and endures a blast just as its fallen companions had. The golem winds up another set of punches at the closest - and largest - target, Uesugi.
Uesugi finds his collarbone broken once more when both mighty fists ravage him.
-- Bold is up --
Sir D
Blue (-24)
Gallix (-8), Uesugi (-61), Cup, Sirettis
Mr. Peppers, Longjing
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Mr Peppers curses in Elven as the grease had the effect he'd expected Next time I'll listen to my own inner wisdom! Damn I hate these constructions! He draws out a healing wand and rushes forward in an attempt to heal his oversized meat shield from away.
He narrowly gets it to activate, looking over at the Gnome for a brief recognition of her assistance in the matter.
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"Nuh uh! You don't get to take down my pal, Puffy! No one gets to take him down!" Gallix steps out from behind his badly wounded and oversized friend and strikes. A right hook, a left jab with a right following in a blink, and finally a haymaker left cross, all aimed at the construct from halfway across the hall.
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As Mr. Peppers, Sirettis, the Longjing all mend Uesugi's wounds with positive energy, the samurai marks a weak spot on the golem's throat with an X. Gallix lunges at it with his extra long reach and cracks the construct's neck with one punch, then hits with a haymaker that sends it to its knees.
The cloud lift stays put, allowing you the opportunity to descend further into the tower.
But first, examining the rest of the rooms on this floor, you find a number of sapphires and pearls in the northeastern room. A section of stone outer wall is missing, and a cloudwall repairs the gap.
The room to the west contains manacles on the walls and a glyph drawn in dried blood upon the floor. The exsanguinated corpse of a sylph dangles from one set of manacles, still wearing a fine pair of boots. The boots look a lot like Cup's!
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Mr Peppers nods in confirmation with Sirettis's identification. "Your skills with spellcraft have increased. I commend you on your studies." He starts to reach out to pat her shoulder before he checks himself and retreats.
He then goes back to studying the rune on the wall and gets a light headed feeling "Yes, that rune seems important. The falling feeling... unsettling." He steps away to let the planar master in for a look. "Miss Cup, your skills are needed here. You've been very distant, please focus, we need your expertise with this."
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Gallix weighs the benefits for a solid few minutes before finally passing on the boots. "Ah, I just can't wear anything but these beauties Petrello made for me, y'know? Besides, they keep me dancing!"
As the others venture into the room with the sylph corpse and check the rune out, Gallix keeps his distance. "I'm...gonna leave that up to you smart-pants folks. Let me know if you need something punched."
*Wink*
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After Cup takes a moment to inspect the rune, the only way to continue further into the tower looks to be through the makeshift elevator. With the sound of rushing wind, the elevator descends rapidly.
After falling hundreds of feet and passing several other floors, the elevator finally settles upon a solid surface, and its gates fly open.
A narrow landing protrudes into a cavernous cylinder, apparently the entire bare interior shell of the tower. Its massive span is only exceeded by its depth, as it plummets two hundred feet into a raging storm. A roaring sheath of wind and churning clouds like a tornado’s funnel conceals the tower walls. Throughout the length of the tower, stone balconies protrude from the vortex into the central shaft. Floating in the general center of the hall is a dark mass of clouds shaped into a throne. At the tower’s base, a tremendous ultramarine sigil glows brilliantly, spinning in time with the storm around it. Periodically, lightning bolts erupt from it, dancing up and down the height of the throne room like deranged courtiers.
A hundred feet down, you see two sylphs and a large, wispy cloud of smoke with harsh red eyes. "Have the mercenaries arrived?" It shouts. "If you've made it past the guards, perhaps you are worthy of joining my forces. Show yourselves!" It commands.
Two sylphs flank the belker, both the female and male armed with clubs. "Anyone willing to take on this job is either mightily powerful, or incredibly foolish. Eh, Tekaal?" The woman jokes. The other sylph only nods as it looks up at the elevator cage.
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As soon as the elevator begins moving downward, Gallix lights his mutagenic cigarette. "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em," he says to his companions.
When they finally touch down at the bottom of the shaft and the shape of the room in which they will be facing their foe becomes apparent, Gallix looks to his companions with a bit of unusual shyness, telling them, "Don't look at me for a sec."
He retreats to the back corner of the elevator cage and kneels down, a muttered prayer rising from his lips along with the smoke from his cigarette. "Ranginori, help me fly. These enemies of yours want us to stop helping you escape, so give me the power I need to face them. Uh...amen, I guess." Despite his clumsy words, Gallix's prayer reaches the elemental lord, and his request is granted. As he stands and begins moving back toward edge of the platform, Gallix's stride takes on a new level of confidence and swagger. And suddenly, the street rat from the slums of Cheliax, the failed apprentice of the House of Perfection, the formerly drug-addled pit fighter, the new man born out of service to a greater cause and to his new family--the Gorgeous Gallix Granbonne takes to the air! And with a level of bravado that even his is a little surprised at, Gallix steps out into the open air, looks down upon his enemies and calls out, "Come at me, bro!"
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Mr Peppers looks at the odd construction of the room and rolls his eyes a bit "We should fly, this looks.. obnoxious." He waggles his long, thin Elven fingers and his feet rise up off the ground. He repeats this on Sir D, knowing he is without the ability to do so. "This will be important, go slowly at first, it takes time to get acquainted."
The regal looking Elf calmly flies into the room to address the inhabitants "We've come. We must apologize for destroying your creatures above. Your demonic guard said it was required so.." He lets the words trail off as he looks around the room a bit.
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Mr. Peppers examines the room, and his magical vision allows him to notice the unstable effect in this room caused by the storm glyph below. It appears to function like a magical trap, causing wind to whip around the outer edges of this chamber. A storm cloud looming overhead emits a surge of lightning that comes within inches of Uesugi's arm. Mr. Peppers realizes it's the rune below causing these weather effects.
Of High M'Vania, Cup knows that it's the Abyssal realm of the demon lord Pazuzu, arrayed vertically on the side of the greatest rift in the Abyss. Pazuzu, the King of the Wind Demons, worked with Lamashtu ages ago to claim a large portion of the Abyss. The two slaughtered hordes of greater demons together and ruled jointly. Lamashtu's ascension to godhood enraged Pazuzu, who betrayed her by stabbing her with a cold iron shard from the heart of a mountain before casting her into an infinitely deep chasm from where she languished for centuries. Ultimately, Lamashtu emerged and wrested control of the plane from Pazuzu. The two have been bitter rivals ever since.
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Grasping Storm watches Sirettis emerge first. "Ah, just as expected. A creature of the wind. I trust you dealt with my lesser forces with ease."
And then Uesugi and Mr. Peppers step out, flying across the chamber. "Humans? What is the meaning of this?"
And then Gallix goes full bravado mode, and beckons the belker to come at him. The smokey creature laughs luxuriously. "Do you know who I am? Such HUMAN scum dares to come into my lair and disparage me?" Then its glowing red eyes double in size as sparks begin to surge through its mass of smoke. "I'll slay you in short order, and then perhaps deal with that lowly djinn who brought you here. So... Why don't you come at me, BRO?"
-- Bold is up --
Mr. Peppers, Uesugi, Sirettis
Tevaal (green) and Siveya (red)
D, Cup
Grasping Storm
Gallix, Longjing
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Mr Peppers wastes no time, ignoring what these creatures are and can do. He flies between his two favorite meatshields and breathes out a 30' cone of fire, covering the three of them while he can. "Consider yourselves came at..." He pauses a bit and considers the statement before rolling his eyes a bit. That sounds... off.
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Unsure of the Grasping Storm's true nature, Sirettis chooses to overwhelm its emotions by casting Overwhelming Grief.
"A shame. We have proven our worth and this is how your repay us? No wonder you have so much trouble recruiting."