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"I bet if I shoot one with my crossbow it'll come out! You do realize if they weren't busy guarding their eggs they'd be trying to eat us... once those eggs hatch they'll be looking for food for the babies probably. Or at least I think so? If you clear some space I can send in a shot." Mr Peppers backs up and prepares to shoot.
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Mr. Peppers fires a bolt, which is enough to disable the blue centipede, and begins to complain about Uesugi's request. Then, he hears some rustling in the bushes behind him. Was it the breeze? Or perhaps just a harmless insect? Or maybe nothing at all?!
The sound of movement becomes more apparent as two pink claws emerge from under the bushes. It seems Mr. Peppers' complaining has disturbed them, or perhaps they were simply waiting to ambush the frail elf. The hideous, four-legged creatures stalk forward, their demonic faces poking from side to side.
The blue-legged centipede slowly lurches forward, nearly dead from Mr. Peppers' bolt. The red-eyed one comes running out of the stables.
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Gallix turns with surprise as the clawed creatures emerge from the bushes to threaten his less hardy friends. He has little time to be concerned with their safety, though, as one of the centipedes rushes out of the barn toward him and Uesugi. As if by instinct, the brawler shifts his balance to the balls of his feet and begins to bounce back and forth, his fists raised defensively in front of him. He bounces left, then right, and when he bounces back to the left again, he swiftly steps several feet over and delivers a strike at the oversized insect.
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"Barbarian more come from the rear! I will help the others! Little dragon with me!"
Uesugi rushes to help out the others from whatever creatures have now emerged.
The Little Dragon reaches the closest creature first and dives in to distract it.
"Rawwwk!! Grovel in my presence hideous creatures!! Kill them mighty steed!"
Aid another +2, Luck +1 to Uesugi
As the Little Dragon swoops back up Uesugi slides to a halt sending up a cloud of dust. With lightning quick speed he unsheathes his katana and strikes at the creature in one swift motion.
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Sirettis remembers a dusty old tome she had read. In it, she learned about evil fey creatures known as drochtacs. Although drochtacs look emaciated, the muscles between their ribs are powerful and allow the creatures to quickly stretch their bodies like a spring. This gives them the ability to attack targets far beyond their apparent reach. Their flesh contains vomit-inducing chemicals, and any creature to bite them will suffer from negative effects. Their bites are known to cause paralysis.
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Even aided by the "dragon," Uesugi's blade swooshes just a touch too low and sprays the air with leaves from the nearby bush. Gallix has similar luck, his fist swooping past the caterpillar's head.
Uesugi endures a minor flesh wound as the drochtac claws at his chest.
Cup fails to trip the four-legged creature, but she has even better luck and easily dodges the nasty bite and sharp claws of the pink-eyed drochtac.
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A look of relief crosses over Mr Pepper's delicate Elven features as the last drochtac in front of he and Cup falls fast asleep. He steps back and turns, crossbow dangling in one hand, and casts a spell, shooting forth not one, but two blasts of streaking blue light that fly unerringly towards the red centipede. "Careful there Gallix, they do generate poison! And we know how much you and poison get along..."
He then proceeds to reload his crossbow.
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The force missile blows a nice hole in the centipede's back yet it still clings to life.
Mr. Peppers saw it coming. In a last ditch effort, the centipede tightens its back and extends itself vertically up towards Gallix's face, chomping into his chest with a vicious bite. With all of its strength exhausted, the creature falls to the ground unconscious.
The remaining centipede lumbers forward, still incredibly weak from the initial bolt it endured.
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Sirettis draws her light mace and tries to flank with Gallix. "My apologies, Mister Gallix..."
Holding the mace in her hands, she tries to help lure the creature into Gallix's waiting fists. But it's oh so heavy.
Sirettis plans to draw her light mace, but Gallix finishes the remaining centipede in an instant. "A shame, but the bile's influence was too great a risk."
"Hey kid, you tried, alright?" Isa hops on her shoulder. "You can't save them all."
Besides, they are too hard to affect. Ignore them.
Trusting someone else to eliminate the remaining drochtac, Sirettis draws her wand and helps Gallix with the worst of his wounds.
With his wounds close, Sirettis moves wordlessly into the barn and touches the poison with her finger. Cleansing magic surges forth to eliminate the bile in the pools.
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Mr Peppers grimaces as Gallix gets bitten, drawing his hand to his own recent bite to the stomach. Ouch, he's one tough sucker though, I wish I was that tough. He removes his hand and gets back to focus as the last of the creatures bite the dust.
Slinging his now reloaded crossbow over his shoulder "That turned out a bit hairier than expected. You ok over there Gallix?" He then takes a look through the bushes the drochtacs emerged from.
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Gallix's hand reaches to his gaping chest wound as the blue centipede falls. Sirettis's healing touch binds his flesh once again, however, and he smiles over at her. "Thanks, little Sis!" He follows her into the stable to make sure she doesn't get ambushed by herself in there, but Mr. Peppers's question stops him in his tracks just as he's about to head through the door. "Oh. Uh...yeah. I'm fine now. Thanks, Peppers."
Didn't know he was all that concerned about me. Guess that run in with the dog taught him a bit about what it means to be on the receiving end of a hard hit.
Gallix's look of surprise turns to a grateful smile, and he proceeds through the door after Sirettis.
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All traces of bile are cleansed from the stables as the positive energy from Sirettis flows into it. With the abyssal goop violently reacting to the energy, dozens of unborn centipede eggs splatter open and a gruesome scene of half-formed insects, shells, and ash decorates the barn. The inside of the stables is void of any valuables or anything magical.
Uesugi and D note that the drochtacs' tracks originate from the front doors of the estate.
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While Mr Peppers pokes around in the bushes and finds nothing of note, except maybe a few old bird's nests and some long decayed doggy diamonds, the others are making some real progress. "Nothing in those bushes, don't worry I checked thoroughly... You sure you want to head inside already? Wouldn't it make more sense to finish checking around out here? I don't want something locking us inside that place."
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"Oh. Umm, how about those gardens over there?" He points to the northeast. "If we circle the building we can at least scope out any other entrances maybe? I guess I'm not much of a burglar..." He quickly changes the subject trying to soften Uesugi's demeanor. "Do building styles in your homeland differ very much for construction styles here?"
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Those poor centipedes. Even though she knew they were poisonous, she feels terrible for the tiny lives destroyed by bile.
"The gardens sound like an excellent plan to me!" Cup takes a second to cast Unseen Servant and speed read Pathfinder Chronicle 14 with the help of her Kreighton's Perusal wand. "The taint of the abyss is strong in this place. I just needed to quickly review what I know about it... Shall we?"
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Cup recalls what she knows about Demon's Bile - that it's abyssal and nonmagical in nature and upon ingestion, causes its users to be overcome by a constant buzzing in their minds. Such effects cause them to undertake tasks that most would consider madness, although the madness manifests in different ways for different creatures. If found in the environment and left unchecked, it has a chance to expand and spew forth fiendish vermin every few days.
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You make your way northeast and into the garden. The wild garden is flush with colors and full of scents both sharp and sweet. A gazebo topped with a weather vane sits in the northeast corner of the garden. Tall bushes line each path towards the gazebo and the makeup of plants looks to be unique.
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Mr Peppers follows the group up near the gazebo, stopping along the way to browse the unique vegetation he sees along the way. "Quite the plant collection here! Some of these, like this one" He bends down and plucks off a leaf "is from far off Sargava! Actually, most of these aren't even native to Isger at all." He starts pulling out his journal to record some notes, leaning his crossbow up against a hedge. "I wonder if any of them have any particular uses other than someone's collection? Gallix, you study alchemy, recognize any? Miss Cup?" His gaze avoids the foreigners in this regard.
He seems quite engrossed in the collection to notice much else.
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The walk through the garden is serene and scenic. But this isn't just any Estate, and Longjing caws madly as he hears more rustling in the bushes. From beneath a tall hedge, two tiny frogs hop out and a frog the size of Oolong leaps forward from underneath another bush.
The red-eyed frog lashes its tongue at Sirettis' foot, but gets a leaf instead. The giant one hangs back in the bushes.
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Longjing flies in a partial charge against the big frog.
"How dare you ambush a dragon and its entourage?"
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Cup has no idea of what they are.
♫ Here's a little song I wrote
For when you have frogs at your throat
Do hurry, be choppy
All around us, amphibians
If you don't hurry, you never win
Do hurry, be choppy
Do hurry be choppy now
Ooo-oo-hoo-hoo-oo hoo-hoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooo Frogs scurry
Woo-oo-woo-oo-woo-oo-ooo They hoppy
Woo-oo-oo-oo-ooo (Sometimes these lyrics be sloppy)
Ain't no place to avoid the dread
The frogs say they want to be fed
All tongues, they be hoppy
Sometimes frogs show up
They threaten to swallow Cup
Do hurry, be choppy! ♫