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Mr Peppers takes a look at the supposed 'VC' of the Lodge, trying to get an idea of what.. she is. "Don't take offense.. but did Thurl create you? What is your history with him?" If Uesugi can trust her then who am I to judge... he has a way with seeing through to someone's core..
Before heading through the hidden door Mr Peppers draws his wand and summons his shimmering suit of chain. "We should ready ourselves.. demons and devils will abound. These gifts from the shady Gnome could also come in handy here. They won't be best used on myself as I already wear lenses that focus my vision. The elixir will last an hour and is VERY potent. The scroll will focus both vision and one's judge of character for half that time. I can likely make it activate with some time."
Mr Peppers eyes the statue, especially once their new froggy friend points out the strange symbols. "Well... that bull is actually a gorgon... a magical beast that can turn you to stone with a breath of gas. The Dwarf wrestling it is none other than Torag, the Dwarven God. As far as those symbols Tiff I can't quite remember..."
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Gallix utters a quiet, "Whoa!" as the others describe what the statues depict. "Man, I've always thought it'd be awesome to have a statue made of me, but not like that! Let's be careful for sure. Peppers, do you sense any magic on the statue, like if it'll come to life or something?"
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Mr Peppers nods at their suggestion and casts detect magic to study if there is any magical properties to the statue, or in the rest of the room for that matter.
"Give me a moment here to study it. Is Thurl a Dwarf by chance? This statue must be some sort of defense for his lab wouldn't you think?"
Mr Peppers continues studying, before continuing "These notes back there... very detailed and impressive. He knows much of the abyss, and what he knows likely he would have had to go through some extreme measures to obtain. Miss Cup would be a good match for him in her love for all that is not of this world."
As the party travels through, Mister Peppers takes some time to study Valais. Part of her is human, yet he clearly recognizes the flesh of babau and kalavaku demons on her, stitched together somehow.
"That dwarf Thurl didn't create me. He... wanted me to live again. No, that's not it. He... I don't remember the details, but it wasn't good. Once we get deeper into his vile lair I will recall more. Now, ONWARD!" Valais tries to answer the question to the best of her ability. She seems truthful.
"To get in, Thurl would whisper his name into the statue's ear. The platform it's on will turn aside and I think you can proceed from there."
As you were inspecting the statue's inverted star pattern, you notice a tube sticking out of its nostrils. It may be designed to release some kind of gas, spreading out to a 10 foot radius.
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The Elf pauses a bit to consider the stitched being's words A monster for sure this Dwarf is... I'm all for the scientific process and the pursuit of knowledge, but this is madness and evil! "I'm starting to figure out just how heinous this man is... Sending agents to collect information for him into unreasonable conditions using unreasonable methods. Was it one of these trips for him that caused those injuries that he tried to 'fix'?"
After checking out the statue Mr Peppers pauses in another 'aha' moment. He drops his pack to the floor and digs around for a few moments, pulling out what looks like .. an ear plug? He takes it and stuffs it into a tube hidden in the gorgon's nostril. "Gallix my good man, do you have anything sticky to hold this in place?"
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"What's with the ear plug, Mr. Peppers? I assure you my singing is not that bad! Maybe I'll give you a taste once we get outta here!" Tiffany bends over to inspect the nostril. "Oh, is it a trap? Gasp! Good eye there, that could've been as nasty as a pair of shoes with crumbling rhinestones! Can you imagine?!"
D uses his telekinesis to lift the statue. It buckles against some kind of mechanism and loudly snaps as D smashes the statue against the ground. Gas spews forth from the statue's nostrils as it is thrown aside. After a moment the gas diffuses without ill effect, revealing a stairway downstairs.
A cage-like spiral staircase of rusting wrought iron descends along one wall of this room. Dim but vibrant green light pulses from two large glass vats that stand from floor to ceiling in the far corners. Powdery rust coats much of the floor, though several lines of footprints crisscross the room. Metal doors lead to the east and west.
The room itself is messy, full of rotting flesh and gore. The organic matter here and elsewhere in the facility sustains a thriving population of mites, beetles, and other harmless arthropods that scatter from you as you approach.
You notice two vats, large enough to fit a medium creature. Both are covered in dust, although if you look close enough you can see a scaled hand and an ophidian eye looking in your direction. Sounds like the statue's destruction alerted them.
Valais seems to be in a state of shock. Mumbling with various voices, Valais does not seem comfortable here.
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Mr Peppers takes a step back and scoffs at D "You could have warned me to retrieve my earplug... now I've got just one, how am I going to get to sleep with just one earplug?"
Once the stairs are revealed his demeanor lightens a bit as he heads down with the others, casting light on Uesugi's armor "I hope you don't mind..."
Once at the bottom he looks around in a bit of awe mixed with a healthy dose of 'yuck'. "Careful what you touch.. this place could be ridden with disease, disgusting." He then takes out a pair of vials and drinks them down, shuddering slightly at the taste. He looks up at everyone and shrugs. "One such as myself has a delicate constitution and can't be too careful!"
"What do you remember of this place Valais? Is this where Thurl 'fixed' you, and maybe others? Its very important you do your best to help us.. VCs are best when they get into their work, you said it yourself."
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"I'm really not sure I want to find out what that is, but we may not get the choice. Best to be on our guards. Uesugi, you got that blade of yours ready?"
To Valais, he simply says, "We all have horrors in our lives. I don't know a lot about yours, but I'm sure you're strong enough to come face to face with it and overcome."
Mister Peppers, ever cautious, prepares himself against poison and disease. He realizes the laboratory is pitch black, so he lights Uesugi's armor. Once downstairs, he takes a good look at Valais and calms her down.
"I...I took measurements and would write them for Thurl." Valais mumbles.
"Thurl used this room to finish HIS EXPERIMENTS!" Another voice roars from within her.
D considers the weight of the tanks, and realizes the glass is very thin and would probably shatter unless they were lifted carefully.
As his mind considers the proper way to smash them, the creatures inside seem to have the same idea. They violently pound against the glass!
The one in the western tank is stitched together from the body of a succubus and the arms of a dretch with a visage made entirely of quasit faces.
The other creature has the lower body of a serpent (much like a marilith’s) patched together from a dozen different creatures, and its upper half is that of a wormlike vermlek with four extra arms borrowed from a nabasu demon. It rages against the vat. The tube won't last much longer.
Mr. Peppers
Sir D
Uesugi
Tiffany
Gallix
Eidolons
The party has a moment to prepare themselves. Valais panics and runs upstairs, defending herself and mumbling to no one in particular.
- The creatures can squeeze through small areas without trouble without affecting its accuracy or defenses.
- The serpent tailed creature cannot be tripped, but it only moves at speed 20.
- The quasit-faced creature has all-around vision.
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Mr Pepper's brain freezes a bit as he gets confused on what these mixed and matched creatures actually are...
Mr Peppers nods along with 'Sugi "Great plan!" He draws out the holier than holy wand and begins trying to activate it... however it doesn't cooperate Damned Paladins and their complicated activation sequences! "Sorry Uesugi."
Mister Peppers knows these things used to be demons, but now they are something else entirely. They seem more like a construct than an outsider, but he's not sure of the type.
Everyone prepares themselves for the monsters to burst free. With a solid slam, the creatures smash the glass vats, sending shards everywhere.
The shards would deal slashing damage, but everyone is quick enough to evade the worst of it (Everyone takes 3 damage.)
Tiffany's net easily wraps around the red dotted eidolon, restricting its movements. Unfortunately she's the only one who hit. Uesugi's blade, Gallix's fists, and D's blasts ricochet harmlessly off the creatures.
The blue quasit-faced creature lashes out at Uesugi.
The red serpentine creation struggles to bash Gallix, not even trying to fight the net.
Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (13 damage)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (3 damage)
Red dotted eidolon (Entangled), Blue solid eidolon
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Mr Peppers ducks down behind Uesugi and Gallix when the glass explodes, keeping the most of his soft skin safe from the razor sharp projectiles. A trickle of blood can be seen coming from his arm. "Blasted creatures! Thanks for the cover, I'll try to return the favor here."
He begins weaving a spell, focusing hard to add some extra power. The spell takes a bit longer to cast than usual..
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Mister Peppers unleashes magic hell... which unfortunately fizzles just as it reaches the creatures. He can tell they possess some incredible kind of spell resistance.
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Tiffany looks down at her scratched green flesh and tiny hole in her noble's outfit. "Hey, you jerk, that hurt! Not cool! Like, I JUST got this robe!" She pulls the net tight around the eidolon, then moves next to Gallix and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey buddy, those fists look pretty tough and all, but what about if each of your punches had the strength of A THOUSAND GRIPPLI?!"
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Even as Uesugi falls back a couple steps back from the blow that the creature lands on his left shoulder. A tiny blade detaches itself from his helmet and flies from his helmet in the direction of the creature.
As it gets closer to the creature the tiny blade disappears only to be replaced by a hazy azure katana that materializes in front of the creature and strikes at it as if wielded by an invisible hand.
Immediately he feels a numbness spread throughout his left side, but does his best to shift his attention away from the pain and refocuses on waiting for an opening as the hazy azure blue blade slashes the at the creature. Seeing one opening emerge Uesugi attacks low when the azure blade attacks high. Unused to this method his blade is once again deflected by the thick hide of the creature.
Sir D blasts the blue-faced creation with a chunk of glass. He can tell it was resisted somewhat. Uesugi prepares his many blades against the eidolon but fails to pierce its hide.
Princess Tiffany holds onto her rope with one hand and enhances Gallix's strength with the other.
Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (13 damage)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (3 damage, Bull's Strength)
Red dotted eidolon (Entangled), Blue solid eidolon (26 damage)
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"Hey thanks, Tiff! This feels...wha-?! Wait a minute...the grippli power is flowing through me. Could this be...Froggy Style?!" With a self-satisfied grin, Gallix begins to bounce on the balls of his feet. He begins to dodge to his left to side-step the strange, composite creature's defense, but he spots the glass covering the floor and decides he'd rather not slice up his new kicks.
Speaking of kicks...Gallix decides to return the favor of the shattered glass and kicks some of the glass at his feet up into the creature's face, hopefully to blind it for a moment at least.
Gallix gets fancy and kicks some glass shards into the netted creature's eyes, blinding it. He has no trouble finding a weak joint on the blinded and held creature, slamming right into its clavicle.
As Uesugi fights, some of the glass shards are caught in his foot. The multifaced creature slams into him twice more.
Meanwhile the other creature tries to wallop Gallix. Despite the net and glass getting in the way, it manages to hit once.
Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (47 damage, caltropped)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (24 damage, Bull's Strength)
Red dotted eidolon (Entangled, Blinded 2 rounds, 14 damage), Blue solid eidolon (26 damage)
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Mr Peppers grits his teeth as he sees Uesugi take numerous vicious attacks I've got to try something here else he's going down. "I'm trying here, watch your eyes 'Sugi!"
Mr Peppers weaves his spell, finishing it with a flick of sparkly dust. Shimmering, shiny glitter explode out from the corner, completely engulfing the creature and stopping just short of the Samurai.
Mr. Peppers blasts the creature
The monster shuts its many eyes as dust falls over it. Tiffany closes some of Uesugi's wounds.
Each time a creature moves into an area covered by caltrops (or spends a round fighting while standing in such an area), it runs the risk of stepping on one.
...
Any creature moving at half speed or slower can pick its way through a bed of caltrops with no trouble.
As the eidolon swipes the glass away, it sees a shard of glass launched by Sir D rip right into its face.
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The two blows catch Uesugi off guard forcing him back more than expected. His mouth soon begins to fill with the metallic taste of his blood. Instinctively Uesugi launches another blade in retaliation but once again it cannot cut through the tough exterior of the creature.
Hoping the emergence of this newest blade will at least prove to distract the creature Uesugi gathers himself and as soon as the two hovering blades slash at the creature he pushes off his back foot his blade held high striking down towards the creature's head.
Even with the net holding it in place, only Gallix's third swing is able to dent it. Uesugi similarly gets a single swing on the beast. Unlike the others, his adamantine katana cuts through like a hot knife through butter. Another hit from him or D should be able to destroy it.
It still functions, and swings madly at Uesugi. If it wasn't for Tiffany's quick thinking, the Samurai knows he would be unconscious.
The other creature makes no effort to escape its netting and flails at Gallix some more. Even with the glass shards falling out of its eyes, it manages to slam into Gallix twice more. He's not looking good, either.
As Gallix shuffles to and fro, he feels something stick into his foot. Of all the times for this to happen...
Mr. Peppers (3 damage)
Sir D (3 damage)
Uesugi (54 damage)
Tiffany (3 damage)
Gallix (55 damage, Bull's Strength, caltropped)
Red dotted eidolon (Entangled, Blinded 1 rounds, 20 damage), Blue solid eidolon (69 damage)
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Things are looking dire... "Tiffany don't hold back here!!" Mr Pepper's eyes glow blue to quickly scan the creatures for magic spells, assuming he doesn't see anything too troubling, Mr Peppers repeats his chanting and spellcasting from just a bit ago and again tries to knock down the creatures with force missiles.
Gallix is quite thankful for the glass, as he could have sworn the beast would have slammed him twice.
Mister Peppers applies even more magical force but they still resist his magical forces. He doesn't notice any magical auras around them.