The zombie thrashes for a moment as the jet of fire hits him, then goes still as the flames start to consume the body.
The other zombie lurches towards Kavell...
...and manages to keep its footing on the grease as it swings a decaying arm at him.
The zombie's fist hits him right in the gut.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Slipping past Sunday, Kasha brings her sickle across in a vicious, predatory slice through the zombie's neck.
Kasha hacks the zombie's head off with one good swing.
The sound of arcane magic crackling is coming from the room to the northwest.
Friday will move to the next room.
Friday strides forward and opens the door.
Boxes and sacks lie neatly stacked in the chamber beyond the secret door. Shelves holding orderly bins have been built into the walls. A wooden locker stands beneath the shelves. Despite the seeming order to this room, a faint charnel reek underlies the place.
The half-troll mage turns and glares at Friday, preparing another spell.
Despite the slick footing he moved quickly slipping past Friday.
"Look Suishen, the evil doer."
He said simply Slicing low.
The half-troll snorts in contempt and hops over Kavell's slice. Suishen chuckles. "Fear not! 'Tis merely a setback!"
Goti grumbles. "Of COURSE you rescued that dullard of a blade..."
Moving to just outside the door, Kasha stands back against the wall, her baleful glare amplifying Kavell's righteous anger, filling him with the need to punish the enemy before him
Moving past Kasha, Valeria conjured up more grease, filling the space under and behind Goti.
This time, Goti is prepared for the incoming grease, and effortlessly keeps his balance.
He intones another spell...
...and manages to complete it while playing keep-away with both Friday and Kavell.
There's a rumbling of stone as the floor suddenly gives way beneath them! The southeast corner of the storeroom remains standing!
His move forward away for the sudden pit looked divine and for a moment his innate graces seemed almost enough to let him keep to the fight. Then his feet went out from under him. A quick curse escaped his lips, no doubt learned from his lover Kelda, and brought out but the fury building in him. But that didnt keep him from slashing hard at the half troll Goti, Suishen still aflame.
"Kick him down here." Friday growls out after falling into the hole.
Goti sneers at the prone paladin and nimbly hops over the oncoming Suishen again. "To your feet, young warrior! Or wouldst thou flail like a tantrum-throwing child?!" Suishen orders.
Seeing the half-troll standing over her companions and dominating the fight so far Kasha utters a low sound of annoyance that almost sounds like a growl. Chanting in druidic, she completes a complex gesture as she rises off the ground in a rush of wind. She quickly flies into the room and up, staying near the ceiling to avoid both grease and any more pit spells he might have in store.
With the grease not really helping, Valeria dismissed it as she repositioned to try and get a better sight on the enemy.
The half-troll sneers at Kavell before turning his attention to the flying Kasha. He starts trying to cast a spell...
...but unfortunately for him, he's so focused on not leaving himself open for attack that he loses concentration on his spell. He grumbles.
Despite the chance their foe would strike at him he rose from the floor where he had slipped. He wanted to remind the sword that unlike it, he could die from a stray claw or blade from rushing into things... but instead he took a deep breath, half rolled to the side and rose to his feet.
Perhaps he had hurried too much, he was on his feet and swinging at least.
Goti nimbly steps away from the swinging blade.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Frustrated at how her spells kept failing to have an effect, Valeria just went for something a bit more direct. Namely setting the bastard on fire with a snap of her fingers.
Goti's nose wrinkles as a small fire ignites on the hem of his robes. He quickly stomps it out.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Diving down into the pit, Kasha touches the Ronin on the shoulder, channeling the primal might of dire beasts into Friday.
Friday suddenly grows several feet in height, with his head sticking out of the hole in the floor.
Goti jumps back in surprise and starts weaving another spell...
...but it appears that Friday's sudden increase in size has ruined his concentration. The smell of alchemical acid bursts from his hands before it abruptly fades. "F&*!!"
Friday narrows his eyes at the half-troll as his gaze rises out of the pit.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The half-troll's eyes widen as Friday's spear strikes once--driving the wind from him, then twice, causing him to double over. Great gouts of black blood erupt from the wound in his gut.
He let out a little frustrated growl as he swung setting his feet properly this time.
This time, Suishen's blade finds its mark. The katana slices a gash in the half-troll's leg.
"HA HA! Well struck!" Suishen crows. "Now... do it again about three more times. This one's quite stubborn."
Goti growls and fumbles with something on his robes--it looks like an egg with arcane symbols on it. He takes it in his hand and throws it at his feet, shattering it.
A great cloud of grey, vision-obscuring fog bursts from the broken eggshell, flooding the room and spilling out into the corridor beyond. Kasha and Kavell see the shadowy figure of Goti grab onto what looks like a smoky tendril and start climbing up it!
"He's trying something! STOP HIM!" Suishen bellows.
Kavell's strike misses, the fog proving too thick to effectively stop the half-troll.
*SCHICK*
Friday, on the other hand, skewers the half-troll through the ribs. Goti spasms and dies, the smoky tendril collapsing into thin air in his dying hands.
Goti was carrying the following items:
--A masterwork heavy crossbow
--20 crossbow bolts
--1 scroll of animate dead
--1 wand carved from the femur of some creature
--1 dose of deathblade poison
--1 masterwork heavy pick
--1 potion of swirling violet liquid
When the half-troll dies, the pit created by his magic ceases to exist. Friday rockets up, tearing down the stone wall with a mighty *CRASH!*
"Well, that's one less problem. Sorry I wasn't able to help as much as I could there - fly or something distracted me when I tried to set him on fire. Also; no more grease in close quarters, I did not think that one through. A-anyway, let's see what magical gear this guy's got."
"I feel like I should know what the potion is, there's something in there that's throwing me off. The wand's one of command undead, would've been useful before to get those zombies out of the way."
”... ow.” Friday lets out as his new height doesn’t play well with the confines of the room.
Dodging falling debris as Friday smashes into the ceiling, Kasha touches him lightly on the shoulder, siphoning off the additional power.
”Thank you. My apologies.” he says after returning to his normal height.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Not your fault." Kasha says with a grin.
Picking up the potion, she studies it for a moment, popping the cork and inhaling it deeply. "The potion amplifies one's sense of self and presence and with it, abilities that draw from that." she says, handing it to Valeria.
When the dust settles, the party takes stock of the room they're in.
Boxes and sacks lie neatly stacked in this chamber. Shelves holding orderly bins have been built into the walls. A wooden locker stands beneath the shelves. Despite the seeming order to this room, a charnel reek underlies the place--perhaps from the dead half-troll in the room.
A more thorough search of the room reveals the following items:
--3 bottles of Korvosan wine worth about 20 GP each
--2 bottles of sake imported from Minkai worth 50 GP each
--A quantity of Tian spices worth a total of 40 GP
Stairs descend to a pair of alcoves flanking an ornate double door. Standing in each alcove is a bronze statue depicting a warrior dressed in the ornate garb and armor of a warrior of distant Tian Xia. Beneath their broad helmets, the statues wear demonic face masks with snarling fanged maws, while their hands clutch gracefully curved swords in poses of battle.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
”We have found the wine cellar,” Friday sends to Zaiobe as they rummage through the room.
As they head further down Friday takes in the ornate statues, in awe as he walks past.
As they moved down, Valeria stowed her staff and readied her crossbow. "Just a warning, guys; I'm nearly out of spells today."
"Hopefully they're nearly out of fools to throw at us."
"I've still got some of my strongest spells left. Just stay close." Kasha says taking in the grandiose statues and noting the contents of the cellar.
The doors open, and the party steps through.
The interior of the chamber beyond is remarkably tall--the ceiling extends 60 feet high, tapering to a point like a pyramid. Murals are painted on the four walls--one of a star-filled sky of colours to the north, one of a serene pastoral landscape to the east, one of two serpentine dragons intertwining with each other to the west and one of an ethereal forest glade to the south. Emerging from the southern wall is a waterfall, cascading down into a large stone basin filled with ruby-coloured koi fish.
Kneeling by the waterfall is a large, bird-like figure, wearing dark blue robes. They stare intently at the pool for a moment before one of their talons snaps out and snatches up one of the koi in the pool. It pops the hapless fish into their mouth and swallows it with a few jerky motions.
Their eyes snap up when the party enters the room. Then their eyes narrow in recognition.
"You."
Now we found the bird jackass that was hanging out with your jackass ex. One moment.
Friday begins approaching the bird.