Friar casts Detect Magic on the skeletal warriors and the spellcaster and we take all magical items and weapons/armors/shields from them. Then if Friar agrees, we head to the Eastern Door since we've checked out North and South already, with Vug bow in hand.
If he detects danger like last time, same thing as before, we kick in doors and rush in!
Valgrim hears nothing, so you kick in the door anyway.
The walls of this chamber are carved to depict an army of undead soldiers
engaged in the ruin and destruction of a city of helpless men, women, and children. Buildings burn, blood washes the streets, and dark thunderclouds boil in the skies above. Above them all, directing the army, is an enormous figure dressed in a tattered dark gray robe. His visage is only remotely humanoid, a seething mass of worms in the mocking shape of a face, with vast, cavernous sockets for eyes.
There is nothing else of interest here (except the stairs that lead out of the ziggurat), so you move on to the western door.
The walls of this chamber are carved to depict an army of armored soldiers engaged in the ruin and destruction of a city of helpless men, women, and children. Buildings burn, blood washes the streets, and dark thunderclouds boil in the skies above. Above them all, directing the army, is an enormous figure dressed in plate mail. His face is cold and cruel, but also quite handsome. He wields an exotic polearm that combines the features of a pick, an axe, and a mace.
There is another exit here but not much else. With this you have cleared the upper level, and there is nowhere to go but down.
Vug gives Valgrim her potion of Arcane Eye, which Valgrim promptly drinks, and we send the sensor down into the hole to the floor of the pit, if applicable and anywhere else it can go. Valgrim can see with Darkvision and he has See Invisibility on as well. Duration = 12 minutes.
You create an invisible magical sensor that sends you visual information. You can create the arcane eye at any point you can see, but it can then travel outside your line of sight without hindrance. An arcane eye travels at 30 feet per round (300 feet per minute) if viewing an area ahead as a human would (primarily looking at the floor) or 10 feet per round (100 feet per minute) if examining the ceiling and walls as well as the floor ahead. It sees exactly as you would see if you were there.
The eye can travel in any direction as long as the spell lasts. Solid barriers block its passage, but it can pass through a hole or space as small as 1 inch in diameter. The eye can't enter another plane of existence, even through a gate or similar magical portal.
You must concentrate to use an arcane eye. If you do not concentrate, the eye is inert until you again concentrate.
Down the hole an immense shaft descends a very very long way. The shaft is pocked with tunnels that seem to form a gigantic network peopled with some sort of great wormlike creatures. But you soon have to give up exploring the tunnels and concentrate on the shaft itself.
On the bottom there are some rooms in cut stone. Doors block your way in some directions but you manage to scout a few rooms. The room where the shaft emerges is full of worms crawling all over the floor.
A few of the rooms contain a number of dead bodies but they don't seem to be animate, but another is a veritable sea of worms. Three wormcallers levitate above it.
Valgrim relays the troubling information to the party, especially the sea of worms, as well as the tunnels. He then leads the party back over the ziggurat wall and scouts for a safe location away from the troll tracks he saw earlier:
Satisfied that the location is safe, Valgrim tells the party to watch out for dangers while he concentrates for 10 minutes and casts Hide Campsite on the area, making it appear part of the jungle terrain for 20 hours, so we can rest and level.
School illusion (glamer); Level druid 3, ranger 2
Casting Time 10 minutes
Components V, S, M (a sprig of mistletoe, and a vial of quicksilver)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area one 20-ft. cube
Duration 2 hours/level (D)
Saving Throw Will disbelief (if interacted with); Spell Resistance no
You make the area around a campsite appear to be a thicket of untouched and forbidding foliage, or some other unwelcoming feature matching the surrounding terrain. Creatures outside the area cannot sense any activity going on inside the area—they cannot smell campfires or cooking food, they cannot hear conversation, loud noises, or spells being cast, and they cannot even feel heat or a rush of wind coming from the area. Those inside the area can see out normally. Once a creature steps into the area of the spell, it can see everything in and around the area normally.
"When we go back in, we will need to explore shafts to make sure we are not attacked on way back up if we need to retreat. We may need flight for shaft and sea of worms. We will also need to hit the wormcallers quick and hard. I fear what may live in the sea. Any other thoughts?"
You are able to cover your tracks and campsite quite efficiently. Still, I'll need a watch order.
Valgrim relays the information re: the worm nagas to the party. "What do we know about the enemy?"
As for watch, Valgrim knows no one in the party has his keen senses, especially eyesight, and given how dangerous the surroundings are, he volunteers to stay up the whole night to keep watch and avoid being surprised while we sleep. In addition, his Endurance feat assists him greatly. He just asks Friar to prepare a spell to relieve him of any fatigue in the morning (i.e. Lesser Restoration). Furthermore, Valgrim only needs an hour in the morning to prepare his spells unlike the rest of the spellcasters.
Bubba suggests that while one super-dwarf is a great defense, a second set of eyes and ears is generally a good idea. Even if Valgrim wants to stay up through the night, the rest of the group could rotate through their watches.
Bubba will perform a Soothing Performance once everyone's in camp to heal everyone and another in the morning to address Valgrim's fatigue. That way, Friar's Lesser Restoration is available next time I get hit with the idiotstick.
Vulcan wracks his brain about worm nagas before settling down to sleep. He will take the second tandem shift alongside the ever vigilant Valgrim.
Worm nagas are the result of Kyuss's weird experiments as he fused powerful spellcasters with Kyuss worms. They are living creatures, which is rare among the servants of Kyuss.
They are basically nagas, sorcerers that also can cast cleric spells, and have a Feeblemind gaze.
Now for your sleeping arrangements, please.
Valgrim is up all night marching around the campsite, eyes and ears perked for trouble. Friar is with me during first 2-hour shift so he can sleep afterwards; Vulcan is with me during second shift; then Vug during third and then Bubba during final shift.
The first thing you notice is that someone or something dispels your Hide Campsite spell. Suddenly you feel very exposed, but you can't see anything.
Valgrim and Vulcan can roll for initiative in the first round. You can automatically rouse the others for the second round, so the rest of you can roll too, but you won't get to act in the first round.
Init:
(I'm assuming Vug's mutagen has worn off, but that she brewed a new one before bed.)
Init
25 uses of bardic performance remain
93 hp
It seems that Valgrim and Vulcan won initiative. Still, you can't see anything, but you can act as you like.
Valgrim yells out, "Friends awaken, my aura of concealment has been dispelled! To arms!" He rages and readies an action to Vital Strike anything that appears within reach or within 40' movement.
Grasping the rod at his hip Vulcan casts a brief spell that summons forth a billowing dense fog radiating from him to envelop the camp.
As the fog billows forth, he starts another chant, calling forth 3 scintillating balls of electricity, their presence shrouded in the mist, charging the air around them as he allows his senses to seek a target.
Soon after Vulcan shrouds you in fog the fog shifts character. It's suddenly cloying and burns the skin. You all take 4 points of acid damage and movement is reduced by half, in addition to the impediments to sight. Vulcan still can see just fine, but there is still no enemy within sight.
Valgrim, Vulcan and those of you who beat a 16 initiative can act.
From the ground where he hasn't been able to do more than open his eyes and feel the acid burn, "Acid Fog! It changed your spell to acid!?"
Valgrim double moves 40' North trying to get out of the Acid Fog.
Unharmed by the caustic fog, Feres begins a prayer to the Dawnflower to summon divine aid.
Vug is still in a sleepy fog, so she doesn't get to act yet.
Vulcan delays, as Feres starts to pray for divine aid and Valgrim runs out of the fog.
Then a shadowy figure comes flapping down from a nearby tree. It's medium-sized, has a horrible frog-like visage and batlike wings, and seems to be covered in some sort of slime, which smells horrible.
It grasps Valgrim in one of its claws for 38 points of damage (and 11 acid).
The good news is that this is obviously an evil outsider.
Those of you still in the fog take another 7 points of acid damage. Then you are all up.
Vulcan summons a gust of wind that disperses the acidic fog, then sends all three balls of lightning after the creature.
Bubba begins inspiring courage once he gets the cobwebs of sleep out of his head, moving to stand and study the creature.
Realizing that the creature hits hard and he might not last too long, Valgrim yells, "You picked the wrong party to f*ck with! You should have left us alone sleeping!" He then delays and waits for Bubba's Haste, then rages, power attacks, takes a 5' step if necessary, and full-attacks the demodand!
Vug is still out of bombs, so she throws a blob of protoplasm at the monster that turns into an ankylosaur.
Ankylosaur attack:
Fort DC 23 save or be dazed for 1 round
Feres completes his spell and orbs of light wink into existence 30 ft away from the fiendish creature.
Bolstered by Bubba's inspiring speech, the four lantern archons each fire two beams of light at the fiendish creature.
As his celestial allies attack the fiend, Feres steps up behind Valgrim. The stout priest touches the dwarf's shoulder as he offers a prayer to the Healing Flame to mend his friend's wounds.
"Thank you, Padre, as always, savin' me bacon!"
Valgrim cuts deeply into the monster, and it reels a bit. Unfortunately Vulcan's balls do not manage to penetrate its defenses, but the archons do some damage.
Sorely wounded, the monster decides to take Valgrim with it, slashing viciously with claws and teeth for 131 points of damage and 14 acid.
Then you are up again.
The lantern archons keep their same distance as they again fire their light rays at the fiendish creature.
Feres calls upon the blessings of the Healing Flame again and imbues Valgrim's fallen form with healing energies in an effort to restore the dwarf to life.
Bubba continues his inspiration and casts slow on the creature.