Eugeni rests as much as he can over the next day, but he can't get his dead friends out his mind. By the time everyone is ready to head back into Thistletop, he is itching to finish what they started. "Now that we know the huge threats are out of the way, maybe we should explore the first level some more before we head back into the depths," he suggests to the others.
The party camped in solemn silence the whole day. Eugeni is the first to break the quiet the following day with his suggestion, and the group prepares themselves and heads back down into the depths, leaving Orik and Shalelu to cover the surface level so that nothing threatened them from above.
Orik tells them before they head down that the beast has been keeping to the northeastern part of the upper level in the unfinished chambers. The group returns down the stairs and makes their way that direction. After opening the door at the end of the hall away from the "chapel" of Lamashtu, they are greeted once again with the light of the morning sun, surprisingly enough. The floor of this cavern seems strangely polished and smooth. To the east, a thick curtain of vines and nettles hangs down over a wide opening overlooking the Varisian Gulf.
Beside the opening, clinging to the ceiling, is a dark blue creature that has a conical body covered in angry red eyes and numerous tentacles, two of which are longer than the rest.
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"Here it is guys! Some...squid..thingy..." he finishes lamely. Eugeni raises his bow and fires two arrows at the strange-looking creature. What in the hell is that thing? I sure hope it can be damaged by arrows...
Whilst the party camps in solemn silence, Morythine slips away. Finding a deserted place upon Thistletop, he carefully lays out the wicked implements discovered below. After spending some time just admiring the tools, he sets them gently to work on his flesh, mimicking the macabre symbols on his few pages of the Umbral Leaves . Acting on instinct rather than any understanding of the holy text of Zon-Kuthon, this strange ritual heals rather than harms the dhampir. After a time he arranges his torn clothing to make sure the cuts are not visible and returns to his companions.
Faced with a new beast, Morythine moves cautiously past the others, quarterstaff gripped in both hands, and waits to see if the creature will move into attack.
Zoli takes one look at the beast and decides shes best off hanging back for now. "Yeah, whatever it is...I don't know how close to it I want to get, if I can help it. Looks grabby!"
She rubs her lucky Thassilonion button, looks for an opening between her companions, and (despite their blocking some of her view) manages to smack the tentacled creature with a slingstone.
With a satisfied nod, she reloads her sling
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HP 25/25
Luck 7/8
Panache 4/4
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs Luck (round 1/3) +2 to hit, dam, saves, & all skill rolls
Xamarath mutters at the unsightly creature and sends a trio of arcane bolts flying into its form, each exploding with a loud, wet thud as it impacts.
Thal and Sir Bearington move quickly towards the beast and attack it. Thal swings his greatsword in sequence with his bear’s toothy, slobbery maw, and both find their mark, slashing and tearing at the creature.
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After the hefty pile of damage the group of adventurers laid out against the thing, Thal's final charge was merely a formality to end the creatures existence.
Nobody seems to have a clue as to what the thing is, but at least the strange looking monstrosity is dead.
Eugeni stops over goblin baby. "Shit," he mutters. He halfway raises his bow, but can't bring himself to slay an infant. He picks it up gingerly, peering between its legs to check if its a boy or girl.
It is a baby goblin girl, and apparently quite hungry judging by the way it keeps snapping it's jaws at Eugeni's hands.
Eugeni holds the little goblin girl out away from him by the scruff of her neck, so she can't bite him. "Anyone got any meat? Would feeding her pieces of her relatives be wrong?"
"Yes, it would be. Let us feed it part of that creature we just killed. It didn't look poisonous." Thal goes back and seeks out the tentacled creature to cut it up for meat for the little baby.
Eugeni holds the gobling steady while Thal shoves strips of cave squid into its little gnashing jaws. The young aasimar's face takes on a strange expression as he considers the surreal nature of the scene. "I guess we should name her. Are you ready to be a daddy with me? Double daddies?" Eugeni asks Thal.
"Don't look at me!" Zoli says. "We need to keep this poor thing alive and get her to the temple. Father Zantus will be able to take care of her, or find someone to help."
"I agree with the little one. Let the priests raise her. I am a chaser of Giants.. I do not have time nor patience to raise a little child. Let the priest raise this goblin child into something useful, lest it die upon the sword as its parents and kin have." Thal pauses to sniff the meat momentarily, and puts a small piece of the raw flesh in his own mouth to test its flavor, before continuing to feed the gluttonous child. "But until we reach the priest, we will ensure the child is taken care of."
Despite his large, masculine size, Thal is surprisingly tender and gentle with the child. Even Sir Bearington moves up to sniff the baby, who then attempts to take a chunk out of the bear's nose.
Morythine can't help but be struck by the compassion his friends pay to the goblin babe - the parallels to his own narrative as a creature whose assumed wickedness inevitably palls his interactions with others are unmistakeable.
Still, he keeps a safe distance from the biting little fiend.
"Yeah, it's probably better if we don't raise it as a monster murder hobo...What are we going to do with her while we clear out the basement?" the warpriest asks his companions. "What's her name anyway? Thistle?"
Zoli nods. "Thistle is a lovely name."
After a moment's thought she adds, "Perhaps Orik and Shalelu can take care of Thistle until we're done. Let's ask them and then head back down."
Orik and Shalelu agree to watch over "Thistle" until the party returns to the surface, though it is clear that Shalelu is against the idea. As such, Orik is left holding the infantile goblin while the adventurers return to the lower level of the island.
The group moves through the chambers with no trouble, eventually passing the point of Baern's last stand. In the L-shaped room beyond, they look upon the set of double stone doors framed by carvings of skeletons clutching a skull between them. Thal boldly strides forward and opens them, revealing the chamber beyond.
Four pillars support the domed ceiling of this room. Several dark alcoves containing standing sarcophagi grace the walls, and a statue of a stern man wielding a glaive and holding a book stands in the southern part of the chamber. The identity of the man depicted in the statue and several carvings in the walls remains a mystery.
As the group makes their way inside, Zoli quickly spots a gentle breeze moving a cobweb beside the middle sarcophagus on the western wall, and after a moments investigation, realizes that it is in fact a secret passage! However, out of the corner of her eye, she catches an odd movement from her right, headed towards Eugeni.
Thal and Morythine spot the oddities as well, namely one headed directly for the dhampir.
The two near Eugeni reach out both their inky black hands and take hold of the unaware Eugeni, and immediately he feels his body weaken. Morythine, however, is able to nimbly dodge the things grasp.
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"Eeeep! blurts out Morythine as a shadow comes to life and attacks him. He thrashes back with his quarterstaff, unsure whether simple wood can harm the thing. Such concerns are beside the point, as his wild thrust gets nowhere near the swift monster.
Zoli calls out, "Oh no! My poppa read me a play about these when I was just a kid-- they're Shadows. Regular weapons won't affect them at all!"
With that she drops the scimitar Baern made her and draws Ripnugget's sword. She steps close to one of the Shadows assailing Eugeni and (sounding bolder than she feels) declares, "Listen here, shadow! If you want to harm Eugeni you have to get through me first!!"
HP 25/25
STR 15/15
Luck 7/8
Panache 4/4
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs none
"What do you mean, cannot be harmed by normal weapons? What weapons harm them, then? Speak clearly!"
"Eeeep! blurts out Morythine as a shadow comes to life and attacks him. He thrashes back with his quarterstaff, unsure whether simple wood can harm the thing. Such concerns are beside the point, as his wild thrust gets nowhere near the swift monster.
Zoli calls out, "Oh no! My poppa read me a play about these when I was just a kid-- they're Shadows. Regular weapons won't affect them at all!"
With that she drops the scimitar Baern made her and draws Ripnugget's sword. She steps close to one of the Shadows assailing Eugeni and (sounding bolder than she feels) declares, "Listen here, shadow! If you want to harm Eugeni you have to get through me first!!"
"What do you mean, cannot be harmed by normal weapons? What weapons harm them, then? Speak clearly!"
The shadows continue their assault of the heroes they had already begun attacking, though this time, Eugeni is more prepared. He is able to evade one of them, but one still places a shadowy claw inside his chest, sapping him of more of his strength.
Morythine, meanwhile, continues to easily dodge the things clutches. This was precisely the style of combat he was accustomed to, and was excelling at thwarting the shadow's attacks.
After their attacks, two of the creatures seem to meld into the floor, their shadowy forms seeming to become one with it's smooth stone surface.
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Eugeni whips Nualia's bastard sword from its sheathe, and gripping it in two hands he calls on the power of Erastil. Time for some help big guy. I feel so weak already, I'm gonna die if you don't throw me a bone here. Despite the adrenaline and terror pumping through his veins, the aasimar smiles as his blade sparkles a verdant forest green color. With a wordless battle cry, the dog-man swings his magical sword at the shadow. He hits the undead horror, but his blade passes right through it, barely disrupting its form. "This is going to suck..." he mutters.
/2 = 3 damage :(
Zoli steps closer to the most visible Shadow and slices into her with Ripnugget's magical sword. While it doesn't do much, she smiles a bit to see that it can in fact harm it.
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/2 =3
HP 25/25
STR 15/15
Luck 6/8
Panache 4/4
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs none
Regular weapons won't affect them at all!
Morythine snarls in frustration at the news, and clutches his staff harder.
Muttering words he does not understand and tracing one finger over a skull like scrape he cut into his flesh the day before, dark energies flicker over his weapon. The distraction affords the shadow he faces another attack, but he's willing to risk it. After all, he's been excelling at avoiding his foes attacks until now, and this still proves true.
”Die, shadow-things!” Thal infuses his mount with primal energy, and Sir Bearington moves towards the shadow near Mory and lashes out at it with its magically-enhanced teeth and claws. It rips away at the shadow’s essence until the shadow dissipates into nothingness.
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Eugeni whips Nualia's bastard sword from its sheathe, and gripping it in two hands he calls on the power of Erastil. Time for some help big guy. I feel so weak already, I'm gonna die if you don't throw me a bone here. Despite the adrenaline and terror pumping through his veins, the aasimar smiles as his blade sparkles a verdant forest green color. With a wordless battle cry, the dog-man swings his magical sword at the shadow. He hits the undead horror, but his blade passes right through it, barely disrupting its form. "This is going to suck..." he mutters.
Zoli steps closer to the most visible Shadow and slices into her with Ripnugget's magical sword. While it doesn't do much, she smiles a bit to see that it can in fact harm it.
Morythine snarls in frustration at the news, and clutches his staff harder.
Muttering words he does not understand and tracing one finger over a skull like scrape he cut into his flesh the day before, dark energies flicker over his weapon. The distraction affords the shadow he faces another attack, but he's willing to risk it. After all, he's been excelling at avoiding his foes attacks until now, and this still proves true.
”Die, shadow-things!” Thal infuses his mount with primal energy, and Sir Bearington moves towards the shadow near Mory and lashes out at it with its magically-enhanced teeth.
Not wasting time for his usual banter, Xamarath lets loose a series of bolts of energy, each one impacting the visible shadow with more force than the physical blows seemed to. By the time the third blast strikes the thing, it has been obliterated into nothingness.
The things partially emerge from the floor to strike out at the mortals in their chamber once again. Morythine continues to prove too nimble of a target, but Eugeni is quickly succumbing to their chill touch.
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Eugeni whirls and swings the bastard sword at the shadow which emerges from the floor. "I can't take much more of this guys!" His swing is weak, as if he can barely lift the blade and it comes nowhere near the shadow. Oh gods...is this it? Is this how I die?
Zoli cries out. It's painfully clear from the panic on her face that she already has visions of another friend dying.
She tries to step into his position, and readies herself to swing at it when it next pops out of the floor in search of prey.
____________________
HP 25/25
STR 15/15
Luck 6/8
Panache 4/4 (-1 if gets to parry)
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs luck (round ⅔): +2 to hit, damage, skill rolls
Morythine waits for the shadow to emerge from the ground, then thrashes down with his staff. Unfortunately his lunge is too premature, as the end of his staff cracks against the stone and sends splinters flying.
Eugeni stumbles back from the shadows after his failed attack.
Thal roars along with his bear (who slobbers as much as he roars) and lunges at the shadow that had attacked Eugeni. With Thal’s assistance, Bearington rips into the shadow’s essence.
__________________________________
Eugeni whirls and swings the bastard sword at the shadow which emerges from the floor. "I can't take much more of this guys!" His swing is weak, as if he can barely lift the blade and it comes nowhere near the shadow. Oh gods...is this it? Is this how I die?
"Eugeni, retreat!" Zoli cries out. It's painfully clear from the panic on her face that she already has visions of another friend dying.
She tries to step into his position, and readies herself to swing at it when it next pops out of the floor in search of prey.
Eugeni stumbles back from the shadows after his failed attack.
Thal roars along with his bear (who slobbers as much as he roars) and lunges at the shadow that had attacked Eugeni. With Thal’s assistance, Bearington rips into the shadow’s essence.
The shadows lash out again, but Morythine continues to dodge the one's attacks and the other appears uncertain who to strike now that it's prey had fled. They then phase back into the floor.
__________
Zoli crouches over the spot where she suspects the shadow will return. She has a few tense moments, as a flicker to the left makes her think it has moved, but when it actually appears she's ready: cleaving it from top to bottom as it slides out of the ground. "Ha! One done, one to go!"
She allows herself a brief sigh of relief before glancing over toward Morythene.
___________________
HP 25/25
STR 15/15
Luck 6/8
Panache 4/4 (-1 if gets to parry)
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs luck (round 3/3): +2 to hit, damage, skill rolls
Morythine repeats Zoli's tactics, but again misjudges where and when the shadow will emerge.
With the shadow near him dead, Thal directs Sir Bearington to flank the last shadow with Mory and has his bear ready to attack the creature as soon as it appears.
____________________________________
Zoli crouches over the spot where she suspects the shadow will return. She has a few tense moments, as a flicker to the left makes her think it has moved, but when it actually appears she's ready.
With the shadow near him dead, Thal directs Sir Bearington to flank the last shadow with Mory and has his bear ready to attack the creature as soon as it appears.
The two shadows move to surround the mage, who they have learned can harm them at will. When the one tries to attack, Zoli's blade finishes it off: cleaving it from top to bottom as it slides out of the ground. "Ha! One done, one to go!".
She allows herself a brief sigh of relief before glancing over toward Morythene.
Morythine repeats Zoli's tactics, but again misjudges where and when the shadow will emerge.
Xamarath sees the shadows approaching, and noting Zoli was able to dispatch the one, he focuses on the other. The moment it reveals itself, he unleashes blast after blast of arcane energy into the thing.
It thrusts it's claw deep into the wizard's chest, finding itself a less agile target. Xamarath visibly pales at the touch.
__________
Zoli sees what she hopes is the final shadow pop out of the floor in front of Xamarath and drain him. She hustles over to take Xamarath's place and -- as Sir Bearington and his reckless son approach from the opposite side -- she attempts to use the distraction of the bear to finish the shadow off.
Unfortunately, the shadow sees her coming and ducks back and further into the floor, causing her sword to connect with nothing but air.
HP 25/25
STR 15/15
Luck 6/8
Panache 4/4 (-1 if gets to parry)
Charmed Life 3/3
Buffs none
Sir Bearington roars (And slobbers), and Thal directs the duo to the shadow, chasing it further and Sir Bearington mauls the essence out of the annoying creature. "Back unto death, creature!"
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