Kwin shakes his head in ongoing astonishment at Torin's sharp eyes. But then as the surroundings flicker and shift, he leaps back into a crouching defensive position, uchigatana out and readied.
"What the devil?" he asks, relaxing only slightly as the phantasm fades.
Koshukhep, too, had raised his flail when the apparitions appeared, but lowered it slowly as it became apparent that the spirits were not aware of them. He bowed respectfully as the ghostly scene faded. "First at the gates, now this. Surely this cannot be the work of a necromancer. Perhaps a true curse lies over this place," he said uneasily, glancing sideways at the charm he had given Kwin. "What do you make of it?"
After yet another... haunting?... and the others' reactions and questions, Izra walked over to Torin and raised an interrogative eyebrow, while pointing at the ring in the dwarf's fingers.
Without touching it, she recognized right away that it had to carry an enchantment, though she couldn't figure out exactly what kind of enchantment it would be. She wasn't trained in magical identification, after all. Still, all of this was beginning to make a kind of twisted sense.
"I think," she said, "that the ring is the source of the haunting we just witnessed. I suspect, friend Torin, that the haunting will follow the wearer - you? - until it is given to someone as a gesture of love. I do not know if it must be romantic love, or another sort, but it must be love. That, I think, should break the haunt forever." Then she shrugged, "But that is only a hunch."
Ahmed looks sadly at the ring, wondering where Suri might be, and how long it will take her to find them once again. "The spirits here are indeed restless," he agrees, "We must at least attempt to free them from their cycle."
Djehuti nods at Izra's deduction as he peers at the ring. "The ring itself is enchanted to protect one from physical attacks. I suspect the man who had it made wanted to keep his beloved from harm."
"A magic ring with built in spooks? I imagine someone might pay a pretty penny for such as this."
Kwin shivers involuntarily. "I can't imagine who."
"I would guess that the spooks came later, once the ring failed to serve its purpose. Though I wonder if it was lost or stolen, given how easily we found it."
"Perhaps you should hold onto it without wearing it, for now, Torin. I may know of someone who would have a use for it - and in a way that might dispel the haunting, in fact. But... that can wait. Shall we move onward?"
Determined to clear the western side of the Mansion, the Band of the Black Fire enter the garden.
The western side of the estate forms an L-shaped yard mostly given to sand, sun-dried earth, and the ancient husks of dead trees. Stone benches line the walls of the yard, and a large tiled pool sits in the southwest corner, dried and partially filled with sand. A short flight of steps leads between a pair of pillars to a set of stone doors in the west side of the house. At the north end of the yard stands a squat stone building with columns at every corner.
As the Band is getting their bearings, suddenly an elephantine-sized centipede emerges from the dried, sandy pool.
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Centipede: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (8) + 0 = 8
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Torin fires a couple of arrows at the beast. The first punches through the carapace, but the second ricochets off.
"So, they want to throw giants at us?" Ahmed's eyes blaze as he stares at the creature. "Two can play at that game." Walking up to Koshu, Ahmed begins to wave his arms and chant softly. Small wisps of fire leave his hands and circle Koshu, who begins to grow larger.
Startled, Kwin takes an involuntary step back, whips out his dagger, and hurls it at the beast.
The dagger zips right past the monstrosity and clatters harmlessly to the floor.
"Be careful. These creatures are venomous and are known to use their tails to slap with." That said, Djehuti raises his bow and fires at the monstrous vermin.
The clang of bows from Djehuti and Torin, fill the air. And the arrows sink deep into the monstrous centipede's armor. While Kwin lets loose a dagger that unfortunately whizzes on by.
Centipede 12
The Whiptail Centipede lurches towards Torin, eyeing him as the most compact morsel, and bites down on the dwarf. The crunch of its jaws rips a portion of the dwarf's skin to tatters. And that would have been bad enough. But then the creature's insidious poison manages to penetrate even his considerable dwarven toughness.
The poison moves through the dwarf quickly, robbing him of his adroitness.
Izra's eyes went round, seeing the massive damage the beast did to Torin. And she was pretty sure it hadn't done its worst. She considered pulling out her wand to heal the dwarf, but realized that, even if she did, the wand's magic wasn't strong enough to heal all of the damage fast enough. If that centipede hit him again...
Stop it, she shook off the thought, and looked over Torin with the dispassionate eye of a trained healer. Torin wasn't going to die - not yet. Especially not if they killed the thing, first. Face looking grim, she took a step back, and raised her crossbow.
Seeing her shot only glance along the beast's armor, she didn't bother to reload. Instead, Izra drew out her healing wand, and looked for a safe opportunity to move forward and help her injured friend.
Seeing how the thing tore into his friend -- and not having been keen on getting close to it in the first place -- Kwin takes another step back as he unships and readies his bow.
Grievously wounded and reeling from the poison coursing in his veins, Torin bravely runs away back into the house.
Seeing the way the monster had torn into Torin, Djehuti takes a step back and shouts at the monster loudly enough to make dust puff off the walls and ground.
"Vermin are tiresome - they do not know when to scurry away," Koshukhep boomed. Nearly tall enough now to look into the windows on the second floor, he stalked the centipede with no fear - perhaps foolishly so, having seen what it could do, but Koshu was not one to back down merely because his opponent could deal out injury. Or, as Kwin might put it, due to wisdom.
Concerned that the beast would throw itself on his companions, he stepped forward, claws unsheathed. "Come then, and be doomed," he growled, the basso sound reverberating in the air. He lashed out, his oversized arms swift as snakes striking.
The giant centipede lets out a guttural roar of pain from all the attacks it sustained. But it still has some fight left, and as such it decides to take a snap at Koshukhep.
Seeing that none of the others are retreating, Torin curses and steps back outside to fire an arrow, to little effect.
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Djehuti, seeing that his spell had little effect, draws and fires another arrow at the huge monster.
Izra, a bit nervous at the sight of the damage the centipede was dishing out, triggered her healing wand and slipped forward to touch Koshu's leg.
Unfortunately, her nervousness apparently led to her removing the wand before it could fully activate, and there wasn't much healing passed to the big Catfolk.
Koshukhep was pleased that the creature hadn't tried to lash out at anyone else, but his pleasure was tempered by the mauling the vermin had given him. His pride stinging almost as much as the poison in his veins, he slashed at it again...
...but his slowed reflexes cost him his success.
"The rest of you might consider backing away," he growled grudgingly, not budging from the spot himself.
7 hps
5 Dex dmg, rnd 2/6
AC 17
Kwin casts a worried glance towards his injured compatriots while he takes a step to the side and nocks another arrow.
A series of well placed bow shots and a final, desperate slash from the catfolk ranger finally brings down the towering scorpion.
Even before the bug had fallen, Izra was heading for Torin, digging into the satchel at her waist. She tossed a vial of purple liquid at Ahmed as she ran. "Make Koshu drink that!"
She didn't pause as she reached Torin, drenching the dwarf's wounds with a packet of green dust that she pulled from the same satchel, and practically forcing a foul-smelling pill into his mouth. "Swallow that, and be ready to vomit."
She stood back, and waited.
Torin stops shaking as the poison neutralizes. He still feels, weak and uncoordinated, but he's not getting worse.
Ahmed easily catches the antitoxin and gets it to Koshukhep.
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Djehuti frowns. "We may want to consider returning to the city to more properly outfit ourselves." He gestures at the monstrous centipede's corpse. "If there is another one of those and we face it unprepared and already wounded it will go much worse for us."
"You will hear no argument from me, friend Djehuti. Ah, thank you, esteemed friends." The enormous catfolk fumbled awkwardly with the vial Ahmed had given him, trying not to drop it into his gaping mouth along with its contents, but the poison in his veins made his fingers feel numb and his teeth feel fuzzy.
Whew!
Having managed to swallow the fizzing potion, Koshu straightened as the burning sensation (and nasty taste) faded, but the poison had still left him weakened and less coordinated than he had been. He dropped the vial, grimacing at his own clumsiness, and shook his tingling paws.
All the same, he took advantage of his temporary great height to peek in the windows of the Pentheru estate's second floor - just in case.
"How long was it they said we had to clear this lot?" he asked.
"Screw the schedule," Kwin growls as he retrieves his dagger. "We get it done when we get it done."
He gives Koshukhep a firm look, but his concern shows through. "It's not worth any of us getting killed."
Izra didn't correct Kwin. In the eyes of the church - or at least the Ruby Prince - getting the Necropolis explored was worth some of the explorers getting killed. Just not any of us, she thought with a grim smile.
"We have cleared the grounds," she said, instead. "With a couple of day' rest and proper refit - and more smashing weapons, perhaps - we should be ready for the interior."
Satisfied that Torin was in no further danger from the poison, she moved to check on Koshu.
"There is no set schedule," she said, answering Koshu's question, "we may take as long as we need. We just will not have our names returned to the draw for new locations until we have cleared this one. Those who are greedy enough to push themselves beyond their limits, so as to get their names into the draw again and again... we will catch them up... one way or another."
The Band of the Black Fire decides to come back in a few days after they've recovered. And so they leave the House of Pentheru.
Torin takes the pill and starts to retch,
Back at the inn, Torin spends the next several days in bed.
Koshu also reluctantly remained at rest, but his dismay at his convalescence was mitigated by the prodigious amount of food he bought to stuff his face with in the meantime. Just to keep up his strength, of course.
He also made offerings to the Old Gods, and especially Sekhmet.
During their restorative stay at the inn, Djehuti helps the party by going shopping.
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Safely back in town, Izra did her best to tend to Torin and Koshu's injuries. She gave Djehuti and Kwin (who had insisted that he would be fine, and wouldn't be confined to bed) a list of items to fetch for her in the market, including a silvered mace she had seen the head of which was engraved with a crude symbol of Pharasma's spiral. It had seemed old, which appealed to her.
Most of her share of the items looted from their last trip was spent in purchasing these things, but she considered the money well invested. She was not going to see these people die while helping to fulfill her vows - not if she could help it.
While the others shopped and convalesced, Izra mixed herbs, changed compresses, and went about the near-mindless tasks required to bring her companions back to health. This left her mind free to concentrate on what they had found so far, and what their discoveries might mean.
Worry shows on Kwin's face as he checks on Torin several times during the dwarf's recuperation. Particularly obvious thanks to the kitsune having morphed back to human alterform, even his contrived wisecracks and cavalier attitude can't hide his concern.
He looks in on his catfolk friend every bit as often, but between Koshukhep's lesser injuries and sheer muscular bulk, the wisecracks directed at him don't have to be forced.
Kwin himself mostly takes it easy as his stamina slowly recovers. He does cruise the market and merchant shops with Djehuti, checking items off Izra's list and picking up a few things for himself as well. Too, he spends some time working on the parry-and-riposte he'd so badly mangled earlier. "Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust..."
While recovering at the Tooth & Hookah, the band hears some interesting rumors about Falto, the leader of The Cryptfinders. Itseems he was falling on hard times. After his false boasting the other night, which you exposed, he had a big falling out with his band. The other members have apparently quit leaving him scrambling to recruit new blood.
A day after that, a Qadiran woman, who you recognize as being a former Cryptfinder arrives at the Tooth and Hookah.
"It is urgent that I speak with the Band of Black Fire. I must warn them."
Farhan points her in the direction of any available Band members.
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Izra, who had brought down a tray of dishes (taking advantage of the chance to get out and stretch her legs a bit), eventually was identified as the only member of the ggroup in the common room.
"How may I assist you?"