"Okay, that's not good," Kwin opined with a frown.
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Suri nods to Izra. "That may explain the form of the Marid." She replies, furring her brow. "Although if it was the servant of something else, it seems odd that it would hide here." She shrugs, turning to Ahmed.
For every bit of her concern, her counterpart matched and exceeded with excitement. "If there's a powerful wizard here," he remarks, almost vibrating with excitement, "Perhaps they can restore me."
Suri doesn't reply, but her frown deepens and her eyes look weary.
The heroes lick their wounds and move onto the next room.
The walls of this room are decorated with a scenic vista of a river valley running through a desert, resplendent with verdant life and greenery near the shores. Only a few pieces of lacquered furniture remain in the chamber. A faint, musty odor of decomposed wood and fabric lingers in the air. A set of doors stands in the western wall.
In a corner lies a heavily decomposed corpse, and just above that are two bat-winged heads with dangling tentacles.
These are vargouilles. They are evil outsiders that can create more of themselves by "kissing" helpless victims. The transformation is fatal within 48 hours.
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
creatures: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Kwin's nose twitches at the unpleasant aroma. "Well this used to be a nice room. 'Used to be' being the... oh, what the devils!" he interrupts himself as the next horror is revealed. He dives through the doorway and cuts left to make space for the others, unshipping his bow and nocking an arrow in the process.
Torin steps into the room and fires an arrow at the weird creatures,
but it flies wide.
Izra, seeing the floating heads, seemed to sag into herself, as if the near-constant threats from extra-planar creatures was just sapping the energy out of her.
For several moments, she couldn't summon the energy to do anything, except sigh, and warn her companions.
"Don't let them kiss you," She said, "they'll turn you into more like them."
"Kiss me?! Not my type!" Kwin retorts as he quickly nocks another arrow.
Suri takes two swings at the creature, but after Izra's warning is anxious about getting too close, and her attacks fall short.
Djehuti pulls an arrow and fires at the furthest flying head.
Emboldened by having swatted the last flying head down, Koshukhep darted in and to the right along the wall, claws extended to swipe at the southernmost head.
"Catfolk do not kiss," he hissed at his prey. "We pounce!"
Izra knows that sunlight can help to slow the process of vargouillification. She also knows that these creatures can use a powerful shriek to paralyze their foes. Vargouilles have no special defenses or immunities to speak of.
Koshukhep and Kwin manage heavy hits on the vargouilles, while the others have less success.
Then one of the Vargouilles open its mouth and shrieks.
Meanwhile the Vargouille next to Koshukhep reaches down and places a kiss on Koshukhep's furry forehead.
But perhaps there is something to Koshukhep's amulets after all, as the ranger somehow resists the hideous curse of the Vargouille's kiss.
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
creatures: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
V1 (right) 8 damage
V2 (left) 6 damage
"Pounce, shmounce! Just..." Kwin starts to say when the thing screeches. Bowstring drawn back and shot targeted, a brief shiver and then he becomes still, frozen in place.
Izra stepped to the door, already reaching for the divine strength of her Patron Goddess. Blue-green eyes glowing with anger, she pointed at the Vargouille that had kissed Koshu.
"Foul Creature! Take thyself and thy kind from here - destroy that which you are!"
Vargouille A 8 damage
Vargouille B 6 damage, MC
The vargouille attacking Koshukhep menacingly turns to its bodiless brethren.
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
creatures: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Koshukhep's eyes darted about, that and his breathing the only signs he hadn't turned to fur-covered stone.
Djehuti brushes past his companions to move up to the front, muttering something under his breath as he goes. As he skids to a halt next to the frozen Koshu he flings out a hand and a painfully bright cone of clashing colors sprays out at the bodiless heads.
The bodiless monstrosities shrug off the illusion spell.
Torin fires a couple of arrows at a beastie,
Torin's arrow sinks heavily into one of the Vargouilles, and the beast moans in pain.
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
creatures: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Vargouille A 18 damage
Vargouille B 6 damage, MC
Suri moves into the room and around the side of one of the creatures, swinging her claws at its flank.
Suri rips into the vargouille with her claws, but rather than respond with an attack of its own, it moves to its partner and tries to bite its face off. But the other creature dodges the attack.
The last vargouille bites Ahmed. And suddenly Ahmed can feel
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
creatures: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Vargouille A 18 damage
Vargouille B 12 damage
As the creature's teeth sink into Ahmed's flesh, he takes the opportunity to slice into it with his sickle.
Ahmed's defiant attack embeds into the monster's eye. The vargouille gurgles and then falls to the floor and slowly dies.
With everyone rushing into the fight, Izra found herself without a clear shot at the enemy. She ground her teeth, raised her crossbow, and waited to see where she might be of use.
After the death of the first vargouille, Koshukhep and Kwin regain the use of their bodies.
Koshukhep: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Kwin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Djehuti: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Torin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Suri: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
creatures: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Izra: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Ahmed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Vargouille B 12 damage
Enraged by the indignity he had suffered, Koshu slashed furiously at the remaining head,
but was too disoriented to hit anything.
Invigorated by Ahmed's destruction of one of the creatures, Suri slashes her claws into the other.
Suri rends the vargouille into pieces with a fury that is stunning to behold. The extra planar monster simply shudders and dies.
Djehuti nods, frowning at the vargouilles. He muses "Why are there so many extraplanar creatures in this ruin?"
Izra glanced at Djehuti and nodded. She'd been wondering much the same thing.
"The Doru could have been the cause... or whatever controlled it... but for what purpose? I do not know."
She latched the safety on her crossbow and looked about the room. "Let us put it in our report, and warn the Church. But hopefully, we'll be free of them once we are finished here."
Izra's eyes fell on Ahmed and Suri.
"Then again, perhaps the presence of so many planar travellers - including corrupted genie-kind - is a good sign."
Izra walked over to Ahmed and put her hand on his shoulder. She made the usual effort of will to cause healing magic to flow into Ahmed's body, but was surprised to feel... resistance at the site of the wound. With a frown, Izra redoubled her will, and the wound slowly closed.
"That was odd," she said, but left it at that.
Ahmed frowns first at the mention of the extraplanar creatures, but grows more excited at Izra's suggestion that it might be a good sign. "Perhaps they are guarding something." He says, almost bursting with excitement. "We must check the other rooms."
At Izra's urging he pauses for a moment as she tends to the wound on his shoulder. For a moment, there's nothing, and then he feels the energy surge through him, closing the wound in his shoulder. He looks at it, surprised for a second, and flexes the muscles in his arm a few times. Finding nothing wrong with it, he shrugs. "Maybe magic used in war. Preventing wounds from closing would lead quickly to enemies bleeding out. All the clerics you brought to battle become instantly worthless." He shrugs again, this time with an easy smile. "Then again, maybe not. Shall we?"
Djehuti nods at Izra and adds a few notes about the odd number of extraplanar creatures to his sketches and other observations in his notebook. He responds absently to Ahmed as he writes. "We will check the other rooms, have no doubt."
"Creepy little blighters. Let's finish our sweep of the place. I could use a drink."
Torin continues the exploration,
The headless body in the corner carries no valuables except for a simple gold wedding ring worth 50 gp. An inscription in Osiriani inside the band of the ring reads, “To Akar from Panhet, Love Eternal.”
The Band of the Black Fire moves onto the next room.
They find that a large lacquered desk, now in poor condition, sits in the center of this room. Bookcases stand along the eastern and southwestern walls, sagging as if ready to collapse at any moment. Their shelves have fallen out, and the piles of dust at their bases are all that remains of books and scrolls that failed to survive the long years. The lacquered wooden frames of what might once have been divans stretch along the north and south walls, but their upholstery has disintegrated. A single door in the western wall is the room’s only exit.
You locate a brass key in one of the desk drawers.
Izra was too busy looking over the wedding ring to pay much attention to the desk, or anything else in the second room - especially when a quick search revealed the entire contents of the room to be mostly disentigrated.
The ring, however... that was interesting.
A cursory inspection reveals the ring to be mundane. The name doesn't ring a bell, but given the recent death of the body, it's possible you could discover the owner of the ring with a little investigating in Wati proper.
Disgruntled by the failure of his market charms to protect him from the evil magic of the flying heads, Koshukhep's search of the room was somewhat preoccupied. Flat-eared, he turned to Ahmed and Suri with his hands spread wide.
"Strange, to find so little here. Perhaps we should search the house again," he rumbled apologetically.
Ahmed frowns at Koshu having found nothing - and having found nothing himself as well. "There must be more here." He grumbles. "What were they protecting?"
As if in answer, Suri stands up from the desk she had been rifling through. "Found a key." She exclaims, holding it up. "What do you think it opens?"
Without bothering to examine it, Ahmed snatches it away, trying to open his shackles with it, but is quickly reminded that they don't even have a key hole. He scowls, handing the key back. Suri smiles lightly, "It may be more complicated than a key, but don't lose hope."
"I don't think that we've come across any locked anything so far, but we had better hang onto it. I'm sure we'll find its lock eventually."
The Band moves on the the next room, and find that most of its contents have fallen apart or otherwise been reduced to dust from the dry desert air. A foul, cloying smell fills the room.
A few minutes searching the room turns up a small, rusted worthless dagger, a handful of marbles, and a small lacquered wooden box. The lacquered box is an ancient board game whose rules have been forgotten over time. Inside the box are several small, carved stone playing pieces. The box functions as the game board.
As usual, Izra looked over the items the group pulled from the wreckage, paying special attention to the game box and pieces.