Price immediately moves to slam the door shut, preferably before no more than one snake makes it into the hallway. "What in the Nine Hells are those?"
Before the door slams shut, Daidalos tries to catch a glimpse of them as he shoots one, his mind racing to think of any weaknesses.
Ineluki hopes they take sonic damage and fires off a sonic blast at the one to come to the doorway.
Daidalos's crossbow bolt bounces harmlessly off one of the snake's metallic scales, though Inelukii's sonic blast badly rattles another before Price swings the door shut again.
Daidalos wracks his mind for anything on what the creatures could be. He surmises they are some sort of construct crafted not from silver but mithril. As small as they are, their physical attacks are likely to do little damage, but they could well be infused with either a magical attack or some sort of mechanical means of injecting a poison. The mithril construction will make them hard to hit and damage as well as imbue them with some resistance to spells.
"Careful. I doubt the snakes will hurt much in terms of their bite, but I'm fairly certain that they're filled with poison. I won't be much use here- the snakes are mithril, and I noticed the scale pattern includes a resonance that disrupts arcana, giving them significant resistance to spells. They're also resistant to physical attack, as well. In short? Be careful, hit hard, and hope you don't get poisoned." Daidalos says as he reloads his crossbow.
Price leans against the door and works the problem. "I'm not inclined to fight all these beasts at one time. I'm hoping we can crack open the door, lure one, and then pound it into paste as a group. Then it's rinse and repeat."
"I do not suppose we have the magical capabilities to create some grease, spill some oil over it and light them up as they slitter on through?"
"Will fire hurt them? I would just as soon change forms and attack them from the air if we are going to do so... Warn me please before you open the door so I have time to change."
"Fire? Perhaps. I doubt they'd be particularly vulnerable to the element. However, I like the way you think, Luke. We could just let you into the room, and you fly around screaming them to death while they can't reach you- I don't think they can fly, so you should be all but unhurtable. Though.... hmmm... try to leave them relatively intact, perhaps? I, and Asturu, might be able to scavenge some useful materials from the constructs."
"Seems rather ... too easy, but I'm willing to give it a try."
Price sees the merit in Daidalos' idea. "Capturing these snakes alive would be better... especially if Thorn will let us keep them. Does anyone have a strong sack, perhaps we can bag them like any other snake?"
"Alive? That's a.... relative term. They're constructs. Without some way to reprogram them, we can't exactly tame them like a snake charmer. Actually, hmmmm.... come to think of it...."
Price smiles. "I wasn't planning on taming them. Though if Thorn taught us how to master them, that would be fine. But uncontrolled they'd be a great distraction when released in a village or castle... But that assumes we manage to capture them."
"...No... just too many possibilities. It could be a command word, a bound object, or it could just be permanent. We can try to catch them and ask Thorn to transfer their allegiance to us, but I would just as soon destroy them and harvest their mithral as to try and catch them, contain them, and bring them to Thorn in one piece. Then, we'd need to convince Thorn to switch their allegiance to us, and it's just a giant mess." Daidalos gives a brief signal of resignation, though, "But do as you will."
Still off kilter from the vampiric mist, Timo isn't keen on facing anything that can poison him and grits his teeth. "Where is an actual skilled martialist I can actually enjoy fighting." To the group he simply says, "I'd be more worried about them turning on us if we tried to keep them. Better to kill them now and be done with it."
Price shrugs. "OK. How do we handle it? Luke hovers in bat-form, ready to screech. One of the lesser martial folks opens the door a bit and tries to let only one of these snakes out while the rest of us stand ready to group-pound it flat?"
Grumblejack stands in the back and shudders, "Grumblejack hate snakes..."
Price smiles, surprised. "Don't worry. You can stand back and smash them from a distance. I suspect the snakes will be more interested in biting those of us standing right next to them." She gives the big fellow a reassuring smack (which would come across as a light pat) on the arm.
"Well? Luke? Are you ready? Also, could I make a request? Can you try to avoid hitting the head? I might be able to salvage some of the poison if it's still intact once you're done."
"I'm ready... and I'll do my best to not smash the heads... "
Luke shifts and contorts until his body shrinks, he grows wings and screeches softly... the process does not look to be completed without a bit of pain, but finally it is done and he is a tiny bat, flitting about the heads of his companions.
The little bat nods and lets out a single high-pitched but barely perceptable screeech. He waits for the door to be opened and flies in, staying near the ceiling.
The door is opened and Luke darts into the room. He quickly surveys the room but can only see one of the mechanical serpents. With a few blasts of his sonic attack, he is able to destroy it. But... where have the others gone?
After a few minutes of flitting around the room, Ineluki will hit the door with a few sonic blasts, hoping to signal the others that way, but staying in batform.
I was sure they said there were three of them... but I only see one... maybe they left the room somehow?
"I don't know if he's asking us for help or if he's in trouble. Mind if I open the door?" says Asturu while readying his rapier.
The party opens the door enough for Luke's bat form to escape then slams the door shut as he passes. Nothing else slips out.
The aristocrat quickly scans the bat's physical state and is happy to see he isn't hurt. "Good. How many remain? I was of a mind to enter the room to assist you if any remained, because we weren't sure if you needed help .. needed to get out .. or got the job done when you hit the door with your sonic attacks."
Ineluki changes form again, not without a bit of discomfort, so he can talk with everyone. "I only saw the one and blasted into a heap of metal.. never saw any others."
"Fine. Let's do this the hard way." Price growls, swinging her mace to warm her arms up. When everyone is ready, Price signals Daidalos to open the door then she lunges into the center of the room and prepares to smash the first creepy-crawly to come after her.
Price barrels into the room, preparing to attack anything that comes at her. With a target having presented itself, the 'snakes' emerge from holes in the walls and barrel down for their attacks.
Price swings at one of them as it comes within range! The creature's mithril cladding deflects the blow.
-- --
--
The first cobra's strike goes wide, knocked askew by Price's mace, but the other lands a solid bite on her thigh. In addition to the pain of the bite, Price feels the poison beginning to pump into her veins.
Daidalos, not really expecting to accomplish anything after opening the door, sends a ray of ice at the cobra Price hit.
However, it is absorbed by a few mystic runes etched on the cobra's hood.
Ineluki goes back to bat form before the door is opened and flies in over Price's head when the door is ajar. As soon as the snakes come out of hiding, he will fly around opposite Price for the flank and target the one that attacked Price.
.. but it is a weak attempt, the sonic pulse missing the snake and impacting the floor next to it.
Asturu rushes in after Price and finds a mechanical serpent hiding right next to the entrance. Without hesitation he steps up to it and strikes with his rapier.
[ooc]Move action: move
Std action: attack with rapier
"Finally something to hit," Timo thinks to himself before charging into the fray.
Price: Enter/Ready to Attack -- Miss
Daidalos: Ray of Frost -- SR negates
Luke: Sonic Blast -- Miss
Asturu: Attack -- Miss
Timo: Attack -- Miss
Affyria (botted): Attack
-- Success. Next PC to melee attack that cobra gets a +2 on their attack roll
Price barrels into the room, preparing to attack anything that comes at her. As the 'snakes' emerge from holes, Price swings at one of them as it comes within range but the creature's mithril cladding deflects the blow.
Daidalos, not really expecting to accomplish anything after opening the door, sends a ray of ice at the cobra Price struck. However, it is absorbed by a few mystic runes etched on the cobra's hood.
Asturu rushes in after Price and swings his rapier at one of the mechanical serpents but misses.
"Finally something to hit," Timo thinks to himself before charging into the fray. Sadly, the snakes prove to fast and well armored for his initial blow, which clanks harmlessly off the stone floor.
Affyria, sensing the difficulty of hitting these creatures, moves in and begins to distract the cobra, not trying to actually hit it but rather draw its attention to her in the hopes the distraction will help her allies land a blow.
The cobras continue to attack their original target, Price. One misses while the other strikes her thigh. However, her infernal blood proves resilient again, letting her ignore the blow.
plus Dex damage
INeluki again tries to blast the cobra on Price.
... and again, he's lucky he didn't hit Price with the effort.
Daidalos tries again, sending an icy bolt of arcane energy streaking into the tangle inside the room.
Timo growls and refocuses his efforts. "Why can't I hit anything... what did the good cardinal do to me?
Price growls at Grumblejack with a trace of humor, "Get in here, ya big sissy!" She swings ineffectually at the snake again.
Summary of PCs' Actions
Luke: Sonic Blast - Miss
Daidalos: Ray of Frost - Hit
Affyria: Aid Another
Timo: Attack - Hit
Price - Miss