Amkarang is still up top, having been one person too many for Haela to bring along.
And, racing to the exit isn't a sure thing.
Benedict also knows that Grum would certainly prefer the direct approach.
"Let's take them! Haela, Grum, charge! William, Aerel, arrows! Amkarang, dive down and join us!"
He moves to draw the attention of the other centipede while drawing his warhammer, and uses Total Defense (for AC 36).
Haela nods.
"Focus fire!"
She shares Blood for the Empire as a swift action. This will give everybody +3 morale bonus to hit and damage against any foe that she hits within the past round, or +2 against any target that anyone else hits. Then she charges the nearest centipede.
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Grum took a deep breath as the order to charge was given. He wasn’t the biggest fan of fighting mindless animals. That wasn’t war. It wasn’t nearly as much fun. But he was ready to spill blood nonetheless, as running like a coward was disgraceful. With a slight nod to Benedict he charged in, sword held up high.
Hearing Benedict's call, Amkarang takes a deep breath and the takes the plunge, hurtling down towards the cold waters below.
Amkarang drops into the cold water, plunging dozens of feet but because of the churning water he doesn't hit the surface hard.
Before he kicks up to the surface, he spots the glint of gold in the silt-covered bottom of the cistern.
Meanwhile, Benedict calls for action against the titanic centipedes.
Aerel readies his bow as he strides into the room, aiming at the creature facing the dwarven healer.
The monstrous centipedes hiss with a volume that shakes the ancient structure. Haela and Grum bite through the tough carapace with their weapons and Aerel's arrow strikes true.
The one to the east crawls out of its nest, its body easily squeezing through the narrow gap. It strikes lightning-fast at Benedict.
The warrior nimbly dodges the creature's attack.
The wounded one rears up and tries to bite at the creatures causing it pain.
In its pain and confusion, it misses wildly.
Haela strikes twice at the massive creature.
Her first strike is solid, but her second clatters off the chitinous armor.
Benedict takes a step and attacks his foe.
"Archers, on this one!"
He is pretty sure that the other will not survive Grum's full fury.
+1 longbow +17/+17/+12/+7 with PBS, RS, DA (1d8+12/x3/30' range)
Aerel takes a step back from the creature facing Benedict and turns his aim as ordered.
Aerel's actions draw the attention of the titan centipede, and it strikes just as he's about to loose his arrows.
Grum and Haela combine to defeat one of the monstrous centipedes.
Preparing for the blow from the creature William unleashes all the arrows he can at it.
Aerel feels the burn as the toxins enter his bloodstream. "By the Wind and the Waves, that thing's bite burns like fire!"
The barrage of arrows bring down the second titanic beast. However, the poison rages in Aerel's blood from the centipede's bite!
Benedict doesn't wait for the poison to run its course. As quickly as he can, he administers the party's Potion of Neutralize Poison to Aerel.
Amkarang pulls himself out of the water. He takes a deep breath, "Damn, that water was cold. What'd I miss?"
The magic of the potion overcomes the devastating effects of the centipede's poison. Though Aerel is overcome by the initial damage, the rest of the poison is nullified.
"Do we have any more of those Bandages of Rapid Recovery? They should speed Aerel's recovery from the poison."
"But we can't wait around and rest. We will have to soldier on with the effects of the poison lingering."
"I suppose we head to that partially-collapsed tunnel in the northwest."
Haela will heal Aerel's injuries, at least the physical wounds.
A visible chasm in the northwestern floor of this ragged cavern leads down into darkness, while the remainder of the room curves to the west and south. A massive, tarnished-bronze door is set into the partially collapsed southwestern wall, and piles of rubble line the remaining walls.
William looks at Aerel with concern and then says, "When Aerel is ready we should check behind that door then continue on down the corridor."
Aerel takes a moment to gather himself, stretching muscles suddenly stiff, shaking his head. "I'm good. Thanks for the potion, Benedict, that was quick thinking. I can still scout - my eyes work fine."
He moves to the door referred to by William and listens.
The breach in the floor drops deep and out of sight. Amongst the rubble is some old Dwarven belongings and some clay pots.
The door is wedged tightly in place. It appears to Haela that the structure settled decades ago and the metal door has warped beneath the weight. It would require quite the feat of strength to unjam it.
A ten-foot-wide stone door stands within an excavated wall of stone on the east side of this basalt-walled rectangular chamber. The door is embellished with imagery of two stout humanoids barring the path with crossed axe headed polearms. A recess just below the crossed weapons -- shaped like a four-pointed star -- appears connected to a deeper mechanism.
A passage leading south has completely collapsed.
Aerel keeps his eyes open and in the next chamber he sees the tell-tale signs of a mystical trap upon the elaborate locking mechanism.
Benedict will search the rubble, looking at the old Dwarven belongings and the clay pots.
He also listens at the breach in the floor, hoping that no Morlocks will come up that way any time soon.
Benedict finds a suit of dwarven stoneplate armor that must be magically enchanted considering how well it's survived the years. Some of the jars contain colorful pigments that are also surprisingly fresh.
The gap in the floor drops away to the limits of his darkvision. He hears no signs of anything coming from that direction, but he notices there are handholds worn into the rock that would make climbing down manageable.
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"Look at that!" Grum exclaimed. "Dwarven armor. Think it'll fit, Haela?" Grum asked, seemingly unaware of how the question could be perceived as being in bad taste. "Always heard that dwarven ruins were filled with treasure, and we find a full suit of armor just lying here." He added, his mood elated after the fight they just had. "Aerel, think you can unjam that door? I'm really curious to see what's on the other side."
"The trapped door with the elaborate lock would need Aerel's attention, of course."
"The other door, I think, is just stuck."
"The morlock told us to 'take the leftmost passage and follow it, staying to the left, until you come upon a great dwarven door. The false god is just beyond.' Well, the morlock didn't tell us about any trap. Glad that Aerel found it.
This stuck door we can take care of after this false god and the dishonest morlock. I imagine we might need a crowbar and maybe Enlarge Person."
"After Aerel takes care of the trap and unlocks the door, we should prepare before going to fight this false god."
Haela does not take offense at Grum's suggestion.
"Whoever owned this armor has been dead a long time, I think.
I do have magic armor already, and stoneplate is particularly heavy. If William finds it to be stronger than what I have, it might be worth making the switch."
William casts detect magic when handed the items to identify and then studies them.
Armor
Pigments
Aerel studies the trap carefully, knowing his fingers don’t feel as nimble, but knowing he’s the one with the best chance nonetheless.
Aerel nods at the Clever's suggestion and drinks a potion of Heroism.
Aerel manages to disarm the trap harmlessly before working on the complex lock mechanism. It's about as tough as he'd seen, but his skills are up to the challenge as he disables it, allowing the door to grind open.
Inside, the heroes see that sections of brass plating line worked-stone walls to the west and north of the chamber. Cavernous rock protrudes inward throughout the remainder of the area. An earthen platform rises four feet above the floor of the chamber along the eastern wall, which is covered by a crude image depicting a snakelike figure with the face of a human female, coiled above masses of deformed humanoids. Far more intricate script covers the walls, inscribed alongside the image.
Inside, they see a large snake creature with a woman's face attended by four morlock brutes. The snake is apparently the model for the various iconography that the heroes have seen in possession of the morlocks.
The instant they see that the intruders are not morlocks of their tribe, the snake hisses and the morlocks roar in fury.
The morlocks begin frothing at the mouth and move to protect their goddess.
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Grum smiled. The morlocks were in a defensive position. If they moved in, it would be a chokepoint, where the numbers of his group would count for little. It would be four against two. If the line couldn't be broken immediately, then whomever went would be in serious trouble.
"DIE IN THE NAME OF GORUM!" He roared, raising his blade high up, allowing them to see his blade as well as the electricity and fire than ran along its length. He trusted that Benedict could get their own formation ready.
"Aerel, William - take out the snake-woman! Amakarang, make room for Aerel!"
Benedict will act after Aerel (who probably wants to go after either William or Amkarang make room for him).
William seeing the need for as many attacks as possible quickly casts Haste on the entire party and says "This should speed things up!"
Looking up from where he'd been kneeling before the lock, Aerel says, "Yeah, that's my signal."
Once Aerel moves, Benedict will move into his spot and share Lastwall Phalanx with the party as a standard action.
Haela will move to be adjacent to the archers (depending on where Aerel ends up), will share Shake it Off as as swift action, and will use Total Defense as her standard action.
Amkarang steps forward so he’s shoulder to shoulder with Grum, ”Alright, friend, let us be the rock they break against.” He shifts his grip to a reach position and readies to strike the first Morlock that gets within his reach. As the head of his hammer spins, it blurs the air with how fast it moves, ready to unleash the vengeance of Hei Feng himself.
Aerel's arrow flies true and strikes the snake-woman, eliciting a loud hiss from her.
The snake creature chants a quick spell, and suddenly a mass of rubbery tentacles erupt from the ground! They grasp and coil around everyone in the far room trying to strangle everything in their reach!
Everyone in the area is grappled!
Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made to grapple or escape a grapple. In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two hands to perform. A grappled character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler’s CMB + spell level), or lose the spell. Grappled creatures cannot make attacks of opportunity.
The morlock defenders hoot and holler while drawing hand axes from their belt! They take aim and fling their weapons at the lead enemies.
"Escape and fall back - we'll see if we can get rid of these tentacles."
Benedict breaks free and moves north out of the area.
Haela uses a swift action to enter Dwarven Hatred Style, then tries to break free.
She too moves north.
Edit: Benedict and Haela, now free of the grasping spell, remain in the area of the Black Tentacles, defending the archers until they can make it to safety.
Aerel attempts to free himself from the grasping limbs.
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Using his blade, Grum proceeded to hack away at the tentacles that kept him in place…
…cutting his way free, he withdrew towards Benedict and Haela. ”Gather round.” He said, holding his hand to his bleeding side, a look of rage on his face. ”I’ll teleport us right behind the bastards. Then we tear them to pieces.”