"Allow me to establish that, should I die, I am to be raised, not reincarnated. My elvish gifts are vital to my power as a wizard."
The rest of the trip passes without incident,a nd once nearby you come loaded for bear.
"Sure, whatever."
"Got any good ideas this time, Ixrul?"
"Nothing wrong with grey skin," Daliya murmured as they approached. "All my girl friends approve." She scanned the fortress for signs that the cyclops were ready for another visit. That ability they had that meant there attacks were horribly effective was not something she wanted to experience at range...with a siege weapon.
come loaded for bear.
come loaded for bear.
Jrahk decides to rile up the crew while he prepares his buffs.
"We're prepared for them now. They won't beat us again. Let's get in there and show what happens to those who get in our way!"
You bust through the gates...and no one is to be found. The courtyard is empty, even of suspicious statues.
They are most certainly laying a trap. Well, good. I can still think clearly at least. Gremory speaks as she applies her spells.
Ixrul's familiar drops to the ground and feels around, using its tremorsense to see if it can sense any enemies.
"Cowards. Guess they used up all their courage yesterday." Jrahk grumbles.
"Any sign of them?"
"It's going to be a problem if they've pulled back to one location," Daliya noted as she searched, "We may need to think about bringing in any crew who can build and operate siege weapons...of finding crew who can do so."
Ace's casts detect magic, scanning the area for signs.
Bupkiss from any of the three senses. It's a large compound.
Daliya does notice signs of a struggle, however. Different from the signs you made before.
Ixrul casts Summon Monster II to summon a small air elemental, which he sends scurrying about the compound to find any creatures it can see.
He will instruct it to pop back in to sight after it checks a building before moving on to the next one.
The elemental conspicuously does not return from inspecting the very back room.
"oh goody, now they know we are back, so much for surprise."
Ace grumble when the elemental does not return.
"They knew we'd be back anyway," Daliya said, thinking. "And I think someone might have weakened them further. Signs of a struggle. Maybe they had a fight over who was the boss..." Considering where the room was, Daliya wondered if they could simply knock it down and dig out anything useful later.
"Only one way to find out!"
Jrahk leads the group to the back room.
Ace keeps his eyes peeled for traps.
Jrahk does the same.
There are no traps.
Upon pushing the door open, you are greeted by a single undead cyclops, standing in front of an enormous egg shaped structure. You recognize it as one of the ones you killed last night.
The domed ceiling of this chamber rises eighty feet overhead. In the center of the hall, a thirty-foot-high egg-shaped structure stands on the floor. Stone stairs climb the side of this domed structure, ending before a stone wall chiseled to resemble an immense eye, circled with strange runes glowing with an eldritch light. The stairs and eye are mirrored on the opposite side ofthe dome. Tiny stars roil across the top of the structure, their light projecting strange constellations on the ceiling overhead. Much of the northeast corner of the chamber lies in ruin, collapsed by obvious cave-ins, but three other exits remain-doors to the east and west, and a corridor leading southeast.
This is a Gholdakos, an undead specifically created from Cyclopes.
"I'll be damned if we have to fight this thing."
"It can't do its destiny thing, how tough can it be?"
Their breath can permanently blind their victims, and their attacks carry a nasty disease called Seaside Rot that saps the victim's strength and flexibility.
They have no specific weaknesses unique to them, but are resistance to positive energy, cold, fire, and non-Good aligned weaponry.
"It can't do its destiny thing, how tough can it be?"
"It might not, but according to Ix, it can still blind us and give us strange sicknesses, and I like being able to see."
Are we destroying it, or are we hoping whoever made it would be an ally?
"Well, good point, since its not maiming us right now."
"Hey Ix, you know how to speak cyclops?"
Jrahk points to the egg-shaped structure. "Someone doesn't want us going in that thing. It's gotta be where the dreamstone is being kept."
"If there's no way to get in there without the Gol-dakos noticing...then we'll just have to kill it quickly."
"I do not speak giant, which is the language of Cyclopes. I'll try common - and drop it in a pit if that fails."
Raising his voice, Ixrul shouts, "Hail!"
The Ghokdakos looks at Ixrul, lingers for a moment, then goes back to staring straight ahead.
"Nothing. Jrahk, you want to see if he'll let you pass?"
Daliya looked at the creature. She wasn't sure if it was able to understand them, or if it was like a zombie and only capable of following basic instructions...but saying that out loud might also insult the creature. So instead she readier herself to punch it in the head. It usually worked well on undead.
Jrahk takes a few steps toward the Gholdakos, readying himself to enter his bloodrage if it becomes hostile.
"Captain Jrahk Razortusk of the Devil's Pallor wishes to pass. Do you understand?"
"Nothing. Jrahk, you want to see if he'll let you pass?"
The Gholdako looks at Jrahk.
"Έχετε παραιτηθεί άχρηστη την όρασή σας και pene dyour αλήθεια στα μάτια?"
Jrahk looks back at Ixrul.
"Little help?"
"The accent is weird...give me a second." Daliya racked her brain for the almost forgotten information in her head.
Giant: "Have you relinquished your useless vision and opened your eyes to the true Sight? You have ten seconds to reply."
Daliya repeated what he said, and added, "Somehow I don't think we have a right answer to this one while keeping our eyes."