Investigation:
Perception:
Insight:
It is night, the guards are on patrol and the researchers are limited to the strictly night workers or the over eager. There is a single researcher near you tank, keeping busy, but it doesn't look like he's moving away anytime soon.
Vitrius pleads reason with the remaining combatants. Its a convincing argument and his power is obvious. It would have worked normally, but the fresh deaths of their fellow prisoners is still very much fresh in their minds. They decide to press their luck in a "sanctioned" match instead.
They claw and rake at you again, though with less bodies to do it they only manage two damage each.
Phaerlin, as you hold your sword to strike the weapons from their hands, a sudden urge overcomes you. Something dark, something sinister, something....familiar.
Roll a Will save Phaerlin.
You put on the helmet, its heavy weight moving from your arms to your head directly. It takes a bit of work, but you manage to keep your balance. From what you can remember, there was a button, a switch, and twist knob with three settings.
-
Vitrius lets out a sigh as it seems nothing will stop this mob short of killing them. He does his best to continue to go for nonlethal attacks, really focusing on his training.
For a moment, Phaerlin's vision flashes red, and he feels his fangs begin to grow, so he closes his eyes and focuses only on slowing his heart. When he opens them again, the moment has passed, and he begins swinging his blade, attempting to knock out as many of them as he can.
Two very noticeable things happen. For one, Kick-Lick has a sudden realization in his life that everything finally has meaning and everything is connected. Its amazing, the facts and knowledge of the world seem to come to you so easily. Your intelligence has increased to 18.
That was the effect of the switch. When you pressed the button, the helmet seems to vibrate and buss. With your new-found intellect it is easy enough to see that this button toggles some sort of powerful mage hand spell that allows for moving objects from a distance.
However, even with these two discoveries you soon realize that the helmet is hurting your neck its so heavy and you can't lift the helmet itself with the mage hand ability.
Still no sign of Zapley.
Vitrius easily puts two out of commission as he merely *shoves* them forcefully aginst the floor.
Phaerlin, almost overcome by something....sinister, is able to shake off its influence and dispatch two more. One he disarmed and knocked out. The other was....*disarmed* as the rusty cleaver he smacked out of the first person's hand flew and embedded itself into another man's shoulder.
Ouch.
With only three people left, the rest of the opponents cower and fall to the ground pleading mercy. It seems the stadium is not pleased with this cowardly display and begins pelting the surviving losers with bits of food and rot.
"Death! Death! Death! Death!" you hear them chant over and over again, until they are silenced once more by the woman who seems to lead this event. She smiles at you both.
"For creatures of the night, you are very strange indeed." she chuckles. "I offer you a choice. Kill them all, leave no one surviving and I offer you freedom, service, and the pleasures that only Rakdos can offer. Decline, and you will be slaughtered by our executioner."
You are merrily moving along when an unusual thing occurs. The moment you try and move the device outside the room, it stops at the entrance as if held by an invisible force. The motion is so surprising you can't help but bang your head on the back of your cauldron backpack and take 1 point of non-lethal damage.
"Of course I decline, as would any other civilized being." Turning to the men who surrendered, he will say "fear not. While I draw breath, I will allow no harm to come to you."
Phaerlin then raises his voice to a shout that echoes throughout the arena "After I have lain your executioner to ruin, I am going to come for you, and nothing that walks, flies, or crawls in this world will save you from me."
Another twenty minutes or so passes, but finally it seems Zapley has returned.
She singing some strange song about electrons and hamsters and weathervanes while carrying a large box about 4 times her size.
Amazingly enough, her stride allows her to walk over it perfectly without realizing its there. She sets down the box on the nearby table, and turns to go check on you in the hole.
And then she sees your handiwork.
And then she starts screaming.
You successfully cast your spell, but notice that as you do, one of the glowing meters on the control panel rises slightly, and then falls down again. The researcher doesn't seem to notice.
Techincally waiting on a post from Vitrius.
"Hello Zapley!" Kick-lick says, popping up. "Sorry bout the mess!" He runs forward, and does a ninja kick, trying to knock her into the hole.
Kala spots Tes's motion, and wonders what she's up to.
The scream of Zapley starts to decrease in volume as she falls down the large hole that she had thrown you in. Falling goblins tend to be common on this plane.
The screams have turned to moaning and as you peer over the edge. You can see Zapley grasping for her glasses which have broken into two equal pieces.
The masks that you guys are wearing are made of some kind of quasi-clear material, but you doubt that through the viscous fluid and the scuffed mask. You could see fingers and slight head motions, but reading lips is probably out of the question.
You can see and hear the woman in charge sigh.
"So boring...just like all the others...."
She turns around and walks back to her chair, lifting her legs over one arm of the chair, and nestling her back against a cushion. She is quite seductive, the thin sheets of cloth she wears as clothing draping over her form, hiding just enough to draw the eye even more.
The clanking of chains brings your eyes to one of the gates. As it nears midway open, a large hand appears under it and thrusts it all the way up so hard that you hear the mechanism of the gate break leaving it in an open state until forced down. His body ripples with muscle and he has a large beard tied in many thick braids. He carries a heavy glaive which he handles easily, and as he lifts it into the air the crowd goes wild with cheering.
He looks at the two of you with pitiless eyes, as well as the conscious and unconscious slaves around you. He makes his way towards you slowly and stops roughly ten feet from you both. He places his glaive squarely in an unconscious slave's back.
The slave begins screaming which is soon drowned out by the crowd's cheers and you watch as the pained look dims on the slaves face until he lies motionless.
"Vraknal! Vraknal! Vraknal!"
Phaerlin watches the massive beast murder a helpless being and for a moment, nothing registers. and then he...ROARS.
Almost instinctually, he begins drawing on the power of his pact, focusing his anger into a beam of dull grey energy which he sends spirally at the executioner.
and which slices wildly as Phaerlin's normally calm exterior is shattered. He moves into melee combat with the creature, threatening it with his blade.
Vitrius shakes his head at the executioner. He goes into a defensive stance, awaiting the inevitable swing from that giant weapon.
In Phaerlin's rage, his energy attack goes wild. Vitrius, almost the yin to Phaerlin's yang, calmly takes to the defensive and prepares to take the attacks that are sure to come.
Amazingly enough, your opponent chuckles once more both at your display of skill, cowardice, and the fact that he remains unharmed after giving you both a free attack. He seems especially amused by Phaerlin's reaction.
Vraknal picks up his glaive, the body of the slave actually sticking on the blade. He gives it a mighty swing, and it flies through the air before driving into the ground. It cleaves a rut through the arena as it moves thirty feet away from him. As the dust settles, you both realize his attack was not intended for you and the bodies of three more slaves lie in pieces in the rut's path.
Vraknal, still smiling and chuckling, once again open's his arms in an inviting gesture.
"Come." he demands, a wicked smile on his lips.
"Stoopid Gob," Zapley mumbles. " Zapley needs you for experiment. Be good gobgob and stay on table."
Zapley, still somehow blind without her cracked-missing lens spectacles, is looking for them on the ground where she landed.
"Kassian, give me the power to lay this bastard low." offers Phaerlin as a half-whispered prayer before making his attack against the murderer.
As the Executioner flings the body, his taunt is undercut by Phaerlin's combat roll under the blade, where he stabs his sword into the giant's arm and shoves the blade forward along the bottom of his arm, leaving a ragged and aweful wound. Phaerlin flicks the blood off his blade with enough force to leave a streak across the ground.
Phaerlin delives an astonishing blow, and there may even be a bit of surprise in Vraknel's eyes. The crow is going wild and the cheering is at the loudest since you've been here. Even the Master, still sitting on her throne, looks a little more interested.
But that doesn't matter. None of them matter. Phaerlin feels a pulse from his blade, as if was part of his body. Glancing down, he can see that as the blood drips off the blade, wisps of black energy seem to be feeding into the blade. And you feel....stronger.
Deadlier.
Merciless.
As Phaerlin returns from this quasi-meditative state, he finds the Executioner has retrieved his weapon right before seeing Vitrius dart in close quarters and knock it out of his hands once more. Vitrius slides the large weapon on his body as if a long sash, before flinging it 15 feet away, out of Vraknel's reach.
Zapley fixes her useless glasses on her face, but still seems satisfied.
"Zapley need proof of concept for consortium. They laugh at Zapley, but Zapley prove theory!."
As you both try and plan out with the limited resources you have on hand. It seems some new people have arrived. They appear to by scientists, then again almost everyone here is a scientist of sorts, and they immediately push the protesting sketch artist away. The press a few buttons, pull a few levers, but soon a panel opens up that seems to connect to your container. Another button is pressed, and a large clear glass begins to descend between you.
You watch as one of the two newcomers pulls out two vials of brightly glowing liquid. One bright orange and bubbling, the other bright green and swirling rapidly on its own.
At this Zapley begins bouncing with excitement.
"Breaking windows in worlds!." she screams triumphantly, looking incredibly proud of herself.
Phaerlin presses his attack, swinging his blade at the executioner, intent on keeping his word.
She stops and cocks her head to one side. It seems that with all her intelligence, she didn't realize she could have asked you to help her like a normal person.
"You....help Zapley?" she asks tentatively?
Vraknel roars with fury and tosses Vitrius off himself as the vampire tries to grip onto the champion. He attacks Phaerlin, one swipe with his fist, and the other amazingly with his beard as it snakes around and stabs at him.
While misses with his fist, his beard pieces an unarmed section of Phaerlin's armor.
The scientists don't seem to notice you moving, but they do see the disgruntled scientist suddenly freeze, both vials still in his grasp.
"Hey, Samson? You alright?" his buddy says to him, snapping his fingers in front of his face.
The original scientist, the artistic one approaches the tank, and presses his face against it, looking up at both of you, wondering if you were the cause of his associates strange behavior.
24 damage
Phaerlin will continue his assault on the executioner, aiming to bring him down quickly as he feels his mind slipping away from him.
Vraknel smiles, seeing he has the upper hand he flings off Vitrius who had attmpted to lock him in a stranglehold and dodged the empowered attack from Phaerlin.
He reaches his weapon in seconds and raises it to the cheers of the audience. Then he begins to widen his stance, making his body lower to the ground and holding his weapon aloft.
Roll a sense motive check. See below spoilers for details.
Kick-Lick, you spend the next couple hours or so subject to Zapley's experiments. She pokes and prods you in all manner and, you're not sure why but, she electrocutes you with increasing voltage.
"I simple cannot understand what I'm missing here..." Zapley mutters to herself, the large metallic helmet on her head, increasing her intelligence by a large degree. "You have traces of the elements I'm seeking, but its as if only part of the power is there, like you're only a small portion of what you should be..."
You can tell that getting within striking distance of him right now is a very bad idea.
You can also tell that he's about to do unleash a powerful move that will be very bad if it hits you.
Phaerlin will say "spread out" to Vitrius and then move 30' away from Vitrius and send a black ray of energy slamming into the Vraknel.
Zapley shakes her head no, which is actually very impressive with the huge metal helmet on her head. She speaks clearly and soundly as she explains:
"My dear Kick-Lick, this is not the case of electrical energy. There is a force unlike anything I've known in you. A world shattering, or more accurately, a hole shattering force that can transcend worlds. And yet your maximum output is....oddly, only a fifth of what it should be. I can tell from your biology that you're not native to this plane, but there's no way you should have been able to get here on your own...."
Zapley scrunches her face in thought, and floats over two cups of cocoa for both you and her.
The ray hits Vraknel, but he smiles as he shrugs off the effect. Seeing no enemey is sight as Vitrius retreated quickly at Phaerlin's warning, Vraknel lifts his blade into the air and slams it into the ground. At first, nothing. And then.... Both of you feel the ground under you shift suddenly as if a powerful earthquake hits your separate locations.
Roll a Reflex DC 14 saving throw. Vitrius, you have advantage since you used your turn for full defense. On a failed save, you are knocked prone and can't get up for one turn.
The scientist squints, but not seeing either of you moving. He turns back to the others.
"These two are still out of it. FInd out what's wrong with him yet?"
"No. I think I'm going to call the department heads over."
Through squinted, almost closed eyes, you see him pull out some kind of device and begin to fiddle with it.
Phaerlin feels the ground buckle and sway and uses the motion to help propel him forward into the fray.
Vitrius didn't know what the warrior was about to do, but he trusted Phaerlin and easily escaped the shattered ground beneath him. Deciding that trying to grab him was not working, he stayed at a distance and reached behind him and took out a dart and flung it towards the creature.
Phaerlin takes a step towards Vraknel, determination burning in his eyes, and then he collapses.
Plus the 8 from Vraknal, when he hit me with his beard and poisoned me.