Jzero reaches high, and punches one of the creatures squarely in the face (where else?), which sends it flying into the wall, after which it falls to the floor, dead.
The remaining creature shrieks a high-pitched, very loud scream, which threatens to bring everyone to their knees.
Ceri falls to her knees, hands over her ears, screaming.
Jzero's many hours of meditation help him keep control of his emotions as he hears the unnatural scream.
Vigor:
Wild:
Everyone but Jzero can act, in any order!
Ceri tries to recover from the ringing in her ears :
And slowly gets to her feet...
Seeing Ceri in agony angers Velrek, yet he remember s his training. He channels that anger to mercilessly attack the evil face.
Free attack:
Standard attack:
Velrek's sword slices thru the creature, cutting it in half.
Combat's over!
There's no traps and no sound coming from the far door.
Opening it, you all see a very short set of stairs leading to an upward spiral staircase. But there's a huge pile of large rocks going from the floor up into the staircase who knows how far.
Dungeon's done ! Are you heading back to town, or doing something / heading somewhere else?
"It appears we have cleared the dungeon out, well, except for those undead in the pits. back to town?"
"We have not found the ancient evil. There is a stairwell that leads down. I think we need to go and follow that path." Crastor says.
"I concur and I also think there were still some caves that we had not finished examining."
The stairwell that leads down is filled with large boulders, who knows how far down .
The far-left side of the map hadn't been explored, but when you go there you just find some cave tunnels leading to the jail and an alternate entrance to B3.
What do you all do?
"We must report to the leaders of Sandpoint and sheriff. They will want to send representatives to see this place for themselves and to learn what may have happened here," Jzero says.
"Yes, and we must get them to set about destroying that pool of evil."
"It seems like we have completed as much as we can for now. Lets head out and see if anyone has seen these strange creatures before." Crastor says.
You all make your way out of the caves, up thru the Glassworks, and in no particular order :
Notify the Sheriff of what you've found. He says he'll investigate with some deputies, and post some guards at the entrance to the cave.
Notify Father Zantus of the evil pool and the zombies in the cave. He says that this is beyond his abilities, he will contact his higher-ups to send some people who know how to deal with these sorts of things.
Anything else you want to do in town regarding the caves?
When things settle down:
"Well, can you two magical types figure out what the rest of these items are?"
Ceri sets about to identify the magical items. I won't roll, assuming she'll eventually get it. You'll also eventually figure out the value of the various items.
The touch-lighting wand has 14 charges.
Scroll of Blast/Fire/Selective.
Scroll of Burst/Fire.
The bottle of wine is above average in quality, 1 GP.
There was a three-pronged stabbing weapon in a statue's hands, it's worth 400 GP for its craftsmanship.
The small flying demon in the 2-pool room had :
Cold iron dagger (Range 3/6/12, Damage Str+d4 AP 1, Returning) : usable by Size-2 creatures
Tiara worth 50 gp
Obsidian medallion with an odd symbol on it, worth 10 gp
An Occult roll will identify the symbol, or Father Zantus might know it.
I think that's it!
Story recap so far : monsters dwelled below the city, and the goblin raid on the town was but the first of many the monsters have planned. An unnamed woman seems to be behind it all, who worships someone named Lamashtu.
Jzero will check on Ameiko. He narrates the story about their discovery and what was there. He also asks her if she knows anything about a place called Thistletop, apparently (from the journal found) a place of interest to those planning the raids. He also brings her a flower and a few sweet rolls as gifts. As he leaves, he asks her if she needs anything he can get for her as she recovers.
He will also ask her about this woman named Nualia. If she doesn't know anything about her, Jzero will ask around to see if anyone in town knows a woman by that name.
Jzero makes sure the authorities know that there may be a demon called a succabus and also a quasit involved. He also asks around about a bugbear named Bruthasmus, and tries to identify the name Malfeshnekor and Ripnugget. Finally he asks people who know about local religions about Lamashtu.
Benny Spent to reroll.
Result = 6 + 6 + 3 = 15
Ameiko says that Thistletop is a small island about a few hour's journey to the east from here. It's rumored to be overrun with goblins. She reminds you that her brother Tsuto had asked her to join "his group" at Thistletop while he held her captive.
She graciously accepts the gifts, but you can't tell if she's embarrassed or interested.
She tells you that Nualia was a Sandpoint girl who became pregnant out of wedlock about a decade ago, whose boyfriend left her when she found out. Her adopted father was the previous cleric of the local church, and he treated her harshly when he found out about her condition. Then she miscarried, and the baby was a mis-shapen abomination. Their house burned down shortly after, and it was thought that both she and her father died, altho it is now obvious that she probably set the fire and left.
No one you ask knows the name Malfeshnekor or Ripnugget. A wandering Dwarf Fighter female adventurer you meet in a tavern tells you that Bruthazmus is a bugbear Ranger who roams the goblins' territories, and is friends with all five tribes. The last she heard, he was spending a lot of time with the Thistletop goblins. The Sheriff suggests that Shalelu Andosana (the Elf Ranger who you met a while ago) might know those names, but it's unknown when she'll visit next, and she sometimes disappears for a month or more at a time.
Father Zantus knows the name Lamashtu, she's a demon lord and a Chaotic Evil god or demi-god, and delights in deformity. She is worshipped by several monstrous humanoids such as goblins, ogres, bugbears, minotaurs, etc.
So, what do you all want to do next? I want more consensus than "Rule of 2" here...
"A bugbear ranger eh!! Sound just like my type of quarry.", the halfling ranger says as he goes over his equipment and supplies.
"SO off to this Thistletop place I take it then! Would be nice to speak to Shalelu before we leave, but I can understand if she is unavailable."
"Thistletop sounds like a logical next step. However, should we check out this local story of love and loss first? Or does it sound more like idle gossip?
"Checking out something local first seems to make the most sense to me. If her baby had anything to do with those strange creatures below, I would like to find that out." Crastor says.
You ask around town, and eventually find the midwife that took care of Nualia during her pregnancy, and who also took away the miscarried dead baby. She confirms that the story it true.
"What was done with the child's body?" Evesk asks knowing that sometime improperly disposed of bodies can have evil repercussions.
"Did they rebuild over the house or are the remains still there?" Crastor asks.
The midwife tells you that the body was consecrated, and buried on holy grounds, despite its deformations.
It's been a decade, another house was built on the site long ago.
Everyone got 77 GP from the sellable treasure.
If there are no more questions, and nobody wants to spend a day or two in town resting up or shopping, etc., shall I start moving you to Thistletop?
Jzero agrees that this Thistletop place likely holds important clues as to this whole trouble.