The Roadkeeper Rudrik approached stabs out with his sword, while the other two move to flank the half-orc. Rudrik easily parries two strikes while catching the third on his shield.
As the battle starts, the veteran's cancerous black blood heats and quickens, and her whole body feels looser. Calendula starts forward, rushing to Rudrik's aid, but stops as if colliding with a wall. Her body writhes and contorts, her breathing growing wetter, louder and more painful. She coughs and coughs, muscles in her arms and back seizing. With an agonizing scream, she throws her sword forward, her arm stretching forth as if it were boneless, puncturing a Roadkeeper some eight feet away from her. The arm snaps back like a streched cord, vibrating but tethered firmly.
Amazed by the occurrence and wracked with pain where she believed her elbow to be, she simply says nothing
The Roadkeeper's eyes widen in shock as Calendula's sword impales him. He collapses!
As surprised by Calendula's arm as the Roadkeepers, Theo managed to recover quickly enough to unleash a new spell he'd picked up on the remaining foes.
Rudrik wastes no time in lashing out at his foe.
The oddity in her voice surprised him, but not enough to stop him using a spell to brush Nime's hair back and leaning down to start kissing the side of Nime's neck.
Shen keeps Nime upright and makes a 'shoo'-ing gesture to Theo, motioning for him to move up the bed until he can lie down and present his spear.
"Look at that." She whispers throatily to Nime. "I think he's ready, don't you?" She eases Nime's tunic off as she turns her friend to gaze at Theo. "Get on top, but face this way. I'm not being left out of this!"
As Nime moves into position Shen slides out of her own clothes, so that when Nime is ready and Shenuska pushes her head down Theo's view is revealed, Nime's pale rounded buttocks in the foreground and Shenuska's caramel coloured bust behind. Lucky man!
-----------------
Shenuska skirts the fight, her eyes on the building from which 'Mother Nightshade' should emerge momentarily.
Theodric's burning arc scorches both of the remaining Roadkeepers, and they fall before Rudrik even has a chance to attack!
The door to the stone house cracks open, and Shenuska can see an old woman peeking out. The psychic wastes no time sending two magic missiles streaking into her. She shrieks in pain and throws the doors open fully. Hunched over with advanced age, the woman wears black robes and has milky, clouded eyes. A field of swirling colors shimmers around her. This must be Mother Nightthrush. "You'll pay for messing with my gang!" she cries and casts a spell, blasting Calendula, Nime, and Theodric with sound!
Shenuska, seeing no reason to stop with a successful tactic, blasts again!
A portion of Theo's mind recognised what he was being hit with, raw sonic force that was designed to shake the body apart. Mostly it was just dealing with the string of noise complaints coming from his hearing department.
Rudrik moves in without remorse and makes a low cut against the old woman. "Yeah you mess with my friends like that, you get cut," he says evenly while he chops away.
Nime's spear falls to the ground as she clasps her hands to her ears and closes her eyes tight.
The oddity in her voice surprised him, but not enough to stop him using a spell to brush Nime's hair back and leaning down to start kissing the side of Nime's neck.
Nime groans against Shen's lips and, reaching one hand back, pulls Theodric closer to the open line at her jaw.
"Look at that." She whispers throatily to Nime. "I think he's ready, don't you?"
Nime closes her eyes and draws in a deep breath of air - her gills making a peculiar vibrating sound as she does so. "He's not the only one," she says with a smile.
She turns and climbs up on the bed looking at Theodric. She moves her face down close to his thighs and smells his skin. She travels slowly up his body smelling the scents he produces. When she reaches his face she joins her lips to his, her tongue exploring. She pulls away and begins tasting his skin, working her way back down his chest and towards his stiff member. She takes a moment to savor his smell before looking up at Shenuska. "They all smell so different." She looks back down at the organ before her and, without hesitation, swallows it to the base. Her throat grasps at it as she moves up and down, her gills making their odd noise as her breathe pulls through them.
She only continues her ministrations for a moment before releasing the straining organ. "And he tastes wonderful," she says, wiping her smiling mouth with her hand. "You smell like you'll taste wonderful as well," she adds as she moves farther down Theo's body to mount him.
As Nime moves into position Shen slides out of her own clothes, so that when Nime is ready and Shenuska pushes her head down Theo's view is revealed, Nime's pale rounded buttocks in the foreground and Shenuska's caramel coloured bust behind. Lucky man!
"Mmmmm... yes, yes you do," Nime murmurs as she tastes what Shenuska offers.
Calendula likewise stands stock still, shocked and in pain
With most of the group stunned, Rudrik moves up and cuts Mother Nightthrush with his gladius. Shenuska blasts her with another pair of magic missiles, further wounding her.
Cursing, the old woman defensively casts a spell and then retreats back into the building.
Ignoring her pain and fueled by the heat in her blood, Calendula hurries the 40 or so feet into the door and swings out her blade, throwing it into the woman.
"Yer gang's weak an dead or gone, lady," she mutters.
Calendula overcomes Nightthrush's defensive spell and stabs her in the back with her longsword. The old woman groans and falls, blood pooling around her.
With the enemies defeated, you search the camp, finding a large collection of valuable items. Most of them hold clothing, various items, and common trade goods, stolen from traders along the Chavali River and worth a total of 500 gp. In addition, the wagons contain the following items: a carved wooden box containing 24 freshwater pearls worth 10 gp each, a gold statue of a linnorm worth 120 gp, a suit of full plate armor, an oil of magic weapon, a scroll of comprehend languages, and a wand of glitterdust (9 charges).
The interior of the stone room is bare except for a small pallet of blankets nestled into the corner near a burning candle set in a silver holder. A few books are stacked next to the candle. A set of crumbled stairs leads to what was once the second story, its opening covered by a thatched roof to keep out the elements.
The silver candlestick is a little tarnished, but with some simple cleaning it could be presentable enough to fetch 15 gp. Stacked near this candle are three books. The first is a collection of Varisian fables with a ratty cover and a nearly nonexistent binding. The second, bound in red leather, is a guide with illustrations of various plants with medicinal benefits and recipes for poultices, salves, tinctures, and teas that can be made from the plants.
The third book is a thick volume with a thin wooden cover and red silk covering the binding. Inside, two dozen bawdy stories play out for the reader's delight, complete with woodcuts illustrating the acts mentioned in the stories. All three books are worth a total of 50 gp.
Searching this room uncovers a secret door as well. Beyond it is a set of stairs descending into darkness...
Shenuska flicks through the books, discarding the first one as trash but nodding interestedly at the second and laughing out loud at the third before holding it protectively under her arm.
Nime approaches Calendula.
"Are you alright?" she asks, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Arms don't usually behave like that." Her face is full of concern.
Calendula's breath comes fast and shallow, and sweat beads on her forehead. Her body is hot, feverish. She loosens her scarves, taking one off even, displaying more scars, barbed chains burned around her neck. Her skin takes an unusual pallor, pinker than normal.
For a single moment, she almost looks healthy.
She vomits on the ground inside the shack, heaving and coughing and her skin returns to its dull color and she cools down her normal, deathly temperature. Promptly, she bundles back up, ice cold.
"I don't rightly know how to feel," she admits, wiping her mouth and shivering. "I feel worser than I'd ever afore. But powerful. It's strange."
With a shake of her head, she ignites the light in her sword and starts down the stairs.
"Three bets where this goes," she murmurs.
The stairs descend 80 feet, switching back from landing to landing, before ending in a room with a single lantern on the floor. A door to the west is boarded up with six sturdy pine planks secured into the stone doorframe with iron spikes. An empty silver saucer sits in front of the door, accompanied by a few bread crumbs, and an arched opening leads to the south.
Shenuska fastens her new amulet around her neck and follows the rest of the group. When they reach the bottom room she pulls out her goggles and examines the room minutely.
Rudrik lets his sword droop slightly as the crone collapses, but he turns his attention to Calendula with a worried look. "I'm gettin' a bit more worried about you, Callie," he says. "Lissen, just, uh... if you start to feel much worse an' you need a rest or somethin', just tell me, all right?"
A look of concern wrinkles his usually bellicose features, and it's clear that his worry is genuine, but he lacks the means to articulate it any better than that.
Shenuska doesn't find anything of interest in this chamber, nor does she detect any magical auras.
"Do we want to go through the door?" Shenuska asks, gesturing to the barricade. "I assume it was blocked for a reason..."
Nime steps close to the barricaded door and gently reaches out and touches it with slender fingers. She tips her head and leans in, smelling the boards.
"I don't think we want to go in there," she says with a frown as she pulls back from the door.
"Yeah let's leave that for now," says Rudrik, "an' check out this archway instead." He peers into the darkness with his orcish vision.
This thirty-foot-long colonnade has seen better days but is in surprisingly good condition. A few cracks mar the marble floors and walls, yet the six smooth columns that hold the ceiling up are in immaculate condition.
"Remarkable. Whoever built this made sure it would last." Shenuska says, examining the columns closely. "Whats ahead Rurik?"
Theo's hands explored Nime's body as she made her 'olfactory exploration' of him and returned her kiss equally deeply. He was almost reluctant to let her slide back down, but her continued explorations quickly changed his mind.
Her sudden decent caught Theo off-guard, eliciting a surprised-but-pleasured moan as the undine's throat worked its magic. He ran a hand through Nime's hair, pushing it aside to give him a clearer view and just to help guide her ministrations.
He was again caught by surprise when she stopped almost as suddenly as she started before moving to follow Shenuska's directions. And Shen was right about him enjoying the view, his hands resting on Nime's hips to help guide her down (not that she seemed to need any encouragement by this point).
As the night wore on, it was clear that this wasn't Theo's first time with more than one lady at a time and he made sure to give both of them the attention they deserved.
"I think this place is connected to the other ruins we found the gauntlets in," Theo remarked as he looked over the marble room, still rubbing his ears despite the ringing having finally stopped, "if so then this was probably made by Thassilon - if the Lady's Light and Xin-Shalast didn't make it obvious, those guys built things to last."
A lantern sits near a set of stairs leading down into darkness. Near the north wall of this chamber, opposite the stairs, is a statue carved from red stone that depicts a woman with wild hair and her face set in a sneer, holding a clenched fist out in front of her. Four smooth columns hold the cracked ceiling aloft.
A group of four Roadkeepers stand guard in this room, playing cards for small wagers. They look up in surprise as you approach. "Hey! How'd you get past Mother Nightthrush?" one asks cautiously.
"We killed her." Shenuska says, a smile that is both alluring and a little intimidating on her face. "It was fun too. Why don't you all run along before my associate here decides she doesn't like how your faces look. She's very good at rearranging them!"
"Yes, I might ... rearrange ... your faces," Nime says, jumping on Calendula's cue.
She looks at Shenuska.
"Why would I do that though? There's nothing wrong with their faces. I could pull the breath from their lungs though." She turns back to the men. "It's a horrible thing, I hear, to lie there gasping on the ground. Like a fish out of the water, if you'll excuse the on-the-nose expression."
The bandits blanch in the face of Nime's threats. "First Lullaby and Dolland, and now Nightthrush? Ain't no gang left, really. We'll scram! You can have this cursed ruin!"
Assuming you let them leave, the former Roadkeepers scurry past you and don't look back.
The stairs here lead down into the eastern part of the ruins where you recovered the runewarded gauntlets. A few empty halls and rooms are all that remain now, though one of the rooms seems to have been recently converted into an alchemy lab. Each of the following potions sitting on the table is labeled: potion of barkskin, potion of bull's strength, potion of cat's grace, potion of darkvision, potion of fire breath, potion of invisibility, potion of protection from arrows, and potion of reduce person. There is also a suit of ancient-looking +1 splint mail, an equally antiquated masterwork cestus, and a scroll of protection from evil.
There doesn't seem to be anything else to do here, unless you want to try to get through the boarded-up door. The Roadkeepers have officially been disbanded.
"Well that was easy." Shenuska says, throwing glances back towards the boarded up door. "Shall we take a look? It's not as though we've had to do much so far today..."
Rudrik lets his sword droop slightly as the crone collapses, but he turns his attention to Calendula with a worried look. "I'm gettin' a bit more worried about you, Callie," he says. "Lissen, just, uh... if you start to feel much worse an' you need a rest or somethin', just tell me, all right?"
A look of concern wrinkles his usually bellicose features, and it's clear that his worry is genuine, but he lacks the means to articulate it any better than that.
She huffs and shakes much like a threatened dog, raising her metaphorical hackles. "I'm dying, idiot, ain't get much worse'n that. If I sat down every time it hurt to move or I felt worse'n I did before, I'd have died of starvation afore'n you were even born!" she looks away, surprised by her shout. She continues down the stairs, facing away from Rudrik. "Movin thru the pain is the only thing what's kept me alive and, frankly, my only reasonin fer stayin so is spite, so's don't you waste your pity on me, boy, cause it don't help none. This is my burden, an tryna help jus makes it heavier."
She watches Nime's threat land with great amusement though she makes no indication of such, and as the party agrees to unbarricade the door, she sets about moving and breaking what she can.
The ceiling of this room beyond the boards has partially caved in, and a crack splits through the northwest corner of the ceiling and reaches up toward the surface. It appears to be empty, but as Calendula looks around, a semi-transparent creature suddenly fades into view. Portions of this three-stalked fungoid monster’s body seem to fade in and out of sight. A large maw gapes along its entire front as it lunges, biting a chunk of flesh from the bloodrager. The thing vanishes again.
"Sure, sure... just let me know if the situation changes," says Rudrik in response to Callie's outburst. On a moment's reflection, one might realize that a half-orc growing up with intolerance miiiiight have a little experience with irrational misplaced anger responses.
When the fungal tripod becomes briefly visible, Rudrik lets out a sudden "WHOA!" but that doesn't stop him from leaping forward to chop at the air where it appeared momentarily.
Swinging wildly at the air, he is unable to connect with anything.
"Sure, sure... just let me know if the situation changes," says Rudrik in response to Callie's outburst. On a moment's reflection, one might realize that a half-orc growing up with intolerance miiiiight have a little experience with irrational misplaced anger responses.
Nimes moves up to place a soft hand on Calendula's shoulder and leans over to kiss the top of her head.
She walks farther along and leans down towards Rudrik.
Shenuska lashes out with her mind, attempting to wrench the creature into elsewhere.
With no clear idea where the creature is (and all of his spells needing a specific target because he still never learnt an area of effect spell), Theo instead started setting his magical reinforcements in place.
The plant creature's rudimentary intelligence is too simple for Shenuska to affect. It appears briefly as it bites Calendula again and disappears once more.
Frustrated at the creature being invisible, Theo wreathed his hand in lightning, stepped up, and started groping blindly at where he last saw the creature.
WIFF!
Cursing quietly under her breath Shenuska falls back on her most trusty spell, gathering a handful of vibrating power in her fist as she waits for the creature to appear again.
Nime invokes Shelyn's protection about her and watches her friends nervously.
"I knew we didn't want to come in here," she mutters to herself.