The sounds of combat outside the door seem to indicate that the confused cultists have begun to attack one another.
You hear banging on the southern door, metal scraping against the iron as more enemies seem to be trying to get inside! At the same time, a horrible monster appears in the middle of the ground floor halway. This fiend appears to be a mass of floating intestines tangled around a fanged mouth—the tips of its coils also end in toothy maws. It roars and moves to attack!
Nyogoths are immune to acid, cold, and mind-affecting effects. They resist electricity and fire, as well as weapons that are not lawfully aligned. Damage from piercing or slashing weapons causes them to spray acid on their attackers.
"Ewww!" Nime cries out as the qlippoth appears. "It eats things!" Realizing the unhelpfulness of that statement, the oracle relays the other tidbits she knows of the the creature.
Hearing about its resistance to fire, Theo instead set about defending himself.
The nyogoth wriggles its tentacles and roars, presenting its horrific appearance for all to see!
Nime's hand moves to her mouth and her skin turns a sickly shade of gray. "Uh ... I think I'm going to ..."
Shenuska resists its appearance with an effort of will.
"Hideous." She comments drily before snapping her fingers to impel her allies with greater speed.
Rudrik lets out a loud burp and says, "Reminds me of haggis!" as he moves enthusiastically to engage the wriggling foe.
"Don't say ... urp ... haggis," Nime manages before vomiting her breakfast all over the floor.
With all of his spells neatly countered by the creature, Theo fell back on using his spear, even knowing that it would probably get him doused in acid.
Whirling it about him as he advanced, he stabbed at the creature.
Feeling the wave of nausea hit him, Theo stumbled slightly and leant on his staff.
Calendula is unbothered by the thing's grotesque appearance, rushing forth to strike it with the power of Iomedae.
As Nime and Theo reel and retch, Shenuska hastes the group. Rudrik strides forward and slices the qlippoth, piercing its hide but receiving a spray of acid for his trouble! Calendula stretches her arms and tears into the monster's slimy body, her lawful blade overcoming its resistances. Rudrik is rewarded with another spray of sizzling blood.
The fiend roars and floats forward to get in reach of Calendula, assaulting her with the teeth on its tentacles and its massive central maw! The myriad bites rip bloody wounds across the paladin's body that burn with potent acid!
With nothing else she can usefully do Shen blasts the creature with mystic projectiles!
Glad to feel the sickness passing, Theo remembered a spell that would be of more help to the others and perhaps a better use of his time than just trying to stab the creature.
Gathering the energy in his hand, Theo moved up to Rudrik and tapped him on the arm causing a wave of green energy to flow around him protectively.
"I'll explain later."
Her stomach empty, Nime still contends with the dry heaves as she attempts to pull herself together.
Rudrik slashes multiple times with tremendous speed!
Shenuska's magic missiles slam into the nyogoth as Theo wards Rudrik against acid. The half-orc slips in behind the qlippoth to flank it, scoring two hits, while Calendula lays hands on herself, steps back, and smites it with her lawful blade! The acidic spray doesn't harm Rudrik now that he is protected.
The qlippoth moves to pursue the paladin, biting at her again and laying her low!
Calendula brushes herself off after the rude and mighty bite, stepping back and thrusting forth again, aiming for the thing's heart or hearts or many stomachs or whatever gross organs it has encased within.
Calendula drives her blade deep into the qlippoth's wriggling mass, and with the second strike, it falls at last.
The pounding on the southern door continues...
Finally getting her internals under control, Nime looks at the southern door with an odd expression.
"If they have the ability to just teleport into our midst, then why are they trying to get through the door?" Her eyes move upwards. "Unless they're just a distraction."
The oracle hobbles over to the stairs and turns her ear to listen to anything that may be taking place on the second floor.
She takes a firm grip on her glaive and begins ascending the stairs.
"Let me." Shenuska adds, catching Nime easily with her magically enhanced speed.
"Theo, Calendula, Ayavah - cover the southern door." Her voice calls down the stairs. "I'll let you know if anything happens. Rudrik, up here."
"I could block the door with stone?" Ayavah offers, looking between Theo and Calendula for a decision.
"I guess not all of them can teleport," says Rudrik. He looks at his sword, notes that it's not being eaten away by the acidic bile from the creature, and gives a satisfied nod. "Should I go check up the stairs?"
"That creature could also have been summoned rather than just teleport, not sure. Sealing the door with stone probably wouldn't hurt."
Shenuska doesn't hear any noises coming from the second floor. No alarm spells have been tripped yet.
The pounding on the south door continues, the iron starting to buckle slightly.
Nime looks between Shenuska and the others. "I guess I'll stay here, then?" She tips her head for a moment, again listening to things it seems only she can hear. "Yes," she confirms with a quick nod, "I'll stay here."
"I'll keep an eye up here." Shenuska agrees, "The rest of you stay here in case something happens." With that she heads into the fog, relying on her unnaturally sharp senses and superb memory to guide her towards the stairs.
Below Ayavah concentrates hard and the walls seem to melt slightly, rivulets of stone flowing across the buckling door and briefly forming a spiked crown inside a pair of lips before solidifying into a full wall.
Shenuska makes her way through the fog-filled halls of the tenement, getting turned around a couple of times but steadily making her way upwards. Once she makes it halfway down the third floor's hallway, shapes emerge from the fog ahead. Two human cultists flank a third, a scarred half-elf woman with purple skin signifying drow heritage. The woman snarls and brandishes her halberd. "Stand aside! I must go to the ground floor!" she shouts. It seems she has succumbed to the suggestion on Zincher's bedroom door!
Shenuska promptly does so, fading back into the fog to give them clear access.
"The suggestion worked." She sends to her various links. "Two cultists and their leader coming down. I'll be behind them. Get them as they come off the stairs."
The telepathic warning allows you to get into position at the bottom of the stairs. After a minute or so, you can see the figures about to emerge from the fog-shrouded passage...
From behind the group, still concealed by the fog Shenuska reaches out mentally to leech speed and strength from their foes.
Once they appear at the bottom of the stairs, Nime resorts to the closest thing she considers an attack, unleashing a spell on the woman with the halberd.
Once her spell is completed, she notes the woman's weapon. She brandishes her glaive in return. "Is it just me," she asks, indicating the halberd her opponent holds, "or do you find pole-arms like these overly phallic and pretentious as well?" she asks.
Calendula thrusts her sword toward one of the cultists, aiming for a clean kill, but in all the fog misses her opponent entirely.
With the opportunity presented, Theo reached out and a layer of grease appeared under the descending cultists.
Rudrik slices into the first cultist down the stairs, terribly wounding him! Calendula's blade scrapes against his armor, and she fails to finish him off.
The cultists largely weather your barrage of spells unharmed, though the wounded foe is slowed. They maintain their footing on the grease. The half-elf woman floats several inches above the ground.
Moving towards the base of the stairs, Theo let his new ability well up, warning Shenuska through the telepathic link to keep clear of the stairs for the moment.
Eyes glowing with golden arcane power, a huge gout of flame erupted from his mouth, filling the stairway.
Having received no response to her reasonable (in her mind) query, Nime repeats her spell on the small chance that she can end the bloodshed.
Theodric's fiery blast incinerates the wounded cultist, but the others dodge the worst of it. This time, Nime's spell works, and the half-drow woman seizes up as she is temporarily paralyzed!
"Rudrik, kill her." Shenuska commands as she approaches the top of the stairs. "She's the leader - the danger dies with her."
She reaches into the mind of the still active cultist, attempting to twist his view of friend and foe.
"As you say, miss," says Rudrik, as he moves to engage the ostensible leader.
Rudrik slices open the head cultist's throat, and she falls to the ground, blood pouring from the fatal wound! Shenuska ensnares the mind if the remaining foe, and in a matter of mere moments, the threat to Clegg Zincher's scrolls has been neutralized!
"Rudrik, Wait!" Nime calls out, her distress obvious. She turns to Shenuska. "Aren't we going to at least try to talk to her?" she pleads.
"Well she's sure not going to talk with her throat like that," says Rudrik.
"What good would it have done?" Shenuska asks calmly. "We know why she was here and what purpose she hoped to serve. It was to release a plague of horrific death and destruction. Why does she deserve to live? This one I can send away." She adds, pointing to the cultist who is observing her with slavish devotion, "But I shed no tears over her, she is no loss."
"I disagree," the oracle says in a sad voice. "Every life cut short by stupidity, greed, wrath, or other equally wasteful things is a loss - even if it's their own." She moves into the paralyzed woman's field of view.
"I'm sorry," she says in a voice filled with remorse. She then turns and steps away from what's about to happen.
Keeping her comments to a minimum, Nime ensures that everyone is as healed as she can arrange. Once that's done, she makes her way out of the building to rise on the wind to the roof where she sits taking in the breeze with her eyes closed.
After taking his gear, Shenuska sends the charmed cultist packing into the night. Once the other Yamasoth followers realize that their leader has been defeated, they slink off into the shadows of Riddleport, their plot thoroughly foiled.
Clegg Zincher is overjoyed when he returns from the auction to find his precious scrolls are untouched. "I truly can't thank you enough for what you've done here tonight! Please, take one of the scrolls as a reward--you've more than earned it! You can also choose any two items from my armory."
You leave Zincher's tenements with your rewards, eager to hit the markets and liquidate them. You haven't gotten far, though, when mist begins to coalesce in the angles between the buildings and the streets. In a matter of moments, two snarling hounds of Tindalos suddenly emerge in this reality!
The hounds rush forward and pounce upon Calendula, tearing at her with their teeth!