Morgrym lifts his axe and with a great bellow brings it down on the sinspawn, the blade going most of the way through its body. He yanks his axe out and the sinspawn starts dissolving.
The jackal is briefly thrown but recovers and runs after Ponok, though it barely nips at his heels.
Lazur fires an arrow at the tiny demon and hits her in the leg. She shrieks and loses concentration, the magic she had gathered fizzling out. The demon curses and looks up as she realizes there is a very strong half-elf and a panther big enough to have her for a snack flanking her, and she looks panicked.
The demon jolts back and points a finger at Calin and speaks in the Abyssal tongue. It isn't a spell that she uses, there is no flash of light or anything to show what's happening, and yet Calin feels a sudden fatigue, his eyelids feel heavy, the world dulls...
Calin 7/17
Sinspawn (Blue) and (Red) DEAD
Eryllium -6 and Faerie Fire'd
Wayland moves up and fires his crossbow at the quasit.
Lazur moves forward and fires at the tiny demon again.
Morgrym stomps on the body of the sinspawn, rips his axe free of the chest of the dissolving creature.
He then flips the axe to clear if goo, he then drops his shield, and grips the axe with 2 hands, to be able to bring it down with more force.
He then moves up to attack the quasit.
What in Torags name is this, and how do we get rid of it
He then listens for an answer, while he moves closer to the quasit.
Protect from Evil 17/20, Shield of Faith 18/20, AC 18 (15 Base, Shield of Faith), HP 20/20
Trig runs forward to the doorway, and frowns at the situation. Calin was way too far away to help. "Hold in their, elf!" Trig called out before tapping Lazur on the back again for another casting of Guidance.
Calin's elven blood dispels the hex before it can take effect, and he attacks the demon but misses.
Ponok, on the other hand, continues his assault, dealing several blows that open wounds on the demon. From the entrance come Wayland's crossbow bolt, which goes wide, and Lazur's shot, which is perfectly on target and gets the tiny demon in the shoulder, and she screeches.
Eyes wide with growing panic and body covered in many small wounds, the demon brings her hands together and withdraws inward as she casts another spell defensively. With a shout, she releases the spell, and an energy ripples across the room. Everybody feels a creeping sense of horror.
The summoned jackal, which had been going after Ponok, is affected by the spell, as it stiffens in place, every hair on end, but it just manages to not flee.
Regardless of how many of her enemies are affected, the demon takes off from there, making a panicked beeline for the door, flying past everyone.
Erylium -16
Calin 7/17
Wayland doesn't have a weapon that threatens in hand (he has his crossbow), so he doesn't get an AOO.
He moves and uses his bonded item (amulet) to cast Magic Missile at the fiend.
"Don't let it get away and heal up!"
Morgrym shakes his head as the energy courses through him, and he plants his feet and shakes his head to clear it.
He looks up in time to see the little beastie flying towards him, and he takes a double handed swing at it.
Lets bring this thing down now
BAB, STR, Bless
Base, 2 H str
Only to have the little critter zig over the axe head, striking Morgrym out.
He swung and missed growling to himself. Whatever this thing was it needed put down.
"You are going to d..."
He began as the creature hastily chanted something and just like that Calin froze for a second as overwhelming fear sprang into existance in his mind. He turned and ran, as hard and fast as he can.
Lazur shrugs off the effect of the spell and after the demon goes by shoots an arrow at it.
"I Command you to Halt!" Trig yelled fiercely in common, raising her hand towards the fleeing creature. She wasn't sure if it would be able to understand, but it seemed worth the shot rather than letting this thing get away. She quickly moved out of the way of the warriors after that.
Ponok goes after the jackal, and in a flurry of claws and teeth tears it open, and the summoned creature vanishes.
The hall of the cathedral echoes with the sound of Trig's command, and the quasit's flight comes to a stop. It holds in place, hovering a few feet off the ground.
Erylium -20 hp, Halted for 1 round
Calin 7/17
By Torags stubbly beard, will that thing never stand still
Morgrym rapidly changes direction, and heads out after the flying quasit.
He shifts his heavy axe over to his off hand, and draws his boarding axe while running.
He then heaves the boarding axe at the flying quasit.
BAB, Dex, Bless
Base, 1 H Str
Protect from Evil 16/20, Shield of Faith 17/20, AC 18 (15 Base, Shield of Faith), HP 20/20
Lazur runs to the end of the hall to block the exit drawing one of his short shortswords while holding his bow in his left hand.
"Nice going, Trig! Let's finish this."
The wizard drops his crossbow, moves up, and tackles the Quasit!
Trig takes a step forward and, with as mighty a yell as she could muster, thrusts her longspear in the Quasit's general direction.
Morgrym's axe goes flying past the quasit, missing by a hair, and the point of Trig's spear goes wide. The tiny demon has just enough time to feel relieved--and then a shadow is cast over her, as the Wizard snatches her in both hands.
The quasit flails, squirming around trying to get loose, and Wayland feels a pinch as she bites down on his hand, but can't get enough leverage to do any real harm. "Heathens! Blasphemers! Get thy filthy hands off of--" she screeches in the Thassilonian tongue.
Wayland secures his hold, trying to pin the Quasit to the ground.
"Kill it! Or give me some rope to tie it!"
"I don't have any rope!" Trig yelled back as she tried to stab it again.
Got rope in my pack
Morgrym moves up while shrugging his pack off.
He then drops his heavy pack on the ground beside Wayland.
Wayland wrests with the demon, maintaining his grip but unable to pin it.
"Ponok, inconjura!" Edamm shouts, and moves in with her companion to flank it. She scores a lucky hit on the demon that sets up Ponok to claw at it, and with a wordless shout, Edamm dives in, cutting open the demon's throat. Black ichor runs on Wayland's hands and across the ground.
Morgrym taps Wayland on the shoulder.
Well done, well done indeed
He then goes to pick up his bow, and light axe while waiting for the others to sort themselves out.
Wayland gets to his feet. "Didn't think I'd be doing that when I woke up this morning. Well it's no law that a wizard has to be feeble; glad I was able to help.
Trig, nice work halting it with that spell.
Now let's go take a look at that altar and that pool."
Wayland does not have Prestidigitation prepared so he will continue to be covered in quasit blood for the near future.
Seeing Wayland grimacing slightly from the quazit blood.
Take a look in the top of my pack there beside you. There is a canteen, which holds water. Use as much of it as you need. I will fill it later.
He then picks up his dropped weapons, and comes back to his pack.
"Yeah, well..." Trig started in response to Wayland before scoffing. "This all is still too dangerous. I'm standing by what I said."
She glanced around, gauging the injuries of those who stood on the front lines. "Who's hurt? I don't have much left, so whoever's got injuries after this last spark of healing will have to heal up the old fashioned way. Well? Come on, bring it in."
Trig's hair glows a majestic purple as her last healing pulse goes out for the day.
Lazur walks back as the demon dies and moves in close at Trig's urging. He then begins to look around the room to see what the demon was defending.
With the demonic thing finally down it took him some long steady breaths to recenter himself. Blushing a deep crimson from shame and embaressment he moved back to the others avoiding looking at the tiny thing.
"what in the gods is this place down here?"
He muttered to no on in particular.
The door swings open. This huge room looks like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. Stone doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but beyond this, the walls are carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the room is a large pool, with a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection. At the far end of the room, a pair of stone steps lead up to a pulpit on which sits a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like translucent lava. Yet while wisps of what looks like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold.
The creature draws her dagger (itself no more than a needle) and draws the blade across her wrist, allowing a few drops of blood to drip into the bubbling pool. The pool flares with light and furiously boils over. The creature snarls at you and then, in a blink, vanishes from sight.
Wayland will examine the room in detail, using Detect Magic. His relevant skills are Knowledge (Arcana) +10, Knowledge (Religion) +8, Knowledge (Planes) +8, Knowledge (History) +9, and Spellcraft +9. And Linguistics +9, with his languages including Common, Thassalonian, Goblin, Draconic, Aklo, Celestial, and Varisian.
Can he read the strange runes?
Does he know the significance of the arrayed skulls?
Is the strange orange liquid magical?
Is there anything else magical in the room?
It appears that the Quasit dripping her blood into the pool summoned the two Sinspawn. Is there a way to shut down the pool so that can't happen again?
Morgrym stows his gear and then waits to see what the others might be doing.
Wayland's examination of the room takes a good ten minutes to complete, but come up with some interesting findings.
The quasit had a magic item, the needle-sized dagger grows to fit the hand of a new owner. It is finely enchanted and made of cold iron.
The runes on the walls are written in Ancient Thassilonian. Their contents are mainly prayers, with the names of demon lords and evil gods.
The larger pool is nonmagical, the water is dirty but mundane. The skulls ring the perimeter, facing outward, but do not seem to have any greater significance in their positioning. It's worth noting that one skull is particularly larger than the others, so much so that it may have belonged to a giant or a similar creature.
Where it gets really interesting is in the smaller pool. Both the liquid inside and the basin are extremely magical, possessing a strong Aura of Necromancy that is almost overwhelming to look upon. However, no matter how Wayland wracks his brains, he cannot identify the object.
That being said, there are some conclusions he can draw from observing the quasit's use of the pool. While the magical aura remains intense, the physical appearance of the pool is changed from before the quasit used it, the light is somewhat dimmed and the bubbling has decreased. It may be that whatever powers the enchantments on the pool is a limited resource, not unlike certain magical items which use up charges when activated.
Wayland relays his findings.
"This small pool contains an extremely powerful Necromantic enchantment. Summoning the sinspawn seems to have depleted it, at least temporarily, though it still retains some power. Don't touch it.
Anybody want the quasit's dagger? Trig? You or I would be most likely to make use of it."
Lazur thinks for a moment and says "Given that pool is evil, do yo think we should destroy it somehow or see if we can deplete its magic?"
"Not without knowing more about it. It is a powerful enchantment and one I do not wish to tamper with blindly."
The normally tacturn dwarf, settles his pack, and takes a long drink from one of his canteens.
He then speaks.
If it brings forth those ugly beasties, as shown how by that quasit.
As well, if it works like a wand, should we not bring those beasties out one at a time and drain the power for now.
I am thinking we do this so that others might not tamper with it after we are gone.
"I don't know that it is like a wand, Morgrym. Not as a hard fact. This is the work of an archmage. A few limited charges of Summon Sinspawn seems too weak an effect for the power I can sense. It may regain its ability over time or through human sacrifices or some other means. Maybe we can disrupt it or seal it off, but I'd rather do more research about what we are dealing with.
For all we know, doing the ritual improperly summons a more powerful being not under control."
"I'll take the dagger," Trig replied. "And we should definitely close this place down. Lazur, check the door to see if we can lock the door. Morgrym, stop trying to play with the evil hell pool. We should lock this up and tell the church about it. They'll be far better equipped to handle this situation than we are."
"Well," drawls Wayland, "might want to sweep this place so there ain't any inside that can use the pool if we seal the outside door. The door to the cathedral room is broken as you see."
Then he gets just a bit animated.
"As to the church, no, I do not think Father Absalar Zantus is 'far better equipped' than us to deal with this. Not in the least."
He quiets down a bit.
"Zantus seems a decent fellow and is a faithful Desnan but I don't think he can even read Ancient Thassilonian like those inscriptions there.
I can.
Brodert Quink might be more help than the Church.
There is nobody else, Trig. I know you wish there were some 'authorities' that could handle all the problems but Sandpoint is a small town. I reckon I know more about the dangers here than most others you'll find. And I mean to do more research.
Yes I will consult Zantus and Quink, but I don't think they can swoop in and solve this."
Lazur examines the door and then announces, "I can attempt to disable it but someone could always bash it down. Just depends on how bad they want in here."
"would dumping out the evil water help? Onto the floor or something? "
He wasnt entirely sure what was going on beneath Sandpoint but this was as serious as anything he could imagine. The Sheriff and Mayor should Be told of the troubles down here as well.
"We should inform the mayor and the Sheriff about this.. evil basin at the least as well, you may be right about being the best man for the job Wayland"
Wayland sighs. "Okay, fine. If Morgrym and Lazur and Calin all want to, we can try to drain or exhaust the pool. Let's dump the liquid out if we can, but be ready for anything dangerous to emerge."
"I don't really want to touch the liquid. We could come back tomorrow with a bucket and I could use Mage Hand. Or one of you could risk bailing out the water."
Morgrym starts looking around for a bucket or something that could be used to try to drain the pool.
"Well they should be better equipped to handle this kind of stuff," Trig huffed. In the big city, finding somebody who could handle this would have been a piece of cake. So many churches to choose, and wizards everywhere. Not everywhere, she corrected herself. Her scowl deepened at her inner monologue.
Seeing that the group seemed hell bent on messing with the water, Wayland excluded, Trig moved herself near the doorway and hugged her new dagger close to her chest. The Gnome watched the small pool of bubbling water wearily.
Seeing nothing available. Morgrym agrees with Wayland.
I guess we should come back in a day with a bucket. I cannot see anything to drain it with.
There's nothing resembling a bucket in the chapel. There's a ceremonial cup at the altar, but it's rather small. You could maybe bail out by hand, but it's worth noting that the water is exceedingly cold, so much so that standing over it you can see your own breath.
He took a look at the water and sighed, the only thing he had that would sort of work was his helmet and he really wasnt willing to uh... dunk that in the evil water.
" I guess if we sweep the rest of the place and make sure its clear of evil things the water will be fine where it is. It is creepy though. Im sorry about my performance before. Something about that little winged monster just... I dont think i've ever been that scared ever."