Taking everyone's two second moment of silence as permission, Johann turns into a bat and flies into the bat cave.
Once there, he starts to try to communicate with cheeps and sonar images.
"<Monsters in near cave><Have much better cave><Wish I was in their cave><Much insects><Much good hanging rocks><Very dark and moist><Is very nice cave>."
Cheep! Cheep! Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!
"I wonder if our fair Johann is making any headway with the bats? I do hope they come and that the derro does not slay too many. Though loathsome to some the Bats are part of mother Africas' many creatures." She says with a smile as she feeds Kiku some dried fruit.
" We should see if we can scour the bat's cavern for any prize that may hide there. the Derro or other creatures here could leave the dead in the chamber for fungus and insects to attract the bats making food plentiful. Meaning aside from the valuable bat guano their could be treasures too"
"Cheep! Cheep!"
<Many many! But there are non-bat non-friends in there. Swarm! Swarm! They scare and run!>
Johann screeches and attempts to use echolocation to show them the direction to go.
<Follow!>
He swoops down and flies toward the other cave.
Dire Bat Johann leads the aerial assault on the derro in their cavern at the head of a massive bat swarm made of several combined bat swarms! The flying omnivores descend upon the startled tribe of derro like a sudden storm, cheeping, squealing, biting and scratching, going for the big blue pupiless eyes of the panicked derro!
Panicked by the sudden blitzkrieg of bats led by Dire Bat Johann, the 12 derro rise up, beating with futile effort at the biting, clawing, winged cloud of doom all around them, tangling in their whispy white hair and beards, clawing and biting eyes, ears, noses and lips in a squeaking, cheeping fury! With no area of effect attacks to bring to bear on the giant bat swarm, the derro soon realize the futility of fighting back, but not before Dire Bat Johann and his diminutive allies have had their fill of derro blood!
Routed, the wounded survivors rush headlong out of the cavern down the tunnel to the ambush laid for them by the other Crusaders, Jackals and Fools! Sir Alphonse mows down the first couple with cleaning sweeps of Foereaper. Lady Ihrin and Ogon Fox flank and dispatch the next few with lightning-swift precision. Lord Perpireen, revolted by the bats, tries to find a happy memory of his adventures with Johann in the Black Forest to distract his fey mind from the disgusting horror of fighting alongside the filthy flying rats! Mwikali encourages her allies and hexes the few stragglers that somehow manage to get past Johann, Alphonse, Ihrin, Fox, and Lord P...
After a brief but ferocious slaughter, the 12 derro lay dead, and the bat colonies have a new home full of fresh blood and meat!
Alphonse blinks in surprise once the battle is done.
"I had not thought your strategy would be quite SO effective, Johann."
Searching the two caverns thouroughly?
Perception checks please.
Ihrin takes her time.
Ihrin looks over the statue and begins to study it.
|
Satisfied that his bat friends are happy and contented devouring the derro, Johann makes his way out before transforming again and searching the room with Ihrin. Upon seeing the idol, he scratches his head and looks confused. "I guess my reputation proceeds me. This is very strange. I have heard of the Saint but how would he have heard of me? Still, I'm not one to turn down a CHRISTMAS PRESENT!" He starts getting really excited.
Ihrin looks over the statue and begins to study it.
[dice=Perception on Statue]1d20+20
[dice=Disable Device on the Statue]1d20+19
Ihrin discovers a false bottom that slides out of the idol's base, and hears something rattling within it. Opening the secret compartment, a necklace of rosary beads with silver crucifix and medal depicting St Francis of Assisi slides out.
Cheep! Cheep! Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!
Flies around madly trying to keep away from the bats, seeing Mwikali he zips down as fast as he can into her bag, to hid.
A gold brooch shaped like a two-headed snake coiled round an emerald worth 2,000 gp pinning the moldy cloak on the skeleton of a long-dead Halfling tombraider; the other equipment in badly rusted or water damaged, as the skeleton is found half submerged in a shallow pool in the derro cave...
A silver flask with carnelian inlays and stopper worth 500 gp in the bat cave.
In a torpor from the rigor of scrying and the shock of what he'd seen in Lady Ihrin's visage and mannerisms, Nero reclines upon his funeral bier and goes through the motions of sleep as if he could, letting his thoughts drift back, way back to that misty past when he was a living, breathing man, and Emperor of Rome...
He'd had many siblings, brothers and sisters, but one in particular had been close to him: Agrippina the Younger. He had loved her, and she him. The relationship was... Ancient Roman... and would not be understood today...
Cease this pitiful ruminating on what is long dead, Nero. You are something different now, something far superior to weak and temporary mortal flesh and blood! You are the heir of Lucifer! You are the Great Beast 666! You are the Antichrist, who has called down Wormwood and hastened the Doomsday! Focus on the goal: to slay the Lamb of God and unthrone the Great I Am!
Noticing her bag a bit heavier she giggles."Does the mighty Feylord fear the humble bat? I will not judge just do not soil my clothing within"
Ihrin chuckles and pats Johann on the shoulder."Here here, just remember to be stealthy, Also can I braid your beard sometime?" she says next to the bear of a man taking time to enjoy the brief respite and relish in the joy that Johann was experiencing.
Nero's thoughts then turned to the 5th century, when he first crossed paths with that damned sprite Lord Perpireen McGibel...
That accursed McGibel! I had murdered and usurped the role and guise of Atilla the Hun, and was leading his vast barbarian hordes against the Gauls, but that blasted little fairy was on their side, and continually confounded my superstitious barbarians with cheap fairy tricks and glamers, causing me to lose battles I'd have otherwise won! And then, to top it off, that little pest found out Atilla was really me, and poisoned my wine with holy water! Thank Lucifer the little wretch never found my phylactery after all the times he's managed to get together a band of self-righteous fools to hunt me down and destroy my corporeal form! He couldn't leave it at that, no... When I was Genghis Khan, he found me out, tricked me again, and got me destroyed...AGAIN!!... When I was playing at being Duke of Burgundy in the 14th century, AGAIN that little twerp foiled me!! I cannot wait to have my revenge!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
stays in the Bag but says muffled
"Horrid things, all skin and wings and sharp teeth. Ill just stay here until they are gone so I shale there."
'They are bats my dear Lord, nothing to worry about, besides Kiku and I shall protect you" Mwikali says with a smile.
"My beautiful bear and Sly Fox could you assure our Fey Lord he is perfectly safe from these supposed demons bats and can come out of my bag?" She says really hoping to get the small fey from her magical bag.
His head pops up out of the bag and looks around. Seeing no bats he flies iup and around the others.
"Well this be much better, and where shall we gone next my fine fellows"
"A gift from the Lord," the Fox marvels as Johann holds the rosary beads. "Shall we pray a moment?" he asks, looking to Johann and Alphonse.
The Fox sits down on the cave floor, heedless of the guano, and places his organetto of sounding in front of him. He then proceeds to play.
|
|
Johann bows his head in respect and prays as the Fox plays. "Foxy, that was beautiful. To think that a lupine fellow such as yourself has such skill; well, it always boggles my mind. Any casual onlooker would have thought yourself to be weak and devoid of any talent." He gives his best friend a pleasant smile.
Alphonse prays with them, for success in their quest and God's blessing that none may fall in the process.
"Vulpine, I believe you mean, Brother Johann. Lupine would be appropriate for a werewolf or some such."
After giving thanks for Johann's Christmas gift, The Rosary Beads of St Francis of Assisi, the party descends the spiral stair to the bottom of King Solomon's Mines. The great stair sweeps down into a vast,sprawling cavern lit by volcanic fires that gutter and flicker from fissures in the cavern walls, giving a hellish red glow to the gigantic cathedral like cavern. As the stairs drop into the cavern, they diverge into two stairways, one descending to the southeast, the other to the southwest.
The two stairs form a central chamber in which a great pentagram is graven into the cavern floor and filled in with silver...
Bound inside the silver pentagram is a ten-foot-tall, horned, bat-winged, barbed-tailed, red-skinned devil armed with a large spiked chain, it's evil eyes blazing with yellow hellfire as it glares at the adventurers above it on the limestone stairs!
Gudefaximi skorrlex j'tai...
To the east and west are flanking wings filled with stalactites, stalagmites and limestone columns and other formations, an underground forest of stone... These wings are lit by the same volcanic glow as the central chamber...
Treasures of all kinds, a splendid feast for the eyes of beautiful objects, are heaped up on the cavern floor to the east and the west! Countless coins of platinum, gold, silver, electrum, and copper form beds for gems and jewels of every kind, sundry art objects, finely forged weapons and armor, cups, goblets, bolts of silk, sticks of rare incense, etc.
INITIATIVES:
CORNUGON MALEBRANCHE
JOHANN KALTGEBOREN
LORD PERPIREEN MCGIBEL
LADY IHRIN DRACUL
MWIKALI & KIKU
OGON FOX
SIR ALPHONSE VERITAS
BATTLE IN KING SOLOMON'S TREASURY!! ROUND 1!! FIGHT!!
CORNUGON MALEBRANCHE!
LORD PERPIREEN MCGIBEL!
JOHANN KALTGEBOREN!
LADY IHRIN DRACUL!
OGON FOX!
SIR ALPHONSE VERITAS!
MWIKALI & KIKU!
OOH OOH AH AH AHHH!!!
The great red horned devil with spiked chain bound in the protection from evil circle leers with predatory malice at the heroes on the stairs some 80 feet above.
Sirkuss vol-benae!
The devil chants some evil abjuration in preparation for battle!
LORD P IS UP!! THEN JOHANN!! EEEEK!!
Mwikali watches as the things casts its spell.
"It has mystically girded itself against Good"She shouts to the others thinking through her repertoire of spells.
Ihrin smirks as she sees the devil.
"Perhaps it's merely a ruse. Devils are tricky sorts."
Alphonse has no specific information on what kind of Devil this is, however.
"Bat wings, why bat wings"
and with that shoots once more back into the bag
LADY IHRIN IS UP!! THEN OGON FOX!!
Ihrin stands hands resting on her blades as she looks at the Devil form beside Johann.
The Fox gives Johann a light punch in the shoulder in retort for his verbal jab, and adds, "Your capacity for appreciating such art is a marvel, as well, my friend!"
When they reach the chamber housing this great devil, the Fox stalks slowly around behind it, keeping his distance from the devil and its surrounding graven circle. Holy barakuda rests in one hand, and his other hand is balled into a fist.
Ihrin Looks to Ogon and smiles.
The horned devil roars in rage at Lady Ihrin's taunts.
RROOAAAARRRR!!! Infernal: Foolish mortals! I have been bound here by the greatest of Earth's wizards, that accursed King Solomon! You shall feel the full fury of my wrath, insolent tomb raiders!!
MWIKALI'S UP!! THEN SIR ALPHONSE!! THEN ROUND 2!! EEEEK!!
"Ultimately it matters not whether the creature is trapped; it does not belong on God's earth."
Alphonse' eyes flash as he calls down God's Vengeance on the devil, and he rushes forward to meet it.