Kara's cantrip will not penetrate the enclosure, though the small bit of frost that forms along the side at its contact, causes the larvae inside to squirm slightly in response.
Each of the cases has a sequence of metal clasps around the upper panel, likely what is holding the lids in place.
|
"I hate the thought of these things lingering here. Always in the back of our mind, these little demonic maggots eating away at us until they're all that's left"
Floria looks surprisingly emotional about this. She takes her cold iron dagger in one hand and her wand of magic missile in the other and meets Karas eyes and nods, ready for when Kara opens one with her mage hand.
"But if that's what they are... what am I?" Valais whispers from the back, in response to Floria's comment.
You realize that, based on the research you read in the prior room, it was likely that Thurl used one of these Larvae to give her what life she has now.
As you ponder that, Kara uses her magic, to unlatch the clasps from a safer distance. The mage hand is barely able to lift them, as they are apparently quite tight. But they open well enough, each snapping open, one after the other with a lad clack.
She doesn't manage to get them all however, as before she gets to the last side of the lid, there is a quiet crunching sound, soon followed by louder and louder versions, as small cracks start to appear along the sides of the case, quickly radiating outwards and getting larger, as if some great pressure were pressing against the glass from the inside. A moment later, the entire case explodes outwards, bits of glass shattering onto the floor dumping the Larvae to the floor, where it writhes in apparent agony, as whatever pressure was pressing on the case, appears to be pressing on it as well.
Floria's thought to stab it with her dagger seem to get abandoned , as it instantly starts to increase in size, a process that is apparently quite painful... eventually its body appears to reach some sort of stress limit, and it to explodes... though not nearly as violently as the case.
Instead it just seems to burst at the seems, bits of demonic goo and ichor slowly leaking out onto the floor amid the broken bits of the case that once held it.
Some of you feel a small pang, realizing that you likely just witnessed a soul being permanently destroyed.
In the back, Valais look on in horror as the creature burst out and then just as quickly dies... though her look shifts to one of sad fascination, as she looks at the dead thing on the floor. Perhaps wondering if she awaited a similar fate.
|
|
"You're still a person Valais. Whatever Thurl did to your body, he couldn't touch your soul. You are a pathfinder society agent, and the society has some of the most learned arcanists and clerics in all of Avistan. I'm certain they can help reverse what has been done to you and purge the demonic taint, just as we can purge it here"
Having said that she looks at the remaining larvae. She's covered in gore, breathing heavily and some of the fight has gone out of her.
"Perhaps some of those aforementioned experts could use these ... things to help Valais? I don't know anymore. We might as well continue exploring for now at least. We'll know more when we've gone through everything"
Deciding that perhaps dealing with the Larvae might be better left for later, the Pathfinders continue forward, around the corner, to the door at the far end of the bend in the hallway. The encased larvae continue around the corner, all of them, staring out of their enclosures with pained looks in their disturbingly human-like eyes.
Sangkip notes nothing suspect on the door at the end, and Alrik is easily able to push that one open, leading deeper into the complex.
The first thing you note is the popping and fizzing sound of bubbling liquid, down a wide stone hallway, leading off to the left.
You peer around the corner, and see that the hallway runs for about twenty five feet, where the stone is replaced by a heavy metal grating, that reaches for another fifteen or so feet, ending right at the upper lip of a large cauldron, nearly ten feet across, suspended from heavy rusty metal chains from each of the four corners of the large room beyond.
You realize you are on a platform above the room beyond, and two sets of steep stairs appear to lead down below through openings part way along the hall on the north and south sides.
|
"This can't be good. Valais, you have no insight into what we've been looking at down here? I would guess that, at some point, you spent time in this dungeon of evil." Huni stops there, then realized that his statement may be misconstrued and adds, "though you may not have been in the best state at the time."
As you slowly crowd through the door at the end of the hall, Valais hesitantly glances through, at Huni's question, a disturbed look on her patchwork face.
"I... I think this is where I woke up." She says quietly, looking down the hall at the cauldron, in confusion. She shakes her head suddenly, wincing.
"It's where I first noticed ..." She looks down at her mishappen form, one clawed hand clenching and unclenching almost subconsciously. "this... the kalavakus part of her psyche shouts.
"I think I remember... something." She goes on, her head still twitching slightly, as if trying to force some memory out through physical action. "I remember Thurl... who we shall skin alive... yes, Thurl. He said he was going to... to show me what he was up to."
She shudders slightly, the large claw on her one hand, scratching out long furrows in the doorframe.
Even as she talks, Alessio moves forward towards the ramp, to get a look at the contents of the cauldron, realizing, correctly, that whatever is percolating in here, has been doing so unsupervised for quite some time now.
He's not sure what it is... or was. Blood maybe? With no one to tend to it, whatever it was originally has now boiled down to some sort of gooey, sludge. The cauldron is suspended almost ten feet above the floor of the room below, and there are no obvious fire sources... yet it continues to bubble and boil even now, and he can feel the heat emanating from it as he approaches.
,
,
There also appear to be things floating in the sludge... he is trying to figure out what they are, when they suddenly reveal themselves... proving to be just the noses of some sort of small winged abominations, poking out from the goo. They burst from the sludge with angry shrieks, bits of boiling goo flying everywhere. Both of them emerge with handfuls of the stuff, sloughing off themselves, and cradled in their hands. They fling handfuls at the nearby intruder! The viscous liquid proves to be just as hot as it looks, as it strikes Alessio across the shoulders and chest, burning painfully where it manages to reach exposed skin!
The two creatures are small, and flying just off to the side of the giant cauldron, over the large room beyond. They sport bat-like wings, sharp claws and teeth, and long tails with what appear to be small stinger at the end. But, like everything else you've seen here, most of their parts do not seem to match... even though these two's parts seem to fit together properly, you can't help but note they still seem mismatched... almost as if they were constructed from the same type of creature, but different individuals... The stitching where they were sewn and stapled back together evident.
Now, they are little more than unfettered eidolons, formed from the mind of a madman, and let loose upon the world with no one to control them!
- Round 1 -----
Everyone but Kara can go!
|
Alessio reels back from the burning sludge landing on him. Ghahhhh. He tries to regain his composure quickly. Ok ok ok. They have been sitting in boiling sludge for months, they must be resistant to fire. Ah! My new trick.
Alessio produces a sand bomb and targets one of the flying creatures for a blinding.
You can easily tell that they seem to be immune, or highly resistant to fire... and given the boiling sludge still dripping from their small forms, it is likely there attacks will be equally fired up. You are also a little concerned about that stinger on their tails. Clearly, they can reach a little further than their claws, and could very well contain a fairly virulant poison... then again, they might not... all of it would depend on Thurl's state of mind when he created each one.
Realizing that creatures that used scalding sludge to relax in are more likely not going to phased by one of his regular bombs, Alessio adds a bit of extra oomph to the package, by packing it with sand. His skin still sending tendrils of pain, from the burns caused by the goo in the cauldron, he hurls his bomb at the nearer of the two creatures, on the left. The bomb strikes it right in the face, bursting open and sending sand to scour the things face. It gives a started yelp of anger, as its hands start to rub at its eyes, trying to see again.
Floria recognizes the essence of what you are looking at, these creatures likely not that much different than Valais really, as far as how they came to be. But from there, things likely diverged wildly... all of their constituent parts appearing to be demonic in origin, without Valais' human side.
As if her own body seeks to mimic the creature parts all around, you see her face start to shift and contort, her darker side suddenly forcing its way to the forefront, as she glares at the second creature, forcing her way into its mind.
,
She meets no resistance, but the mind she finds there, seems almost as fractured as the form it resides in. She is easily able to find weak points to pry into, and the weakened bonds that are already trying to hold it together shred easily under her mental onslaught.
The imp-like creature throws its hands up to its head, screaming in pain, and anger, as dark steaming blood starts to flow from its ears... and doesn't stop.
As Huni sends the blessing of Irori across his companions, Alrik and Sangkip try to find a better position to help, the dwarf moving in beside Alessio, the vanaran leaping to the floor of the main room, fifteen feet below.
The little creatures respond with angry cries.
One, still blinded by Alessio's sand bomb, can only flutter backwards, moving upwards towards the ceiling, still trying to clear its eyes, as it spews epithets that would make a sailor blush. The second one, its ears still bleeding, screeches in fury, and dives towards Alessio. Alrik prepares to swing at it, to defend the alchemist, but the little thing banks suddenly, still ten feet away, its long tail swinging around and sinking deeply into Alessio's arm, as he tries to fend it off. Where it punctures through his armor he can feel the skin and flesh burning away, and a foul poison starting to burn its way through his veins!
- Round 1 ---
- Round 2 ---
Party is up!
Group Buffs: Bless
|
|
Alessio leans into the creature as it swoops in, taking a sharp sting as a prize for his bravery. Alessio's professional experience with various chemicals and reagents save him from the poison taking hold.
Alessio thinks quickly what might be most effective here. A vision of an alchemical item flashes in his mind and it is magically waiting at the opening of the bag for him to throw at the nearest demon.
|
|
Floria emits an evil chuckle watching the creature bleed, as she tries to make the other suffer as well.
She then tries to wrestle control back from her dark half.
Watching in concern she tries to warn Alessio about the poison
"They're unfettered eidolons, resistant to fire and their stings have a nasty-" but her dark half dalliance didn't allow her to get her warning off in time. " ... poison"
|
|
Kara moves down the stairs to the right and summons forth her own invective to make a demon blush.
She finds her concentration disturbed by thoughts of what her etiquette teacher, Ms. Figglebottom-Upon-Hilts, would think of the words she is saying.
Managing to fight off the worst of the creature's venom, Alessio pulls out a small bag of alchemical goo, and hurls it at the eidolon, before it can get too far away. The bag strikes it squarely, and the sticky goo immediately covers its torso, and begins to harden almost immediately. Unfortunately, he didn't quite manage to get its wings, and it stays aloft, though is clearly struggling.
,
Huni moves closer, firing his crossbow at the suddenly hindered creature, but it lurches to the right just in time, and the bolt shatters against the wall behind it. Despite its state, it lets out a furious scream, and flies awkwardly towards him, before banking to its right, lashing out with its poisoned stinger. But the tanglefoot goo proves too much, and its tail seems partially stuck to its body. It swears some more, as it tries to pull it free to regain its reach advantage.
Down below, Sangkip tries to clamber up the wall, but it proves to have no handholds for him to get his simian hands into. There are some shelves with strange, esoteric ingredients along the far wall, but all of those are at a reachable height, and prove no better a surface above. He makes no progress at all!
The imp, its eyes now clear, laughs, and mocks his pathetic attempts, before diving down towards the vanaran, pulling up well short, and letting his tail swing down, striking at Sangkip from some ways away. The stinger sinks into Sangkip's shoulder, burning through fur and flesh, and injecting its scalding poison into his body!
Above, Floria doesn't care about the flying creatures position, as she sends a brace of magical missiles lancing across the open space, to slam into the eidolon attacking Sangkip. The force of them tears open some of the stitching along its torso, and black scalding blood starts to seep out of the reopened wound.
Kara ducks down the stairs to the right, Alrik pacing her while taking up a guard position. She finds a better view of the entangled one there, and launches a invective fueled magical attack of her own. You're not sure where a proper Taldan woman would learn such admonishments, even Kara seems a little embarrassed to utter them... enough so that ray goes well wide of its target. The eidlolon seems too busy swearing at the goo hindering his limbs, to pay much attention to the young woman's attempts... almost an insult in its own right!
- Round 2 ---
- Round 3 ---
Party is up!
Group Buffs: Bless
The second eidolon is not nearly as quick as his counterpart, Alessio's tanglefoot bag bursts open, and spreads its goo across the creature's shoulders and wings, gumming up the whole works! Suddenly unable to flap its wings, the little creature plummets to the floor below, landing in an ungraceful heap on the hard stone.
- Round 3 ---
Party is up!
Group Buffs: Bless
Huni loads, and unloads, another crossbow bolt at the eidolon still in the air, but his shot fares no better than the first, shattering on the wall and completely missing its target.
Floria and Kara both renew their magical assaults, targeting the same creature. Floria draws and activates a little-used wand, and the force missile flies true, though for minimal damage. Kara, inspired, or more likely motivated, by her previous failure and the eidolon's indifference, tries to admonish it once more. She digs deep this time, to the phrases she only vaguely remembers, overheard in the seediest of taverns, the darkest of alleys, and behind the storage shed in finishing school.
Again a wavering ray of pure force of words races across towards the creature. It notices in time, and starts to duck away yet again... but the goo gumming up its upper body, causes a hitch in its attempt, and the ray clips it along the right shoulder, sending it into a bit of a spin, mid air.
It doesn't ignore her this time, as it glares at her while rubbing at the shoulder, wincing in pain, and trying to think of a suitably scathing comeback...
- Round 3 ---
Sangkip and Alrik to go!
Group Buffs: Bless
Sangkip takes quick advantage of the fallen eidolon, going in with his dagger in hand... then tail... then the other hand... The thing can't quite follow the blade, as it flits about, until Sangkip sinks it deep into it's chest! Bits of dark blood spurt from the wound as he pulls the weapon free.
,
With a dismayed cry, it frantically tries to clear the goo from its wings, tearing at it with its claws. Desperation seems to do the trick, as it rips the worst of it free, but not in time to get to its feet or take flight again. From the floor, it tries to drive Sangkip back with its teeth, before its tail whips around in an attempt to skewer him. The vanaran easily avoids both feeble attempts.
Back in the stairwell, Alrik stands ready to strike, should the other creature act on its baleful looks towards Kara... and it looks like it is about to for a moment, until the goo hindering its movements starts to tug at it again. It can't seem to get enough motion to get there, so instead, slings the poisoned barb on its tail at Alessio again, clearly knowing who to blame for its current impaired condition. The stinger pierces his armor yet again, sending pain lancing down his shoulder, and burning venom coursing again through his veins . Happy with that result, the eidolon then continues on towards the stairs, eyes again trained on Kara.
- Round 3 ---
Party is up!
Group Buffs: Bless