"Those things can open doors...or push them open. We know the door isn't trapped, then..."
Taanimohka sniffs the dank dungeon air, and lets those that wish search, track and investigate.
"The orcs' deathwish has been granted, though some apparently still live? Perhaps capture will drive them to greater feats of survival..."
Turning to their own continued survival Taani asks the group.
"What are our options now?"
Byung-He heads south following Zurne and Dornhold. He points toward the northern door that to the blood trail does not lead. "Check out that door and lets see what we discover."
Zurne arches an eyebrow. "You don't want to kill whatever killed the orcs? Whatever it is, they may be caught by surprise, or in torpor from their recent feast..."
"Hmm. A good point. And perhaps it would be prudent to wipe out known adversaries rather than have them at our backs."
Zordlon waves at the group to be quiet, then attempts to sneak up to the doorway. Pharasma above, may whatever killed those orcs not be waiting to ambush me
She looks over the trail of blood reminding her of the scene in the previous room, she considers the clues and sees if her knowledge provides her with more information.
Sayarisha, from your arcane studies you know that Darkmantles in general are small, but surprisingly strong often approaching the strength of a normal human. The ones you encountered earlier are even strong than those you have read about in the past. You agree that it is unlikely that one could have dragged off all 5 orcs by itself, it would possibly take 2 to manage to drag a single orc body while still flying. You would surmise that there is defintely multiple infront of you, or that there is something even larger around the corner.
As Zordlon heads towards the door to inspect the room that the blood trails lead into, in the room you see an open doorway to your left. The body of an orc, his arm outstretch toward the door you have just come from, lies slumped near the middle of this room. A lone spear, its shaft broken, lays in one of the far corners.
Edit to add: The body of this latest orc does not appear to be any of the ones you had encountered before. In fact, you would venture to guess that this body has been here for longer than you have been in the dungeon based on the smell.
Byung-He's sharp eyes take in the scene and seem to put together pieces as if a illusionary 3D model of what happened took place. His eyes dart upward scanning the room ceiling as he warns his comrades.
"These wounds...stirges. A magical creature that drains the blood from its victims like a mosquito only far more deadly."
"Yes, well, we shall do our best to make sure all of our blood stays on our insides. Now, according to this map, this next room down should be a dead end. I would prefer to confirm before moving on."
With that, Zordlon moves down to the next door, checking for traps and then opening the door.
Byung-He moves up 10 feet behind Zordlon ready to jump in as needed.
Joining her observations to Byung-He's she adds in a whispered voice, "I agree that the orc was attacked by stirges but there was something else. Something I have no recollection of encountering before. Also, that orc has been here longer than the other poor creatures we saw slaughtered before ."
While casting her spells of support upon the leading members of the party, she whispers to Zordlon, "Be quite careful, there is something strong enough to defeat an armed orc warrior, possibly in the next room." She then quickly hugged him before moving on.
Checking for locks and traps, Zordlon finds nothing and proceeds to push open the door leading into the south-most room. The heavy smell of stale air greets you as you open the door to this large room. Bits of dried grass as well as larger hunks lay all over the floor as if a tornado recently tore through a meadow. From the door the first thing that meets you is the stench.
The smell of an overpowering musky odor nearly causes you to empty your stomach, but you manage to fight back the urge just barely.
From your vantage point at the door, holding your breath as much as possible to avoid further exposure to the stench, you see that the bits of grass on the ground appear to be dried straw mats made for sleeping. You can also see dried drips and small pools of blood throughout the room. To get more information you would have to enter the room and search more fully.
You do not see any sign of living creatures in the room, or any sign of another exit.
Zurne attempts to withstand the stench.
"We should breathe the air one at a time, so that we get used to it," he says, moving near Zordlon.
Zurne breathes in deeply, coughs, and smiles. "I've smelled worse. Be careful, friends."
He waits until everyone adjusts to the miasma before moving into the room.
Taanimohka moves into the room, one hand covering her nose and mouth almost reflexively. She looks around, poking at mats or the remnants of them with a javelin.
"Hmm. The taint of troglodytes makes this room noisome. They were here recently, though evidently left..."
And Unbeugsam really starts loosing his stomach.
"By Torag´s beard, this... is horrible!"
Byung-He looks at the others and frowns. "Why are we going into this dead end room again?"
”We search.”
Covering his face with his hand, Zordlon steps back.
"Mostly, I didn't want to be moving on with a possible threat behind us. I don't believe there is anything in here of value, but we should watch out for any of the Lizard men we might encounter.
To be sure, Zordlon stands in the doorway, and sweeps the room with detect magic, before moving back to the blood streaked path.
Your sweep with detect magic does not find anything of note inside the stench filled room.
Byung-He remained outside the room and as Zordlon leaves to follow the blood trail he goes with him.
She will also remain outside the room, waiting for the group to abandon the room and move on.
Taani likewise leaves when Zordlon does, staying close by him in case the elf is ambushed.
Back in the room with the dead orc, Zordlon checks the door for traps, or any danger he can hear behind it, before waiting for the rest of the group to form up and then opens the door.
Zordlon approaches the opendoorway at the north of the room with the dead orc, looking for traps on the approach or in the doorway itself.
The door and the next room appears to be free of traps.
Before heading further he pats down the exsanguinated body of the dead orc and locates a small money pouch containing 13 gold pieces and a single sharp tooth (DC 12 knowledge nature to identify the tooth as belonging to some sort of jungle cat). He is also wearing leather armor that appears to still be in decent condition. He has a single dagger on him, but no other weapons. You would venture to guess that the broken spear in the corner was originally in his possession as well.
Peering into the next room, Zordlon uses his darkvision to attempt to pierce the shadows.
There are a pile of bodies in the north-east corner with another darkmantle sitting atop them. It appears to be feeding. This darkmantle is larger than the ones you had encountered previously. Where your earlier darkmantles were about 2-3 feet in length and hand tentacles about twice that, this one appears to be double the size. The tentacles themselves look to be about the same length, but are thicker and have more defined musculature. You do not believe this specimen has a longer reach, but he probably hits harder and is much more difficult to escape if its tentacles wrap around you.
Aside from the overly large darkmantle and the buffet of dead orc that it is gorging itself on, the room is empty.
Zordlon quickly looks back at the group, his hand outstretched in a stop gesture to anyone currently moving forward with a light source. He pantomimes that a "large" "squid thing" is in the next room, and that Unbeugsam should be first through the door.
Zurne will quickly exit the stench room to follow the party once he's done a sweep.
Searching in the former troglodyte room, Zurne comes across a few small items that appear to have been of personal value to its previous owners, but perhaps limited value to the party.
Through your searching you find:
Zurne grabs the necklace, dagger, and idol, in case they are needed for trade later, and hastens off to join the party.
Sayarisha leaves the donkey behind her and moves forward to just behind Zordlon. As the dwarf warrior prepares to enter battle, she quietly endows him with Guidance and Resistance.
Zurne catches up and nods silently at the tableau of Unbeugsam getting ready for battle. He prepares to jet acid at the darkmantle, just before the dwarf rushes it.
Taanimohka nods and looks ready to charge also.
Looking at the scant clad woman Unbeugsam shakes his head in disbelieve, but then puts his armored boot down on the floor, taking strength from the earth and with a deep breath.... charges
Initiative Order:
Sayarisha: 24
Byung-He:22
Dornhold: 21
Zurne: 20
Enemy: 19
Zordlon: 19
Unbeugsam: 12
Taanimohka: 7
Unbeugsam rushes in weapon at the ready and takes a mighty swing. Having taken the darkmantle by surprise the swing does connect, but only barely and seems to slide off of the strange combination of musculature and blubber. Three of the creature's red eyes swivel to take in the angry dwarf as it releases a strange scream from it's beaked mouth.
Byung-He is completely horrified by the creature and seeing his ally rush in and he aims his crossbow at the thing but can hardly keep his hand from shaking he finally aims away with a gritted teeth. "I can't...I'm sorry I am no fighter." He quickly cast guidance on Taanimohka in his surprise round and then waited to see if he would be needed to heal in the next turn or to cast another small guidance.
"Lady, I will defend you, and earn my keep."
With a wry smile, Dornhold adjusts his grip on his mace and charges in after Unbuegsam. Unfortunately the swing goes wide and misses the creature entirely.
- Miss!
He follows up with a second swing of the mace now that he is in close quarters, but seems to be having trouble connecting with the beast in any meaningful way.
- Miss again!
"I seem to be having problems, perhaps I will back off and let someone else take a crack at it."
After failing to hit twice Dornhold moves back about 10' to allow room for others to come in if they want.
Sayarisha casts Resistance on Taanimohka, then hexes the creature with (the) Evil Eye.
-
Sayarisha senses that her hex effectively landed, but did not take hold as strongly as she hoped.
Taanimohka feels the twin powers of Byung-He and Sayarisha bolster her as she follows the dwarf into battle, leaping at the rubbery creature, leg outstretched to kick....her strike, like her reaction is sadly far from true.
Charge
[+0 BAB, +2 Str, +1 Weapon Focus, +1 guidance, +2 charge]
[+2 Str, +1 trait]
Zurne enters the room, ready to cast an acid missile, but he has to position himself first. "Courage, Byung-He," he says as he passes the oracle.
Zordlon stays back at the moment, tossing a knife into the fray (nonmasterwork)
Mid-round update: Despite the party effectively taking the creature by surprise, they have found that its naturally muscular skin too strong to be pierced by their rushed and hurried attacks.
Byung-He casts Guidance on Zordlon from where they both stand near the doorway. "Its not much but get in there and strike true if the moment is right!" Byung-He keeps back watching for where he will be needed.
"I found some items in the stinky room, by the way--oh, perhaps now is not the time to talk about it," says the druid.
He misses, his line of sizzling acid hitting the floor harmlessly.