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"Thank you for reminding us of our mission, Vegpig. I think we've accomplished all we can here in the archives. You're right, we should get moving."
McKieg turns to Sheela. "The 'water-building' seems as good a next destination as any. Unless you'd prefer we head to the 'broken, floaty tower' first?"
Bolstered by resolve and Vegpig's gentle prodding, you decide to go investigate the strange 'water-building' next as you slowly meander your way back towards the northern side of the island. As you walk, still ruminating on all that you've learned about the island and the machinations of the skum, your minds drift back to the journal that you found in Gerlach's shop in Blackcove...and you suddenly have the horrific realization that maybe, just maybe, you aren't the first to seek an end to the dark deeds performed here on Nal-Kashel...
______________
After a short trek towards the island's eastern side you finally reach the 'water-building' as Vegpig called it. A sheet of muddy water flowing up from the floor forms the door to this domed, shell-like structure. The liquid moves in a continuous loop, flowing from a large central pool across the floor and up the walls in a thin sheet, then falling from the domed crystal ceiling in a cylinder of water. A large bubble of murky water floats in the air above the pool while detailed mosaics of fantastic sea creatures and undersea motifs adorn the coral-colored walls.
From behind you, Vegpig peers nervously at the floating bubble of water that hangs suspended over the pool.
"This is where my friend said he saw something! But maybe it got bored and left?" he remarks, hopeful.
Tiffany has little trouble in stepping forward and through the thin curtain of water that forms the doorway into the building. Once on the other side she can see that this place may have once served as an aquarium for the island, judging by the size of the place - 60 feet in diameter - and the underwater motifs that decorate the walls.
But right now, the murky bubble of water that floats above the pool is what holds her attention. It appears to be roughly 20 feet in diameter itself and the murkiness of the water makes it difficult to discern what, if anything, might be lurking within.
Aside from the continuous splash of the water as it flows from the pool, across the floor, up the walls, and back down into the pool, all is quiet.
As you look around, you suddenly see the water within the pool turn jet black.
As both Wadi and Adyr call out a warning, everyone turns to see the bubble of water turn an inky, jet black as several leathery tentacles come slithering out. Thanks to their sharp eyes and Vegpig's advance warning, no one particularly surprised by this - but those tentacles look to have quite a reach to them so their owner will have to be dealt with in order to safely have a look around...
If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight, he is considered to have total concealment from you. You can’t attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies. A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (instead of the normal 20% miss chance for an opponent with concealment).
You can’t execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with total concealment, even if you know what square or squares the opponent occupies.
Though you can't actually see into the water bubble you're able to tell by the shape and color of the tentacles that you're dealing with a giant octopus, a potentially dangerous aquatic animal.
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Adyr
Tiffany
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
==============
Tentacled-Thing
==============
Sheela
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Adyr, Tiffany, Luurg, McKieg and Wadi are UP!
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"Sheela, come on. Don't you know this is a giant octopus!? I've summoned things similar to these guys before. They have the _______ special attack, and ______ and _____ special abilities!"
Tiffany smiles as an idea hits her, but first she backs up to a safer position. "Come on, shark, come to me! It's time to dine on calamari!"
She starts casting Summon Nature's Ally III.
While Sheela is uncertain of just what sort of creature the tentacles belong to, Tiffany's seen this sort of thing before and knows all about it. She knows that this creature is a giant octopus, which can easily constrict anything it manages to catch hold of with its tentacles...but otherwise, they don't have any special abilities that she can recall. This in mind, the grippli falls back a little further and begins summoning an ally of nature.
Luurg also knows that this thing is a giant octopus and while they don't possess any inherent resistances to anything, he recalls that they can spit out a cloud of ink into the water as a defensive measure...which would explain the inky blackness of the bubble. He also opts to hang back and prepare for combat with an oversized beast by becoming oversized himself.
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Adyr
Tiffany
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
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Tentacled-Thing
==============
Sheela
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: None
Adyr, McKieg and Wadi are UP!
|
Adyr tries to identify the creature.
Adyr hopes he can confuse the creature with multiple copies of himself... well at least illusory copies.
"Arcanum Dublious Craftum Somethickicum"
Adyr casts Mirror Image.
"What is this creature? How do we defeat it?"
Moving to a position (drawing his sword and using a swift action to power his Arcane Strike) where he can more effectively fight the creature Adyr prepares to attack the creature next turn.
While McKieg uses his wand to grant a small blessing to the party Wadi readies himself to grease up anyone that might be caught by one of the grasping tentacles. Meanwhile Adyr conjures some magical protection for himself and in the blink of an eye there are suddenly five Adyrs moving together in unison where there once was one. Unsure of what else to do he then cautiously advances forward...
...and comes just barely within reach of the beast's many tentacles, which promptly reach out and attempt ensnare him!
Adyr quickly finds himself on the wrong side of this tentacle party as one-by-one, his images are popped by the flailing appendages. Yet another tentacle manages to snake out and wrap itself around his waist, holding him fast as it begins to constrict! Then, to add insult to injury, Adyr finds himself coated in a slimy layer of grease as Wadi's readied spell goes off.
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Adyr
Tiffany + Summon
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
==============
Tentacled-Thing
==============
Sheela
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
|
"All of this way just to find an Octopus." Sheela ponders. "It won't understand my jokes and I'm no mood to be groped... Back to summoning."
Sheela casts Summon Monster 2 at the Octopus, trying to summon Aquas the Small Water Elemental
Extremely put out by the lack of seduce-able creatures on Nal-Kashel Sheela gets to work attempting to summon Aquas again, hoping that this time he might actually be able to be of some use besides being a punching bag.
Alarmed at Adyr's predicament, both Luurg and McKieg step up to help their friend. As Luurg advances into the tentacle-zone, a tentacle snakes out and attempts to strike him...
...and manages to wind its way around him as well, squeezing tightly as it yanks him over next to the inky black water bubble! This is inconvenient for Luurg but since he was angling to get in close anyway, he's still able to attempt a jab at the octopus itself...
...and actually feels Leafy sink into something fleshy within the ink bubble!
McKieg also moves into the room but takes care to stay right at the back wall, just out of immediate reach. He tries to fling his axe at the creature, but weapon goes noticeably wide before arcing back to him.
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Adyr
Tiffany + Summon
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
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Giant Octopus
==============
Sheela
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Adyr, Tiffany + Summon and Wadi are UP!
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Tiffany's shark shows up near the blob of ink and tentacles, and swims towards it, snapping at the tentacles.
... Yet it nearly snaps its own tail instead!
"Come on, shark friend, you can do better than that! I know you can!" Tiffany calls ahead, swimming back into the water and loading a shiny stone into her sling and launching it at the octopus.
Tiffany's summon flickers oddly for a moment, as though trying to decide what it wants to be, before finally deciding on a rather large and toothy-looking crocodile. Meanwhile she moves into the room, luckily not drawing any attention from the grasping tentacles as she does, and fires a sling into the murky bubble...
...but it *splooshes* out the other side of the bubble and clatters against the opposite wall. Wadi takes advantage of at least being able to see the octopus' waving tentacles and attempts to make the creature spontaneously burst into flames...
...and while the octopus doesn't really catch fire, it does suffer some burns from the spell. And then Adyr, after having waited for Wadi to work some more magic, works a little magic of his own and heals some of his and Luurg's wounds.
Ever hungry (or perhaps just greedy), some of the octopus' remaining free tentacles reach out and attempt to wind around both Tiffany and her conjured crocodile friend...
...and succeed, squeezing them tightly. Both Adyr and Luurg feel the continued squeezing as well.
______________
Tiffany + Croc
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Adyr
==============
Giant Octopus
==============
Sheela + Aquas
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
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"How many times can that thing grab people?" Sheela seems exasperated. "Fine! I'll just Summon more Small Water Elementals! So many it runs out of things to grab!" And so Sheela begins another summoning ritual.
Meanwhile, Aquas appears and realizes she and the giant octopus are both touching water. Time for water mastery to kick in.
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Tiffany cries out as she's wrapped up by the octopus. "UGH! LET ME GO! I've seen one too many movies to know where this is going!" She struggles against its tentacles, even as Adyr's healing energy restores her. Her croc snaps as well.
Meanwhile, Tiffany squints as if, uh, pushing something out, and a thick layer of liquid drips from her pores. "Now try that again, octojerk!"
Toxic Skin (Ex) Once per day as a swift action, a grippli can create a poison that can be applied to a weapon or delivered as a touch attack. Alternatively, the grippli can smear the poison on its own body as a standard action, affecting the first creature to hit it with an unarmed strike or natural weapon. The poison loses its potency after 1 hour. The grippli is immune to its own poison. This racial trait replaces swamp stride and camouflage. Grippli Poison: Skin or weapon—contact or injury; save Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the grippli’s Hit Dice plus its Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save.
Frustrated at the octopus' seemingly limitless ability to snatch up foes, everyone begins unleashing a flurry of spells and weapon strikes against the beast, attempting to bring it down. Sheela gets busy summoning another water elemental while Aquas reaches into the inky bubble and attempts to punch the octopus in the FACE...
...and succeeds! Wadi follows this up with a barrage of magic missiles which strike several of the tentacles, causing the beast to quiver and shake with pain.
McKieg once again throws his axe, which splashes harmlessly through the top of the bubble before returning to the dwarf's hand. Luurg stabs at his captor in a frenzy of anger...
...but the inky cloud makes it impossible to judge just where the octopus is and Leafy's strike misses. Tiffany's grappled croc tries and fails to sink its teeth into the octopus or connect with a mighty tail slap. And Tiffany herself looks strained for a moment before a thick, oozy liquid begins to leak out of her porous skin...
...to no discernible effect.
Adyr continues to channel healing energies to counteract the bone-crushing force of the tentacles that squeeze him and his companions tightly, urging the others to hurry up and slay the octopus!
Having no new targets to grab, the octopus focuses on keeping hold of the ones it already has...
...but manages to lose its grip on Adyr, the Garundi man sliding out of the tentacle like a banana out of its peel! But it doesn't seem too concerned with catching him - yet.
Instead, Tiffany suddenly feels a searing pain as a set of beaky incisors sink into her arm! To make matters worse, the pain rapidly seems to be spreading up her arm...
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Tiffany + Croc
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Adyr
==============
Giant Octopus
==============
Sheela + Aquas + Friend
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
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Aquas and Splish Splash appear on opposite sides of the octopus, slamming as hard as they can.
But missing utteryly.
Sheela, meanwhile, pulls out a scroll of Glitterdust and burns its arcane energy on the octopus.
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While twin water elementals Aquas and Splish Splash flail at the hidden tentacled beast, Sheela attempts to slow it down by dousing it with bright glitter...
...but only succeeds in making the inky bubble sparkly. Luurg continues to stab away at the tentacle holding him with his dagger...
...and only just misses the mark! McKieg continues to hang back, throwing his axe yet again, but his aim continues to be off.
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Tiffany + Croc
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Adyr
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Giant Octopus
==============
Sheela + Aquas + Splish Splash
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Tiffany + Croc, Wadi and Adyr are UP!
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Tiffany is horrified as her backpack digs in against her sagging muscles. But more horrifying is the appearance brought on by said sag. "O-M-G. This is NOT how I die! No way! NO WAY!" The grippli thrashes wildly against the grasp of the octopus.
.. Her thrashing only serving to tighten its grip.
A glint of light shines in the crocodile's eye as it goes frantic, chomping its way into the octopus' skin.
"YEAH! TAKE THAT!" Tiffany cheers.
While Adyr does suffer a rather painful slap from a tentacle as he rapidly backs away, the grease that still coats him prevents the octopus from regaining hold of him! Now safely out of reach, Adyr fires an arrow into the inky black water...
...and hits! Or at least you assume so, as the arrow enters the water and doesn't exit anywhere that you can see.
Wadi continues to pepper the beast - or at least its tentacles - with magic missles, leaving noticeable burns and holes in the rubbery flesh!
Though Tiffany finds herself unable to escape the octopus' poison or its tentacle, her summoned croc buddy seems to be faring a bit better. It snaps its mighty jaws and manages to sink its teeth deeply into the tentacle that's wrapped around it, ripping enormous chunks of flesh away! Blood and ichor ooze from several of the tentacles now and they seem to have lost much of their original vigor, but they're still moving....still dangerous.
Tentacles flail and slap in every direction, some maintaining their grip on the morsels already 'in hand' and others reaching out for more prey! Both Aquas and Splish Splash find themselves snatched up now too and then Splish is promptly chomped by giant beaky incisors...and splooshes into a puddle of water.
Rather alarmingly, Tiffany feels the poison continue to course through her veins...
______________
Tiffany + Croc
Luurg
McKieg
Wadi
Adyr
==============
Ultros
==============
Sheela + Aquas
Active Conditions: Bless
Environmental Conditions: None
Everyone is UP!
As Adyr strikes up another rousing oratory it seems that the inspiring effects aren't just limited to humans and humanoids. Aquas hauls off and punches deeply into the inky cloud...and connects with rubbery flesh! All at once, the tentacles that wind around Luurg, Aquas, Tiffany, and her croc friend loosen their grip and flop lifelessly to the floor - still at last.
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