"Hey! Pick on somebody your own size!" Remy declares. She reaches over Fergus to pummel the giant fleshdreg.
Borgol says, "Back up and let it into the room. I'll go save Maddie." as he returns to normal size. He turns around and rushes to the girl's side, Good thing she made that one drop their pole arm, or I'd be wide open here.., using his momentum to make a powerful, if less accurate, attack.
for
Alustria parries the attack desperately and tries to return the blow with one of her own!
”Help!”
Maddie steps back and fires another telekinetic fist!
Fergus retreats, moves and strikes at the orange, breaking it's fascination.
Flik maintains his spell, "Do you want me to keep up this spell, or heal?"
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Borgol moves to protect his smaller ally, while Remy strikes hard at the large creature sticking its big head through the other door. Her fist causes his head to crash into the wooden frame of the door, and leaves a large mark.
Frustrated and angry, he raws, rages against the monk.
The smaller fleshdreg, attacks Borgol.
Round 12 ♭
Fergus -26 lethal - DC 16 Fort vs poison!
Alustira -20 lethal
Remy -14 lethal (shield, enlarge person)
Flik (invisible)
Maddie
Borgol -12 lethal (divine favour, enlarge person)! Bruiser (
blue -42 (club),red -31 [-1 STR](disarmed, club),green -36, purple -44,yellow -36)
! Thugs (green -30 entangled, yellow fasc 1, purple fasc 1)
! Fleshdregs (green,yellow, red, purple, blue -13)
! Gezrevan -40
The party may take their actions!
Remy cries out in pain as the sinspawn's teeth tear her flesh. She retaliates with another flurry of devastating punches!
Flik keeps on concentrating and giving his advice.
I am lucky to have found such sturdy companions!
Alustria concentrates, flinging a ball of storm wind and rain at the nearest enemy!
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The large creature sticks his head through the door frame to strike back at the monk, but Remy is to swift even in her larger size. It instantly regrets it, as Remy channels something inside her to completely destroy the monster before her. As Gezrevan goes in for another bite, she reaches her fist deep inside his mouth and rips out the tongue. Following up with two swift strikes to the creatures pain-points, and the creature lies motionless on the floor, the pool of blood still collecting.
Between the rest of the party, and Alustria's ball of wind, you are able to clean up the fleshdreg who made it's way to harass Maddie.
The two thugs, who become unfascinated with the mist around them, suddenly come to their senses. They drop their weapons, and hug each other. They wet themselves. "Please. We. Can we...go?" You see something change in their eyes, as Remy put down their overshadowing master. Similarly, the two fleshdregs behind Flik's magic illusionary wall lose their attention, and go back to eating the scraps on the table.
Only the heavy breathing of your allies, and the smell of iron hangs in the air as you all take a moment to take in the combat.
Fergus -26 lethal - DC 16 Fort vs poison!
Alustira -20 lethal
Remy -14 lethal (shield, enlarge person)
Flik (invisible)
Maddie
Borgol -12 lethal (divine favour, enlarge person)! Gezrevan -83 super dead
The party may take their actions!
The fury of a dragon flows through Remy's veins as she brutally dispatches the monstrosity. She stomps over to the pair of thugs and drops the creature's bloody tongue at their feet. The ten-foot-tall woman towers over them, gore splattering her robes. "Take us to your leader, Jana. Right now. Then we might let you live."
Flik will stop his performance and cease concentrating on the illusion. A disembodied voice says, "Ah, concentrating on that wall was giving me a splitting headache. Good work, everyone!"
Maddie breathes a sigh of relief, letting the magic fade from her fingertips.
"Nice illusion!" she comments to Flik
"Very well. Hand over any healing potions you might have and begone," Remy says sternly. Once they have departed, she turns to her companions. "Let's check the fallen for any potions as well. We need to be sure we are at peak strength before continuing. I doubt things will get any easier from here on out."
The monk looks down at her befouled robes and simply sighs.
Borgol nods, "Save the potions -- we can all use them. We can use the wand now while we have a moment to breathe."
”Good idea. Unfortunately, most of my magic is spent. I won’t be as much use for the next fight.”
Remy kneels down and places a large hand on Alustria's shoulder. "You and your summoned animals were a great help during that battle." She smiles at the others in turn. "All of us were instrumental in our victory. We are really starting to work together as a team."
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As the dust settles, and the two men go running out of the compound - right after they give you all their stuff out of fear, you are left with a moment of silence.
Looking around, to the north you find couple of finely crafted tables, each circled with plush leather chairs, adorn this posh, wood-paneled lounge. This space looks like it holds meetings, for high profile guests who visit this place.
The room where the large creature came from is home to darkly stained wood paneling which line the walls of this comfortable lounge. A long bar stretches the length of the western end of this room. Three tables ringed with chairs fill the rest of the space. A heavy wooden door hangs open on the east end of this area, and a small alcove just to the south of this open door contains a simple door. In the open lounge, an elegant door stands partially open to the north.
After some searching around you find a collection of valuables including, 4x potions of shield of faith, 6 x potions of cure light wounds, 3 x potions of cure moderate wounds, 3 x potions of invisibility, 5 x mwk ranseurs, 5 x +1 studded leathers, 4 x cestus, 2 x theif tools, 5 x mwk clubs, 5 x short swords, 890 gp, 1200 cp.
Alustria points out the runes as the group searches. Then she takes their wand and begins applying it to everyone.
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The party get's a moment to heal their wounds, and collect their thoughts. Alustria and Flik help tend to everyone's needs. The party is on high alert, being in the middle of the enemy compound.
You hear echoes of voices, and movements off into the distance.
-
Fergus -26 lethal
Alustira
Remy -14 lethal (shield)
Flik
Maddie
Borgol -12 lethal
You decide to look inside the area, courted off by the curtain in the south-eastern end of the room. The heavy drapes have much dust settled in between the creases, and take some effort to move. Dark wood and red velvet constitute the general theme of this room. A circular table and a few stools sit in the southeast corner. Double doors open to the east, while doors also lead west and south.
You take a moment to look around, realising that this must have been a foyer where people would mingle before events in the ballroom. When this facility was operational, security guards reviewed guest lists here while the servants checked coats here. A tall wooden box along the north wall appears to be a small closet with a rod spanning the space, holding half a dozen hangers.
After everyone is patched but, Flik examines the closet.
"Very interesting! I suppose they held large parties here if they had storage like this. An odd place for parties!"
Flik takes 10 to identify the object, then attempts to use it.
As a garment stumbles out..."Oh my!"
Remy accepts a few healing charges to mend her wounds. "We should divide the potions between us so we each have some in case of emergencies."
The monk gasps with delight as clothes fall out of the closet. "Oh! Let me try!" She knocks on the side of the closet, but nothing comes out. "Awww..."
"Oh, cool!" Maddie tries to see what happens if she enters the closet herself and closes the door.
"As amusing as this is...I think we have something we still need to do? Yes?"
Alustria crosses her arms.
Remy looks at Alustria sheepishly. "Yeah, you're right. We got a little carried away. Come on, let's keep moving."
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The party tries to use the magical wardrobe, but only Flik is able to decive the contraption to make it work. He sticks his short hand into the transdimentional space and draws out … a simple brown winter coat, patchy from long over-use. You think someone must have forgotten it there while visiting the town in the winter period. You think you could sell this at a second-hand store for gold pieces.
The party, moves on following the monk into the south corridor. The simple stone worksmanship continues down the hallway which curves into the west. A door, on the eastern wall looks locked from this distance and you can see some obvious drag marks moving away from it. The hallway is unlit.
Remy points out the drag marks on the floor. "That's not a good sign. Let's follow them."
She waits for somebody to provide light (Maddie most likely) and then continues to lead the way following the marks.
Borgol steps forward to look at the marks, tapping Remy and causing her to shed light like a torch as he does, "Here. Hold this," he says with a smile.
"I can probably open that door if we want to get in. But should we follow those tracks first?"
Remy can't help but laugh airily as her robes begin to glow with light. Despite herself, she does a little spin, causing the light to ripple across the hallway. Now everybody can see my beauty shining through, comes a stray thought before the monk forces herself to focus again.
"Let's see where the tracks lead."
Alustria tries to follow the tracks.
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The tracks start from the door and lead around the bend to the south. The trackers also find some wet prints traveling back in your direction, as if someone has been moving through the subterranean sewers to get here.
As you approach the door, you hear a soft sobbing coming from within. A little girls voice whispers, "Shhhh, Cona, don't cry, it will be okay. Shhhhh."
Around the corner, the walls of this wide hall are carved with dense inscriptions. A door opens in the north wall, but to the south, the inscriptions converge into a spiraling pattern that periodically flashes with pulsations of glowing orange energy.
Remy's blood runs cold when she hears the child's voice. "Flik, get that door open. We have to rescue them!"
"Righty-o. Couldn't agree more."
Alustria stands by while Flik works on the door!
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The gnome marterfully opens the door, and pushes it open. But not before he triggers a trap. A small epidermic needle comes out of a mechanism and tries to sting Flik.
The hinges, swollen from years of un-use cause a horrible sound to echo through the cavern. Inside, a small everburuning torch hand in a dark room, casting shadows along the earth walls. A briny smell hangs in the air, as you find four small children huddles around each other at the back. Unwashed rags litter the floor of this room, which for all intents and purposes has been turned into a cell.
The children, wet from trudging in the sewers and dampness in the air, look mostly okay, accept for the few bruises where they were restrained. There are three girls, the eldest holding the other two as they cradle her knees. A boy, sitting near them has his arms crossed, and is sucking his thumb.
The eldest puts her hands up, "Please, we didn't do anything. Don't take ...wait, who are you?"
Remy is too concerned with the children's well-being to notice anything unusual about them. She kneels down and holds her hands out in a non-threatening gesture.
"My name's Remy. These are Alustria, Borgol, Fergus, Flik, and Maddie. We're here to stop the gang members and monsters who live down here. Who are you? How did you get down here? Are you injured? We have healers who can tend to your wounds."
As the trap triggers, Borgol suggests, "Let me help next time, Flik. I was trained by a master, back in the day."
Borgol shudders, "Collecting young girls... that can't be right."
At Remy's comment about healing, he starts trying to scan the girl's condition, to see if he should channel.
"Just a pin-prick, my friend. Next time I will not let my eagerness to help overcome sensible caution."
To the children, he says, "No need to worry now. We're here to help. We heard about what was going on here and came right down to put a stop to it."
Maddie cocks her head in curiosity at the girls.
"It's okay. You're safe." she walks over to the trio, and extends her hand to help them up, "My friends are really strong, they'll get you out. I'm Maddie, and you?" she asks.
From her position near the back, Alustria frowns at the terrible condition the children are in. Then she shakes her head and prepares to administer charges from their wand to any who seem in dire need.
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The children look relieved. The eldest tries her best to smile, and ushers the other children to their feat. "See, I told you someone would come for us!" She looks at the rest of you with hope in her eyes. "I am Milla, and these are Cona, Sarah and Timon. We...we were taken by those creatures and brought down here. We are battered and bruised, but no serious injuries...just...cold." *cough*. "I am glad you're here. I didn't know when she would to take another one of us away. They take us one by one to another room, and make us talk to this scary monster. He asks us questions … Can you do magic? How old are you? Where is Ba...araket? Where's the one that looks like Sorzen? … We just...we just wanna go home."
You check the girls over, and you can tell that they are slightly hurt, but nothing that can't be fixed with some rest and time.
After about a minute, as you tend to the children and start thinking of an exit strategy, Maddie and Remy get a terrible headache. It turns into ringing, as it intensifies in your mind. The walls of this wide hall begin to glow with dense red inscriptions which converge into a spiraling pattern that periodically flashes with pulsations of glowing orange energy. Then, you all hear a voice - scratchy and thin vibrate through the air. "Therrrre you arrrrre, HEROS! It's just like he prrrrrredicted...they would come..."
A female voice, firm and steadfast then joins to banter, "Don't be a fool, Mozamer. They just couldn't resist the temptation of saving those children … and the elf."
The children, immediately run back to their corner of the room and sit down. The smaller girls start to cry, as Milla covers their eyes the best she can. Oh no! What do we do now?
The voice continues, half growl - half whisper. "“On yourrr way down herrre to stop me? You ended up killing dozens. You show your WRRATH well. Perhaps you have a place at my Lady’s side? Join me, and we’ll take this town in a direction those otherrr fools would neverrr have been capable of. Alaznist will be pleased to see you help me rrraise an arrrmy before she takes back what she has lost.”
The crimson light from the runes on the walls add to the tension in the air.
Remy groans and holds her head as the headache strikes her. The enemies' voices grate against her senses, but she musters her resolve as she quickly drinks a potion of shield of faith. "Borgol, Fergus! Form ranks with me! Everybody else, stay behind us! Don't let them through to the children!"
The monk clenches her fist and shifts into her Dragon Style stance as she prepares for combat!
Borgol moves into a position next to Remy, forming a wall of flesh between the children and the threats, while whispering a prayer to Erastil, calling on his faith.
Flik casts invisibility on himself again.
"Don't worry. I've still got your back!"