Flik is absorbed in translating the runes when Remy walks past him.
"Remy...I don't think that's a good idea!"
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Remy sinks her knees deep into the blue water, raising the red gem above her head in worship. In an instant, the gem begins to glow a crimson red, rays of light shooting in every direction.
To your surprise, a rasping whisper echoes in all of your minds, “Seek me... free me... become my wrathful champions...” But the whispers are not feminine in any regard, rather have a very masculine undertone to them.
The gem cracks, as blood begins running down the monks arms, and down her body, dripping intensely into the pool underneath. The crimson blood begins to stain the water, which starts to churn and bubble. The bubbling water rises, as hundreds of wads of squirming flesh with flailing appendages starts to move together in a cluster of teeth and claws from the pool. A larger formation also emerges, this a horrid mass of barbed tentacles, glaring eyes, and gnashing teeth begins twisting upon itself and reshaping into new forms as it launches forward.
The swarm launches forward towards the back of the party, while the other impossible shape ignores Remy, running forward at Borgol to swipe at him.
Round 1
! Chaos Beast
! Adv. Fleshdreg Swarm@ Maddie -4 lethal (MA)
@ Borgol -23 lethal (REF (20))
@ Fergus -4 lethal (REF (20))
@ Remy prone (REF (20))
@ Flik -4 lethal (-)Everyone may act!
Remy blinks in confusion as the compulsion that had been driving her actions suddenly fades away. She looks in horror at the blood dripping down her body and the terrible creatures that burst forth from the pool to attack her companions.
"Gods, what have I done?" she breathes, climbing to her feet and splashing over to assist Borgol, flanking the monstrosity.
Borgol blinks and starts to dive toward Remy, Blast, I knew that she wasn't being herself.., he stops short when he sees that he's too late. "I'm not sure, but it wouldn't be the first time that magic twisted one of us," he then adds, "but let's clean up the mess before we worry about it." He calls out, "Flik, what is it and how do we kill it?", even as he swings his blazing sword.
"Eeeeek!" Maddie is clearly not happy, and runs out of the swarm, pelting it with a swarm of her own.
After stepping backward out of the swarm, Flik attempts to identify the creature and the swarm. and activates Naturalist against the creature.
Fergus is surprised at Remy's supplication and is even more surprised when her prayer is answered!
He shakes off the feeling of nausea and attacks the swarm!
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Flik and Maddie both know that the fleshdreg swarm is an ugly abberation, form from scraps and leftovers of malformed fleshdregs and incomplete sinspawn. These foul, misshapen creatures pour out of runewells by the hundreds, seeking sinful flesh to destroy. Little more than pests, these swarms attack indiscriminately. They are pretty standard swarms with swarm traits, but are also have SR!
The larger monstrosity is a chaos beast, the form of which can change and has no purpose of identity. It has SR, and more dangerous is their special ability Coporeal Instability, causing a creature to be cursed with an amorphous body becomes a spongy, shapeless mass. This is a curse, fort save, which does wisdom drain. Also is amorphous to immune to critical hits, but it can still be flanked.
Maddie and Fergus realise they are unable to hurt the swarm, so they focus their attacks on the chaos beast. While the paladin's swings fall short, Borgol is able to strike the formless creature once, before it changes shape to confuse the ranger.
Maddie bravely stays inside the swarm, but the ocean of limbs and corpses moves without thought.
The chaos beast recoils to strike at the team randomly.
F
B
B
B
A victim can temporarily regain its own shape by taking a standard action to attempt a DC 15 Will save. A success reestablishes the creature’s normal form for 1 minute. Spells that change the victim’s shape (such as alter self, beast shape, elemental body, and polymorph) do not remove the curse, but hold the creature in a stable form (which might not be its own form, depending on the spell) and prevent additional Wisdom drain for the duration of the spell; shapechange and stoneskin have a similar effect. The victim takes 1 point of Wisdom drain from mental shock every round that it ends its turn in an amorphous shape—upon being drained to 1 Wisdom, further Wisdom drain ceases and the amorphous body effect is permanent until removed via magic (no further number of saving throws can cure the condition at this time).
Round 2
! Chaos Beast -34
! Adv. Fleshdreg Swarm@ Maddie -4 lethal (MA)
@ Borgol -39 lethal (REF (20))
@ Fergus -4 lethal (REF (20))
@ Remy prone (REF (20))
@ Flik -7 lethal (-)Everyone may act!
Remy resolutely attacks the chaos beast, hoping to take it down quickly!
Maddie backs up to stand along the wall, starting a fairly lengthy spell.
Borgol winces against the strikes and feels the magic trying to tear him apart, then feels the same sense of calm from his time in prayer flow through him instead, pushing it away.
Borgol mentally thanks Erastil, then draws on that calm and the power within it, filling him with strength and the power of growth, doubling his size.
for
Fergus will continue to attack the swarm.
”Eek! Get off me!” Remy cries, kicking and punching the little menaces.
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With the main threat taken care of, the party quickly disassembles the squirming pile of moving bodies, causing the swarm to fall disperse harmlessly into nothingness. After a few moments, the pool of water goes back to being crystal blue, as if nothing had happened here.
"“Seek me... free me... become my wrathful champions...” echoes in your minds one more time.
@ Maddie -4 lethal (MA)
@ Borgol -39 lethal (REF (20))
@ Fergus -9 lethal (REF (20))
@ Remy -5 (REF (20))
@ Flik -7 lethal (-)Everyone may act!
Maddie barely even notices the handful of scratches she got from the swarm, instead doing her best to try and figure out what is up with this new liquid, taking a vial to join her rapidly-expanding collection of liquids.
Remy looks somewhat embarrassed once the fight is over. ”I’m sorry about all that. It must have been some sort of magic that made me do that with the gem. I’ll try to be stronger of will next time.”
She eyes the pool as it changes colors again. ”That might be another portal. We should be careful around it until we are ready to move on. We still need to find the Abyssal runestone.”
She looks at the two doors, focusing on the door with the solider on it. ”’Scour me with your furious arms.’ Maybe we just have to hit it really hard?” The monk gives the door a good kick.
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Remy sizes herself up agasint the large stone door, and gives it a strong kick. The stone breaks slightly from the impact, the monk being strong enough that even her kicks can break stone. The wall slides downwards, revealing a long corridor which bends to the right after a few feet.
The wizard door remains closed.
"Ha!" Remy exclaims. She nods in satisfaction. "Shall we? Borgol and Flik first, of course. Unless you'd all prefer to try the wizard door?"
"Wizard!" Maddie calls out, her attention snapping to the conversation, "What are we talking about?"
Remy indicates the other door in the chamber. ”I think you have to use attack magic to open it. But we should probably pick one path or the other to pursue first.”
"Ah, I'm sure that we can open the wizard door, Maddie. Perhaps we should explore this open passage first."
Flik gestures to the door that Remy has kicked open.
Yes, We should explore the door open to us and leave the wizard door after. Fergus says in agreement with Flik.
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The walls, floor, and ceiling of this room are riddled with cracks, testaments to countless violent clashes in the chamber along with the shattered bones and broken weapons strewn about the place. The southern wall of the room is made of iron and bears a softly glowing image of a ranseur, while a partially collapsed, rubble-strewn corridor exits from the opposite side of the room.
collapse you can determine that the apparent damage is little more than decoration intended to give the room a greater sense of a history of violence.
The northern tunnel extends 60 feet further north before ending at a glowing circle in the floor.
A soft image begins to grow in the middle of the room...an illusion, to be sure, but an artistic one, revealing a lightly armored woman standing above a group of heavily armored fighters kneeling beside her. She brandishes a large ranseur, and swiftly calls out to the men, "Rise my champions, today you have a chance to prove yourselves as the mightiest fighters of Azlant. Succeed, and my wrath shall flow through you. Now, recite the oath, and begin." You watch as the all contestants slam their fists into their chests, the sound echoing through the shattered hall. "LET NOT THE SUN GO DOWN UPON THE BODY OF YOUR WRATH!!" And just as quickly as it came, the image swiftly disappears leaving you in the empty crumbled room.
Remy narrows her eyes as she watches the vision play out. "Alaznist, no doubt."
She gestures to the glowing circle. "What do you suppose that is for?"
Borgol puts a hand on the image of the stag hanging around his neck and pulls on the power he feels vibrating within it until it fills him, burning like the feeling of lungs desperate for a gasp of air, before releasing the energy in a wave over his companions.
Borgol nods, "Aye, likely so."
While the more magically minded party members investigate the circle, Remy leads Borgol on a mundane search of the chamber. If neither investigation turns up anything useful, Remy will try touching the image of the ranseur on the wall.
Borgol blinks and scans the room with his heightened senses, looking for anything of interest, rather than Remy.
Flik considers the magic circle in the room.
"Well, I certainly wouldn't step on to that. I think it leads to another plane."
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As Remy comes up to touch the ranseur on the wall, a splitting headache rushes through her skull, and courses down her body, chilling her to the core. "I see you, Sorshen. Say the oath, and bend your will to her wrath. If you seek the artefact, this is the only way." The voice is masculine and dark, and she feels a hauntly aura surround her for a brief movement. As the presence sinks into the ground, she can feel a dark presence stir somewhere within the mountain.
Remy groans and puts a hand to her head. ”Somebody is watching. Thybidos, maybe. He thinks I am the real Sorshen. I’m going to say the oath so that we can get the runestone. Be ready.”
Once everybody is prepared, the monk takes a deep breath and shouts, ”LET NOT THE SUN GO DOWN UPON THE BODY OF YOUR WRATH!!"
Remy growls and feels anger welling up inside of her. She throws her head back and howls out,
Maddie steps back, her hands over her ears as she vanishes from sight.
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"Good..."
The room begins to shake, and the seismic quakes feel like they are coming somewhere deep within Hollow Mountain. The structure is well build, however, and the shaking slowly diminishes into a steady hum as the walls around you vibrate with an intense magic. The ranseur on the wall, and the magic circle both light up, and begin to glow an iridescent crimson color, filling the room with bloody shadows, similar to the ones you experienced under Roderic's Cove.
Surprise round, everyone may act!!
Remy takes a step towards the circle as she drops into a defensive stance, ready for battle.
Taking a page from Maddie's book, Flik casts invisibility on himself.
Maddie quickly pulls on the strands of time.
Fergus will step next to Remy and prepare for what comes next by gripping his weapon tighter and mouthing a silent prayer to Angradd!
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The red light shimmers, and then manifests into the swirming bodies of sinspawn, who shriek and move towards the party.
. Remy
. Fergus
. Borgol
. Remy/confirm? nope
Round 1
! Sinspawn (yellow, red, pink, green blue)
@ Maddie (MA, Invisible)
@ Borgol -5 lethal (REF (20))
@ Fergus (REF (20))
@ Remy -5 lethal (REF (20), Total Defence)
@ Flik (Invisible)Everyone may act!
Wincing in pain from the lucky bite, Remy begins to thrash the sinspawn.