Syrenna turns and hugs Akivar, "You, me, and that wand are going to be good friends!" she looks at the cat "oh you helped too, thanks!"
She follows group up the stairs, then as it begins to sway she exclaims, "woah woah woah, I didn't sign up for no swing! Might be too much weight!"
Syrenna studies the structure and realizes pretty quickly that anything more than single file, 5' apart, medium-sized creatures are going to bring down the stairs. Dire-Trenna and Syrenna if they continue to stand on the structure will cause it to break in about 15 seconds.
Trenna clings to the wall, above the stairs. If she's able to climb that instead, she lets go of the stairs entirely.
Climb - T10 + 19 for 29.
Akivar mimes an air pinch towards Syrenna's rear end, dispelling his enchantment upon her. "I'm sure it wasn't your weight that was the issue. Couldn't have been. Can't be too safe though."
Nadesico halts in her tracks "Wahhh! What should I do?!?!?" she begins to shout and cry. Syrenna smacks her over the back of the head and responds "Just walk up normally, stay close, and don't make any sudden movements moron".
Nadesico wipes away a bloody tear and nods in understanding, continuing to lead the party up the stairs.
Trenna moves to the walls and Syrenna shrinks back down to normal sized again, causing the creaking and groaning of the stairs to stop and allowing the party to continue onward, up into the tower.
After another forty feet and something terrible happens. Akivar, Trenna, and Hedge all see it happening before it's too late. Some movement in the shadows at the top of the tower, a groaning sound and then one of the large bells rings for the first time in a long, long time. After sounding once, the huge bell tears free and begins tumbling down towards you, smashing through sections of stairs and tearing the walls apart as it does so before smashing into the party.
Trenna and Syrenna manage to step out of the way, as the bell crashes into them, but the rest of the party is struck by the huge falling bell.
Akivar looks up at the crashing noises and hastily conjures a pit in the space in front of the party, just on top of the stairs, hoping to catch the bell before it plows into the group.
Akivar's pit opens up above the group on the catwalk and the bell flies straight towards it. Just before hitting the area with the pit however, it crashes into a section of the stairs up above and its trajectory changes and bounces away from the hit, continuing to fly down and slam into the party.
"WAAAHHH" Nadesico shrieks as the bell roflstomps her face. Beginning to lose her balance, she attempts to reach out for safety.
just barely getting her paw to grab onto the railing holding her steady.
Akivar smashes against the wall and splays limbs out, barely grabbing onto the stairs. "Might have been a good time to have feather fall ready... damnit."
Dorian didn't wait to see what was engraved on the bell intent on smashing him to pieces. He lashed his whip out at a wall sconce and swung aside as the bell caromed off the wall beside him.
"Whew, good thing I shrank before that bell hit me!" she looks behind. "Oh dear...." she says as she watches Nadesico eat bell. "CAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!~!!!!" she reaches out to try to grab her in futile.
Though damaged from the falling bell, the group all manages to barely avoid major injury from a fall to the floor.
Climbing the stairs after the bell has fallen is not an easy task. Numerous sections of the stair are completely absent in stretches of up to ten feet. It takes a much longer time to ascend as you work together to bridge the gaps and continue to climb upwards. Eventually you make your way high enough, that you climb into the bell tower.
Four immense bronze bells hang from timbers here, affixed by rusting lengths of chain and thick ropes. Above the bells are massive gears and clockworks, although they seem both rusted and scavenged-many of the smaller components are missing entirely. The rickety wooden stairs wind up and around them but don't quite reach the ceiling above, coming to an end at an opening in the wall. Here, the stairs continue up the exterior of the tower to a room that must lie just beyond the ceiling directly above the bells.
Four men wielding longswords leap from the bells and land on the stairs on both sides of you, preparing to engage. Akivar, Nadesico, Trenna and Syrenna are all quick to react and see the men moving before the others.
Trenna pulls herself up toward the rafters and reaches up to attack the man standing there.
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Nadesico tightens the grip on her shield, taking a defense stance as she shouts out "Who are you. What are you doing here. We seek only Xenobia. Let us pass and we will be on our way without any harm needing to come to you. I apologize in advance for my allies who are quick to defend themselves. Good crew, short attention spans. yes yes!"
Total Defense. Nads AC is now 29
"Xanesha, not Xenobia," Akivar adds after Nadesico finishes. He pulls in tight near the wall looking around at potential attackers.
Feeling wedged between Borian and fat druid, she pulls out a bow and lets an arrow loose at the highest opponent!
[dice=Damage]1d8]/dice]
Trenna can't make out the frayed rope to determine if it was cut or if it was age that sent it spiraling down towards them earlier.
"Please! We are simple keepers of the tower, do not harm us! We know nothing of Xenobia!" the men cry as Trenna rips and shreds one of them and Syreanna injures another They men scream and yell out "Put down your arms, let us talk peacefully!"
Trenna glances down at the man who cried out, furrowing her brow.
"I don't think we'll be falling for that one again. How about you lay down your weapons and walk away peacefully and we won't kill you all and leave your corpses to rot here in this skanky old tower."
Realizing their play was hopefully, the men change. The four bodies of the men begin to contort and shift in unnatural ways and soon you are faced with hairless, leathery bipeds that have a face dominated by grotesque and unsettling whorls and slits instead of actual features.
Most of you have seen these creatures before, these faceless stalkers who are able to shapeshift into anything with ease. The two adjacent to Nadesico and one next to Hedge slashes at them with their longsword and then try to punch you in the face. Only one attack is successful against the catfolk, dealing damage to her, but both attacks are successful against Hedge and he takes damage.
The fourth creature near Trenna moves along the beam north and then west, withdrawing from the fight and making its way to the door at the top of the stairs. Dropping down to the walkway, it throws the door open and disappears from sight.
"EEEK. I have changed my mind. No talking! Get out of here evildoers! "
With that a bright energy flows back through Nadesico.
She then slashes twice towards the first creature in front of her.
TreannApe recognizes splitting the party is rarely a good idea so reaches over to hit the creature that attacked Hedge.
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Akivar tells the Hound Archon to flank the rearmost creature with Hedge.
After the Hound Archon blinks away, Akivar casts magic missile on the front foe attacking catlady.
"Do we need to worry about that one running away? That's bad, isn't it?"
Dorian looked at teh faceless stalker nearest him and said, "Your buddy had the right idea. Maybe you should do the smart thing and head out as well. Otherwise, I'm going to really enjoy taking my time on you with this."
Dorian held the scorpion whip in two hands to show the serrated blades near the end, then raked it across the nearest handrail, sending ships and splinters in all directions.
"Waah UGLIES!" Syrenna shouts. "Get back in your hole you came from before we shove them there!" as she lets a few more arrows fly at the same target.
Both of Hedge's strikes hit, though he finds them less effective against this creature than he would have expected.
Nadesico's first slash cuts the creature, but her second one misses.
Dorian successfully causes one of the stalker's to start trembling in fear at his tremendous display.
One of TrenApes claws strike the creature adjacent to Hedge, but her other two attacks both miss.
Akivar's four missiles unerringly strike the creature attacking Hedge, continuing to injure it further.
Syrenna's shots fly wild, missing.
The two creatures adjacent to Syrenna both slash at her with their longswords, missing. After that they each slam into her and try to grab her. Both slams connect, once in catfolk's chest and once in her right torso. The last attempt sees the faceless stalker leaching on to her skin, sucking away her blood.
The creature behind Hedge slashes at him but misses, though he connects with the follow-up punch to the neck. He too tries to grapple and suck his blood, but Hedge eludes the grab attempt.
A loud grunt echos through the tower as TrennApe sees Nadesico get grabbed. "I'M COMING WARRI!" She darts across the wall, staying out of reach of the creatures. She reaches down with her claws to swipe at the [color=blue]blue?[/color] one that grabbed the cat.
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"Unngh!" Nadesico lets out a howl as she is both stabbed and grabbed by the faceless men. "Let go fiends!" she shouts back, attempting to break free of the grapple.
Once free, she shines again with bright energy (swift action - LoH Self ) and holds her shield up, holding the line for her allies.
Total Defense: 29 AC/25 CMD
She shouts back "By Torag's might, I will not waiver!"
Dorian lashed out his spiked whip at the demoralized foe, aiming for the legs and hoping to trip the creature over the edge into a long, long fall.
Syrenna turns and aims at the dog creature. "Woof woof mister!" she shouts.
The Hound Archon swings away at the foe between it and Hedge. Akivar continues pelting the creature with magic missiles as he consults his spellbook for other options.
Dorian wraps his whip around the ankles of one of the faceless stalkers and yanks him to the ground. The creature tries to grab the edge in not fall off...
... but can't find an edge and plummets a long, long, long way down.
Akivar's four missiles and TrenApe's bad breath manage to dispatch the final blood-sucker adjacent to Nadesico.
The steps at the top around the corner have an open door that one of the faceless stalker's went through.
Akivar taps Hedge a couple times with a wand.
TrennApe makes sure Nadesico is ok before moving over to Hedge and speaking in some strange tongue, "Sanigxo estas demando de tempo, sed ĝi estas kelkfoje ankaŭ afero de ŝanco. Sanigu vin mem!"
That done, she moves toward the open door.
The door leads into the clock tower rookery which consists of a timber cabinet with a mesh door sits against the southern wall of this room, while another door stands in the wall to the east. Looking into the cabinet, you find a single black messenger raven.
Moving through the door to the east, you exit the tower proper and need to traverse a rickety, wooden scaffolding that is on the exterior of the tower. It is a harrowing moment as you ascend, the winds buffeting you and threatening to send you spiraling down to your death below.
Ascending the scaffolding, you move up again and back inside into the clockworks. This large and cluttered room is filled with immense gears and clockworks. Most of them appear to have rusted into place. Whereas the stairwell leading up the inner walls of the clock tower is quite rickety, the wooden floor of this chamber is solid. The clockworks themselves have long since fallen into ruin-it would take many months of repair work by gifted tinkers to rebuild and restore the clock. Although the room looks sinister and dangerous with all its gears, there's nothing to be found here.
The only other path is another scaffolding entrance in the northwest.
Nadesico gives a little hop as she waves her paws in the air. "Yes! Great job team! The Sandpoint Six... er the New Sandpoint Six does it again!" As she jumps more bloody tears splash around while she assures her allies are healed up.
She holds her sword high to the sky and recites prayers to Torag as her and her allies glow with positive energy.
Saving some of her magic for later, she then pulls out her own wand and continues to heal up.
"Ahh now friends gather around for one more prayer before we ascend. Just in case!"
TrennApe chants briefly as she readies herself to ascend. "Mi tranĉis. Mi tranĉos. Mi tranĉis vian gorĝon nur por gustumi viajn cindrojn."
"Nid oes diben paentio droed y gwyn coed, cryfder y rhisgl yn crio allan o dan y paent."
Akivar boops Hedge with another wand bump and takes a closer look at the structural integrity of this level of the statue.
When the buffs were passed out and everyone was ready to go. Dorian led the way, checking for traps as he went.
Buffed and ready to go, the group ascends up the rickety scaffolding to the top of the tower where the smoky, filthy rooftops of Underbridge sprawl below this dizzying perch. The conical roof supports an onyx statue of an angel. Towering like a god, her weathered features are caked with grime, making her seem almost demonic in countenance. At the far end of the hollow space under the roof, in the angel's shadow, is a nest of cushions, silk sheets, and a line of several small chests
As soon as everyone scales to the top, a cloud of smoke begins to form directly twenty feet above you, heat radiating from the cloud and the smell of brimstone wafts over you. Moments later, a flying demon appears from the cloud and begins circling the tower, but it doesn't attack.
Watching the 'demon' circle the tower, Nadesico detects for evil presence from the demon.