Ashlion slashes through one of the following wisps of elemental energy and it fades from view. He then flies through the air after the drifting Stormcaller who still manages to avoid his deadly axe.
Bavick attempts to stab at the priest attacking Tygrah, but still fails to find a gap through armor.
Magdi calls down another bolt of lightning, but Daruthek again dodges the bulk of the blast. Argil also fails to hit him with a jet of icy air.
Round 4
As Rory’s acid shuriken continues to damage Daruthek, he pulls out a clear Shuriken and prepares to throw it at the evil priest.
Tygrah swings on the one she is flanking with Bavick.
Tygrah misses the single acting priest while Rory readies for the flying lizardman to cast a spell.
However, as a repeat of a moment before, Daruthek flies past the monk, striking him with his spear again.
Rory reels, heavily damaged by repeated attacks!
Bavick attacks the priest (Blue).
As Daruthek heads off to attack Rory with his spear again, Ashlion swings at the flying lizardman, but his axe skitters off his armor.
Having had about enough missing, the half-orc directs his anger into a focused charge that doesn't miss. The lizardman turns his attention to Ashlion as the remaining wysp vanishes into nothingness.
Bavick then stabs the flanked priest, striking a deep blow.
Argil swoops around in the air attempting to keep Daruthek in range and strikes again with his blast of cold air. Magdi moves up to Rory to apply some divine healing to the injured monk.
Round 5
”Thank you, Magdi,” mutters Rory quickly, as he pulls out his red Shuriken and steps to the south away from Daruthek (5 foot step). Sparing a quick glance to see that the red priest is still stunned, Rory fires a Flaming Shuriken at Daruthek!
versus touch AC
Blinded by fury, Tygrah thrusts her blades into empty air to either side of her target.
Distracted by her anger, Tygrah misses her target and that seems to be the trend as her ally, Rory, misses the flying oracle with his spell.
Her foe, however, has no such trouble and stabs her with his trident again. The stunned figure next to him seems to be shaking off the effects of Rory's spell.
Daruthek pulls back from Ashlion and targets him with a spell. The half-orc feels a wave of cold fear pour through his body.
Bavick keeps his cool and tries to take down the flanked priest, stabbing with his rapier.
Ashlion, awash in a feeling that he doesn't like at all, flees to the other side of the domed chamber.
Bavick drops the lizardfolk priest between him and Tygrah. Magdi and Argil team up on the flying Storm Caller; Magdi hitting him with buffeting wind and rain, but the mamiwa misses with his jet of cold.
Round 6
Having been the Storm Kindler’s primary target until Ashlion intervened, Rory feels quite vulnerable when Ashlion flees! Torn between readying a flurry of ghost Shuriken to disrupt Daruthek’s next spell and trying to defend himself, Rory chooses the latter.
He pulls out a scroll, extracting its magic, and suddenly Rory is joined by several identical twins!
Tygrah attacks the last priest nearby.
As the ranger drops the final priest, Rory invokes duplicate images of himself.
Daruthek laughs again. "Are you afraid, little soft-skins? You should be!" He intones a spell and most of the group is assaulted by a cacophony of noise.
Rory is shocked by the loud sound and can’t think straight for a few moments!
Tygrah resists the stunning blast.
Bavick drops his rapier, draws his bow, and readies to shoot Daruthek the next time he tries to cast a spell.
Bavick prepares his bow while Ashlion flings an axe at the flying lizardman, but misses. Magdi approaches Tygrah and touches her with a healing hand. Argil spins in the air, attempting to recover from the sonic blast.
Round 7
”Ooh, pretty sparkles,” thinks Rory, momentarily distracted by the swirls at the edges of his vision... .
Tygrah drops her blades, draws her bow, and fires on Daruthek.
Tygrah's arrow misses the flying figure who dodges out of the way and then laughs again.
Daruthek begins a spell which prompts Bavick to loose his own arrow. However, the arrow misses as well and the spell is completed. Mist begins to spew forth from the Storm Caller, spreading out to cover a large portion of the platform. His taunting laughter continues, echoing oddly throughout the room.
Bavick uses Total Defense.
Ashlion and Bavick make their own preparations in anticipation of the Storm Caller's next move.
Round 8
Rory moves away from the center of the obscuring mist, backing away to the Northwest until he is a few squares clear of the cloud, then prepares to shoot with his Ghost Shuriken if he can see Daruthek (either just inside the cloud or as he emerges from it).
Rory waits with a spell readied for the Storm Caller to attack. Tygrah does the same with her weapon. The ranger wins the waiting as Daruthek dives down through the mist to strike her with his spear.
Bavick drops his bow, picks up his rapier, and likewise readies an attack if he can see Daruthek.
Tygrah misses with her arrow and curses as the shaman stabs her!
Bavick readies his rapier and Ashlion charges into the mist, slashing his axe through the empty air.
Round 9
Those standing on the central platform begin to feel a very low level vibration thrumming through the floor.
Seeing Daruthek's tactics, Tygrah drops the bow, picks up the terbutje, and makes ready to strike.
Rory maintains his readied action, unwilling to wander through the fog. Hearing the low sound and remembering the ritual setup, he considers what to do to stop the ritual? Push the bodies off the altars? Strike through the arcane lines in the floor?
Tygrah readies her weapon for another flyby attack and Rory attempts to ascertain the source of the vibrations. The best he can determine is that it's a side-effect of the interruption of the ritual.
The ranger's preparation is rewarded as a moment later the Storm Caller comes rushing out of the mist towards her with his spear outthrust. She nimbly steps aside and, with a decisive blow, separates his head from his body.
With a sound like an empty coconut, the lizardman's head bounces across the platform and drops with a splash into the turbulent waters surrounding the platform.
Combat Ends!
A few minutes later, the mist burns away and the group is left standing on the stone platform with various immobile lizardfolk forms. With time now to investigate, it's determined that the smaller lizardfolk forms on the alters are indeed children. It looks like they were sacrificed as part of the ritual.
The words of the chieftess come back to you; 'I didn't realize that the price would be so high.'
There are numerous valuables placed around the altars. Gathering the offerings produces 223 pp, 1,366 gp, 7,921 sp, ten magical darts , a large saltwater pearl , three polished amber gems containing strange, hairlike feathers , an onyx remora statue , and the skull of a roc filigreed with silver .
From the four priests, you gather from each a suit of enchanted leather armor , a masterwork trident, a silver symbol of Kelizandri , and scroll of spiritual weapon.
Daruthek himself carried a magical spear , a light crossbow, an enchanted breastplate , and two potions of cure moderate wounds.
Other than helping to identify magic items, Rory spends his time trying to make sure the massive energies in the ritual settle out and fade away in a controllable manner. There seems to be no central seed in need of magical manipulation, so he will just do what he can.
”Well done, everyone,” says Rory, ”I feel the magic of the storm slowly dissipating.”
Magdi nods at Rory's assessment.
"With Swamp-Speaker Daruthek gone, the ritual cannot be completed," he says, looking at the headless body with distaste. "It's possible that someone else could come along and begin again, but it would take recreating the seeds as well and I don't think anyone in the Mireborn tribe has either the knowledge or the inclination."
Tygrah growls and kicks Daruthek's headless body, her battle rage slowly subsiding. The victory, while decisive, has left her feeling strangely hollow inside. Perhaps the half-orc's desire for retribution against all lizardkind for what their brethren did to her in her youth has finally been sated.
She shakes her head sadly at those that were sacrificed to perform Daruthek's twisted ritual. "Such a waste. Our task is done. Let us go back to our new home, husband, that we may begin our new lives in earnest."
Rory scans the scene intently, from the fading wall of electricity to the lizardman children on altars, from the arcane veins in the floor to Tygrah standing over the headless body of the evil Lizardman heretic. He tries to soak in every detail about everyone in the scene so a certain special someone can see it clearly in his mind for painting at a later date...and he slowly smiles with relief that they have both succeeded and survived!
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Ashlion floats down, his rage subsiding into satisfaction at the sight of the dead lizardman. He embraces his wife.
"WELL DONE WIFE! YOU ARE THE GREATEST WARRIOR I HAVE SEEN! OUR CHILDREN WILL BE THE STRONGEST WARRIORS ON THIS CONTINENT!" He seems perfectly happy with the outcome, especially since it seems that there is nothing else to do in order to stop the ritual.
"WE SHALL GO HOME!"
Bavick catches a glimpse through the mist of Daruthek's rolling head.
He makes his way cautiously until the mist clears. "Everyone okay?"
As it dissipates, he takes a look at the bodies of sacrificed lizardfolk.
"Grim. Might be better if folks didn't know all the details of what happened here. Don't want any others tryin' ta follow in the footsteps and call the storm.
We should tell the Chieftess that the deed is done.
But like that Blackwell and his friends? Those Aspis folks? Make me nervous. Best we keep the details of the Storm Kindlers and all that real quiet. Not written down."
Rory cocks his head to the side a bit and answers Bavick, "I understand the desire to prevent the specific knowledge of this place and the arcane methods used to call a killing storm, but people must know of the evil done here, the perils of perverting the worship of nature, and the need for champions of good to counteract such evil."
"Perhaps no mention of the location of the temple and no detail of the ritual needed, but just a painting of champions of good triumphing over evil cultists...yes that would be a reasonable compromise," concludes Rory, "...assuming she would be willing..." he adds under his breath.
Gathering up the valuables, the group returns to the floating platform and unleashes it to let it return to the entrance.
You climb back up the stairs to find that the weather currently feels much the same as when you descended. {"Oh, much better!"} Argil declares, pointing out that it was much worse when he ventured forth earlier.
Upon arriving at the lizardfolk huts, you're greeted by Tizgah and Yolar who both confirm that the worst of the storm has faded. Chieftess Shathva welcomes you as well. The tribe doesn't engage in any great celebration, but they do seem thankful that you've ended Daruthek's efforts. "I thought as much," is her only response when informed of the sacrifices. The tribe offers you lodgings for the night to rest and heal.
The next morning you begin your journey back to Pridon's Hearth. The weather gets progressively better as the days pass. In fact, as the day dawns on your last morning of travel, you realize that there isn't a single cloud in the sky. An event, Tizgah points out, that she's never seen in her life.
Your entrance to the town goes largely unheralded as everyone is occupied with cleaning up the devastation that the storm wrought. Broken windows, collapsed roofs, flooded homes; It seems no one was spared some damage. Some suffered more than others. Much of Island town underwent catastrophic effects. The exposed community lost about half its homes.
Tizgah runs off to see if Heri survived and the rest of you make your way to the inn.
Surprisingly, in response to queries, it appears that there was only one death. Oyin Emporium is no more. When asked about Mirya, people just sadly shake their heads.
Stone Hall along with the temple of Abadar are both being used as makeshift hospitals for those too injured to work on repairs. You find Annabella tending to the injured in the common room of the inn.
The priestess' eye light up when the group enters the large chamber. She puts down rags she'd been washing and storms up to Rory. There's no warning before he feels the stinging sensation on his face and the slap rings out over the moans of the injured. In another moment, the woman throws her arms around him and pulls him close.
"That's for scaring me," she whispers.
~~~~
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"YOU ARE SAVED!" Ashlion booms, "THE STORM IS GONE AND THE EVIL DEFEATED!"
He sidles up to Annabella and Rory and lowers his voice, a little. "HAIRLESS RORY WAS VERY BRAVE. HE IS A REAL HERO AND DESERVES A HEROES WELCOME." He gives them both a large wink and then moves to shoo his wife and Bavick out of the room...
Bavick will try to find Tizgah again.
Will you go back home, or continue to explore?
For myself, I will remain in Pridon's Hearth, and do what I can to ensure that the people of this town live in harmony with your tribe. That they respect your lands and your hunting grounds and do not trouble you. I am only one halfling, but I think I may have some influence in this town now."
Bavick finds Tizgah in the mess that is the remains of Heri's shop. The alchemist/accidental arsonist is attempt to clean up the shattered remnants of various potions and elixirs. It seems that, wonder of wonders, none of the mixed brews were volatile. Tizgah is happily helping the woman deal with the mess.
"The world outside my village is even more wondrous than I would have imagined," the girl responds in the same language. "For now, there is plenty for me to explore here," she adds with a sideways glance and a grin at Heri. "And I think you have more influence in this town than you give yourself credit for."
She leans forward and gives the rogue a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you for believing in me, Bavick Whiteriver," she adds before returning to sweeping up glass shards.