"Excuse me ... er ... sir?"
You all hear a sleepy voice drift down from the crenellations, clearly directed at Relas. "If you are here for a play date with Jumra Khan, it is customary to present your name to one of the proctors of the Tiger's Eye Monastery."
"Rather than skulk about the foreyard like an average-sized rhinoceros."
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Relas freezes and for a second he's not even sure if he should actually respond to the man or keep pretending that he's just an ordinary panther. In his experience, most people just defaulted to that assumption automatically.
Is he drunk? Too much pesh? Still half-asleep?
Does it matter? The jig is up...but maybe I can try keeping him distracted!
The eidolon clears his throat.
"Um, yes! I'm here to see Jumra Khan for a playdate. My name is...Saler. Yes, Saler. He must've forgot to tell me about the name presentation. Sorry. Um, so this isn't the front door then?"
He tries to look and sound as innocent as a medium-sized panther-looking creature can be.
"I see, Saler-yer-Saler. First time to the Monastery I take it?"
The voice continues in a cordial tone. "Mind me asking if you're one of those great cats the Raj likes to wake up -- or are you a shape-shifter like the Man himself?"
"Either way I bet Jumra Khan is looking forward to seeing you."
"Sorry. Um, so this isn't the front door then?"
"Nah, it's the back. But it don't really matter. You lucked out by picking my wall. The others are all local -- not professional mercenaries like me. You could have slipped right by 'em without being challenged."
"Righto! Guess that the only thing left is for me to wish you a good night."
"Oh! And in lieu of the name cock-up, if I could trouble you for tonight's password, you're all set."
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"Hey! I'm no shape-shifter," Relas responds back, genuinely a bit offended. "I'm all-natural, 100%, what-you-see-is-what-you-get cat! But since we're all making mistakes today I'll forgive you. This time."
Relas finds himself hopefully that maybe the guy will just wave him on in but at the word 'password' his heart sinks and his ears flatten back against his skull.
"Password? Right, the password! It's, um...uh...'Open Sesame'?"
Then he coughs.
"Ի Umմ...տղերք: Պալո Կարծում եմ, որ ջիգը վերացել է..."
"Um...guys? Palo? I think the jig is up..."
"Very clever."
The voice sounds admiring. "Prefacing մ...տղերք: Պալո Կարծում եմ, որ ջիգը վերացել է with something as cliche as Open Sesame to ensure nobody spying learns the actual password."
"Brilliant. Just brilliant."
A note of confusion enters his speech. "I will say feline-accented Vudrani sounds much different to the Jalmerayse pronunciation. But that's no different to the way the Chels butcher Taldane. AmIright?"
"Anyways, gosh! My four-hourly internal eyelid audit is overdue. But if you need anything, I'll be right here."
No more than 60 seconds later, the sound of gentle snoring drifts down to the monastery courtyard.
With the sound of peaceful snoring in the background, Angritt and Rath lead the group's exploration of the monastery ruins.
The open courtyard is paved with flagstones and is relatively free of debris. Statues ring the central open area. Most depict a tiger-headed man in a martial arts stance. Though one presents a beautiful, multi-armed Vudrani woman with pointed ears.
Behind the statues are four sets of stairs. The double set to the east descend into darkness. Those on the western side once led upward, but have collapsed in a heap sometime in the recent past.
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”Hold this for me, Coral - there’s a good lad,” Matrialda says as she deposits her bag of knitting supplies in Korum’s arms. ”Oh, and you dropped this during that scuffle with the bandits last night. Thank goodness I found it - you might have caught a cold!” Taking advantage of the half-orc’s lack of free hands, she plops a slightly-dirty green knit hat on his head. The elderly woman takes a moment to call a protective ward around herself before walking into the courtyard to the statue of a woman.
The party Den Grandmother and her devoted Green Knight enter the inner courtyard, where they are lost from the view of most of the group.
You hear a faint *click* and the head of the statue of the Vudrani goddess falls into Matrialda's waiting hands.
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"Ah, there we are." Quite satisfied with herself, Matrialda brings her prize back to Korum.
"Thank you so much for keeping an eye on that for me - you really are my favorite grandchild," she says as she pinches the half-orc's cheek. "Now, be a dear and hold this for me while I get my sewing kit put away." She passes Korum the statue's head, then retrieves her kitting supplies from the paladin. "Now then, it looks like we're headed downstairs?"
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Not one to look a gift-horse or gift-anything in the mouth, Palo tries to carefully pick her way across the open terrain and into the ruins proper to catch up to her companions.
And somehow manages to do a better job than Relas did.
"Downstairs, you said? Yeah, let's go before someone else sees us," she whispers.
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"Don't worry guys, I can go first...if you want?" Relas cheerfully whispers as Palo and the others begin hustling past him into the courtyard. "If not, I'll bring up the rear. And if that guy wakes up again I'll just tell him I got lost or something!"
Whether the group wants him in the lead or at the back, Relas does try to do a little bit better at concealing himself...
Rath *sniffs* the clammy air and gives a low growl, turning his blunt head towards the northern limits of the internal courtyard.
As he scans the statues, a slight twitch draws Angritt’s eye. One of the statues appears to be looking right at the druid! Angritt realizes it's no statue at all -- two of them are living men dressed in grey robes and tiger-headed masks that resemble the other statues.
Blue waits for his partner to charge Matrialda, before teaming up with him to flank the arcanist.
Red Monk (charge AC)
Blue Monk
--
Angritt
move or standard action in the surprise round.
Angritt sends his toothy dino in after blood-shot eyes, before growing rather bitey and slashy himself.
Round #1:
Sinaryn (fatigued)
Psamtic
Korum
--
Blue monk
--
Matrialda (8/12 hp)
Palomia + Relas
--
Red monk (charge AC)
--
Angritt + Rath (12/16 hp)
, do something awesome!
Korum introduces himself to blood-shot eyes, but instead of breaking the ice, he manages to crack the faux-statue’s façade (and a couple of ribs).
The tiger-head responds with a snarl, but remains standing.
His partner continues the beat-down on Matrialda.
Round #1:
Korum
--
Blue monk
--
Sinaryn (fatigued)
Psamtic
Matrialda (4/12 hp, need a DC 12 Fort save or stunned)
Palomia + Relas
--
Red monk (-5 hp, charge AC)
--
Angritt + Rath (12/16 hp)
, do something wicked!
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”Oof! I must say, children these days have no manners whatsoever. Were you raised in a barn? And stop prancing around with those silly hats on - you’ll poke your eye out on something if you’re not careful.” Unwilling to show how much those blows hurt her old bones, the matriarch steps around the men playing at being tigers and carefully shakes a dusty handkerchief at them. Colored lights explode out, rushing past the two men (and one dinosaur) like a technicolor sneeze.
Psamtic and Sinaryn rush closer to the frontlines.
Matrialda has had quite enough of naughty boys in silly hats. She shows them the benefits of experience, before declaring it’s time for their naps.
Blue-eyes joins Rath in a stunning slumberland, while the other monk sees only red and fights on!
Palo withdraws to a safer spot while Relas moves in to bite the air near Blue.
Meanwhile Red re-positions himself, having not finished with Matrialda *quite* yet.
Round #1/2:
Korum
--
Blue monk (unconscious)
--
Sinaryn (fatigued)
Psamtic
Matrialda (4/12 hp)
Palomia + Relas
--
Red monk (-5 hp)
--
Angritt + Rath (12/16 hp, blinded+stunned for + stunned for 1 round)
, do something nasty!
Korum grasps the shaft of his glaive horizontally in two hands before moving around the red-eyed monk. The paladin then ⚡ flashes ⚡ the polearm over the man’s head, taking him in a chokehold from behind.
As the monk raises his empty hands to the wooden pole, fighting to keep it from crushing his larynx Angritt approaches, dropping his head like a curious velociraptor. As his opponent lashes out with a foot, the dino shaman lunges and takes a deep bite out of the man’s inner thigh – severing his femoral artery!
“Tasty!”
The monk’s fight ebbs out of him in concert with the lifeblood *spurting* from his ruined leg. Without the support of Korum and his weapon, he collapses to the flagstones, his tiger mask askew.
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The paladin's eyes go wide at the sudden oral assault. His training versus the undead kicks in. Korum carefully scans the druid's aura. After assuring himself there is no taint of un-life coursing through Angritt, the paladin merely points toward the oread's mouth, "You have some...uh...leg...in your teeth. It's just kinda hangin' there, making the rest of us wanna hurl. You may want to take care of it before Matrialda tries to give you a bath or something."
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Psamtic rushes into the room with a mighty roar, and then gets visibly disappointed that no enemies remain standing.
"While I'm glad you all made short work of these guys, my axe is disappointed it didn't get to play."
Psamtic will chill at one of the entrances, hoping to guard from any assaults until those behind her say they're ready to go.
While Psamtic chills and Korum gives Angritt a leg-up with his dental hygiene, an exquisite Jalmerayse blue magpie jets through the courtyard, emitting a low-pitched ♪ WARBLE ♪
ghobe' wej Heghpu'
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"Ooo, just a minute there dears..."
Matrialda sits on the empty pedestal, rubbing her bruised and battered side gingerly. "Do tie up that miscreant, Coral - and let's see if they have anything interesting on them..."
"Oh, that sounds like just the thing. Cinnamon, pass me one of those bottles - there's my favorite grandchild..."
"Ah, that's better. Now, we were heading downstairs, yes?"
This large basement room is set up as a workshop. Four workbenches are covered with odd tools and spare parts.
A dark-skinned female tiefling labors beside an elderly Jalmerayse man. Both are chained to their respective benches by a heavy iron collar.
“Have you finished with the microgoggles, Risk?”
“Nearly, Uncle. Just need to refit the frangible nut in this chemaly … Oh, hello! Who are you?”
Two bandits are on guard in this room, one of whom is highly alert. Despite any efforts at stealth, he looks right at Relas as the party comes down the stairs, speaking in broken Taldane.
"Black cats not welcome here. They bad luck. You – go back, or bad things happen to you!"
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"This lack of sleep is making me miss all the---what in the world did you do to him..." Sinaryn says in shock but mildly impressed seeing what is left of the situation.
"Hmm, workbench for enchanting or maybe even some finer instruments like my gun here." she mentions as they head downstairs then looks around at the others as the guards just talk like normal.
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“Have you really got a firearm, Miss?” The bearded slave sounds like he desperately wants to believe it.
“Any chance you could demonstrate how it works on Zamir’s men?” The tiefling’s words combine sarcasm with a hint of hope.
The blue-eyed sentry shakes his head. “What have I told you about encouraging armed intruders?”
The bandit thrusts out a commanding hand at Relas and calls up to Sinaryn. “I will not have you upsetting the Peshwa’s indentured workers.”
“You may leave now, so-called 'Undine Mysterious Stranger'. You and all your silly Avistani k’niggets!”
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"Sounds like you have a problem then. See, your boss is a thief, and he stole something from us...from ME. Now. I intend on taking it back. If I have to do that over your body or his body, it don't really matter none. So, while you may be able to have these slaves under thumb, you'll find we don't cower so well."
"Now fortunately for you, I have a code, so I will allow you and your friend safe passage up these stairs and into the jungle without being harmed. But, if yer stayin', yer fightin', and most likely, yer gonna die. Time to make a decision in 3...2....1..."