Scrambling up the side onto the platform, Mizzug shrieks at the opponent again. Reloading her sling in haste, she readies to try it again.
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"We're getting nowhere fast..."
Bumbo hurls another stone, having little else to do.
Toot stands, waiting for something to attack.
Lining up her crossbow for a shot, Aventail reloads and fires.
The bolt goes wide and the fighting continues.
Seething with rage at the appearance of yet another stirge, the creature turns her full fury upon it.
plus poison
plus poison
The stirge takes a whooping 2, count it non-lethal damage. And makes some Fort saves.....
As the poison races through its veins, the Stirge takes....
This poison lasts for 6 rounds and requires 2 consecutive saves to cure.
The Stirge attempts to hold onto the quasit.
At the end of the turn it will drain a second point of CON
The stirge then begins beating its wings furiously spinning and driving the quasit to the ground.
Loth fires off... another arrow!
Toot roars and leaps about below, trying in vain to bite at the feet of the creature above. He holds and stands ready, waiting to unleash his fury on the winged menace, should the stirge be able to drag it down.
Bumbo hurls another stone, hoping to do something...anything.
Frantically loading another bullet in the leather strap, she flings it towards the door with a shriek.
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Aventail calmly loads another bolt...
Once again trapped down on the ground and under a stirge, the creature fights without end.
Panting and wane, the creature takes to the air again, hoping to get away. Toot's attacks scrap off its tough skin, sling bullets and bolts and arrows fly past, Dol reaches out to grab it....
RUN DOWN OF THE TURN
Several missed attacks, any hits don't break past the damage reduction. The Stirge pulls/pushes the creature to the ground, where the creature proceeds to finish rending the stirge apart. As it begins to try to escape, Dol reaches out to grasp it, wrapping his thick arms around the smaller body. He gets a solid grip, and loses some of his arm to the creatures teeth in the process (3 damage), but holds on tight.
The creature is pretty weakened now due to the CON damage, but the attacks so far haven't been very effective. It remains struggling in its exhaustion. On the other side, it isn't able to do much to you lot either. This is a good fight, hard scrabble and bitter.
Razkiv attempts to cleave the fierce beast.
He is not able to keep Dol safe and hit the creature.
More of the same from Loth's end...
Aventail fires a bolt from her heavy crossbow at the creature, seeming unconcerned that she is also firing directly at Dol...
Bumbo stands ready to help but, seeing the stronger members of their group tackling the creature, stays out of the way.
@Bumbo: For the sake of the fun, yes, Mizzug is above Toot and can get in there to attack.
@Dol: Sadly, for you guys, that did not maintain the grapple, so the creature slips free, taking some of your arm with her.
Seeing the creature finally in range, Mizzug takes a bite...
Surrounded, wounded, winded, low on spells, the creature is going to try and turn itself invisible.
Leaving herself open, trying to turn herself away, Mizzug's teeth latch onto her, , which sends her spiraling into unconsciousness. As the body begins to slump, Razkiv's axe also finds purchase, guaranteeing her end. As you all stand there, panting form the exertion, her tiny body begins to fade and is quickly gone. Razkiv, you are familiar with this phenomenon. It happens when a summoned creature is rendered comatose. Some of you probably noticed it happen to the stirge's (MVP's) that were summoned. Once the blood stops pounding in your ears, the hall is eerily quiet. What will you do now?
"One less foe and no closer to answers, well done friends." Razkiv begins to move around the room looking for clues.
Bumbo quickly rushes to Toot, steadying the beast who was apparently enraged that this vile creature escaped...through death....but still escaped.
Easy boy...we'll find something else to kill...please, please, calm!
Taking deep breaths to calm down, Bumbo watches Razkiv looking around the room, and he looks at his companions. Is everyone alright? I think, perhaps, that was the quasit and her "freaks" as mentioned in the note, yes? If so, we just stopped an invasion!
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"Summoned? Yet it was here for years? That is not typical for a summoned fiend, I don't think. Whomever set up this structure must have been very powerful."
Dusting himself off, Dol begins looking around the room to see if anything was left by the quasit. He will also look in the pool, but not touch the water.
"Might be something in those two closets at the back of the room"
Bumbo nods. It would be odd, indeed...the rabbit hole goes deeper and deeper my friend.
Bumbo motions for Toot, then walks over to one of the closets, making sure Toot is in front. He opens the door, and takes a look inside.
"She said something to that effect, didn't she? That she served someone who had long since left."
Loth puts away his bow and picks up the multitude of daggers he'd dropped throughout the fight.
Checking the closets yields only dust as a reward. Looking around the room in a general sense also delivers no further information. Since it's been a few weeks, I'll re-post the room description and you all can focus on specific things. Or not, obviously, up to you guys.
This huge room looks like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. Stone doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but
beyond this, the walls are carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the room is a large pool, with a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection . At the far end of the room, a pair of stone stairways leads up to a pulpit on which sits a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like translucent lava . Yet while wisps of what look like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold.
Bumbo shrugs with the closet doors open and heads up to the bubbling pool. Toot follows in the hopes that there's something to kill, but is ultimately disappointed. Reaching the side of the pool, Bumbo spits in it, and looks for a reaction.
Proscribing to the oldest of scientific methods, Bumbo slings bodily fluids at the problem. (But remember, its not actually science if you don't record the results.) The small glob of spit freezes before hitting the liquid, and the (now) chunk of ice enters with a small plop before sinking below the surface.
The pool is obviously magical, but of a power and scope you have not only never encountered before but are completely unfamiliar with.
Bumbo raises a bushy eyebrow and turns from the tunnel, running his fingers through his beard in thought. Well...the pool freezes stuff apparently, so I wouldn't suggest we take a dip. Mister Dol, think there's any religious significance to those skulls...their orientation maybe?
And, I guess now that we can make some logical leaps, I guess we can assume that those creatures back there are the "freaks" that are part of the invasion force. Perhaps we need to make sure, somehow, that they never leave those pits.
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"Based on the altar in the previous room, it is probably safe to say that it has something to do with an Urgathoa ritual, but let me see if I can recall anything specific."
After sharing anything he knows about the arrangement of skulls, he considers the issue of the shufflers.
"They should be dealt with, I agree. I am sure that means we also need to kill the goblin monstrosity. Is anyone injured after that fight? Magical resources are tapped out, so we'd be reliant on our brawn to deal with the undead."
Bumbo looks a bit sheepish, and you can tell that he's a bit clammy and worn out. I...well...I had to give some of my health to Toot there, so...I'm a bit under the weather. He grins. Course, it ain't my brawn you're looking for... His eyes trail to Toot. The big guy is ready to go...and he's sure mad.
"My primal resources where tapped calling forth those guardians, but I am not injured.
Aventail does a quick check.
”Undamaged. I am ready to continue.”
Loth shrugs.
"Perfectly alright. Kinda running out of arrows, but if possible I prefer to use my daggers anyway."
Bumbo nods to each, then tries to crack his knuckles as a demonstration of strength. Ow...how do people... He looks up, and puts his hands behind his back, making his round belly jut out even more. Right, then, let's go.
Letting Toot lead the way, he heads back to their friend and his shufflers. Korovus, my friend! We've seen the lady!
A reminder, there have been no indications of Urgathoa in this place, only Lamashtu (and Thassalon).
Also, there is still one unexplored tunnel in this complex.
Lastly, Korovus.
When Bumbo enters and speaks, the mutated goblin shuffles forward, hunched over and shifting weapons around his hands. You've seen the mistress? And?
Bumbo grins widely at Korovus. My friend, she's quite proud of you and your work! She asked that we inspect the shufflers to ensure that they're ready. She also asked that you come to her for a reward!
Razkiv follows along with Bumbo, looking for a fight.
Still not quite understanding Bumbo's plan, Mizzug silently cocks an eye. 'Why lie to beasty? Why not tell what happen and face honorable combat?'
Looking over the strange mutated creature, her thoughts continue 'Like tink can take 1 on 1 but not been doin gud so fer in 'ere...'
With a shrug, she silently watches the events unfold.
Loth isn't entirely sure what Bumbo's angle is, but he'll be damned if he's not gonna try to keep him out of trouble. He follows along.
Aventail watches with interest. She keeps her loaded heavy crossbow down, but at the ready.
Koruvus looks around at you all as you gather into the room around him, and his eager grin turns sour.
What did you say? A reward from my mistress? His eyes narrow and his grip tightens on his weapons, one now in each hand. Before, he looked goofy and somewhat pathetic. But now that the goblin desire for pain and blood has begun to paint his face, some of you realize that this grotesgue mutation might be more dangerous than you thought. Mistress has never rewarded Koruvus! And no one TOUCHES MY SHUFFLERS!!!!!! Spittle is flying from his mouth as he ends his angry words with an incoherent screech of rage and flies to the attack. (Not literally flying.)
INITIATIVE!
Razkiv moves careful to avoid the pits, dropping his ax he tosses a bolt of fire at Koruvus.
Upon hearing Koruvus's indignant rage, Loth readies his daggers, weaves past his companions and the wooding flooring, and finally rushes to attack the goblin!
Loth moves up and stabs into Koruvus, drawing out blood thicker than you've seen before. It looks more like what came from the aberrations you encountered in here earlier than the goblin blood you saw on the streets of Sandpoint.
Turning his hate filled eyes away from Bumbo, Koruvus lashes out at Loth with all of the weapons at his disposal.
The blades cut deep into Loth, scoring his flesh for the tune of damage.
After cutting into Loth, Koruvus feels the flames upon his hunched back, leaving scorch marks along his spine. His beady eyes turn to see Razkiv with his hand outstretched and ash still falling from his fingers.
With a sigh, Mizzug grips her oversized hammer in two hands and carefully moves closer to the enemy. Raising it high, she offers a nod to the grotesque creature. "Be m'honor ta fightcha."
*THWACK*
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Toot snorts in disdain at the wooden platform and attempts to step forward on it.
He then snorts in dismay as he falls into the pit!
Bumbo, above, face-palms. Seeing that he needs to do something, he wisely...backs up into the corner. He spits in his palm, and flings it at Korovus. Hootin-annie!