Jevar does not appreciate when they get that close.
Don't they know I'm the squishy one!
He carefully steps back
and tries fire again.
Something is ruining his aim. Are the hags doing more than he realizes?
Back. Back!
Shohreh grabs a poultice from a pocket at her hip and slathers it over the slashes left by the hag's claws, then hurls a flurry of darts straight into the monster's ugly face.
Boodiddly harmonizes.
Jevar moves up and sends fire at Blue, but misses.
Shohreh patches herself up before sending darts at Green!
Kolgradd runs away in terror
Blue Steps forward and attacks Jevar!
She then Casts a Spell at Jevar!
Success
Green likewise Steps forward and attacks Shohreh!
7 persistent bleed to Green
Round 4 —> 5
==============
Shohreh (-47) {Invoke the Elements: Round 2 of 10}
Kolgradd (-42) {frightened 1; invisible: Round 3 of 10}
Moon Hag <Green> (-190) {7 persistent bleed}
Moon Hag <Blue> (-71) {drained 1}
Boodiddly {frightened 1}
Jevar (-26) {stunned 1; frightened 1}
==============
After the incoherent babbling, Jevar still isn't doing much better with his confidence.
Reflexively, he summons a solid wall between him and the moon hag in front of him.
As the magic compelling his retreat fades, Kolgradd feels a rage so strong he has a moment to wonder if it too might be magical. He stares at the hag that fogged his mind, and casts a couple of spells of his won.
◆ Cast Sure Strike
◆◆ Cast Blink Charge
Suddenly he blinks through the air leaving a smear of light in his wake, and strikes at the hag with the force of a rampaging Aurochs!
Nimbly stepping away from each of the hag's claw swipes, Shohreh conjures a shield before throwing another cloud of deadly shards.
Boodiddly Harmonizes.
Jevar summons an illusory wall in front of him.
Shohreh sends a needle at Green then protects herself.
Kolgradd teleports over and attacks Blue!
Green attacks Shohreh!
Green then Steps out of Shohreh’s aura.
Blue fully attacks Kolgradd!
7 persistent bleed to Green
Round 5 —> 6
==============
Shohreh (-73) {Invoke the Elements: Round 3 of 10}
Kolgradd (-67) {invisible: Round 4 of 10}
Moon Hag <Green> (-218) {7 persistent bleed}
Moon Hag <Blue> (-109) {drained 1}
Boodiddly
Jevar (-26)
==============
Okay! It worked...
Now that he's being left alone, he moves to take advantage of the flank that the moon hag in front of him probably doesn't realize is occurring.
Kolgradd performs two quick slashes at his opponent ...
◆ Strike
◆ Strike
and then he finishes with another quick swipe!
◆ Strike
Shohreh swings her magical shield into place to deflect the worst of the claw strike , then counterattacks with a combination of magic and blade.
Boodiddly Harmonizes.
Jevar summons fire and attacks Blue from behind his illusory wall!
Shohreh sends void energy at Green!
But the hag holds onto the last vestiges of life she has before Shohreh throws a precise starknife and kills her!
Kolgradd attacks Blue.
Blue shrieks in fury as she Strides toward Shohreh for killing her sister!
She maintains a tenuous hold on her life from the devastating attack but is single-minded in her drive for vengeance as she attacks Shohreh!
She then Steps out of Shohreh’s aura.
Shohreh casts void warp
As the last of the hags fall, a pounding comes from up above. ”Will you three keep it down?! Some of us are trying to sleep!”
The cushions in this room cover recesses where the hags seem to be hiding valuables.
A robe of stone
A scroll of sunburst
A fine spyglass made of dawnsilver worth 350 gp
Nine cut sapphires worth 150 gp each
7,430 silver pieces of Keleshite mint
Eight broad skylights in the domed ceiling connect this spacious room to the sky above. At the center of the chamber stands a familiar, cylindrical monument with a single flat face inscribed with several runes—a Star Stele!
Nearby is a makeshift bed—though one for a massive creature—that is occupied by a Huge, gray-skinned giant with blue-and-gold robes and various gold jewelry.
As the former-amnesiacs approach, the giant—clearly having been trying to sleep—groans in frustration as he rolls out of his bed.
”Ugh! What do you want now?! I am simply trying to—“ The giant finally gets a glimpse of the former-amnesiacs and folds his arms. ”Oh. More newcomers. Great. What, are you looking to drive me out of here for hours as well??”
Kolgradd freezes in place when the giant addresses them, his eyes darting back and forth between them and his companions.
After Jevar identifies and distributes the hags' loot, he can be seen for a minute admiring the new staff and comparing it to his current one (the Staff of the Dreamlands).
--------------------
Jevar laughs nervously at the giant's frustrated greeting, and attempts to reply with a contrite tone.
No no. You can very well stay here. If all goes well we're simply passing through and we'll be out of your hair on no time. We just need a minute with that.
He points at the Star Stele.
Realizing the particulars of this giant, Jevar anxiously wonders if he even knows what a "bad moon" is, and if so if it is in effect now. He nervously looks around at his companions.
"No sir, not at all," Shohreh says, stepping forward and making a placating gesture with her hands. "We're in the area for unrelated reasons, but we'd heard your downstairs neighbors were making a nuisance of themselves, and tried to convince them to respect the peace of others. Unfortunately, the conversation went poorly, but I doubt they'll bother you again. We're very sorry for the noise."
The giant raises an eyebrow at Shohreh. "What do you mean they won't be a bother to me anymore?"
Jevar coughs inconspiculously.
They learned their lesson. They're going to keep it down from now on. You'll probably think they're gone for good and have a hard time finding them to borrow a cup of sugar.
"Our deepest apologies for this disruption," Boodiddly adds, a practiced smile on his face and a practiced cheer in his voice. "As my friend says, with your permission, we can be in and out of here in no time. Perhaps we might offer you something, as an apology for the inconvenience?" The half-mask on his brow shifts ever so slightly as he speaks.
The giant raises an eyebrow in confusion before the metaphorical gears in his head turn and he nods. ”Ahh. They ‘learned their lesson.’ Got it! Well, since my downstairs neighbors have ‘learned their lesson,’ then I suppose I should make good use of the time I’m already spending awake.” The giant winks and gathers up a handful of supplies before making his way down to the hags’ previous abode.
And with the moon giant successfully dealt with, the former-amnesiacs make way toward activating the last of the Star Stelae!
While this Stele is not activated permanently—only activated for 2 weeks—it is very convenient that this is the one that would potentially need another casting of the ritual, as the moon giant seems quite pleased with his new situation.
*
Kaklatath nods as the group reconvenes. ”That is one objective completed. Performing the Path to the Black Stars ritual can now be done at your leisure. However, I have been looking over your notes on the ritual, and with how the containment of the flying polyps have been weakened, performing this ritual could very well act as a beacon to the creatures, possibly stirring some more from their stasis. It would be unwise to perform the ritual at this current state. We need to mobilize to the caverns beneath this ‘city’ so that I may take stock of the situation and re-apply any of the psychic wards placing them in stasis. Only then will it be safe enough to perform the ritual.”
Upianshe’s spirit within her sword speaks up. ”There is also the monstrosity dwelling in the lake since even my time. It must be eradicated”
”A fair assessment as well, but that is…something that must be prepared for as best we can. This is the undead corpse of a Great Old One; that is not something to just casually engage in combat. For now, I think it best if we make preparations to go into the undercity. There was an entrance therein in Lowls’s camp—the same one that the flying polyp emerged from.”
The group begins making their way through the “streets” of Neruzavin back toward the tower with Lowls’s abandoned campsite, and the situation has grown dire—almost literally.
The entirety of Neruzavins—the “streets,” the “buildings”—have become completely overgrown and covered with fungi. It is practically impossible to traverse without stepping on the fungus, and ironically making the “streets” even more difficult to traverse with every landmark looking overstimulatingly unique rather than blandly identical.
And still, this “city” has its strange geometry that seems to disorient and frustrate all but the most immediate of sights. This is particularly important as it is not until the threat is disturbingly near that the group realizes the threat’s presence.
Such is the case when the group is traveling through the “streets,” when all of a sudden a wave of light washes over them, emanating from behind them. As they turn around, they find an unfortunately-familiar sight: the sun-light rays of the archon Yrisolma! Despite his ability of flight, the archon floats near the ground, clearly disoriented by the “city’s” geometry from the air and instead opting to move about near the ground.
The archon finally catches sight of the former-amnesiacs, but unlike previous interactions, the celestial does not begin with speaking. No, the flaming spokes around the wheel archon ignite with holy fire as his eyes likewise burn with murderous intent. The time for talk is past—now is the time to burn the blasphemers! And this slight bit of hesitation gives Kaklatath just enough time to hide down a nearby alley.
Yrisolma ushers forth a burst of cleansing fire as he Casts a Spell that Shohreh immediately recognizes as a 7th-rank divine immolation!
Critical Failure
Success
Critical Failure
Success
The archon then Flies forward, rising up to be 15 feet above the ground.
Round 1
==============
Yrisolma <Red> [15’ above ground]
Boodiddly {8d6 persistent “fire”}
Jevar (-15)
Kolgradd (-62) {8d6 persistent “fire”}
Shohreh (-15)
==============
Knowing that multiplying Kolgradd's force is always advantageous, Jevar recites an incantation and puts a hand on his shoulder.
He launches his staff at the Archon...
Boodiddly admits internally that any doubts about Yrisolma actually being a sakhil have been burned away - because nobody but a self-righteous, closed-minded, uncompromising fool of an archon would come back with a vengeance like this. With that in mind, he conjures a bit of those heavenly trumpets that Yrisolma must be missing dearly. Tragically, he "flubs" their entrance. Dramatically.
Wreathed in searing divine flames, Kolgradd drops and rolls.
◇ Drop Prone
◆◆ Roll around for Assisted Recovery
◆ Stand
He then bounds back to his feet and charges toward the Archon, to put distance between him and the others if nothing else.
"You would doom the world, moron!"
◆ Stride toward Yrisolma
Shohreh rushes to Kolgradd's side, treating the dwarf's burns impossibly quickly even as she casts a spell.
Idiot, she thinks to herself, disgusted with the archon's shortsightedness.
Usable on Round 5
Boodiddly sings and brings forth an orchestra right on top of Yrisolma!
Jevar quickens Kolgradd then sends his staff at the archon, but completely misses!
Kolgradd rolls and gets rid of the fire on him, then advances forward toward Yrisolma.
Shohreh moves forward and patches up Kolgradd before blessing her allies.
Yrisolma glares down at the former-amnesiacs as he Flies overhead, and he begins spinning violently as holy fire erupts out of his spokes to rain divine fire!
And Boodiddly interrupts by attempting to phase out this strange effect!
Success, so it “counteracts” anything of rank 8 or lower, which this ability is.
Failure
Failure
Success
Critical Failure
Round 2
==============
Yrisolma <Red> (-16) [15’ above ground]
Boodiddly (-81) {4d6 persistent “fire”; Lingering Rally: Round 1 of 3}
Jevar (-43)
Kolgradd (-28) {Hasted: Round 1 of 10}
Shohreh (-81) {Bless 15’: Round 1 of 10
==============
"Remind me to prepare a flight spell tomorrow after we kill this idiot!"
Kolgradd ◇ Releases a hand from Teralindar's Honor, ◆ grabs his last remaining Fly scroll, and ◆◆ casts it on himself, whereupon he ◆ ascends to the sky!
At the same moment, Shohreh throws her hands up toward the descending flames, sparking a flickering magical shield into place that dulls the worst of the blast.
Then she tries to extinguish Boodiddly's smoking clothes and conjures herself another layer of protection.
Boodiddly pats himself down to the tune of a popular shanty listing various historical figures dying and being reborn in heaven. He even has the heavenly horns accompany him! Granted, those trumpets are under a lot of pressure at the moment, so one really shouldn't judge them for that break. Or that one. Or that- lord almighty, or that one.
Jevar steps back, incants and places a hand on Boodiddly's shoulder.
Boodiddly pats out the holy fire then summons another blast of sound on Yrisolma!
Jevar makes Boodiddly invisible.
Kolgradd pulls out a scroll and makes himself fly!
Yrisolma glares down at Kolgradd as he Flies over.
Yrisolma then Casts a Spell that Shohreh recognizes as an 8th-rank divine wrath!
Boodiddly then counters it with a shadow siphon!
Success
Failure
Success --> Critical Success (Battle Hardened)
Success
Round 3
==============
Yrisolma <Red> (-43) [15’ above ground]
Boodiddly (-81) {Lingering Rally: Round 2 of 3; invisible: Round 1 of 10}
Jevar (-54) {sickened 1}
Kolgradd (-18; +17) {Hasted: Round 1 of 10} [10’ above ground]
Shohreh (-48) {Bless 15’: Round 2 of 10
==============
"This warrior of heaven is misguided" Kolgradd says to Upianshe as he grips Teralindar's Honor in both hands "They would destroy the whole world to protect it"
◆ Change Grip
◆ Enter Disruptive Stance
He shifts his shoulders, trying to make the stance work despite floating, and speaks the words of spell. All goes silent except for the whipping of the wind in his ears as he flies toward the Archon absolutely determined to prevent them from destroying everything.
◆ Cast Time Jump (◆ Fly ◆ Fly)
Time resumes as Kolgradd draws a mighty cut across Yrisolma.
◆ Strike
Jevar lets it all out to get the stickness to pass. A puddle forms in front of him.
Shohreh throws herself forward again, working as hard as she can to keep both herself and Boodiddly on their feet.
Boodiddly begins to hum reassuringly to himself, slowly swelling into an aura of good vibes and chill attitudes. Unlike someone's utter un-radtastical behavior, which is throwing the heavenly trumpets off their groove yet again. Maybe somebody should check on them?
Boodiddly protects himself and calls down more trumpets on Yrisolma!
Jevar attempts to undo Yrisolma’s sickness, but fails.
Kolgradd rushes for Yrisolma and hits the archon!
Shohreh moves over to patch up Boodiddly.
Yrisolma’s eyes narrow at Kolgradd as he Casts a Spell!
A fire once again ignites (both metaphorically and literally) in Yrisolma’s eyes as he begins spinning and slams his body into Kolgradd!
Then Yrisolma’s body begins falling slowly down to the ground.
Round 4
==============
Yrisolma <Red> (-67) {off-guard until Kolgradd’s turn}
Boodiddly (-35) {invisible: Round 2 of 10; 3rd-rank protection: Round 1 of 10}
Jevar (-54) {sickened 1}
Kolgradd (-42) {Hasted: Round 2 of 10} [20’ above ground]
Shohreh {Bless 25’: Round 3 of 10
==============
Boodiddly holds one hand up to his ear, as if listening to something over the din of the trumpets - or have the trumpets packed up and left only the trombones to make their classic wah-waaah? He knows the impact of the gesture is largely lost due to his audience not being able to see him, but old habits die hard. "Yrisolma! Heaven called - they need you to fill out some paperwork. Yes, in triplicate. I don't know, something about how you're a fool and an idiot."
Kolgradd accesses some of the last magic he's prepared, and with a quick word not to be alarmed to the sword, embiggens himself!
◆◆ Cast Enlarge
He then swoops down directly on top of the dogmatic dunce and swipes with his new larger-than-life sword.
◆ Fly
◆ Strike
After expunging all of his innards onto the ground, Jevar finally feels better. For now he backs into a corner to gather himself.
Usable on Round 8
Boodiddly sings, annoys Yrisolma, and summons forth trumpets.
Jevar hurls then moves.
Kolgradd enlarges himself then swoops down at Yrisolma and hits the archon!
Shohreh casts shield then execute on Yrisolma!
Yrisolma begins spinning once more as holy fire erupts from his spokes!
Failure
Failure
Failure
Failure
Yrisolma then uses his own momentum to slam his body into Kolgradd!
Round 5
==============
Yrisolma <Red> (-171) {Bon Motted}
Boodiddly (-63) {Lingering Courage: Round 1 of 3; invisible: Round 3 of 10; 3rd-rank protection: Round 2 of 10}
Jevar (-77)
Kolgradd (-70) {Hasted: Round 3 of 10; Enlarged: Large, clumsy 1, +2 status to melee damage} [15’ above ground]
Shohreh (-28) {Bless 25’: Round 4 of 10}
==============
Finally, that feels better.
He's so relieved the terror of this battle had left him for an instance. Then it returns as he turns to face Yrisolma.
A black tracer bolt flies towards Yrisolma, and upon making contact intensifies into a powerful destructive beam
If you critically hit, the target gets a result one degree of success worse than the outcome of its Fortitude save. A creature reduced to 0 HP is blasted to fine powder; its gear remains.
He's not overly optimistic that he can end the archon so quickly, and if not he can hopefully damage it badly.
◆ Fly
Continuing to hover over Yrisolma to try to prevent their vertical escape, Kolgradd swings Teralindar's Honor in their direction and shouts
"Now!"
◆◆ Psychic Scream
Before Yrisolma has time to react to the psychic blast, he's following up with a mighty swing
◆ Strike
Boodiddly conducts the invisible musicians with an invisible baton held in an invisible hand, leading them in an umph-PAH umph-PAH-PAH waltz with an arbitrary number of PAHs each time.
Shohreh expands the reach of the Caravan's blessing before hurling a bolt of moonlight at the impossibly stupid, stubborn angel.
Boodiddly maintains his orchestra…
…then summons forth a wave of mental magic.
Jevar sends a tracer bolt at Yrisolma!
Kolgradd and Upianshe unleash a psychic scream on Yrisolma!
And at Upianshe’s scream, all of Yrisolma’s eyes go wide before rolling back, as the massive celestial topples over onto the ground. Almost instantly, the fungus covering the ground begins to slowly weave its way up Yrisolma’s body and covering his body, until all that’s left is a vaguely wagon-wheel-shaped mound of fungus on the ground.
Shohreh sways unsteadily for a moment before falling to her knees, staring at the angel's corpse.
"Why...?" she whispers.
With as gentle a landing as the large Kolgradd can manage, he touches down at the side of the fungus mound and looks around, somehow abashed and defiant at the same time.
"They would have..."
"We need to use ..."
He can't quite finish a defence, so he changes the subject.
"Why is the fungus consuming them so quickly? Is this part of the thing in the lake?"
The last is as much to Upianshe as the others.
Is the fungus consuming them?
Jevar prods at the mound with the bottom end of his staff. He attempts to fell, through it, is Yrisolma’s body within becoming smaller?
Is the fungus consuming them?
Jevar prods at the mound with the bottom end of his staff. He attempts to fell, through it, is Yrisolma’s body within becoming smaller?
"Why is the fungus consuming them so quickly? Is this part of the thing in the lake?"
The last is as much to Upianshe as the others.
”I…I knowest not. I wouldst guess it is related to what resides in the lake, but I cannot be certain.”
With Yrisolma unfortunately disposed of, the former-amnesiacs have little left to do but begin making their way back to Lowls’s camp. When they reach there, they take it upon themselves to rest before descending down into Neruzavin’s undercity.
*
*
*
As the group awakes, Boodiddly finds himself more than a little shaken as he has had disconcerting dreams about…the lake. This deep, gnawing dread therein.
*
The hole from which the flying polyp emerged appears to be about 80 feet deep. Kaklatath suggests letting the former-amnesiacs descend first before Kaklatath makes their way down.
This cavern’s stone ceiling dips and rises with undulating unpredictability as it worms through the undercity. The hewn walls likewise seem unfinished, and heaps of rubble and gravel lie scattered about the area. Permeating throughout the room is an eerie whistling sound.
As the former-amnesiacs get situated in this cavern, the ground begins to shake in two places, as suddenly two strange amalgamations of the bones of extinct ungulates, carnivores, and even early forms of intelligent life rise out of the ground!
Round 1
==============
Jevar
Boodiddly
Fossil Amalgam <Red>
Fossil Amalgam <Blue>
Kolgradd
Shohreh
==============