Argus puts his glaive right through #1's thorax and it falls to the ground, super dead. #3 moves into its space, giving Argus another opportunity at a pre-emptive strike.
Amanteia (14/22 hp, PfE)
Bug #1 (0 damage)
Bug #2 (0 damage)
Bug #3 (0 damage)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (33/33 hp, PfE)
Ray (19/19 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
#3 is dead too. Can the party finish off the last one?
Amanteia (14/22 hp, PfE)
Bug #1 (dead)
Bug #2 (0 damage)
Bug #3 (dead)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (33/33 hp, PfE)
Ray (19/19 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
Argus steps through the door and into the corner and swipes at the last bug with his glaive.
#2 lunges at Argus as he moves past, but Argus just swats the attempt away, then decapitates the thing.
Ray stands back and watches the whole thing unfold before he can even react. "Well that was fun. Remind me never to piss you off." He steps into the room and takes a look around.
Argus produces a filthy rag from somewhere on his person and begins wiping the bug guts off his glaive. "Actually, you often p-piss me off, Raybin. I simply choose not to respond with d...decapitation."
"My crossbow bolt distracted that first one," Amanteia says with a grin.
You think the corpse might have once been a gnome, but the fleas left it in such a poor state that it is hard to tell for sure. You find an elegant tablecloth with gold thread (200gp) on the sideboard, but there isn't anything else interesting here.
You suspect the door to the north leads to the kitchen.
Ray checks the kitchen door, listening for whatever he can hear on the other side.
The door, like all the doors in this manor, is made of heavy wood. Ray doesn't hear anything through it.
After a noncommittal shrug from Ray, Argus nods and opens the kitchen door.
The door swings open. A large cast-iron sink stands next to a potbelly stove, and counters around the room contain racks of knives, stacks of mismatched dishes, and piles of pots. A large pile of firewood near the stove has been tipped over, spilling old, worm-ridden wood across the floor. Doors lead out of this room to the north and south.
Ray is the only one that can see the pile of wood and the creature hungrily feeding on the worms that are strewn about the floor. It resembles a monstrous boar; wriggling worms and buzzing flies surround it. It looks up when the door opens and snarls.
This is a nucol sahkil. In many ways, it is a lesser cousin of Vithiz, the wihsaak sahkil, and it has many of the same abilities and attributes (though to a lesser extent). You get this one for free: it's totes evil so your PfE will be quite beneficial.
14 gets you one question; 19, two; 24, three; etc.
Amanteia (14/22 hp, PfE)
Creature (0 damage)
Ray (19/19 hp, PfE)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (33/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
Amanteia can hear the thing (and see Ray's look of surprise), but she cannot see it. She is reluctant to enter a room sight unseen, so she takes a step back, pulls out her scroll of color spray, and says, "Lead it into this room and give me a clear look at it!"
The creature rushes the door, flies buzzing around it and worms falling from its jaws. It pierces Ray's abdomen with its tusks, pushing through his armor like paper and tearing into the flesh below . Ray feels like maybe the vermin that make their home on (and in) this creature are now trying to make their way in to Ray.
Yep, they're definitely in there. Ray immediately feels really gross .
Amanteia (14/22 hp, PfE)
Creature (0 damage)
Ray (7/19 hp, PfE, diseased, 1 wis damage, -1 AC, -1 ability/skill checks)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (33/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
Ray stumbles back from the creature, trying hard to fight against the thrill of panic surging up from his gut wound. "Nucol! Another sakhil! Ditch the electricity and shouty spells. I'm gonna need some serious tending if we survive this. I think I just got infected with some real bad juice..."
Argus gives Amanteia a curt nod, then glares at the sakhil. He slams the butt of his glaive into the floor of the dining room with a hard, staccato sound, and steps back. He does it again, and steps back again. Step, crack. Step, crack. He never takes his eyes off the creature.
Amanteia reads most of the scroll, leaving the last bit unuttered until she sees the creature comes through the doorway. Once through, she will unleash the color spray on the thing, hoping it will puncture the creature's defenses.
The sahkil rushes through the door, with eyes only for Argus. It doesn't get very far, however, as Amanteia's spell envelops it in vivid colors. Once the colors clear, you see the sahkil, body rigid and unmoving.
Amanteia (14/22 hp, PfE)
Nucol (0 damage, stunned [1 round])
Ray (7/19 hp, PfE, diseased, 1 wis damage, -1 AC, -1 ability/skill checks)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (33/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
"I can't believe that worked. It's down but it won't be for long! Hit it hard!"
Argus frowns. Everything in his paladin training tells him it is dishonorable to strike down a helpless foe, but this... He shakes his head. He recalls the hideous buzzing of Vithiz, the horrid wounds it inflicted both on the bodies and the minds of his compatriots, all because his mind faltered. They could have died because of him. Not this time.
Shelyn forgive me. I must protect them.
He eyes a vital spot on the nucol, and thrusts his glaive at it.
Seeing the creature stuck in place, Ray shrugs. Worth a shot. He points the blasting rod at it, draws in psychic power, and unleashes it as a scorching-hot bolt of fire.
Amanteia is tapped out. She has only cantrips left and they aren't even worth trying to sneak through this thing's defenses.
Well.
There is one thing, but it will hurt Dellan. Probably worth it, though.
She pulls out her last alkali flask, mutters a quick "Sorry, Dellan," and tosses it while this thing is an easy target.
Argus's glaive opens a good-sized gash in the sahkil's shoulder. Its tough hide resisted the weapon, but Argus pushed through. Ray's ray hits the sahkil... and nothing happens. Similarly, Dellan lands a vicious hit on the thing's right side, but wasn't able to put enough strength behind the swing to have an impact.
Amanteia manages to be useful for the second straight round, exploding the vial of acid on its head. Its face and ears take most of the damage, burning and bubbling from the acid. Dellan catches a few drops that burn through his skin as they land, but nothing too serious.
The sahkil recovers its faculties and looks pissed. It goes for Dellan with a gore, but some of the effects of Amanteia's spell are still lingering and its attack is easily dodged.
Amanteia (14/22 hp, PfE)
Nucol (10 damage)
Ray (7/19 hp, PfE, diseased, 1 wis damage, -1 AC, -1 ability/skill checks)
Dellan (23/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (33/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
"If you have any acid left, that works!"
Ray sighs. He does not. "No use standing around being useless. Time to work for a living."
He turns to Bob who, surprisingly, is still on his shoulder even after the sakhil's attack. [color=blue]"Get lost, feather-brain. I'm about to wade into the s%~#."[/color]
Bob hops agitatedly back and forth on Ray's shoulder before taking wing to hang out on a shelf nearby.
Content that Bob is safely away, Ray pulls in the last of his psychic power to bring up an invisible barrier of force in front of him before moving up to the sakhil to harry it with the warhammer.
Argus takes the opportunity to swipe at the pig-monster again.
Amanteia takes a step back, and, not having any other options, pulls out her crossbow and loads it.
Ray heads back into the action, bolstered a bit by Dellan's heal. The nucol resists the worst of Dellan's purifying energy, however. Argus's strike hits the wall behind the nucol.
It moves up to Argus and its tusks tear into his flesh . The worms wriggle around the wound but it almost seems as if they are repelled from Argus's holy blood .
Amanteia (21/22 hp, PfE)
Nucol (13 damage)
Ray (14/19 hp, PfE, diseased, 1 wis damage, +3 AC, -1 ability/skill checks)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (18/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
Argus steps back and swipes at the nucol again, determined to take the fiend down.
Ray takes advantage of Dellan's positioning to slide behind the oracle and into melee with the nucol, stowing the blasting rod as he moves and gripping the warhammer with two hands to bring it down on the creature's face.
Rather miffed that Ray blocked her shot, Amanteia climbs up on the table to give herself a better angle.
She tries to find a clear shot between Ray and Dellan but it's basically a lost cause.
"Ray! Give me a clear shot!"
Ray gives the nucol a papercut. Everyone else sucks. Including the nucol, who tries to repay Ray but fails to penetrate the protection bestowed upon him by Kishokish.
Amanteia (21/22 hp, PfE)
Nucol (15 damage)
Ray (14/19 hp, PfE, diseased, 1 wis damage, +3 AC, -1 ability/skill checks)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (18/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
Ray grumbles to himself, "Working on it, sheesh," and steps to the northeast, placing himself in a flank with Argus and clearing up a line of effect for Amanteia before swinging again with the warhammer.
Argus takes advantage of the nucol's split attention to try and put a more grievous wound on it than Ray has managed.
Another round, another 2 damage.
Amanteia (21/22 hp, PfE)
Nucol (17 damage)
Ray (14/19 hp, PfE, diseased, 1 wis damage, +3 AC, -1 ability/skill checks)
Dellan (24/24 hp, PfE)
Argus (18/33 hp, PfE)
Bold may act.
Argus does his best to quell his growing panic. This thing is hardly even feeling their attacks. It will be death by 1,000 cuts, and he isn't confident they can survive that long. At least Ray's spells seem to be keeping the creature's attention for the moment. He tries to use the distraction to land another blow .
Ray shakes his head at the paladin's shoddy attack and swings the warhammer, deliberately electing to forget all the times he derped himself since entering this hellscape.