Ray says, "Amanteia! Move!"
Ray grumbles, "Sorry kid. This won't kill you, but it ain't gonna tickle."
He gathers power in his mind, spreads out his hands, and looses a burst of powerful fire out of his splayed fingers over both Dellan and the piece of paper.
Argus gives Ray a shocked look. There's nothing to be done about it at the moment, so he simply slashes again with the short sword.
Amanteia moves happily, mumbling something about not having many spells left anyway. Ray and Dellan's combined fire assaults burn the parchment to ash.
Argus scowls at Raybin as he touches Dellan's temples. "W-was that really n... necessary?"
Ray scowls and shrugs. "It worked. He's fine."
Argus growls. "That's not--"
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Dellan waves a hand irritably to quiet the paladin. "I am fine. He did the right thing; our weapons were doing nothing. We are more than capable of healing our wounds after. I may need to shave my head to even it all out, however." He ruefully touches the singed streaks on the left side of his head where the hair has burned away.
He nods toward the other door. "Let us get done with this awful place."
Argus looks uncertainly from Dellan to Raybin, then shakes his head in exasperation. He sheathes the silver short sword and picks up his glaive before opening the door.
Argus opens the door. Long shadows envelop this enormous, round room. Dim light shines through narrow windows high on the walls. A set of narrow stairs circles the room, ascending to a landing 60 feet above.
After picking up his hammer and blasting rod, Ray focuses his thoughts and sends strands of Aether to bind themselves around the bulbous tip of the blasting rod, which sends out a silvery, flickering light like a torch.
He then moves into the landing and looks around.
Assuming he finds nothing of interest or danger, he nods to Argus, holding his rod aloft like a torch.
Once Raybin has done his due diligence, Argus starts up the stairs.
Ray sees nothing out of the ordinary, though it is tough to make out much beyond thirty or forty feet above. You begin to ascend the stairs, moving slowly due to their precariousness.
Relying on his Darkvision to alert him to trouble, Argus continues leading everyone up.
You make it about halfway up the stairs when the inevitable happens: an attack from the darkness above. A winged creature glides down from a hidden alcove just under the landing. It slices a claw across Argus's arm and then latches on to the half-orc.
This is a nightgaunt, a creature with batlike wings, horns, and no face. They haunt the deepest and darkest chasms of dreams.
Give me some questions. You know the drill.
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Creature (0 damage)
Argus (40/40 hp)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Ray (27/27 hp, 1 str damage)
Bold may act.
Amanteia almost reflexively fires a couple of missiles at it.
The creature continues to hold Argus and then flaps its wings hard, lifting the poor paladin from the stairs. It flies up to the bottom of the landing and drops him.
Argus suddenly feels like he is falling hundreds or thousands of feet, not the fifty or sixty of this tower. He feels his body pick up incredible speed, can feel the rush of air past him as he plummets, and is sure that he will leave nothing but a grease spot on the stone floor when he lands. Finally, after what seems like minutes of falling, he lands.
Strangely, his body doesn't seem to have been injured whatsoever in the fall. This incongruence starts to break his poor brain.
Again, I don't really know how to explain these rolls in story terms, other than to tell you that Argus realizes the sensation of falling that far wasn't really real. I mean, duh. But rest assured there is a mechanic here.
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Creature (4 damage, flying [60'])
Argus (40/40 hp, 4 wis damage)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Ray (27/27 hp, 1 str damage)
Bold may act.
Argus wobbles to his feet, staring at the stairwell that seems to weave drunkenly back and forth in his vision. That felt very not good. He starts stumbling up the stairs again.
Ray points his blasting rod and fires a ray of flames at the creature.
Amanteia begins an incantation and then holds it, waiting for the creature to fly into range.
The nightgaunt flies down toward Ray, likely planning to repeat its little dropping trick. As it draws closer to the party, Amanteia's spell fires, but it shakes it off like it was nothing. As it gets close to Ray, it swipes a claw at him, but Ray ducks out of the way.
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Nightgaunt (4 damage, flying [adjacent to Ray])
Argus (40/40 hp, 4 wis damage)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Ray (27/27 hp, 1 str damage)
Bold may act.
Argus trudges unsteadily back up the stairwell.
Ray swings out with his hammer.
Amanteia tries daze again.
Dellan and Ray each give the nightgaunt something to think about, then Amanteia gives it the time it needs to do the thinking as her spell takes hold.
The nightgaunt's limbs (and wings!) go limp and it falls the thirty feet to the ground.
It hits the ground hard and looks like it doesn't have much life left in it.
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Nightgaunt (25 damage, dazed [1 round], prone)
Argus (40/40 hp, 4 wis damage)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Ray (27/27 hp, 1 str damage)
Bold may act.
Staring dumbly at the prone nightgaunt, Argus takes a wobbly step off the stairwell and manages to tuck and tumble up into a standing position not far from the creature. He swings clumsily down at it.
As it falls away from Ray, he swipes at it with his sword and cuts the head most of the way off. The impact with the ground finishes the job, sending the creepy featureless head shooting across the room.
The body has nothing on it.
He watches the creature hit the ground below with an unpleasant splat, and breathes a sigh of relief before turning to the others.
"How's everyone feeling?"
Argus stares up at the others some sixty feet above him, and squints at their swimmy figures. Everything is swimmy, in fact. "Why are you all wobbly?"
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Dellan sighs and descends the stairs to look over the paladin.
"Whatever else that thing did, the fall seems to have... concussed you? Severely. Your faculties are much addled." He takes a deep breath. "I have a spell for this, but... it is the last of my most powerful spells. I will not be able to use it in the battle to come against Pedipalp." He looks to Raybin and Amanteia, as if for advice.
Ray glances to Amanteia and shrugs uncertainly. "I don't mean to sound like a dick, but does he need his faculties to swing a glaive? If he's gonna recover in time, that spell might be the difference between winning and losing."
Amanteia considers for a moment. "It will make him more susceptible to mind control magic, if she has it." She looks at Ray. "You'll wish he had his faculties when he's swinging his glaive at you. That being said, it still may not be worth it. What will you lose the ability to do if you use this spell now, Dellan?"
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Dellan considers the question. "Stronger healing than my typical curing spell. The ability to summon an extradimensional creature to aid us. Conjuring another spirit weapon. All useful. But as you said, Argus could be quite deadly to us if his weakened faculties make him susceptible to mind control."
He rubs his chin. "It may also have even worse ramifications for him beyond a guilty conscience. I do not know how a paladin's powers work. He may be judged harshly for losing control."
He sighs. "We take a risk either way."
Meanwhile, Argus stares at a specific stone in the wall of the stairwell, squinting hard at it. "It's trying to tell me something..."
Ray gently grasps Argus by the shoulders and leads him down the steps a ways. "That's great buddy. That's real good." He pats him comfortingly on the shoulder.
Amanteia perks up, like she just had an idea. "Dellan, didn't we find some divine scrolls? Would any of them help?"
Upon the second casting, Argus stops gently caressing the wall and stares awkwardly at everyone. "Uh. L-let's just m... move on."
He takes point on the stairwell, mostly so nobody has to see his beet-red face.
Ray, for once, decides to keep his mouth shut. He keeps hammer and rod in hand as he moves up the stairwell behind Argus.
You ascend the stairs and emerge on a landing at the top of the tower. This lofty room rises 30 feet. The rounded walls are lined with orderly bookshelves and desks. A long table contains several esoteric devices, including intricate clocks and astrological models. A long flight of stairs descends to the north, while two short flights lead up to a platform to the south, ten feet higher than this room and supporting an enormous circular device forged from brass.
There is a feeble-looking old woman here, working at one of the tables. She looks up as you enter and relief washes over her face. "Oh thank goodness you've come! You must have killed that wicked demon spider, Colulus!"
Argus blinks. "Oh. S-S-Salighara did not mention there were others t... trapped in here. My name is--"
Ray quickly places a hand over the paladin's mouth, glaring suspiciously at the old woman. "Yeah, I don't buy it."
Argus sighs and turns back to the old woman. "Please forgive us. This p...place is full of evil phantasms. M-my friends are just being cautious."
Following their lead, Argus focuses his senses on the old woman and silently asks Shelyn to reveal whether she harbors ugliness within.
Amanteia eyes the woman suspiciously.