"Big doors do suggest big things," Kaldwell suggested as he moved to the southern doors. Hopefully everything in this place wasn't huge.
Yattle leans in close and hears two voices that appear to be bickering, one male and one female. They seem to be arguing over whose turn it is to clean up.
"There's some sort of two-headed beast on the other side of the door, but it seems distracted!"
Yattle flings the doors open wide!
Two headed? This seemed odd, but Kaldwell shrugged and peeked inside the room.
Kaldwell didn't get much of an opportunity to peek as Yattle flung the doors wide open. On the other side were oversized vats, racks, hearths, and an assortment of cutting tools suggest grim activities in the dark, reeking chamber. Standing inside was not a single creature with two heads as Yattle had claimed, but instead a large fiery man and a large watery woman.
Stepping into the room, Lokhir raised a hand and began chanting arcane words of power, causing him and his companions to move with alacrity. Even as he did so, he eyed the two figures warily, seeing what he knew of them. He hadn't yet decided if it was best to leap into the attack, or to infuse his blade with arcane energy.
Kaldwell moved into his usual combat stance, but waited to see how aggressive both the enemies and his allies were.
Lokhir is able to identify that the man is weak to cold and the woman does not appear to have any specific weaknesses.
Yattle clenches their fist to bind the fiery fiend fast!
The fiery man breaks free of Yattle's attempt to bind it as Eirnar causes a bright burst of radience in the room.
"Fine!" Yattle mutters, calling a ferocious blast of magma on both foes!
Lokhir raised his blade and pointed it at the man. As he did so, wisps of frost began to dance around the blade.
Fire:
Water: 35
Fire, -4 to AC, readied action to attack anyone who comes within 10ft
Both creatures nimbly manage to dodge the worst of Yattle's blast as Eirnar attempts to curse 's ability to hit.
The watery woman scoffs. "Really, how rude." She slams her trident into one of the pipes above, sending a gush of water at the group, managing to knock Eirnar off his feet and covering the floor with liquid.
The fiery man gives the woman a disgusted look as he flies upwards to be 10 feet above the ground and therefore up out of the water. "Must you always make such a mess, Essossol? Really, you only even managed to knock one of them down." As he speaks he points a finger at Yattle, sending three bursts of fire at them.
Essossol laughs. "Ha! Like you did any better Agrasug!"
With a shake of his head, Lokhir likewise flew off the ground and went straight for the burning man, starting an aerial duel.
Coming in at such a high speed, it was nearly impossible to get out of the way of his blade. He plunged it directly into the burning man's arm, trusting that the enchantment that chilled his blade would be especially painful to the man. Unable to resist, he looked the man in the eyes and said "Do you get the point?" He almost immediately regretted how cheesy the line was.
"Burn him. Salt the earth where he made that pun," Yattle advised Agrasug, while shifting their attentions to Essossol
Fire:
Water:
Agrasug swung his falchion at the approaching Lokhir, who managed to dodge it. Despite dodging, his own attack brought him very close to the searing heat of the creature.
Essossol took the brunt of Yattle's blow but managed to remain standing.
Kaldwell assumed his combat stance, double moved to engange the firery opponent, sizing him up and then attacking.
Fire: 70
Water: 105
Eirnar stands before attempting to hinder Essossol's ability to hit.
Agrasug shifts to be just out of Lokhir's reach before unleashing a torrent of attacks on the elf. He throws himself at Lokhir, hitting the elf once before unleashing another torrent of fiery beams at him, each of which manage to penetrate his armor and strike.
"See Essossol? This is how you do it!" The man brags.
Essossol rolls her eyes before raising one hand and causing everything around them to be enveloped in mist.
vs Touch AC 18
Wounded nigh unto death, Lokhir responded by bursting through the mist that obscured them and burying his blade into the man's gut. His hair and skin sizzled with the flames that burnt him and a wild look filled the elf's eyes. His blade danced with arcane energy, even as his other hand weaved a spell of protection in a vain attempt to block whatever attack came next.
Yattle sighs as Kaldwell moves... somewhere near what they were burning, and decides to deal with the other elemental instead. Wings fluttering, they darted in to stand at Lokhir's side, trying once more to hold Agrasug fast!
[ood]DC 21 Will or paralyzed[/ooc]
Fire:
Water: 105
Eirnar moved forward and channeled some healing into himself and his allies.
Despite the fog, Lokir manages to hit Agrasug twice, finally forcing the being to fall as Kaldwell approached the watery woman and likewise managed to fell her, leaving the group in a steaming, foggy room with a stairway up and a door off to one side.
With Einar's healing, Lokhir looked (and felt) far less cooked. He rolled his shoulders and then cleaned off his blade. "A dangerous couple." Lokhir said. "Let's check this door to the east, then we can continue heading north."
He looked around for any dangers, but given the steam and the residual pain from his wounds, he wasn't at his most perceptive.
Yattle gives the door a more careful listen.
Neither Yattle nor Lokhir hear anything and they open the door to reveal a short hallway and a set of stairs upwards. Following the stairs, they find themselves in a room with enormous bunk beds lining the walls, stinking of sweat and visibly swarming with parasites. At the room’s far end, a raised frame contains a miniature bed swathed in silks.
Lokhir wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I am not searching this room. If we are done here, let's try the door to the north."
"I've seen people find things in places they think too gross for others to look. Thankfully, I have a strong stomach and one of you has access to Prestidigitation." Kaldwell moved into the room and gave it at least a quick search.
As Kaldwell starts to search around, he does find a stash of something under one of the beds consisting of four vials of liquid and a necklace. However, before has a chance to figure out what the items are, his intrusion seems to bother the bugs living on the mattresses as they begin to swarm over both him and the loot.
Yattle sees no particular reason for subtlety, only taking a moment to make sure Kaldwell isn't in the immediate explosion.
Cursing, Kaldwell tried to get out of the horrible little things area even as e struggled to retain his lunch.
The swarm takes a great deal of damage, the sound of the explosion of magma accompanied by the sound of one of the vials under the swarm getting destroyed as well.
Kaldwell moves out of the area of ticks. The majority remain where there are, apparently content to stay so long as they're undisturbed. However a few of the ticks continue to cling to the half-orc.
Managing to shake off the hideous things, Kaldwell muttered a string of oaths in a variety of languages questioning the parentage of this places creator. After a moment he muttered, "Four vials of liquid and a necklace, if they're worth retrieving."
"Unfortunately, I do not have any magic that could retrieve them. And that did not look pleasant." The elf said, glancing at Kaldwell and then the ticks. "While it might be worth it, I am going to have to respectfully decline to go into there."
Yattle spends a little while longer than normal gathering power before unleashing a tightly focused blast of lava into their midst!
The swarm is destroyed and the group is able to retrieve the remaining items. Minus the destroyed vial, the group is able to identify a necklace of fireballs (type 2) and three potions of energy resistance (electricity).
Shuddering, Kaldwell suggested from beyond the room door, "One vial for each of us? And who wishes for the necklace?"
"You should wear it. Your strength lies in your strength at arms, this will give you better ranged capability. Now, shall we move on? I am sure that there is much more waiting for us that must be covered in magma."
"There always is, Lokhir."
The group follows Yattle back downstairs and across the courtyard. Opening the door there reveals a room the architectural mirror of where they had run into the squabbling elementals. Candles, scrolls, and bizarre statuettes fill the nooks lining the walls here, all facing toward an alabaster and jade altar near the room’s center. A stone stairway runs along the room’s outer wall, spiraling upward. Just like before, there was also a door off to the side.
"Ah! Will you look at that? The holy symbols of Dahak, the patron deity of evil dragons. As well as Lamashtu, the mother of monsters, and Urgathoa, the goddess of excess, diseae and undeath. There are other, more obscure deities as well. Rather than go into them, I think that we all get the idea that they are not well intentioned. So, in essence, do not hesitate to kill when within here. The followers of any of these have forfeited the right to live."
"It doesn't look like they really understand what they're doing with these," Kaldwell added with a frown. It felt like a show of faith, literally, someone playing at the worship of evil gods.
Yattle blinks blandly, unconcerned with the successful piety of the foes before them.
"We finish the floor and then take the staircase. Ensure that we don't get unnecessarily surrounded." Lokhir said, as he opened the door.
Moving back towards the large set of double doors, Lokhir pushes them open. Through the heavy cloud of steam that rolls out the doors the group can make out hanging silks and overstuffed pillows. Pipes lead into and out of the sidewalls, a few clearly dumping hot water into a pool in the center of the room while others seem to be pumping air in to make the water froth and bubble.
When the door is opened, the group is immediately greeted by a number of high screams from three women in the pool, which seems to come up to just below their bare shoulders. Two move to cling to each other while the third disappears from view by ducking underwater.
There are three doors that lead out of the room as well as two large staircases leading upwards.
Kaldwell sighed. Walking in on naked people was always awkward. He was also far too old to not keep one eye on them in case this was a trap. He'd known far too many people who were just as deadly as naked as the day they were born as full equipped to do otherwise.
"Apologies for the rudeness, ladies. Please be assured we have no intention of harming you if you are not a danger to us. Please feel to put some clothes on, but any attempt to attack us will be met with force."