Mikkitar's bomb explodes in the middle of the room, spreading flame everywhere!
There are screams of pain and surprise from the collection of Varisian rogues, and an evil his from the wererat.
Olander in immune, but I believe Nocki needs a reflex save for half.
fail
fail
All of the Tower Girls are looking scorched at this point! There's a smell of scorched hair and burning scarves in the air!
Red, Orange, and Black attack Nocki with their shortswords.
Nocki is almost invulnerable to the rogues' attacks.
Green, Blue, and Pink attack Olander with their shortswords.
Olander is too nimble to be hit by any of their stabs.
The were-rat keeps after Olander.
Curse you Devil-Spawn!!!!" the were-rat slurs from between her snaggle-teeth!
She lands a slice with her shortsword!
Party is up!
Sandu closes his eyes and focuses in his love for Desna, a cloud of starry butterflies explode from him, and they race out they avoid the girls.
Nocki's warhammer strikes down his target!
The wererat snarls as she see's Olander's wounds start to close.
"They have a priest!" she screeches.
"Priest, yes-yes, and more fire to burn you out-out!"
Mikkitar tosses his last bomb at the wererat, hoping to see her and the others go up like candles.
to hit vs touch, for damage + 4 fire splash damage 10' radius, DC 15 ref for half.
It lands just past his intended target, but in plenty of room to hit most of the foes.
Were rat also takes damage from previous failed save.
Olander continues fighting defensively, recognizing they're still badly outnumbered.
Olander misses his target.
Mikkitar bomb strikes deeper in the room.
Pass
Pass
Pass
Fail
Fail
Fail
Even though the bombs haven't been active, the expolsions have been devastating to the lightly armored rogues.
"Kill the mouse-man!!!!" the wererat screams as the bombs decimate the Tower girls.
Brown shoots her crossbow at Mikkitar!
but the bolt flies wide.
The wererat continues to attack Olander:
The accumulated fire damage seems to be distracting her and she can't land a blow.
Black and Orange stab at Nocki, but they seem helpless against the armored dwarf.
Pink slashes at Olander, but she misses as well.
Party is up!
Sandu focuses on his Dwarf Ally.
"Yield, you can leave in peace"
"Mouse? Mouse? You call me mouse and then taste the fire and burn-burn to death!"
Mikkitar reaches around the corner and fires his crossbow at the woman to the north.
to hit, for damage
to hit, for damage
Wererat takes damage
Mikkitar hits his target, further wounding the brown rogue.
The flames from his multiple bombs finally bring the wererat down!
The carnage from Mikkitar's bombs has greatly reduced your foes!
Olander is up
Olander points at the fallen were-rat, Now would be a good time to give up, before all of you suffer the same fate
"Yes-yes, run-run, tuck tail and flee-scurry before we burn you all to death! Drop your blade-knives and leave now."
All of the Tower girls withdraw, away from Nocki and Olander to the far side of the room.
"If we stop fighting you, will you let us leave?" the one on the far side of the room with the crossbow (brown) asks.
Sandu stands, "Yes, we don't want to fight"
Olander wonders if it is a legitimate question or an implied threat.
A dwarf is insinuating he is the new leader of the tower girls... stranger things have happened
"Stupid human-girls always ask the same question. Yes-yes, drop blade-knives and speak truth, then be gone. Your dead-dead need not have burned up, but-but that was her choice-choice today."
Mikkitar conveniently forgets he initiated this fight with a preemptive grenade, but thats just semantics as far as he's concerned.
One of the Tower Girls speaks up.
"Ayala is our leader ... she's still downstairs." the woman points to the passageway to the south.
"Just Ayala .... downstairs" one of them says.
"She sent Karissa up here when Tellavee ran down to warn us you were coming." as she speaks she indicates the wererat corpse when she mentions the first name and one of the fallen Varisian women when she mentions the second name.
Sandu let's lose another pulse of healing, this time including the women.
|
Nocki feels Sandu's healing energy and begins feeling calmer. He relaxes his grip on his warhammer and says "Oh, well then. Stay out of trouble." He side steps to let them know they're free to go.
After wiping the sweat from his brow, he kneels next to the corpses to search for any valuables. He doesn't care if the women see him checking their former friends' pockets.
Olander's own wounds close slightly, making him feel better as well.
Always good to see the dwarf get his court mandated Desnan therapy
Seeing it likely that they'll be proceeding without further incident, Olander asks I'm still sort of hurt, should I take 15 minutes to brew up an extract that'll fix it or do we have a more expedient solution.
"I-i could use a few moments, brew up another mutagen. My bomb-grenade catalysts are used up, but I have-have more fire flasks to throw, and plenty of crossbow bolts to shoot-shoot. Maybe the fallen-dead have some potions to use, yes-yes?"
Mikkitar rummages through the dead tower girls stuff, looking for potions or weapons specifically.
|
|
Nocki looks around and says "Well, if you must." Despite his words, he is thankful for some rest. He sits down, letting his sweat dry off and his body cool down. After a sip of water, he watches the two alchemist work and whispers to Bear some inaudible things and chuckles by himself. The koala does not, however.
Sandu finds a calm spot and reaches into a pouch inside his vest, he opens it to pull out a ‘box’ wrapped in a blue scarf with silver patterns, unwrapping it he reveals a fine harrow deck. He sits for a while.
’A reading is in order, but what pattern, this doesn’t call for a Tapestry, seemingly without realizing that he begins to quietly speak aloud. ”Of course The Bridge”
He deftly shuffles the cards before setting them down, he gives a single cut and begins to lay them out.
Still speaking quietly as though for an intimate audience. ”The bridge always has a beginning, in this case it is [u]The Snakebite[/u], that must be the Shard that started all of this, it poisoned the Tower Girls.” He lays the next card ”[u]Big Sky[/u], momentous change, that must be us, the Pathfinders.” He lays the next three cards one after the other. ”Three cards for the Trials and Tribulations. [u]The Tangled Briar[/u], misaligned. And object or person from long ago, but reversed so it brings hope with it. [u]Locksmith[/u], he presents us the tools we need, but not the guidance for how to use them. [u]Lost[/u], the bodak represents emptiness and loss of identity.” He lays the next card ” The Goal, [u]Wanderer[/u], He is a collector that sees worth that most miss, but reversed he is the inability to see that what has true value.” He looks at the fallen Tower Girls. ”Finding the Shard, these women have paid a high price for that. It is up to us to make sure that was not in vain.“ He lays the next card. ”Now we come to The Sacrifice, [u]The Waxworks[/u], misaligned. Helplessness and entropy, misaligned it is an abundance of power at the crucial moment that changes everything.” He pauses looking at these last two cards. ”Great power lies ahead, but accepting it could blind us to all we value.
The priest quickly gathers the cards, the harrow has left him more sure of the course, but also more concerned about the outcome.
The wounded Tower Girls warily take their leave. The way their glances go from you to the south passage makes you wonder if they're worried about you, or their wererat leader they said was deeper in the complex.
Off the bodies of the downed Tower Girls and the Wererat, you manage to collect the following:
6 hand crossbows
6 shortswords
6 daggers
6 50' silk ropes with grappling hooks
6 climber's kits
6 smokesticks
12 tanglefoot bags
The large room is otherwise empty.
Olander appreciates Sandu's reading. It reminds him of an old dwarven dweomer asked if the path would lead to weal, or woe. Adventuring clerics quickly learned it was a worthless spell, because almost every path contained weal and woe.
Olander mixes up an extract of cure light wounds while Mikkitar makes his preparations and drinks its.
The bombs are very useful, but at least my sword is always at the ready
If we see another were-rat, I'll try to use a tanglefoot bag to stick it to the floor. Unless I get a lucky blow, I can barely hit them, and I'm not sure how many bombs you can brew up before we go further.
"Bombs? I need more-more time to mix reagents for them-them. Tomorrow at the-the earliest. But-but with these sticky-bags, we can glue them to the-the floor and bash em. And I have some fire flasks that will do almost as-as much fire, just in a smaller blast-blast."
Mikkitar takes an hour and brews up another mutagen, this time a strength enhancing one.
"This-this will let me swing as hard as a fighter-guy, for about 20 minutes, at least."
As a note: by your reckoning you still have some time before the boat returns for you, but you've used up time exploring, fighting, and cooking up extracts/mutagens.
Which direction?
The women indicated that south led deeper into the Crow and their leader, but there are unexplored rooms to the north and east as well.
Sandu grabs a coil of rope, a second smokestick and a couple of the tangle bags.
"I don't think we should give this Ayala any more time. I would like to giver a chance to stand down, the Tower Girls tripped into this, losing her would rock them."
Olander agrees, but is somewhat pessimistic, I wouldn't mind them standing down and leaving, but we have no more claim to here than they do, so if there is something of value, there may be a disagreement...
We have to protect them from what is down there, even if they are not aware, or inclined to agree. But I am hoping to avoid more death." He is avoiding looking at the corpses and the room and his hand is hovering protectively over his deck.
"Yes-yes, this magical portal seems too dangerous to be-be left in the hands of these dumb-stupid human-girls. I hope we can do-do better than them at least."
Any leftover alchemical items get scooped up into Mikittars bag, then he checks his crossbow and gets ready to proceed.
"Everyone get-get a climbing kit? Plenty to go-go around."
You head south and find yourself in a large room that appears to have been used as a kitchen and dining area by the Tower Girls.
Two tables of planks and trestles have been set up in here, and a large alcove holds the ashes and soot stains of many recent fires, along with a stone statue of a beautiful woman wielding a ranseur. A hooded lantern burns atop one of the tables.
"Well-well, here's where they-they ate their meals, at least. I dunno who-who this statue lady is supposed to be, but maybe it's a-a valuable thing to take-sell."
Olander tries to remember his history lessons.
He says with some reverence for the Runelords of the fallen ancient empire, This is Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath.
Some of the Tower Girls were obviously eating a meal here when you guys intruded.
Nocki finds some standard quality foodstuffs and a bottle of moderate quality whiskey.
A passage exits the room to the south.
Sandu absently picks up a hunk of bread and cheese, 'Should have had a bigger breakfast'
Olander follows the suggestion, I was planning to anyway, makes a quick sketch and a note before moving on.
Heading out the southern door, you find a long corridor that heads east.
Along the corridor, there is a short dead-end branch to the left.
You can tell that the corridor has had recent traffic.
You find a stairwell at the end of the corridor that leads down to the next level. On this level, the corridor heads back west, ending at a pair of double doors that have been left ajar.
Behind those doors, you find a large spear-shaped chamber.
A massive pair of double doors dominates the western end of this spearhead-shaped chamber. These doors are made of a silvery metal decorated with images of burning eyes that look inward toward two sets of runes carved onto the face of each door. The walls bear the remains of complex mosaics that once covered much of them, but which has crumbled and collapsed in heaps of colored tiles and debris around the edges of the room.