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"I'm afraid that's not possible, Doctor," Orla says with emphasis on the last word. "Officer Elrekah has ordered all of us to leave now and accompany her back to Sothis. She was quite inflexible, invoking the Pathfinder Purge clause. I'm sure someone as knowledgable as you knows that clause inside and out; I certainly don't want to be cursed with bleeding boils in my innards. We should heed her warning and leave now."
She then turns to Gabros and silently mouths the following:
"Oh, I see." Doctor Kline says nervously, sweat glistening on his forehead. "Well, let's get this cleared up then.". He takes the one of the clay jars he was examining, throws it at Orla and runs for it!
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Uncle, already used to seeing Inzo suddenly hare off unexpectedly, is ready to react when the jar throw distraction is attempted.
He rushes into the room and beats Doctor Kline to the far doorway, blocking it with his body.
"No no, Doctor, we must insist."
Still stinging slightly from Bert's comment about his music, he starts playing a dwarven ballad, "The Traitorous Vizier".
As "Uncle" Nazgub rushes in to block the way, the floor collapses under him!
Even with his age and the weight of the gnomophone against him, Nazgub manages to grab on with one empty hand. Below him he can see a 20 foot drop and what looks like a nest of centipedes slowly moving around, at ground level, he can see the boots of Doctor Kline hesitatingly moving towards him.
"Doctor" Kline strides towards Nazgub, his face a dark visage of determination. His young body towering over "Uncle". "Let me go! All of you or your friend gets it!", he says hysterically and wide-eyed as he plants a boot close to Nazgub's chest! "And no funny business, or I'll know!", he warns you as flecks of saliva fly from his mouth. Nazgub would be able to dart his eyes towards the pit... there are several centipedes still moving around disgustingly.
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Orla stalls for time while she awaits one of the more martially-inclined (and quicker) members of her party.
"That's fine, that's fine," she says, hands raised in the air. "While I DON'T advance on you menacingly, why don't you tell us your real name, sweetheart? It's a bit odd, you impersonating one of the more famous Pathfinders of the Absalom Grand Lodge. I would know your name so as to tell my superiors who bested us, Bragging rights, really."
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"Oi, mate! No-one threatens our pesky goblins but us!"
Bert strides forward, face reddening with sudden anger beneath his beard. Not even bothering to draw a weapon he launches himself at the "doctor" and attempts to restrain him from any further dangerous actions.
"Kick 'im into that pit and I'll toss yeh in afterwards!"
"Shut up! Shut up!", Kline waves a finger accusingly at Orla. "Let me go or your friend gets it!"
With Gabros and Bert closing in, Kline immediately kicks Nazgub in the chest and the goblin falls down the pit! For a moment, Kline's features break, horrified by what he did. "You forced my hand", he says softly that only Gabros and Bert would have heard him. Bert grabs hold of the young man, perhaps now hearing the bed of centipedes lying below.
Nazgub falls down twenty feet, seeing the ceiling of the ruins and the visage of a stone carved Set smiling at him. He lands with a soft crunch , the last foot cushioned by the whirling mass centipedes who immediately sure forward and begin to climb out of the pit!
They surge out from the edge, Kline shrieks as the mass of bugs roil over the stone floor, skittering and consuming the three pathfinders in the front. They crawl in through any exposed space and begin to bite ravenously. Kline yelps out in panic as the mandibles dig in. "Help Meeeee!", he squeals.
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Orla and Inzo jump right in; the Desnan calls upon the silver light of her goddess; however, the swarm is moving around too much and her spell goes wide rather than hit her allies. Inzo throws his shurikens at the enemy, but it's not very effective, the spiky points of the shuriken killing off maybe one or two individual creatures, but not the whole swarm.
Inzo only knows what everyone else does. That they're bugs, and that they're disgusting.
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Uncle Nazgub lies groaning at the bottom of the pit in a bed of crushed and (mostly) dead centipedes.
He glares at the face of Set above.
"I don't know what YOU'RE grinning at," he grumbles.
Without bothering to get up, he settles his instrument more comfortably against his chest and quietly plays his favourite tune.
A soft tune comes from the bottom of the pit, just barely audible from the sound of the swarm and probable yelps of Bert and Gabros and very loud squealing of Doctor Kline.
From down the hall, you can hear the yells of a loud and the yelps of the guards. "Go the other way!", the voice of Officer Elrekah comes from the hallway.
As the biting reaches a fever pitch, Doctor Kline tries to escape Bert's grasp, shoves the dwarf away and runs off swatting away any of the centipedes on his body.
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The dwarf stares - indignant - first at his empty hands, then at the retreating form of the Doctor.
"No one slips my grip, least-ways a brittle sapling like 'im. I'll show 'im after..." he mutters to himself.
"Get away yeh foul bugs. If you nip 'oles in me new britches I'll squash yeh so flat not even Pharasma'll judge yeh sorry soul."
With a bellowing sigh of disgust, Bert retrieves the shield from his back and lays about at the centipedes crawling all over the floor, attempting to squish as many as possible with each blow of his shield.
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These buggers just don't die!" Aiming carefully, Inzo throws shuriken so the spare shuriken fly clear of Bert's legs as he maneuvers his offense.
All Inzo knows is that it's time to throw the book at these bugs. Or in his case: Shuriken, his steak knife, and his hammer
Action 1: Hunted Shot
Action 2: throw dagger
Action 3: Draw hammer
Combine the damage of these for resistance
Bert is lucky, he manages to swat away the larger centipedes looking for a bite of rock dwarf. Bert would feel an irritation where the worst bites were, but nothing beyond an itch, as traversing the desert has resulted in tough, leathery skin. The centipedes scurry back into the swarm and begin to crawl over his boots. Regardless of the bugs, Bert bashes away at them, his shield boss covered in centipede gore as it connects the first time , but he has a hard time connecting a second time as Inzo's shuriken fly near where he's crushing the vermin away, the sharp pointy parts about a foot from his boots. Around them, the sound of eager clicking mandibles continues, almost harmonizing with Nazgub's tune.
click click click click
Inzo meanwhile would notice that the first shuriken almost hit Bert while the second one was absorbed by the swarm. His dagger flies near Gabros, but suffers the same fate as his shuriken, and it disappears in the writhing mess.
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Doctor Kline, turns to Orla mid-flight, giving her a look as if she were mad...
...and the good doctor falls to the ground, crashing into some pottery and slamming his face on the ground with a sickening His eyes widening in terror at how his own body betrayed him. The open door lying far away, yet so close.
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Bert glances up from his furious centipede-crushing. The sweet sound of the doctor's fall drifting to his ears, buoyed by Nazgub's melody emerging from the pit.
"Mental grappling...?" he muses, as a small shudder runs through the dwarf. Terror? Awe? Envy? Who can tell.
Despite taking several bites to his exposed flesh , Gabros swats several large centipedes off him arms and they fall to the floor chittering before single-mindedly heading towards him once more. The bites irritate his skin, but beyond the itch, he seems fine. Taking a step back from the insects, Gabros throws his alchemist's fire to great effect, even if his aim is terribly off. Flames spread throughout the swarm, the shrieks of burning insects reaching your ears. Some of the fire spreads onto Bert's leathers, but thankfully he doesn't catch fire.
Maddened by the fire, the centipedes continue to attack the two Pathfinders in front of them! Their little mandibles going snap snap snap click click click!
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With one brutal swing of his axe, Hammick makes sure the doctor stays down! He's still breathing, but will probably wake up with one massive headache later today or tomorrow. The sound of rushing footsteps come from the hallway leading into the embalming pools.
The leering face of Set grows larger as Nazgub begins to climb the pit. For each foot he climbs, he could swear the visage changes. The god's pupiless eyes judging silently the elderly goblin as he inches forward. From the bottom of the pit, the opening bars of The Trecherous Vizier echoes forward as the small ovoid head of Nazgub clears the edge. Between the angry clicking and clacking of the swarm, the goblin's tune reaches you all inspiring you to not surrender so easily. Doctor Kline is completely passed out, a trail of blood flowing from his skull.
Meanwhile, the centipedes grow bolder in their bites.
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"Hang on, y'all!" Orla calls out as she flashes concerned eyes at Hammick. Convinced that the dwarf isn't going to club the unconscious sot of an impostor further, the halfling scampers back to her insect-plagued comrades' side.
"I'm awfully sorry, y'all, but this is the best I can do," she apologises in advance, cupping her hands together.
A sudden spray of spring water emanates forth from Orla's hands as she attempts to buffet the creepy-crawlies off of her friends.
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With a surprised yelp, Bert tries to bring his shield up to avoid the sudden rush of fire from Gabros's alchemical concoction, but the twist yanks him off balance. He teeters one-footed for a moment, flailing out against the centipede swarm.
"Get away yeh nibblin' basta---aaarrrgh!"
Gravity finally sinks its clutches into Bert, and the dwarf topples over beneath the surging mass of centipedes.
"Get away yeh nibblin' basta---aaarrrgh!"
"..."
Bert and Gabros collapse in a heap and are soon covered in clacking centipedes! Inzo bonks several with this hammer, several of them crunching with the strike, but end up covering the hammer, eating their own fallen. The sharp pointy bits of the shuriken fare better, and the swarm appears to have thinned a bit.
click clack snap snap! is the sound that lulls the fallen pathfinders.
"I'm awfully sorry, y'all, but this is the..." the halfling's words disappear as darkness takes both dwarf and human. Unfeeling as water flows over them, as the centipedes are washed away into the pit. So cold.
And perhaps somewhere beyond, the Great God Set smiles.
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Bert wakes up, soaking wet, beard a mess and looking at the grinning visage of Set chiseled on the ceiling. Aching and perhaps with painful bites on his skin, he has enough presence of mind to hear more footsteps running into the previous room. "Wait here", a female voice speaks from the other room. "Dwarf, what is the meaning of this?" For a moment, he might think they're talking to him, but that's not right, is it?
He still feels woozy.
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"This one here" poking his toe at the Doc Kline. "Is no pathfinder, and when we confronted him aboot it. He attacked us with a swarm of bugs, then took off running. He slipped, fell and his head was hit, getting knocked out. They need help in the other room. So have someone watch him."
And then runs back in to the other room
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(I believe Inzo is up next, so I've pre-empted my turn below. If the pit closes, or I can't get to the centipedes I'll approach it differently.)
Seeing Bert go down has given purpose to the goblin. He simply can't let his friend fall, so he gets in close, and lets his wrath known.
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Combine for resistance
EDIT: I just realised I can't hunted shot with melee :( so just 1x slice for 3 damage total.
The officers listen to Hammick, Elrekah trying to piece together what's going on opens her mouth to say something, but Hammick has already run back into the room with the inscriptions and Set's smiling face.
"Wha- Halt!", she yells after Hammick, spins to her guards and says, "Keep this man under custody", before starting to sprint off after the dwarf.
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Err. Yes, Inzo doesn't want to jump in there.
EDIT: Since Orla asked, I'll ask the Q: Is there an athletics or Acrobatics check I can do to close the pit?
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to be clear thats:
Action 1: Stride
Action 2: Hunted Shot
Action 3: extra shuriken toss
Gabros flings his eyes wide open, his last thoughts probably the swarm of centipedes clamping their mandibles at him as he fell into unconsciousness. He hears the voice of one of his friends, Orla perhaps, but as his blurred vision clears, he is greeted by the ferocious smile of the dog-like Osiriani God of Chaos greets him. His body feels weak.
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Inzo crouches and reaches into the pit, the centipedes starting to climb the pit walls with alacrity. CLICK CLACK SNAP SNAP!
Inzo pulls the edge of the trapdoor with one hand while the other resets the latching mechanism. Lying on the floor, he has a front row seat to the vermin's mandible snapping, the multiple legs moving them forward, antenna scouting ahead as they are reaching out crawl up his hand... CLICK!