◇ Lingering Performance
◈ Inspire Courage
◈◈ Electric Arc (DC 20)
The tattered curtain flutters into the standing water.
Song-of-Air keeps you inspired and then conjures lightning. The blood-frenzied dinosaur ducks out of the way of the worst of it, but the hulking xulgath is too intent on Rulean to move in time.
The iruxi returns the lean xulgath's strike with one of his. He then raises his shield and moves away from her hulking partner.
Encounter! Round 1/2. Bold may act.
Nabi (Fortitude DC 19 vs. sickened 1) (inspire courage +1)
--2--
Song-of-Air (sickened 1)
Clover (immune) (47/58 hp; persistent bleed 1d4 (DC 15 at end of turn))
> Snowy (immune)
Leaf-on-Wind (Fortitude DC 19 vs. sickened 1)
Ephie (sickened 1)
Rulean (immune) (34/48 hp; enfeebled 1)
Lean Xulgath 1 (-19 hp)
Hulking Xulgath 2 (-19 hp)
Dinosaur (-20 hp; <50%)
Mr. Splinters waves his little hands around as Ephie extends his spell, blasting more lightning at Xulgath 1 and 2!
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Leaf-On-Wind attempts to shrug off the nausea and move up to shove some gauze into Clover's wounds -- it's not pretty but he's kind of working fast to staunch the flow -- stepping up close to the two stank underground lizard people might invite a whack he's not quite prepared for.
"I'd be nothing but halfling bits if it weren't for you and Rulean," Clover calls over her shoulder to Leaf as her friend crudely but effectively manages to stanch her bleeding. She fumbles her way further into the room and attempts another jab at the ferocious dinosaur!
"Snowy! Help me finish this one!"
______________
Snowy eagerly splooshes forward and tries to do his friend proud...
Nabi manages to land a lucky blow on the hulking brute (Not Rulean: their foe), aiming at the belly
Hey, I managed to keep my guts inside my body, you could have the curtesy of doing the same
Nabi slogs through the knee deep water to support Rulean. She drives her sword into the lean xulgath. Leaf-on-Wind quickly bandages the wound on Clover's arm while she tries to keep the dinosaur at bay. Unfortunately, the bandage quickly soaks through.
Ephraim adds to the lightning arcing through the room. The lean xulgath drops low and avoids the electricity entirely, but the hulking xulgath seems to be slowing down and is struck.
The lean xuglath rises up and slams her pick into Nabi's leg in retaliation and then rips it out painfully. She then swings at Rulean, but the iruxi easily deflects the assault.
The hulking xulgath splashes through the water to take advantage of Clover's distraction with the dinosaur. He nearly strikes Clover in the neck, it the blade catches on some reinforced stitching so that it stops short, but the blow to her shoulder is no less painful. The xulgath presses his weight downward as he yanks the blade back.
The dinosaur continues its frenzied attack against the halfling. Taking advantage of the opening that the xulgath's strike made. The raptor's serrated teeth tear into Clover's flesh again and again until the halfling drops into the water surrounded by blood .
Encounter! Round 2/3. Bold may act.
Nabi (immune) (30/44 hp) (Fortitude DC 20 vs. Enfeebled 1 (2 on CF))
--3--
Song-of-Air (sickened 1)
> Snowy (immune)
Leaf-on-Wind (immune)
Ephie (sickened 1)
Rulean (immune) (34/48 hp)
Lean Xulgath 1 (-24 hp)
Hulking Xulgath 2 (-27 hp)
Clover (immune) (0/58 hp; dying 2) (Fortitude DC 20 vs. Enfeebled 1 (2 on CF))
Dinosaur (-20 hp; <50%)
Concerned about Clover, Rulean raises his shield and then calls on Kurgess to heal the tough little halfling.
Ephie moves into the corner and arcs the xulgaths again!
Clover's eyes flutter open thanks to Rulean's healing magic and she begins to weakly flail about for her dropped weapon...
______________
Clover splashes back to consciousness as Kurgess' power heals her near fatal wounds.
"<Kill the shaman!>" the hulking xulgath barks in Undercommon just before Ephie's lightning manifests again. Neither of the xulgaths dodge, and the lean xulgath grips her chest, appearing to have suffered more than normal.
"<Kill the warlock!>" she suggests as an alternative strategy.
Encounter! Round 2/3. Bold may act.
Nabi (immune) (30/44 hp) (Fortitude DC 20 vs. Enfeebled 1 (2 on CF))
--3--
Song-of-Air (sickened 1)
> Snowy (immune)
Leaf-on-Wind (immune)
Ephie (sickened 1)
Rulean (immune) (36/48 hp; shield up)
Lean Xulgath 1 (-48 hp; <50%)
Hulking Xulgath 2 (-39 hp; <50%)
Clover (immune) (26/58 hp; wounded 1, prone, enfeebled 1)
Dinosaur (-20 hp; <50%)
Song casts Soothe on Clover.
Then she moves in to better assist with the fight.
Nabi has an hard time piercing her foe's defenses, as she might be too focused on the halfling's health
(Red)
(Red)
(Red)
(Red)
Leaf-On-Wind sends a shower of arrows towards the rancid reptilian, with limited chance for success he is trying to open up some pathways for the party.
<"Fine!"> the hulking xulgath barks back to his companion in Undercommon.
Song-of-Air further soothes the pain in Clover's body with a song. The big xulgath roars in frustration as she moves into his way toward Ephie.
Distracted by Clover's fall, none of Nabi's strikes make it past the xulgath's defenses, though the last one glances off the breastplate. Leaf-on-Wind has better luck. Two of his arrows graze the lean xulgath's arm.
The xulgath moves around her, splashing through the standing water and floating pine needles toward the puppet master. He plants his foot on something slick and slimy just as he makes his swing at Ephie, which causes is him to overshoot dramatically. He tries to bite the half-orc while recovering, but the fangs fall short.
The lean xulgath, unable to assist in taking down the wizard, focuses her attention on Rulean. She trips over the soaked bedding underfoot as she swings and nearly drops the grip on her pick. She tries to recover, but is too far out of position to reach the iruxi with her pick. She hisses something in a low, threatening voice in Undercommon, "<I am going to skin you alive and make you into a cloak for Cavnakash!">" She looks plenty angry, but Rulean misses the true malice of her words .
Encounter! Round 3/4. Bold may act.
Nabi (immune) (30/44 hp)
--4--
Song-of-Air (sickened 1)
Leaf-on-Wind (immune)
Ephie (sickened 1)
Rulean (immune) (36/48 hp; shield up)
Lean Xulgath 1 (-48 hp; <50%)
Hulking Xulgath 2 (-39 hp; <50%)
Clover (immune) (51/58 hp; wounded 1, prone, enfeebled 1; +1 vs. mental)
> Snowy (immune)
Dinosaur (-20 hp; <50%)
"Urgh...me and my friends won't go down without a fight!" Clover calls out as she flails her hand in the water and grabs her fork. She staggers to her feet and moves up behind Red, flanking the lean xulgath with Rulean.
______________
Keeping his shield between himself and the lean xulgath, Rulean says “This one seems a bit upset at me. Anything I should know?”
While Clover gathers her fighter's fork and splashes to a new position, the dinosaur chases after its prey. The raptor manages to bite her arm while she is focused on the xulgath, but she is more wary after that and avoids another bite.
Encounter! Round 3/4. Bold may act.
Nabi (immune) (30/44 hp)
--4--
Song-of-Air (sickened 1)
Leaf-on-Wind (immune)
Ephie (sickened 1)
Rulean (immune) (36/48 hp; shield up)
Lean Xulgath 1 (-48 hp; <50%)
Hulking Xulgath 2 (-39 hp; <50%)
Clover (immune) (42/58 hp; wounded 1, +1 vs. mental)
> Snowy (immune)
Dinosaur (-20 hp; <50%)
“They are starting to get hurt. Any chance they will surrender, Ephie?”
Having said that, he once again raises his shield and strikes twice at the lean xulgath that he flanks with Clover.
Fatal d10
crit, die increase, extra die for fatal
Fatal d10
crit, die increase, extra die for fatal
Ephie does NOT like being this close to a stinky Xulgath. GAH!
HELLO. says My. Splinters.
He "swings" his axe at the nearest Xulgath!
Then he fires arcs from his fingertips.
Song attempts to peck the Xulgath in front of her, but the thought of biting something so smelly puts her off.
◈
So she gives up and shocks the two Xulgaths with a bolt of electricity!
◈◈ Electric Arc (DC 20 19)
Rulean sinks his pick into the xulgath's stomach, which causes her to grimace in pain and reveal her single fang again. She knocks his follow-up swing aside with her own pick. <"Hurry! Kill him!"> he barks in a panic.
Ephie releases his axe and magically propels it into the larger xulgath's shoulder and through the steel pauldron. Both of the xulgath's are panting hard with desperation burning in their eyes. Neither of them have the energy to escape the lightning that follows. Both of them fall into the water once the lightning stops arcing between them.
Song-of-Air turns her attention to the dinosaur, but the raptor is too swift for her to strike. Calling upon lightning, she manages to tag the dinosaur with the electricity, but it is not enough to fell it.
The dinosaur shows no sign of stopping its ferocious attacks.
Encounter! Round 3/4. Bold may act.
Nabi (immune) (30/44 hp)
--4--
Song-of-Air (sickened 1)
Leaf-on-Wind (immune)
Ephie (sickened 1)
Rulean (immune) (36/48 hp; shield up)
Clover (immune) (42/58 hp; wounded 1, +1 vs. mental)
> Snowy (immune)
Dinosaur (-23 hp; <50%)
Leaf-On-Wind sloshes through the water and lets fly another volley, this time at the raptor. "Sorry, you're hurting my friends and you're not stopping." he offers apologetically.
With the two xulgath taken care of Clover turns her attention back to the persistent little dinosaur and maneuvers around to flank it with Song. She jabs at it with her fork, not without some regret, trying to finish it off.
______________
Leaf-on-Wind repositions himself for a better shot and sinks two arrows into the dinosaur harassing Clover before it falls into the water with a splash. The room is now silent except for the sputtering of the torches and your breathing.
While you take stock of your injuries, those who managed to escape unscathed and not responsible to tending to the wounded look around the flooded room. The standing water makes things difficult, but Song-of-Air notices a trap within what appears to be a random pile of debris--leather straps, woven vines, sharpened obsidian shards, and other random bits. She cannot determine the purpose of the trap, only that disturbing the junk will likely trip the snare .
Ephie does not detect any magical new magical auras. Examining the corpses of the xulgaths, however, he realizes that these are a higher caste of xulgath. More powerful and likely leaders within the warband.
2 x Breastplate (archaic style but fully functional)
Great pick
Great axe
Javelin x 8 (sharpened obsidian points bound onto wooden shafts)
Post-Battle Status
Nabi (30/44 hp)
Song-of-Air
Leaf-on-Wind
Ephie
Rulean (36/48 hp)
Clover (42/58 hp; wounded 1)
> Snowy
Fascinating. We approach the xulgath leadership.
Ephie refocuses, searches the room, and when ready helps move past the barricade in the hall.
"And disrupting the leaders will disrupt the group," Clover nods, satisfied with Ephie's observation. "That's good for us."
Once everyone has had a chance to catch their breath, refocus, and bind wounds, she reassumes her position in the marching order, ready to press on.
As Rulean and Leaf-on-Wind finish tending to the wounded, a light mist forms over the standing water. The water begins to evaporate with prodigious speed. Within a minute, the entirety of the standing water has transformed into a heavy fog that fills the chamber. Before you can organize yourselves to navigate the fog, it fades before your eyes within a matter of moments. This leaves the floors and, in fact, all of your clothing and equipment that had been soaked in the magical downpour completely dry. The sprigs of pine and loose blades of grass lay scattered across the room.
Pressing onward, you cross over the barricade of stacks stones and continue around the corner. The floor and walls of this side of the barricade is polished clean without a speck of dust or detritus. Roughly forty feet to the south, you come to a point where Harlock had described a secret door on the east wall. A short hall leads west into a chamber, though most of the chamber is blocked from your view by a wall that rises in the center.
With brief trial and error to find the precise spot, you follow Harlock's instructions to activate the secret door. The door slides down into the floor and reveals a large chamber. The floor is covered with heavy dust. The east wall is divided into four alcoves, each with something painted on their walls.
Primal magic; fascinating.
Ephie gestures to the East wall, excited to make his way there.
Ephie moves in to the hidden chamber to investigate its contents. The rest of you follow inside, and then the door slides shut. A quick experiment confirms that this is not a trap but merely a feature of the secret door. Ephie notes that someone has walked in this room before but not recently as there are trails around the perimeter that bear less dust than the heavy coating of most of the floor.
Each of the four alcoves bears a painting of a tower. Ephie easily recognizes that each of the towers is an aesthetic variation on the style of the Tower of Eran.
There are no magical auras within this chamber.
Rulean spends a few minutes looking over the tower murals. He is trying to find anything in the details to indicate where the towers are located.
"Huh...so this might show where other towers are?" Clover asks aloud to confirm as she too studies the murals. "Too bad they couldn't have just kept a list...or drawn a proper map or something..."
Ephie sketches the towers in his book; he's rather good at technical drawing.
There may be clues we can find with a closer look, or with more context later.
Meanwhile, Nabi tries to ascertain the age of the paintings, and their probable monetary and artistic value, taking her time as they are no longer in danger
While Ephie sketches the four different towers, the rest of you look for clues within the paintings and wrack your brains for memories or tales referencing towers shaped like those. Unfortunately, the towers are the focus of the paintings and the scant backgrounds are simply generic rocky hills. None of you remember seeing towers like these or hearing stories that you could ascribe to these towers.
This chamber could serve as a refuge to rest and recover where the xulgath could not find you, if you needed one. You are reasonably certain that there is nothing else hidden here.
Referencing the map that Harlock gave you, the short hall across from this chamber should have the stairs leading upwards, and if you continue down the cross hall, you will reach the large open chamber that you peered into after defeating the entry guards.
“I would like to finish searching this floor before going deeper into this structure.”
Rulean looks around and says “Any objections or counter proposals?”
Mr. Splinters and Ephie nod together in agreement.
"Never go off and leave someone to come up and stab you in the back," Clover agrees. "I'd rather finish poking around here first so we don't get any nasty surprises later on when we're further down!"
"Agreed," Song says. "All things being equal, I would rather be the stabber that the stabbee. Though it would make a nice change to not meet people we have to stab. Remember when we had shows and audiences? Maybe one of these groups would just let us perform for them instead of immediately attacking us."
"Yeah...I never expected that whatever 'this' is," Clover twirls her hand, "would end up being part of the circus experience. It'd be a lot easier and less painful if Snowy and I could just do some tricks or something to smooth things over..."
Resolved to ensure that there are no xulgath to catch you from behind, you move down the hall toward the southern side of the tower. Just as Song-of-Air begins to get a tingle in the back of her neck that something is not right, Rulean walks into a gelatinous wall and is quickly sucked inside. His scales immediately begin to blister.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act.
???
Song-of-Air
Rulean (43/48 hp; engulfed (grabbed, slow 1, holding breath) (Fortitude DC 19 vs. paralyze)
Nabi
???
???
Clover
>Snowy
Gelatinous Cube (Recall Knowledge: Occultism DC 18)
Ephie
>Mr. Splinters
Leaf-on-Wind
When you run out of air, you fall unconscious and start suffocating. You can’t recover from being unconscious and must attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save at the end of each of your turns. On a failure, you take 1d10 damage, and on a critical failure, you die. On each check after the first, the DC increases by 5 and the damage by 1d10; these increases are cumulative. Once your access to air is restored, you stop suffocating and are no longer unconscious (unless you’re at 0 Hit Points).
"W-what?? Is this some kind of trick!?" Clover gasps as Rulean, only a couple of paces ahead of her, is suddenly engulfed by something large, clear, and gooey. Unsure of what to do, she tries to punch through the goo with her weapon!
"Snowy, get back! Make some room!"
______________
Though a bit confused, Snowy chitters and darts back behind the group as ordered.
Suddenly finding himself in something, Rulean belatedly remembers something about there being creatures that clean the dungeon. Figuring his best bet is to tear his way out, Rulean goes at it with his claw.
Agile, Finesse
Agile, Finesse
Ephie tries to recall knowledge about the cube.
We must spread out!
Then he tries to tumble through:
Slime dribbles off Mr. Splinters's nose as Ephie trots away from the creature, hoping there are no traps or other creatures in this creature's lair. It seems cogent nothing else would wish to live alongside this horror, and it is in itself a trap of sorts.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act.
Rulean manages to resist the neurotoxins and struggles within the cube. Unfortunately, his claws are unable to tear free of the ooze . Clover jabs her fork deep into the ooze, but her second strike manages to hit a relatively dense section of membrane.
???
Song-of-Air
Rulean (39/48 hp; engulfed (grabbed, slow 1, holding breath: 4 of 6 rounds remain)
Nabi
???
???
Clover
>Snowy
Gelatinous Cube (-13 hp)
Ephie
>Mr. Splinters
Leaf-on-Wind
◇ Lingering Performance
◈ Inspire Courage
Song dances, steps back and shoots an arrow.
◈
Song-of-Air inspires her companions and plants an arrow into the transparent cube of ooze. Nabi draws her bow and adds to the barrage.
The cube advances forward in order to engulf the source of the painful stimulus. Nabi swiftly rolls out of the way. It thrusts its self forward to test for any other nearby food, but Ephie dodges out of the way.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act.
???
Song-of-Air
Rulean (39/48 hp; engulfed (grabbed, slow 1, holding breath: 4 of 6 rounds remain)
Nabi
???
???
Clover (Reflex DC 19 vs. Engulf: see below)
>Snowy
Gelatinous Cube (-27 hp)
Ephie (you can keep your successful actions and position on the other side of the cube)
>Mr. Splinters
Leaf-on-Wind
Ephie double moves back, then flings his axe at the creature!