Rulean looks to the sky to guess the time of day.
“I think we would have an hour or so before we need to head back for tonight’s show.”
Ready!
Deciding that you should return to the circus to oversee tonight's show and then set back out to investigate the sink hole in the morning, you return to your camp. Everyone there seems in good spirits. You have a hurried dinner while multitasking your various production and director responsibilities. The performance is a success--and undisturbed by envious former employers as far as you can tell.
You set out for the Woodworker's District in the morning and find a quartet of guards standing watch over the sink hole.
"Halt!" one of them says as you approach. However, you quickly explain your intent and show the writ of passage, which deescalates the guard's tension and they permit you past the barricades.
The sink hole descends a dozen feet into the ground and then spills into a tunnel. Scrabbling as carefully as you can down the broken paving stones and loose dirt, you find the tunnel has steps carved into the ground. The tunnel extends further than even Ephie can see.
Once you have illuminated your path, you begin a long, twisting trek under the city. Far beneath the restless city lies a monument to the past. Sturdy doors of reinforced ebony guard the entrance to an impressive building constructed of gleaming white stone. One of the doors is slightly ajar. White stone pillars support the cavern’s ceiling above. Broken stained-glass windows along the temple’s walls peer like sightless eyes.
Rulean casts Light on his shield just before descending into the sinkhole.
———
Rulean pauses for a moment to look at the chamber that the building is in. He gestures to the side and quietly says “Let’s check out the ruined walls and such before proceeding, make sure there are no surprises.”
Ephie casts light on his antique axe.
Chani leaves his torches in his pack for now since there is plenty of light for his low-light vision to work with. He follows along with Rulean while keeping watch for anything that looks dangerous.
He pulls his amulet from his neck and fidgets with it.
You begin to make your way cautiously toward the lefthand column. Rulean's precaution was merited as Leaf-on-Wind spies an octopedal reptilian beast hiding behind the righthand column. It hisses as he warns you about it, and another hisses echoes from behind the lefthand column.
The lizard wears an iron collar and is tethered to the column by a long length of chain.
Chained Dragons. Round 1.Bold may act.
Ephraim (62/62)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78)
Song-of-Air (60/60) (unnoticed)
Clover (90/90)
>Snowy (62/62)
Chani (68/68)
Blue Basilisk
Rulean (68/68)
Red Basilisk
No specific weakness. Use personal antithesis.
Critical Success:
A basilisk can turn a creature to stone with its gaze.
Critical Success:
Chani takes a few seconds to assess these new enemies.
He draws his crossbow and a cotton ball that he feeds through his amulet. "Careful, these things can stare you to stone."
Not good!
He then averts his gaze.
Leaf-On-Wind, having seen the potential danger and called it out draws his bow, focuses for a second, then works on *not* seeing the petrilizards as best he can.
Sadly, this means he can't move from his position -- hopefully the petrilizards won't reach the party.
Ephie opens with a bloom of fire. The closer basilisk manages to use the column to its best and avoids the flames. The other basilisk fails to escape any of the fire.
Chained Dragons. Round 1.Bold may act.
Ephraim (62/62) (averted gaze)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (averted gaze)
Song-of-Air (60/60) (unnoticed)
Clover (90/90)
>Snowy (48/48)
Chani (68/68)
Blue Basilisk (-22 hp)
Rulean (68/68)
Red Basilisk (weakness 5 vs. Chani)
Song begins her dance to raise the group's defenses.
◇Lingering Performance
◈ Inspire Defense
◈ Avert Gaze
◈
Song shoots at Blue.
"Oof...Chani's right, these are basilisks," Clover groans as she draws out her fighter's fork. "Snowy, take cover behind that pillar!"
______________
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Snowy growls but does as he's command, scurrying over behind the closest pillar to await further instructions.
Song-of-Air sinks her arrow deep into the basilisk's shoulder . Clover commands Snowy off to a corner out of direct line of sight.
Eight legs do not make these beasts very fast. The one with blue stripes drags itself and the chain toward Clover. It stares at her balefully.
Chained Dragons. Round 1.Bold may act.
Ephraim (62/62) (averted gaze)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (averted gaze)
Song-of-Air (60/60) (averted gaze)
Clover (90/90) (Fortitude DC 22 vs. Slow 1 x 1 minute)
>Snowy (48/48)
Chani (68/68)
Blue Basilisk (-32 hp)
Rulean (68/68) (Fortitude DC 20 vs. Slow 1 x 1 minute)
Red Basilisk (weakness 5 vs. Chani)
"Hang in there! Remember the defense that I have inspired!"
Rulean is caught off guard and is affected by the creature before he can even act. Deciding that he better take this thing out before it gets any worse, Rulean moves up to Blue and attempts to attack it but misses by a very wide margin.
Fatal d10
crit, die increase, extra die for fatal
Clover isn't quick enough to look away nor quite strong enough to resist the basilisk's gaze. She feels her body grow heavier and her movements slower.
"Annnnd there it is...wonderful..."
The other basilisk crawls from around the stone column and decides to taste the partially petrified Clover. It must like the taste because it takes another bite.
Basilisks! Round 2.Bold may act.
Ephraim (62/62)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78)
Song-of-Air (60/60) (Fortitude DC 20 vs. Slow 1 x 1 minute, use +2 circ for Avert Gaze)
Clover (62/90) (Slow 1 x 1 minute)
>Snowy (48/48)
Chani (68/68)
Blue Basilisk (-32 hp)
Rulean (68/68) (Slow 1 x 1 minute)
Red Basilisk (weakness 5 vs. Chani)
As the basilisk comes towards them, Chani starts his amulet chain spinning. He sends out a lattice of protective light around Clover once the basilisk commits to an attack.
He then quickly loads his crossbow and fires a cotton-infused bolt at the basilisk. Taking his own advice, he also does his best to avoid looking directly at the creatures unless absolutely necessary.
+Exploit Vulnerability weakness
Song shakes off the petrification effect, averts her gaze, and hits both basilisks with every unattended rock in this room.
◈ Avert Gaze
◈◈ Animated Assault
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They don't see fast on their feet… for eight-footed creatures.
Ephie flings electricity at the two before averting his gaze.
"Thanks, Chani!"
Not about to give up just yet, Clover takes a swing at Red before quickly averting her gaze!
______________
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Leaf-On-Wind continues to avert his gaze while attempting to put some arrows into the reddish one while moving, unless it has already dropped by previous actions.
If the first one is down he will shift to the bluish one with some arrowing attention.
Chani's fires a small bolt into the basilisk's right ear.
Song-of-Air animates the debris and fallen stone and batters the pair of basilisks. The lucky one continues to be lucky if less so and avoids some of the debris. Neither are particularly lucky as Ephie unleashes his lightning. The one with blue stripes is panting hard.
Clover stabs her fork at the basilisk, but its scales prove resilient. Not so resilient to Leaf-on-Wind's arrows. Leaf pokes out one of the red-striped basilisk's eyes with an arrow and sinks the other in its shoulder.
The blue-striped basilisk scuttles out of the telekinetic storm and glares at Rulean.
Basilisks! Round 2.Bold may act.
Ephraim (62/62)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (Start of turn: Fortitude DC 20 vs. Slow 1 x 1 minute)
Song-of-Air (60/60)
Clover (70/90) (Slow 1 x 1 minute)
>Snowy (48/48)
Chani (68/68)
Blue Basilisk (-60 hp; <50%)
Rulean (68/68) (Slow 1 x 1 minute) (Before turn: Fortitude DC 22 vs. petrification)
Red Basilisk (-61 hp; <50%) (weakness 5 vs. Chani)
Rulean turns to stone.
"RUlean, no!" Song calls out. "We've got to kill these things and save Rulean!"
You see Rulean's movements slow more and more until he stops moving. The the color fades from his scales and his gear as it turns into a pale gray granite.
The other basilisk glares at Clover and then scuttles out of the telekinetic storm.
Basilisks! Round 3. Bold may act.
Ephraim (62/62) (Start of turn: Fortitude DC 20 vs. Slow 1 x 1 minute)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (Start of turn: Fortitude DC 20 vs. Slow 1 x 1 minute)
Song-of-Air (60/60)
Clover (70/90) (Slow 1 x 1 minute) (Before turn: Fortitude DC 22 vs. petrification)
>Snowy (48/48)
Chani (68/68)
Blue Basilisk (-60 hp; <50%)
Rulean (68/68) (petrified)
Red Basilisk (-61 hp; <50%) (weakness 5 vs. Chani)
Chani scowls as he sees Rulean turned to stone. He is even more concerned when one of the basilisks starts heading towards the mages. "No, you don't," he growls.
He drops his crossbow and draws his mace instead. He closes in on the basilisk while renewing the magical effects coming from his amulet and coating his mace with it as well.
+Exploit Vulnerability weakness
Chani hammers the basilisk with his mace and starts his amulet chain spinning in preparation of the retaliation that he expects.
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Clover, determined to avoid Rulean's fate, manages to avoid the basilisk's baleful gaze...for now. She considers her somewhat-limited options and then moves to aid Chani against Red, taking another stab with her fork.
______________
Ephie's bones begin to freeze. In a panic he unleashes another powerful spell
◈ Avert Gaze
◈◈ Electric Arc (DC 20)
Song hits both Basilisks with an Electric Arc.
While still averting his gaze, the archer attempts to send more arrows towards the one near Rulean (Blue).
Chani cracks the basilisk on the head but a hard part of its head. Clover takes advantage and stabs it in the chest, killing it.
Ephie summons a sudden bolt of lightning and electrifies the slow moving basilisk.
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Chani is a bit relieved when Clover and Ephie finish off the two basilisks. He puts his amulet back on and goes to inspect Rulean. He consults his cards to see if he can determine anything to do for him.
The card he looks at shows an image of a man splitting open a large, hairy, two-legged riding beast with horns and stuffing an ally into it.
"Hrrrm. Yes. Perhaps the beasts themselves can help reverse this."
Clover looks momentarily puzzled but then her eyes light up as she finally recalls what Chani alludes to. "Oooooh. Chani's right! We can fix this ourselves! But, um, it's gonna be kinda...messy. Well, messier than it already is," she adds as she looks around at all the blood, theirs and the basilisks', splattered on the floor. She rolls up her sleeves and draws out a dagger.
"So...do you think we can just sort of cut one open and shove him in there like on the card or should we just get some rags and wipe him down?"
"Cut it open," Song says. "But, before we do that..." Song removes her nice red silk cloak, and hands Leaf her bow. "Let's trade bows, Leaf. You shoot more than I do."
Chani starts dragging one of the basilisks over towards Rulean. "I worry about moving Rulean in his condition. I wouldn't want to drop and break him. We could try the rags first. If that doesn't work, then we can try fully opening one of the basilisks."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Clover nods as she readies to get to work.
Silk cape safely off to the side, Song helps with the ragging.
Once you have fully painted Rulean with the blood of a basilisk, it begins to soak into his stone form. The stone begins to soften and transform back to flesh. Once the process is complete, the iruxi comes to his senses to find the interim time missing.
The partially ajar double doors await you.
“That was strange….”
Rulean stretches a little bit, tests that all his joints can move again.
“I hope I never go through that again.”
He then looks at the chains, trying to figure out how long they would stretch, before checking the rest of the area and then finally moving to the slightly open door.
Rulean finds the chains each roughly forty feet long.
“That was strange….”
"I would imagine so." Chani looks at his blood soaked hands and arms. Then looks at Rulean completely covered in blood. "We might want to clean up a bit before continuing."
You take a moment to make yourselves presentable for underground exploration, refresh you magical lights, and slowly approach the doors. Peering through, Rulean sees a grand chamber.
This palatial chamber’s domed ceiling rises twenty feet above the stone floor. Stained‑glass windows portray a radiant human figure raising two islands from a tumultuous sea. Though the artwork is breathtaking, jagged cracks disrupt the images, and shards of colorful glass litter the floor. Heavy ebony doors stand in the east and west walls. The atrium’s alabaster walls are marred with crude paintings of humanoid figures, demons, and profane symbols drawn in blood. An unpleasant, coppery odor lingers in the air.
The iruxi quickly recognizes the source of the odor. Two xulgath are painting the back wall with blood on their hands. The source of the blood is a dead animal that lays between the two of them.
While they do not appear to have taken notice of your earlier battle--too engrossed in their 'art'--the light spilling through the gap in the doors and casting their shadows onto the wall alerts them to your presence. They turn with a hiss.
Villains under the Floor! Round 1. Bold may act.
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78)
Song-of-Air (60/60)
???
Red
Chani (68/68)
Rulean (68/68)
Ephraim (62/62)
Blue
Clover (90/90)
>Snowy (48/48)
No specific weakness. Use personal antithesis.
Critical Success:
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♫ I've known a few goons who could play their part
But you've got stinking right down to an art
You think you're a genius, you paint up the wall
You're a regular original, a know-it-all
Oh, oh, you think you're special
Oh, oh, you think you're something else
Okay, so you're a profane artist
That don't impress me much
So you got the blood but have you got the touch
Don't get me wrong, yeah you grossed me alright
But that won't keep me puking in the middle of the night
That don't impress me much ♫
Song enters the room dancing, and then turns and shoots.
◈ Stride
◇ Lingering Performance
◈ Inspire Courage
◈
Song-of-Air inspires you all and then sinks a arrow deep into one of the xulgath's thighs.
Villains under the Floor! Round 1. Bold may act.
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78)
Song-of-Air (60/60)
???
Red
Chani (68/68)
Rulean (68/68)
Ephraim (62/62)
Blue (-11 hp)
Clover (90/90)
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Leaf-on-Wind steps into the circular room and focuses fire on the Blue Xulgath.
◈ Stride
◈ Flurry
◈ Strike