Song-of-Air inspires you all to greater efforts and then sinks an arrow into the spineripper's thick neck. The wound is severe but not enough to take down the monstrosity.
Leaf-on-Wind fires off a pair of arrows. One of the grazes the spineripper's tough scales. He also recalls from some book somewhere that xulgath can be powerful arcanists capable of releasing powerful magic like bolts of lightning, balls of fire, arcane missiles, and teleportation.
Seeing a small target, the spineripper reaches for Clover. She steps back just out of reach, thankful, as she recalls the last time a spineripper laid its hands on her. Unfortunately, her relief is short lived. The spineripper bends down with maw wide open and sinks its teeth into her shoulder, ripping flesh painfully .
The smaller xulgath underscores Leaf's recollection as he begins to chant arcane words of power. A bright arc of lightning jumps from his outstretched hands through Clover and the doorway. He moves away behind the spineripper as your eyes clear.
Interrupted Studies. Round 2. Bold may act.
Rulean (68/68) (immune to stench) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 28 electricity)
Leaf-on-Wind (58/78) (immune to stench)
Ephraim (62/62) (sickened 1)
Song-of-Air (50/60) (sickened 1) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 28 electricity)
Clover (90/90) (immune to stench) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 28 electricity)
>Snowy (45/48) (immune to stench)
Chani (63/68) (immune to stench)
Spinesnapper (-61 hp; <50%) (p.a. 5)
Smaller Xulgath
Rulean takes the full effect of the lightning.
Chani watches concerned as the Xulgath moves in and starts attacking Clover. When it gets a solid hold with its mouth, he whips his amulet chain and sends a protective energy lattice to prevent the bite from sinking in quite so much.
He looks down at his crossbow, then to the stone wall between him an the enemies. "Hrrrm. Can't do much with this from here." Chani sets the crossbow down, draws his mace, and squeezes past the others in the doorway to fight along side of Clover in the room.
+Exploit Vulnerability weakness (5)
He gives the brute a solid whack on the snout.
Like Rulean, Clover also takes the full brunt of the lightning blast. As her vision clears, she realizes that Chani has advanced into the chamber with her to strike out at the Spinesnapper. Taking a deep breath she maneuvers around behind the big xulgath and strikes out again with her fork.
"Snowy! Get 'em!"
______________
Snowy barrels into the chamber and lunges at the Spinesnapper with sharp, pointy teeth!
______________
Ephie is queasy but tries focuses on extending his spell's reach to maximize hurt.
Chani's blow to the xulgath's snout stings the brute. Clover swiftly moves to put the giant xulgath out of his misery while Snowy runs into the room to harry the smaller xulgath.
Ephie grazes the nimble arcanist with his electric arc.
Interrupted Studies. Round 2. Bold may act.
Rulean (40/68) (immune to stench)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (immune to stench)
Ephraim (62/62) (sickened 1)
Song-of-Air (50/60) (sickened 1) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 28 electricity)
Clover (49/90) (immune to stench)
>Snowy (45/48) (immune to stench)
Chani (63/68) (immune to stench)
Smaller Xulgath (-8 hp)
Song evades most of the lightning, and some of the rest of it simply sparks off her.
Then Song follows Chani into the room, and casts Animated Assault on the two assailants.
◈◈ Animated Assault
Rulean also enters the room, but rather than attack the small xulgath he decides to use his powers to heal Clover. A tiny amount of that healing comes back to heal his own wounds.
Without his bodyguard to hide behind, the xulgath mage is battered repeatedly by the very books he was trying to study.
Clover feels much better as vital energy flows into her.
Interrupted Studies. Round 2. Bold may act.
Rulean (43/68) (immune to stench)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (immune to stench)
Ephraim (62/62) (sickened 1)
Song-of-Air (49/60) (sickened 1)
Clover (90/90) (immune to stench)
>Snowy (45/48) (immune to stench)
Chani (63/68) (immune to stench)
Smaller Xulgath (-20 hp)
Leaf-on-Wind quickly moves to the doorway and unleashes a barrage of arrows at the xulgath arcanist. The xulgath's scales manage to protect it for the most part, but one arrow does leave a new line of blood.
The xulgath retaliates with a string of arcane words and gestures that culminates in a roaring blast of fire originating in the doorway. Then the xulgath wards himself with another quick word.
Interrupted Studies. Round 3. Bold may act.
Rulean (43/68) (immune to stench) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 26 Fire)
Leaf-on-Wind (78/78) (immune to stench) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 26 Fire)
Ephraim (62/62) (sickened 1) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 26 Fire)
Song-of-Air (49/60) (sickened 1)
Clover (90/90) (immune to stench)
>Snowy (45/48) (immune to stench) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 26 Fire)
Chani (63/68) (immune to stench) (Basic Reflex DC 26 vs. 26 Fire)
Smaller Xulgath (-24 hp) (shield)
Ephie retches, but is unable to overcome the stench. He knows need to work together to take down this powerful spellcaster. GIVE ME POWER! His eyes goggle like a doll's and he refocuses. Then, he casts leaps across the space, landing right next to the caster.
Rulean goes down to the blast of fire.
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Chani flinches from the fire and manages to avoid some of it.
Rulean goes down to the blast of fire.
He sees Rulean go down and quickly pulls out a small flower. "Don't go anywhere. I'll tend to you better in a minute." He gently releases the flower and it drifts down through the air sedately and comes to rest on the Iruxi cleric.
Chani then turns his attention back to the Xulgath against the far wall. "Now, about you." He stalks to the center of the room - which not coincidentally happens to put himself between the spellcaster and Rulean.
Snowy manages to evade some of the fiery blast, but not all of it - the smell of burnt, singed fur fills the area.
"Rulean! Damn! Come on Snowy, we need to finish this guy!"
Not wanting to see the group take another blast, Clover advances on the xulgath and tries her best to stick them...
______________
Snowy is more than happy to charge down the stinky thing throwing fire! He darts up and tries to bite the creature...
______________
"Rulean, no!" Song-of-Air casts a healing spell on Rulean, before shooting the monster.
◈◈ Soothe
◈
Her arrow plinks harmlessly against the wall.
Rulean collapses in the flames. Ephie retches while Mr. Splinter infuses the half-orc with a sliver of power.
Clover charges the xulgath arcanist while the others tend to Rulean. The halfling's fork cuts a line in the mage's scales. Once Song-of-Air has used her magic to wake her brother, she fires an arrow toward the xulgath. It flies wide. Snowy bites at the Darklander's legs but misses. Leaf-on-Wind steps toward Rulean and further bolsters him with a swift medical visitation before unleashing a flurry of arrows at the xulgath. Two of the arrows draw dark crimson blood.
The xulgath chants an eldritch phrase and then disappears in a puff of foul-smelling smoke. They reappear on the other side of the doorway. Rather than retreating further, the mage swings its relatively small mace at Leaf-on-Wind's head. The bludgeon connects, but Leaf-on-Wind reacts just in time to prevent it from being more than a glancing blow.
Interrupted Studies. Round 4. Bold may act.
Leaf-on-Wind (60/78) (immune to stench, b.m. Rulean)
Ephraim (49/62) (sickened 1)
Song-of-Air (49/60) (sickened 1)
Clover (90/90) (immune to stench)
>Snowy (32/48) (immune to stench)
Chani (50/68) (immune to stench)
Rulean (49/68) (immune to stench) (prone)
Smaller Xulgath (-59 hp; <50%; P.A. 5)
Rulean stands and then flings some divine retribution at the xulgath.
CS double damage
"Hrrr," Chani growls softly when the Xulgath mage vanishes. He swivels his ears searching for any noise that it makes.
When the mage reappears attacking Leaf-on-Wind, Chani whips around. His amulet lashes out some protective energy. "Cute trick," Chani whispers. He dashes toward and then past the Xulgath.
Getting past the Xulgath and opposite Leaf, he strikes with his own mace twice.
+Exploit Vulnerability weakness
+Exploit Vulnerability weakness
The xulgath wizard just barely manages to avoid the lance of divine power.
Chani expertly jigs as he rushes the doorway and slips past the xulgath. The amurrun's first swing of his mace is off-balance, but the backswing thumps satisfyingly against the xulgath's side.
Interrupted Studies. Round 4. Bold may act.
Leaf-on-Wind (65/78) (immune to stench, b.m. Rulean)
Ephraim (49/62) (sickened 1)
Song-of-Air (49/60) (sickened 1)
Clover (90/90) (immune to stench)
>Snowy (32/48) (immune to stench)
Chani (50/68) (immune to stench)
Rulean (49/68) (immune to stench) (prone)
Xulgath Mage (-72 hp; <50%; P.A. 5)
"Nope, you're not getting away that easily!"
Clover gives chase after the mage, attempting to duck past Leaf and tumble through the mage's personal space...
...but gets soundly rebuffed, forcing her to stop short. She tries to jab at the xulgath with her fork, though her position makes it a bit awkward...
______________
Ephie retches, then wings a bolt of frost at the enemy mage:
He growls in frustration.
◈
◈
◈
Frustrated in her attempt to get past the xulgath, she stabs at him from her disadvantageous position. Her luck is solid as the tines manage to thread the needle and jab into the mage's leg.
Ephraim frosts the lintel.
Song-of-Air fires an arrow that gouges deep across the xulgath's brow, nearly blinding him . Her brother falls back as he releases his own storm of arrows. One of them takes down the xulgath. He lies in the doorway bleeding to death.
"Please don't kill me! I'll help you!" a tiny voice pipes out from somewhere along the southern wall.
Leaf-on-Wind (65/78)
Ephraim (49/62)
Song-of-Air (49/60)
Clover (90/90)
>Snowy (32/48)
Chani (50/68)
Rulean (49/68)
Smaller Xulgath (dying 1)
Invisible Voice
Rulean uses his magic to stabilize the small xulgath and then calls out “Who said that?” as he looks towards the southern wall and tries to discover who called out to the group.
Chani doesn't show much interest in the fallen enemy. Where he grew up, an enemy was an enemy and if you were fortunate enough to survive a fight against one, you definitely didn't help them afterwards.
He instead turns towards the new voice, keeping his mace and amulet readied. "Who is it who speaks?"
"Oh, I wouldn't do that. I helped Zunkri and the others for many weeks, and he's nasty," the little voice says. Rulean cannot quite pinpoint the voice, probably because it keeps moving around. "I'm a good friend, though. Put away your weapons, and I'll tell you everything."
Chani is immediately distrustful of the voice since it doesn't identify itself. But only distrustful for the moment. He stays where he is, but does not lower his weapon and implement. Instead his ears twitch and swivel trying to locate the creature by sound.
If Rulean thinks the unseen person is genuine in their interest in talking rather than fighting, he will sheath his weapon.
“We noticed that he was nasty, but thought he might know something worthwhile.”
"I'm Givzib, and I can help you," the voice says. Chani determines the voice is currently at the base of the stairs.
Rulean senses that the creature is genuine in its intent.
Rulean sheaths his pick. “My name is Rulean.”
Noticing that Rulean puts away his weapon, Chani does as well. He continues fidgeting with his amulet in his other hand though. His ears are now trained on the sound of the creature - giving a nice visual cue of where it is to everyone else. "Well, I would certainly not be opposed to more information and less fighting. I am Chani."
As the rest of you follow Rulean and Chani's example, a tiny, winged demon with curved horns and long claws appears perched atop a sconce next to the stairwell. Before you can react, the tiny demon unleashes a deluge of words as it tries to make a case for sparing its life.
"I can tell you all about the nasty xulgaths here! Yes! The ruins are big and scary, you need a friend like Givzib to help. I knows their secrets. I watch their deal with the pretty cat‑lady, see how she tricks them. But they never listen to Givzib. My new friends will listen, yes?" he finishes with a wide-eyed expression of innocence and helplessness.
Rulean frowns at sight of the horned demon, but gives it time to talk.
Once it is done, he sks “What do you get out of this deal?”
"To be not destroyed?" the quasit--as Rulean recognizes--says in as meek and pitiable voice as he can manage.
“My understanding is destroying your body here may be painful but it would not destroy you.”
Looking to the rest of the group, Rulean says “Personally I don’t recommend trusting a demon, but this is something we should agree to as a group.”
Looking to the quasit again, he then says “Is there an acceptable way we can send you back to the abyss after you have told us what you know?”
"No!" the quasit squeaks. "That is not how it works with quasits! I was made on this plane. If you destroy me here, that will be the end of me! If you want to send me to the Abyss, you need to kill the one who conjured me. It was a xulgath demon-caller named Kalagash. They're downstairs somewhere. They don't bring me down there very often. I was supposed to keep an eye on these miserable ones."
The unconscious xulgath groans.
"I would make no binding agreements," Chani suggests, also assuming that this is some kind of quasit or similar low ranking Devil, "just suggestions of expected behavior. We may decide of our own volition to go and defeat this Kalagash mentioned - especially if they are creating Devils. If that happens to also banish Givzib in the process, all the better. If it does not, then we can still reserve the right and obligation of destroying Givzib if necessary. And any further informaion that Givzib decides to offer voluntarily, and without expectation of compensation, to aid us in defeating Kalagash and causing Givzib to be banished instead of destroyed would also be for the better."
His ears train on the sound of the Xulgath mage groaning. "It also appears that the other one is stirring."
"Whoa, wait a minute," Clover suddenly butts in. "I definitely want to know more about this 'pretty cat-lady' because I'm pretty sure we've tangled with her before if it's who I think it is!"
She considers the situation and then looks to Rulean and Chani. "If he's sincere then I'm willing to hear what else he's got to say. Not that I like the idea of dealing with devils either but he *did* offer to parley instead of just zipping back to this Kalagash to rat us out..."
Rulean scratches his scales, thinking on what Givzib said.
“It seems we could both benefit from working together. Givzib could return to the abyss with a damned soul — that of the xulgath summoner Kalagash — and we could gain information that hopefully would be useful to us in fighting them.” Looking towards the demon, he says “That is how it would work if we defeated this Kalagash, right?”
With a wave of his claw, he says “The little demon already makes it sound like we listen to him more than the Kalagash.”
He then mutters “I’m still hesitant to work with a demon.”
While the puppy-dog eyes and meek demeanor are feigned to such an exaggerated degree that he could not hope for them to be taken seriously, he does not seem to be hiding his intentions.
"That is just hurtful," the quasit mutters as Chani tries to negotiate a non-contractual agreement of understanding. He interjects with the word, "demon" every time someone says, "devil."
"Yes. Yes! Both sides benefit," Givzib says as it appears that Rulean is coming to a decision. "Givzib can tell you all he knows about the two dozen xulgaths camping here and the shiny, silver haired catfolk woman who dupes them into doing her bidding. Look, look!" He points at a polished black staff topped with a silver horse head in the corner of the room. "She brings them gifts like that, but Zunkri was too dense to know what to do with it. If she can bribe them with gifts like that, what is she getting out of it? Must be important."
"Er, sorry," Clover offers upon being corrected by the quasit. She very nearly adds, 'you all look the same to me' but catches herself.
No, that's...really rude. I'd be upset if someone told me all halflings look the same, because we surely don't!
Then the absurdity of trying to not hurt a demon's feelings hits her and she suddenly has to bite down hard on the urge to laugh.
Nothing's been the same since we went to Abberton, has it? May as well add 'worrying about demon feelings' to the pile of new and surprising experiences.
"Yeah...I wonder what she's getting out of it too," she agrees. "This already seems bigger than her usual sort of plans..."
"Since you look like you are merciful souls--clearly I would never have any hope of corrupting any of you--I confess that I was conjured here in this temple. I have never known any place other than this temple," the quasit explains. "Among the two dozen xulgath still here in the ruins are four demon-callers. They usually work together toward whatever they are doing downstairs, but they also do not get along with each other. That seems to be the xulgath way: everything is an enemy, even your allies, and you only keep order through brutal strength. They are a lot like demons in that way... But I digress."
The quasit clears his throat. "There were more xulgaths here, but they left some time ago."
“How many of the remaining xulgaths are the huge type like that one?” Rulean asks, gesturing towards the brute they killed here.
“Any ideas what they hope to accomplish by summoning the demons, other than desecrating everything?”
“Has anyone accompanies Mistress Dusklight when she is dealing with the Xulgath?”
"Like that one? The xulgath demon-callers make those by accident when one of their rituals to make a more powerful xulgath fails," Givzib says. "That's the only one I've seen. As for the demons, these xulgath worship a demon lord and summon demons to do their bidding. They guard the leaders and some places, mostly." The quasit shrugs. "What else are demons good for? They're not smart like quasits."
He shakes his head when asked about Mistress Dusklight. "I assume you are talking about the catfolk woman? Yes. Sometimes she comes with other humanoids. The ones she brings never leave, though, you know what I mean?"
Shaking his head at the last statement, Rulean says “That is further than I thought she would go.”
"Yeah...me too..." Clover agrees, visibly shaken by the implication. "I wonder if the rest of the Celestial Menagerie knows what she's up to? Not that I expected they'd believe us but I'd like to think that at least some of them wouldn't knowingly truck with this sort of dark business..."
Begrudgingly accepting the quasit's help, Givzib seems to relax. He flutters over as if to perch on Ephie's shoulder, but with a glance at Mr. Splinters, he circles back and contents himself with hovering in your collective proximity. "Yaashka is probably still praying in the chapel next door," he says, pointing to the west wall. "He and some of the more devout war leaders stick together. He is not the strongest demon-caller, but he is no slouch either. Uzenshell was wandering around these upper chambers with some other xulgath. They were experimenting in the large sanctuary last I heard." He points to the south wall.