Silvia looks from the herald, to the door, and back again. "Do you have the key? We'll need to get the door unlocked if you want us to go through it."
Ketra shrugs "You should probably unlock it for us too. If there's a mad queen on the other side, you'll want us with weapons in hand to fight her off and protect you." The obvious trappishness of the whole situation had been building for a while, long enough for Ketra to move all the way from trepidation through annoyance and right into reckless enthusiasm.
She enters into a showy pose, blades at the ready "Alright, let me at her."
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With another wide grin, the faerie herald produces a skeleton key and presents it with a flourish, in both hands like a knight formally presenting a sword.
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Wallace pushes forward, fire in his eyes, takes the key, and points at the Herald.
"What's the meaning of this? Your aren't being straight with us, what's really behind that door?" he demands. I'll not be led about by the nose for some childish prank when our lives are on the line!
________
Still holding her pose, Ketra turns her head to look at the herald, raising an eyebrow.
Zsofia jerks a thumb at the herald, and says to the group, "Sure, we could trust this guy to tell us what's behind the door. Or I could, y'know, just go look and report back."
"You're not invincible, Zsofia, and there could be something particularly dangerous for you in there."
Eyes wide and jaw hanging open, the herald glances at the gaggle of faeries following behind who have all become very interested in cleaning their fingernails or studying a spot on the nearest wall or ceiling.
"Whaa...? Why, nothing! Pehrhaps a trap sent--er, laid!--by se Queen? Cehrtainly not a sehrpent made of fangs, why would you even ask that?" A chorus of dismayed gasps and groans comes from the watching tooth faeries. The herald grimaces, clearly realizing he's said too much but determined not to acknowledge it.
"Fangwinder," Silvia says, putting the pieces together. "The Queen's assassin. You were going to send us in there without any warning because, what, you thought it would be funny?"
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"You're not invincible, Zsofia, and there could be something particularly dangerous for you in there."
“Not invincible, but she can be untouchable. Garmid could go with her...” Realizing what he has just said, Sanduro turns quickly to Zsofia. “Just for backup! Not that you need backup! I mean, so you can show him how it’s done!”
When the herald slips and Silvia puts two and two together, he takes the opportunity to change the subject.
“Oh, right, Fangwinder, the Queen’s assassin. Would-be assassin? Alleged would-be assassin? Is it really a serpent made of fangs? I suppose that makes sense for an assassin commanded by the queen of the tooth fairies. Have you actually seen it?”
Zsofia glares at Sanduro and makes a rude gesture.
Breaking stance for a moment, Ketra clacks the flats of the machete blades together "Ohhhh, I get it. You've got yourselves a serpent problem, and the best you could do was trap it in here. Now that there's fodd- I mean, friendly reinforcements, we're all here to tackle the serpent together. Is that it?" She smiles slyly. "Then I can't think of a better person to lead the way than the Prince's bravest and most delightful herald. Or maybe the enforcer, if you're feeling a little off today?" She nods "We'll take it with you."
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"Fangwinder," Silvia says, putting the pieces together. "The Queen's assassin. You were going to send us in there without any warning because, what, you thought it would be funny?"
"...Yes?" the herald says hesitantly, but notices the other faeries vigorously shaking their heads or making throat-cutting gestures with their hands. "Er, no?" the herald amends. The crowd of faeries nods. "No," the herald says more firmly.
“Not invincible, but she can be untouchable. Garmid could go with her...” Realizing what he has just said, Sanduro turns quickly to Zsofia. “Just for backup! Not that you need backup! I mean, so you can show him how it’s done!”
Garmid harumphs, stroking his mustache and bristling indignantly. "I don't answer to you, boy! And I daresay I've been a phantom a fair span longer than your bandit queen!"
"Ohhhh, I get it. You've got yourselves a serpent problem, and the best you could do was trap it in here. Now that there's fodd- I mean, friendly reinforcements, we're all here to tackle the serpent together. Is that it?"
Seizing the lifeline being offered, the herald grins widely and nods in agreement. "Oui, oui, an alliance! Gracious of se mortahls to hehlp se Prince against his traitorous mo--"
"Then I can't think of a better person to lead the way than the Prince's bravest and most delightful herald. Or maybe the enforcer, if you're feeling a little off today?" She nods "We'll take it with you."
The faerie in Garret's hair freezes mid-word, eyes going wide as he steps into the rhetorical trap. Swallowing audibly, the faerie offers Ketra a weak grin. "Well, I am not pehrhaps se best choice to lead se mortahls into battle. Dear enforcehr, if you could be so kind...?" The stained-glass angel does not move, inscrutable as ever. The color draining from it's face, the faerie gulps again and flies over to the door with the mien of a man marching to the gallows. With one last, forlorn look at all of you the herald turns the key, and the door unlocks with a soft click.
Garret brings his loaded crossbow up and prepares for the door to open, though his true preparation should this be a fearsome snake is more arcane--if he acts quickly, perhaps an ear-piercing scream will stun the creature long enough for his companions to dispatch it...
You run through a mental list of snakes or snakelike creatures this Fangwinder could be--while there are a disturbingly large number of creatures that fit that description, the faeries' repeated reference to it being "made of fangs" doesn't ring any bells. It's possible, even likely, that it isn't a natural creature or even a living one.
After turning the key, the tooth faerie jumps up and down on the handly to turn it and then--with considerable difficulty given his small size--hauls it open to reveal the room behind. Once an elegant study, this room has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves along the walls, a pair of heavy desks, and several overstuffed chairs. Most of the books have been shredded, their pages and covers forming small nests. The chairs have all been sliced open, their stuffing removed and likewise fashioned into small nests. An unsteady chair made of stacked books stands atop the larger of the room’s two desks. Loose teeth are piled on the shelves, affixed to the ceiling, and heaped on the floors in strange, spiky patterns. The only exit from this room is the door your find yourselves standing in--there isn't a stairwell to be seen. You also see no sign of this assassin-snake.
"I'm quite sure it was in there!" the herald exclaims, eyes wide with alarm as it scans the trashed but seemingly empty room. "Se Prince had trapped it after escaping its clutches!"
Sanduro stands on tiptoe to get a better view from his usual position at the rear. He blows out a heavy breath when he sees the loose teeth piled up around the room.
"You said it's made of fangs, didn't you? Normal snakes shed their skin when they grow. Is it possible that all those -- " he waves the end of his bow, pointing at the around the room "-- could be Fangwinder's old skin?" He looks again. "If it is, I think you and your Prince might have a bigger problem than you thought."
Looking carefully into the room, Garret says, "Beware, if this is like any mortal snake, it may be well-hidden and waiting to spring."
Ketra resumes her alert stance. "Definitely looks like a lair at least... This isn't the kind of snake that can turn invisible, is it?" She eyes the room with caution as she transfers one of her machetes to her mouth to draw a pouch of chalk dust from her pack.
"You might be right Garret." She tosses the chalk dust pouch into the center of the room, then resumes her grip on her machete, curious to see if the sudden movement will lure the creature out.
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If I were a lesser man, I'd shove the Herald inside and close the door. Alas... Wallace keeps his shield up and sword ready. "Let's see that bravery," he says to the Herald, nodding at the room. "We're right behind you. We aren't like you so you can take us at our word for it."
Stepping behind the toothfairy and ready to follow him in, he prepares to shield the little fellow from harm as best he can.
Herald gives Wallaces a wounded look before flying into the office-room--immediately heading for the ceiling and slowly cruising around the room, desperately seeking some sign of Fangwinder.
"Se sehrpent is gone!" Herald cries, distraught. "How could this be?!" He flits down to land on the desk and leans over to point at the floor. "Se last time I saw him he was right sere rearing back to strike as we closed se doo--!"
Without warning, a long pale streak lunges out from under the desk, bleached-bone jaws clamping down on Herald before the faerie can react! Something crunches, and Fangwider rears back like a cobra, a hood of fangs flaring as Herald drops limply from the jaws of Queen Carnassial's assassin. Turning to Wallace in the doorway, Fangwinder flares out its hood of bone and sinuously sways back and forth, seeming to almost make eye contact with all of you in the course of its eerie dance.
No living snake at all, Fangwinder is a necrophidius--a construct made from bones and fitted with a human skull at the head. As a mindless construct that requires neither food nor sleep, a necrophidius makes an excellent guardian, and its innate stealth allows it to slip up on the unwary undetected. In certain areas, the necrophidius is commonly employed as an assassin, able to disable its quarries with its dance of death or paralyzing bite before disposing of them in a gruesome manner—as long as the assassination doesn’t require any particular intelligence to carry out.
Entranced by the serpent's menacing dance, you are Dazed for rounds.
ROUND ONE
Fangwinder
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
Wallace
Sanduro/Zsofia
”This is a Necrophidious, a mindless construct, not an actual snake!” calls out Garret, adding, ”Avoid its deathly gaze!” as he prepares to cast a spell.
The phantom freezes in place as well, creating a bottleneck in the hallway. Sanduro calls up to Garret and Wallace, "If the herald isn't going to make it, should we just close the door?"
Straining with the effort of pushing through the creature's hypnotic dance, Silvia still manages to raise her pistol and fire off a single shot.
Ketra, swaying rhythmically in time with the bone snake, staggers slowly into the room. Rather than have her machetes in a proper defensive posture, they swing from side to side in time with her own movements. She steps past Wallace, woozy as she says "Weird... snake... isn't it?"
This necrophidius has already demonstrating it's menacing Dance of Death, but worse still these constructs secrete a paralytic venom from their fangs! The constructs typically target those unaffected by their Dance first, unless they've been commanded to slay a specific target.
The serpent's motions are supernaturally compelling, and its a struggle for the party to throw themselves into motion as it bears its fangs in silent menace. Silvia's pistol shatters the silence--and the bullet shatters several of the long curved teeth making up Fangwinder's hood!
Fangwider does not hiss or growl, fighting in nearly total silence except for the soft rattle of its bony form on the wooden desk as it slithers atop it. With startling speed it manages to sidestep Wallaces overhead chop, and before the knight can pull his arm back Fangwinder lunges for Wallace's throat! A double row of fangs sinks in behind the knight's collarbone, and Wallance feels a pulse of poison spreading through him...
-ROUND TWO-
Fangwinder (-6hp)
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
Wallace (-9hp, Fort Save)
Sanduro/Zsofia
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Zsofia moves woozily into the room and stumbles past Wallace and Fangwinder, rocking backwards with whatever attack of opportunity the necrophidius makes against her but continuing for another step to flank with Ketra.
"Teeeth..." she mutters. "Why did it have to be teeth?"
Sanduro moves up to join Silvia in the doorway and launches an arrow at Fangwinder.
Round 1:
Keeping his eyes down on the lower body of the snake as he moves into the room, Garret tries hard to avoid looking at its swaying upper body. "Use blunt weapons if you can!" he states as he calls forth fire magic and attempts to burn the snake-shaped construct to slag.
, DC 15 Reflex for 1/2 damage
Round 2:
Repeat Burning Hands, +1 damage due to Reclaimer trait:
, DC 15 Reflex for 1/2 damage
Ketra mutters "Alright, hold still juuuust one sec." as she tries to steady herself. As Zsofia presents an opening, she drops her machete to deliver a straight punch at the toothy snake.
Her hands made clumsy by the assault on her mind, Silvia slowly but methodically loads another bullet into her pistol.
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Garret unleashes a sheet of fire that washes over Fangwinder. The assassin-construct ducks to shield itself--and manages to duck Sanduro's arrow in the process! A second spell from Garret fizzles as Fangwider rises back up, flaring its hood menacingly. Ketra chops with her machete, but the lighter blade is deflected from the polished bone of its body.
Whipping around, Fangwinder lunges at Ketra but the dancer is able to hop back and out of reach. Taking advantage of the snake-construct's over-extension, Wallace smashes it in the back with his shield and sends little shards of bone flying! With a rattle of bone Fangwider pushes itself back and off the desk.
-ROUND THREE-
Fangwinder (-14hp)
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
Wallace (-9hp)
Sanduro/Zsofia
Sliding across the room, Garret finds an opening and throws more fire at this elusive construct, hoping it eventually fails to dodge and his flames damage it!
. DC 16 Reflex for half (forgot Spell Focus Evocation last time)
Ketra takes a step after Fangwinder, almost stumbling as the serpent's swaying continues to affect her. Her training takes over at the last moment though and she converts the stumble into a downwards punch.
Silvia raises her pistol and tries to find a clear shot through the melee in the crowded room, but groans in frustration and instead moves in to back up Ketra.
Zsofia steps up to Fangwinder, clasps her hands together over her head, and hammers them down onto the construct's spine.
There's no way I'm going to hit that thing with everyone crowding around it, and my last arrow just bounced off of it anyway. Wallace looks badly hurt; better I do something about that instead.
Sanduro steps over to Wallace's side and murmurs a prayer to the Lady of Graves. "Not today, at least not just yet." He reaches out and lays a hand on the warrior's back.
As Fangwider gives ground the party pursues, the group's assault fierce despite the mind-numbing fog many of the are fighting through. Garret, Wallace, and Zsofia all land hits, cracking flames and thudding impacts leaving Fangwinder a cracked mess, its form barely holding together. Unable to find shots into the melee, Sanduro offers succor for Wallace's wound while Silvia maneuvers to a better position.
Still Fangwinder fights on, and something in its programming seems to recognize Wallace's moment of weakness as it lunges--this time the construct's serrated fangs tear at the knight's leg, piercing through the ringmail between the plates.
-ROUND FOUR-
Fangwinder (-28hp)
Garret
Ketra
Silvia
Wallace (-11hp)
Sanduro/Zsofia
Drawing his wand from its hiding place in his sleeve, Garret steps over and attempts to activate the nearly-depleted item. If it activates, he will tap Wallace with the wand, healing him.
If successful,
Silvia steps up to menace the snake with her leather and metal-clad fist, trying to distract it enough to make an opening for Ketra and Wallace.
Seeing an opening, Sanduro hurries past Garret, grabbing the rarely-used club from his belt. He pokes at the construct, trying only to distract it.
"Now, Zsofia!"
Fangwinder's distracting writhing still making it difficult for her to focus, Zsofia grits her teeth and repeats her last blow, aiming again for the construct's spine.
With Silvia running distraction, Ketra attempts to smash Fangwinder's central skull to pieces with her fist.
She sways in time with the snake as she moves, synchronized to its movement, to its detriment this time.