Jack raises a hand to ward off the negative energy that washes over him. And though he withers slightly, his gourd face is largely unharmed.
Action 1: Guidance
Action 2-3: Ray of Frost
Jack works through two magical invocations, bolstering himself before releasing a ray of frost at the cult leader
Parry
It takes Yuturr rather longer to reach Nyamat than he'd like, but he gets there. Special delivery! I'll just put it right here between your fourth and fifth ribs for you.
-----
Asta continues his strategic examination of his target.
Seeing a prime opening, Asta stabs again!
Zarke recoils in severe pain from the harm, while T'gon'l avoids the worst.
T'gon'l then nips at Nyman while Zarke smashes.
Frustrated by his misses Zarke heals himself with his gloves
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Jack avoids some of the negative energy from the cult leader but can't quite hit with his ray of frost.
Fuchsia avoids some of the damage as well, though she has trouble connecting with her blade.
Yuturr darts in and just manages to stab Nyamat!
Asta can't avoid the negative energy, but he does spy the perfect opening. Asta expertly strikes the cult leader right between the ribs. As Nyamat teeters on the brink of consciousness, Asta follows up with another blowing, dropping the man for good.
Yuturr, -32 hp
Jack, -5 hp
Fuchsia, -5 hp
Zarke, -60 hp
Asta, -27 hp
"Probably goes without saying but... don't drink from the pool."
Yuturr takes some time to study the pool, trying to weigh the quality of Jack's advice.
Yuturr examines the clear water. He thinks that it's been affected by all the Angazhan worship here. It heals evil-aligned creatures, but may not affect neutral or good creatures the same same way.
He also spots a shiny vial at the bottom of the pool!
Think we can fish it out?
If so Fuchsia will try to aid!
You can do it!
Yuturr gives it a go, his tongue sticking out as he concentrates.
Zarke works on the process of bandaging his and everybody else's wounds while they figure out how to go fishing.
Asta sets about trying to figure out the properties of the water (without exposing himself to it).
Yuturr manages to use the materials in the room to fish out a small copper tube capped with sapphire-studded stoppers. It contains a dose of dust of disappearance.
Asta agree with Yuturr's observations about the pool.
So where's curse breaker? Keep going left?
After healing up the hard way and not by drinking the water from the healing pool which would definitely heal you, the group continues on.
This room has doors to the north, east, and an open passage south. The wall to the west has several displays bearing thirty-eight mummified hands, with a small plaque next to each.
Each plaque lists a name, date, and often some notable accomplishment, such as defeating a rival cabal, expanding the cult’s territory, or summoning a particularly powerful demon. A surprising number of hands have six fingers on them.
One of the hands isn’t a former cult leader’s hand at all, but a hollowed-out hand containing a dose of sixfingers elixir. Its plaque explains the
item’s basic function, and that it was a stolen from a rival cult of Angazhan decades ago.
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With some distaste, Yuturr makes his way over to the display of hands. Goth decor. Ugh. Not really my thing...and why do so many of these hands have six fingers...?
He holds up a vial, pulled from one of the hanging hands. Gruesome place to store this. But it might prove useful. He hands the elixir to Zarke.
"Fascinating. I wonder if that is a function of their worship, or a genetic predisposition among the population the cult draws from?"
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Seems to me like many of their leaders may have been faking it. Sounds about right for demon-worshipers to me. If only we found that elixir first, we could have pretended to be their leader and taken over! 'Dear Old Angizine says to be nice from now on, tithe Fuchsia and Yutuur all your gold, and to improve your fashion and interior design skills, et cetera.
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Yuturr grins. Let's try that, next time we run across one of these Angazhans, eh? Beats working for a living!
Zarke pulls yet another roll of bandages from T'gon'l's saddle bags as he works on the party's various wounds.
finally finished. "We ready to get beat up again?" Zarke jokes.
Jack sighs. Everyone is just so funny, he thinks to himself. Out loud he says, "Let's see what we're going to see."
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"Sure thing, Fuchsia. The rest of us will just hang back and let you two handle them all on your own, sound good?"
If they'd just be willing to have a polite conversation first, it would be no problem. Did you see how I practically had Ademe eating out of the palm of my hand? I was playing along… but oh, no, all these dino-demons and insane-cultists and angry snake-ladies want to do it the hard way around here. She sighs. No such thing as easy money.
You look into the next room. A small metal altar stands against the room’s south wall. The chipped and worn shrine is shaped like a bent, muscled humanoid dinosaur with its broad back serving as the altar’s surface. The entire structure seems to exude an ancient and oppressive malice. A double door leads east.
A man and a woman kneel in prayer. They seem startled by your entrance. "Hey, what are you doing here?" The man reaches for his spear...
Initiative
Zarke
Asta
Fuchsia
Sanura
Ngira
Yuturr
Jack
You get a really unpleasant sensation, like your are near something terribly cruel.
If you are attracted to her, you take a circumstance penalty to certain checks.
Fuchsia moves closer and looks at the woman's outfit. More edgy fashion, just like everyone else around here. You can do much better; trendy is the last stage before tacky.
She then twirls her rapier, ready for the inevitable rejoinder.
Zarke charges forward, deep into the room, ready to threaten both foes. Sure that nothing good could be here despite his strange attraction towards the woman. Zarke shakes his head and electric arcs both of them.
Asta spots an opening, breaking his attention from the fascinating woman in the corner to dash into a flanking position on the cultist.
"There's something seriously wrong with this shrine."
The woman seems offended by Fuchsia's cutting remark.
The woman easily dodges most of Zarke's arc, but the man is less successful.
Asta recognizes that the man is a regular human and notes that he bears a resemblance to the cult leader you just killed. He then moves in and stabs the cultist twice, the second attack causing a spurt of blood.
The woman appears annoyed at being backed into the corner, but she reaches a hand out gently toward Zarke.
"We don't need to fight like this. We could all be friends.
I think you'd like to be friends with me."
Suddenly, her hand tries to grip the kobold's neck.
Suddenly, Zarke is restrained by the woman's grasp!
She brings her face near Zarke's and starts to drain the life force from him!
plus drained 1
She then slashes at T'gon'l with her surprisingly sharp nails.
slashing plus evil
The man draws his spear and heals himself.
Initiative
Zarke, -10, drained 1, restrained (T'gon'l -30)
Asta
Fuchsia
Sanura, -5 hp
Ngira, -41 hp
Yuturr
Jack
Yuturr darts into the room, the circumstances of which prevent his typical reaction to such a scene.
You should let our friend go, he says reasonably, with every confidence that such a suggestion will be ignored.
Fuchsia doesn't like this person healing himself and decides to level out the playing field. But she can't do anything about it as she wastes panache on a critical miss. Assuming the creature will just move if she flanks, she then tumbles back out through Ngira's space, picking on the softer target.
Zarke struggles to get loose.
Zarke follows up with an electric arc on both.
While T'gon'l takes a bite out of the hopefully yummy woman.
Asta continues his assault on the spear-wielding cultist.
Action 1: Stride
Action 2-3: Ray of Frost
Jack and Meg both move closer to get a better view of the show. "Well now," is all Jack says before releasing a ray of frost at the nearest cultist.
Yuturr stabs the cultist once, slightly distracted.
Zarke manages to wiggle free and casts another electric arc.
This time, the strange woman takes the full brunt.
Asta's first strike is a crit, bringing down the cultist!
Jack moves in and fires off a ray of frost that misses.
The woman looks down. "So. My champion has fallen. Which of you will be my new champion? I have a wonderful gift for you. Perhaps you..."
The woman Steps twice and brings her hand down to Fuchsia's face, suddenly grabbing her neck.
Initiative
Zarke, -10, drained 1, (T'gon'l -30)
Asta
Fuchsia, restrained
Sanura, -16 hp
Yuturr
Jack
Fuchsia remains docile. Yeah… could be… I'm tough…
She'd make a fine champion, Yuturr says, but I'm afraid she has a prior engagement. You understand, being a busy person yourself.
He uses some of his patented moves, then conjures up a disk of force for protection.
Not sure what to make of her, Asta spots an opening anyway, stepping into position and stabbing twice!
T'gon'l nips at the heals of the strange lady while Zarke smashes twice and heals T'gon'l.
Action 1-2: Ray of Frost
Action 3: Guidance
Jack once more releases a ray of frost at the woman, hoping that he can aim true through the press of bodies.
He then incants another spell, letting an invisible guiding hand aid Asta
As Fuchsia remains entranced by the woman, Yuturr attacks the woman twice.
Asta isn't sure what kind of creature this woman is, but he knows how to strike!
Zarke smashes twice and heals up T'gon'l from her vicious claws.
Jack's Ray of Frost barely misses in the throng of people around her.
Badly injured, she reaffirms her grip on Fuchsia and brings her face close, drawing out some of Fuchsia's life force.
plus drained 1
She heals up as Fuchsia looks drained.
She scratches at Zarke.
slashing plus evil
Initiative
Zarke, -10, drained 1, (T'gon'l -9)
Asta
Fuchsia, restrained, -10 hp, drained 1
Sanura, -85 hp
Yuturr
Jack
Prior… what? It's so warm…
Peeing yourself is warm, too, Yuturr says with a snarl. LET HER GO!
He then conjures up a disc of force for protection.
"Who the hell are you, lady? Let Fuchsia go!"
Fuchsia can't bring herself to break the grapple despite getting drained of life.
Luckily, Yuturr and Asta both move in to stab the creature, who Asta finally recognizes as a succubus, and she falls!
A basket near the altar contains a few cleaning supplies, and beneath them is a jeweled hair comb worth 140 gp.
Well. Between Ademe and Sanura I've learned interesting new ways to make friends and influence people. Let's finish things here so I can take a nap soon.
More concerned about your insistence on trusting them, Yuturr pokes lightly at Fuchsia. Remind me to tell you of the patch of swampland I bought in Osirion -- I'll sell it to you at an incredible price!
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Bah! That's just part of the long con, my friend! I'm basically the one bidding on that swampland of yours, just to drive up the mark's price; don't worry about me!
"Meg and I did a show once in some swamp in Osirion. True story."