Olyse's beam of freezing air glances off of a plate of ancient armor.
The cyclops steps forward off of the puddle of grease and swings his axe at Panarug to remove him from his path. However, his axe catches on the upper edge of the massive doorway, sparking again and allowing the half-orc to easily move out of the way.
The undead giant swings his axe back toward Farinaa. She raises her translucent, magical shield into the blade's path. The force of the blow shatters the magic and carries the blade into the half-elf.
Encounter! Round 4/5. Bold may act.
Valgamorus the Intelligent Undead Cyclops (-59 hp)
Travis
Panarug
> Fharan (0/10 hp; dying 2; prone; hands empty)
Olyse
Faerinaa (13/32 hp)
--5--
Vixnax (12/17 hp; wounded 1)
Klank (13/23 hp; wounded 1) (+2 vs. mental 8/10 rounds)
Presumably misjudging the distance from the ancient cyclops, Olyse begins an incantation accompanied by complex gestures. The cyclops takes this opportunity to swing his axe at her. This time, his blade is not caught on the ceiling. This time the blade cuts deep into his victim and disrupts Olyse's attempts to cast her magic .
Encounter! Round 4/5. Bold may act.
Valgamorus the Intelligent Undead Cyclops (-59 hp)
Travis
Panarug
> Fharan (0/10 hp; dying 2; prone; hands empty)
Olyse (2/24 hp)
Faerinaa (13/32 hp)
--5--
Vixnax (12/17 hp; wounded 1)
Klank (13/23 hp; wounded 1) (+2 vs. mental 8/10 rounds)
The kobold who was bleeding his life onto the floor only a few seconds ago, lands two more solid kicks on the mummified giant, shaking loose dried skin and rib bones from within the ancient, corroded and piecemeal armor. Vixnox spits a caustic bit of phlegm onto the horror for good measure. Where things looked grim before, you think that one solid strike ought to put a stop to the cyclops.
Encounter! Round 4/5. Bold may act.
Valgamorus the Intelligent Undead Cyclops (-79 hp)
Travis
Panarug
> Fharan (0/10 hp; dying 2; prone; hands empty)
Olyse (2/24 hp)
Faerinaa (13/32 hp)
--5--
Vixnax (12/17 hp; wounded 1)
Klank (13/23 hp; wounded 1) (+2 vs. mental 8/10 rounds)
The cyclops turns its single eye toward Travis as the cleric finishes invoking positive energy to disrupt the monstrosity. The ancient creature blinks and overwhelms Travis' will with its own .
Encounter! Round 4/5. Bold may act.
Valgamorus the Intelligent Undead Cyclops (-79 hp)
Travis
Panarug
> Fharan (0/10 hp; dying 2; prone; hands empty)
Olyse (2/24 hp)
Faerinaa (13/32 hp)
--5--
Vixnax (12/17 hp; wounded 1)
Klank (13/23 hp; wounded 1) (+2 vs. mental 8/10 rounds)
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Panarug ducks as the massive cyclops swings his axe overhead, slicing deep into Olyse before he has the chance to shout a warning.
Taking advantage of the opening though, Panarug strides past the undead to flank it together with Faerinaa, even as he summons his spirits to fling a piece of rubble at it.
Faerinaa slashes at the cyclops back, cutting into desiccated muscles that hold him upright, though not doing as much damage as she hoped . Klank throws his hammer as the mummified cyclops begins to topple forward, smashing its face. The giant body lands with a crash, and the eye shrivels and disintegrates to dust.
Combat Over!
However, Panarug's noble familiar lies on the ground, its life swiftly fading .
Status
Travis
Panarug
> Fharan (0/10 hp; dying 3)
Olyse (2/24 hp)
Faerinaa (13/32 hp)
Vixnax (12/17 hp; wounded 1)
Klank (13/23 hp; wounded 1)
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Klank watches the attacks strike home and the towering brute fall to the stone floor lifeless. He quickly stows the potion, rushing ahead to help free the dying stoat (I forget what animal it was!) from the rubble of the corpse. "Do what you can to save him before its too late."
Afterwards Klank retrieves his dropped shield and thrown hammer. He checks them both over for damage before sitting down to rest. "This day is getting long, even for a Dwarf." He sighs.
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Olyse casts Stabilize to keep Fharan on this side of the Boneyard. "I'm so sorry, little one! I was so scared that I just couldn't take in all of what was happening on the battlefield!"
Once the companion is stable, Olyse casts a spell to create a goodberry, then pops the magically imbued morsel into her mouth.
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Finally having a chance to let his guard down and his adrenaline calm down, Klank moves about the room and shakes everyone's hand in a firm grip "Well done team. I don't believe we'd have taken that insane oversized zombie out and made it out of here alive without all your contributions." He happily asks for a couple tokes off Travis's pipe.
By the time Travis finishes treating everyone's wounds, you are all quite tired . There is still much to be learned from the ancient library, but you are also quite depleted in your resources should something else unexpected find you.
The now truly dead cyclops' body and clothing are fragile and splinter apart wherever touched. All that it leaves behind of enduring material is the giant greataxe with your blood upon it and a silver and obsidian torc.
Research Rules & Progress Reminder
Status
Travis (fatigued)
Panarug (fatigued)
> Fharan (fatigued)
Olyse (7/24 hp; fatigued)
Faerinaa (13/32 hp; fatigued)
Vixnax (17/17 hp; fatigued)
Klank (23/23 hp; fatigued)
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Since she's not much help with the research the others are doing on the mural, Olyse spends the remainder of her time communing with Maizy and creating more goodberries to help heal both her own and Faerinaa's wounds.
"Phew, good work, Maizy! I feel just about back to normal, and it looks like everyone else is doing alright. Oh...wow am I tired though. Makes ya feel good to put in a long day's work, doesn't it Travis? I think I could use a hot meal and a comfortable bed tonight. Let's head back to camp!"
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"Wow, thanks Olyse! These are delicious." Faerinaa pops each goodberry in her mouth as they're produced, savoring the taste as her wounds heal. "That was some creature. I wonder what ritual it was talking about? Maybe the mural has some more clues?"
After the short break to get her wounds treated, Faerinaa leverages herself back to her feet with a big yawn. "As much as I would like to sleep after a long day of nearly dying, see the fading on the mural?" She points a finger in its general direction. "Its been getting progressively worse since we opened this up. I think maybe we should camp here, and anyone who has the right skills takes a crack at trying to get what we can from this before its too damaged to read."
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Panarug hugs Fharan close to his chest, relieved not only that its heroic act was not in vain, and that in the end, it was not sacrificed. Still, he knows that if the situation should recur, he is hard hearted enough to do it again. He frowns briefly at that reflection, then let’s it go.
”I’m thinking we could continue in shifts? If Vixnax doesn’t mind, I would like to continue working on the tablets. The next shift could then return with a translator.”
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"I think whatever we decide we need to stay together. Half of us staying here and half trekking back through the countryside to the camp isn't a safe option." Klank offers to shuttle around tablets if there is a need, otherwise he gets some rest or takes watch while others rest.
With nobody studying the stone tablets, Vixnax likely travels back for a good--or, at least, better--meal and sleep while Panargu and Faerinaa continue to study the tablet until the witching hour. They make some progress and then break for the night. When they awaken, the mural has degraded too far to gain any more insight from it.
However, they did learn that cyclopes’ core understanding of their ability to see the future centered on the importance of their single eye. A cyclops seer lived in the present and the future simultaneously and could see events centuries before they occurred, though this ability was rare and in decline near the end of Koloran’s history.
Travis, Olyse, and Vixnax make use of their travel to the camp to bring translators back with them.
All that remains to be studied are the stone tablets.
It takes the rest of you another eight hours to understand the secrets within the stone tablets and their multitude of obscure languages, but in the end, you have a better understanding of the Koloran cyclops' history.
As prophecies began to fail them, even the Koloran cyclopes began to seek powerful beings from outside the planes to inform their prophecies. Unfortunately, this knowledge came at a price.
Valgomorus, a cyclops seer, had uncovered a ritual that he believed could bring back the lost power of prophecy. The ritual required a great sacrifice to an extraplanar being.
Satisfied with your research , you make your way back through the corrupted halls beneath the ziggurat. Backs stiff and eyes blinking in the afternoon light, you bid goodbye to your translators and look over the remains of the ruins to be explored.
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"Well now, this was quite the find! Great work everyone. Where to tomorrow? I think maybe we should work our way through the stuff outside the gate. Might be a little less dangerous going through some of the open ground than plumbing the depths of the ruins."
And she had to jinx it, didn't she...
Panarug simply shrugs, not particularly concerned where to go next. He assumes that the worst is over. Unless Faerinaa really jinxed it, of course.
You make your way back to what was once a broad paved roadway leading from the archway to the great temple in the distance. The edges of the plaza are defined by decorative stone pillars and fragments of statuary. The road surface itself is covered with grass and a thick layer of soil, requiring some digging to expose the original paving stones.
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Klank pulls out the spade and pick axe as he takes a good look at the work ahead of them "Who wants the shovel? I'll start breaking up the sod so we can get down and see just what we're doing here." He cracks his knuckles and gets to work.
"Easier on the hands than mining through solid rock I'll tell you. I'm lucky, I learned from my family how to run a smithy. Forge steel, shape it, and sharpen it." He makes some small talk as he works. From the look of his crowbar though you are sure he's still working on the 'shape it' part of the job.
While many of the statues are so eroded that they are featureless, Faerinaa is able to determine that the statues are not humanoid in basic design.
Once you finish documenting your findings of the road, you move on to the amphitheater surrounded by thick brush and red bruorsivi pines. A thick layer of fallen pine needles and other organic matter has coated the stonework. This was once an open-air theatre with stone bench seating in the round.