Between flame and fists, much of the ooze is rapidly discorporated. However the violence appears to attract a new foe as the heroically posed statue lurches into life and starts hammering Voshi!
The ooze noms mindlessly at Saylarya.
Zathra moves to flank the ooze before casting a healing spell on Voshi.
"Now, that is not playing fair!" Voshi says, pouting at the unwelcome surprise.
She draws her rapier and hopes for the best.
Unable to avoid being grabbed and injured, Saylarya flails her body as she tries to retaliate and hit back. Unfortunately however, being held up like she is makes her counter attack less effective. She growls, frustrated.
"An animated construct?" Uthe exclaims. "We are curious whether it's following a script or being actively controlled. It could also be sentient. However, that possibility is much less likely."
She gestures with her hand and her staff and a blob of acid splashes over the statue.
Saylarya's battering is enough to finish the ooze and it falls into inert matter. Uthe's spell however splashes over the golem to no effect, the magical treated wood resisting the acid.
Voshi meanwhile lands a good blow, thrusting her blade into its shoulder. This leaves a jagged edge of wood which slices at Voshi in response!
The golem lashes out with a fist and then sends a barrage of splinters across the room!
When her acid spell proves ineffective, Uthe steps back and considers the golem more carefully.
She then casts her enhancement spell on her staff again.
Zathra casts guidance on Saylayra and another healing spell on Voshi.
Taking guidance from the wise on, Saylara does her best to continue punching, kicking and trying to take down the magical creature.
Voshi mewls loudly, but it soothed somewhat by Zathra's aid.
She continues to strike at the golem.
Once again Voshi lands a good blow and a splinter strikes back at her. This time however the swashbuckler is prepared and dodges easily. Saylarya also lands a blow, but without retaliation.
Uthe can recall nothing of use about this kind of golem.
The golem stomps backwards away from Voshi and then unleashes another barrage of spikes.
(Crit)
Voshi continues her attack with flair against the golem.
Wincing as the shards strike her, Zathra moves to flank the golem if possible before attacking with her staff.
Determined to end this golem, Saylarya falls into a rhythm and lands two more solid blows.
Unable to recall anything about this sort of golem, Uthe falls back to brute force like the others and moves up to strike at it ineffectively with her staff.
The cats assail the golem mightily, but largely without effect. In the end it is Zathra's staff which does the most damage, lodging one of the golem's limbs until the limb itself splinters.
The golem punches at Saylarya and then releases a burst of splinters at close range!
The catfolk monk continues to pummel the large creature, taking the punch in stride and doing her best to lay on the punishment to it.
Zathra lays hands on herself, using the conjuration magic to empower her weapon for even greater whomping power!
Zathra continues to show the kittens how it's done, by hammering the golem over and over again.
"Zathra! Help Uthe! She is a fragile kitten!" Saylarya calls out before continuing to pummel the large thing.
Voshi continues to slash at the golem, struggling to find any weak points due to its composition.
Voshi lands two more blows to the golem's legs. It is now moving extremely sluggishly but still swinging its fists with vigor!
Voshi and Saylarya avoid the golem's blows and between them the contrust is finally reduced to an inert statue of rare hardwood as Zathra tries to recover from the ringing in her ears.
Zathra lays hands on Uthe to get her back on her feet. "That was a tough battle. Let us rest and tend to our wounds before we continue on. I do not think there will be any consequences for taking our time here."
The oracle meditates and continues to lay hands on the other catfolk, sometimes literally licking their wounds until everybody is at full health. Then, she gestures for the group to continue searching the building.
Voshi makes soft contented noises as Zathra soothes her wounds.
"I'm slowly starting to reconsider getting involved in all this human malarky. Uthe, Saylarya, I think you might be right..."
"We must help the humans, despite the way some of them have treated us. One, it is the right thing to do. And two, should the time ever come for us to face a great evil like our ancestors did long ago, we will need to curry favor with as many allies as we can get. For if we do not stand united, we will fall divided." Zathra's tail lashes back and forth for emphasis.
Saylarya pulls Voshi back to her feet. "If you ask me Voshi, they attack you because you wear those human clothes. I think you should shed them and perhaps they will not injure you with their nefariousness." She speaks nothing of being pummeled to near death earlier despite not wearing clothes herself.
The monk stares at Zathra with rapt attention during her proclamation. "So sayeth Zathra, it must be. We will help these humans, regardless of our own beliefs."
Opening the double doors reveals a storeroom packed with several sturdy shelves which hold a variety of crates, urns, barrels, and boxes. Two sets of double doors lead eastwards.
One particularly large urn, nearly the height of a man is buzzing slightly and that intensifies when anyone approaches. A rummage through the boxes produces a large cache of cinnamon worth 105gp and a moderate healing potion.
”That urn is buzzing. Uthe, can you do anything about it? It might be dangerous.”
Saylarya moves to the ready, positioning herself between the urn and the others. "Nefariousness." she comments, eyeing the urn with caution.
Waking to Zathra's warm and affectionate healing, Uthe stretches and purrs for a bit, just enjoying the attention, when she actually does attempt to move, she realizes why she was being attended to. "Ow. We are injured and do not care for this state of being," she whines.
Once the healing has finished and her wounds seen to, she rises languidly before moving about the chamber to examine what may be of interest. When the oracle points out the buzzing urn, her pupils widen as her attention is focused on it. "It buzzes, you say?" she asks, moving in to examine it closer. A quick spell follows and she shifts her head about as if to see the urn from different angles.
She reaches out and taps the container gently with her staff to see if the buzzing changes.
"Don't touch..." Voshi says, just as Uthe taps on the urn. "Ohhh, you might have made whatever it is angry now!"
The urn is unmagical but when Uthe taps it the buzzing inside the jar rises to a furious drone.
The monk frowns, not understanding. "How angry could an urn-sized creature be? Perhaps it is angry because it is trapped in the urn?" she states.
"I once came across a little bloodworm once." Voshi says, shuddering. "Don't underestimate something based on its size!"
”It sounds like a swarm of insects is trapped within. We should not disturb them further! Let us go to the next room,” Zathra insists.
As the buzzing increases, Uthe nods in agreement with Zathra. "Buzzing is most likely angry little - or not so little - ones," she says, reaching to lightly run her hand along the side of the urn as if attempting to gauge the anger from the intensity of the buzzing. She giggles. "It tickles." The limber woman leans in closer and presses her cheek against the container.
"We wonder what this sensation would be like against a sore muscle or ... " Deciding not to pursue that train of thought, Uthe abruptly stands and joins Zathra. "Yes we should go."
Heading through the double doors the queen of catfolk emerge into the caravan house's interior courtyard. The ground, covered with straw and sand, is crisscrossed with human and animal tracks. Two sets of large loading doors lead east, with the southern set of doors standing slightly ajar. Other doors leading west and north are labeled “Storage” in Common and Mwangi. A trough of stagnant water stands between the two doors to the west, and a flimsy table and chairs occupy the yard’s southwest corner. A veritable mountain of boxes, casks, and crates are piled in the southeast corner of the yard beneath a makeshift awning.
The large feline folk has no interest in bees and steps decidedly away from the urn. She looks at Uthe strangely "Did you not hear Zathra the wise say we should not disturb them? I do not wish to be stung one hundred times!"
Wrinkling her nose at the stench from the water, Voshi ambles to the closest crate or box and starts searching through it to see what she can find.
"We agree that stinging would not be the preferred outcome, but consider if ... if one were to ..." She then leans in close and whispers in the monk's ear.
~~~~
The sorceress sees nothing amiss in the courtyard and, after checking for magical auras, follows along behind Voshi.
Zathra inclines her head and follows the others.
Saylara listens to Uthe's comment with widened eyes. She inhales a breath and pulls back "Uthe!" she gasps in surprise.
The muscular catfolk leads the way, but she is partially distracted by Uthe's previous comment and only able to devote half of her attention to the task at hand.
Saylara listens to Uthe's comment with widened eyes. She inhales a breath and pulls back "Uthe!" she gasps in surprise.
The sorceress just shrugs and moves on.
Voshi heads towards the travel supplies, followed in line by the rest of the queen. Suddenly Saylarya feels a sharp jab in her back, but when she spins around there is nothing there.
"Saylarya, what are you making that noise for?" Voshi queries, looking back behind her, but then notices the blur in the sky. "Girls, look up there - its above our heads!"
She draws her longbow and then shoots at the figure above.
Zathra grants herself guidance and fires a divine lance where Voshi is pointing!
The sorceress pulls a wand from her belt and points it in the direction of the hazy figure.
Saylarya whirls when jabbed in the back, unable to find the sources. She cries "Nefariousness!" and slips into a stance to fight something, but is unable to find it.
And then she looks up and sees it. "There! Above!" She pulls out her hand crossbow, fires it towards the object and then reloads.
Both Voshi and Saylarya miss entirely, firing into the empty sky, while Uthe and Zathra both come close but the creature dodges and ducks with ease, disappearing back into the sky as it does so.
Zathra just dodges a ringing blow to the head as the creature zips away again.