"Nice shot, Tyn! I'll draw it's ire, one of you stab it!" Xaerai darts back in, feinting and jabbing and otherwise making a nuisance of herself behind the ghelarn
Zelvin can't move out of the creature's reach, so he draws his pistol and shoots another enchanted coin at it, hoping he can weather another retaliatory attack. At least he wasn't stuck in the slime any more!
Another wild bomb from Tyn sails through the air, this time well past the creature and exploding against the tunnel wall between Xaerai and the ghelarn. Acid sprays across it again and its skin recoils from the caustic liquid, rippling unsettlingly.
It lashes out with another tentacle as Hekau flees, determined not to let its prey escape. The appendage slams into the android's retreating back and nearly knocks him off his feet. Rather than be baited by Xaerai, though, it turns its shell on her and moves to chase after Hekau...and expose itself to Zelvin's pistol. The magically enhanced coin is blasted out of the man's pistol, into the ghelarn's mouth, and through the nerve cluster that functions as its brain. It lurches forward a few more steps, shudders, and then becomes still.
Zelvin whoops! "Aw heck, that was amazin'! I've never heard of anyone defeating a ghelarn before. We should keep one of those tentacles to show Mr. Khonnir!"
Shesik pulls herself from the dissolving slime, ripping the feeding tendrils from her skin. "Never heard of a ghelarn and I'm just glad it's dead and we're not. Any way to tell what it's been eating recently? Other than us?" She looks back thoughtfully into the corridor behind them. "Could it have escaped from those cages back there?"
Xaerai hisses in pain and anger as the acid splashes her. "Damn it, Tyn! Every gods-damned time!" She takes it out on the ghelarn's corpse with another vicious kick, then looks out across the sand.
"Hopefully it didn't have a mate," the dwarf mutters. "Let's patch ourselves up and be on our way, Khonnir's a-waitin'."
"I am badly wounded," says Hekau. He is both bleeding and sparking, and seems to be near collapse.
"We've got a couple of healing potions," Zelvin says. "Shesik's holding them. Seems to me Hekau should take them before we go on, right folks?"
"Ok, all wounded gather around Hekau, and by Bharnarol's bright blessing I will address the wounds incurred by the beast...and...uhh...err..by the splash of that last misfire-I must get that forearm cramping seen to! Ahem..."
When the wounded gather around Hekau, Tyn pulls a catalyst vial from his belt, goes through a set of smooth motions, infuses it with a bit of his arcane aura, and launches it at Hekau. Instead of a violent explosion, a celestial glow washes over the android and spills over to the surrounding squares. As he does this, one of his Cure Light Wounds extracts dissipates into nothingness.
He then pulls out another vial, and with the same set of motions. infuses yet another vial and throws it at Xaerai.
After that, he approaches Xaerai and whispers a small prayer to Bharnarol.
"Father of invention, please heal this valiant warrior, whom your faithful servant recklessly, yet unintentionally, damaged in battle!
Tapping into the celestial lineage of his adoptive parents, he forsakes his dark heritage and lays his hand on the Dwarf's shoulder and lets a bit of healing energy flow.
His head rocks back as if some unearthly force just socked him in the nose, a trickle of black ichorous blood trailing out.
"Yeah, I deserve that!"
He rights himself and cracks his neck, allowing a more personal energy to flow through himself.
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Catching the edge of Tyn's radiant burst, Shesik stares as the healing bomb begins to knits Hekau's wounds back together. "So, that works on you? Huh, maybe yer not quite a robot after all." Looking at the horned alchemist with some admiration, she pats the small pouch hanging at her hip. "So that's what you were yelling about this morning. Glad we could save these for later."
She gazes into the darkness, her mismatched eyes following the trail of disturbed sand. "Well, we can assume anyone who came before us went that way." She gestures of into the expansive darkness. "And that they didn't have to deal with this thing." Her boot thumps against the carcass. "But somewhere out there we'll still have to deal with those four armed skeletons the skulks warned us about. So, no getting lazy, we gotta stay sharp." Shesik flexes her claws as she continues to scan the path ahead as if willing her strange eyes to pierce the gloom.
Hekau, oblivious as usual, decides that Shesik actually wants a response.
"That is correct, Shesik. Healing magic and positive energy are fully effective on me. I am not a robot." His tone isn't condescending at Shesik for taking so long to get here, nor is he frustrated or annoyed at having to say the same thing over and over again... he just states a fact.
Hekau turns to Tyn. "Thank you for your healing. I am able to continue. I must say I find it intellectually intriguing that you are able to heal others both through the science of alchemy and also through your faith in Bharnarol."
"If the skeletons are actually undead creatures, then I do have an enchantment prepared to deal with them."
Zelvin waits politely but anxiously while everyone patches up, hoping they will find Khonnir Baine before their water breathing spell wears off.
She drops to one knee and examines the ground for traces of other's passage.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Survival : 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Xaerai grunts as Tyn sets about healing everyone's injuries. "I suppose I forgive you then, but try not to bomb us all to death going forward, yeah?" The dwarf turns to look at Shesik, head cocked as she watches the ranger work. "Find anything?"
"Yeah. I shoulda stuck with the slider. My knuckleball leaves a lot to be desired!"
Tyn moves up a bit and surveys the wasteland before them before continuing the trek.
"Whatever they are, I got a nice acid sandwich for 'em!"
"Provided its them you hit!"
Tyn shrugs at the scene before him,
"Looks safe to me!"
And trudges forward.
Moving past the battle disturbed sands, Shesik once again examines the ground for traces of passage. "There's an obvious path that some number have traveled. So far, I don't see any stragglers wandering off, but I'll keep an eye out for that."
She scrambles through the sand after Tyn and continues scanning the edges of the disturbed sands for anyone who might have wandered off.
Hekau follows along warily, crossbow in his hands.
Rounding the corner, Shesik spots a faint blue light off in the distance, its true source obscured by some other object hidden in the hundreds of feet of pitch black emptiness between it and the party. The tracks you follow seems to head in that general direction as well.
Soon, the tracks take you past a small ridge that looms up out of the darkness. As you approach, however, something stirs in the sand at its foot. What that is quickly becomes apparent: a humanoid skeleton, easily seven feet tall, with an oddly elongated skull, and four arms ended in viciously wicked claws. Its empty eyes stare out at you for several seconds, its mouth hanging open, before two points of green light snap into existence inside those eye sockets. With long, determined strides, it advances.
Behind you, to the west, Zelvin spots a twin rising to its feet before it, too, begins its march.
Hekau
Shesik
Xaerai
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
"Huh. I see it too, Shesik. Wonder what that light is?"
When the skeleton looms up, Zelvin inadvertently takes a step back. "What the hells is that thing?" he cries. It's obviously humanoid, but like no person he's ever seen. His eye catches the other one to the west, and he points his gun at it with urgency. "'Ware come the cavalry!" he mutters anxiously.
He casts a spell with his free hand while he shoots his remaining enchanted coin with the other, aiming both at the creature directly before them.
"Forget the light, Zelvin! We've got got bigger problems!" Xaerai steps forward, pistol leveled at the first skeleton as she advances to place herself between it and the main group. "Back to the grave with you, you ornery pile of bones!"
Hekau does not see the light.
He does see the skeletal creatures rising up. He takes a step next to his brother, and readies to cast Disrupt Undead as soon as the skeleton (Green) is within range.
”Well, now we know what they meant by four armed skeletons.” Shesik mutters. As she closes on the red eyed monstrosity she pulls a flail from her belt and swings at the collection of bones before her.
”Well, now we know what they meant by four armed skeletons.”
Xaerai pauses her reload and turns to give Shesik a strange look. "I...well it seemed pretty unambiguous to me. What'd you think they meant, other'n skeletons that have four arms?"
Counting on the martial prowess and toughness of the resilient female members, Tyn puts himself in between the second skeleton and his squishy soft male allies. A familiar set of movements follow igniting the now volatile vial in his hand. A nostalgic feeling rushes to his mind, that of a childhood game he played with his adoptive kin-one played with a less dangerous "ball."
"Tyn Foyle takes the mound once again-it's been a rough day so far, but never too late for redemption! He gets the signal, winds up, and hurls his heater!"
"A lone adversary...no allies within line of friendly fire...if you screw this one up it's the showers for you, boy!"
Simultaneous shots ring out from Xaerai and Zelvin's firearms, shattering bones and causing the skeletons to stagger for a moment. The flash from both weapons briefly illuminates the cavern, and both Xaerai and Shesik catch a glimpse of another figure moving through the sands.
Against slower moving attacks, however, the skeletons are far luckier. They nimbly dodge flail, magic, and bombs, continuing to advance. One, finding Shesik well within its reach, attacks her with a flurry of raking claws. Meanwhile, the other simply charges straight at Tyn with alarming speed.
But the ranger and alchemist are no slouches either, and every time a skeleton's claw reaches for them, they simply aren't there any more.
From out of the darkness, another of the strange skeletons appears.
Hekau
Shesik
Xaerai
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
"Ha! Tougher'n they look!" Xaerai laughs, until she sees the third skeleton approaching. "Look alive, got another one coming to say hello!"
Crouching low, the dwarf launches herself into a charge against the skeleton battling Shesik, hoping to take it out before the newcomer can enter the fray.
Hekau moves and readies to try Disrupt Undead again if Tyn steps out of melee with the skeleton.
Having dodged the flurry of attacks from the surprisingly agile skeleton, Shesik swings again at the multi-armed collection of bones. ”They don’t seem that tough, we just gotta hit ‘em.”
As he watches the bomb come up short, Tyn realizes he wasn't even as close to the lumbering fiend as he thought he was...
"And now you need spectacles there Wild Thing."
...until the skeleton remedies that situation and closes the gap. Tyn weaves out of the way of the charge. He takes a step way, retrieves his sickle, and takes a defensive stance.
"Come on! Let's dance!"
Zelvin whoops as they seem to harm the skeletons, then curses as he sees another approaching. "Don't let them surround us!" he cries, as he fires two more spells through his pistol.
The skeletons continue to evade shot, spell, and blows, with one of them managing to rake its claws on Shesik's arm in a counterattack. Tyn finds himself the focus of his own flurry of blows from the monster but his own defenses hold.
Hekau spots another pair of skeletons approaching from the southeast.
Hekau
Shesik
Xaerai
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
Zelvin curses and aims his pistol again. "Where are all these skeleton varmints coming from?" he cries, exasperated.
"Their graves, I'd imagine," Xaerai responds grimly, lashing out to try and crack the first skeleton's kneecaps and tilt the odds back in their favor.
Grunting in pain, Shesik continues to swing her flail valiantly at the unusual skeleton. "Ok, that hurt, but I'll get you this time." she mumbles under her breath.
"Xaerai's earlier statement is notable. These skeletons do seem able to withstand an unusual amount of damage."
Seeing how much damage the creatures have taken, Hekau tries to judge if they are typical (albeit four-armed) skeletons, or a more advanced necromantic creation such as Skeletal Champions.
Then he moves and unleashes another magic ray at the one engaged with Tyn.
"I ain't never seen any four-armed people anywhere else around these parts," Zelvin grumbles.
"Maybe this guy needs a helping hand!"
The party's counterattack exacts a bloody toll on the skeletons, scattering several of them into jumbled piles of bones, even as more emerge from the darkness. As Xaerai pummels her target to dust, the flame in its eye sockets leaps to the nearest skeleton, then to a third one as that one is in turn destroyed. Two of the recent arrivals, catching sight of the party, charge forward with their claws outstretched.
Zelvin knocks the blow aside, but Tyn's streak of bad luck continues as his foe drags its claws across his neck.
Hekau
Shesik
Xaerai
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
Scurrying across the sand to defend Zelvin from the approaching skeleton, Shesik swings her flail once more. ”Well obviously they’re not from around these parts. Or at least they’ve been stuck underground. There’s a lot more down here than anyone might expect.”
"More rattlebones comin' this way!" Xaerai warns as she backs towards the main group, reloading her pistol and warily keeping an eye on the skeletons approaching their north and west flanks.
Hekau will again try to drop one with Disrupt Undead.
As Xaerai and Hekau prepare for the next wave, Shesik's flail pulverizes another skeleton into powder. The eyesockets of Tyn's attacker flare into green life.
Zelvin aims and fires at the creature menacing Tyn.
"Ouch you four-armed bone-fork...I meant the Tango, not the Cha-Cha!"
Feeling his allies' offensive arsenals are more suited for the task at hand, Tyn tries to make himself the most optimal decoy and takes a defensive stance.
"I know I'm not really one to talk based on my own performance-but how about we start hitting with those disruption rays gentlemen!"
The next pair of skeletons rush in, only for one of them to be obliterated by a lance of positive energy from Hekau. Xaerai easily evades the other after it is thrown off balance by two near-misses from Zelvin, leaving it open for a counterattack.
Meanwhile, Tyn frantically fends off a multi-armed assault, but two of the claws still find their mark.
Hekau
Shesik
Xaerai
Tyn Foyle
Zelvin
Hekau moves a bit.
Targeting...
"Tyn, if you could move a bit..."