Nectanebo swings and misses... wait! As Fate would have it, some bit of luck seems to have caught that sword and the slice was clean through... out pour alien innards and an odd looking rod - a large, thick, baroque scepter that would not look out of place in a Russian fairy tale. It must have been in the monsters gullet.
The creature shudders and howls, and as it does so, you feel like the earth itself cries a little. There is no time to consider this, though, as the building is continuing to fall down around you.
As the rest of you crawl out of the building, it collaspes, burying the invisible beast. Then the ground swallows the rest of the rubble, leaving a crater where the building once stood, which slowly starts filling with water.
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As the creature falls, Pai screws up her courage and zooms down to help Droogi haul Lini out of the collapsing building. "Come on! Come on!" She scream-babbles until they're clear of the falling rubble.
Setting Lini down in a safe-ish looking spot, Pai's hands shake as she pulls out a potion bottle and pours it down Lini's throat, babbling nonsense-syllables without realizing it.
Dropping the bottle on the ground, she fishes out a wand and begins erratically tapping Lini with it.
Exasperated, she fusses frantically: "I can't--I can't make it work! I can't--I can't..." Glancing around, she asks whoever she sees: "Can you do it? Can you heal her?"
Hovering just above the group, Pai continues to babble, adrenaline still coursing through her body with nothing to fight. "Ohmygosh-ohmygosh! That-was-insane! Did-you-see-that-thing?! No-of-course-you-didn't! It-was-invisible! Invisible! Good-thing-you-made-it-sparkly! Who-made-it-sparkly?! That-was-a-good-move! I-thought-I-was-a-goner! I-thought-we-were-all-goners! When-it-got-me-and-I-couldn't-escape! Oh-man! Oh-man-oh-man-oh-man..." She continues with her verbal diarrhea until something stops her or the adrenaline starts to fade, her whole body gesticulating and twitching constantly all the while. She really does look quite wild, with her wide, rolling eyes and short hair standing on end from the static electricity that occasionally sets off little white sparks around her head, barely visible in the gloomy light of the overcast day.
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Igor and Tiny Pebble come scrambling back as the battered party barely escape the collapsing building. He sees that everyone is more or less alright although Lini and her companion Droogami have suffered the worst of it. He does his best to calm Pai knowing that no one is in immediate danger of dying. In the meanwhile he speaks a few words in Terran to Tiny Pebble directing him to retrieve any valuables from the sinking crater once he determines it is safe enough for him to do so.
"I am quite relieved and surprised that everyone made it out alive. Surely the gods were looking out for you today! There could be no other explanation for such a turn of good fortune against such an implacable opponent."
He winks at Pai and smiles.
"I made it sparkly. I wish I could have done more but that creature was resistant to all my spells. At any rate it is over now."
Tiny Pebble gives a relieved look that Pai is ok giving her a double thumbs up. Once he is given the go-ahead he begins to look for items of interest in the collapsed building.
You all manage to escape, but suddenly a a lot of noise comes from the skies above Carrion Hill as wheeling storms of crows descend back to the city’s rooftops, cawing and shrieking and cackling in a cacophony that lasts for hours.
With the spawn slain, the Carrion Hill Horror comes to an end and life begins to return to normal. Mayor Heggry honors his promise to award you, and in the light of their vanquishing of the hidden danger presented by the Keepers of the Oldest, he increases the award by an additional 3,000 gp.
Of course, the citizens of Carrion Hill are not the only ones to take note of your triumph. The region has long been haunted by the agents of the Old Ones, and they do not take kindly to meddlers in their ways. They are patient, but they are also vengeful. Man may rule now where they once did, but as the stars draw right, the time of the Old Ones' return draws nigh, and the time for heroes has only just begun.
THE END.
After Lini gets roused, she hugs Droogi tight.
You did great, Droogi! Extra num nums for you tonight! Thanks for dragging my butt out of the building! Did we do it, guys? Is that...thing dead? I mean...what the heck was that? I've heard and seen some big nasties before, but that thing was... Lini says exasperatedly as she motions over her head, so stomach level for normal folk.
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Under the Guidingstar's power, it had already been feeling to Nectanebo as though time were slowing down all around him - but as he sees the scepter erupt from the horror's innards, it seems to stop entirely.
The crumbling structure ceases to matter as he gingerly gingerly picks it up - to his only-partial, yet simultaneously heightened, astonishment, it proves clean of any foul starspawn humours, purged upon contact by the countless tiny fractal whorls and jolts of fire and electricity it generates.
He barely notices anything else as he speeds for the exit, pausing only to wave a polite adieu to his servitor, which waves back as the horrible manufactury crumbles around it.
screeches of the crows catch his attention as he emerges into the fresh air.
"Would you listen to that?" He muses with a far-off stare. "It is has been said that some birds - crows, ravens, owls, the whippooorwill - are mortal psychopomps lying in wait for the souls of the dying, and that they time their eerie cries in unison with the sufferer's struggling breath. If they can catch the fleeing soul when it leaves the body, they instantly flutter away chittering in daemonic laughter; but if they fail, they subside gradually into a disappointed silence. A clamor like this? This is special, an indignant and stubborn cry for a soul not merely difficult to catch, but too mighty altogether for them to even hope to carry away."
His eyes turn from the horizon back to his unanticipated prize. "Well, friends, it's been a time...but this...this is what makes it all worth it." His lavender eyes shine as their depths reflect the the flashes of energy from the artifact.
"The Scepter of Perun...!"
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As Borax lends his healing expertise to Lini, Pai gushes: "Oh, thank you Borax! Ohmygosh I'm so glad you're okay!" She gives him a hurried hug before popping up to assess the state of everyone's health.
As the adrenaline fades from her system, Pai slowly stems the tide of words tumbling from her lips and begins responding to and checking in with everyone else. Before Pebble heads off to search the ruins, she gives him an exuberant hug. "We did it, Pebble! We did it! Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! Igor, you're so lucky to have such a good pal! We should totally do more missions together so we can hang out more!"
Swinging back around to Lini, she hovers nearby and scratches behind Droogi's ears, careful to avoid any injuries. "You two are so brave! I'd never want to be so close to something that could kill me like that! I'm so glad you made it out alive! It would've been awful if you hadn't!" She tears up at the thought, wiping her eyes on her bloodied sleeve. The mark it smears across her face doesn't help her appearance one bit.
"The Scepter of Perun...!"
"The what? Oh cooool! What's it do?--Hey, who killed the monster? I didn't see 'cause I was out here. --I was about to pop back in to blast it again, but thank goodness you guys killed it first!" She shudders, looking a little sheepish at admitting she fled, even for a moment.