Zetty busies herself during the rest period with capturing the deadly features of the river drake, but keeps an eye on the tunnel to the east and the ruined rowboats. She chews her lips as she works, not quite satisfied with her art given the relatively short and distracting exposure to the drake before it sank beneath the surface for the final time.
As Grem starts looking better, she comments "Looks like the rowboats might've been its nest, but I don't see any bodies. Maybe that means the team that came here is still alive somewhere inside! Those Osprey club guys should be pretty capable, if Yinyasmera is anything to go by." She puts a finishing touch on her piece and sighs "Shame my magic isn't strong enough to make a papercraft drake. It'd be pretty reassuring to have one of those on our side."
While being treated, Grem meditates, refocusing his Ki.
"There seems to be a tunnel on the other side of this rubbish. It could be that they snuck past the creature. Or they've already been consumed."
Once she had finished healing Grem, Bella prayed to Sarenrae for to light up her rapier. Then she looked for a way through the pile of boats to the passage beyond. She also kept an eye out for signs of where the boats' crew had gone.
Grem also readies his staff, ready for whatever may come.
With her hands full, Zetty lets Bella hold the light and stays close by to the halfling. "How about we try the tunnel south first? If there's something or someone on the other side, they might not expect us coming around that way."
You push past the pile of boats and through the narrow tunnel leading south. It eventually opens into another chamber. A sofa-like throne made of an old mattress, several pieces of reconstructed furniture, and dozens of bones sprawls along the northern side of this room. A narrow rivulet of muddy water trickles from a narrow tunnel to the south and forms a puddle in the room’s center.
A wild-eyed morlock sits upon the throne, clad in threadbare robes. Another morlock kneels beside him, rubbing his feet and sharpening his toenails. The one on the throne seems surprised by your sudden intrusion, but he clears his throat and beckons you closer as he addresses you in Aklo. (Eyenia and Zetty can translate.)
"Surface-dwellers! Congratulations on your bravery in seeking me out. I am Graulgust, king of the Ghost Queen morlocks. You have come from the water monster's lair. Have you slain the beast? If so, bring me its head to prove your worth! Or you can choose to become sacrifices to the Ghost Queen instead!"
Grem stands watching the morlock, listening to the translation of his declaration. "Ugly thinks highly of himself, doesn't he," the dwarf mutters to himself. "And for what reason are we to prove ourselves?" he asks more directly. "If we can defeat such a creature, obviously we don't consider you much of a threat."
"You question my might? I will happily give you a personal demonstration of my divine power!" the morlock replies angrily, sneering at Grem.
Grem doesn't respond to the implied threat, other than to raise a questioning eyebrow.
"Ohhhh, mushroom eyes." Zetty murmurs in common. After translating Grem's posturing, she adds in aklo "If you're king of the Ghost Queen morlocks, then you're probably pretty powerful. We've definitely slain the river drake outside, but we don't make a business out of cutting off and carrying around heads. Its kinda, you know, not very sanitary." She grimaces at the thought. "But you could probably hear the fight, and we're here now and in one piece, right? That should be evidence enough."
"In any case Graulgust, I'd love to make you a portrait, if you're interested." She raises her inkpen.
She also reflects on what she read in Into the Darklands regarding the strengths and weaknesses of morlocks, in case it comes to blows.
Zetty remembers morlocks are resistant to poison and disease, but they are blinded by bright lights.
Graulgast snarls at the gnome. "Such impertinence! Your king has issued a command! Fetch the monster's head, now, or I will slay you and offer your souls to the Ghost Queen myself!"
Bella raised her eyebrow at Graulgast's demand, "Our king? Well, I didn't vote for you."
"Yeah, me neither!" Zetty frowns at the very unreasonable response to her totally friendly offer. "And I think trying to 'slay' us is completely uncalled for. If you want it, the head's a hop, skip and a jump away."
Bella said to the Morlock king, "We were wondering if you know why the Guantlight beacon has become active recently? Just yesterday it directed its light on the Otari graveyard, causing quite a few corpses to animate and wander around, which caused a great deal of concern in the town. If you can tell us how to shut the light down, I will personally bring you the head of the mighty beast!"
Graulgust is fuming with anger. "Enough! I will answer none of your questions! I will not tolerate your insolence!" He kicks his servant in your direction. "Destroy them!"
The other morlock hisses and bares his teeth!
When the king revealed his predictably violent intentions, Bella seized the initiative; praying for divine protection, she lunged at the attendant with her rapier.
Eyenia steps into the room and tries her best to blast the king with holy power.
Vengis blasts Graulgast with magic missiles, but Eyenia misses with her ray. Bella moves in to stab the morlock lackey.
Both morlock shriek and recoil as the light on Bella’s rapier momentarily blinds them. Graulgast casts a spell, protecting himself with mirror images and following up with a shield spell. His lackey swings his club at Bella, but her own magic shield keeps her safe from harm.
Bella refreshed her shield of faith and tumbled behind the lacky, then tried to stab him again.
Stepping into combat with the 'king', Grem cracks his neck as he steps into his stance, staff in hand. "Boring conversation anyways," he rumbles just before yelling "KYA!" to power his first attacks.
◆ Step
◆ Mountain Stance
◆ Ki Strike (Flurry of Blows)
"Are we really fighting these guys over not showing them a severed head? I could have drawn them a picture of it, or something." Zetty sounds plainly annoyed. "Well at least I'll draw them then." She starts sketching out the pair of morlocks.
As she works, she points to a rock from the tunnel and propels it at the injured morlock.
Eyenia tries again with a divine lance at the at the king.
Grem destroys one of Graulgast's mirror images, while Zetty misses with her attack. Vengis delivers a quip that leaves Graulgast distracted, then he blasts both foes with lightning, though the morlock king avoids it completely.
Bella moves to flank the morlock lackey, then delivers another critical strike, taking it down! Eyenia's divine lance destroys another mirror image.
Still protected by two illusory duplicates, Graulgast steps back into the corner of the room to avoid being flanked. He then casts a spell on Bella, attempting to wrack her mind with illusory pain.
Grem step up to the morlock and continues his attack, this time being a little more defensive with the staff in his hands.
◆ Step
◆ Flurry of Blows
◆ [url=https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=190Parry[/url]
Bella reeled from the sharp pain in her head. Gritting her teeth, she hissed, "Your mind tricks won't work on me, boy!" She pressed on, stabbing twice at the dread king.
Zetty continues to draw in the face of life-or-death combat, inspiring her allies. Rather than try to pierce the morlock's considerable physical defenses, she focuses on attacking it mentally.
Eyenia decides to throw another divine lance in hopes of popping an image.
Grem destroys Graulgast’s last mirror image but misses with the follow up attack. The strong-willed morlock resists Zetty’s spell and dodges Eyenia’s divine lance, but Bella stabs him and Vengis bashes him with a rock!
”Argh! Fleshwarp! Come to my aid!” Graulgast screeches. He casts a shield spell before swinging his club at Bella. The halfling nimbly dodges!
A few moments later, a hideous monster slithers into view in the mouth of the room’s southwest tunnel. While the head and torso of this sluglike abomination is vaguely human, its arms are rubbery and move awkwardly at its side. It lets loose a piteous moan!
Bella glanced back and saw the slug-like creature out of the corner of her eye, "Figures you would have a pet like that!" She stabbed at the 'king', before tumbling away and taking a herbal remedy. Someone was going to face the newly arrived abomination!
"Be careful, Bella," Grem rumbles to the halfling as he continues to assault the 'king'
◆ Flurry of Blows
◆ Parry (w/ Bo Staff)
Zetty gives the revolting newcomer a double-take, her stomach rebelling at the positively foul horror. "Urk- Now that thing doesn't need any art immortalizing it..." She spends a moment fighting with her stomach to stop its nauseating backflips.
She manages to pull herself back together and thinks for a moment if she can recall any useful tips for obliterating the new creature.
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When the hideous creature enters the room, Vengis is able to avert his gaze, and its hideous moan has no effect on him.
But not liking his positioning in the room, he hustles into a different corner. Once he arrives, he draws a shadowy line in the air, and abruptly an arc of electricity connects the creature and its master.
Eyenia resits the effects of the beast's pitiful moan before saying, "I will put you to rest!" She fires a beam of scorching moonlight at the beast.
Zetty recognizes the newly arrrived monster as a grothlut. Grothluts are fleshwarps that were once humans. Many fleshwarpers consider the grothlut to be a failure of a creation, as the transformation all but stamps out the human consciousness. Others disagree, arguing that warping the creature’s mind makes it all the more useful, since its stupidity makes it pliable and easy to herd. Grothluts are immune to acid and mental attacks.
Grem and Bella miss with their attacks. Graulgast dodges Vengis’s lightning, but the grothlut takes the full blast, then Eyenia dazzles it with moonlight.
Graulgast casts shield and attacks Grem, while the grothlut slithers forward and claws at Bella.
"Good!" Grem rumbles at the Morlock as he takes the creature's hit. "But not good enough!"
◆ Flurry of Blows
◆ Parry (w/ Bo Staff)
Bella didn't think she could take another hit like that. She desparately tried to stab the beast twice, then prayed for divine protection.
Zetty gives the rest of a group a quick heads up about the grothlut "Hey, no meddling with its head - that thing's totally empty!" and watches for a moment to see if the morlock will fall to Grem's perfectly placed right hook. If he doesn't she sends a nearby rock his way.
She really wants to avoid drawing the grothlut.
Eyenia steps to the side and her hands glow with a warm, soothing light. She places one hand on Bella's shoulder, the other on Grem's back and their wounds knit closed, "The odds turn in our favor. Do not fall."
Following Vengis’s lightning blast, which badly wounds the grothlut, Grem delivers a critical blow to Graulgast that takes the morlock down! Zetty misses with her projectile, but Bella lands a good blow on the fleshwarp. It strikes back, clawing the halfling twice!
Eyenia's healing proved very timely, keeping Bella conscious when the grothlut clawed her twice! She also said a prayer of thinks to her goddess, who had also protected her. Heedless of her wounds, she tumbled around the side of the fleshwarp and tried to finish it off.
Satisfied that the morlock is not getting up again, he moves over to help Bella with the fleshwarped creature.
◆ Stride
◆ Flurry of Blows
◆ Parry (w/ Bo Staff)
Grem delivers a crushing blow to the grothlut, then Bella stabs it again. As the monster dies, its digestive organs rupture, unleashing alchemical acid and poison upon all of you!
Grem spends some time fighting the sickening feeling, by sheer force of will.
Amazingly, Bella was able to quickly wipe off the disgusting goo before it overwhelmed her, "Now THAT's gross!" After making everyone else was OK for the moment, she got to work healing her multiple wounds.
Having healed most of her wounds for now, she moved to heal Grem.
Then she turned her attenstion back to her remaining wounds.