Akkaboo misses again, but Mazul, Orgun, and Wan each land a solid blow on the hideous fleshwarp. The creature resists some of Zin's spell, but it is still fatigued. The elf's blade fails to cut through its hide.
The creature lashes out with its tentacles again, this time only hitting Mazul. It snaps its teeth at Wan but fails to hit him.
Zin sustains the cold nothingness against the creature as he squeezes it in tighter and tighter. "Hang in there Mazul!" He prepares a powerful healing spell to help the others stay on their feet.
AC 22 (23 w/ shield); Curse Stage: None ()
HP 60/60 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Akkaboo continues shaking her finger with one hand and awkwardly collects sparks and scraps of flames in the other.
"Boys and girls," Wan quips to an invisible audience as he sidesteps the gaping maw of the hideous beast, "fleshwarping is BAD, m'kay?" The tengu's armoured suit rattles and hums with kinetic energy. "Don't DO it and we won't have to do THIS!!!"
Wan times his words with his khakkara.
"Or THIS!" he adds, anticlimactically.
"Ok, maybe less of that last one and more of the first, right? Just AVOID it!"
Akkaboo scorches the fleshwarp with fire as Zin chills it and slices it with his sword. Orgun cuts it twice, then Wan delivers a powerful megaton strike to finish it off! Its tentacles twitch feebly as it dies.
The hallway on the other side of the south door in this room gently slopes down. The stairs in this room lead down to the dungeon level below this one. However, three steps down the northern stairs, a solitary key lies forgotten beneath a crusty chunk of dried viscera. The key has a round shaft tipped with several teeth of varying length.
Once the creature is down, Mazul supplements Iomedae's power with some basic bandages to get both herself and Orgun back up to full health. "These creatures are nasty. Why would anyone want to create them? Couldn't they come up with more aesthetically pleasing monsters?"
Her nose wrinkles in disgust as they find the key. "Ugh. I guess we should hang onto it, but just...ew." She touches it as little as possible before storing it in a pocket. "Remind me to wash that later. Thoroughly. Anyway, where to now? I guess just keep going down these hallways?"
Wan leans on his khakkara and pops Neo's helmet.
"If we're going to be encountering these fleshwarps consistently, I need to be at the head of the party, my nest-mates. I'm built to be an armoured fortress! Plus, I have specific experience with fleshwarps. Please let me be at the battle front."
Wan makes his pleas to the entire group.
Zin smiles. "By all means Wan." He wholeheartedly allows the armored fortress to take the front of the pack. [b]"I am betting this isn't the last creature Belcorra twisted around and experimented on.
With Orgun and Wan leading the way, you head down the long corridor to the south. The eastern doors open onto the vast floor of the arena that you saw from above. The enormous fleshwarp still remains dormant at the center of the arena--you probably shouldn't go that way unless you are looking for a tough fight!
To the south, though, the doors open onto a smaller room. The stone walls of this chamber appear to glisten with blood. An iron maiden stands in one corner, while the other corner has a metal table bristling with nails. A bearded devil stands at attention here, holding a saw-toothed glaive. Two fly-bodied devils flit about the chamber. When they see you, though, the trio of devils immediately move to attack!
Zin moves into the rom with the demon and sprays it with the blinding light of the stars above. "Quickly take it down while it's blinded"
AC 22 (23 w/ shield); Curse Stage: None ()
HP 60/60 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Mazul runs into the room, dashing past Zin and towards the fly he'd (hopefully) dazed. "Didn't we fight one of these things before? It looks awfully familiar." As she speaks she throws her voice around to confuse the fiend, which works wonderfully. Unfortunately when she goes to take advantage of the opening, she trips over her own feet and nearly stabs herself instead.
"Nobody saw that okay? Nobody."
Zin's spray of stars proves ineffective. The devils are immune to fire! Mazul moves in and feints against one of the fiends, but her attack goes wide. Still, the devil is flat-footed for all of her allies.
The bearded devil uses the superior reach of its glaive to slash at Zin. It scores a critical hit, dragging the elf closer and striking him again. Its beard lashes out at the oracle as well, just missing!
The smaller zebubs flank Mazul, biting with their mandibles! She takes two hits.
The DC to Administer First Aid to a creature with an infernal wound is increased by 5. A spellcaster or item attempting to use healing magic on a creature suffering from an infernal wound must succeed at a DC 21 counteract check or the magic fails to heal the creature.
Seeing his flames are ineffective Zin slashes his blade at the devil's beard to try and put some distance between the devil and himself so that he can heal. "We may need to run!" He clutches at his cut where the glaive sliced him open."[/b]
AC 22 (23 w/ shield); Curse Stage: None (Minor)
HP 22/60 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 | Bleed 1d6 DC 20[/dice]
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
"Oh! Sweet Zin of mine!" Wan exclaims as the bearded devil savages the elf. "I'll help you, sweetling!" The tengu rushes past Zin and at the halberd-wearing denizen of Hell, Neo's gears churning.
With a fiery clang and a previously-unheard alarm klaxon, Neo explodes in a gout of flame, triggering a string of vile tengu curse words from underneath.
"मैं तुमसे प्यार करता हूँ तुम मुझसे प्यार करते हो हम एक खुशहाल परिवार हैं!"
“Eek!” Akkaboo shrieks as Zin darts forward, then stumbles back clutching his side. “You cut that out, or Orgun will cut your head off!” Flames seem to spill from her red eyes as she furiously draws wavy scribbles in the air. With a wave of her hand, she sends them flying towards the creature’s glaive to explode in bursts of slippery blue-pink oil.
Not wanting to miss out on the small creature's distraction, (and also wanting some revenge for the painful bites), Mazul lashes out wth a devastating strike. "Now that's more like it," she purrs as she watches it connect.
Confident that this particular creature will not be biting her again anytime soon, she moves towards the bearded devil. Unfortunately her attempt to hit him is nowhere near as successful.
The bearded devil begins to fumble with its glaive as Akkaboo's spell renders it greasy! Orgun moves in to slice the devil with his sword, then Wan dashes forward and slams the devil as well. Zin misses twice before falling back. Mazul stabs the zebub through the throat, killing it with one strike! She then steps up to harry the bearded devil.
"Flank the dwarf!" the bearded devil commands. The surviving zebub moves to do just that, biting at Orgun. The devil abandons its greasy glaive, attacking Orgun with claws and beard. Orgun fends off most of the attacks, though one claw gets through his defenses.
Wan sidesteps diagonally past the bearded devil in order to provide an opening for the rogue.
"Order up, Mazul!" he crows as a rushing surge of energy empowers the upper extremities of his suit. The khakkara swings down with the momentum of a charging bison.
Mazul frowns as she sees the other devil sneaking behind Orgun's back, but he seems to be doing a decent job of avoiding it. No, it's the bearded devil that's the real problem here.
"Appreciated!", she calls to Wan, as she winds herself up for some stabs that will be truly devastating. With Wan on the other side serving as a very armored distraction, her rapier slips right past the devil's guard and fully returns all the damage he'd been doing to Orgun.
Orgun sears the devil with holy power, then Wan bashes it. Mazul drives her blade into the bearded devil’s heart, killing it! As it falls, she turns and skewers the remaining zebub, killing it in a single strike!
With the devils dead, you can search the weapon racks in the room. The weapon racks hold two +1 glaives, a bloodletting kukri, a standard-grade cold iron shield, and three moderate acid flasks.
Mazul blinks as the devil falls over dead. Then a broad grin stretches across her face as she starts doing a victory dance.
"Oh yeah, we showed that devil! No one messes with the Gaunt-leteers!" The zebub bites on her forearm can't dampen her enthusiasm, particularly once they find the very nice weapons on the racks. Even if she can't use them.
"Heal up and keep going?" She pauses, the victory adrenaline fading enough for her to remember something. "Although maybe we should avoid the arena floor. That thing down there did not look fun."
Zin sighs in relief as the devil falls. He places a hand to his wound.
Nearly half a minute goes by and Zin can't seem to stop the bleeding. His face grows incredibly pale as he looks like he is going to pass out. "This isn't good."
AC 22 (23 w/ shield); Curse Stage: None (Minor)
HP 7/60 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 | Bleed 1d6 DC 20[/dice]
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
|
Orgun hels Zin as much as he can, before needing to pray.
As he prays, Orgun realizes the others have found impressive weapons in the room. He is happy with what he has, but wonders how much his dwarf brethren would love to get their hands on these weapons. After he's done, he says "Are we ready to proceed?"
The bleeding stops on its own soon enough as Zin groans. Orgun tends to his more severe injuries. "Thanks for that, I couldn't get it to stop bleeding for the life of me." He stands up feeling much, much better.
AC 22 (23 w/ shield); Curse Stage: None (Minor)
HP 59/60 | Resistance Physical 5; Harm 5 | Bleed 1d6 DC 20[/dice]
Hero Points 0/3
Focus Points 2/3
Spells (1) 3/3 | (2) 3/3 | (3) 3/3
Wand of Heal (1st) 1/1 | (2nd) 1/1
Curse Benefit: Resistance: All Physical 5
Minor - (Enfeebled 1; -2 to saves, Grapple, Shoved and Forced Movement)
Mazul stops victory dancing long enough to give Zin a concerned look, even though it looks like Orgun has him covered. "I've got some bandages that can help too, if they're needed."
After several minutes, you are ready to proceed. Avoiding the arena floor, you backtrack to the north, passing through the room where you fought the irnakurse and going east from there. As you approach the doors at the east end of this hall, you can several voices speaking in Undercommon, laughing and shouting.
Polished wooden tables, chairs, and a long wooden bar mark this chamber as a tavern. The smell of spilled beer and fried morsels pervades the room. In the southeast corner, an elevated stage overlooks the seating.
Five creatures are present here: a creature that seems to be half drow and half spider flipping through a book filled with crudely drawn drow erotica, two morlocks playing a card game called towers, a morlock tending the bar, and another morlock complaining to the bartender. They look up as you stand in the entryway, ceasing their conversations. They seem tense, waiting to see what you will do.
Mazul resists the urge to slam closed the door she just opened. "Um, hi everyone? Don't mind us, we're just...exploring. Any chance we could all get along and have some drinks together? I'll even buy." In a lower tone, (although still audible to the patrons), she adds, "I'm really f&#&ing tired of fighting everything in this place and could use a drink or twelve."
Zin points to the card game. "Have room for a few more?" He tries to break the tension, not wanting to kill ever creature just trying to survive and live down here.
The spider-drow grunts and goes back to her book, while the morlocks resume their business, though they still eye you warily. The morlock behind the bar pulls out a handful of bottles. "Welcome to the Warped Brew Tavern. One gold per drink," she says gruffly.
The morlocks playing cards scoot over to allow Zin to join them. "Have a seat. Shields are wild," one says.
"So, what's your deal? You hear to get some fleshwarping done, too?" the other one asks.
Wan immediately sits down at the bar and slams a gold piece on the counter.
”When in Port Peril, do as the pirates do,” he mutters, popping Neo’s helm.
"No fleshwarping at the moment. We are just trying to figure out what is going on down here." Zin tosses a gold piece into the pot.
"That Belcorra...am I right?" Wan starts a cryptic conversation with the bartender. He then looks over his shoulder at Mazul and winks.
Mazul plops ten gold onto the counter before taking a seat next to Wan. "A round for everyone, on me." She had said she'd buy, after all. Then she waits patiently (okay, somewhat patiently) for both her drink and the bartender's reaction to Belcorra's name.
The bartender passes the bottles around. The beer inside is cheap but potent. When Wan drops Belcorra's name, the bartender just grunts.
"What's going on is that Jafaki is taking their sweet time getting to my fleshwarping!" the morlock seated at the bar complains. "I was supposed to be operated on days ago. Instead, I'm just waiting here for my turn."
"At least the band here is good," says one of the morlocks playing cards as he deals a hand to Zin. "Shadow Malice!"
"Yeah, Shadow Malice rocks!" the other morlock agress. "Hey, Lallizanx! When are they coming back on stage today?"
The drow-spider hybrid shrugs, not looking up from her tawdry book.
With not one, but two (thanks, Mazul!) drinks sitting in front of him, the tengu sighs happily. He takes a hesitant sip of one of the beers, then spontaneously cheers the room.
"To Shadow Malice!" Wan crows, "and Jafaki taken down a peg or two, that fink. I came all the way from Ecanus in Nex at the behest of Dunn Palovar, but does that rat bastard want to talk fleshwarping? BAH."
The tengu gives a flat look to the shocked Mazul. "What? I can't have a side hustle?" *wink*
Mazul, not recognizing any of the names Wan spouts other than 'Nex,' just shrugs. "Fleshwarping's weird, but you do you." She leans in closer. "Although, if you create any monstrosities that later attack us, I will tattle to Wrin. Don't think I won't." With a smile, she returns her attention to her own beer.
"Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Thanks barkeep." Swiveling her stool towards the morlock at the bar, she asks, "So what's causing the delay? Is Jafaki just too busy to keep their promises?"
"Not busy, just lazy," the bartender says. "They've got what you'd call a 'relaxed disposition toward administration.' Jafaki's usually more engrossed in whatever experiments and theories they're working on then actually getting around to fleshwarping those who want it."
The other morlocks raise a toast with Wan to Shadow Malice. "Hey, you know what would liven things up?" one says. "A challenge!"
"Yeah!" the others cheer. The morlocks begin to chant. "Shadow Malice! Shadow Malice! Challengers! Challengers!"
After a few minutes of this, the door behind the stage opens up as four creatures emerge--a xulgath and a caligni with lutes, a duergar with a portable drum kit, and a ysoki clad in a fancy leather suit. The morlocks cheer as the ysoki waves to the crowd. "Aw, yeah! What's this I hear? Somebody's come to challenge Shadow Malice?"
She squints at you all and chuckles, baring yellow fangs. "I'm Ryta! My bandmates are Gulzash, Nox, and Kragala. You want to challenge us? Then let’s get to it. We’ll each face off one-on-one. Each pair squares off with some kind of show: music, acrobatic tricks, displays of strength, whatever. Then we perform as two groups—mine then yours—and let the crowd tell us who’s the best overall!"
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At first, Orgun is uneasy at being friendly with fleshwarpers. But the talk and smell of booze quickly lifts his spirits. After a few moments he is actually cheering with the crowd at Shadow Malice, despite not knowing any of the songs. He gladly participates in the challenges.
He growls in victory.
Zin joins Orgun in show of strength as he lifts the morlocks in their chair to get a better view. "Is this suitable enough?"
Akkaboo gulps, then walks forward towards… Kragala, she thinks? Without waiting for an introduction, she begins tossing things into the air - rocks, tankards, balls of fire, icicles, her hat, Mister Legs, anything she can get her hands on - and catching them in a rough semblance of juggling.
Mazul cracks her knuckles. Did she expect to end up in an impromptu contest? No. Is she prepared for the challenge? Hell yes.
...Or so she thinks. In actuality when she joins Akkaboo' spontaneous juggling, she ends up fumbling more items than she catches. Normally green cheeks bright red, she says, "I swear I could do this before! It's just...the beer! That's right, I'm a little tipsy from the excellent brew."
Orgun and Akkaboo impress the crowd, but Zin and Mazul come up just a bit short. So far, things are an even split between you and Shadow Malice.
”Not bad!” Ryta says. ”But that was just the pre-show. Now it’s time for the ROCK-OFF! Three, two, one—let’s rock!”
Kragala begins to bang on her drums while Gulzash and Nox shred on their lutes. Ryta belts out the lyrics of a high-energy song, the morlocks cheering and raising their fists along with the beat!
At the end of their performance, the band members smirk and hand over their instruments to you. ”Your turn. Let’s see what you’ve got!”
Mazul nearly drops the lute that's been handed to her. "Goblins sing, right? That's a thing?" She hopes it's a thing, because she certainly can't.
Since she has no idea how to play the lute, she figures she should just be as quiet as possible to not throw everyone else out of tune. She plucks randomly at the strings and hopes for the best.
Zin grabs ahold of one of the instruments. Nervous, as he has never played one before he holds it to his lips and begins to blow a lament he had heard a few hundred years ago in his homeland.
Wan looks askance at the others gesturing for him to join them. Reluctantly, the tengu puts down his ale and walks up to the drum set.
”This will be memorable, my nest-mates from another egg, for all the wrong reasons.”
While Wan's drumming lacks rhythm, Zin's performance on the lute accompanied by a mournful elven song gets the morlocks in their feelings. By the time the song is complete, they are cheering and wiping away tears.
Ryta looks at her bandmates and shrugs. "Huh. You guys ain't half-bad, actually. You've got the respect of Shadow Malice!" The ysoki offers her hand to Zin to shake.
"You may want to talk to the Warped Brew's manager, Vischari, if you're interested in a gig. I'll put in a good word with her for you!"
"Thanks, we may just go talk to her. Where can we find Vischari?" Zin shakes the morlocks hand as he hands the lute back.